Chapter 161: Knowing All with a Single Thought

Having surveyed the five thousand years of history, Zhou Shuo scattered his spirit and form anew, falling back into the endless void, beholding the myriad worlds; he saw countless time‑space layers stacked, within each life and death flickering uncertainly, all things playing out before him like a television drama.

The flow speed of each time‑space differs; some have not finished a meal while others have already exploded from a singularity to world destruction; every being in each world has its own unique experience, and Zhou Shuo, standing in the void, can feel every life in every void.

As Zhou Shuo gazed upon all things, his two bodies—one placed atop Flower Fruit Mountain in the special Journey to the West world, the other in the Asura Palace of the Divine Sword Peak on Dian Border in the Shu Mountain Sword‑Hero world—began to lose all their cultivation, not disappearing but rather merging completely with himself.

From full qi and full spirit to spirit‑qi unity, then to refining spirit to return to void, and harmonizing with heaven and earth as one—these several steps of cultivation were completed in a single step while Zhou Shuo beheld the myriad realms, directly entering the state of Wukong; his mind and gaze reached everywhere in the void‑realm.

"Ah, there's so much going on!" Zhou Shuo, in the state of the empty realm, glanced back at his own experiences, couldn't help but twitch his mouth; from Yang Spirit to Qin Era, then to One Person Under, then to Shu Mountain, and now to this special—well, it should be the Dream Journey to the West world—he has stirred up too much trouble, and this loose end is hard to tie.

Though the ending is hard to tie, Zhou Shuo cannot avoid it, after all there is still a hundred‑thousand‑li road; if he does not walk those hundred‑thousand‑li, no one will let him off, for he has left too many loose ends behind.

His primordial spirit merged with the myriad voids; Zhou Shuo stirred a thought, and several strands of primordial spirit separated from his body, entering respectively the worlds of Yang Spirit, Qin Era, One Person Under, Shu Mountain, and Dream Journey to the West that he had experienced; some directly acted with their original bodies, while others naturally sprouted new bodies.

"Hey, hey, big brother, who are you, why are you sleeping alone here?" A clear voice came from beside his ear; Zhou Shuo—or rather his clone—opened his eyes, looking at the lovely maiden before him; she wore a tight‑fit outfit, her pair of white legs showing beneath the skirt, her long hair tied into a ponytail at the back, a headband binding her forehead.

"I! I got lost in heaven." Zhou Shuo looked at the maiden, blinked his eyes, then glanced up at the sky, raised his own hands to look, touched his face; this was no longer the borrowed body he used, but his original appearance, identical to his Shu Mountain body, only the karma differed.

Although his appearance changed, even if he met the Bone Spirit again, the Bone Spirit would still recognize him, for everything he is in this world has already been fully integrated into his true self, or rather, he himself has made a slight modification.

"Got lost in heaven?" A slightly heavy clear voice came from the side; Zhou Shuo turned his head, seeing another maiden in a tight‑fit long skirt, with plum‑blossom‑parted bangs on her forehead, a pair of short swords hanging at her waist, standing there with heroic vigor.

"Yeah! Any problem?" Zhou Shuo looked at the heroic maiden, slightly tilted his head.

"No real problem, just that you almost got eaten by a tiger." The heroic maiden looked at Zhou Shuo, pointed her hand at a rock nearby; amid the bloodstains, a tiger lay belly‑up.

"Alas, for a mere mouthful of blood food, he wasted his life—truly a pity." Zhou Shuo looked at the tiger lying in a pool of blood nearby, couldn't help but shake his head and sigh; "Old tiger buddy, your luck really sucks."

"You're really interesting, you know you almost got eaten by a tiger in your sleep, aren't you afraid?" The lovely maiden stared at Zhou Shuo with a pure‑innocent face, a hint of playful interest on her visage.

"Between life and death there is naturally great terror, but once you have my experience, you won't feel that way anymore, because life and death are inherently impermanent." Zhou Shuo looked at the pure‑innocent maiden, smiled and replied; he had been eaten by a tiger, at worst he would just spawn another body; if that body followed its original course, it should have long turned to dry bones!

"What exactly have you experienced?" The pure‑innocent maiden widened her eyes.

"Alright, Yanzi, stop wasting words with this lunatic, we still need to go find Great Sage." The heroic maiden looked at her pure‑innocent companion being attracted by Zhou Shuo, couldn't help but frown.

"As his junior sister, you call him 'grandfather'; how should your master, Patriarch Bodhi, be reckoned?" Zhou Shuo looked at the heroic maiden raising her eyebrows; the maiden before him was none other than a disciple of the Sect of Square Inch Mountain, another disciple of Patriarch Bodhi, her true name unknown, everyone calls her Heroic Maiden, a very fitting name; as for the pure‑innocent maiden accompanying her, she is called Flying Swallow Maiden, a successor of the Daughter Village of Aolai Country.

"You know me?" Heroic Maiden raised her eyebrows.

"In this myriad universe, I know all with a single thought." Zhou Shuo looked at the distrustful maiden, shook his head; he was not boasting, his primordial spirit has merged with the void, able to travel through time; though he cannot interfere with past or future, this ability of knowing all with a single thought still exists.

