"So, Basil is actually inside the Gate of No Gate?" Bellatrix asked.
Just now, Jin Yanzi recounted her background and the person she kept seeing in her dreams.
A few hours earlier, the man had once again drawn her into a dream, allowing her to meet Bellatrix.
"Impossible." Lu Yan shook his head. "There are only the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother in the [Gate of No Gate]."
Bellatrix's lips twitched. She thought of a possibility: could it be that Basil had become the Jade Emperor and had been having a good time with the Queen Mother all these years?
"Perhaps, Basil is the Jade Emperor."
If the Jade Emperor heard this, he would surely vomit blood.
If the Queen Mother heard this, she would definitely nod repeatedly. How could my man not be considered the Jade Emperor?
"Impossible." Jin Yanzi's eyes were filled with deep emotion. "How could Young Master Li be that old geezer, the Jade Emperor? Besides, the Jade Emperor is already dead."
"Is this the reason?" Lu Yan's eyes were slightly red.
He didn't actually fail the exam to become an immortal from mortal status. In fact, he even awakened to his true nature and used wine as Immortal Pill of immortality, so people called him the Drunken Immortal.
He said he failed and didn't meet the requirements.
It's because he only transformed halfway and was unwilling to give up his own side.
He's just a Half-Immortal.
He questioned whether true immortals needed to relinquish human desires to achieve immortality, and did not believe that being without desires and isolated from the world was what made an immortal. If that were the case, he would rather be a mortal who cares for and accepts others.
Furthermore, he vaguely suspected that the Jade Emperor deliberately allowed the Jade Frontier God of War to run rampant.
Now, he realizes he was wrong.
It's all because the Jade Emperor is dead.
Lu Yan felt a lump in his throat; perhaps the immortal was truly about to appear.
"Why are you crying?" Jin Yanzi's words interrupted Lu Yan's thoughts. She frowned. "The dignified Drunken Immortal is actually crying. Do you think the Jade Emperor is some kind of good person?"
Do you think Young Master Li would kill an innocent person?
"Huh?" Lu Yan stopped crying halfway through.
Even Half-Immortal is still an immortal, so he can easily do things that humans cannot.
For example, like this where the tears stop instantly.
In the original timeline, even without drinking his Immortal Pill, he could endure injuries that would be fatal to mortals, surviving until he went up the mountain with the Zen monks to steal the immortal wine.
Unlike Lu Yan, Bellatrix wasn't too surprised.
The gods in the Old Testament were even more cruel.
The existence of hell is what makes heaven so beautiful.
Only with demons can God's majesty be displayed.
Jason was pondering which martial art to learn first.
An Feng was worried that since the Jade Emperor was dead, she might not be able to return even after completing the Skywalker's mission.
"The Jade Emperor was the first Innate Divine Being born in the Middle-earth," said Jin Yanzi. "In mythology, he found the path to immortality and then generously shared it by brewing immortal wine with his own jade, cinnabar, Mercury, and salt."
"But in reality, it's a lie."
"In Middle-earth, every living being on this continent possesses an immortal nature."
"As long as one is awake, one can live forever."
"This isn't Earth?" Bellatrix exclaimed in surprise. After meeting the young Lu Yan, she had always thought she had returned to the past.
"No, Young Master Li said this place should be called the Immortal Realm," Jin Yanzi said. "The Gate of No Gate is the core of the Immortal Realm, the gateway to countless universes."
"In the Immortal Realm, it is much more difficult to manipulate the laws and command the heavens and earth than in the mortal world."
"That is why most immortals cannot even fly, and their Mana can only flow in their flesh and blood, and cannot be released from their bodies."
"Ordinary people need to awaken their inherent nature in order to find their own Immortal Pill."
"What did the Jade Emperor do?" Lu Yan asked.
Because he suddenly realized that, because he was unwilling to give up his humanity, the only way to achieve immortality, theoretically, was through the Immortal Wine. The door between Half-Immortal and an immortal was beginning to loosen.
He's going to become an immortal.
"You've discovered it." Jin Yanzi nodded in satisfaction. "No wonder you're called the Drunken Immortal."
"He has hindered the path of awakening for Innate Divine Being and acquired immortals."
"He inscribed his own Dao in the Gate of No Gate, using his own Dao to cover all Daos."
"Only those with hearts as firm as stone, like him, can become immortals."
"Or perhaps he performed a great service and was bestowed with immortal wine by him."
"The Great Sage didn't drink the immortal wine," Lu Yan suddenly said. "He was born a god. The Jade Frontier God of War, so arrogant and dissolute, is hardly like a stone."
"The Great Sage is the son of the Jade Emperor. The Jade Frontier God of War is the Jade Emperor's nephew," said Jin Yanzi.
"Ah, so it's because of connections," Bellatrix exclaimed.
