Chapter 54: If You Sweep This Broom, You Might Die

Kunlun Mountain, Yuxu Palace.

The meteor blazing with Chaos fire did not actually shatter this Saint's Daoist arena.

At the instant it was about to touch the golden summit of Yuxu Palace, a large hand as white as jade materialized out of thin air and casually grasped it.

Snap.

The world‑shattering meteor turned to powder in the palm, leaving only a jet‑black scroll.

It is a war decree from Deep Chaos.

Yuxu Palace, which had sealed the gates of countless Yuan Assemblies, burst open with a roar.

Wind and snow swirl backward.

A middle‑aged Dàorén clad in a boundless Dao robe slowly stepped out.

With each step he took, a golden lotus blossomed beneath his feet, and the Great Dao's law cheered around him as if greeting the true Sovereign.

Primordial Heavenly Venerable.

Patriarch of the Chan Sect, Pangu Orthodoxy.

He never even glanced at the war decree from Chaos, casually tossing it into the chaotic void.

His gaze pierced the layers of clouds, turning eastward toward the demon‑aura‑filled Mount Huaguo.

"Those fur‑clad, horn‑wearing brutes, monkey‑like and crowned—how dare they usurp the Heavenly Court?"

The Primordial Heavenly Venerable snorted coldly.

The sound was not loud, yet it shook Kunlun Mountain's millennial snow, triggering a massive avalanche.

Twelve shafts of golden light shot out from Yuxu Palace's depths, landing before the steps and forming twelve human silhouettes.

Guang Chengzi, Chi Jingzi, Taiyi Zhenren and the other twelve Golden Immortals knelt in unison, daring not to breathe.

"Master." Guang Chengzi bowed his head.

"That reckless monkey has disrupted cause and effect, broken the cosmic order," the Primordial Heavenly Venerable said coolly, twirling a jade ruyi in his hand, "If the Heavenly Dao is absent, does the rule also cease to exist?"

He despises the demon race.

Back then, during the sealing of the gods, he used this as a pretext, allied with the Two Western Saints to scheme against the Patriarch of the Tongtian Sect, and the grand scene of the Jie Sect's Ten Thousand Immortals paying tribute collapsed in an instant.

Now a beast that sprang from a stone dares to ride atop a Saint's head and defecate, even establishing some so‑called "Demon Court."

He cannot tolerate that arrogance.

"Follow me out of the mountain." The Primordial Heavenly Venerable flipped his palm, and a long banner radiating destructive aura materialized in his hand.

Pangu Banner.

First Treasure of Conquest.

"Today, we shall level Mount Huaguo and re‑establish the Heavenly Edicts."

…

Mount Huaguo, Water Curtain Cave.

Sun Wukong was reclining on a ten‑thousand‑year cold jade chair, idly toying with a Bagua Mirror he had obtained from Supreme Venerable Laozi.

Snap.

The mirror surface suddenly cracked open a fissure.

A bone‑piercing chill surged from the far‑west's extreme cold, bearing straight for his brow.

Heh.

Sun Wukong casually tossed the broken mirror aside, stretched lazily, and his joints cracked loudly.

"These days, those seeking death still have to queue?"

Kong Xuan was carrying a plate of freshly peeled grapes when she heard him; her hand trembled, and the crystal‑purple grapes scattered across the ground.

She sensed the terrifying pressure emanating from Kunlun Mountain.

It was a Saint.

Or rather, the most self‑protective, ostentatious, and contemptuous Primordial Heavenly Venerable.

"I'll go summon help and activate the mountain‑guarding formation," Kong Xuan set the plate down, turned, and prepared to issue orders.

"Return."

Sun Wukong seized her wrist and pulled her back beside him.

He picked up a grape from the ground, unbothered by its dirt, wiped it off and tossed it into his mouth.

"Fighting a bunch of bull‑nose old Daoists and still leading troops? What does old Sun become then?"

"But that's the Chan Sect; the Primordial Heavenly Venerable wields the Pangu Banner…"

Kong Xuan's voice tightened.

"What of the Pangu Banner?"

Sun Wukong rose, brushed dust from his body, and smoothed the collar that Kong Xuan had disheveled.

"Before, I feared them because I had no backing, just a fatherless, motherless wild monkey. Now…"

He reached out and touched the broken broom hidden within his Original Spirit.

His fingertip brushed the rough bamboo shaft, and his mind instantly steadied.

"My backing is larger than Heaven itself."

"Watch over the home, warm the wine, and wait for me to return for dinner."

Before his words finished, a flash of golden light.

