Mythology

Chapter 459 A Tree Full of... Golden Cicadas (Part 2)

Yang He felt a chill run down his spine; what he was witnessing could be tentatively called... a peach tree.

Tens of thousands of monks were seen with their flesh and blood intertwined, their limbs twisted and entangled together, forming the shape of a peach tree, with scalps fluttering in the wind on the branches to serve as leaves.

The blossoms on the branches were so alluring that their colors seemed to drip blood.

Yang He gasped, even with his vast experience, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive. It was hard to imagine what kind of changes the peach tree had gone through to become the indescribable thing it was today.

The reason he was so certain it was a peach tree in disguise was mainly because the scent wafting from it carried an indescribably sweet aroma, almost identical to the peaches he had obtained earlier.

"The peaches of immortality are innate spiritual roots, and may very well have suffered from the erosion of the Void, just like the Heavenly Dao. But at the same time, Shakyamuni definitely arranged something."

The chanting coming from deep within the Peach Garden was clearly for this reason.

Yang He mobilized his Yin energy, and his body swelled up again, revealing more details. The monks' faces were completely identical, except that their skin was covered with cracked bark.

All their faces were twitching in pain, yet they maintained the gesture of clasping their hands together.

Seven female corpses, who had hanged themselves, can still be seen on the branches.

The bodies of the seven fairies were pierced by peach branches and hung at the highest point of the tree. Their beautiful faces were withered, but the corners of their mouths were strangely raised, as if they had seen bliss before they died.

There was another corpse at the bottom of the tree, its body emaciated and its face skin forcibly peeled off.

Yang He could vaguely discern that the faceless corpse was Venus, who had been dead for a long time. The Venus with a human face and insect body in Yaochi must have been born from the corpse, and it was also a transformation of the Yin.

Click.

One of the many flowers on the branch bloomed, and within moments it bore fruit.

Immediately afterwards, a familiar scene came into Yang He's view: the fruit split open, a withered arm stretched out, and a figure crawled out from inside.

The figure was naked and had no skin. Yang He recalled the ascetic monk he had witnessed after the Great Tribulation of the Gods, as well as the so-called 'Golden Cicada' who came from the deepest level of the main world.

Monks all have similar characteristics. Does that mean all the monks in the tree are Jin Chanzi?
In a short while, the skinless man absorbed the yin energy from the outside world, and little by little, skin grew back, transforming him into a monk who still had vitality.

The monk slowly opened his eyes, a smile curving his lips.

Although his appearance was identical to the corpse that made up the peach tree, the monk possessed an indescribable...perfection because he was alive.

Yes, perfect.

A hint of intoxication flashed in Yang He's eyes, but he forcibly suppressed the strange feeling with his spiritual vision.

He felt as if he were looking at a flawless work of art, and even just admiring it from afar was exhilarating, as if he could resonate with the charm emanating from the artwork.

The fragrance emanating from the monks was even more intense, enough to make one unable to resist.

Of the thousands of spiritual visions Yang Hezeng gained, at least half were due to witnessing monks and wishing he could get close to them and take a deep breath of their essence.

Snapped.

Yang He gave himself a hard blow before he could barely stop his distracting thoughts.

"Is this a golden cicada? A peach tree made of golden cicadas? Did Shakyamuni even know what he was doing?"

Yang He realized that Jin Chanzi himself was not right.

If the ascetic monk he saw in the Investiture of the Gods was indeed Jin Chanzi, it means that Jin Chanzi had been in the mortal realm for at least seven hundred years.

Is the golden cicada a potted plant?
After Shakyamuni banished the Golden Cicada to the mortal realm, he was still able to leave a few of them in the upper realm, and in his spare time he would graft them onto the Peach Tree.

"This is bizarre!!!"

Yang He was astonished when he noticed that Jin Chanzi suddenly turned around and embraced the tree trunk in a devout manner. His skin and flesh began to merge with the peach tree, and the sounds he made gradually became the same.

In the blink of an eye, the Golden Cicada had become part of the strange tree.

"The peaches eaten at the Peach Banquet...could they be Tang Sanzang's flesh?"

Yang He gasped. What did Shakyamuni mean? Sharing immortality? But for most immortals and Buddhas, the extinction of lifespan was simply impossible.

"Well."

Yang He withdrew his Puppet Immortal form, but his fiery eyes remained fixed on the strange tree, and the Yin energy began to disappear without warning.

The pupils on his forehead narrowed, and tiny roots began to grow.

Yang He was affected at some point, and if it is not dealt with soon, Ghost True Lord will soon be turned into a lifelike peach tree.

"Ghost Lord cannot die for the time being; he must be used to bait the way for Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva."

With a thought, Yang He took out the Corpse Heavenly Venerable.

