Innate Living Being
"Benefactor, be careful, then." After hesitating for a moment, Gray Monkey finally nodded and began gathering the survivors.
Given Jiang Zhe's strength, if there truly was something he couldn't handle, they would only be a burden even if they stayed.
"My lord, will you come to the Water Curtain Cave after you finish cultivating?" At the entrance to the Water Filth Cave, Gray Monkey couldn't help turning back to ask.
"I will." Jiang Zhe nodded slightly. He would definitely go.
He just didn't know when.
After all, Sun Wukong, the protagonist of the age, was there!
He was the universally acknowledged number-one male lead. Who wouldn't want to see him for themselves?
"Then I'll have some monkey wine ready and wait for you," Gray Monkey said loudly. Then he raised the iron staff in his hand and strode out of the Water Filth Cave.
Once everyone had disappeared from sight, Jiang Zhe took a deep breath.
He then slowly took out a bolt of lightning that gave off a blue-green glow.
The lightning floated in his hand. Rather than a prickling, numbing sensation, it felt as warm as if he had placed his hand in warm water.
Within moments of the lightning appearing, tender shoots began sprouting from the soil beneath Jiang Zhe's feet.
Primordial Chaos Creation Divine Lightning! It had none of lightning's usual savagery and destruction, but was brimming with vitality and the power of creation.
"Fuse!" Jiang Zhe's lips moved slightly. The next second, golden energy began to float around his body and within the lightning in his hand.
Bolstered by an invisible force, the Primordial Chaos Creation Divine Lightning floated in front of Jiang Zhe, then suddenly plunged into the center of his forehead.
Almost the instant it entered him, Jiang Zhe passed out. The next second!
An explosive crack rang out in the sky. Though it was clear for ten thousand miles, a powerful thunderbolt appeared.
It was as if the heavens were roaring, angrily searching for something!
The instant the thunder rang out from the clear sky, countless pairs of eyes snapped open in heaven and earth.
First among them was the Heavenly Court, which currently held sway over the Three Realms. In Yaochi, the Jade Emperor sensed at once that something was amiss.
"Your Majesty, it's heavenly punishment! Something the Heavenly Dao cannot tolerate has been born." Taibai Jinxing stared in horror at the dark clouds below, which covered an area hundreds of kilometers across.
On closer inspection, the black clouds, stretching across hundreds of li, formed a circle!
The rumbling lightning in the middle of the clouds looked just like a pupil.
It was none other than the Eye of Heavenly Punishment! The Heavenly Dao had instinctively sensed that this thing should not have appeared in the world and could hardly wait to destroy it with heavenly punishment.
"The area it covers is..." The Jade Emperor's eyes shone gold as he stared intently down below.
"Flower-Fruit Mountain!" Taibai swallowed. By the reckoning of the mortal world, there had been a great disturbance on Flower-Fruit Mountain just a few decades ago. A stone monkey had sprung forth, shaking heaven and earth.
That very day, a venerable one from the west had come to a banquet and seemed to have discussed something with the Jade Emperor.
And now, after so little time had passed, another disturbance had come from Flower-Fruit Mountain.
"Your Majesty, could it be that Stone Monkey?" Taibai asked almost instinctively.
"I don't know." It was hard to imagine that one day those three words would come from the mouth of the omnipotent ruler of heaven and earth.
Yet in truth, as calamity Qi grew ever more abundant between heaven and earth, even a quasi-sage could no longer accurately divine the secrets of heaven.
Only a sage acting in person could do so.
Yet ever since the Investiture of the Gods, the sages had almost all remained hidden in the depths of chaos.
No one knew how long it had been since the Three Realms last heard tales of the sages.
"What a pity. Whatever it is, with the Eye of Heavenly Punishment searching for it personally, it has virtually no chance of escaping," Taibai Jinxing said with regret.
"Who knows? A great calamity is rising, and all manner of ox demons and snake spirits are stirring. Have Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind-Following Ear keep watch at all times." The Jade Emperor shook his head, then turned and left.
At Spirit Mountain, a figure slowly emerged within a vast radiance of Buddha light.
"This thing has an affinity with our Buddha. Tiger-Taming Arhat, go. Find it and bring it back to Spirit Mountain." The World-Honored Tathagata's voice rang out. Amid boundless Buddha light, an Arhat with his palms pressed together slowly opened his golden eyes.
"I shall obey our Buddha's decree." Within the golden light, a fierce tiger seemed to roar. Then the tiger took human form and slowly emerged from the golden radiance.
It was none other than Tiger-Taming Arhat, one of the Eighteen Arhats.
Tiger-Taming Arhat looked east and began walking, step by step.
Just then, however, a figure appeared in front of him.
"Venerable Joyful Buddha?" Tiger-Taming looked at the old man before him in some confusion.
"Tiger-Taming Arhat, sorry to trouble you with something on this trip down the mountain," Dingguang Joyful Buddha said, pressing his palms together.
"What would you ask of me, Venerable?" Tiger-Taming Arhat looked up and asked earnestly.
"One of my wicked disciples disappeared within a hundred li of Flower-Fruit Mountain, and the Remnant Page of Conversion I left on him vanished as well. He must have come to harm."
"I hope you can investigate the matter for me, Tiger-Taming Arhat. I will be sure to thank you afterward." As Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal spoke, he took out an object and handed it to Tiger-Taming Arhat.
"This is?" Tiger-Taming was taken aback.
"I am presently at Spirit Mountain contemplating our Buddha's teachings and cannot conveniently leave. Sorry to trouble you, but please deliver this to my good disciple on Mount Hua."
With that, Long-Eared Dingguang Immortal pressed his palms together and murmured, "Our Buddha is merciful," before turning into golden light and vanishing.
He left behind a broken piece of black jade.
"A Samsara Mark? Doesn't this belong to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?" Tiger-Taming frowned at the broken jade, then shook his head and thought no more of it.
The Samsara Mark could also be called the Soul-Fixing Jade!
Its effect was simple: it fixed a soul in one place, making it reincarnate there over and over.
Forget it. What does it matter to me? Dingguang Joyful Buddha is stronger than I am and holds a higher position.
I just have to do as he asks.
The Underworld... the Blood Sea... the depths of the ocean... Countless eyes opened at that moment and fixed their gazes on Flower-Fruit Mountain.
Some were tempted, while others remained indifferent. Some also sent their subordinates to Flower-Fruit Mountain to investigate the situation.
None of this had anything to do with Jiang Zhe, who lay unconscious in the Water Filth Cave.
Tiny arcs of electricity ran over his body as golden light slowly closed around him, wrapping him up completely without letting a trace of his presence escape.
Meanwhile, the Divine Lightning of Creation was like a lively fish entering the sea. It darted back and forth through his body, reforging and reshaping his meridians and innate constitution bit by bit.
At last, a deafening peal of thunder exploded inside Jiang Zhe's body.
All his impurities were expelled completely at that moment, and the instant they touched the outside world, they were blasted into powder by the lightning.
A faint, barely perceptible fragrance wafted from Jiang Zhe. If the golden barrier had not sealed it off, the scent he gave off would probably have been enough to draw every demon within a hundred li to him.
Reversing his nature to become innate!
An Innate Living Being was comparable to a peerless medicinal treasure. At this moment, Jiang Zhe's flesh and blood might have been even more extraordinary than Tang Sanzang's.
A weak Innate Living Being-if word of this got out, the entire Three Realms would probably be shaken.