Martial Arts Crossover: The Sweeping Monk of Wudang? That's our patriarch!

He possesses extraordinary talent, able to glimpse the origins of all things; yet the Dao treasures of this world are ultimately finite. Having thoroughly digested and absorbed the wisdom of his predecessors, where should he go? Transcend realms? But what if he also exhaustively comprehends the Dao of other worlds? At that point, will he truly be stuck at his peak, unable to advance any further?

The moment the thought arose, all his passion seemed to freeze instantly. All the arduous training, all the struggles, were like a futile sprint—the finish line was already nailed to the starting point, waiting for him to climb step by step, and then look around blankly, finding there was nowhere left to go.

An unprecedented, excruciating pain pierced his heart: grief, resentment, and unwillingness... like a tidal wave breaching a dam, crashing violently into the depths of his consciousness.

In an instant, my mind felt like it was about to explode, countless noises roared inside my head, and my heart felt like a thousand tangled knots twisted into an inescapable knot, getting tighter and tighter the more I tried to untangle them.

"ah--!!"

He roared back, his true energy suddenly went out of control, and golden light surged out like ten thousand golden needles. The moment it touched the darkness, it cleaved open a dazzling crack, as if a divine weapon had cleaved the night!

The inner demon cage set up by the Mirror Heart Demon collapsed in response, and even the wisp of her remnant soul that resided there was burned and dissipated by this pure and intense primal power.

The mirror world where Wang Sanpang was located shattered, and he fell from the void, crashing onto the stone ground with a "bang".

Lin Daochen pressed his left eye tightly with one hand, the excruciating pain feeling as if his eyeball was being ripped open. Warm blood trickled down between his fingers, dripping onto his clothes and blooming into dark red spots.

Fortunately, he escaped unharmed. Even more unexpectedly, this ordeal completely opened up his meridians, and his left eye also quietly transformed, allowing it to penetrate the barrier above the Golden Core and directly observe the flow of Qi at a higher level.

This was unprecedented, and even he himself was baffled.

The left eye emitted a deep golden light, and strange patterns appeared in its pupil. Wang Sanpang only glanced at it briefly, but he immediately felt the sky pressing down on him and the might of heaven descending upon him, and his mind was on the verge of collapse.

Although it lasted only a moment, it almost shook his foundation.

Just as Wang Sanpang was about to take a closer look, the Mirror Heart Demon silently floated to their side. Her gaze was fixed on Lin Daochen's heterochromatic eyes, and the corners of her lips curled up, her smile carrying a profound meaning.

Without uttering a word, she simply raised her sleeve and waved it—a golden staircase suddenly appeared in the side passage, rising layer by layer, gleaming brightly: "Trial passed, proceed to the next level."

As Lin Daochen stepped onto the first step, the golden light in his left eye quietly faded, the patterns disappeared, and he returned to normal.

The violent surge of spiritual energy had directly shattered the Heavenly Dao Eye between his brows; however, this eye was beyond the limits of what a mortal body could bear, and it slammed shut again as soon as it opened—Lin Daochen felt a buzzing in his head, but he didn't know when it would crack open again.

The two walked through the fifth and sixth levels with ease, until Lin Daochen suddenly stopped when he stepped onto the seventh step.

It's not one layer and one step, but two steps that emerge side by side.

The two exchanged a glance, and the sixth trial participant immediately explained: "The seventh trial must be faced alone. These two doors each lead to an independent staircase. Upon reaching the top, you will fall into a completely different parallel realm—you must personally complete the designated tasks in your respective worlds in order to break through and escape."

They nodded to each other, and without further hesitation, turned and went into the doors they had chosen.

Lin Daochen stepped onto the left-hand golden steps, which gleamed with a cold golden light; Wang Sanpang stepped onto the right-hand crimson steps, which burned brightly with a red light.

Lin Daochen felt a chill run down his spine—if he wasn't mistaken, Wang Sanpang's trial was probably as easy as drinking water. Given the Jade Emperor's temperament of "the purer, the more deadly," this golden step was most likely shrouded in blades.

When he opened his eyes again, the north wind was like a knife, swirling snowflakes and pelting him. He was standing on the top of a lonely peak, looking around at the vast expanse, where he could only see a dilapidated temple with half of its walls collapsed, nestled deep in the wind and snow.

"The Snow Goddess has appeared!" A loud voice boomed from outside the temple gate.

Lin Daochen looked down at the sound and almost slipped off the edge of the offering table.

A fat, urn-like pig demon with a long snout, a blue face, and tusks was kneeling in the snow, kowtowing repeatedly. His black monk's robe was wrinkled and wrapped around his round belly, and a nine-foot rake was stuck diagonally behind his back, gleaming coldly.

