Great Demon Sun Wukong

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"When things are out of the ordinary, there must be demons about," the saying goes, so the two of them didn’t rashly step onto the clearing but instead walked along the edge of the forest. As they continued, they realized they were walking in circles. It turned out that the clearing was actually a round ring.

As they walked, suddenly a small hill made of stacked stones appeared before them. The two hurried over and found a stone stele standing in front of the hillock. Inscribed upon the stele were words in many languages.

Among them, Sun Wukong recognized the Chinese characters: Central region, no entry below Four Patterns, enter at your own peril.

Seeing these words, Xi Zhao understood. No wonder the strongest soul beast they had encountered in three days was only of Three Patterns. It turns out this forest was so peculiar. Apparently, this vacant area was meant to help those entering the forest discern the different regions. It was better not to wander about without the requisite strength.

After sharing his speculations with Sun Wukong, who sneered and resolutely strode forward without hesitation.

"Hey, what are you doing? Inside, there may be powerful soul beasts of Five or even Six Patterns."

"Hehe, I, Old Sun, love a thrill. Are you coming or not? If you’re not, I’m going ahead on my own."

Xi Zhao saw that although Sun Wukong wore a smile, his eyes were determined, and the soul beasts in the outer region were indeed too weak; even after absorbing them, they were of little use. Sighing, with a face full of helplessness, he followed Sun Wukong toward the central region.

No sooner had they stepped into the central region than both felt a pressure. If the soul beasts in the peripheral area were little lambs, then those in the central region were certainly fierce, big grey wolves. The pressure caused even Sun Wukong to become cautious, and together, they explored forward warily.

Not knowing exactly which level of soul beast would appear in the central region, but the lowest should be of Four Patterns; thus, they did not venture too deep, instead searching for soul beasts near the edge of the clearing.

Soon, they encountered their first Five Patterns soul beast, a colorful fierce tiger with wings. Though they both suffered injuries, their skilled teamwork enabled them to kill the beast with more excitement than danger, and they each absorbed half of the tiger’s spirit.

Then, for a full fifteen days, they hunted soul beasts almost without rest, absorbing them. Meanwhile, they moved from the initial edge of the forest gradually deeper into its heart.

In the beginning, they barely managed to kill Five Patterns soul beasts together, but after Sun Wukong advanced to a Two Patterns warrior and grasped the Momentum Value Law, the Five Patterns beasts were no longer a match for him.

After killing several Five Patterns soul beasts with minor injuries, the two of them, grinning wickedly, cornered a Six Patterns Sombre Water Crocodile.

However, they underestimated the strength of a Six Patterns soul beast. At first, on land, the Sombre Water Crocodile was no match for the two of them, taking a beating as they attacked it in turns. But after Sun Wukong carelessly let the crocodile escape into a deep lake, and they both impulsively jumped in after it, the tables turned immediately.

The Sombre Water Crocodile, which had been fleeing for its life, suddenly unleashed enormous strength, its speed more than doubling. As the crocodile twisted, their attacks missed, and it even manipulated the lake water to condense numerous water element crocodiles, each with the strength of a Three Patterns soul beast.

In their rage, Sun Wukong and Xi Zhao soon sustained serious injuries. The sheer number of fierce water element crocodiles in the water and their ferocity made it so. Seeing that they would likely become dinner for the Sombre Water Crocodile if this continued, the two decided to make for the shore first. But the moment Xi Zhao turned around, a sharp pain shot through his buttock.

Looking back in shock, he found a tiny crocodile latched onto his bottom!

Both Sun Wukong and Xi Zhao were stunned at this sight. However, Sun Wukong then burst into loud laughter, even forgetting to swim to the shore, while Xi Zhao was visibly enraged.

As Sun Wukong laughed and swam toward the bank, he suddenly shivered. In the next moment, he realized the air temperature around him had plunged. A thought crossed his mind, but he only managed to shout, "Brother Xi Zhao, wait...," before he turned into an ice sculpture.

But that was not the end of it. Amidst Xi Zhao’s angry roars, the entire deep lake becomes completely frozen over, turning into a huge block of ice, or more aptly put, an inverted ice mountain!

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Having done all that, Xi Zhao seemed particularly gratified; then he practically crawled over the icy surface to Sun Wukong’s side, "For making fun of me, freeze to death." With that, he jabbed with his right hand, and then his whole body thudded onto the ground.

