Journey to the West Quest Begins (Two-in-One)

By this time, the Mysterious Bookstore had already closed. Zhang Yunji stood in the backyard waiting for Ma Feifei and his group to return, as he planned to go back with Chang Kong.

Upon discovering that his father-in-law hadn't returned, Zhang Yunji finally understood the situation after Ma Feifei explained. A smile appeared on his face as he was happy that his father-in-law had become a new employee at the Mysterious Bookstore. Whether his father-in-law returned or not was not so important. That's how the fantasy world is; as long as you're a cultivator, even your closest relatives will only see each other a handful of times throughout the year. Everyone is striving for cultivation and seeking opportunities.

However, Zhang Yunji's joy lasted only a few seconds before he withdrew his smile and cautiously glanced at Ma Feifei.

"Just tell me what's on your mind." Ma Feifei grabbed a chicken and started cleaning and plucking it by the well, planning to have a nice meal for herself that evening. Seeing Zhang Yunji hesitate, she knew he must have something to say to her.

"Shopkeeper, Saint Chu is still waiting outside," Zhang Yunji said softly. Although Ma Feifei had clearly stated in the afternoon that he would not see him, Saint Chu had been standing at the Bookstore entrance for almost the entire day, and the whole Dubian Town knew that Saint Chu had been turned away by the Mysterious Bookstore. The public outcry was too strong, so he had no choice but to come and inform him again.

Ma Feifei was a little surprised. He thought Feng Yiming should have gone back after he refused in the afternoon, after all, he was a big shot with status and position. But the Bookstore had already closed for the day, and he was still waiting outside.

However, Ma Feifei then realized that Feng Yiming's time was coming to an end this year, so it wasn't surprising. Anyone who wants something must lower their stance; this is an age-old truth.

"Okay, you should go home early. I heard your wife is pregnant. You should spend more time with her during this time." Ma Feifei plucked a chicken feather, his tone tinged with envy. As for Feng Yiming, he didn't answer at all.

Seeing this, Zhang Yunji understood Ma Feifei's attitude and decisively stopped dwelling on the matter. Saint Chu held a high position in his heart, but he couldn't compare to Mysterious Bookstore, not to mention that he was an employee of Mysterious Bookstore, a point he understood perfectly well.

"The shopkeeper is right, then Yunji will head back first." Mentioning Baili Chuxue, Zhang Yunji's face lit up with happiness. After saluting Ma Feifei, he left the Mysterious Bookstore, even choosing to take a detour home to avoid Saint Chu, which was quite a feat for him.

After Zhang Yunji left, Ma Feifei continued plucking chicken feathers. As he plucked, he sensed something was wrong. He looked up and saw that the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey in the corner was gone, and the copy of "Journey to the West" was floating in the air, shimmering with golden light, slowly turning its pages.

"A quest has been triggered?" Ma Feifei was startled. He casually tossed the chicken aside and got up to walk towards the floating copy of "Journey to the West".

"Ding ding ding~"

The light flickered continuously, and after reaching a critical point, a projection appeared in the sky with a 'hum'.

"Look!" shouted a cultivator walking by the roadside, pointing to the projection.

It was not yet six o'clock in the summer, and the sky was not completely dark yet, but night had already fallen. The projection was exceptionally conspicuous in this brightness, instantly attracting the attention of many people.

"Wasn't the Mysterious Bookstore closed? How can someone still enter the world within the book?" a cultivator asked in confusion. Currently, only the Mysterious Bookstore in the entire Azure Dragon Continent can perform this kind of projection, and everyone is very familiar with the Mysterious Bookstore's opening hours. Now that the opening hours have passed, the Bookstore should be closed, so in theory, it shouldn't be possible for anyone to trigger the world within the book.

"Maybe the shop owner got so engrossed in his book that he said with great interest, looking up at the projection in mid-air." Their location wasn't far from the Mysterious Bookstore, so there was no need to walk further; watching the projection from here was much more comfortable.

At the entrance of the Mysterious Bookstore, Feng Yiming was stunned by the sudden appearance of the projection. He subconsciously took two steps back so that he could see the projection more clearly.

"Is that the shop owner?" Feng Yiming's eyes showed suspicion, but before he could continue guessing, the dark screen above the projection lit up, revealing a vast ocean with surging waves crashing against the cliffs on the shore. On the cliff, there was an oval-shaped stone with a particularly strange appearance, resembling a human figure, constantly enduring the pounding of the waves.

"This scene looks familiar!" The onlookers in Dubian Town, who had already arrived at the battlefield, were all surprised to see this.

"It looks like a scene from 'Journey to the Journey to the West'."

"The ocean feels the same."

I think so too.

