Under One Person: I Opened the Age of Mythology

Chapter 589

Sun Wukong stood amidst the raging lava storm and shattered divine light, his golden armor tattered. In the depths of his fiery eyes, the golden light that had melted the karmic fire of the Nine Netherworlds had now settled into an almost ethereal tranquility.

Yang Jian's blade, brimming with murderous intent; the screams of the infighting in the Tianhe River; the lamentations of Kunlun collapsing; the fiery explosions of Luzhou... all this external clamor and destruction, as if separated by a thick layer of crystal, struck his heart, which had been tempered a thousand times in the boundless flames of karma.

Deep within the Tushita Palace, the invisible core of the nightmare seemed to sense this "calm" that was so different from the frenzied battlefield.

A thought, colder than the lungs of Beiju Luzhou and more desolate than the Kunlun Xuanbing, pierced Sun Wukong's sea of ​​consciousness like billions of invisible poison needles, disregarding time and space!

That is pure malice, temptation, and the most direct erosion of the soul—give up, merge into this eternal truth, all struggles are in vain!
"Humph."

A soft snort, not of disdain, but more of an affirmation of a heavy fate.

The karmic fire lotus mark between Sun Wukong's eyebrows suddenly lit up, and the crimson-gold light instantly flowed throughout his body, forcibly isolating the corrosive power of the invisible nightmare.

He suddenly looked up, his gaze piercing through the chaotic battlefield and through layers of space, locking onto the "Earth Fire Lotus Heart" deep in the Pure Karma Valley of Beiju Luzhou, which was throbbing violently like a broken heart and covered in cracks!
“Brother Nezha… Jin…” Sun Wukong’s voice was not loud, but it seemed to carry a grand echo that resonated with the heavens and earth, directly vibrating in the core of the lotus heart that was on the verge of shattering, “I’ll borrow your lotus heart for a moment! To build a furnace!”

As soon as he finished speaking, without moving, the Sea-Stabilizing Divine Iron in his hand emitted a dragon's roar that pierced through the clouds and split rocks!

Om-!
The golden cudgel flew out of his hand! It transformed into a golden lightning bolt that stretched across the heavens and earth, ignoring the magical turbulence and spatial barriers on the battlefield, instantly traversing endless distances, and fiercely piercing into the gushing lava core of the Pure Karma Valley in Beiju Luzhou!

The staff swelled up, one end plunging deep into the source of the raging earth fire, while the other end pointed diagonally towards the ever-flowing Milky Way beyond the nine heavens!
The Golden Cudgel, this magical artifact that once suppressed the East Sea and channeled the earth's veins, has now become a bridge connecting the earth's fire and the Milky Way!
The Earth Fire Lotus Heart in Pure Karma Valley, the crimson ball of light transformed from Nezha's Dharma body, which was on the verge of complete shattering, emitted a final, mournful yet resolute hum the moment the Golden Cudgel pierced through it!
It no longer tried to restrain the devastating torrent of fire and water, but instead suddenly collapsed inward!
It frantically extracted and condensed countless strands of crimson-gold earth vein essence!
The cracks on the surface of the lotus heart were forcibly healed and squeezed by this force. Its shape was on the verge of destruction, and it was forcibly cast into a huge furnace base with lava patterns flowing between reality and illusion!
The moment the furnace base took shape, the Golden Cudgel pointed towards the Milky Way, unleashing an unparalleled suction force!

Rumble——!
The waters of the Milky Way, the most yin and gentle of waters, containing the power of stars, seemed to have found an outlet, transforming into a giant silver dragon that stretched across the sky, rushing down along the path forged by the golden cudgel!

The Weak Water Dragon plunged headlong into the base of the crimson lotus heart furnace deep within the earth's core of Luzhou! Extreme cold and extreme heat collided instantly!
Zila——! ! !
An indescribable, ear-piercing sound pierced through the three realms!
What rose was not water vapor, but a grayish-white primordial mist, like the beginning of chaos, carrying a terrifying aura of annihilation, which instantly permeated the entire Pure Karma Valley!

The Milky Way's weak waters flowed and cooled rapidly within the furnace's base, transforming into countless silver chains and pipes that exuded a chilling aura, winding around and constructing the furnace's inner walls and cooling circuits!

The prototype of the furnace was rapidly shaped in the extreme collision of ice and fire!
"Not enough! The furnace body is still missing!"

Sun Wukong's voice resounded in the heart of the local earth god guarding the depths of the Kunlun mine, carrying an unquestionable command.

The Earth God, bleeding from his mouth and nose, was clinging tightly to the giant leg of a Purple Crystal Corpse King, preventing it from rushing out of the mine.

Upon hearing this, his cloudy old eyes flashed with a final burst of light, and he slammed the broken dragon staff in his hand into the spiritual vein node beneath his feet!

"Kunlun warriors! Lend a hand to the Great Sage! Rise—!"

