Those time travelers that year

"What is this...?" Her voice trembled even before she knew it. Gnevia snapped out of her hallucination and retreated hastily, her expression incredulous. She even slipped and fell into a sea of ​​flower petals.

However, she paid no attention to any of that, and just stared intently at the stubborn rock being scorched by countless flames in the ripples.

After a long silence, his expression twitched, and he asked in a dry voice, "What...what is this...?"

The illusory figure did not answer, merely murmuring "Amitabha" before remaining seated motionless amidst the mandala flowers, just as before. Finally, someone answered Guinevere's questions.

“That’s a hero…” A soft voice sounded behind Gunivia, startling the goddess. She turned her gaze behind her in alarm, and saw Charles’s figure reflected in her eyes.

Charles simply smiled at Guinevia, ignoring her completely, and even more so the war god who had appeared beside Guinevia immediately after his arrival, staring at him with a stern expression. Instead, he walked directly past Guinevia to the phantom, only glancing briefly at the scene within the ripples along the way.

"Are you here to see this humble monk off?" the illusory figure asked Xia Er, his hands clasped together.

"Whether it's seeing him off or not, you know the answer in your heart..." Charles said, "If I help this person completely transform into the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, do you think the Great Sage Equaling Heaven might just kill you with a single blow?!"

“Absolutely!” the phantom said with certainty. “If he weren’t, then he wouldn’t be the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, but the Victorious Fighting Buddha.”

“Yes, so he is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven,” Xia Er said. “I will not kill you, because that would be meaningless... Besides, even if the Great Sage Equal to Heaven kills you with a single blow, you will still have the right to be reincarnated and start over.”

"Next time, think carefully about how to be a good person before reciting Buddhist scriptures and performing Buddhist rituals."

"Thank you for your kind words, benefactor."

"Good words? You're mistaken. I am an evil god, and evil gods don't speak good words..." Charles laughed sarcastically. "You haven't learned to be a good person, so how can you become a Buddha?! But similarly, if you learn to be a good person, then you will never become a Buddha in your next life." As soon as he finished speaking, Charles vanished from the spot.

543. Coming Soon

Charles ignored Guinevere, and also ignored Lancelot, the God of War who had revealed himself. To him, these two were merely insignificant fellows; if they dared to block his path, he would simply kick them aside or slap them to death.

However, this attitude of ignoring them is the greatest mockery of Guinevere and Lancelot.

Because they don't even deserve to be looked at by Ciel.

"What the hell is that guy doing?!" Guinevere took a deep breath, turned her gaze to the phantom, and asked, "And what exactly is that thing burning inside?!"

The phantom was silent for a moment before speaking, "Just as that benefactor said, what is burning in the flames is a true hero who is not made of steel but is about to be born. Originally, he was the Monkey God, a steel being, but he was not complete. He was only summoned as a steel hero to deal with the chaos caused by the dragon and serpent."

"However, that benefactor, accompanied by two winged serpent goddesses, one being Athena and the other the Son of Dawn, stormed into the Netherworld and tore everything apart."

"And then, just as you have seen..."

"The entire Netherworld has been almost completely sealed off, and here in my humble abode, the Monkey God, who was sealed away, has been placed in endless flames and burned by that benefactor's interference."

"Benefactor, please look up..."

Upon hearing the phantom's words, Guinevere and Lancelot, the God of War, instinctively raised their heads and looked up. Then, they saw countless dark golden gears overlapping each other in the pitch-black world. Every inch of the gears' rotation brought out a golden stream of light, and countless golden streams of light intersected layer upon layer, spreading from the sky to the horizon.

"What is that?" Guinevia asked, puzzled.

"Time..." This time, the one who answered her question was Lancelot, the God of War behind her. This knight, who still hid his face in his helmet, looked up at the gears in the sky and said in an amazed tone, "Those are the power of time. Someone is using the power of time to accelerate the passage of time somewhere."

“The power of time.” Guinevere’s face turned deathly pale. She twitched her eye, looked at the gears in the sky in disbelief, and then said bitterly, “How is this possible…”

"What this benefactor said is correct; it is indeed the power of time," the phantom said. "...Because for the true Great Sage Equaling Heaven to descend, sufficient time is needed to wash away some of his divine attributes, so that benefactor used his power to conceal a myth here."