After being poked by Xi Zhao, the ice sculpture that Sun Wukong had become suddenly showed cracks, and then as Sun Wukong muttered something incomprehensible, he burst out of the ice.

Instantly standing on the ice, Sun Wukong looked incredibly annoyed. "Stingy person, I only laughed at you a bit and you went and froze me, nearly to death at that. Hmph, serves you right for getting bitten on the butt. Once I’m done with that crocodile, I’m coming to settle the score with you."

Without paying any more attention to Xi Zhao lying on the ice, Sun Wukong held the World Suppressing Stele in one hand and walked over to the half-submerged crocodile. After delivering a fierce kick, Sun Wukong flexed his legs and then leaped high into the air, bringing down the World Suppressing Stele he was holding with all his might.

With the sound of the ice shattering, the crocodile was smashed in two by the Heavenly Stele. Then Sun Wukong landed, stowed away the World Suppressing Stele, and with one hand holding the crocodile’s tail and the other its head, he dragged the creature onto the ice.

"Since you went overboard exerting yourself, the Soul Bead is yours; I’ll take the crocodile. Hey, this is the first time I’ll be eating a frozen spirit."

After saying this, he reached into the crocodile’s head and pulled out a fist-sized pale blue bead. Then, summoning the Five-Colored Divine Stone, he began the refinement of the crocodile’s corpse and started to absorb its soul.

Just as Sun Wukong finished absorbing the crocodile’s soul, Xi Zhao awoke. However, when Sun Wukong turned to greet Xi Zhao with a few words, he suddenly noticed that Xi Zhao’s strength had actually decreased. After the frenzied absorption before, Xi Zhao had reached the peak of Four Patterns and was on the verge of breaking into Five Patterns.

But now, his cultivation had regressed to the level of someone just entering Four Patterns. It looked as if he had just broken into Four Patterns. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"There’s no need to be so surprised; did you think unleashing such a powerful move wouldn’t come with a price? Luckily, I had already reached the peak of Four Patterns before. Otherwise, I’d surely have dropped to Three Patterns."

Hearing Xi Zhao say this, Sun Wukong also came to terms with it. If such a terrifying move came without any cost, it would be far too frightening. Six Patterns Soul Beasts could be instantly frozen; if it weren’t for a little special care towards himself, he’d probably be dead by now.

When he found Xi Zhao fainted earlier, Sun Wukong had used his Divine Consciousness Scouting and realized it was due to excessive energy consumption. He’d known Xi Zhao would wake up soon, which is why he went to kill the crocodile and absorb its soul. Although Xi Zhao had almost dropped an entire level of cultivation, Sun Wukong was still a bit shocked.

Ignoring Sun Wukong’s expression, Xi Zhao slowly got up and flexed his hands and feet.

"Next up, hurry and eat up, crocodile eggs, haha."

He caught the Soul Bead that Sun Wukong tossed to him and sat down once again to start absorbing the energy from the surroundings.

Thus, after their battle with the Six Patterns Crocodile, both men realized their strength was still insufficient. After absorbing the crocodile’s Soul Bead, Xi Zhao had only managed to reach the peak of Four Patterns, still failing to break through to Five Patterns.

So, they stopped being arrogant and picking fights with Six Patterns Soul Beasts, instead, specifically targeting solitary Five Patterns Soul Beasts to hunt and kill.

That’s how it played out: they’d hide from anything above Six Patterns and kill anything below.

The two of them continued hunting and devouring tirelessly in this forest. Finally, after a month, Sun Wukong reached the peak of Four Patterns, while Xi Zhao reached the peak of Five Patterns. With their newfound strength, the hearts of Sun Wukong and Xi Zhao were once again set ablaze.

Perhaps it was time to hunt Six Patterns Soul Beasts.

They delved deeper again, and another month passed. In that month, the two of them worked together to kill sixteen Six Patterns Soul Beasts and twenty-three Five Patterns Soul Beasts.

Sun Wukong’s strength had advanced to the mid-level of Five Patterns, while Xi Zhao had reached the mid-level of Six Patterns.

Therefore, today, the two of them prepared to take on the strongest existence in the central region, the Seven Patterns Soul Beast! (Second update, student ’no ID’ is awesome. Also, we’re currently in a transition phase, so for those not satisfied with the plot, please bear with me.)

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