Journey to the West: Treasure Vase of the Great Dao

Chapter 92 The Heart of Battle

"haha, it looks like your cultivation has made great progress lately; your aura is quite startling." lu yu said to the monkey with a smile.

only then did the monkey wake up from his meditative state. being pinned under the five elements mountain, he had nothing to do all day long, with no one to chat and relieve his boredom, except for cultivation which was his only choice.

when the monkey opened his eyes and saw a familiar face, he said excitedly, "scholar, you finally came to visit me. i thought you had forgotten about me after all these years without a visit."

lu yu looked at the delighted face of the monkey and was very pleased, for one thing because the monkey's mentality had recovered well and he no longer looked dejected, and for another because he himself had survived a disaster, which meant the two of them still had a chance to meet.

"it wasn't that i didn't want to visit you; i was nearly killed by someone's scheme and it took me a great deal of effort to recover." lu yu thought back with some lingering fear. he hadn't had so many thoughts during the tribulation itself, but afterwards, the realization made his heart pound.

had it not been for his enlightenment tea tree, had not his fortune and destiny greatly increased at that time, had he not fortuitously activated his fire element qi, he might not have made it through the fire disaster.

"who was it? tell me, and i'll avenge you once i get out," said the monkey resolutely, his aura surging so much that the entire five elements mountain seemed about to collapse. this panicked the mountain god and earth god outside, who kept yelling for the monkey to withdraw his divine skills.

"it's one of the hidden great powers of this world who, by a freak coincidence, wanted to turn me into his pawn." lu yu then recounted to the monkey the events that had taken place recently.

"there's such a powerful being in the three realms? i've never heard of him before." although the monkey had many acquaintances, most of them were fair-weather friends, and no one had mentioned these secrets of the three realms to him.

"this great power was very famous in ancient times, but unluckily later he crossed paths with ksitigarbha bodhisattva, who restrains him greatly. that bodhisattva has taken a great vow to save all the evil spirits in the world before proving the great dao, which has forced him not to emerge lightly for several years."

"hmph, serves him right," the monkey snorted coldly. he had no good impressions of those great powers who liked scheming from the shadows, especially those who had almost killed lu yu.

as soon as he finished asking, he saw the monkey's embarrassed face as he said, "you know i used to spend my time drinking with those guys in the heavenly court; i had no interest in paying attention to these matters."

lu yu then remembered that the monkey was the number one loafer in the heavenly court, a title holder of the great sage equalling heaven but devoid of any official duties, idling away his time looking for people to drink with, and he had never shown much interest in these ancient legends.

the fact that the monkey had never heard of this name was likely because someone deliberately faded it into obscurity, which was very normal for the monkey. stay updated through empire

"but who exactly is this person, and why are you so fixated on him?" the monkey knew that his friend was usually privy to the secrets of the three realms, and the fact that he mentioned this name meant that it must be out of the ordinary.

"from what i know so far, this person is the ancient sun god, the lord of light, the leader among gods, a celebrated figure in ancient times."

"isn't that like the jade emperor? no, wait, seems even stronger than him," the monkey commented, laughing.

"in ancient sacrificial documents, he was the original heavenly emperor, but back then there probably wasn't something called the heavenly court." lu yu speculated based on information from the fragmented work left by the dragon court in the great chu, although he wasn't certain. after all, as members of the human race who worshipped the eastern emperor, they naturally exaggerated their claims.

however, this also indirectly proved his mightiness, because not every divine spirit dared to accept worship in the capacity of the heavenly emperor.

thinking that such a powerful being was taken by the ancestral master, who was said to have achieved transcendence, to patch the heavenly dao, he couldn't help but shiver. it took a formidable force to do that.

"this world is far more dangerous than you think, monkey. we must be careful in the future and can't be as reckless as before," lu yu said sincerely.

yet while lu yu saw strength and reflected on how to proceed safely, the monkey's eyes shone brightly. there were still so many masters in the world, and to him, they were the perfect opponents.

"good, that's how it should be; otherwise, the world would be too lonely." the monkey muttered to himself, his eyes full of the hunger for battle.