He kowtowed and wailed, "Grandpa Snow God! Please save my eldest brother!"

Lin Daochen rubbed his burning eyes and tentatively asked, "Are you... Pigsy?"

The pig demon sprang to its feet, patting its belly and laughing heartily: "Oh my! It really is the all-powerful Snow Goddess, recognizing my past life form at a glance!"

Past life? Lin Daochen was taken aback—this outfit and this rake were the standard equipment on the journey to the west, weren't they? How did the word "past life" come up?

Pigsy puffed out his chest, nostrils flared: "Hehe, I'm now the Cleansing Altar Messenger!"

The Cleansing Altar Messenger? Could it be that I've stumbled into the years after the successful completion of the pilgrimage?

Just as he was wondering, a stream of dark blue light suddenly burst out from his storage bag, hovered in mid-air, and became increasingly bright before condensing into a line of floating text.

A warm and resonant voice echoed directly in his mind: "Welcome, fearless cultivator. This is the final trial ground—I am the lord of the illusory parallel space, and also the examiner for this trial. You will become a key figure in this world, facing the plight of all beings and personally untangling the chaos."

"After the mission is completed, you may choose one person in this world to become your disciple. All that you have learned and gained can be taken back to your original world."

Lin Daochen was stunned on the spot, his jaw almost hitting the snow—what? Such a good thing really happened!

"If you fail... you will be torn apart by the spatial-temporal turbulence, your body and soul destroyed."

He didn't hear the second half of the sentence at all. His mind was filled with only the phrase "Choose one person and learn their skills"—this wasn't a pie falling from the sky, it was a gold brick! He might think twice about other worlds, but this was the Journey to the West world! Living gods were everywhere, and just picking up a few scraps would be enough for him to roam freely in his original world!

"Yukigami-sama——!"

Pigsy's shout abruptly pulled him from his sweet dream back into the snowstorm.

Lin Daochen cleared his throat, straightened his face, and adopted a demeanor that was three parts ethereal and seven parts authoritative: "Speak, what do you need from me?"

Pigsy sighed deeply, and snowflakes began to fall from his eyes: "I heard you've been in seclusion for a hundred years, detached from worldly affairs... But little did you know, the world has been turned upside down!"

Lin Daochen's heart tightened. He had heard bits and pieces about the affairs of the Journey to the West world, but the words "earth-shattering" sent chills down his spine. To pass the level, he first had to figure out who had overturned the table and changed the pieces.

"Tell me in detail." His gaze was calm. "Let's start from the day the four of you returned from your pilgrimage."

At this point, Pigsy let out a deep sigh, his shoulders slumping: "Just thinking about it makes my heart ache. If I had known they were so treacherous and vicious, perhaps I, the eldest brother, could have kept my principles and wouldn't be in this state now."

"On the day we retrieved the scriptures from the Western Paradise, the four of us, master and disciples, went our separate ways—eldest brother returned to Flower Fruit Mountain and reclaimed the throne of the Monkey King; master returned to Chang'an to report to the Tang Emperor; the White Dragon returned to the Dragon Palace of the East Sea; and junior brother Sha stayed on Mount Ling and became a golden Arhat before the Buddha."

"As for me, I went back to Gao Village to continue fetching water, chopping firewood, farming, and looking after the yard for the Gao family."

"But on the day of my eldest brother's birthday, I wanted to invite him for a cup of hot wine to reminisce, but when I arrived at Flower Fruit Mountain, all I saw were broken walls and ruins. The once blessed land shrouded in immortal mist is now filled with demonic energy and teeming with demons. All those gentle and well-mannered mountain spirits and monsters have disappeared without a trace."

"I was yelling at him at the top of my lungs when the golden cudgel came crashing down on my face and violently threw me out of the mountain gate."

"I walked back clutching my chest, and on the way I ran into the Bull Demon King and the White Dragon. They were also bruised and battered, their robes torn, and they had been chased out by that monkey."

The three of them squatted by the stream and discussed it, but the more they thought about it, the more something seemed amiss—how loyal that monkey used to be! Even when they argued fiercely, he never truly harmed them in the slightest. How come after returning from their pilgrimage, he's become so ruthless and unrecognizable, turning on them like the blink of an eye?

As he spoke, Pigsy raised his sleeve and wiped his face hard, his eyes red-rimmed.

"Later, a few of us gritted our teeth and went to persuade him again, but he wouldn't even look at us. He just treated us as obstacles and swept us out of the Water Curtain Cave one by one with a stick."