"Burning for forty-nine days in Laozi's Eight Trigrams Furnace, he forged a pair of fiery eyes. To reenact this myth, that benefactor controlled the entire seal, burning everything in flames and placing the stubborn stone representing the stone monkey within the flames..."

"The temperature of that flame is comparable to that of a real star. With the help of this high temperature, the Six Ding Divine Fire, one of the heavenly fires, was reinterpreted to guide the divine status of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven to descend."

"Originally, this process would take forty-nine days, but that benefactor directly used the power of time to forcibly accelerate the process, so that it only takes seven days for the Great Sage Equaling Heaven to be fully born."

"In the end, I was forcibly trapped here by that benefactor, who used my life to help the Great Sage Equal to Heaven sever his ties with Buddhism."

"Don't you intend to disrupt this process?" Guinevia asked, puzzled. "Just surrender like this!?" To be honest, Guinevia already had the idea of ​​disrupting this place. After all, Charles had a grudge against her, and besides, this soon-to-be-born Monkey King, who rebelled against the gods and Buddhas, was no longer steel, but had become a rebel against the gods. You see, the final king she was looking for was the Steel Hero, a god. What would happen if the Monkey King collided with the final king? It would undoubtedly be a fight to the death. This was Guinevia's intuition, or rather, when she saw that illusion, she had the idea that she absolutely could not let this monkey completely leave the world.

"It's no use!" The phantom simply rejected Guinevia's idea. "It's too late, and it was impossible to stop it from the very beginning."

Why do you say that?!

"Because of time, that one who can manipulate time... From the very beginning, he eliminated all possibilities, leaving only one possibility." The phantom sighed. "As the female benefactor who is the reincarnation of the dragon and snake, you may not know, but with that one's power, he has already surpassed this world. From beginning to end, he has only been walking in this world as an avatar, while his true self has already begun to approach this world, and it is too late for anything."

"Unless the Buddha descends directly from the countless sands of the Ganges from Mount Sumeru in the Western Paradise, everything is already predetermined."

Guinevere gritted her teeth in resentment. For some reason, a voice kept echoing within her, urging her to destroy the being known as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. It was a threat, especially to the Last King.

"Uncle!" Thinking this, the ancestral god trusted his intuition. Although he wasn't sure if the Great Sage Equaling Heaven would target the Last King, whose whereabouts were still unknown, Guinevere didn't want a threat to the gods to appear in this world. "Do you have a way to shatter that stone directly?!"

"To be honest, it's very difficult!" The God of War's tone was very serious. "My martial instincts are constantly urging me to get far away from here. A great terror is about to be unleashed here."

“But my divine side is telling me that I must destroy all of this at all costs… My beloved son, you are right. It is indeed a threat, a threat specifically targeting all disobedient gods, far surpassing the threat of Campione.”

Guinevia's face was grim, her expression shifting before she gritted her teeth and said, "What if we use the Savior Blade?!"

"I don't know..." The God of War shook his head. "If the master were to use it personally, it might succeed, but with my strength... even if I used the power of the God of Salvation Blade, it would be impossible to pass through those flames."

"That's a flame powerful enough to turn gods to ashes!!!!" Those resolute words plunged Guinevere into utter despair.

"That's the Six Ding Divine Fire, it was intentionally created by that..." The phantom shook its head and said, "Leave this place! The reincarnation of the dragon and serpent..."

Guinevia opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but before she could utter a word, a roaring sound interrupted her.

The flames began to burn...

In this sea of ​​datura flowers, endless flames began to erupt from the ground, devouring every petal they touched.

"They've arrived!" The phantom looked at the scene of flames raging and gushing forth, and sighed softly, as if it had been relieved.

The monkeys will come out tomorrow... Don't be slapped in the face!!!

544. The Great Sage

Flames began to engulf the sea of ​​datura flowers, which was originally just a barrier created using the power of a seal. It was utterly incapable of stopping this from happening, especially since the barrier was blocking the entrance to the seal. In any case, this place would be completely shattered.

Just like in Journey to the West, when Laozi's Eight Trigrams Furnace was overturned, a stone brick fell to earth and formed the Flaming Mountain. The seal, already filled to the brim with flames, is about to explode like an unprecedented super bomb.

Flames burst forth from beneath the sea of ​​mandalas, waves of heat rolling in, the merciless flames burning and destroying everything within reach.

“This is…” Gnevia stared blankly as flames shot into the sky around her. Something was bombarding the barrier in this area, and it had already been blasted open by her.

