Chapter 182: Sun Wukong with a Gudako Face
Nezha had done it on purpose.
In the end, the reason the Divine Generals of the Celestial Realm sealed their minds, locking away what little humanity they still possessed and existing as nothing but Heavenly Generals on Penglai, was not simply duty.
It was boredom.
The immortals and gods had departed. Masters and elders vanished. The world went quiet.
For a young deity who once blazed through the Investiture of the Gods, the silence was worse than punishment.
Nezha had already shed her demonic nature, but as a Divine General, she could still adjust how much of herself remained in front. She could choose to be a blade with no feelings, or let a sliver of her old mischief leak through.
Rowe's eyelid twitched.
Consort Yu happened to glance over at the same moment. When her crimson eyes met his, she bared her teeth.
So you really did that?
Rowe could only answer honestly.
Yes.
The new Celestial Realm had been built atop the old one, layered within Pan, and rooted in the will and thought of humans.
Rowe sat at the center of it all.
Consort Yu sat beside him.
The arrangement was unchanged from Penglai, as if he had brought that small, private scene into the architecture of Heaven itself.
The palace around them was vast. Pillars rose like mountains. Gold and jade caught the light until the air itself seemed bright.
Its name was Lingxiao Palace.
From this height, one could look down and see the nested layers of worlds below. One could also look up.
The former Celestial Realm had been divided into five directions, stabilized by five Heavenly Pillars.
This new one was supported by human consciousness.
And because human hearts were layered, fragmented, contradictory, it differentiated the moment it was born.
Four realms.
Each realm with nine heavens.
Thirty six heavens in total.
The highest was the dwelling of tranquil sages, remote and almost absent. The lowest was the realm of desire, where countless human impulses tangled together like threads in a storm.
It formed naturally.
Rowe did not interfere. He simply watched.
Lingxiao Palace rested in the ninth heaven of the first realm. As the seat of authority, it remained tangible, still stained with desire, still capable of being perceived.
Yet Rowe's main body did not truly reside here.
His main body rested in the thirty sixth heaven, a realm of form and formlessness, of namelessness and chaos, a place only Taiyi could reach.
Taiyi curled there like a sleeping answer to a question no one should ask.
Even seated in Lingxiao Palace, Rowe could see the thirty six heavens at a glance, layer upon layer, folded inside one another.
"You, the ancestral gods and ancient sages, return to your positions and fulfill your duties," Rowe said.
It was an imperial decree.
It became law the instant it left his mouth.
"We obey the Great Heavenly Lord."
"We obey the Great Heavenly Lord."
"We obey the Emperor's command."
Amid the drifting clouds, the ancient sages and ancestral gods bowed in unison.
Nezha brought her hands together in salute and accepted her office. The Great God of the Three Altars and Sea Assembly, a god who held authority over sky, land, and sea, a commander overseeing all forces across air, earth, and ocean.
She looked up again.
The throne before her was empty.
Rowe and Consort Yu were gone.
They had returned to the present world, reappearing above the Eastern Sea.
"They left…"
Nezha blinked. The flame like mark on her brow flickered faintly. She spun the Fire Tipped Spear once, the motion smooth, almost idle, her strong thighs shifting under her skirt as she looked out from Lingxiao Palace.
"Just now, over the Eastern Sea, there was a golden light. Like a rainbow piercing the sky."
Her lips curved.
She wondered how the two of them were progressing.
She had only given the Empress a small push.
Surely she would not mind.
The Three Immortal Islands had vanished without a trace.
The ocean roared where they had been, waves surging, white foam breaking into layered spray.
A sword light unfolded and settled.
Consort Yu landed first, steady as if the sea itself had laid down a path for her. Her black fur cloak billowed in the wind, the fabric clinging and shifting just enough to outline the curves it tried to hide.
She turned sharply to Rowe.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Rowe did not bother denying it.
"Yes."
If he lied, she would not believe him anyway.
Consort Yu's face flushed instantly.
"You really are… rude…"
Becoming Empress, placed beside the Heavenly Emperor, it had been too sudden.
Her status was enough. She was the White Emperor of the West now, and she was not unwilling. She had always been close to him, pulled toward him in a way she could not fully explain.
She liked him.
Deeply.
But the speed of it had left her off balance.
After a moment, she exhaled and forced herself into something like dignity.