The seat was empty, only the grape pit slid and spun on the floor.

…

Kunlun Mountain summit.

Goose-feather heavy snow fell like blades.

The whole world was a blank white, filled with a killing Deathly Silence.

The twelve Golden Immortals stood in two rows, each holding a Dharma treasure, ready in formation.

Yuanshi Tianzun sat cross-legged upon the Nine Dragons Sandalwood Palanquin, hovering in midair, looking down upon the winding mountain path below, like a god gazing at ants.

A golden light tore through the sky.

It slowed not at all, gave no warning.

"Boom!"

The golden light smashed directly onto the white marble square before the Jade Void Palace.

The shockwave rolled, flinging the thick snow aloft to reveal the black frozen ground below.

Sun Wukong strode out of the smoke and dust, shouldering his Golden Cudgel.

He wore neither the imposing golden chainmail nor the splendid golden armor, only a plain cloth robe, looking like a farmer just come in from the fields.

Yet among the twelve Golden Immortals present, the hands holding their Dharma treasures trembled slightly.

A person's name, a tree's shadow.

This monkey not long ago tore apart the Fómén, then beat the Hóngjūn Dàozǔ back to the Purple Heaven Palace.

Who wouldn't fear?

Only Yuanshi Tianzun remained expressionless, lofty above.

"Reckless monkey."

The Saint spoke, and his words followed the law.

Those two words were like two Tai Gu Shen Shan mountains, bearing the supreme law, pressing heavily upon Sun Wukong's shoulders.

"Upon seeing me, why do you not kneel?"

Yuanshi Tianzun's Pangu Banner trembled slightly in his hand, the chaotic sword energy ebbing and flowing, as if it might strike down at any moment to tear apart this monkey who knows neither heaven's height nor earth's depth.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the Saint's awe-inspiring pressure to break this monkey's spine.

Waiting for this lawless beast to reveal its Fear Heart Demon ugliness and kneel begging for mercy.

However.

Sun Wukong merely tilted his head and dug at his ear.

"Kneel?"

Sun Wukong snorted a laugh, that laugh especially grating on the silent Kunlun Mountain.

"Old man, did you close off your cultivation and break your brain?"

"Even Hongjun would get beaten when he sees my master—what are you, a scallion?"

Yuanshi Tianzun flew into a rage.

Since attaining Sainthood, over billions of years, no one has ever dared to speak to him like this.

"Impudent!"

Guang Chengzi stepped forward—this was an excellent opportunity to earn merit.

His Heaven-Overturning Seal met the storm, swelling, transforming into the might of Mount Tai pressing down, bearing the power to destroy heaven and earth, straight for Sun Wukong's celestial crown.

"I will discipline you on behalf of my master, you beast who knows neither heaven's height nor earth's depth!"

Sun Wukong didn't even glance at the Heaven-Overturning Seal falling above his head.

He merely raised his hand.

Not to take the Golden Cudgel on his shoulder.

But to reach into his bosom and slowly pull out something.

"Courting death!" Guang Chengzi saw his arrogance, his heart leapt with joy, he pushed his magic to the limit, vowing to kill with a single strike.

Just as the Heaven-Overturning Seal was less than three inches from Sun Wukong's head, the wild wind even messed up the tuft of hair on his head.

Sun Wukong's hand finally produced something.

What he grasped was no peerless divine weapon.

But a broom.

An utterly ordinary broom, its bamboo somewhat yellowed, with a few dry leaves still clinging to it.

Sun Wukong backhandedly swept it.

As if shooing away an annoying fly.

"Pop."

The broom's tip lightly brushed the Heaven-Overturning Seal.

That Heaven-Overturning Seal, touted as the supreme attack treasure of the later heaven, capable of smashing even a Great Luo Golden Immortal into pulp.

Not even a cry of anguish escaped.

It directly exploded into heavenly dust.

Guang Chengzi spat a mouthful of blood, his whole body as if struck by lightning, he flew backward and slammed heavily onto the gate of the Jade Void Palace, life or death unknown.

The entire field fell into Deathly Silence.

The wind ceased, the snow stopped.

On Yuanshi Tianzun's originally calm as an ancient well face, his lofty expression instantly froze, then his muscles twitched violently.

He stared fixedly at that broken broom.

In the depths of his pupils surged an unprecedented tremor rising from the depths of his Línghún.

Sun Wukong held the broom, lightly patted his palm, then lifted his head and swayed it toward Yuanshi Tianzun atop the Nine Dragons Sandalwood Palanquin.

Old geezer.

You know what this thing is?