Hearing this, Wan Lei’s confusion deepened.
Everyone knew that among the monkey tribe in the immortal realm, there was only one Monkey King from Flower-Fruit Mountain, that being the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
Among monkeys, there was only this one Sage.
Yet before him, there were two living Sages.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven who had just beaten him was beyond question; anyone who could send the Great Sage Equal to Heaven flying could not possibly not be a Sage.
Moreover, though their attire differed—one a simple tiger-skin, the other a dazzling golden chain mail—their appearances were identical.
This meant…
Was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven who had bowed to the king a fake?
And was this old monkey before him, with slightly white temples, the true Great Sage Equal to Heaven?
Then who was the other, fake Great Sage?
With the doubts in his heart, Wan Lei quietly retreated to a relatively safe distance, holding the Creation Divine Disk to protect himself, and observed the scene before him.
“Six-Eared Macaque!”
The Monkey King finally spoke, his gaze sweeping over the fake Great Sage, then turning to look below.
The shattered statue fragments had killed countless people, but still, hundreds of millions more in the distance were murmuring scriptures, offering their incense and faith.
“This… this was all your doing?!”
The Monkey King gritted his teeth, his eyes red as if about to bleed, showing the depth of his fury.
The fake Great Sage showed no panic, instead looking at the Monkey King meaningfully, his smile becoming even more sinister.
“My King, why would you say it was I who did this? Did you not create this yourself?”
The fake Great Sage supported the iron staff with his left hand and drew a circle with his right.
“Look at this world, it is so wonderful, is it not you who personally brought it to the immortal realm? Why are you now blaming your subordinate for what you did?”
“I never told you to kill all the lifeforms in this universe!”
The Monkey King gritted his teeth, and even from a distance, Wan Lei could feel the destructive rage emanating from him.
“My King, you are unaware, but the thoughts and incense of living beings are always mixed with all sorts of selfish desires. Later, I discovered that if living beings are killed, their thoughts become extremely pure.
To help you collect thoughts, your subordinate went to great lengths, making them believe in you, and then killing them all to gather the strongest and purest incense.”
“You deserve to die!!!”
The Monkey King roared,
“Killing the people of this universe was not enough, you even reached your hand into the immortal realm!”
“My King, you cannot say that. That small town outside was merely an accident.
At that time, the power of incense in this universe reached its peak. If it were not used, it would have become uncontrollable.
You were on the battlefield of the Sea of Bitterness then, and I could not find you, so I had to act on my own, absorbing these thoughts into myself.
Your subordinate risked certain death, risked being exploded by the thoughts, and desperately became a Sage.
But it was all to preserve this universe, and for you to obtain endless incense in the future!
My King, why do you not understand your subordinate’s hardship?
That town outside was truly an accident. When I was becoming a Sage, my powerful status caused an instant explosion of energy. The surging thoughts had nowhere to vent, filling this universe. They spilled out a little at the entrance, accidentally killing the people in that town.
But it is good this way; they were already living in hardship. After receiving the thoughts of their faith in you, they all lived happily.”
Hearing this, Wan Lei cursed the fake Great Sage for his shamelessness.
He had already understood that it was the Six-Eared Macaque before him who, while the Great Sage was away, had killed everyone, stolen their thoughts, become a Sage himself, and caused the deaths of tens of thousands in the town outside.
All for his own selfish desires, he had harmed so many lives.
At this moment, the fake Great Sage suddenly looked at Wan Lei.
“However, my King, I did not expect that just a slight anomaly in the lives of the residents of a small island in the East Sea would attract the attention of the Five Elements Hall.
They even sent a pedantic young man to investigate this matter. Fortunately, your subordinate brought him here, and just as I was preparing to silence him, you arrived.
You say, isn’t the Five Elements Hall making a mountain out of a molehill? And you… aren’t you also making a mountain out of a molehill?”
The fake Great Sage smiled strangely, with great pride.
He used honorifics when speaking, very courteously, but showed no respect for the Great Sage.
“No wonder. I was in seclusion at Flower-Fruit Mountain, and suddenly I felt a fluctuation of Sage-level power in this universe. So it was you, a traitor, trying to kill a disciple of the Five Elements Hall.”
The Monkey King sneered,
“Since that is the case, then I, Old Sun, can only reluctantly clean house.”
“Does the Great Sage have to be so absolute?”
The fake Great Sage no longer addressed him as “My King.”
“My Flower-Fruit Mountain also falls under the jurisdiction of the Five Elements Hall, and I am a fellow disciple with the disciples of the Five Elements Hall.
Six-Eared Macaque, you impersonated me, stole incense, harmed fellow disciples, and slaughtered living beings.
Considering you have followed me for many years, have worked diligently, and have also made contributions in the war between immortals and demons, I will not hand you over to the Five Elements Hall for punishment. I will clean house myself.”
“Great Sage, I am also a Sage now. The number of Sages in our immortal realm is not as great as the Demon Emperors. It is not easy to produce a Sage. Must you kill me at this time?”
“The immortal realm does not need Sages with crooked intentions. Having a Sage like you will only bring greater misfortune!”
After speaking, the Monkey King raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang and pointed it at the fake Great Sage.
The fake Great Sage dropped all pretense of courtesy and sneered,
“Great Sage, I am now also a One-Yang Sage. Who wins and who loses is not yet decided!”
The fake Great Sage leaped up, swinging the iron staff in his hand, and slammed it down at his former King.
The Monkey King’s expression darkened. Without a word, he rose into the air, and the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand swung out horizontally with no fancy movements.
Boom!!!
After a tremendous roar, Wan Lei was dumbfounded.
In his view, two One-Yang Sages should have had similar strengths, so how could it be…
The iron staff in the fake Great Sage’s hand, like one made of stone, shattered instantly under the swing of the true Ruyi Jingu Bang. Following that, the Ruyi Jingu Bang, its momentum undiminished, directly struck the fake Great Sage.
The fake Great Sage spat blood and retreated, stabilizing himself in mid-air.
He looked at the Monkey King in disbelief, even the halo of Sage-Yang behind his head trembling violently.
“How is this possible? I have already become a Sage, how can there be such a vast difference between us?!”
The Monkey King had repelled him with a single blow without even revealing his Sage-Yang.
“What kind of Sage is the one you have? Without the Sage-Ascension Ladder, without the recognition of the Origin Plane’s will, and achieving Sagehood solely through the power of incense from a mere spiritless plane, you possess the power of a Sage but lack Sagehood. You are merely a pseudo-Sage.”
“Impossible… impossible! I worked so hard to become a Sage, how can it be fake? You are lying to me!”
The fake Great Sage snarled, teeth bared, filled with indignation.
“Then Old Sun shall show you just how weak your Sage is!”