Chapter 52: This is my tribulation; I will get through it myself!

That chilling thought still echoed in the void.

「I'll go find that woman named Kong Xuan and have a chat. 」

Sun Wukong hovered above the leveled Aolai Kingdom, his fingers clenched on the Golden Cudgel emitting a faint sound from the strain.

His expression was very calm.

So calm it was frightening.

「He won't get far. 」

A clear, cold voice came from behind him; Kong Xuan's figure solidified from the ethereal and landed beside him.

She put on the flowing feather robe gifted by the Bodhi Patriarch, her radiance surpassing before, though a hint of worry lingered in her brows.

「That thing shares your origin; as long as it remains within the Primordial, you can find it. 」

Sun Wukong did not turn back.

「I know. 」

His voice was low, as if he were suppressing something.

「But I don't like what he just said. 」

Kong Xuan fell silent.

She knew those words had struck this monkey's reverse scale.

The next moment, Sun Wukong's figure vanished from the spot.

There was no tearing of space, no stirring of waves.

It simply disappeared into thin air.

……

Great Tang, Long Peace.

On the bustling Vermilion Bird Avenue, crowds thronged and carriages flowed.

An old sugar‑seller cheerfully handed a freshly made Sun Great Sage sugar painting to a little girl with her hair tied in a sky‑high braid.

Suddenly, a black shadow descended from the sky.

「Boom! 」

A huge black staff smashed into the street's center; the green‑stone slab surface rippled like a lake struck by a boulder, surging outward.

Half the street's shops and passersby turned into blood mist under that blow.

The little girl with the sky‑high braid, together with the sugar painting she hadn't yet licked, vanished.

「I'm hungry again. 」

The Dark Great Sage hoisted the black staff, stood amid the ruins, and inhaled deeply the air mixed with Fear Heart Demon and blood.

His gaze fell upon a bustling temple of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven at the street corner.

「Worship me? 」

The Dark Great Sage grinned, revealing stark white teeth.

「Then… become part of me. 」

He raised the black staff, about to strike down.

A golden flash was faster than his move.

「Clang—! 」

The Golden Cudgel precisely blocked the black staff; two forces of the same origin yet utterly opposite collided, and the released energy ground the surrounding ruins to dust.

「You worthless thing, besides bullying Mortals, what else can you do? 」

Sun Wukong's figure appeared opposite him, his Fiery Golden Eyes blazing with golden fury.

「I am you; what I do, isn't that what you want to do? 」

The Dark Great Sage laughed ever more wildly.

「Look at them, how fragile, how delicious. 」

「Back then you protected that monk, now you protect these ants—aren't you tired? 」

He spoke while waving the black staff, his moves wide open, identical to the Sun Wukong he remembered.

Sun Wukong wasted no words, driving the Primordial Holy Power to the extreme, each strike faster than the last.

He dared not use too much force.

This is Long Peace, the capital of Great Tang, the heart of humanity's fortune.

If he unleashed his full power, a single blow would erase Long Peace City.

「Hahaha! You're scared! 」

The Dark Great Sage saw through his hesitation, his assault growing more frenzied.

He defended nothing, each strike aimed at the most densely populated part of the city.

This forced Sun Wukong to abandon offense and instead block and deflect.

「Stop! 」

Sun Wukong roared and kicked him flying.

The Dark Great Sage flipped in mid‑air, landed steadily, unharmed.

Instead, he pointed toward a distant tavern.

「Look, the scenery there is nice. 」

The black staff slipped from his hand, turning into a dark light that shot straight for the tavern's top floor.

There, a group of scholars clung together in terror.

Sun Wukong cursed under his breath, flashed forward, appeared before the tavern, and bore the blow with his body.

Pfft.

A mouthful of golden blood spurted out.

He felt his five viscera and six bowels shift out of place.

"Yes, just like that."

The Dark Great Sage clapped his hands, as if watching a splendid monkey show.

"Continue protecting them; let me see how long you can keep them safe."

"Sun Wukong!"

Kong Xuan's silhouette appeared on the distant horizon, five-colored divine light already gathering.

"Don't come over!"

Sun Wukong shouted at her to stop without turning his head.

"This is my tribulation; I will overcome it myself!"

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, watching that "himself" laughing doubled over, his gaze gradually calming.

Can't beat him.

It's not that his strength is inferior.

It's that his heart is not as ruthless.

He has reservations, a soft spot, and something he must protect.

