The Great Sage Descends from the Heavens!

Central Plains, Starfall Pavilion.

The Elders' Shrine.

Sandalwood incense burned faintly, wisps of smoke curling around the beams and pillars as they rose.

A golden-haired youth with a childlike face knelt motionless on a cushion, gazing at the portrait behind the memorial tablet.

He had been staring for half an hour at the memorial lamp above the altar, its flame long extinguished.

"Master... has fallen and gone missing..."

Sun Qi finally spoke, his voice so hoarse it scarcely sounded like his own.

He couldn't believe it.

Before he entered seclusion, his master had clearly told him, "Little Qi, now that you have mastered the Myriad Medicinal Canon, once you transform and break through, I will teach you the art of refining medicine and make you a true alchemist."

Sun Qi dug his fingertips into his palms, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Yao Chen was more than his master.

To Sun Qi, Yao Chen was more like a father.

Two years earlier.

Eastern Continent, Aolai Divine Kingdom.

As Yao Chen traveled to an island, a rift suddenly split open in the sky.

A meteorite half a meter wide crashed down from the clouds, sending fragments of rock flying and gouging a pit more than ten feet deep.

Yao Chen swept the dust aside with his sleeve and went over to take a look.

A Stone Monkey sprang out of the meteorite, baring his teeth. Wildness filled every inch of him, and his eyes blazed with a startling brightness.

Perhaps sensing a fated connection with the Stone Monkey, Yao Chen personally awakened his intelligence.

Yao Chen saw that he looked like a monkey and thought of how he had fallen from the heavens.

And so he gave him a name.

"I shall call you Sun Qi."

Just like that, Sun Qi became Yao Chen's disciple.

Over the past two years, Yao Chen had often scolded him for being too wild to tame, yet had fed him the finest pills as though they were candy.

Seeing how mischievous and unruly Sun Qi was, Yao Chen feared he would stir up trouble and be bullied when he went out, so he personally refined a suit of inner armor for him, inscribed with three strands of Dou Qi to save his life.

As the memories flooded back, Sun Qi's eyes reddened further.

He bowed low, pressing his forehead against the icy floor tiles without a word.

Venerable Feng stood nearby, watching Sun Qi in his sorrow.

He knew full well that Yao Chen had been both master and father to Sun Qi.

Feng Xian had always been forthright, but now he did not know how to comfort him.

After a long silence, a fierce red light suddenly flashed through Sun Qi's youthful golden eyes.

His gaze grew unusually resolute. "Impossible! Master is definitely not dead!"

"Where's Han Feng?! After I entered seclusion, he was the one who stayed by Master's side all along, wasn't he? How come Master was assassinated, yet he's the one who disappeared?"

Sun Qi gave a cold laugh. Han Feng had struck Venerable Yao in the back, and Sun Qi had to avenge his murdered master with his own hands!

Seeing that Sun Qi was finally willing to speak, Venerable Feng hurried to answer.

"I've been investigating Yao Chen's fall all along, but Han Feng fled quickly."

"Not long after Yao Chen died, Han Feng left Starfall Pavilion and vanished in the Southern Region."

"I've now sent people to search the other three regions."

"But the Dou Qi Continent is too vast, and I also need to oversee the affairs of Starfall Pavilion as a whole."

"That's why we still haven't found any trace of Han Feng."

Sun Qi abruptly raised his head.

He glanced first at Venerable Feng, then turned to Yao Chen's memorial tablet.

The words "Yao Chen, Pavilion Master of Starfall Pavilion" had been carved on the tablet by Venerable Feng himself. The blade strokes were sharp, and every one of them carried his unwillingness to accept it.

Perhaps Feng Xian, too, could not believe that the Peak Eighth-Tier alchemist who had dominated the Central Plains could have fallen so easily.

"I understand."

With that, Sun Qi stood and walked out without looking back.

Venerable Feng raised a hand to stop him.

Halfway there, his hand stopped.

He had watched Sun Qi grow up too. He knew that although Sun Qi was mischievous, Yao Chen's guidance over the years had given him a disposition much like his master's: he valued bonds and loyalty deeply.