Because they rarely saw the ocean, the last time they saw it was in the Legendary-grade book "Journey to the West" in the Mysterious Bookstore, so everyone's first thought was to categorize this scene as part of "Journey to the West".

In fact, they were right.

"Hmm... it's good that it was triggered. I can also complete the listing task while I'm at it." Ma Feifei didn't bother making dinner. He found a rocking chair, sat down, and prepared to watch the projection. Ma Feifei had mentioned the Path of the Great Sage task to the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey before. Now that "Journey to the West" had automatically absorbed it, it must mean that the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey had fully understood "Journey to the West." So Ma Feifei wasn't worried that the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey would make any mistakes.

Most importantly, Ma Feifei wanted to see what this mission really meant, because even he himself didn't understand it.

"Ding ding ding~"

Just then, the book "Journey to the West" started clanging again.

'Biu~!' A golden light shot directly onto Ma Feifei, pulling him in as well.

"Holy crap!" Ma Feifei, appearing in "Journey to the West" from a god-like perspective, was instantly dumbfounded. Wasn't this task supposed to be completed by the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey? Why was he being dragged into it too?

"Huh?" Ma Feifei, who had just recovered, suddenly sensed something was wrong. She turned her head and glanced around, and was startled, because there was someone next to Ma Feifei... no! It should be said that there was a monkey!

With yellow Golden Fillet, a crooked face, a pointed mouth and shrunken cheeks, covered in yellow fur, wearing a golden crown and golden armor, and stepping on cloud shoes, he was actually a living, breathing Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong!

"What's going on?" Ma Feifei's mind went completely blank; she had no idea what was happening.

"Ding~ The Path of the Great Sage storyline begins. Please accompany Sun Wukong to watch chapters one through fifty-seven." As the system notification sounded, Ma Feifei felt a bunch of data being poured into his mind. After reading through the data, Ma Feifei realized that the events that followed, chapters one through fifty-seven, were flashbacks!

The so-called disappearance of the Great Sage was actually just removing Sun Wukong from this flashback storyline and having the Sky-reaching Ape Monkey simulate the events from chapters one to fifty-seven that Sun Wukong had gone through.

More importantly, according to the information provided by the system, the Sun Wukong in front of Ma Feifei has just reached the fifty-seventh chapter of the story. Everything that is happening now will be considered to be happening in a dream in Sun Wukong's eyes. When the next day dawns, Sun Wukong will usher in the fifty-seventh chapter of the story of the True and False Monkey King.

The storyline of retracing the Path of the Great Sage will conclude at chapter fifty-seven, which also marks the end of the storyline involving the True and False Monkey King!

This means that Sun Wukong, who hasn't actually reached that point in the story, will see the entire plot of the next episode in his dream. As for why Sun Wukong should see this plot, Ma Feifei has a vague answer in his mind.

This is to let the Great Sage make the choice himself!

"Boom!"

Just as Ma Feifei was deep in thought, an explosion suddenly occurred below, the sound shaking the heavens and the earth. Just like in the original story, a monkey soared into the sky.

"That was when I was just born." Standing on the cloud, Sun Wukong seemed very quiet, unlike his usual restless self. Perhaps it was because he was witnessing his own birth that Sun Wukong tone was filled with emotion.

"The Great Sage's birth shook heaven and earth," Ma Feifei exclaimed. He wasn't just flattering him; in fact, that's exactly how it was in the original story. The moment Sun Wukong was born, even the Lingxiao Palace shook like Earthquake, and the Three Realms could feel that powerful force. It truly was a story that shook heaven and earth.

"Great Sage..." These two words seemed to touch a nerve in Sun Wukong's heart, and a look of reminiscence appeared on his face.

Outside the projection, a monkey jumped out of the rock, sparking discussion among the crowd.

"Can anyone tell me how a monkey could be conceived inside a rock?"

"I've seen monkeys, and I've seen stone spirits, but I've never seen a monkey that sprang from a stone."

"Could it be a combination of a stone spirit and a monkey?"

"..."

It has to be said that in this bizarre world where all sorts of creatures exist, people are quite accepting of such things. They've even imagined a combination of a stone spirit and a monkey, which is truly imaginative.

"Look, we've arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain!" As everyone was discussing, the monkey that had sprung out of the stone had already arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain. Flower-Fruit Mountain was different from before; there were already many monkeys in the mountain. The Stone Monkey quickly became friends with them and led a group of monkeys to the Water Curtain Cave behind the waterfall. A group of monkeys settled down in the Water Curtain Cave.