To prevent the monkey troop from following suit, they simply planted the Corpse Heavenly Venerable within the smoke and dust range of the Six Ding Divine Fire. Then, the Ghost True Lord transformed into Yin energy and surged into the Corpse Heavenly Venerable's body, thereby transferring the tree's transformation.

Puff puff.

In an instant, the Corpse Celestial's body began to grow freely.

The spine extends like a tree trunk, and the bones burst forth to form slender peach branches, which also exude a captivating aroma.

Yang He has always believed that the taste is the fruity aroma of a flat peach.

Looking back now, the flavor clearly comes from the meaty aroma of cicadas.

The human-faced peach slowly took shape, but it had the features of the Ghost True Lord. Each fruit had its eyes closed and maintained a faint smile.

Yang He counted them with satisfaction; there were a total of twenty-eight human-faced peaches.

He broke free from the peach tree. Although only a wisp of Ghost True Lord remained, his body and soul were quickly reshaped as abundant Yin energy surged into his body.

The monkey troop was isolated by the Six Ding Divine Fire, but they could still smell the aroma and immediately began to screech.

Even Sun Wukong, who was at a critical juncture in his transformation, felt a surge of excitement and instinctively banged on the Eight Trigrams Furnace, wanting to taste the peaches of immortality.

The Human-Faced Peach

[Grown from the peach tree of immortality, consuming it can extend one's lifespan by a thousand years and grant some characteristics of a celestial being.]

The peaches Yang He had previously obtained could extend one's lifespan by five thousand years. However, the lifespan-extending effect of the fruit cultivated from his own corpse was greatly reduced, but it could inherit part of the body of a ghost immortal, which had both advantages and disadvantages.

"But then again, isn't it a bit...cheap?"

The medicinal properties of the Human-Faced Peach are definitely those of a divine fruit, and what he finds somewhat unbelievable is that the price of its ripening is so low.

Yang He stroked his chin and examined the peach tree. As long as the corpse provided nutrients, the tree would not wither in a short time, even if the fruit was picked.

When Ghost Lord dies, all he pays is a little bit of Yin energy.

"Wouldn't that allow us to produce peaches in a perpetual motion machine and then stockpile thousands or tens of thousands of them?"

"impossible."

As Yang He pondered, he noticed fluctuations in his spiritual vision.

He used his Puppet Transformation skill again, and with his Fiery Eyes of Truth, he looked into the strange tree and saw that three of the seven fairy maidens' corpses hanging on the branches were missing.

The molting of the moon is imminent.

"wrong."

Yang He remained calm, having already discerned a pattern.

He noticed that the strange tree was somewhat withered, which showed that the peaches produced by the Corpse Celestial Venerable's peach tree were not without cost, as the strange tree would be damaged as a result. That's why the Seven Fairies wandered around the Peach Garden to pick peaches, trying their best to ensure the strange tree's nutrient balance.

Losing a few occasionally is fine, but if a large number of peaches are being produced...

I don't care.

"It doesn't matter to me who complains. I'd rather the Peach Banquet not be held."

"But there's no rush. If we nurture only a hundred or so peaches in a short period of time, it might alert the enemy. So, nurturing tens of thousands of peaches at once is the best strategy."

Yang He smiled and put the three human-faced peaches into the Daoist temple to isolate their aura.

The remaining twenty-six human-faced peaches were enveloped in yin energy and flew like living things to the other side of the high wall in the rear area, landing within the range of the strange tree.

"As I guessed, all the nutrients in the entire Peach Garden are being supplied to the strange tree."

Yang He saw a large number of roots emerging from the ground, and pulled the peach directly into the soil. Soon after, flower buds sprouted on the branches.

During this period, two more Golden Cicadas were born, and after completing a cycle, they merged into the Peach Tree.

The three fairy corpses stopped heading towards Yang He and instead all looked at the peach tree that the Corpse Celestial had transformed into.

His empty eye sockets stared blankly for a long time.

The corpses stood motionless, their rotting mouths slowly stretching to their ears, revealing a chilling smile. As if issuing a warning, they turned around and continued to hang themselves from the branches.

"Three peaches are still within our acceptable range."

"It's probably because the Peach Banquet is approaching, so the Seven Fairies can't leave that tree for long. No worries, you'll have plenty of time to cry later, hehehehe."

Yang He snapped his fingers, and a rustling sound came from the woods.

The gibbon and the red-bottomed macaque cautiously approached the Bagua Furnace with their backs hunched over, their disheveled fur clearly indicating they had been awakened from their sleep.

They knelt respectfully before Yang He, and suddenly couldn't help but twitch their noses.

The peaches had a sickeningly sweet smell that drifted into my nostrils on the cold wind.

The gibbon emitted a hissing sound like metal scraping from its throat, its knuckles cracking as it paced restlessly in place.

The red-bottomed macaques leaped back and forth, emitting strange hissing noises, their tails sweeping deep furrows into the ground. "Monkeys."

