I'm already a Great Luo Golden Immortal, how come you're only Martial Saints?

After a moment of silence, the monkey suddenly grinned and laughed.

The smile was the same as before, but it contained less playfulness and more relief.

"So, junior brother, you too are a wanderer. We are truly destined to meet, having entered the sect on the same day and sharing the same fate..."

Sun Wukong scratched the back of his hand, his expression complex.

"You carry the weight of the entire world on your shoulders. Compared to you, my little Flower Fruit Mountain is nothing."

Wukong stood up and paced back and forth a couple of times in the disciples' quarters.

He suddenly stopped, and the confusion and hesitation in his eyes vanished completely, like morning dew evaporated by the blazing sun, replaced by a clear and bright look.

"I understand!"

Sun Wukong's voice regained its usual ease, even carrying a hint of magnanimity.

"I was never one to settle down! Rather than live a life of mediocrity, I should never have left Flower Fruit Mountain! The Patriarch said that if I were to embark on the path of cultivation, my future would be uncertain, my life and death would be unpredictable, and I might even lose my true self and never be liberated. But I am just a stubborn rock between heaven and earth, without father or mother. Since heaven and earth gave me life, I absolutely cannot live this life in obscurity."

The monkey clenched its fist and looked up at the sky outside the window.

"If anyone dares to bully me, I'll turn the world upside down! I don't care if it's a mountain of knives or a sea of ​​fire ahead, I'm determined to brave it!"

The defiant spirit of Sun Wukong, defying heaven and earth, resurfaced once more in his words.

Seeing Sun Wukong seemingly relieved of a heavy burden, his eyes shining like stars, Ning Chen also smiled with relief.

He knew that the monkey had made his choice.

No matter where that road ultimately leads, it is Sun Wukong's own path.

This is the Monkey King, the towering figure in his heart!

Moreover, this monkey is no longer the same as in its previous life; it now has a junior brother who can foresee the next five hundred years...

The anomaly in the third level, the Journey to the West Divine Realm, also suggests that his arrival may have completely altered the course of the Journey to the West.

Ning Chen said in a deep voice.

"Senior brother, remember this: if anyone bullies or humiliates you, tell me. Perhaps I am still weak now, but one day I will make them regret it!"

"When our cultivation reaches a high level, we brothers will surely skin him alive, grind his bones to dust, and banish his soul to the deepest hell to haunt him, ensuring he can never rise again!"

Sun Wukong's furry monkey paw patted Ning Chen's shoulder, his eyes seemingly sparkling with morning stars. He hesitated, then finally uttered only three words.

"Good junior brother..."

"Senior brother!"

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled, everything understood without a word.

In the days that followed, Ning Chen practiced even more diligently, almost to the point of forgetting himself.

Every day before dawn, he would rise and rush to the summit of Fangcun Mountain, where he would circulate the Zixiao Xuanzhen Wuyuan Gong, breathing in the first wisp of purple energy from the rising sun. His body would be enveloped in purple energy, and his magical power would surge through his meridians like a river, becoming increasingly refined and profound.

At night, he would sit quietly in the tile-roofed house, holding an oil lamp and repeatedly studying the Tao Te Ching and the Tai Xuan Shang Qing Jing.

Moreover, Ning Chen discovered that after his comprehension broke through the 999-point mark, he originally thought that he could only increase his comprehension through the rewards of the Divine Realm.

But as he studied these two supreme scriptures, his comprehension level began to slowly increase again!

Although the growth rate was minimal, sometimes increasing only a little every few days, Ning Chen knew how difficult it was to make further progress. It was already excellent if there was any growth and it didn't stagnate.

As his comprehension improved, his understanding of the two scriptures became increasingly profound.

Those originally obscure and difficult-to-understand words seemed to come alive, weaving and evolving the trajectory of the Great Dao in his mind.

Sometimes it can even draw upon the spiritual energy around the body, producing subtle Daoist resonance.

Sun Wukong also became exceptionally busy, leaving before dawn every day and returning only when the moon was high in the sky...

Ask him where he went and what he did.

The monkey just chuckled and scratched its ears and cheeks, laughing incoherently.

"Our master forbade me to say this, but I've already fallen far behind you, junior brother. This time, I must study hard so I can catch up!"

Ning Chen knew perfectly well that it must have been Patriarch Bodhi who had personally taught the monkey the core techniques.

Make thorough preparations for the upcoming destiny-bound journey to the West.

When Bodhi Patriarch taught his disciples, he emphasized that each person should learn their own method. The methods he learned would be useless for monkeys to learn, and the methods monkeys learned would be harmful if they did not learn them when their time was right.