"Really or not, big brother, tell me, tell me, uh, who founded our Daughter Village?" Flying Swallow Maiden looked at Zhou Shuo, couldn't help but widen her eyes.

"What's hard about that? The person's name is Xu Yuzhen, ancestral home in Wuhan, Hubei—well, I'm just teasing you; the founder of your Daughter Village is actually the Nine‑Phoenix, a great human sage; of course some also regard her as a witch‑clan sage, that's getting far off; your Daughter Village excels in concealed weapons, its martial arts famed for beautiful postures, and it also possesses a classic on poison…."

Zhou Shuo, relying on his ability to know past and future with a single thought, began to recount the origins and lineage of the Daughter Village and its cultivation methods; the early talk of founders etc. was nothing much, but when he got to the successive Village Chiefs of the Daughter Village, Flying Swallow Maiden had to stare wide‑eyed.

"Wow, you really know?" Flying Swallow Maiden couldn't help but exclaim in surprise; earlier she had heard only vague rumors, but when it came to the deeper secrets and the successive Village Chiefs, she found it intimately familiar.

"What exactly are you?" Heroic Maiden looked at her startled companion, likewise amazed at Zhou Shuo; could this guy really know past and future with a single thought?

"Me? My surname is Zhou, given name Shuo; some have called me Great Sage, some have called me a rascal—those are all me; I am here waiting for you; next, I will go with you to see Sun Wukong, persuade him to abandon the mundane and follow the Dao, join the quest for the scriptures; only by obtaining the true scriptures can one cleanse the dust of all beings' hearts."

Zhou Shuo looked at the adorably pure Flying Swallow Maiden, couldn't help but boast loudly to win her astonished admiration; as for Heroic Maiden, he adopted an air of confidence, picking up girls is always like this—one must present a state that astonishes the other, striking her aesthetic and curiosity.

"……" Heroic Maiden looked at the chest‑full‑of‑confidence guy, couldn't help but raise her handsome brows; really or not, what's the origin of this guy, does he truly have the ability to know past and future with a single thought?

"Well, let's go now! To that mountain peak over there, Sun Wukong is up there!" Zhou Shuo looked at Heroic Maiden, couldn't help but jump up, pointing his hand at a mountain peak amid the distant mist.

In fact, Sun Wukong is not on that mountain peak but in the Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain; however, to pick up girls one must have confidence while also showing some flaws, then create a kind of contradictory intersection, thus better highlighting one's strengths and weaknesses, appearing more human and easy‑going.

If he were truly supremely divine, appearing non‑human, people would either fear or respect him, not love him; well, using the thought of knowing all with a single thought to pick up girls—speaking in a general sense, I should count as a scattered soul, wouldn't I be accused of NTR? Forget it; myriad worlds are one person, I pursue spiritual love, not long legs, elder‑sister types, pure maidens, lolis, or domineering girlfriends—I'm not after those.

"Go." Heroic Maiden looked at Zhou Shuo's confident pointing, couldn't help but twitch her heroic brows, uttering only a single word.

"Well, go go go, we'll go down the mountain first, then climb up again." Zhou Shuo leapt up at once.

"You can't fly?" Flying Swallow Maiden stared wide‑eyed in surprise.

"No, can you? That would be great; you must definitely bring me along, when I came up I was exhausted from climbing, oh, forgot, I have acrophobia, when you use a flight talisman you must be sure to bring me." Zhou Shuo scratched his head; how to put it! Flying is out of the question, if you can fly you still look for excuses to get close to girls.

"Then let me carry you!" Flying Swallow Maiden looked at Zhou Shuo's appearance, couldn't help but speak bluntly.

"Sure, sure!" Zhou Shuo nodded without hesitation; Flying Swallow Maiden and Heroic Maiden, either one is fine, hehe.

"Hmph, let me carry you." Heroic Maiden was about to speak, but seeing her pure‑innocent companion, she couldn't help but feel a headache; I say, little sis, Flower Fruit Mountain is so dangerous, he ran all the way to the summit to sleep alone, not fearing a tiger bite—do you think he fears these?

Although she really wanted to retort, Heroic Maiden couldn't say it outright because of sisterly bonds; thus she would rather go to hell herself than let another go, and Zhou Shuo! The pure‑innocent little sis and the heroic elder sis—getting close to either is no loss!

"Later I'll make you look good." Heroic Maiden stared at Zhou Shuo's constant nodding, her phoenix‑narrowed eyes locked tight, mentally sizing up; later she'll give him a good look in the heavens, toss him down, or pour a bellyful of wind into him.

"Heroic Maiden, you must definitely bring me along, I'm afraid of heights……" Zhou Shuo laughed, looking at the heroic elder sis, chatting idly, heart secretly giggling; little sis, your temperament and past are all in my mind, you think I don't know you're trying to trap me? Picture‑picture broken, I truly fear that you won't trap me, won't notice me—then I'd be like a dog biting a hedgehog, unable to let go!