The earth began to shake, and a thunderous roar from the planet's core spread in all directions. The hills and fields within sight churned and swelled madly, like boiling water!
Tens of thousands of streams of Dragon Vein Earth Qi, like awakening giant pythons, carrying the immense power of the earth's essence, surged violently into the core of the dust cloud that soared to the heavens!
A clear shout, yet it was like the startling thunder that splits the heavens and parts the earth!
At this moment, boundless divine power erupted from the body within the dust cloud!
Rumble—!!
An invisible shockwave transformed into a torrent of destruction, sweeping away everything in its path.
Countless towers and palaces were obliterated into ruins by this shockwave. But the remaining aftershock did not stop, continuing to press forward in all directions.
A wind blew from the mountains, carrying a fresh coolness and a faint song:
"Watching chess, the ax-handle rots; felling trees, the sound rings clear. I walk slowly by the valley's edge where clouds linger, selling my firewood for wine, laughing wildly, content in my own world. When the autumn sky is high, I face the moon and pillow my head on a pine root, sleeping soundly till dawn. I know these old woods, climbing cliffs and crossing ridges, wielding my axe to cut dry vines. I gather a full load, singing my way to the market to trade it for three measures of rice. There is no competition, the prices are always fair, I don't scheme or haggle; without honor or disgrace, my simple life is long. Those I meet are either Immortals or Daoists, sitting quietly to discuss the Yellow Court Scripture."
The monkey felt that wind blow through his body, sweeping away years of pent-up resentment from his imprisonment. He looked at the vast blue sky and sea, and it was as if he were that little monkey leaping through the mountains once more.
The Steel of greatest rebellion, the Steel that challenges the highest authority, the true Steel of Defiance, awakened first in the hands of this monkey!
Its external symbol was that divine tool that could shake the heavens and move the earth—the Ruyi Golden-Hooped Rod!
This Sea-Calming Divine Iron Needle, which had once stirred the Celestial Palace and forced the collapse of countless jade towers and halls, was now held in the hands of the Monkey King who had broken free from his bonds!
Carrying five hundred years of accumulated humiliation and fury, it unhesitatingly smashed down toward the figures still entangled in battle below—Luo Hao and Seiya!
The seemingly slender iron rod, in the instant it fell, swelled abruptly! It transformed into a sky-piercing pillar dozens of yards in diameter!
Carrying the terrifying might to crush mountains and rivers, it slammed down with a roar!
The earth shook and the mountains swayed! Dust and smoke billowed into the sky like a tsunami!
However, this strike, powerful enough to shatter mountains and cleave the sea, hit nothing but air! The figures of Luo Hao and Seiya had already separated in the nick of time.
'So you have finally awakened, Handsome Monkey King?'
Luo Hao looked at the monkey sitting cross-legged on a cloud and asked resolutely.
"Indeed, indeed! Godslayer from my homeland!" The Heretic God roared with laughter, casually resting the golden-hooped rod on his shoulder and pointing a finger at Luo Hao. "I am not that fettered Ape God-Lord. I am Heaven itself—an existence Equal to Heaven!"
At this moment, he was like the He Shi Bi jade, washed clean of all dust—his brilliance was fully revealed, his divine might was restrained within, and his value was immeasurable!
'I am the Monkey King, born from a spirit stone on Flower-Fruit Mountain! My divine powers are vast, my transformations myriad! I have ascended to the Celestial Court, stolen the Peaches of Immortality, pilfered the Cinnabar Pills, drank the imperial wine, and wreaked havoc in the Celestial Palace! I have also descended into the Underworld, displayed my powers, fought ghost kings, erased my name from the Book of the Dead, and routed the wicked!'
'My surname is Sun, my given name is Wukong. And my title is—the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven!'
The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong!
This was the God of Steel who had broken the steel seal of the Bi Mawen secret rites, reclaimed his true name, and announced his return!
At the same time, around Nikko Mountain—
Those people who had not yet fully evacuated, or had even deliberately stayed behind to watch the spectacle, began to undergo a bizarre transformation!
Regardless of age or gender, whether local residents or foreign tourists, their bodies twisted and shrank, covered in thick fur... In the blink of an eye, they all turned into monkeys!
In an instant, tens of thousands of monkeys appeared around the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, each with a glint of intelligence in its eyes and a not-insignificant amount of supernatural power flowing through it!
Just the radiation of power from breaking the seal and reclaiming his true name had transformed Nikko Mountain into a new Flower-Fruit Mountain, a gathering place for monkeys.
And this, too, might have been a small act of revenge for Sun Wukong's five hundred years of suppression.
—At the foot of Nikko Mountain.
Lu Yinghua and Seishuin Ena faced each other from a distance, the atmosphere heavy.
"Tsk, although I'd be extremely reluctant to get involved with a beauty of your caliber," Lu Yinghua smacked his lips, but his gaze was as sharp as a sword, "if my master finds out that she's up there in a fierce battle with her fated enemy, while I'm down here casually watching a monkey show... my fate will be worse than death."
"And so?"
Seishuin Ena's expression was calm as she slowly raised the last long sword in her arms—the weapon that was linked to her soul, symbolizing the other half of her being. A simple, ancient tachi that radiated a terrifying aura.
"This thing... it couldn't be a divine tool, could it? That's terrifying." Lu Yinghua keenly sensed the terrifying fluctuation of power contained within the blade, and his eyelid twitched. "No choice, then. I'll have to trouble you... to humor me with a few exchanges for now."
Before his words had faded, a clear cry of a phoenix resounded through the sky!
A colossal, ethereal phoenix, divinely majestic and burning with crimson flames, carrying the power to burn the heavens and boil the seas, did not pounce on Lu Yinghua, but instead crashed down toward a massive stone monkey below!
This was not Lu Yinghua's doing.
It was Luo Hao! In a lull during her confrontation with Seiya, she had casually unleashed her Twelve Divine Palms of the Flying Phoenix! The true divine might of the Phoenix!
"What fine martial arts! It makes old Sun's hands itch just watching!" Sun Wukong, high on his cloud, clapped his hands and laughed, scratching his ears and cheeks in excitement.
The monkey floated in the night sky on a golden cloud. He looked down upon the mortal world from above. His eyes were most peculiar.
The eyeballs were red, as if soaked in blood, yet the pupils were golden, like molten gold in a furnace.
The third divine Authority to reawaken—the Fiery Eyes, Golden Pupils. They captured the flow of light and the circulation of ki. No matter how profound a divine art, it could not hide from these eyes.
Under the gaze of these Fiery Eyes, Golden Pupils, he saw a figure crossing mountains and rivers.
It can pierce through falsehoods, capturing the trajectory of light and the flow of ki! No matter how mystical your divine arts, before these divine eyes, nothing can hide!
At this moment, the Fiery Eyes, Golden Pupils pierced through layers of space, locking onto a figure that was tearing through the sky, rushing over at extreme speed!
The Sun?
Flash!
The inhabitants of more than half of Honshu Island felt an unusual brightness at that moment!
It was as if the sun had risen early from the east!
However, the real setting sun had long sunk into the West Sea, and the sky should have been studded with stars. Yet now, on the eastern horizon...
The wings of Pegasus tore through the clouds, plated in the sacred golden radiance of a solar corona!
Combat Technique—Sun-Manifesting Gale!
This was not a gift from Victory, but rather a technique that Seiya, relying on his own extraordinary insight and combat instincts, had replicated after personally experiencing it. After all, this combat technique from Kagaho of the Heavenly Violence Star was far too compatible with the Authorities he possessed.
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