"Later, when everyone sat down to examine the situation more closely, they realized something was amiss."

"What's strange?" Lin Daochen leaned slightly forward, his gaze intense.

"I've thought about it over and over again. Ever since that incident, he's never called me 'idiot' again—those two words were the name he used to call me a thousand times over with a smile. If his heart hadn't changed, how could he have completely lost even this little habit?"

Lin Daochen was taken aback, his brows furrowing: "What...do you mean by that?"

Pigsy shook his head: "Does the Snow Goddess still remember? Back on our journey to the West, we ran into a deadly trap—the calamity of the true and false Monkey Kings. We risked our lives to tear through the fog, but back then, I'm afraid someone took advantage of the chaos to do something shady."

"Stop beating around the bush and just say it!" Lin Daochen's voice deepened.

"The one currently in charge of Flower Fruit Mountain is not the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong—it's the Six-Eared Macaque in his place!"

Lin Daochen's pupils contracted, and his heart sank. That mischievous monkey who had once caused chaos in Heaven, frightening the Jade Emperor into hiding under a pillar, the Great Sage Sun Wukong with his bronze muscles and iron bones and seventy-two transformations—had been silently replaced? Who was the mastermind behind it all?

Could it be... that white-bearded old man, the Jade Emperor?

Pigsy shook his head and sighed, "I dare not say for sure. But the Three Realms are currently in turmoil, and the Heavenly Court has long been divided into two forces—one is the Jade Emperor's seal, and the other is Buddha's net. The open and covert struggles have long been uncontrollable. I don't know who did it. But this disaster could not have originated from Mount Ling or Flower Fruit Mountain; it could only have been done by those wicked fellows in the Heavenly Court who wear celestial robes and harbor evil intentions!"

Before he could finish speaking, he knelt down and kowtowed three times with resounding thuds: "This old man was truly desperate. It was Zhen Yuanzi who guided me, leading me to travel thousands of miles to the Snow Mountain. In this world, only you, sir, can subdue those demons and monsters in Heaven. Please, lend a hand and save the crumbling world!"

Lin Daochen clicked his tongue, never expecting that he would bear such a heavy responsibility in this world.

"Actually, I also thought about asking Patriarch Bodhi to come out of seclusion and go with you to the Lingxiao Palace to demand an explanation. But he has vanished without a trace, and we can't even catch a glimpse of his presence."

Lin Daochen slowly walked down from the altar and reached out to lift the pig-like creature lying on the ground: "It's been too long, and the world has changed drastically. Let's go, you lead the way."

Pigsy stood there stunned. Lin Daochen raised his hand and pointed east: "Flower Fruit Mountain."

The two rose into the air on clouds, and in less than half an incense stick's time, they landed atop Flower Fruit Mountain. As soon as the clouds and mist dissipated, the scene before them made Lin Daochen pause in his tracks.

Ancient books record that Huaguo Mountain is surrounded by lush greenery, with cascading springs, birdsong, and a tranquil, picturesque landscape, a place where the spirit of heaven and earth is concentrated.

But now the mountain has crumbled, scorched earth covers the land, crimson flames lick the cliffs, and black smoke billows endlessly, carrying a foul stench. Corpses lie scattered in the crevices of the rocks by the stream, and the roars of giant beasts shake pine needles to fall—it is a veritable hell on earth.

"When...when did it become like this?" Lin Daochen frowned.

Pigsy gave a bitter laugh, his voice low and hoarse: "Ever since he expelled me from the mountain, he has torn off his last layer of skin—commanding the monkeys to massacre villages and towns, capturing people to bring back to the mountain as sacrifices to his 'Great King'."

"What's even stranger is that this troop of monkeys has severed all old ties and openly allied with the demons."

As soon as Zhu Bajie finished speaking, Lin Daochen's pupils contracted slightly, as if he had realized something. He flicked his finger, pulling a small, bluish-gray cover from his storage bag, and gently placed it over their heads, instantly concealing them. "What is this?"

"The Breath-Sealing Universe Shield." Lin Daochen lowered his voice. "It's made from powdered celestial cloud stone. No matter how fierce the demonic energy and how lurking the killing intent are outside, as long as you don't leave this shield, your aura will be like stagnant water in a deep pool, not leaking out at all—we can sneak in right under their noses."

Pigsy suddenly swung his nine-toothed rake, whipping it out with two powerful gusts of wind: "What are you afraid of! With me, Old Pig, here, what are you afraid of, a few monkeys? Smash them one by one, clap them two by two!"

Lin Daochen shook his head and sighed softly. This blockhead really is slow-witted.