Chapter 280

"Southern Continent..."

Zhao Si muttered this iconic place name, furrowed his brow and pondered:

"This is obviously the world setting of Journey to the West."

Although Journey to the West and Fengshen Yanyi share the same primordial flow as basic setting sources, their specific background details are still quite different.

Simply put, the world of Journey to the West has four continents: East, West, South, and North. East Victory Divine Continent is mainly where immortals gather, North Kuru Continent is mainly where demons gather, and Xiniu Hezhou is mainly the domain of Buddhism.

Only the Southern Continent is mainly inhabited by humans, and the Tang Dynasty in Journey to the West is located there.

"However, there should be no Tang Dynasty yet; theoretically it's still the Qin-Han period, because the monkey hasn't yet taken Bodhi Patriarch as his teacher..."

Although the system explicitly said this isn't Journey to the West, since so many Journey to the West settings appear, it's not bad to treat this chapter as if it were Journey to the West for planning.

"The monkey wanted to learn the Immortality Technique, so he set out from Mount Huaguo in the East Victory Divine Continent, passed through the Southern Continent, and finally met the Bodhi Patriarch in Xiniu Hezhou."

"Now it has left the Southern Continent, which means its next stop is the Bodhi Patriarch's Lingtai Fangcun Shan..."

Zhao Si showed a thoughtful expression:

"So, the protagonist should actually agree to go with it to seek immortality; if he goes, it's highly likely he could become a disciple of the Bodhi Patriarch together with the monkey!"

The protagonist obviously suffered a loss! "But... his thought isn't wrong; as an adult and the family's mainstay, with elders above and children below, if he really ran off with the monkey to seek immortality, this family that's just started to improve would be ruined."

Not everyone can abandon home recklessly like Li Xiuyuan of Ji Gong.

Moreover, even Ji Gong's Li Xiuyuan, after abandoning his family, caused his newlywed wife to go mad, his parents passed away one after another, his property was totally seized, it was horrible beyond description...

Therefore, the protagonist is undoubtedly a very wise and responsible ordinary mortal; he has a clear understanding of himself and knows he couldn't possibly board the monkey's ship.

The monkey can be carefree, but humans cannot; the ocean between ideal and reality is still too vast to cross!

"Furthermore, actually he doesn't have to go."

Zhao Si narrowed his eyes: "If the monkey is truly the Monkey King from Journey to the West, then this journey will certainly allow him to become a disciple of the Bodhi Patriarch in Xiniu Hezhou, and within about ten years he can achieve great supernatural powers and become the Great Sage Equal to Heaven."

"And the monkey repays kindness; a fully accomplished monkey will certainly not forget his angel investor, and since he said he would bring him to immortality, he will definitely do so!"

"So, even if the protagonist doesn't go on a risky sea voyage, as long as the monkey survives these ten-odd years, he will certainly be able to achieve immortality later."

Of course, all this is based on the premise that the monkey is truly Sun Wukong; as for that, Zhao Si dare not guarantee it! The system's nature is too strong, with countless past offenses, it loves to pull stunts; who knows if it will mess up the adaptation this time? What if it sets a plot where the monkey falls into the sea halfway and drowns...

"Just in case, let the protagonist first cultivate immortality himself; no matter what sudden situation arises, as long as we ensure he has enough martial power to protect himself, it won't be a problem."

Anyway, we don't need to demand the protagonist be invincible in the first round; just let him practice casually, mainly we wait for the monkey to see if it will return after seeking immortality.

Then, let the protagonist learn as much as possible about the world background before the first round ends, for use in the second round; this has almost become a set pattern...

"In short, the world line is currently unclear; at least in the first round we need to check out the Heavenly Court's situation—once we know who the Heavenly Emperor is, we can roughly determine the world line."

The plan set, Zhao Si tidied up a bit and issued the round's first active command: "Copy a copy of Jin Bing's universal immortal technique and send it to him, then have him practice diligently, striving to achieve immortality as soon as possible!"

【Ding! Your order has been carried out as instructed, remaining uses this round: (two)!】

【You were gazing at the rowing monkey whose trail had vanished, feeling a surge of emotion… suddenly a piece of information popped into your mind; you stared blankly for a moment, then realized from the admonition of "another self" that this was actually an immortal technique!】

【Immortal technique…… obtained this easily?!】

【You were both shocked and delighted—shocked by the vast supernatural powers of "another self," delighted that you could finally fulfill your childhood dream of cultivating immortality and attaining the Dao!】

【Thus you didn't hesitate at all, immediately beginning to try cultivation……】

【One day, two days, three days……】

【After three days of arduous training, strangely, you couldn't even cultivate a trace of magical power!】

【Not only did you fail to cultivate any magical power, but you fainted from hunger after three days without food; your family was frightened by your strange behavior, and your daughter repeatedly cried, begging you not to die……】

Ah? Zhao Si stared blankly:

"After three days straight, you didn't even cultivate a single fart?"