It wasn't until Yang He spoke that the two monkeys snapped out of their daze and froze in place.

The gibbon scratched the back of its head and grinned, with dandruff falling from its sparse fur.

The red-bottomed macaque curled its face up, revealing only one eye as it secretly sized up Yang He.

Yang He waved his hand, and two human-faced peaches flew into the air. The features of the Ghost True Lord on the fruit peel twitched slightly, as if laughing silently.

The two monkeys, however, paid no attention to the strangeness and kept their eyes fixed on the peaches.

As soon as the peaches hit the ground, the two monkeys pounced on them.

The two monkeys grabbed the peaches and, forgetting to chew, stuffed the whole thing down their throats and swallowed it, their swollen Adam's apples bobbing up and down.

"hiss!!"

The moment the two monkeys swallowed the peaches, their fur suddenly bristled, and dense black lines appeared on their skin, forming a unique Daoist aura.

They writhed in agony, their bodies twisting and contorting, sometimes swelling, sometimes shrinking.

The gibbon's back is bulging, and several black bone spurs pierce through its skin and flesh from its spine, after which two more arms grow.

The red-bottomed macaque's eyes turned red, and its body temperature dropped to freezing. It had thirty-six pupils evenly distributed on its forehead.

"Logically speaking, the Yellow-Eyebrowed King's celestial demon body is more compatible with demons, but the monkey troop has been staying near the Yellow Springs for a long time and has become half demon and half ghost."

Yang He swept his gaze across the Myriad Transformations Tree and could already sense the presence of the two monkeys.

To be precise, Sun Wukong is also related to the Tree of Myriad Transformations. The three monkeys can be considered his offspring, just like the mortals in the main world.

The two monkeys were already close to undergoing their tribulation, and now they suddenly fell into a deep sleep.

"pity."

Yang He played with the last remaining peach, and through the two monkeys, he could sense that the peach's life-extending effect only worked once in a short period of time.

"It will probably be about 500 years before the second peach becomes much less potent."

"Actually, that's normal."

"However, what should we do if we collect a large number of peaches? Their medicinal properties begin to wear off soon after they are picked."

"Giving it to mortals in the main world is meaningless; on the contrary, they cannot digest it and will most likely turn into humanoid medicines themselves."

Suddenly, Yang He had a thought and summoned the Precious Bone Tomb.

After the human-faced peach was taken into the Treasure Bone Mausoleum, spiritual patterns were seen flashing inside and outside the pagoda.

The Treasure Bone Tomb, which had been on the verge of becoming a supreme treasure for many years, was now showing signs of advancement, indicating that the Human-Faced Peach could also be considered... a head.

Furthermore, the human-faced peach also belongs to the Ghost True Lord, which undoubtedly makes it even more suitable for the Precious Bone Mausoleum.

Even the peach tree, being an innate spiritual root, contains a faint innate aura in its fruit. Although it quickly dissipates within the Treasure Bone Mausoleum, if accumulated over time, the Treasure Bone Mausoleum might become a rare and unique innate treasure.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!!!"

Yang He was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Hearing the chilling sound, the monkeys huddled together in fear.

Yang He suppressed his smile and slowly walked to the front of the Eight Trigrams Furnace. Inside, Sun Wukong's condition had stabilized, and he looked quite imposing with his four heads and eight arms.

Sun Wukong's cultivation level remained at the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm.

The merging of the four monkeys only gave Sun Wukong the foundation to become a Hunyuan Golden Immortal, but breaking through to the next level was not something that could be achieved overnight.

Yang He looked pleased. Under normal circumstances, once Sun Wukong's elixir was formed, it meant that his potential was exhausted. No matter how superior his aptitude was, he would be stuck at the level of a Great Luo Golden Immortal and would be unable to advance any further.

In his memory, Sun Wukong in Journey to the West reached his peak strength when he wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and then his strength began to decline continuously as the journey to the West began.

Once he attained Buddhahood, Sun Wukong became harmless.

"Master!"

Sun Wukong sensed Yang He's presence, and the flames inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace suddenly froze.

His four-headed, eight-armed form slowly disappeared, his golden eyes and fiery pupils opened, as if lightning and fire were intertwined in his pupils, and his body and soul's Daoist charm was contained within.

Sun Wukong's shouts, carried through the furnace walls, reached even before his cultivation was stable. He couldn't wait to kneel inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace and kowtow heavily.

Yang He couldn't help but marvel at Sun Wukong's extraordinary abilities.

You can see the appearance of the four mischievous monkeys.

It has a pointed snout and shrunken cheeks, arms that extend past the knees, six ears, a long tail that resembles a snake and can coil around trees, and even the tall stature of a red-bottomed macaque.

After donning the armor, Yang He felt that this was something that even immortals and Buddhas could not wield.

His brows were full of unruliness.

