Great Demon Sun Wukong-Chapter 696 - 637: The Disappearing Person (Part 1)
The Elder accepted the Sect Leader's Token handed to him by Tathagata and went to summon his forces. This Elder held some grudges against Sun Wukong, so naturally, he was wholeheartedly in favor of hunting down Wukong. Watching the Elder leave, Tathagata snorted coldly. He had seen everything the Elder had done before. Such a man was not to be kept; although his cultivation was strong, he was greedy for life and feared death. Keeping him around would sooner or later prove disastrous. The contentedly obeyed Elder had no idea that he had already been sentenced to death by Tathagata, and the most likely cause of his death would be being killed by Wukong in the upcoming battle.
Tathagata had already discovered Wukong's cultivation, the Peak of Dao Transformation. Such strength was already considered amongst the top masters in Buddha's Pure Land Realm. However, in front of the Great Honored Tathagata Buddha, it still wasn't enough. To deal with Wukong, Tathagata didn't plan to take action personally. But relying on those at the Peak of Unity Dao alone wasn't enough, either. Therefore, Tathagata personally summoned all the strong ones above the Intermediate Grade of Dao Transformation from the Great Honored Buddhism. Those at the Peak of Unity Dao were merely there to bolster the momentum. To deal with Wukong, only those of Dao Transformation Level would suffice.
At this time, Wukong had already traveled tens of thousands of miles away from the Great Honored Buddhism, but this area still fell under the influence of the Great Honored Buddhism. If Wukong truly intended to flee for his life, he would naturally not stop moving. However, Wukong was only doing this to lure Tathagata to the Buddha-worshipping Sect, so that after his master witnessed him, he could strike and eliminate Tathagata himself. With such a double stimulation, his master would definitely be moved. And the blood Wukong spat out before his escape was intentional. Otherwise, with Wukong's Escape Technique, Tathagata would have had no chance of finding him.
Alas, the greatest tragedy of man is to measure others by their own yardstick, assuming others are as short-sighted as themselves because they are. Given the circumstances, Wukong didn't hesitate anymore. The secrets of Great Honored Buddhism, Tathagata undoubtedly knew them best. Only by killing Tathagata and scanning his soul with Divine Sense could Wukong obtain all his secrets. Then, the Great Honored Buddhism would hold no meaning for Wukong. Wukong realized that Tathagata was likely just a pawn and not the person behind the curtain.
A person who could participate in an Ancient War and see everything, who understood many secrets, his strength must be incredibly powerful. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been privy to those visions. Very few survived the Ancient War, and this person was likely one of them. Not only that, this person was also well-versed in everything concerning the Pangu Realm and even orchestrated many things for some reason. Who exactly this person was, and what their ultimate goal was, constituted the greatest doubt in Wukong's mind. From the clues Wukong had gathered so far, he could not ascertain the person's ultimate goal, but one thing was certain: they must be plotting something earth-shattering.
While thinking about all the various messy clues in his mind, Wukong also sensed the state of the Great Honored Buddhism. With his Divine Sense, it wouldn't be a problem to cover the entire Buddha's Pure Land, but doing so was a considerable expenditure of energy for Wukong. In this Intermediate World, it would not be easy for Wukong to replenish effectively, so it was best to conserve energy whenever possible. In Wukong's sensing, almost everyone in the Great Honored Buddhism was mobilized. Groups of strong ones started to assemble and were clearly divided into two camps.
The larger group consisted of over five hundred individuals, all at the Peak of Unity Dao. The other group had around one hundred individuals, but even the weakest among them was at the Intermediate Grade of Dao Transformation, with two-thirds of them at the Peak of Dao Transformation. Observing this assembled force, Wukong couldn't help but curl his lips. Was all this really necessary? The strength Wukong had displayed was merely at the Peak of Dao Transformation. Did they really need so many people for someone at the Peak of Dao Transformation? Tathagata was indeed making a mountain out of a molehill. But it didn't matter, whether it was three hundred or three thousand, they were all courting death before Wukong. It was about time for some exercise, as his spells were growing rusty.
