Chapter 824: The Monkey

"Immortal!" "Immortal! Wait for me!"

Above the Donghai, Su Fan was flying when he suddenly heard a sound from below. He lowered his head and swept his Divine Sense across.

He discovered a wooden raft on the surging waves, and on the raft was what looked like a person—no, a monkey.

Su Fan's eyes widened in an instant.

A monkey!

And a monkey that could talk, drifting across the Donghai on a wooden raft.

What kind of scene was this? Su Fan immediately thought of one world.

"Could it really be the Journey to the West world?"

Su Fan couldn't help but mutter.

After all, this was very similar to the opening of Journey to the West.

Su Fan descended and landed on the wooden raft, looking at the golden-haired monkey before him.

"Monkey, was it you who called me?"

"Immortal, Immortal!"

"It was little monkey who called you."

"Little monkey wishes to take the Immortal as his master; please, Immortal, teach little monkey the magic technique for longevity."

Having said this, the monkey bowed down toward Su Fan.

Seeing this, Su Fan was eighty percent certain in his heart that this was very likely the Journey to the West world.

He had not expected that he would truly arrive in this world.

Moreover, he had just encountered the Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong, who had just left Huaguoshan.

"Little monkey, this poor Taoist is no Immortal; you have mistaken me for someone else."

"No mistake! No mistake!"

"Immortal, you can fly; all who can fly are Immortals."

This monkey was quite shrewd; seeing Su Fan, he was determined to latch onto a powerful figure no matter what.

"Monkey, this poor Taoist is merely a Qi Refiner, not a true Immortal, and this poor Taoist does not know any technique for longevity."

Su Fan shook his head. He was currently at the Primordial Spirit Stage and had nearly tens of thousands of years to live, but he was not necessarily going to live longer than this Lingming Stone Monkey, who was born of Heaven and Earth.

Even if this monkey did not cultivate, his lifespan would be extremely long.

After all, his true form was a Five-Colored Divine Stone used by the Nuwa Great God for Mending Heaven. His foundation was so profound that, while perhaps not equal to those top-tier Innate Divines of the Mythical World, he was certainly no worse than the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect.

It was merely that his time of birth was too late.

However, after experiencing the Journey to the West, the monkey's cultivation also caught up to those Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect.

In terms of strength, he was not a bit inferior to Yang Jian, and perhaps even slightly above him.

And as for Yang Jian, though he was only a third-generation disciple of the Chan Sect, his aptitude was extremely powerful due to his half-human, half-god bloodline; coupled with the Eight-Nine Divine Art he cultivated, he achieved Fleshly Sanctification.

After the Investiture of the Gods, his tens of thousands of years of cultivation had caught up to the second-generation disciples of the Chan Sect, and he was even above them.

After the monkey experienced the Journey to the West and gained Merit, his cultivation was also incomparably formidable.

Of course, even without cultivation, this monkey had absorbed the essence of Heaven and Earth and the brilliance of the sun and moon for countless years before he gained sentience.

Once he was born, his Fleshly Body was already extremely powerful, and his lifespan was long.

It was just that the monkey himself had no sense of it.

Otherwise, could a truly ordinary monkey have safely crossed the Donghai from Huaguoshan? One must know that the waves on the Donghai were surging; let alone his small wooden raft, even the great warships of the Great Qin might not have been safe.

Yet this monkey was able to cross it safely.

Clearly, his own physical constitution was extremely strong; he just didn't know how to utilize it.

"I beg the Immortal to teach little monkey the technique for longevity."

The monkey didn't care what kind of Qi Refiner Su Fan was; in his eyes, Su Fan was an Immortal.

But Su Fan dared not teach this fellow any technique for longevity, and it was even more impossible for him to become his master.

After all, there was Karma involved in this; the monkey only had two masters: one was that Ancestor of Sanxing Cave, and the other was Tang Seng, the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi.

No one else was qualified.

Or rather, the Buddhist Sect would not allow their Protector to become someone else's pawn.

Even if no major figures were currently casting their gaze upon the monkey, it was hard to guarantee there wouldn't be some hidden schemes.

Thinking of this, Su Fan felt his heart tighten even more.

Although this monkey was the protagonist, unfortunately, his fate had already been arranged by those major figures; it was simply impossible for him to escape this cage.

According to some dark interpretations, that monkey from Journey to the West had already died during the incident of the True and False Monkey King.

The one who finished the pilgrimage in the end was that Six-Eared Macaque.

Otherwise, why would the monkey's combat prowess become increasingly pathetic later on, to the point where he would run to ask the Immortals in Heaven for help whenever he encountered demons or monsters?

The monkey's nature was originally so unruly and proud, especially regarding his face.

He was someone who would push himself to the limit, but later on, it was as if he had become a different person.

It is no wonder some interpret that after the True and False Monkey King, the unruly monkey was truly too difficult to tame, and the Buddhist Sect needed an obedient thug, not that Handsome Monkey King who wanted to cover the sky so it could not block his eyes.

Therefore, they finished him off and replaced him with an obedient Six-Eared Macaque.

This seems to be very consistent with the Buddhist Sect's usual conduct.

Of course, this is just a dramatization; as for what the real world was actually like, no one knows.

And Su Fan did not want to delve into the facts of this.

After all, he was nothing but an ant facing the behemoth that was the Buddhist Sect.

According to the trajectory of this Journey to the West world, it followed the aftermath of the Investiture of the Gods world, where the Honghuang shattered and became the Earth Immortal World.

And this Earth Immortal World cannot withstand those Saints, so in the current Journey to the West World, the strongest should be the avatars of Saints like Taishang Laojun.

Although Buddhism has no Saints, whether it is Duobao Tathagata Buddha, Randeng Gufu, or the Future Buddha, they are all top-tier powerhouses.

The strength of Buddhism is no weaker than the Heavenly Court.

After the Heavenly Court experienced the Investiture of the Gods, the disciples of the Three Teachings, especially the disciples of the Jie Sect, all ended up on the Investiture List, and logically speaking, they are all people of the Heavenly Court.

However, in reality, although the Jade Emperor is the superior of these people, it is unfortunately still very difficult to issue orders to them.

These disciples of the Three Teachings, even after being on the Investiture List, remain very cold, or even hostile, toward the Jade Emperor.

It is true that the War of Investiture was the Human Teachings and the Chan Sect joining forces against the Jie Sect, and both sides had personal grudges, but if it weren't for that Jade Emperor running to Zixiao Palace to lodge a complaint at the beginning, none of those things would have happened.

Therefore, in the final analysis, all of this was caused by the Jade Emperor.

Naturally, whether it is the people of the Jie Sect or the disciples of the Chan Sect, they have always only followed orders but ignored summons from that Jade Emperor, and sometimes, they do not even follow orders, completely treating the other party's words as farting.

Thus, the power of the Jade Emperor or the Heavenly Court can be imagined; it is not considered strong.

This is also the origin of the Journey to the West event; the Jade Emperor saw this situation and thought of borrowing the power of Buddhism.

It can be said that this Jade Emperor is a troublemaker.

But regardless, Su Fan is still very clear about the strength of Buddhism.

And this monkey is the master of the Qi of Luck chosen for this era, so Su Fan naturally does not dare to arrange anything.

This monkey is not the protagonist of other worlds, and the big shots of this Earth Immortal World might stare at the monkey from time to time.

Su Fan does not have the guts to make a move on him.