Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

"You're crying so sadly, it seems you still have some genuine feelings for your old Monkey King!"

Just as Luo Bai cried bitterly, Sun Wukong's teasing laughter suddenly rang out from one side. Luo Bai's eyes snapped open and he turned his head incredulously toward the direction of the voice—there, smirking mischievously at him, was none other than Sun Wukong himself.

"Brother Monkey, you're not dead?"

Luo Bai instantly jumped up from the ground, his face full of joy as he rushed to Sun Wukong's side, hugging him tightly as if afraid he would suddenly disappear again.

"Your old Monkey isn't that easy to kill!"

Sun Wukong grinned and patted Luo Bai's back, "Okay, okay, that's enough. Your old Monkey isn't interested in men!"

"But I clearly saw you, Brother Monkey..."

Luo Bai let go of Sun Wukong, pointing toward the shattered ice on the ground, his face full of disbelief. He had clearly seen Sun Wukong frozen into an ice cube and shattered into fragments; how could he be unharmed?

"That was one of my clones."

Sun Wukong said with a light laugh. As he spoke, Luo Bai immediately understood. At the critical moment, Sun Wukong had thrown him to safety while simultaneously creating a clone to take his place. As the clone was struck, the real body had managed to escape.

"Brother Monkey, I am utterly convinced by you!"

Luo Bai solemnly bowed to Sun Wukong, deeply impressed by his actions—from risking his own life to save him, to the ability to deploy his clone at the critical moment, autstanding calmness and alertness in the face of danger.

Although Sun Wukong's cultivation was not as high as Luo Bai's at the moment, Luo Bai knew it was only a matter of time. Currently, Sun Wukong's combat strength was no less than his own. Once Sun Wukong would break through to the Taiyi Scattered Immortal Realm, his strength would surely shake the Three Realms!

Sun Wukong smiled and graciously accepted the grand gesture from Luo Bai, then turned his gaze towards the valley. His eyes emitted a golden light, and his Void-Breaking Divine Eye scanned the valley. Compared to the corridor of flames and ice flame, the valley had basically no dangers—at least Sun Wukong did not perceive any disturbances from formations or prohibitions and restraints.

There were no dangers, but Sun Wukong did notice quite a bit of treasure light. The valley was indeed a treasure trove; various treasure lights gathered, laying bare under the Void-Breaking Divine Eye. Sun Wukong instantly spotted the area with the most abundant treasure light, and another spot, although less bright, he felt an inexplicable attraction toward its treasure light.

"Alright, we've made it into the valley; I've checked it, there's no danger. Let's each search for treasure based on our own luck."

Leaving these words behind, Sun Wukong used the Shrinking Earth into Inches technique and soared toward the place with the most abundant treasure light, disappearing after a few rapid movements.

"Brother Monkey, where shall we meet up? Hey~!"

Luo Bai shouted, but Sun Wukong was already far gone. Uttering a helpless mutter, Luo Bai closed his eyes to sense his surroundings and then ran toward the direction that gave him the strongest feeling. He did not have the Void-Breaking Divine Eye like Sun Wukong, unable to see the differences in the treasure light within the valley; he could only rely on his inner feelings.

"What kind of treasure is this?"

Without restrictions from formations or prohibitions and restraints, and simple gravity hardly affecting him, Sun Wukong quickly reached the place with the brightest treasure light. It was a depression in the middle of the valley, and a pearl lay quietly in the center, no bigger than a pigeon's egg, appearing gray and unremarkable. To the naked eye, it seemed quite plain, yet Sun Wukong's Void-Breaking Divine Eye distinctly saw the dazzling treasure light stored within it, nearly overshadowing all other treasures in the valley!

This was definitely a precious treasure!

Sun Wukong's eyes narrowed slightly as he took a deep breath and stepped forward, reaching out to grab the pearl, only for his hand to pass straight through it, grabbing thin air!

"What's going on?"

Stunned, Sun Wukong somewhat incredulously grabbed at it two more times, with the same result—his hand passed through each time, as if it were just a three-dimensional projection and not a tangible object. Yet, his Void-Breaking Divine Eye saw it clearly; it was indeed there, not just an image.

"What on earth is going on?"

Sun Wukong's brow furrowed. Clearly, such a fine treasure wouldn't be easy to obtain; standing right before it, yet it was like trying to grasp a flower reflected in a mirror or the moon in the water—completely ungraspable. This was frustrating indeed!

"Could it be another formation or prohibition?"

A thought flashed through his mind. Sun Wukong's eyes shone brightly with golden light as he fully activated the Void-Breaking Divine Eye to observe, but he could not detect any signs of formations or prohibitions, and Divine Sense could not sense anything wrong either. How strange indeed!

Perhaps, this pearl requires a special method to be subdued?

Sun Wukong recalled the methods for acquiring heavenly and earthly treasures recorded in the ancient scriptures of the Scripture Pavilion in the Three-Star Cave Heaven. Some involved forcibly subduing them with mana, some involved direct acquisition, and some through the refinement of one's lifeblood, but none suited the current situation. After much thinking, perhaps there was only one feasible method.

