Indeed, it was the contrast.
After all, when the Stone Monkey had first emerged, his astonishing might had blanketed the sky and earth. Those unruly eyes, savage and fierce, had swept over everyone like a Primordial Ferocious Beast looking down upon ants, shaking every Buddhist School Disciple present to the core and sending chills down their spines.
In that instant, countless disciples had shared the same thought.
This Stone Monkey was no harmless creature.
Subduing him would probably be no easy feat.
Some had even begun secretly wondering how Saint Zhunti would tame this unruly beast. Would he transform him through Buddhist Dharma, suppress him with a Sage's power, or spend untold years persuading him to willingly embrace the Buddhist School?
Yet no one had expected it.
The moment the Stone Monkey spoke, he asked to become a disciple.
There was not the slightest hesitation, not the slightest resistance, not even a hint of bargaining.
Just like that, crisp and decisive, without hesitation, he had respectfully addressed Zhunti as "Senior" and properly performed the rites of accepting a master.
The sight left everyone utterly dumbfounded, their jaws dropping.
"He... he's already asking to become a disciple?"
One Buddhist School Disciple gaped, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, his face filled with disbelief.
"What happened to that savage aura? What happened to those unruly eyes? What happened to that suffocating might?"
"How did he become so docile in the blink of an eye?"
"Isn't that contrast a little too much?"
"Heavens... I've cultivated for tens of thousands of years, and I've never seen anything like this. Born at Great Luo, fierce as a Demon God, yet the first thing he says is that he wants a master. This..."
"Could there be something more to this Stone Monkey?"
The disciples