The Fated Headbutt and the Death of Sun Wufan

"Poor children, where are your parents?" the man asked. His voice was slightly weathered yet gentle, warming the heart.

"Oh my, how could such tiny infants possibly speak? I really am losing my mind," the old man muttered. This elder was none other than Sun Wufan.

He had previously spotted something falling from the sky and had followed the trail all the way down to investigate.

He never expected to find two infants. One was crying incessantly, while the other was just babbling, clearly unable to speak.

"Were they abandoned?" With no one else in sight, Sun Wufan felt a pang of deep heartache. After some effort, he managed to scoop both children up.

Upon seeing that both children had tails, Sun Wufan's heart ached even more; they must have been abandoned because of them.

He made up his mind: he would raise these two children himself.

"Let me give you both names." After bringing the infants out of the valley, Sun Wufan prepared to name them.

As he pondered, he looked up at the sky, and inspiration struck.

"You shall be Sun Wutian, and you shall be Sun Wukong. How about that, little ones? Do you like those names?"

"From now on, I am your grandfather." As he spoke, Sun Wufan hurried toward home, effectively "adopting" the two children.

Of course, neither child understood a word he said.

It seems my brother and I have been abandoned, tossed into the wilderness. Being saved by this old man is a stroke of fortune for us both.

Bu Wuchen shared the same thought as Sun Wufan: they must have been abandoned.

Regardless of Bu Wuchen's internal reflections, they had officially been adopted.

For Sun Wufan, this was an incredible challenge.

Having spent his life pursuing martial arts, he had never even dated, let alone married, so he had absolutely no experience raising children. Fortunately, both brothers had healthy teeth, so he didn't have to worry about finding milk.

Moreover, although Bu Wuchen couldn't understand speech, he wasn't truly a helpless infant.

He was quiet and well-behaved, cooperative during feedings, and would signal in advance when he needed to relieve himself, making him quite easy to care for.

Wukong, on the other hand, was an exceptionally difficult child. Breaking bowls and kicking tables were minor offenses; messes were a daily occurrence, and his constant squirming and tumbling were the real trouble.

If Sun Wufan wasn't careful, Wukong would roll around and knock things over. Several times, he even crawled right out of the window; had Bu Wuchen not made noise to alert Sun Wufan, he might have crawled deep into the forest.

At first, Bu Wuchen could use sounds or eye contact to calm his little brother's emotions.

But gradually, the savage nature of the Saiyan bloodline took hold. Even if Sun Wufan let his guard down for a second, he would be kicked and punched by Wukong, leaving him bruised or covered in bumps.

This meant that most of Sun Wufan's energy was spent on Wukong.

One day, Sun Wufan went out to buy essential supplies like salt, taking the mischievous Wukong with him and leaving the reliable Bu Wuchen behind.

However, when he returned, he was carrying a bloodied, dying Wukong!

On the way back, Sun Wufan had let his guard down, allowing Wukong to tumble out of the basket and fall into a deep ravine, slamming his head against a jagged rock!

Fortunately, thanks to the tenacious vitality of a Saiyan, Wukong survived. Afterward, his personality became much more docile, which left both Bu Wuchen and Sun Wufan feeling both relieved and heartbroken.

Because of his memories from his past life, Bu Wuchen learned the language Sun Wufan used very quickly and was walking within four or five months of being adopted. This truly amazed Sun Wufan, though it also made him genuinely happy.

Later on, Bu Wuchen took on some responsibilities, primarily looking after Wukong.

It is worth noting that Bu Wuchen made a request to Sun Wufan: to change his name.

Sun Wufan had named him Sun Wutian, and Bu Wuchen had no objections.

However, even though he was living a second life, he could not completely discard his past, so he requested to change his name to Sun Wuchen, to which Sun Wufan readily agreed.

Not long after, Wukong also learned to walk and talk.

The grandfather and his two grandsons lived a life away from the world, peaceful and beautiful.