Refinement with the Soul's True Spirit!

Refining with the Soul's True Spirit was even more dangerous than refinement with lifeblood. Should it fail, not only would the treasure be hard to subdue, but the Soul's True Spirit would also be severely damaged—minor cases would result in a significant regression of cultivation, severe cases could lead to the fracture of the Divine Soul Sea, rendering a person an idiot or even causing their soul to disperse.

Even if the refinement succeeded, if the treasure were destroyed, the master would also be affected, and the Soul's True Spirit would likewise be damaged—resulting in death. Therefore, under normal circumstances, no one would foolishly use their Soul's True Spirit to refine treasures. If the treasure's level was not high enough and it was destroyed, wouldn't they be doomed?

Should he really use the Soul's True Spirit to attempt to subdue it?

Sun Wukong found himself in a dilemma. Although the Void-Breaking Divine Eye indicated that this pearl was a rare treasure, the hidden brilliance it emitted far surpassed other treasures in the valley, but what kind of treasure it actually was remained unknown to him. What if it turned out to be something flashy but useless?

Should he really risk trying to refine it with the Soul's True Spirit?

After walking around the grey pearl several times, Sun Wukong tried various methods, yet he still couldn't touch the pearl; it seemed to be in another space entirely. However, upon careful inspection with Divine Sense, he could indeed see it.

It looked like, apart from refining it with the Soul Spirit True Essence, there really were no other methods to subdue this spiritual pearl.

"To hell with it, if the monkey dies, the bird heads to the sky; if not, live for myriad years!"

With a sudden gritting of his teeth, Sun Wukong made up his mind. To obtain a great treasure, one must brave great risks. In the Water Curtain Cave Heaven, he had also barely survived a deadly situation, which allowed the thirty-sixth grade Cleansing World Green Lotus stem to accept him as its master. However, that was just lifeblood refining, which was inferior to the refining using Soul Spirit True Essence; hence, to this day, he still couldn't control it.

He didn't know when the Ruyi Golden-Hooped Rod would thoroughly integrate the thirty-sixth grade Cleansing World Green Lotus's stem and completely awaken. The days without a handy Divine Weapon in hand were indeed tough!

With a sigh, Sun Wukong sat cross-legged, the process of refining the treasure with Soul Spirit True Essence was extremely dangerous and not to be taken lightly, requiring a gradual and meticulous effort. The required duration was unpredictable. Puti Patriarch had mentioned that he would be transported out once a hundred years were up, but it was unclear whether that was true. Now that more than twenty years had already passed, there really wasn't much time left for delays.

"Snap!"

With a light shout, a ray of golden light burst from the center of Sun Wukong's brow, thin golden threads spread from his brow toward the spiritual pearl on the ground before him, beginning the refinement of the Soul's True Spirit.

The power of the Soul's True Spirit spread onto the spiritual pearl, and this time, he finally touched the physical body of the spiritual pearl. Sun Wukong was overjoyed inside—it seemed he had indeed taken the right approach to refining the spiritual pearl with the Soul's True Spirit.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Sun Wukong focused his mind, fully driving his Soul's True Spirit towards the spiritual pearl. Unlike other subjugation methods, the connection with the treasure during mid-process must not be interrupted, or else the liberated power of the Soul's True Spirit could not be reclaimed, leading directly to severe injuries.

While Sun Wukong was refining the spiritual pearl with the Soul's True Spirit, at the other end of the valley, Luo Bai had also located the treasure he desired—a Divine Sword that matched his aura perfectly.

The sword floated three meters off the ground, its body was green and red, wrapped with strands of purple electricity and green fire. Two chains of light, one black and one white, stretched down from the sky and up from the ground, firmly locking both ends of the Divine Sword, and all its divine prowess and radiance were also locked by these two chains.

Without a second thought, Luo Bai summoned the Frost Snow Longsword and fiercely slashed at the white light chain extending from the sky. He had come to The Borderlands specifically to look for a personal Divine Sword, and now that it was right before him yet confined, he naturally spared no effort in breaking the chains to claim it.

"Boom!"

The Frost Snow Longsword collided with the white light chain, emitting a sky-shaking boom. The white light chain suddenly snapped, a powerful destructive force rebounded from the point of contact along the Frost Snow Longsword, striking Luo Bai as if he had been hit by lightning. He was thrown out like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground, spewing a mouthful of blood mist and fainting with his eyes rolling back.

On the other side of the valley, Sun Wukong, who was refining the spiritual pearl with the Soul's True Spirit, stiffened as he sensed the disturbance coming from Luo Bai's direction. The intense vibration and power conflict were definitely no small matter. However, he was unable to spare any attention for that and could only continue concentrating and driving the Soul's True Spirit.

"Xiao Bai, I'm too preoccupied to help you right now. We both have to rely on ourselves, so let's just hope for the best!"