After a moment's thought, Venerable Feng took a jade token from his sleeve and tossed it to Sun Qi.

"Take this."

"Yao Chen's death is a grave matter. Han Feng alone could never have hunted him down, so I suspect there's a traitor inside Starfall Pavilion!"

"I need to stay here and purge Starfall Pavilion from within, so if you go out, you'll have to go alone."

Sun Qi paused in his tracks.

"If you run into danger, crush this jade token."

"As long as you're in the Southern Region of the Central Plains, I'll be able to sense it."

Once he left the Southern Region of the Central Plains, Sun Qi would have to rely on himself.

The ever-clever Sun Qi understood that too.

He did not refuse. He reached out and took the jade token, pressing his fingertips against its smooth, warm surface.

Sun Qi raised his hands in salute to Venerable Feng.

"Thank you, Martial Uncle."

After the salute, he walked out of the Elders' Shrine without looking back.

Outside the shrine, though Sun Qi had taken human form, he still had something of a monkey about him.

Sun Qi lifted his head and called out.

"Somersault Cloud."

A white cloud drifted into view before him, churning as it came to a stop at his feet.

Sun Qi flipped onto it with a somersault, landing steadily atop the cloud.

He pushed off with his feet, and the Somersault Cloud carried him straight into the sky, flying northwest.

Venerable Feng walked out of the shrine and stood with his hands behind his back, watching the cloud's trail recede into the distance.

He knew Sun Qi had gone to find Han Feng.

He had not stopped him because he knew Sun Qi was no ordinary Dou Zhe.

Sun Qi possessed an innate divine ability. Even Venerable Feng would have to expend considerable effort to catch up with his Somersault Cloud without using the power of space.

As for why he had not assigned Sun Qi a protector, he feared a traitor might seize the chance to harm Yao Chen's only disciple.

As for Han Feng, from the moment he betrayed and fled Starfall Pavilion, he was no longer Yao Chen's disciple.

Venerable Feng withdrew his gaze and clenched his hand inside his sleeve.

Inside the Elders' Shrine, a piece of incense ash fell gently before Yao Chen's memorial tablet.

Only when Sun Qi's figure had vanished completely beyond the horizon did Feng Xian give his order.

His commanding voice rang throughout the Heavenly Star Mountain Range: "From this day forth, Starfall Pavilion will seal its doors! Recall all disciples and elders who are away. No one is permitted to leave the pavilion for three years. Violators will be treated as traitors to the pavilion!"

After issuing the ban, Feng Xian murmured, "Now it's time to give Starfall Pavilion a thorough cleansing. Little Martial Nephew, may you find your master safely..."

Outside the Heavenly Star Mountain Range, Sun Qi brought up his Great Sage Equal to Heaven panel.

[Name: Sun Qi.]

[Species: Natural-born Stone Monkey.]

[Realm: Three-Star Dou Ling.]

[Cultivation Art: Great Heavenly Immortal Art.]

[Divine Ability: Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Transformations.]

[Arms and Armor: Somersault Cloud, Ruyi Golden Cudgel (fourth realm reached, available to claim).]

(P.S. One realm represents one cultivation realm, counting from Dou Zhe, because according to the original setting, one must reach Dou Zhe before learning a cultivation art.)

(One more thing: Sun Qi was a natural-born Stone Monkey, a Dou Zhe from birth.)

Sun Qi looked at the word "claim" and selected it without the slightest hesitation.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have successfully claimed the Ruyi Golden Cudgel. This cudgel weighs thirteen thousand five hundred jin and changes size at will. It can hold down the seas and drive mountains!]

A muffled boom suddenly came from the northwestern horizon, as though something had torn a gash in the vault of heaven.

He looked up, and his pupils contracted sharply.

A tsunami hundreds of feet high surged out of the void, its crest blotting out the sky as it bore down on him, carrying salty sea spray and shattered rock.

The wall of water was absurdly high. It scattered the clouds and swallowed the sunlight, its shadow instantly covering several miles around.

The shock wave pushed the Somersault Cloud beneath Sun Qi's feet dozens of feet backward.