Cheng Tian, with all five roots gathered, and Sun Dasheng, who had still been deliberately brawling with the old ox, both stopped at that moment and looked in the same direction.
That was the direction of the Great Sage's home, Flower-Fruit Mountain, where this world's sixth root of the Great Sage was kept.
Under normal circumstances, this sixth root should have remained in the care of the old monkey atop Flower-Fruit Mountain, only reacting once the Chosen One who had collected the five roots arrived. Yet at this very moment, it broke free of the old monkey's control. Even the enormous stone that had originally housed the sixth root changed along with it.
This majestic monkey-headed figure was unmistakably the Great Sage of this world!
...Yet anyone familiar with the Great Sage needed only one glance to spot what was wrong with this "Great Sage."
Though he still wore the complete armor from when he had received his title, his monkey fur was dull and grayish. Compared to a living monkey, he had more of a stone-like texture, especially around his face.
Furthermore, the Great Sage's eyes were utterly vacant, with no pupils at all.
All signs indicated that this Great Sage, constructed around Desire for Opinion—the Golden Circlet—as its core, was merely a trace left behind by the lingering remnant thoughts of the Great Sage who, after the journey west, had forsaken his Buddhahood, defied Heaven, and ultimately been torn apart and consumed.
Though he was only a lingering remnant, even a remnant of the Great Sage still retained the Great Sage's bearing.
And this change was clearly most directly connected to Cheng Tian and the Great Sage from Journey to the West: The Great Sage's Fury.
Cheng Tian's Chosen One template alone was not enough to draw these