"All right. I'll deal with that old scoundrel Hongjun myself!"
"And I won't spare the Heavenly Dao of this Primordial Wilderness, either. It's every bit as sinister!"
"You don't need to be angry!"
As he spoke, Zhou Xuan lifted his eyes to the sky. Lightning seemed to flicker in his dark pupils, and his gaze cut like a sword toward the endless heavens.
It was as if heaven and earth shuddered in that instant. Clouds roiled overhead, and muffled thunder rumbled in the distance.
Hearing that their master intended to deal with the Heavenly Dao, too, Sun Wukong and Zhao Gongming exchanged a glance and drew in a sharp breath. Their scalps tingled, yet an uncontrollable fervor and wild excitement stirred in their hearts.
In the next instant, their fighting spirit surged like a tide, burning through every limb and bone.
"If Master goes to war, this disciple will follow!"
"So what if it's the Heavenly Dao? When Master attained the Dao, there wasn't even a heaven or earth!"
Their eyes burned with fervor, and their voices rang with conviction.
The once lofty Heavenly Dao and Patriarch Hongjun had now become prey in their eyes—all because the man standing before them was an unrivaled, omnipotent true god in their hearts.
"Haha!"
Seeing them, Zhou Xuan couldn't help laughing. A hint of indulgence and amusement flashed in his eyes as he said loudly,
"You two, stop buttering up your master! Where was I just now?"
Zhao Gongming quickly bowed respectfully and replied,
"You finished explaining the Jade Disk of Creation, Master. You were about to tell us about the other four Chaos Supreme Treasures."
"Right!"
Zhou Xuan nodded with satisfaction. He gave his sleeve a gentle wave, stirring up a breeze, and said with a smile,
"Next, let's talk about the Sky-Opening Axe and the Earth-Splitting Chisel. Those two treasures were borrowed from me by that little Pangu."
He slowly raised a hand, as though parting the mist of endless time and space. His gaze grew distant, as if he could see the boundless darkness from before Chaos had been divided.
"Back then, I was asleep in Chaos, and I slept for countless ages. During that time, a piece of Chaos Black Iron drifted down and happened to land on me. Nourished by my essence, it eventually gained sentience and became an unmatched treasure."
"Pangu had only just been born then. He was still a little brat who hadn't even been weaned. The first time he opened his eyes and saw that piece of iron, he couldn't bear to part with it. He grinned, bowed to me three times, then gleefully hoisted the iron onto his shoulders and carried it off!"
"Later, Pangu forged that iron into two treasures..."
Zhao Gongming's heart jolted at this. He hurriedly asked,
"Master, those two treasures were the Sky-Opening Axe and the Earth-Splitting Chisel?"
Zhou Xuan nodded with a smile. "That's right. But that child Pangu also took a lotus from above my head while he was at it!"
At this, Zhao Gongming's eyelid twitched. His throat tightened, and he blurted out with wide eyes,
"Master, the lotus you mean...could it be the legendary Chaos Green Lotus?"
Zhou Xuan raised an eyebrow, his expression tinged with helplessness and pride, then slowly nodded.
"That's right. It was the Chaos Green Lotus."
His voice was calm, yet carried an unmistakable air of pride.
"At first, the Chaos Green Lotus was merely the first lotus seed to sprout when Chaos began. It accidentally landed in my hair and fed on my dandruff. Slowly, it took root and sprouted, absorbing the essence of Chaos. After countless eons, it finally blossomed and bore fruit, becoming the Chaos Green Lotus."
"Pangu saw how beautiful and extraordinary it was, couldn't resist, and plucked it right then and there!"
At this, Zhou Xuan shook his head with a laugh, though a faint nostalgia for those bygone days lingered in his expression.
As they listened to these secrets of Chaos, so ancient they were almost impossible to verify, Zhao Gongming and Sun Wukong were both stunned. Countless scenes from antiquity seemed to flash through their minds, yet they couldn't begin to imagine the sleeping figure in the endless darkness, with the Chaos Green Lotus growing alongside him.
These were the most secret and fundamental truths in all of heaven and earth!
After all, back then, heaven and earth had yet to be opened, and the Primordial Wilderness had yet to form. How could later generations like them know even the slightest trace of what had happened?
Zhao Gongming drew a deep breath, his voice full of awe.
"So the Chaos Green Lotus, the Sky-Opening Axe, the Earth-Splitting Chisel, and the Jade Disk of Creation all came from Master!"
His voice was low, yet filled with deep reverence.
"Following that reasoning, nearly every Innate Spirit Treasure and Innate Supreme Treasure in the Primordial Wilderness, as well as the personal treasures of the various Saints, could be said to have originated with Master!"
At this, Sun Wukong's eyes lit up. A flame seemed to ignite in his dark, gleaming pupils. He clenched the Chaos Demon Ape Cudgel and said in a rough voice,
"If these treasures came from Master, then they belong to our Ling Xuan Sect! And since they belong to our Ling Xuan Sect, I, Old Sun, as the First Disciple who founded the sect, have a duty to get them back one by one!"
As he spoke, he straightened his back and flicked his tail, his voice booming like a bell.
"Master, Old Sun understands! I'll train hard, and once I'm strong enough, I'll travel all across the heavens and visit every Saint in turn to get our Ling Xuan Sect's treasures back, one by one!"
With that, his gaze grew as firm as steel. The Chaos Demon Ape Cudgel tapped lightly against the ground with a clang, like a distant war drum.
Zhou Xuan nodded with a smile. His gaze lingered on Sun Wukong for a little longer, and a hint of approval flashed in his eyes.
This monkey really did have a top-notch knack for understanding things!
Zhao Gongming, however, rubbed his nose and gave a bitter laugh. He muttered under his breath,
"Senior Brother...those treasures have been with those Saints for countless years. Would they really be willing to return them?"
Sun Wukong grinned at this, baring a hint of fang. His tone turned ominous.
"They won't? Old Sun isn't a pushover! If they can't bear to part with them, I'll show them just how big and hard this great cudgel of mine is! I guarantee I'll poke them until they're crying for their fathers and begging on their knees!"
Zhao Gongming shuddered. His expression turned strange, and he couldn't help murmuring,
"Senior Brother...I feel like you're making a dirty joke, but I have no proof..."
Sun Wukong couldn't be bothered with him. He shook out his fur, turned his gaze back to Zhou Xuan, and urged him aloud,
"Master, you haven't told us about the Chaos Bead yet!"
Zhou Xuan could only shrug helplessly, his expression tinged with amusement.
"The Chaos Bead...there's not much to say about it. It was just a kidney stone in my body."
He spoke casually, but his words left them utterly shaken.
"I absorbed countless streams of Primordial Chaos Origin energy, which condensed into a stone inside my body. Later, when I attained sainthood, the stone was forced out of me and scattered through Chaos. From then on, no one knew where it went."
Hiss—!
Zhao Gongming and Sun Wukong both sucked in a sharp breath. They exchanged a glance, their eyes full of shock and disbelief.
"My heavens! The mysterious Chaos Supreme Treasure, the Chaos Bead, which countless gods and demons once fought over until they were bloody, was actually just a kidney stone from Master's body!"
"That's incredible...so the Chaos Bead was something Master 'passed'!"
Zhou Xuan laughed heartily and waved his hand, his long sleeves fluttering as his voice boomed like thunder.
"All right, all right. Now you both understand where the five great Chaos treasures came from, right?"
"We understand!"
The two exchanged a glance, their hearts surging. Then they bowed in unison, their voices ringing like steel striking stone.
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