"Refining the innate restrictions wasn't urgent. Since we had a chance to obtain this opportunity, we naturally couldn't keep ourselves in seclusion any longer." Tongtian nodded.
And so, the two brothers made their decision. After informing the Twelve Ancestral Witches, who were still cultivating, they passed through the Mysterious Gate and appeared at the foot of Buzhou Mountain.
"Dharma is not transmitted to Six Ears."
Just then, a cold, indifferent voice came from the depths of Chaos, countless millions of miles away, resounding throughout the entire Primordial World.
The earth of the Primordial World trembled violently. Chaos Residual Qi churned fiercely atop Buzhou Mountain, while ten-thousand-foot waves surged across the Netherworld Blood Sea...
The voice seemed to carry the authority of the Heavenly Dao, yet it was cold enough to freeze time. Winds rose and clouds gathered throughout the Primordial World, and thunderclouds rumbled across the sky!
"Who... angered Hongjun?" Tongtian asked, astonished.
Just a single sentence could provoke such extraordinary phenomena throughout the entire Primordial World. Only Hongjun, who had Proved Dao Hunyuan, could wield such power.
"One of the Four Monkeys of Chaos, the Six-Eared Macaque. Its abilities defy heaven, so it was fated to incur heaven's jealousy..."
Chaos light flickered in Xuanyuan's eyes. The Chaos Pearl in his nascent soul gave a faint tremor, and his gaze seemed able to pierce Time and Space.
After the great powers entered Chaos, those whose strength was insufficient either perished on the spot or gave up their opportunities and returned to the Primordial World.
There was one exception.
Ripples spread across the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane. The Six-Eared Macaque had turned into a streak of light and clung to it, hiding there for three thousand years. Now, it pricked up all four ears, trying to catch the faint Dao Sound drifting through the void.
As one of the Four Monkeys of Chaos, the Six-Eared Macaque had been born with six ears. It could hear across the Three Realms and know what came before and after. If it proved Dao Hunyuan in the future, it might even be able to glimpse the secrets of the Heavenly Dao.
That was precisely why it had incurred heaven's jealousy. When it emerged into the world, its cultivation had been only at the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level.
When Hongjun lectured on the Dao, the Six-Eared Macaque had pushed its divine abilities and magic power to their limits, listening intently to the indistinct Dao Sound from who knew how many millions of miles away.
It had no idea that, deep in Chaos, an indifferent gaze was slowly turning its way from Purple Firmament Palace.
"My lectures on the Dao do not tolerate trickery. From this day onward, Dharma is not transmitted to Six Ears."
The icy voice abruptly ripped through Time and Space, and the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane shook violently.
The Six-Eared Macaque let out a terrible scream. Gouts of black blood poured from its ears, and its golden fur withered strand by strand.
Its divine ears, once capable of hearing every secret in the world, twisted out of shape. The seventy-two innate divine abilities circulating within its body vanished in an instant, like boiling water poured over snow.
With a single sentence, Hongjun had not only crippled its divine abilities but also cut off its Dao Path, leaving the other great powers of the Primordial World unwilling to take it as a disciple or teach it the Dao.
"Fourth Brother, what are the origins of these Four Monkeys of Chaos?" Tongtian asked curiously.
"Just as Father God Pangu's nascent soul became the Four Pure Ones and his blood essence became the Twelve Ancestral Witches, the Six-Eared Macaque must also have extraordinary origins."
"The Six-Eared Macaque is one of the Four Monkeys of Chaos. The Four Monkeys of Chaos came into being when the nascent soul and source of the Chaos Demon Ape—the War Demon God who perished during the World-Opening Calamity—were split into four." Xuanyuan explained.
At the Primordial World's Beginning, the spiritual roots, treasures, and great powers between heaven and earth could all be traced, to some extent, back to the three thousand Chaos Demon Gods from the World-Opening Calamity.
The Five Needles Pine, the Five Elements Pagoda, and Old Ancestor Five Elements, for instance, all had ties to the Five Elements Demon God.
Born from the legacy of the Chaos Demon Ape, the Four Monkeys of Chaos included the Six-Eared Macaque, the Intelligent Stone Monkey, the Long-Armed Ape, and the Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey.
The Six-Eared Macaque was the first to appear, followed by the Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey. Wuzhiqi, born in the Huai River, could overturn rivers and seas; in the future, Yu the Great would subdue it while taming the waters.
The third to appear was the Long-Armed Ape, born where spiritual veins converged. Its arms were infused with innate qi, and it possessed divine strength from birth. It could seize the sun and moon, shrink a thousand mountains, discern fortune and misfortune, and manipulate the universe. A single sweep of its arms could tear through space, and it could sense good and ill fortune. It would make its mark during the Investiture of the Gods Calamity under the name Yuan Hong, only to die by the Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife.
As for the last one, that was Sun Wukong, the Intelligent Stone Monkey. He would not appear until the Journey to the West Calamity, and his fate would be even more miserable than the Six-Eared Macaque's.
Though he was a divine being from birth, he couldn't even deal with a little World-Mixing Demon King at first. In the end, the Buddhist Sect put a tightening band on him...