While Guinevere was gripped by terror, Lancelot, the God of War, was in no mood to think about such things. His intuition, honed on the battlefield and stemming from his martial prowess, had reached its peak at this moment, for a terrifying threat was about to descend upon him, one that could shatter him to pieces.

"Go!" In desperation, Lancelot, the God of War, quickly pulled Guinevere aside, intending to summon his white horse and expend his power to forcibly tear apart the barrier between the underworld and the mortal realm, rushing out. Amidst the lightning, the white horse appeared below. Lancelot scooped Guinevere up in his arms, spurring the white horse into the sky on the lightning, intending to leave immediately.

Even though his divine side was constantly urging the God of War to stop the monkey about to be born, this instinct of hostility, which far surpassed Campione's, was firmly suppressed by the God of War.

Now is not the time for fighting.

As a war god, Lancelot could sense, even by intuition, the vast difference between the two sides. This difference was beyond what the use of the God of Salvation could reverse, or rather, unless it was the final king blessed by the covenant, none of the descending disobedient gods would be a match for the one about to be born.

"Certainly!!!!!!"

Just as Lancelot, riding his white horse and carrying Guinevere, transformed into lightning and soared into the sky, about to disappear into the distance, a loud, unruly voice resounded through the heavens like a thunderclap.

As if time had stopped, the soaring lightning was frozen in the sky by an invisible force. Fragments of lightning, a galloping white horse, the knight on its back, and a girl in its arms, her expression one of panic…

Everything was frozen in time, like a photograph.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the lightning is not completely frozen in place. Tiny flashes of lightning are jumping at a very slow pace, one after another, while the white horse and the war god on its back are trembling incessantly, trying to break through the barrier of this invisible force.

However, before Lancelot could break free of his restraints, the sea of ​​mandrake flowers below was completely transformed into a sea of ​​fire.

Amidst the sea of ​​fire, the phantom figure sat upright on a mandala flower, hands clasped together, chanting Amitabha Buddha… His time had come.

Within the seal, on the stubborn rock amidst the sea of ​​fire, countless cracks have covered every inch of its surface, and a series of loud heartbeats pound incessantly. With each heartbeat, golden-red light ripples and ebbs within the cracks.

Suddenly, the golden-red light within the crack blazed brightly, flashing like a golden-red sun. All the flames, all the flames within the seal, surged towards the stubborn rock like water being sucked in by a whale—and then, with a deafening roar, an explosion occurred.

The flames broke through the seal, and the enormous energy completely shattered this alternate dimension, tearing out a huge, pitch-black rift—a rift in spacetime. All the flames were compressed and, after devouring the sea of ​​mandrake flowers, rushed into that rift.

At that moment, a golden-red figure, accompanied by flames, shot straight into the sky from the seal. It seemed to be a blazing fire cloud, which swirled and surged through the air before crashing down with a thunderous roar, arriving in front of the flaming phantom.

Appearing in front of the phantom was an unruly figure with soaring fighting spirit.

Above the hairy-faced thunder god's mouth were a pair of fiery golden eyes burning like the ancient sun. With just two gazes, he could see through heaven and earth, looking up at the nine heavens and down into the nine abysses.

He was dressed in a golden crown, golden armor, and cloud-patterned boots.

That golden crown is the treasure of the Dragon King of the South Sea, and it is called the Phoenix Wing Purple Gold Crown; that golden armor belongs to the Dragon King of the West Sea, and it is called the Chainmail Golden Armor; those cloud boots are the treasure of the Dragon King of the North Sea, and they are called Lotus Silk Cloud-Walking Boots.

He gripped the Ruyi Jingu Bang, a divine treasure that stabilizes the Milky Way, tightly in his hand, while a fiery red cloak billowed behind him...

Emerging from the flames, the monkey ignored the illusory figure before him. Instead, he looked up, his fiery eyes piercing through the three realms of time and space. He saw the knight in the sky, struggling to break free from the immobilization spell; he saw the person beneath the dark sun in another dimension; and he saw the figure who had released him outside the overlapping spacetime.