The Earth God burned his lifespan, and his aged roar stirred the slumbering will of the ancestral veins of Kunlun.

hum!
The entire Kunlun Mountains trembled violently! Deep within those newly formed spirit jade veins that had not yet been contaminated by evil energy, the purest and most resilient jade marrow essence was forcibly stripped and extracted!
Hundreds of millions of warm and resilient jade lights converged into a blue-white torrent that stretched across the heavens and earth, like a reversed Milky Way, and poured precisely into the Lotus Heart Furnace in Beiju Luzhou, which was being cooled by the Weak Water and scorched by the Earth Fire!

The bluish-white torrent of Kunlun jade marrow softened, stretched, and shaped immediately upon contact with the nascent furnace of intertwined ice and fire!
They fill the gaps in the cooling pipes, reinforce the outer wall of the furnace, and form an incredibly solid furnace body with a warm, jade-like sheen between the lotus-shaped base and the weak water cooling system!
A furnace of the Three Realms, with the heart of the earth fire lotus as its foundation, the weak water of the Milky Way as its vein, and the jade marrow of Kunlun as its walls, was forged with a roar on the destructive vent of the earth fire in Luzhou!
The moment the furnace was completed, Sun Wukong's figure vanished from his spot. The next instant, he appeared directly above the enormous, thundering furnace, its three colors swirling!
The furnace spewed forth the ferocity of earth fire, the chilling cold of weak water, and the clear light of jade marrow; the violent energy turbulence was enough to instantly tear apart the body of a Golden Immortal.

He lowered his head, his gaze piercing through the boiling furnace opening, as if meeting the formless, intangible, yet firmly attached chaotic nightmare at the bottom of the furnace, which had taken root in this world.

"You wretched creature, do you dare to share the furnace with me?! Let's see if your inner demons will burn away my soul first, or if I, your old Sun, will refine your chronic ailment of the Three Realms first!"

His loud laughter shook the heavens, carrying an arrogant spirit that seemed ready to shatter the heavens and face death without fear.

Before he finished speaking, Sun Wukong's figure transformed into a burning golden meteor, resolutely and straight into the Three Realms Furnace, which was powerful enough to melt stars and the universe!
The stove lid closed imperceptibly.

Inside the furnace, there was neither a sea of ​​lava and fire, nor a dark, icy hell.

That is the cessation of karma, the graveyard of inner demons, and the boiling sea of ​​countless painful memories of all living beings!
Sun Wukong sat cross-legged in the void.

No, there is no longer any concept of up, down, left, right, or void here. The furnace walls flow with the warm and resilient light of Kunlun jade marrow, and are wrapped with silver star chains formed from weak water that can freeze the soul. At the bottom of the furnace are lava runes that radiate out like a heart after the earth fire lotus heart has been broken and forcibly condensed.

The power of the three realms reached a violent and precarious balance within this furnace.

He himself was the sole sacrifice and the core of smelting thrown into the center of this storm of balance!
The silent howl of the demon is the opening horn.

The Chaotic Nightmare, that formless and intangible existence, was like a billion soul-devouring sharks that smelled blood, swarming towards Sun Wukong the moment he fell in, devouring him from the furnace walls, from the energy flow, and from every crevice in the void!

They are invisible, yet the pain they bring is sharp enough to tear apart an immortal soul!
That was the greedy curse of a cultivator, consumed by karmic demons, on his deathbed; that was the extreme despair of a Kunlun miner as his flesh crystallized under the erosion of the Dark Star Crystal; that was the deathly grayness in the eyes of an old woman holding a withered baby in a Luzhou village after the spiritual spring was drained!
Countless distorted and agonizing faces flashed, howled, and shattered in Sun Wukong's consciousness. His golden, immortal body, like gold thrown into aqua regia, began to "melt" at a visible speed!
It was not a physical elimination, but rather the golden light of Buddhism, the purple aura of Taoism, and even the original essence of the stone that mended the sky, which constituted its immortal nature, were stripped away and scattered bit by bit under the torrent of karma of all living beings!
Excruciating pain! Indescribable pain! More violent than being struck by ten thousand bolts of lightning, more insidious than the piercing ice of the Nine Netherworlds!

This pain is not only affecting his body and soul, but also burning away his "existence," his "Dao," and all the imprints he bears as "Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven"!
His golden body thinned and became transparent at a visible speed. The clear outline of his finger bones was visible in his clenched fists, and the Buddhist and Daoist patterns flowing on them became dim and blurred. Through his almost transparent chest, one could even see the chaotic shadow that gathered, churned, and emitted a silent shriek deep within the furnace core—the Nightmare itself!
"The sea of ​​suffering... is boundless... turn back and you will find the shore..." A compassionate and solemn voice seemed to pierce through the barrier of endless karmic fire, resounding directly in the core of his dissipating consciousness.

It did not come from the outside, but from the depths of that violently pulsating karmic fire red lotus mark!

hum!
My forehead is burning hot!

The mark that carried immeasurable karmic fire suddenly expanded and blossomed!
A crimson-gold lotus phantom projected from between his brows and hovered in the furnace.

At the heart of the lotus, a point of pure, flawless golden light flows and condenses, eventually transforming into a illusory figure seated on a lotus throne, with a blurred face yet radiating boundless compassion and wisdom—the Tathagata!
"Foolish child..."

