East Sea Coast, Flower-Fruit Mountain.
At the mountain's peak, a piece of immortal stone had stood for countless kalpas, bathed in the essence of sun and moon, drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
On this day, brilliant radiance blazed atop the immortal stone.
Crack—
A fine fissure spread from the center of the immortal stone.
Immediately after, more and more cracks appeared, densely packed, spreading across the entire stone body like a spiderweb.
Rumble!
A tremendous boom shook the clouds.
The immortal stone suddenly exploded, shards spraying in every direction. A beam of golden light shot skyward from within, piercing straight toward the Dipper and the Ox, stirring the wind and clouds above the Nine Heavens.
Within the golden light, a figure gradually became clear.
It was a Stone Monkey covered head to toe in golden down. He stood upon the mountain peak and opened his eyes.
The instant he opened them, two beams of golden light blasted from his pupils, piercing the clouds, reaching beyond the Thirty-Third Heaven, and shooting toward Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
At this moment, the entire Three Realms trembled because of it.
Countless mighty beings all jolted awake from seclusion, casting searching gazes toward this stretch of the East Sea Coast.
The west, Spirit Mountain.
Beside the Eight Treasures Merit Pool, Jieyin and Zhunti opened their eyes almost at the same time.
On Zhunti's face, which always carried a trace of shrewdness, there was now irrepressible wild joy.
He clapped his hands and laughed loudly, his voice echoing around the empty poolside.
"Hahaha! He has emerged! At last, he has emerged!"
Jieyin's fingers, which were turning his prayer beads, paused slightly, and on that eternally bitter face, a rare hint of a smile appeared.
"Good. Very good."
"The prelude to my Western