Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong-Chapter 644 - 645 The Real and Fake Yuan Hong (First

Everything seemed to indicate that Sun Wukong was no longer a Heavenly Dao Saint, and his cultivation had dropped from the Saint level. However, Tathagata Buddha couldn’t come to a conclusion as casually as Ran Deng Buddha. What if there were other, deeper reasons?

Regardless, the immense pressure from Sun Wukong slaying the Three Corpses to Merge with the Dao and become a Saint was finally alleviated. No matter the reason, as long as Sun Wukong was not a Heavenly Dao Saint, then the situation was still in his—Tathagata’s—control!

“To think that you, Sun Wukong, could try to seize the merit and destiny from the Journey to the West without taking this seat into account! Just wait, I shall claim the merit and destiny from this mission of scripture-seeking!”

A flash of determination swept through Tathagata Buddha’s eyes. With a flicker of his form, he had already left the Daxiong Treasure Hall, heading toward the adjacent hall that led to the Sukhavati Realm. It was time to make use of Yuan Zhen, the substitute for Yuan Hong!

In the Heavenly Court, the Netherworld, and among all parties, the discussion about Sun Wukong’s fall from the Heavenly Dao Saint realm was in full swing. Not once since the creation of the Three Realms in the times of Ancient Primeval had such a phenomenon with someone like Sun Wukong occurred. His attainment of sainthood had shocked all parties, and his loss of realm had caused even more turmoil. For a moment, the entire Three Realms were discussing the matter of the Flower-Fruit Mountain Demon Cult’s leader, Great Sage Equalling Heaven Sun Wukong’s failure to prove the Tao and his fall from his realm.

Unlike the heated external debates, within Flower-Fruit Mountain, all was calm and peaceful as if the previous scene had never happened.

The doors of the Heaven-Piercing Tower opened, and out walked Sun Wukong. In reality, this was not Sun Wukong’s original body.

After Sun Wukong’s original body had formed an External Incarnation, it entered the cultivation place of Zi Xia Fairy and Qing Xia Fairy. He needed to separate their conjoined lamp wicks and their connection at the origin as soon as possible. Afterwards, his Origin Power would gradually fill in what Zi Xia Fairy was missing from her soul and spirit.

While his original body was in seclusion within the Heaven-Piercing Tower, aiding Zi Xia Fairy, his External Incarnation left Flower-Fruit Mountain and flew toward the route where Jiang Liu’er and his disciples were journeying to the west.

Sun Wukong’s External Incarnation had no difference from his actual body, if the cultivation of the actual body improved, then the cultivation of the External Incarnation would also improve, and vice versa.

At first glance, this seemed no different from the Clones created by Cloning Divine Powers, but there was one significant difference: the External Incarnation could exist independently from the actual body as well as merge with it without any time constraints.

“Judging by the time, Jiang Liu’er and the others should have already reached Fallen Brigands Mountain. I just don’t know if Yuan Hong would be as impulsive as me, killing those bandits and giving Buddha the chance to execute his scheme?”

As Sun Wukong’s clone was rapidly flying, he mumbled to himself inwardly. In less than an hour, he arrived at the top of Fallen Brigands Mountain, looking down from above the clouds, yet he saw no trace of Jiang Liu’er and the others.

“Could they have already passed by? Has the challenge of the True and Fake Monkey King not appeared in this life, replaced by other tribulations?”

After pondering for a while, Sun Wukong’s clone decided to search the area. Based on the travel pace of Jiang Liu’er and his companions, they could not have gone beyond a hundred miles from the mountain at this point.

And for Sun Wukong’s clone, searching an area with a radius of a hundred miles was not difficult.

Shortly, Sun Wukong’s clone found the figures of Jiang Liu’er and his disciples fifty miles away from Fallen Brigands Mountain; indeed, they had not yet arrived.

Sun Wukong 2 (hereafter referred to as Sun Wukong 2 for simplicity) stroked his chin, and his eyes shifted, devising a plan. He decided to wait on Fallen Brigands Mountain to see if the True and Fake Monkey King would still appear.

Some things are destined to happen regardless, and the force of fate can be quite tremendous at times. After Jiang Liu’er arrived on Fallen Brigands Mountain, the White Dragon Horse, startled, galloped up the mountain with Jiang Liu’er, and they encountered the same bandits who had turned to brigandage and murder for loot, just like in the previous life.

Similar to Sun Wukong in his former life, Yuan Hong also took action and killed two or three of the bandits. However, Jiang Liu’er did not scold him. The Jiang Liu’er of this life was no longer the pedantic Tang Seng of the past; these bandits who robbed and killed on the road deserved their fate, having harmed countless innocents.

After burying the bandits’ corpses, they continued their journey. By evening, they took shelter in a manor at the foot of the mountain, and Sun Wukong 2 was well aware that the manor belonged to the parents of one of the bandits. Jaing Liu’er and his companions’ stay there might lead to an unavoidable slaughter in the days to come.

However, Sun Wukong 2 also had no intention of preventing it. In his view, among the myriad races of the world, there was no distinction between noble and lowly; if they committed evil, then they deserved their death; they were not worthy of pity.

Settling down on a cloud atop Fallen Brigands Mountain, Sun Wukong 2 sat cross-legged and began meditating. The increase in cultivation between his clone and his actual self was mutual; any improvement in the clone’s cultivation would benefit the actual self as well. He needed to hurry and recover the lost cultivation that had fallen from the Heavenly Dao Saint Realm.

Thus passed the night. Early the next morning, Sun Wukong 2 awoke from his deep meditation, removed the Protective Barrier, feeling refreshed and clear-headed when he suddenly caught sight of a suspicious cloud passing in the sky, descending towards where Jiang Liu’er and the others were heading. From a distance, he saw two Yuan Hongs standing in front of Jiang Liu’er, sticks raised in confrontation, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

That Buddha had finally made his move!