While the other side has only destruction and slaughter.

He anticipated the opponent's moves, and the opponent likewise anticipated all his responses.

This is fundamentally a war between himself and himself.

What to do?

Suppress his own anger and killing intent?

But the more he suppresses, the more arrogant the opponent's aura becomes.

The black aura on his body is the manifestation of his own repressed negative emotions.

In his mind, the warm, moist voice of the Bodhi Patriarch suddenly echoed.

"The Buddha said, 'When the mind is free of attachments, being free of attachments, there is no fear; far from delusive thoughts.'"

"But you are a demon."

"Your Dao is not to sever the seven emotions and six desires, but to follow your heart's desire."

"Follow one's heart's desire…"

Sun Wukong closed his eyes.

He recalled the five hundred years beneath Wǔxíng Shān.

He recalled the anger of being toyed with like a monkey by the myriad heavenly gods and buddhas.

He recalled the satisfaction of slaying the Six-Eared Macaque.

He recalled his Master's back as he reversed the river of time for him.

He recalled Kong Xuan's resolute act of blocking that blade for him.

He recalled the admiring gazes of the monkeys and monkey grandchildren of Mount Huaguo.

Hatred.

Anger.

Love.

Protection.

These are all me, Old Sun.

Why should I suppress?

Why should I cut it off?

Sun Wukong suddenly opened his eyes.

In the depths of his golden pupils, a flash of dark red ferocity flickered and vanished.

"You're right."

He looked at the Dark Great Sage across from him and grinned.

"I just want to kill everything."

The Dark Great Sage froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting him to say that.

"But I also want to protect everything."

Sun Wukong's aura changed.

No longer pure golden holy might.

A domineering, arrogant, seemingly world-destroying violent aura burst forth from within him without reservation.

Gold and dark red intertwined and coiled across his body's surface.

He no longer suppressed that killing intent.

He accepted it.

Then he turned it into fuel for the Golden Cudgel in his hand.

"Come."

Sun Wukong hooked his finger at the Dark Great Sage.

"Let me see whether your stolen power is stronger, or my own hard-earned ability."

The Dark Great Sage sensed something was off.

The Sun Wukong before his eyes made him feel a soul‑born Fear Heart Demon.

It was a … an absolute suppression of lower beings by a higher‑level life.

"Pretending to be divine!"

He let out a roar, poured all his power into the black staff, turning it into a snarling black demonic dragon that roared and charged at Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong stood in place, motionless.

He simply extended the Golden Cudgel in his hand forward gently.

"Roar—!"

A higher‑pitched dragon's roar rang out.

The Golden Cudgel flew from his hand, likewise turning into a ten‑thousand‑foot‑long golden divine dragon.

Unlike the black demonic dragon, this golden dragon was also entwined with strands of dark‑red destructive thunder.

The two massive dragons collided violently above Chang'an City.

There was no earth‑shaking explosion.

The golden divine dragon opened its huge maw and snapped its jaws around the black demonic dragon's neck.

No matter how the black demonic dragon struggled or bit, it could not break free.

A flash of dark‑red lightning flickered in the golden dragon's eye.

"Crack."

The black demonic dragon's body fragmented inch by inch, turning into the purest Primordial Source killing aura, which the golden dragon greedily swallowed into its belly.

After devouring the black dragon, the dark‑red markings on the golden dragon's body grew deeper.

It let out a satisfied roar, spiraled back to Sun Wukong's hand, and reverted to the Golden Cudgel.

The Dark Great Sage stood frozen in place.

He looked at his empty hands, feeling the link with his personal divine weapon completely severed, and for the first time his face showed a terrified expression.

"No... impossible..."

"Nothing is impossible."

The figure of Sun Wukong, at some point, had already appeared before him.

One finger lightly tapped the Dark Great Sage's forehead.

"You are a part of me."

"Now, it's time to return."

There was no resistance.

The Dark Great Sage's body, under Sun Wukong's fingertip, turned into streams of pure black qi, all of which were drawn into Sun Wukong's body.

Sun Wukong closed his eyes, carefully feeling the regained power.

A long while.

He opened his eyes again.

Those Fiery Golden Eyes were still a brilliant gold.

Only within that gold, a deep shade of dark‑red had appeared.

It seemed that a single glance could cause a soul to fall into an endless hell.

Mixed Origin Great Luo Golden Immortal.

Mid‑stage! Achieved.

Now it's time to think about what comes next......