Ning Chen didn't ask any more questions. He just watched the divine light that was gradually gathering in the monkey's eyes, and the profound Daoist charm that was naturally present and unleashed in its sleep.

He then knew that the monkey must have had a very fruitful harvest these days.

Time flies, and another six months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Ning Chen felt that he was only a little bit away from the Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness realm, but he just couldn't find the way in. Fortunately, the day of the Patriarch's lecture was coming soon. He planned that if he still couldn't break through smoothly after this lecture, he would ask the Patriarch for guidance.

On this day, the ancient and heavy stone gate of the lecture hall in the Slanting Moon and Three Stars Cave of Fangcun Mountain slowly opened once again.

As Ning Chen and Sun Wukong entered the lecture hall with the crowd, the boy in blue robes who was leading the way led them to the very front.

Under the astonished, envious, and puzzled gazes of the disciples of Fangcun Mountain, the two were placed in the most central position below the preaching platform, right in the first row in front of the patriarch's seat!

The two senior disciples of the Guang generation covered their faces with their robes and hurriedly retreated to the back row, but no one dared to object.

Everyone has seen and remembered Ning Chen and Sun Wukong's progress.

The two of them deserve their current positions.

The first row, directly in front, represents the disciples of Fangcun Mountain, symbolizing that the two brothers' status in the eyes of their ancestor is now completely different.

With three clear chime sounds, the sermon began.

Bodhi Patriarch sat upright on the cloud bed, his aura growing ever deeper and more expansive, merging with heaven and earth.

His gaze swept down, pausing briefly on Ning Chen and Sun Wukong, a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

He had seen Ning Chen and Sun Wukong's efforts these days.

"Today's lecture will discuss existence and non-existence, and address movement and stillness!"

The patriarch's voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of every disciple, like the imperial decree of the Great Dao...

As the patriarch spoke, extraordinary phenomena appeared!

The rooftop was empty, filled with chaotic energy, as if at the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth.

The voice of the Great Dao is like a resounding bell, shaking people's hearts and minds.

Countless golden runes appeared out of thin air as if they were alive, flowing and evolving the ultimate principles of heaven and earth in the void.

Sometimes it condenses into a chaotic blue lotus, swaying gracefully and radiating the vitality of creation.

Sometimes it transforms into stardust and sand, flowing endlessly, revealing the mysteries of time and space.

At times, it is like a gazelle hanging its horns, leaving no trace, returning to nothingness and silence.

Ning Chen and Sun Wukong sat cross-legged at the very front of the patriarch, in a uniquely advantageous position, receiving the most direct and profound spiritual influence.

Ning Chen felt that every word of his ancestor struck the depths of his soul, and corroborated his cultivation of the Purple Cloud Profound True Enlightenment Technique, the Supreme Profound Purity Scripture, and the Tao Te Ching.

His comprehension, which was as high as 1120 points, was pushed to its limit at this moment.

Countless doubts were suddenly cleared up, and my understanding of the Tao deepened and broadened at an unprecedented speed.

The purple aura surrounding Ning Chen grew increasingly dense, with faint, subtle lightning flashing and leaping within it.

His aura was as steady as a mountain and as deep as the sea.

Sun Wukong listened with rapt attention, his eyes tightly closed, his brows sometimes furrowed and sometimes relaxed, his golden fur shimmering with a dazzling luster, and his body emitting a buzzing sound of Daoist energy.

The two were completely absorbed in the supreme sound of the Great Dao, losing themselves in the moment.

After the sermon was finished, a divine notification popped up in front of Ning Chen's eyes.

[Upon hearing the Patriarch's teachings, his spiritual cultivation increased by twenty-five years, totaling seventy-one years!]

Ning Chen couldn't help but sigh, "When it comes to cultivation, finding the right path makes things much easier."

Having joined Fangcun Mountain, he has already accumulated more than sixty years of Taoist cultivation in just one and a half years.

He tried to fully activate the Purple Cloud Profound True Enlightenment Technique to break through to the third level.

With his pure magical power, he repeatedly attacked the barrier, but to no avail.

He opened his eyes and met the Bodhi Patriarch's ambiguous smile.

Before anyone knew it, all the disciples of Fangcun Mountain had already dispersed, leaving only him and Patriarch Bodhi sitting facing each other.

Ning Chen was not intimidated and directly asked the patriarch a question.

"Master, I have cultivated for sixty years, why am I still unable to reach the realm of Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness?"

The Bodhi Patriarch did not answer directly, but instead asked a question in return, which was quite meaningful.

"Wuchen, you've only been a disciple for less than two years, yet you've made such rapid and diligent progress. What are you after?"