"With origins like these, how could it fail to pass through even the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane? Its cultivation is so shallow—what could be the reason?"
Tongtian raised an eyebrow, unable to make sense of it.
Though the Six-Eared Macaque came from a Chaos Demon God, its origins might not rival those of the Four Pangu Purities and the Twelve Ancestral Witches, but they should still have been extraordinary. It should have been born a Grand Unity Golden Immortal.
How could it still be unable to pass through the Heaven and Earth Fetal Membrane?
"Brother, do you still remember the Twenty-Four Petaled Creation Green Lotus?" Xuanyuan smiled faintly.
The Six-Eared Macaque's weak cultivation was likely because the Four Monkeys of Chaos had inherited the demon god's will to fight heaven and earth. They were naturally unruly and beyond the Heavenly Dao's control, making them variables the Heavenly Dao could not tolerate.
Their plight was much like that of the Twenty-Four Petaled Creation Green Lotus, which had been shattered by Purple Heaven Divine Thunder atop Buzhou Mountain. It, too, had incurred heaven's jealousy.
Of course, compared with the Creation Green Lotus, their situation was much better.
They had all managed to take form and enter the world, and their potential and origins had suffered little loss. Only their cultivation at birth had been severely diminished.
"I see. It incurred heaven's jealousy." Tongtian understood and asked nothing further.
The Six-Eared Macaque was a minor diversion. In the end, it had little to do with Xuanyuan and Tongtian.
Its greatest significance was that it allowed Xuanyuan to confirm that Hongjun's first lecture on the Dao had officially begun.
That meant that, for the next ten thousand years, no great power in the Primordial World could rival the two brothers.
"Fourth Brother, where should we go on this trip?"
Tongtian glanced over Buzhou Mountain and saw no treasures appearing. He felt a little disappointed.
"Let's head east."
Xuanyuan made a quick calculation. After a moment's thought, the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler appeared in his hand. As he infused it with Grand Unity Magic Power, countless mysterious patterns burst forth, forming a dazzling rainbow bridge that tore through the void.
Each tremor of the ruler sent Merit Power surging and rippling, while space shattered and reassembled like broken glass.
With every swing, the ruler carried the two brothers countless millions of miles away.
Hongjun's lecture would last only ten thousand years. That was not long compared with the vast, boundless Primordial World, so using the Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler could greatly shorten their journey.
"For traveling, my treasures can't compare with this Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler!" Tongtian exclaimed admiringly, watching the space break apart again and again.
Xuanyuan merely smiled.
Five hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, the Measure Heaven Ruler in Xuanyuan's hand suddenly trembled violently. Nine-Colored Rosy Clouds rose in the direction its tip pointed, and faint dragon roars and phoenix cries drifted over.
"What a rich spiritual aura!" Tongtian exclaimed.
"This must be a top-level blessed land."
The Chaos Pearl spun rapidly within Xuanyuan's nascent soul. After carefully making calculations for a moment, a smile appeared on his face. The Primordial Measure Heaven Ruler then grew to ten thousand zhang, thrusting forward like a pillar that supported the heavens.
The void ahead rippled like the surface of water. Rich spiritual aura turned into tangible green mist that billowed toward them, while wisps of Chaos Residual Qi flickered in and out of view.
Clearly, no other great power had claimed this blessed land yet. Its innate restriction had only recently dissipated, and it had not fully emerged beneath the veil of spiritual mist.
As they parted the hazy mist, a majestic mountain range slowly came into view.
Before them, the peaks seemed to have been painted in ink by a master. Seventy-Two Danxia Peaks pierced the clouds, while Ninety-Nine Spirit Springs cascaded like silver ribbons.
Ancient trees towered across the mountains, their crowns entwined with clouds of five colors. A faint Dao resonance flowed through every leaf.
Spiritual veins coiled like dragons beneath their feet, and the earth's energy condensed into tangible white mist. Spiritual beasts formed from Innate Spiritual Qi could be glimpsed moving through it.
Xuanyuan and Tongtian's gazes, however, were drawn at once to the main peak.
Nine-colored auspicious clouds billowed there, and within the hazy mist, an ancient tea tree appeared and disappeared from view.
The tree was immensely thick and stood forty-nine thousand zhang tall. Strange purple patterns marked its bark. Three thousand branches spread from it, and 129,600 thick roots coiled beneath it. Its entire trunk was grayish brown.
Yet it bore only one hundred and eight extraordinary tea leaves, each shimmering with mysterious divine light and differing in size, color, and shape.
The tea tree's fragrance spread with a pervasive Dao resonance, making the laws here many times more concentrated than elsewhere.
"Creation! It's another Top-grade Innate Spiritual Root!"
Tongtian extended his Spiritual Sense. Before long, delight appeared on his face.
"The Enlightenment Tea Tree, also called the Big Red Robe Tea Tree, is the first tea tree in heaven and earth."
Xuanyuan laughed and clapped his hands.
The moment he saw the Enlightenment Tea Tree, he knew what top-level blessed land he had discovered.
Perhaps another treasure could make an early appearance, too.
Before you continue