Ma Feifei knew the original plot, and Sun Wukong, having experienced it firsthand, also knew it. So, for them, it was about sentimentality and memories. But the cultivators outside the projection were different. They hadn't read the book "Journey to the West" and didn't know its specific story. However, "Journey to the West" was the highest quality book in the Mysterious Bookstore to date, a book about achieving immortality. Therefore, everyone carefully observed and studied every detail in "Journey to the West," afraid of missing any small detail.

Many cultivators even silently noted down some of the monkeys' fighting styles, believing that these were likely techniques and martial arts used by immortals.

This was especially true for Saint Chu, who was determined to reach the Immortal Realm. He had already put aside his request to see Ma Feifei and was now focused entirely on the plot in the projection, not daring to relax for a moment.

Time in the projection passed much faster than in reality. In the blink of an eye, they arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain, where an old monkey was dying and weeping. Then, guided by a knowledgeable monkey, they embarked on a journey through the Southern Buxun Continent to the Western Ox Continent in search of the path to immortality.

Upon seeing this, the cultivators outside the projection all became serious, and their breathing quickened. If before they had only speculated that this book, "Journey to the West," could allow people to enter the Immortal Realm, then the meaning expressed inside was enough to prove that this book really could!

What is the path to immortality? In the eyes of cultivators, immortality is synonymous with becoming an immortal, for only immortals can possess a long lifespan.

Now this Stone Monkey is actually seeking the path to immortality—isn't that the same goal pursued by these cultivators?

Therefore, everyone was concerned about whether the Stone Monkey could obtain the method of immortality in the upcoming plot. No one had time to chat idly anymore; they just wished they had more eyes to see things more clearly.

In this atmosphere, the Stone Monkey in the projection overcame countless difficulties and arrived at Mount Lingtai Fangcun, entered Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars, paid homage to Patriarch Subhuti, and was then given the name Sun Wukong by Patriarch Bodhi Sun Wukong.

Seeing this, everyone gradually understood that this Stone Monkey must be the protagonist of this "Journey to the West" book, but using a Stone Monkey as the protagonist was quite unusual for everyone.

However, these rare treasures were immediately shattered by the Patriarch Bodhi inside. This Patriarch Bodhi actually taught the Stone Monkey the way to immortality, as well as the Seventy-Two Transformations and the two supernatural powers of the Somersault Cloud!

"Holy crap! How exactly is it taught? Why isn't it more specific?!" A powerful figure went completely mad in an instant. Before he could even understand what was happening, the Stone Monkey had already started somersaulting and displaying his Seventy-Two Transformations with incredible skill.

I desperately need a detailed tutorial on the methods and techniques for achieving immortality!

"I don't want the path to immortality, I only want the Seventy-Two Transformations!"

"Somersault Cloud would work too! One somersault covers 108,000 li, wow... If I learned this supernatural power, I could reach any corner of the Azure Dragon Continent in no time. This is true immortal magic!"

The noise below was deafening, with every cultivator protesting loudly, pounding their chests and stamping their feet. In their eyes, the benefits the Stone Monkey had gained were truly great supernatural powers, powers worthy of Venerable Immortal's status!

"The Immortal Realm! The Immortal Realm!" Saint Chu's weathered eyes widened with excitement, his hands clenched tightly, veins bulging on his arms. This was the realm he had Covet for for thousands of years, and now he had finally seen it here. It turned out that this book, "Journey to the West," really could grant people the opportunity to step into the Immortal Realm!

"I must go in, I must go in!" Looking at the Stone Monkey in the projection, Saint Chu couldn't be more envious. He wished he could take the place of that Stone Monkey. He would even accept being turned into a monkey himself, as long as he could obtain the path to immortality and step into the Immortal Realm!

Inside the projection, above the clouds, Ma Feifei and Sun Wukong quietly watched this scene.

The plot continues to unfold. The Stone Monkey, instigated by others, uses his Seventy-Two Transformations to change between his fellow disciples, which displeases the patriarch, and he is expelled from the cave.

"Back then, I was young, Competitive, and incorrigible. I couldn't achieve a state of detachment from worldly desires, which truly disappointed my master." Upon reading this, Sun Wukong couldn't help but sigh. His gaze towards Patriarch Bodhi revealed a hint of joy, clearly showing that he still deeply respected his master.

Ma Feifei glanced at Sun Wukong with some surprise. He always felt that this Sun Wukong was more emotional and didn't quite fit in with the unruly Great Sage Equal to Heaven to Heaven.

Sun Wukong ignored Ma Feifei's gaze and continued reading.

The story quickly progresses to the point where the Stone Monkey returns from his apprenticeship, reorganizes Flower-Fruit Mountain, and then heads to the East Sea Dragon Palace to obtain the Great Sage Set and the Sea Calming Divine Needle).

"This scenario seems to be something the shop owner has experienced before!"