The phantom of Buddha spoke, his voice like a morning bell and evening drum, each syllable containing the power to cleanse the soul, forcibly pulling Sun Wukong back from the brink of being swallowed by pain to a sliver of clarity.

"Karma is not the enemy..."

The golden phantom of Buddha grew ever clearer amidst the churning chaos and shadows, his voice piercing through the wails of countless vengeful spirits:
"Business is not the enemy, but the mirror."

“You see the greed, anger, ignorance, pride, and doubt of sentient beings as raging waves, threatening to capsize your boat. Little do you know that these waves also reflect your own image. You once shattered the heavens, which is the peak of 'pride'; you once pointed your staff at all Buddhas, which is the flame of 'anger'; now you wish to save the sky from collapse and bear the burden of countless eons alone, which is also the attachment to 'ignorance'.”

"You see all living beings, and all living beings see you. The demons in your eyes are actually the dark side of the minds of all living beings in the Three Realms, and also the shadow in your heart that you, Wukong, have failed to see through."

"The enemy in the mirror is not outside. The way to break the mirror is not to smash it, but to... understand one's own mind and nature, and to see one's reflection in the mirror."

The wise words, like a clear spring, poured into Sun Wukong's sea of ​​consciousness, which had been nearly dried up and cracked by the scorching fire of karma.

The phantom of Buddha slowly raised a finger, not pointing at the chaotic nightmare churning in the furnace, but gently touching Sun Wukong's chest, which had become translucent, pointing to his "heart" that still beat stubbornly amidst endless suffering.

That finger that fell did not bring power, but rather a "light"—a light of "enlightenment" originating from the deepest self-awareness!
The boundless torrent of karma, which was once forcibly suppressed, resisted, and regarded as a monstrous flood, suddenly becomes clear in its essence under the light of "enlightenment"!

It was no longer a ferocious enemy that wanted to tear him apart, but... a mirror of karma that reflected the three realms, reflected himself, and reflected all the causes and effects of the past and future!
What churns in the mirror is the insane greed of the cultivators of the Southern Continent for their achievements; the hypocrisy of the Earth God in covering up the disaster; the despair of the Kunlun miners being exploited; the numbness of the old woman of Luzhou who has lost her bloodline... The suffering of all beings is the "shadow" of what he has experienced or may experience.

Nightmare does not arise out of thin air; it is the ultimate dark side formed by the distortion, magnification, and convergence of this boundless reflection on the core of chaos!
How to resist? How can we resist this "shadow" that originates from ourselves, from all living beings, and coexists with the three realms?
Only... acceptance!
In the instant of enlightenment, the "Heart of Equaling Heaven," which had been tormented by the flames of karma and was on the verge of shattering, suddenly underwent a fundamental transformation!

No longer a furnace for passively enduring pain, but actively transformed into a "wedge" that encompasses the purity and turbidity of the three realms and balances yin and yang!
The raging balance forces within the furnace seemed to have found their true core.

Sun Wukong's body, which was almost completely transparent and only had a blazing soul shadow left, slowly sank down and sat cross-legged in the core vortex of the furnace.

He no longer tried to eliminate the churning, chaotic nightmare shadows, but instead released all thoughts of defense and resistance.

The transparent ghostly figure opened its arms, as if embracing a violent child.

"Come... dark side of the three realms... reflection of all living beings... my heart... accepts you!"

Outside the furnace, in the three realms, blood and fire have reached their boiling point.

On the battlefield of the Milky Way, Yang Jian's blade, crackling with lightning that tore through the void, was only inches away from the afterimage left by Sun Wukong!

The purplish-black madness completely devoured his third eye. In his scarlet vision, the "demonic" monkey was grinning, twisting the sharpness of the three-pointed double-edged sword into countless blood-stained claws and teeth of the demons of Flower Fruit Mountain pointing at him!
"kill!"

A beastly roar erupted from Yang Jian's throat, and he unleashed his full power with his sword, determined to shatter the "world-destroying culprit" before him along with his own inner demons!
Just as the blade was about to strike—

Deep within his consciousness, a scene, like a frozen piece of glass, suddenly pierced the blood-red curtain woven by his nightmare: beneath the Five Elements Mountain, the wind and rain were dark and gloomy. A hairy hand, covered in stone dust yet still steady, passed through the cracks in the suppressing talismans and gently placed a wild fruit, glistening with dew, beside his hand, which trembled with rage.

At that time, he was ordered to guard the monkey. His brows were cold and unquestionable, like a divine judge. Yet, a ripple passed through his heart because of the monkey's arrogance and a trace of... indescribable trust that remained even in dire straits.

"True Lord... will you trust me, Old Sun, just this once?"

The monkey's words, which were both playful and strangely serious back then, resounded like a thunderclap across time, exploding in my frantic soul at this moment!
"Ugh... Ah—!"

Yang Jian's forward momentum abruptly halted, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer!

The blade of light that had been unleashed froze in mid-air, trembling violently!

The mad purple light in his left eye clashed violently with the struggling golden light in his right eye, twisting his entire face in extreme pain and struggle.

(End of this chapter)