"Heaven and earth created a spirit of immortality, an old ape in Flower Fruit Mountain. He made his home in the Water Curtain Cave, seeking friends and masters to comprehend the profound mysteries. He refined countless methods of immortality, learning boundless transformations. Dissatisfied with the cramped space of the mortal realm, he resolved to dwell in the Jade Heaven. The Lingxiao Palace is not his long-standing residence, but the rightful heir of past kings. The strong should be respected, and I, a hero, dare to be first." He murmured these verses, as if etched into his soul, feeling the praise and hope of billions over hundreds of years. His fiery eyes shone with a will higher than the heavens, his defiant spirit radiating an indomitable will to fight against heaven and earth: "I, Old Sun—the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, have returned!"

"Amitabha!" The illusory figure chanted the Buddhist mantra, stood up directly from the mandala flower where he had been sitting cross-legged for a long time, and respectfully bowed with his hands clasped together to the newcomer. "Ritakano, an unnamed monk, greets the Great Sage."

"Oh!" The fiery eyes looked over. "You also call me, Old Sun, the Great Sage!?"

"Therefore..." the phantom nodded and said, "Now here, there is only the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the God of War, and no Buddhist protector, the Victorious Fighting Buddha."

"Then do you know what kind of person I, Old Sun, would be like?!"

"This humble monk knows that this is the cause and effect between this humble monk, the Buddhist community, and the Great Sage," the illusory figure replied with his hands clasped together. "I hope the Great Sage will grant this humble monk's wish to be reborn as a human being."

"Very well!" A loud laugh rang out as the Great Sage gripped his Ruyi Jingu Bang and swung it with overwhelming force, instantly shattering the entire phantom into pieces.

545. Monkey

With a single swing of his staff, the immense force shattered the illusory figure into countless fragments, which scattered in all directions. At that moment, the monkey, having pulverized the illusory figure, addressed the shattered remains, saying, "From this day forward, the Victorious Fighting Buddha is the Victorious Fighting Buddha, Sun Wukong is Sun Wukong, and the Great Sage Equal to Heaven is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven..."

"Thank you, Great Sage..." As all the shattered fragments gradually dissipated, the weak voice of the phantom lingered, "Amitabha..." He died, this time truly dead. He didn't ascend to paradise after understanding cause and effect as he had initially hoped, but at least he was given the chance to be reincarnated and become human again.

In reality, the monkey could have shattered the illusion along with its last remaining soul. However, he didn't act; instead, he chose to completely sever ties with Buddhism. As he said, the Victorious Fighting Buddha is the Victorious Fighting Buddha, Sun Wukong is Sun Wukong, and the Great Sage Equal to Heaven is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

The Victorious Fighting Buddha exists in mythology, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven lives in people's hearts, and Sun Wukong appears in the present day...

In a sense, this Sun Wukong is a new Sun Wukong. He is not the one from mythology, who has completely become the Victorious Fighting Buddha and is no longer the lawless monkey he once was. The current Sun Wukong is simply a new creation born from the mythology of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, through the praise and reliance of billions of people over hundreds of years.

He is the Victorious Fighting Buddha, but he is not the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

"He deliberately left behind a foolish little monk to help me understand the karma between myself and Buddhism..." The monkey looked in a certain direction, and with his fiery eyes, he easily spotted a smiling figure. The monkey grinned and said, "...to separate me, Old Sun, from mythology and help me gain real freedom... What a scoundrel! Fine! I, Old Sun, owe you, and I will repay you naturally. I don't want to owe anyone favors!"

"But before that!" With that, the monkey shifted its fiery gaze upwards to the war god struggling to break free from the immobilization spell. "I, Old Sun, must fulfill my duty as a rebel!"

Reflected in the fiery eyes was a white dragon-snake, and a human figure entangled with it.

At this moment, sensing the watchful gaze, Lancelot, the God of War, his face hidden beneath his helmet, finally broke free from the immobilization spell, his expression grim. Without hesitation, he immediately harnessed his lightning to escape.

However, Lancelot quickly stopped. In front of the God of War and the God Ancestor, a monkey carrying a stick and with a lazy expression was sitting on a white cloud. Heaven knows how this guy got here in an instant!

"Keep running! Monster?!" The monkey yawned lazily and said, "Keep going, I, Old Sun, have plenty of time..." Without a trace of murderous intent, and without the terrifying fighting spirit it had displayed before, this monkey truly resembled a lazy monkey. Unfortunately for it, neither the God of War nor the God Ancestor held in the God of War's arms believed that this monkey, which had appeared before them in an instant at a speed they couldn't even react to, was merely a lazy, ordinary monkey.