"Master, now my right-hand men have eaten the peaches of immortality, and not only have they been able to prolong their lives, but they have also become immortals!"

"Your disciple knows that the peaches of immortality were nourished by your master's blood and flesh, and you have no way to repay this kindness!!"

Yang He said with a smile, "The peaches are inanimate objects, while the monkeys are living creatures. It's nothing to worry about if we lose some flesh and blood."

After a moment of seriousness, Sun Wukong's monkey nature began to take over again.

"Master, does anyone know where there are another four thousand five hundred peaches? Let me, Old Sun, distribute them to my monkey grandchildren so they won't have to suffer the pain of life and death anymore!"

Yang He stood with his hands behind his back and cursed, "You clever monkey, you've calculated things too shrewdly."

Seeing this, Sun Wukong flattered him, saying, "If 4,500 are hard to find, 450 will do! Your disciple promises to be the last to eat them."

As he spoke, drool involuntarily trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Yang He then slowly spoke up: "We have 450, and we also have 4,500."

Since the intention is to squeeze every last drop out of the peach trees, 4,500 peaches are just a drop in the bucket. Either don't do it at all, or make a fortune in one go!
Give others a way out?
What a joke, Shakyamuni! We're all brothers, what's wrong with taking a few of your fruits? Are you going to be so petty?
Sun Wukong's eyes lit up, and he spread his eight arms, trying to support the Eight Trigrams Furnace. "Then what are we waiting for? Master, quickly take me, Old Sun, to pick them!"

Yang He's gaze was deep as he said, word by word, "The Peaches of Immortality are innate spiritual roots. To obtain them would surely offend countless immortals and Buddhas."

He paused, then looked at Sun Wukong with a half-smile, "Disciple, are you willing?"

Upon hearing this, a glint of fire flashed in Sun Wukong's eyes.

He suddenly chuckled softly, a chilling sound emanating from him.

“Master, my monkeys from Flower Fruit Mountain… are almost all dead.” His voice was low, but it seemed to be suppressing a raging fire. “The monkeys who have stayed with me until today are about to die.”

"It's all because of the immortals and Buddhas."

"One side is inactive, the other is ruthless and merciless!!"

Sun Wukong slowly raised his head, his golden eyes blazing with fierce light, his eight arms bulging with muscles, and his body surging with murderous aura.

"How could I, a disciple, who has lived for a hundred years, not know the nature of immortals and Buddhas?"

He retorted through gritted teeth, "What you can't have, you have to snatch!!!"

Yang Helian said three times, "Good! Good! Good!"

With a flick of his sleeve, a chilling wind arose, and 300,000 heads were retrieved into the Treasure Bone Mausoleum, the aura of the Eight Trigrams Furnace spreading out without any concealment.

“My disciple, listen to what your master has to say.”

"Not only will I take the peaches of immortality, but I will also ruin the Heavenly Peach Banquet and send those immortals and Buddhas as far away as possible!!"

Sun Wukong gasped for breath; Yang He's words were like the best tonic for stabilizing his cultivation, and the overwhelming demonic energy returned to his body.

"I, Old Sun, came here for this very reason. The people in the mortal realm are suffering, and immortals and Buddhas should descend to the mortal world to save them, instead of holding some ridiculous grand assembly!"

He crawled out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace, leaned against the Six Ding Divine Fire, and grinned.

The monkeys didn't understand what the master and apprentice were saying, but they were not afraid. They simultaneously pounded their chests and let out deafening roars.

"Wukong, my nurturing of the peaches is stealing heavenly secrets. It will be difficult to act during this time. My disciple, you must persevere until the tree is full of fruit."

"What's so difficult about that?!"

With a flick of his golden cudgel, Sun Wukong caused the treasure to instantly grow to over a hundred meters in length.

He stood his golden cudgel upright, and even the high walls of the Peach Garden couldn't hide it. This was a blatant provocation against the immortals and Buddhas.

Yang He suspended the Precious Bone Tomb in mid-air above the Corpse Heavenly Venerable Peach Tree, and then placed the Yellow-Eyebrowed King's stone egg at the tree root.

Sun Wukong raised an eyebrow. "Master, what is that monster?"

"Your junior brother Huang Mei, since it is inconvenient for me to take action, Huang Mei will assist you."

"No need, I, Old Sun, will surely slaughter every immortal and Buddha without leaving a single one alive!!"

Yang He patted Sun Wukong's head, and the monkey troop was taken into the Treasure Bone Mausoleum.

He has already discovered that if Baoguling wants to be upgraded to a supreme innate treasure, the original 300,000 heads, being acquired artifacts, will become a burden.

Since that's the case, let's just feed it all to King Yellow Eyebrows.

Does cannibalism increase supernatural power?
Even if it's temporary, three hundred thousand heads are enough to wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace!

(End of this chapter)