"Should we still save that monkey?" An Feng immediately changed his tune, no longer referring to him as the Great Sage.
"Therefore, everything in the Middle-earth," Lu Yan's eyes reddened slightly, as if he could see the people Carnage by the Jade Frontier Warrior, "Is all the Jade Emperor's family affair."
"The Jade Emperor was originally the greatest Evil Demon, the root of all evil."
He suddenly felt it was ironic; for a long time, he regarded the monkey as the Chosen One.
But now, the Chosen One is actually the Jade Emperor's son!
Why would he do that?
"Only by submitting to him can one become an immortal."
"Immortals are without desires and have no wants. Staying away from the mortal world will not threaten their rule."
"If you feel sorry for your nephew, why make him fight and struggle with your son?"
"You don't think he did this without any consequences, do you?" Jin Yanzi sneered. "Indeed, by immersing himself in the myriad paths and using immortal wine as a medium, he controlled the myriad immortals and became incredibly powerful, his words becoming law and his pronouncements carrying the weight of heaven."
"But he did not achieve this through overwhelming strength."
"Instead, it was through self-harm that the Jade Emperor's jade was actually his blood."
He believes that a stubborn rock needs to become strong.
"There must first be a deficiency."
"To integrate a part of oneself into the world through the Gate of No Gate, and to integrate into the immortal nature of all immortals through the celestial wine."
"Fill yourself with the Dao of Heaven and Earth and all things, and of all immortals."
"He did become powerful in this way, but at the same time, it also caused his jade body to crack, forcing him to merge with heaven and earth every once in a while—entering the [Gate of No Gate] to stabilize and heal it."
The story that Jin Yanzi knew did not include the Queen Mother.
"So he had no choice?" Lu Yan's words carried a glimmer of hope. "He just couldn't bear to kill his nephew."
An image of an ambitious old man who restrained the desires of the immortals, who performed his duties, and who was also soft-hearted towards his nephew immediately formed in his mind.
As a former fan of the Jade Emperor, he still didn't want his collapse to be too severe.
"Yes, it was unavoidable." A cold smile appeared on Jin Yanzi's beautiful face. "I had no choice but to eat my own sister."
"The Jade Frontier God of War exists only because he is useful."
"Immortals are simply without desires; they are not servants of the Jade Emperor."
"Among the post-natal immortals, there are many talents like you and the Bride with White Hair, whose roots are deep and they cannot extricate themselves. They may be able to break through the suppression of the Great Dao and break through on their own."
"When he was alive, he could make his moves in time."
"But during his five-hundred-year seclusion, he needed such a powerful and jealous war god."
"Of course," Jin Yanzi said disdainfully, taking a jade hairpin from a mechanism in the sole of her shoe. "He's no longer needed. Because there's a more perfect God of War."
"He deliberately guided the Jade Frontier God of War to personally kill my entire family and everyone in the village, and I was lucky enough to survive and witness my mother being shot to death."
"Then I forged this hairpin from the placenta from when the Jade Frontier God of War was born, and from my hatred."
"A deadly weapon capable of killing the God of Jade Frontier God of War."
Clearly, after learning the origin of the jade hairpin, she did not carefully insert it into her hair as she would in the original timeline, but instead disdainfully stepped on it.
"The question is whether we should still save that monkey," Lu Yan asked. "Although that monkey isn't a bad monkey, the Young Master Li you mentioned killed his father."
He didn't ask whether or not to kill the Jade Frontier God of War; that wasn't even a question.
An Feng nodded repeatedly. She had asked this question before, but no one paid any attention to her.
"Young Master Li said he'd save anyone. That monkey has been a monk for five hundred years, and Buddhist teachings have taken root in his mind. He talks about forgiveness and giving up hatred all the time," Jin Yanzi said. "He's the Monk who was thought to be mute."
"The Monk created a Pure Land outside the Jade Frontier Temple."
"Moreover, the monkey statue happens to be blocking the exit of the [Gate of No Gate]."
"If the seal is not broken, it will take some more time before Young Master Li can come out."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
She suspected that Basil did this on purpose, wanting to spend more time with the Queen Mother.
That's why the time is 'a little' rather than a precise approximate time, because it ends when he gets bored.
However, this monkey suddenly fits the original story after all; it wasn't a monkey that cultivated immortality at the beginning.
I am asexual. If someone scolds me, I will not get angry; if someone hits me, I will not be resentful. I will just apologize and that will be the end of it. I have been asexual my whole life.
This is how the monkey introduced itself back then.
"Really?" Lu Yan asked with some doubt.
This is also inconsistent with his understanding of the Great Sage who could play pranks on the Peach Banquet.
Ten days later.
"I'm starting to believe it's true." Lu Yan looked at the monk beside him, pointed at his head, and mouthed the words 'there's really something wrong with his head.'
Because the Ruyi Jingu Bang was not exposed as in the original timeline.
