He stepped forward, his furry face filled with disbelief and fury, his voice rising more than an octave. "You damned baldy, what did you say? You dare bargain away the Blue Star that Old Sun protects? You're asking for a beating!"
He reached behind his head with his right hand, plucked out a hair, and blew on it. The hair instantly transformed into a golden staff, which he gripped in one hand, its tip aimed straight at Ryze's face.
Du Kao nearly sprang out of his hospital bed at the sight and hurriedly pressed his hands down in the air several times.
"Wukong, hold on! Let's hear what Teacher Ryze has to say first!"
"Old Du, stop playing peacemaker!"
Sun Wukong shot him a sidelong glare, then turned back to stare fixedly at Ryze, spinning the Golden Cudgel once in his palm. "Old Sun has been sick of this baldy for ages!"
"He sent me to probe that kid Qin Feng's reason for coming to Blue Star, but while I was getting beaten, this fellow hid in the shadows like it had nothing to do with him and never lifted a finger! Otherwise, how could Old Sun have ended up in such a sorry state?"
The more he spoke, the angrier he became, his grip tightening around the staff.
After Sun Wukong pointed at his nose and berated him, the composed smile on Ryze's face finally turned cold.
"Sun Wukong, don't pin all the blame on me. If you hadn't spoken so rudely, why would a fight have broken out? Now that someone has taught you a lesson, you've learned to pass the buck instead. I don't think much of you as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!"
"Aaaaargh!!!"
Sun Wukong's fur stood on end, his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze blazing with fury.
"You've infuriated Old Sun! Take this!"
With a low roar, he raised his hand and swung, the Golden Cudgel cleaving toward Ryze's head with a howling rush of wind!
Ryze's expression instantly changed in alarm.
Although he had a third generation divine body, he was a scholar by training, and all his abilities lay in his brains. In actual combat, he could not match even one of Sun Wukong's fingers.
He had no intention of taking the blow head-on. As he pulled back, he swiftly tore open a space wormhole and darted inside a second before the staff landed, reappearing in another corner of the ward.
The Golden Cudgel struck where he had just stood, smashing a metal table beside the hospital bed to pieces.
"Wukong, stop!"
Du Kao struggled upright in his hospital bed, his hoarse voice carrying a rarely heard authority. "Do you want to destroy this place? Teacher Ryze is an instructor at the Super God Academy, just like Teacher Wu. Why would he do anything to harm Blue Star?"
At the mention of Teacher Wu, Sun Wukong's Golden Cudgel stopped in midair, never coming down for a second strike.
He panted heavily, as though the name had stirred some distant memory.
After a moment, he finally lowered his staff slowly and said sullenly, "Then Old Sun will hear what explanation you can give!"
Ryze emerged from the shadows in the other corner of the ward. Though he still looked somewhat shaken, he had regained his composure.
He straightened the collar of his robe, which the space wormhole had disarranged, and cleared his throat, his voice returning to its composed tone. "It's true that I intend to use Blue Star to bargain with Pan Zhen, but I don't actually intend to hand Blue Star over to them."
Du Kao's brows twitched. "What do you mean?"
"Old Du, you know perfectly well why Lieyang insists on laying its plans on Blue Star."
Ryze paced back to the hospital bed, his hands behind his back. "Isn't it because their Lieyang Star can barely hold on any longer, and they urgently need a new habitable planet to migrate to?"
Du Kao slowly nodded.
He knew something of Lieyang Star's condition. That planet had suffered severe damage from a single axe blow by the previous War God of Nox, and its ecosystem was already nearing the brink of collapse.
Without stellar technology barely keeping it going, Lieyang Star would probably have been destroyed long ago.
Though Pan Zhen still maintained Lieyang's facade outwardly, he had secretly been searching for an alternative planet to migrate to.
And Blue Star had happened to catch his eye.
"Precisely for that reason, Pan Zhen won't give up this opportunity."
Ryze continued, "As long as we offer some living space in exchange, he'll certainly be willing to lend us resources. Once we have those resources..."
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. "We can easily use the Taotie invasion as a pretext to keep dragging things out..."
"You want to go back on your word for your own gain?"
Sun Wukong interrupted him directly, undisguised contempt in his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze.
"But have you considered that Pan Zhen isn't a fool? Fool him once, and sooner or later he'll catch on. When Lieyang's army arrives at our doorstep, what will Blue Star have to stop it?"
Ryze smiled faintly. "By then, Ge Xiaolun and the others will have grown. Once the Galaxy Power truly matures, it'll be too late even if Lieyang catches on."
The ward fell silent for a few seconds.
Du Kao sat in his hospital bed, clutching the sheet in both hands, his gaze shifting between Ryze and Sun Wukong twice.
His expression fluctuated, as though he were repeatedly weighing the gains and losses.
Finally, he seemed to make up his mind.
"Then we'll do as Teacher Ryze says!"
At those words, Sun Wukong frowned.
He remained sullenly silent, but a complicated light surged in his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze.
Truthfully, he held this sort of conduct in great contempt.
Especially since this matter would inevitably involve that young girl Rena.
Although he had a grudge against Lieyang, after observing her over the past month, he had found that Rena genuinely bore Blue Star goodwill.
But after this, Rena's situation would likely become difficult.
Once Pan Zhen caught on, even if she had done nothing, she would inevitably suffer his misplaced anger.
He could not quite bear it, but at this point, the course of events was far beyond his power alone to decide.
The Super God Academy, the Deno Remnants, the angels, Lieyang, the Taotie, and that inscrutable Qin Feng-too many forces were entangled on this planet. Even if he swung the Golden Cudgel until sparks flew, he could not beat this tangled mess apart.
All he could do was apologize to that young girl in his heart.
Du Kao's gaze passed over Sun Wukong's face, as though he had seen through his thoughts, and he broke the silence. "Teacher Ryze, I've already contacted Rena through Dark Communication and asked her to come over. After all, she's Lieyang's chief god. Having her communicate with Pan Zhen is far more appropriate than approaching him directly ourselves."
As he spoke, he turned to Sun Wukong again. "Wukong, if this weighs on your conscience, you can go back to Flower Fruit Mountain and rest for a couple of days. We can handle things here."
Sun Wukong was silent for a moment before finally nodding.
He raised his hand and summoned his Somersault Cloud, disappearing beyond the skyline within a few breaths.
Only Du Kao and Ryze remained in the ward.
Before long, Rena pushed the door open and walked in.
"Old Du, what did you call me over for?"
Before you continue