On Vulture Peak, Zhunti's words still echoed softly.
"There... lies a great fortuitous opportunity for my disciple as well..."
His voice was quiet, so quiet it seemed no more than a murmur to himself, yet an irrepressible light shone in his deep eyes.
Below him, Sun Wukong knelt on a meditation cushion, his golden eyes filled with confusion.
He had only recently come into the world. Though his intelligence had awakened, he still did not understand what the "opportunity" his Master spoke of truly meant.
Zhunti was in no hurry to explain.
He slowly closed his eyes. Buddha light flowed around him, and his Sage-level divine sense spread in every direction like an invisible tide, seeping into the unseen pathways of the heavenly mandate.
He was divining.
Delving deeper, examining more closely, seeking greater clarity.
Earlier, while expounding the Dao, he had merely brushed against heaven's secrets by chance and glimpsed a faint clue.
Now, he intended to see that clue clearly and uncover every detail of that opportunity-its origins, its causes, and its consequences.
Hum...
Within the Buddha light, strands of profound laws and order manifested like countless golden threads, intertwining around him to weave a vast, intricate tapestry of heaven's secrets.
Zhunti's divine sense moved through it, searching for every karmic link and every path connected to Sun Wukong.
A moment later.
His eyelid suddenly twitched.
Found it.
Above the East Sea, that trail of heaven's secrets was as distinct as the blazing midday sun, too dazzling to ignore.
Zhunti's divine sense followed the trail deeper, and images flashed through his mind.
At the bottom of the East Sea, within an abyss ten thousand fathoms deep, stood a heaven-supporting pillar of divine iron. Its entire surface was black-gold, densely engraved with mysterious runes, and it exuded a primordial