They were not pursued by the Jade Frontier Warrior or the Bride with White Hair.
However, due to the connection between the Monk and the Ruyi Jingu Bang, he still approached Lu Yan and the others and joined the team.
On the way to the Jade Frontier Temple, he stopped a Carnage by the Jade Frontier Warrior. When faced with a child who wanted revenge for the murder of his parents, he said, "If you hate him, you have fallen into his trap. Forgive him, give up your hatred, and live your life well."
"When will this cycle of revenge end? When will it ever stop?"
"Let's go, let's go." Lu Yan pulled Monk away. "If you don't leave now, you're going to get beaten up."
"But that's really what I believe," the Monk said.
Lu Yan looked Monk up and down for a while, making him uncomfortable. "You'd better think that way."
"I'm going to train Jason." Monk turned and walked away. "Skywalker can't learn those tricks."
The tricks he mentioned were Bellatrix's magic and Jin Yanzi's qigong (taught by Basil; An Feng's qigong was also taught by Basil, through dream entry, but kept secret from Bellatrix).
Perhaps because of his experience of being deceived and petrified by the Jade Frontier God of War, he was extremely averse to these methods.
Even if Skywalker wanted to learn it, he was somewhat reluctant.
But coincidentally, Jason, who loves kung fu, ran into him.
This time, Jason only has one kung fu teacher, the Monk.
Knowing that this westward journey would definitely succeed, Lu Yan, who knew the inside story, slacked off along the way.
They bought a lot of food and drinks and drove their carriage to the Jade Frontier Temple.
But this allowed them to comfortably cross the Flowing Sand River (in this world, the Flowing Sand River is a desert).
Unlike the original timeline, which was both hot and cold, and where people were so thirsty they were forced to pray for rain, only to have their faces urinated on by the Monk as a prank.
"Wow, the Jade Frontier Temple is on Five Finger Mountain!" Bellatrix exclaimed.
Once you leave the desert, an oasis appears on the other side, with distant mountain peaks resembling upright hands disappearing into the Cloud Top.
"Five Finger Mountain, what a fine name," the Monk remarked.
That's good, you should have been the one underneath.
Bellatrix thought to herself, "I'm so annoyed."
"Just as we agreed in the beginning," the Monk said solemnly, "Two days later, on a moonless night, under the cover of darkness, we will pass through the south gate of the fourth peak of the Jade Frontier Temple."
"The one on the ring finger?" Bellatrix asked.
The Monk nodded.
His gaze was resolute.
He has been working on this for five hundred years.
For the first three hundred years, he traversed the entire Middle-earth on foot, searching for traces of the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
After gaining nothing.
Two hundred years later, relying on his further improved martial arts skills, he built a temple so close to the Jade Frontier Temple and trained warrior monks.
Waiting for Skywalker to return with his Ruyi Jingu Bang.
He was confident that even without Skywalker, he could save his original self by wielding the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
In fact, his confidence was not wrong.
Inside the Gate of No Gate, the Queen Mother lay on Basil's lap, looking up at him. "Li Lang, are you saying that even without Skywalker, Sun Wukong could still save you?"
"Because this was originally a prank by Sun Wukong," Basil said. "Isn't it obvious? His actions after being petrified."
"Intentionally releasing hair-like clones, intentionally being petrified by qigong."
"Just to tease the Jade Frontier God of War and feel the power that he intuitively feels is very familiar with and will bring him benefits."
"But the Jade Emperor intervened."
"He sent the stick directly to another world through the [Gate of No Gate]."
"This caused Sun Wukong to be at a loss, unable to find the Ruyi Jingu Bang."
"Skywalker's role is just to hold us back."
"If we follow the original plan of the Monk, the incarnation of Sun Wukong's monkey hair, they will sneak into the Jade Frontier Temple from a blind spot."
"And their task was simply to deliver the Ruyi Jingu Bang to the statue."
"This is extremely simple for the Monk, whose martial arts skills are actually far superior to those of the Jade Frontier God of War."
"Moreover, he also has the help of the warrior monks in the temple he personally established."
"But the Jade Frontier God of War won't die this way," the Queen Mother said. "This doesn't align with the Jade Emperor's wishes. Moreover, Lu Yan, the Drunken Immortal, who can achieve the status of Half-Immortal even when suppressed by the myriad paths, is a great threat."
"So, according to the original destiny, Lu Yan, who disliked being alone and missed Jason but had a good relationship with Sun Wukong, was banished to that mortal world," Basil said.
"This provides a compelling enough excuse to ensure Jason becomes Skywalker."
Even his good son, Sun Wukong, had nothing to say.
"We can only accept it as the default."
"How insidious!" the Queen Mother exclaimed. "Indeed, it is this insidiousness that made him the Jade Emperor, who Indestructible Through Ten Thousand Tribulations and rules over all immortals."