"Forget it."
"The pairing of yin and yang, the cycle of sun and moon, that is the order of Heaven and Earth. I am not doing this for you."
She lifted her chin, as if delivering a verdict.
"It is for the balance of Shenzhou."
Rowe raised an eyebrow.
"I do not remember you having such lofty principles."
"If I did not before, why can I not have them now?" Consort Yu replied quickly. "I am the White Emperor of the West, the one who commands the essence of metal."
She sounded confident now, almost satisfied with the excuse she had built for herself. The blush remained, but her fluster was gone.
She took a step closer, bare feet resting on the sword light. The cloak swayed, and the beauty beneath it made no effort to hide from Rowe's eyes.
Rowe watched her approach.
Something felt off.
His gaze sharpened.
Consort Yu reached out, grabbed his collar, and pulled him in. She rose onto her toes, bringing her face close enough that her breath brushed his skin.
"Do not misunderstand."
"This is for Shenzhou."
Their eyes met.
In her crimson gaze, a hint of slyness appeared.
Her other hand slid around his waist, and the warmth of her exposed skin pressed to his body.
This was not simply acceptance.
It was strategy.
If she framed it as duty, then she could persuade herself. If she persuaded herself, then she could get closer without fear. If she got closer, then she could finally do something she had wanted to do for a long time.
She leaned in, lips near his ear, voice low.
"What, are you going to retreat?"
In that moment, Consort Yu was pure allure.
The Queen Mother of the West carried a seductive weight she had never worn before.
For a long time, she had stayed where she was born. She had existed through the flourishing of myths, through the arrival of the Star Hunter, through eras older than many gods.
Yet she had never truly stepped beyond the boundary she set for herself.
Once, long ago, she had tried.
What she received in return was malice, and kindness that hid greed.
A spirit born of the planet could read human hearts. She was never deceived.
But she learned fear. Disgust. Withdrawal.
The ancestral gods had tried to pull her out of her self made prison.
They failed.
Then one day, someone descended from the sky and took the place she had slept in.
That day, he laughed. He scolded. He showed no malice and no greed, and he certainly did not pity her from above.
That day, he told her about the real world.
Without noticing, she stepped past the boundary she had drawn.
Little by little.
Bit by bit.
Now, memories flickered through her mind. Details she once ignored suddenly formed a pattern, and Consort Yu smiled as if she had solved something.
She had said it before.
I will progress too.
I will not stay still anymore.
For you.
Consort Yu wrapped her arms around Rowe and pressed her lips to his.
Softness met softness.
She did not hide it anymore.
She had loved him for a long time.
Rowe frowned, but not in rejection.
Pushing her away was not his way.
Even in the past, he had despised irresponsibility.
Why tempt what you will not carry?
Now, as a primordial god with the Throne of Heroes behind him, he had even more confidence that he could protect what mattered.
Rowe lifted a hand and drew her closer, his palm resting at her waist, gentle and certain.
He let the sea wind rise and fall around them while mist rolled across the water like a curtain.
A moment passed.
Or perhaps a long time did.
Consort Yu separated first, breath unsteady, cheeks still warm with color.
She laughed softly.
"I did not misjudge you."
Rowe answered with calm confidence.
"Of course not."
Then he continued, voice steady, as if stating a theorem.
"I have said it before. In this world, nothing can make me retreat."
"Tch. So confident," Consort Yu said, lips pursed.
Then she extended her hand.
"No matter what, from now on, guide me."
She tilted her head, almost daring him.
"Your Majesty, the Heavenly Emperor?"
Rowe took her hand.
"Understood. Your Majesty, the Empress."
Their status was settled in that instant, not by ceremony, but by the fact that neither of them stepped back.
And right then, the mist over the sea churned violently, as if something was cutting through it at speed.
"Your Majesty, Heavenly Emperor, save me!"
A figure burst through the fog.
White hair streamed like a silver bolt. Water mist exploded to either side as she skimmed the surface, droplets scattering like shattered glass. Her robe snapped in the wind, outlining a tall, graceful frame.
Wuzhiqi.
She rushed to Rowe, hovering unsteadily, chest heaving, looking thoroughly disheveled.
"Your Majesty, Heavenly Emperor, stop the one chasing me!"
"There is no one behind you," Consort Yu said at once.