This is obviously not a matter of aptitude! Zhao Si couldn't help but recall Xue Xuan at the start of the game, when the Dharma-ending era lacked heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, causing him also to fail to cultivate any magical power.

Could it be… the same reason this time?

"No way! With the monkey studying under a master, even if this isn't Journey to the West, it should be an age of abundant spiritual energy; otherwise a stone-born monkey like this couldn't exist!"

Therefore, it shouldn't be due to the spiritual energy.

"Then why is that?"

Zhao Si racked his brains for half a day, and could only attribute the cause to… the cultivation method. "Could it be… that the method is wrong?"

But that shouldn't be the case; Jin Bing's technique is the orthodox transmission of the Taiqing lineage, used by Jiaoming, the No. 3 little bird, and Xue Xuan, and they all used it normally, so why does this new protagonist alone fail to use it? "Strange…"

Zhao Si pondered over it but couldn't figure it out, so he could only frown at the newly refreshed information, trying to find an answer from within…

【During the New Year celebrations, your miraculous act of fainting from hunger made the family members who should have been happily celebrating very worried.】

【Fortunately, you merely fainted from hunger; after waking, you drank some fish-meat porridge, slept a little half day, and then returned to normal.】

【Seeing you were fine, everyone who had breathed a sigh of relief then continued the festivities……】

【It seems everything is as usual.】

【But in your mind you wondered: why wouldn't the immortal technique work?】

【You didn't doubt that "another self" was deceiving you, because it had no need to lie; the immortal technique is definitely genuine!】

【Then the problem must lie within yourself……】

【You thought it over and believed it's likely due to your poor aptitude, lack of immortal affinity, or being too old—after all, you're already twenty-six, and theoretically for learning anything you've passed the ideal age……】

【You found a bunch of shortcomings in yourself to doubt, ultimately blaming the problem entirely on yourself.】

【As an ordinary mortal, seeking immortality is still too beyond the scope; your life ought to be ordinary, and you're accustomed to ordinariness……】

【From this day on, you will no longer treat seeking immortality as a dream; let the fantasies of your youth dissipate into the mundane realities of rice, firewood, oil, and salt—illusions will always be defeated by reality.】

【……】

【The days just passed like that.】

【One day, one month, one year……】

【Time seemed to hit the fast-forward button; as you grew older, you felt time passing faster: as a child, you thought a year was incredibly long, no matter how you played you could never finish playing.】

After growing up, a year feels too short again; you also feel you haven't accomplished much, and the year passes in a hurry.

And that monkey who rowed out to sea also gradually faded in your memory; you slowly forgot what it exactly looked like, and many details of your time together are no longer clear...

You only remember that it was a big, golden monkey, its will very firm, believing it could surely find the immortal of its dreams and then learn the immortality technique.

And it promised you that it would return here in the future, sharing with you a portion of the longevity method it learned from the immortal...

Of course, you don't actually hope it will fulfill its promise to you, because you're quite satisfied with your life: your parents are long-lived, your wife loves you, your daughter is healthy and cute, you also have a successful career—living such a life, you are already content.

You only wish that the monkey wouldn't capsize mid‑journey; even if it couldn't find the immortal, you don't want it to drown in the sea and become fish food, after all, it's your friend.

Sometimes you also think it's rather stupid—clearly it's a demon, naturally living far longer than mortals, and besides, it's the Monkey King of its hometown, able to get whatever it wants, with all the monkeys on the island as its lackeys!

As a result, it surprisingly gave up those attachments easily, daring to sail across the ocean on a rickety raft, risking its life, merely to search for the illusive immortality technique for its monkey descendants...

This is a stupid monkey.

But it's also a cute monkey, even more, an admirable monkey!

Although you can't achieve its freedom from worldly ties, you also won't mock its steadfast will.

In short, that strange monkey gradually faded from a concrete image in your mind, sublimating into a unique symbol...

Your family business in the city keeps growing, yet you don't show off—your food, clothing, housing, and travel are just like ordinary people's, outsiders don't know how wealthy you really are; this is a way of protecting yourself.

You also believe that as long as you hide among ordinary people, you can avoid most troubles.

But gradually, you notice that the situation seems a bit off...

Starting from when you were thirty‑five, the originally low taxes suddenly rose; this tax hike caused prices in the city to surge, instantly ruining many small and medium merchants!

Fortunately, you noticed something was wrong in advance and responded promptly, thus escaping harm.

Soon after, one piece of major news after another spread!

"Demons in the west have gathered bandits and begun attacking the villages!"

"The demons know evil magic; one only needs to make people drink the talisman water, and they become invulnerable to blades and spears!"

"The government army has been defeated! The government army has been defeated!"

……

(End of chapter)