Until the brothers were about six years old, when one night, Wukong needed to pee and dragged Wuchen into the forest with him.

It happened to be a full moon. Both brothers lost consciousness while relieving themselves, and when they woke up, Mount Paozu looked as if a typhoon had swept through—trees were toppled, rocks were shattered, and massive footprints were everywhere.

Similar incidents occurred a few more times, leading Sun Wuchen to worry that there might be a nest of wild beasts near Mount Paozu. He was still young, and he didn't want to die prematurely.

Consequently, Wuchen suggested moving several times.

Sun Wufan flatly refused, without explaining why.

He simply warned the brothers repeatedly that a great monster appeared on full moon nights and told them never to leave the house when the moon was full.

Once the brothers followed his instructions, those incidents never happened again.

Whether it was because he feared the brothers would be mocked for their tails or for some other reason, Sun Wufan stocked up on many essential supplies, such as salt.

After that, he stopped going down the mountain, living off the land by farming and hunting, and the three of them lived in seclusion deep in the mountains.

Three years later, the situation repeated itself. When the brothers regained consciousness, they were completely naked, which was different from before, and their grandfather was nowhere to be found.

After searching almost the entire Mount Paozu, they finally discovered their grandfather's body inside a massive footprint!

"Grandfather!"

"Grandfather!" The two brothers were overcome with grief, and Wukong wept bitterly.

Though Wuchen did not cry, his heart was filled with bitterness and a profound sense of loss.

For nine years, he had truly regarded Sun Wufan—whose actual age was less than a fraction of his own—as his grandfather.

The word "Grandfather" felt vague to him in his past life; even his parents had passed away one after another before he ever stepped onto the path of cultivation.

He had spent his entire life seeking the Dao, and though he once had someone he cherished, he lost her while searching for immortality.

Even after attaining the Dao and achieving heaven-defying cultivation, he was left with nothing but empty regrets.

Later, as the ancestor of a sect, he protected a region; though he had ties, he had no true attachments. Reborn into this life, even now, he had never overly worried about the safety of his sect.

Kinship and affection were the price he paid for his pursuit of the Dao.

The warmth Sun Wufan had given him was subtle yet heart-melting, leaving him deeply moved.

Looking at the massive footprint and recalling the circumstances preceding every appearance of the strange beast, as well as his grandfather's past warnings, Sun Wuchen felt a heavy heart.

Once he calmed down, the situation was easy to analyze. Especially this time, when the two brothers woke up, they hadn't even been dressed, because Grandfather was gone.

"Wukong, Grandfather is gone. He went to another world."

"From now on... try not to go out at night, especially on the night of the full moon!"

Just like his grandfather's warnings in the past, Wuchen exhorted Wukong.

Doing his best to restore Sun Wufan to his appearance in life, cleaning the bloodstains, and dressing him in clean clothes, Wuchen called for Wukong, chopped down some suitable trees, and fashioned a coffin.

Not far from the small cabin, they broke ground, buried Sun Wufan, and erected a tombstone with an inscription:

Grandfather Sun Wufan, kind-hearted and benevolent... picked up two tails by the road, raised and nurtured them as his own, with affection deeper than blood... yet, the two tails were truly anomalies, kin that should not be kin. Grandfather picked them up and loved them; in six years, they faced five disasters, and three years later, he passed. Unfilial grandsons, Sun Wuchen, Sun Wukong. Mourning and never forgetting his teachings, the heart still recalls his old voice and face...

Because he did not know Sun Wufan's date of birth, nor the current year or month, and even less about Sun Wufan's life experiences, the inscription was not exactly standard.

"Wukong, go get that ball Grandfather left behind. We will set it beside him."

Soon, Wukong brought over the Four-Star Ball. Sun Wuchen then placed the Four-Star Ball into the groove reserved on the stone tablet.

With that, Sun Wufan's funeral came to an end. The path ahead for the two brothers was now theirs alone to walk.