Wuzhiqi froze, then whipped her head around.
Only ocean mist.
No pursuer.
Relief flashed across her face, followed by irritation.
"No one? That bastard played me again."
She straightened quickly, smoothing her posture, forcing composure.
Then she bowed, voice suddenly respectful.
"Wuzhiqi, the Wei River god, greets the Heavenly Emperor."
Even an ancient demon god who once caused chaos did not dare show arrogance before Heaven.
In the old order, Heaven had always been supreme.
And Yu the Great, who sealed Wuzhiqi, had once served as a Heavenly Emperor in his own era.
Wuzhiqi had the sense to remember that.
Consort Yu smiled, sweet and dangerous.
"And me."
She beckoned with a curl of her finger.
"Come on, mother monkey. Greet the Empress."
"What kind of Empress are you?" Wuzhiqi snapped back instantly.
Then Consort Yu let her presence unfold.
Not violence.
Majesty.
The authority of the Queen Mother of the West pressed down like a blade against the throat.
Wuzhiqi dropped immediately.
"Greetings, Queen Mother."
Rowe stared.
Why had he never noticed how flexible Wuzhiqi's backbone was?
Rowe studied her from head to toe.
"You came at the perfect time. I will help you remove the Heart Ape restraints and break the seal on your body."
"It will repay the two favors you gave me before."
"No, no," Wuzhiqi said quickly, waving both hands. "I would not dare. Favors, that was just what I should have done. Breaking the seal can wait. It can wait."
Consort Yu's eyes narrowed.
"What are you afraid of?"
"I am not afraid of anything," Wuzhiqi insisted, but her gaze kept flicking backward, as if expecting a shadow to appear.
Consort Yu leaned in, voice playful.
"Really not?"
"Really."
"Not afraid?"
"Not afraid," Wuzhiqi declared, forcing bravado. "I am Wuzhiqi, one of the ancient demon sages. There is nothing in Heaven and Earth that can make me afraid."
A hand landed gently on Wuzhiqi's back.
Warmth spread through her spine like a curse.
Her whole body stiffened.
"I, you, I…"
Then she dove behind Rowe like a drowning animal finding a rock.
"Heavenly Emperor, save me!"
A clear laugh rang out, bright as a bell.
"Hmph. With your face, you dare call yourself my homologous existence?"
Consort Yu frowned.
"Another female monkey?"
Rowe did not answer.
He stared at the newcomer.
Short orange red hair swayed over her shoulders. Her face was bright and arrogant, smiling as if the world existed for her amusement. She wore a red robe, collar loose enough to show fair skin, her figure youthful and well balanced.
And behind her, a furry monkey tail as thick as an erhu extended from the curve of her hips, swaying lazily in the wind.
She hovered in the air, eyes faintly glowing gold.
She was…
Wuzhiqi swallowed hard.
"She is my homologous body. No, she is my origin."
Wuzhiqi was a demon god born in the Wei River, but her vessel had been formed using a divine stone that drifted from the Eastern Sea into the Wei River.
That was why she became a water monkey.
Because her source was a monkey.
The red haired girl before them.
The main existence tied to the Eastern Sea divine stone.
"No, no, no," the red haired girl said, scratching her head as if offended by the idea. "I do not have such a stupid split."
Her golden eyes darted between Rowe and Consort Yu.
"This fool says you two are the Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Empress?"
"Are you the rulers of Heaven and Earth?"
Rowe's gaze sharpened.
"You are not the main body," he said immediately. "You are in a possession state."
Like a certain goddess he had met in Mesopotamia.
A Pseudo Servant.
"Of course not," the monkey girl replied as if it were obvious. "I was supposed to be born a hundred years later."
She grinned.
"But thanks to the Mount Li sister, who pulled a body for me from the river of time, I could be born early."
A hundred years meant nothing to her.
Freedom early was a gift.
For Rowe, however, the impact was different.
An Eastern Sea divine stone.
A stone monkey.
There was only one name that fit.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong.
A household legend of later generations, the kind of story that seeped into childhood whether you wanted it or not.
Rowe had expected the Great Sage.
He did not expect her to be born in a possession state.
And he did not expect the face she wore.
It was familiar to him in a different way.
In this moon named world, on another timeline, the last Master who saved human history from being incinerated.
A Sun Wukong with a Gudako face.
.....
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