The wind stopped.
A deathly silence fell over the rear courtyard of Wuzhuang Temple. Only the drooping branches and leaves of the Ginseng Fruit Tree rustled softly, as though sobbing, or desperately holding back some kind of pain.
Zhen Yuanzi looked at no one.
He slowly raised his hand and pressed his palm against the rough, cracked bark. His fingertips trembled slightly, and the ever-composed Ancestor of Earth Immortals looked almost stooped.
"Foolish child."
Zhen Yuanzi's voice was as faint as smoke. "With your father here, how could I ever let you worry?"
With that, he turned and bowed deeply to Xuanzang and Guanyin. All his former majesty and veiled sharpness had vanished, leaving only an inscrutable trace of desolation and acceptance.
"Since we have spoken openly, I have nothing more to hide."
Zhen Yuanzi straightened. His gaze swept over Sun Wukong before finally settling on Xuanzang's face.
"Holy Monk, the consequences my child spoke of showed you only one part, not the whole. The burden of toppling it goes far beyond a backlash from the earth's energy or punishment from the Heavenly Dao."
"It means boundless Karmic Power clinging to you, rejection by the Heavenly Dao, and ruin beyond redemption through ten thousand tribulations."
He paused, then looked toward the chaos filling the sky.
"I attained the Dao as a primordial earth spirit. Guarding the earth veins is my rightful duty, and one I gladly undertake. But now a great tribulation is about to rise, and baleful qi is pouring backward into the earth veins. It... truly cannot endure any longer."
"Even if I exhaust my very essence, I cannot prolong its life. If it dies, the earth veins will collapse; if it lives, it must suffer the agony of ten thousand ants gnawing at its heart."
"And so