However, Wukong suddenly thought of a problem. Though he was not afraid of the large numbers, the ensuing battle would surely leave corpses everywhere. If his master saw this, wouldn't he be scolded to death? If his master got angry and sent him away, Wukong would have nowhere to go. Or should he just eliminate those people here, leaving only Tathagata behind?
It won't work, Tathagata isn't foolish. If I were to kill more than eight hundred of his men by myself and then leave him alone to escape, Tathagata would have to be out of his mind to continue the pursuit. This makes things a bit tricky, how can I lure Tathagata to follow without slaughtering everyone in front of Master? As he pondered, Sun Wukong suddenly came up with an idea. Given that these people would definitely give chase and couldn't be killed in front of Master, why not find another place to do it?
The more Sun Wukong thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, and it was even a two-for-one strategy. Sun Wukong suddenly felt that he had changed somewhat. In the past, he would never have used his brain to design traps for someone – it was a tactic he had always scorned. He believed that only the weak resorted to such means, while the strong relied on their own martial prowess. Yet many events that followed gradually changed Sun Wukong's thinking, and now, he considered intellect just as important as martial strength, qualities a true powerhouse must possess. Strength alone was nothing more than brute force. Although what Sun Wukong had in mind wasn't really any dark conspiracy—just setting up a trap near the Buddha-worshipping Sect to lead Tathagata and his followers into his own World Within the Artifact. Then, he would let Bajie and White Dragon take action within, while Ying Zhao and Ji Meng stood by for support. This would not only allow them to eliminate those underlings but also give Bajie and White Dragon some actual combat experience.
Once those underlings were dealt with, they would bring Tathagata out and kill him in front of Master, then everything would be perfect. If Master successfully recovered his memory and felt elated, then helping the Buddha-worshipping Sect to take over the territory of Great Honored Buddhism was not beyond the realm of possibility. Just as he thought this, Sun Wukong suddenly laughed, for he had already sensed that, led by Tathagata Buddha, a formidable force of six hundred people was relentlessly chasing after him.
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"Quite swift movements, managing to muster so many people in less than half a cup of tea's time. Tathagata does have some skill," he chuckled to himself. Sun Wukong continued his mad dash, but though it was a dash, he wasn't using his full speed. He kept a moderate pace, not too fast nor too slow, leading the six hundred-plus powerhouses, whose approach could shake Buddha's Pure Land, towards the Buddha-worshipping Sect.
Behind him, Tathagata, having used Sun Wukong's blood to lock onto him, wasn't in a hurry. And so the chase continued, and in the blink of an eye, three days had passed. Finally, Tathagata became somewhat anxious. After three days of pursuit, he seemed no closer to Sun Wukong, which infuriated him. Therefore, Tathagata ordered his forces to split into two echelons. He led the first echelon, consisting of all the Dao Transformation powerhouses at full speed, while the peak of Unity Dao powerhouses were to follow led by Elder Pangu and three other Elders. After all, the speed of a Dao Transformation powerhouse at full burst was not something those of the Unity Dao could match.
Thus, another day and night passed, and without the Unity Dao powerhouses holding them back, Tathagata had halved the distance between himself and Sun Wukong. On one hand, this was because Tathagata and his men had increased their speed, and on the other, it was because Sun Wukong's speed had gradually slowed down. "Tell everyone not to skimp on elixirs, consume the best ones. The Sect will compensate double for the elixirs consumed this time." After several days of full-speed flight, the consumption of spiritual power was tremendous, and so they could only sustain their maximum speed by consuming elixirs while flying.
Sun Wukong's slowed speed wasn't due to a great consumption of spiritual power; in fact, his current speed was only slightly faster than a stroll for him. Rather, it was because Sun Wukong had begun to notice something strange the night before, something that gave him an ominous feeling.
"How strange, why are all these sects deserted? Where did all the people go?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you're welcome to vote and support with a Monthly Pass at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
