Chapter 486: Star Sea Ambush

Crimson-gold streams of light tore through layer after layer of dimensional barriers, dragging out an extraordinarily brilliant tail flame in the endless Star Sea.

Sun Wukong gripped Chaos Dao Iron in one hand and grabbed Yao's wrist with the other, moving so fast that even light couldn't catch up to them.

Along the way, the stars turned into fine specks of light that streamed backward, like rain striking a car window.

Yao's hair whipped wildly in the airflow; she turned and shouted at Sun Wukong, "Can't you slow down? My hair's about to fall out!"

"Endure!"

Sun Wukong bared his teeth in a grin, "We're almost there! That thing is right ahead!"

He was referring to the direction of resonance coming from the Iron Staff.

That frequency grew ever clearer, like a taut string humming, pulling him to drill into the deepest reaches of the Universe.

Yao still wanted to curse a couple more times.

Before the words could leave her mouth, her complexion changed.

The star field ahead collapsed before their eyes.

No warning, no omen, not a sound.

Thousands of stars simultaneously lost their light, as if an invisible hand had snuffed out their wicks.

Immediately, those dim stars began to implode inward, dragging the surrounding void along and tearing it apart into an ever-expanding black void.

Sun Wukong slammed on the brakes.

The crimson-gold tail flame curled behind him into an arc.

"Damn."

He stared at the collapsing region ahead that was devouring everything, his pupils narrowing slightly.

It wasn't a natural collapse.

Something was waiting for them ahead.

An aura surged forth from the depths of that black void.

Saying it 'surged' isn't accurate.

It was a 'pressure'.

The entire Star Sea bent its waist before this aura.

Light twisted, dimensions folded, and even time turned viscous, as if being pressed down hard by a palm.

Sun Wukong's monkey hairs stood on end, each one.

He had fought Hongjun before.

He knew what the Heavenly Dao Lord's aura of authority felt like.

But this aura before him—

Compared to the years Hongjun has lived, all of it turned into weight, dropping onto his head without omission.

Yao's face turned pale in an instant, her legs went weak, and even breathing became difficult.

"Wukong... what is this?"

Sun Wukong didn't answer.

Because he saw it.

At the center of the collapsed void, darkness began to gather, surge, and pile up.

Thousands of streams of shadow converged from all directions, as if drawn by something, madly crowding into one spot.

Then they assembled into a face.

A face lacking features.

So huge it could cover half a star field.

Its grayish-white skin resembled that of a corpse, with no eyes, no nose, no mouth.

It simply hung there ahead, blocking every road to the edge of the Universe.

Sun Wukong's heartbeat skipped a beat.

That face did nothing.

Merely existing, it made his viscera feel as if billions of mountains were pressing down on them simultaneously, even his bone joints emitting mournful groans.

"Big."

Yao squeezed out a single word, her voice trembling.

Sun Wukong pulled her behind him, placing himself in front.

The faceless giant face had no mouth.

But a voice sounded.

It was the kind of sound that poured simultaneously from all directions into the ears, sharp and piercing, like someone scraping glass with an iron nail.

"Little monkey."

It was laughing.

On the faceless face, the smile seeped out from the folds of its grayish-white dead skin.

"Junior Martial Brother's eyesight is as bad as ever."

"You picked a waste as a disciple, spent so much effort raising him, and the result is something that can't even withstand a single finger of mine."

"A bad move is a bad move; no point regretting throwing it away—I might as well clean it up for him."

The voice was full of condescending charity and mockery.

Sun Wukong finished listening.

He spat out a mouthful of spit.

The spit turned into a tiny golden star in the void.

Then he lifted the Chaos Dao iron with one hand and smashed it down into the void before him.

Boom—

Crimson-gold light waves burst from where the staff fell, shaking the void within a ten-thousand-li radius.

"Bullshit."

Sun Wukong hoisted the iron staff onto his shoulder.

"My Master's eye—do you even get to judge?"

"What old thing crawled out of some backwater? State your name, lest my staff strike for nothing."

The smile on the faceless giant face froze for an instant.

Then it stopped smiling.

The ashen-white surface began to tremble violently.

Hum—

A low, resonant hum emanated from the surface of the giant face.

Instantly, the faceless face burst open with countless pinhole-sized apertures.

Thousands upon thousands.

Thick and dense.

Each pinhole pulsed with ashen-white light.

The next instant, light pillars shot forth.

Tens of thousands of ashen-white light pillars poured from the giant face, covering the sky and earth, obscuring all sight.

Where each light pillar passed, the void was reduced to dust.

Not destruction, but erasure.

Everything the light pillars touched vanished from existence, leaving not even ash.

Sun Wukong's pupils reflected nothing but ashen-white.

He shoved Yao a hundred thousand li away.

"Get back!"

Before his words faded, he had already surged forward.

He gripped the Chaos Dao iron with both hands; crimson-gold patterns flared along the staff, turning the whole iron rod into a blazing star.

He charged upstream against the torrent of ashen-white light pillars.

He swung the staff.

He smashed.

The first light pillar shattered.

The second.

The third.

The seventh.

The twelfth.

Each swing of the iron staff left a crimson-gold afterimage, shattering the light pillars before him one by one.

But there were too many.

The light pillars behind him replenished faster than he could break them.

The twentieth light pillar grazed his shoulder, leaving a white mark on his battle armor.

The thirty-fifth struck the side of the staff.

Hum—

The recoil surged up the staff into his arms.

Sun Wukong's tiger's mouth split open, and blood trickled down the staff.

Both arms, from shoulders to fingertips, went numb, as if struck by lightning.

He gritted his teeth and did not retreat.

"Is that all you've got?"

He roared.

He swung the iron staff again and smashed a wall of light pillars.

Yet as he focused on the frontal assault, a shadow silently split from the edge of the faceless giant face.

The shadow made no sound or disturbance.

It emitted no aura.

It gave off no light.

It moved like a snake lurking underwater, circling Sun Wukong's frontline and skirting the edge of the star field, heading straight for the rear.

Straight for Yao.

Yao sensed it.

A chill rose like from her spine, freezing her whole body.

She turned her head.

The shadow was less than a thousand li away.

"Wukong!"

Sun Wukong heard it.

He snapped his head back.

Toward Yao, a gray-white shadow was approaching at an unimaginable speed.

He wanted to go back.

But the light pillar before him suddenly surged, doubling, like a gray-white wall, pinning him firmly in place.

He was stretched thin.

The shadow was only three hundred li from Yao.

Two hundred li.

One hundred li.

Yao could now see the shape of that shadow.

It was opening a toothless mouth toward her.

Sun Wukong's eyes turned red.