Volume 1: Unspeakable – Chapter 77: The Eight Great Saints

Hearing Wukong’s fierce oath, the Bull Demon King refused to be outdone: “I, the Old Ox, won’t say much else, but whoever harms the bond between brothers will be the first to die at my hand. If I were to betray that bond, throw me into the oil pot and fry me into a meatball for everyone to eat!”
Jiuling Yuansheng spoke solemnly, “When brothers unite, their strength can cut through metal. From today onward, we shall live and die together. Those who break this oath shall fall into the eighteen layers of hell and never be freed!”
The Golden-Winged Roc laughed, “You’re all too fierce. Listen to me. Today, we form a brotherhood to revive our demon race. As brothers, we must cherish each other like limbs. Those who harm their brothers shall have their limbs severed. If I break this oath, let me be trapped on earth forever, unable to fly!” For the Golden-Winged Roc, this oath was also extremely serious.
The others took oaths in turn, raising incense and drinking blood wine. This brotherhood of eight demons was bound to upheave the three realms!
After kowtowing and becoming brothers, they naturally had to determine a hierarchy.
In terms of age, Wuzhiqi was the oldest—he had been imprisoned for tens of thousands of years. Next came the Golden-Winged Roc, then Jiuling Yuansheng and the Sea-Destroying Dragon. Although the Bull Demon King had also practiced for thousands of years, he was still inferior to these four ancient demons, roughly on par with Fengtong and Wang Yu. Wukong was undoubtedly last.
Wuzhiqi refused stubbornly to take the top position, insisting repeatedly that if no one took on the role of leader, how could there be a hierarchy? After some debate, the Golden-Winged Roc suggested, “If we don’t rank by age, how about by skill?”
Seeing Wuzhiqi’s calm and unshaken expression, everyone agreed to his suggestion.
After discussing it, everyone admitted they were no match for Jiuling Yuansheng in single combat, so they willingly recognized him as the leader. Despite his repeated refusals, Jiuling Yuansheng finally accepted.
The seven of them then seated Jiuling Yuansheng and bowed respectfully to him. He was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes. With this bow, everyone knew they now had a powerful ally. Jiuling Yuansheng was kind-hearted by nature but also fiercely protective. From then on, anyone in trouble who called out to him as “elder brother” would immediately receive his help. How many in heaven or earth could withstand his wrath?
Jiuling Yuansheng sat in the central seat, remaining humble as ever. Unexpectedly, though everyone respected him, they began to compete for the second position. The Bull Demon King and the Golden-Winged Roc naturally refused to yield to each other. The Sea-Destroying Dragon was tempted too, but since Wuzhiqi, who was far stronger in water combat, remained silent, he dared not compete.

After arguing for a long time with no resolution, Jiuling Yuansheng said, “It’s pointless for you two to fight. The Golden-Winged Roc can’t defeat the Old Ox, and the Old Ox can’t catch up with the Golden-Winged Roc. At best, it’s a draw. But if they really fight, the Old Ox still has a slight advantage.” With these words, Jiuling Yuansheng settled the matter. The Golden-Winged Roc had been utterly defeated by him before, and though resentful, it agreed in silence.

The Ox Demon King laughed and said, “My elder brother is truly fair. But if you’re not satisfied, Golden-Winged Roc, you can come to me anytime. Once you can defeat me, I’ll give you my second brother’s position.”

Following that, the rankings were as follows: the Golden-Winged Roc in third place, Wu Zhiqi in fourth, the Sea-Submerging Dragon in fifth, and Fengtong, Wang Yu, and Wukong in sixth, seventh, and eighth places respectively.

Originally, Wu Zhiqi wanted to let Wukong take fourth place, as he had planned all the major battles and never lost. But Wukong refused outright, saying he was too young and inexperienced to take precedence over his elder brothers. Wu Zhiqi had no choice but to give up.

In fact, everyone knew that Jiuling Yuansheng was the leader only for show. In times of real crisis, it was still Wukong who made the decisions. After all, it was Wukong who ruled Flower-Fruit Mountain. Even if someone else wanted to lead those sixty or seventy thousand soldiers, they might not have the ability to do so. Moreover, four of the eight were monkeys, all of whom followed Wukong’s lead and ignored anyone else’s words. Besides, it was Wukong who saved the eldest, Jiuling Yuansheng. So although Wukong ranked eighth, his status and influence remained unchanged.

After drinking several large jars of fine wine, Wukong said that another major battle was coming soon and he needed to make preparations. So everyone dispersed and returned to their own caves.

Wukong took Fengtong aside to the Water Curtain Cave and asked him about what had happened earlier. Sure enough, there had indeed been something unusual. Fengtong said, “Do you know what it was? I almost got fooled too.” Wukong asked, “Could it be those earth dragons?” Fengtong shook his head. “Never mind. You’d never guess even after ten thousand tries. I’ll just tell you directly. Do you remember going to the Heavenly Court once and seeing those four heavenly generals using a small furnace to create primordial energy?”

Wukong was surprised. Why bring this up suddenly? “Of course I remember. That was a long time ago. Those four heavenly generals were killed back then. Why bring it up now?” Fengtong said, “During that battle with the Heavenly Court, countless demons were killed or injured. But don’t you think something is missing?”

Wukong thought hard but couldn’t come up with any clues. Fengtong continued, “During those battles among the tens of thousands of mortals, a lot of primordial energy was released. But that day, tens of thousands of humans, immortals, and gods were killed or injured. Did you see any primordial energy at all?”

Only then did Wukong realize that he had only seen the small demons picking up corpses that day, with no primordial energy visible. Since he knew very little about primordial energy, he hadn’t found it strange.

Tongfeng said, “The wonders in the world can only be seen by our clan; others cannot perceive them at all. The disappearance of these wonders is truly strange. Though I have some thoughts, due to my short time since awakening, I feel there must be some major matters I haven’t remembered yet.”

Wukong replied, “If that’s the case, it indeed seems suspicious. But even though there are doubts, where should we start investigating?”

Tongfeng said, “It’s far away in the sky, yet right before our eyes.”

Wukong was shocked. “Are you saying… it was taken by someone from our sect?”

Tongfeng was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter. “How dare you think so? Who could possess such power to take away so many unknown wonders right in front of us?”

Realizing he had guessed wrong, Wukong said shamefully, “You said it’s far away yet right before our eyes—”

Tongfeng explained, “I’m talking about Wu Zhiqi! He has been imprisoned for tens of thousands of years. It’s extremely unfair to him, and he has suffered greatly, but his memory remains intact. In that sense, it might not be entirely bad.”

Wukong suddenly understood. “Then let’s go and bring him here!”

When Wu Zhiqi entered the cave, Tongfeng explained his suspicions. After thinking for a while, Wu Zhiqi slowly uttered three words: “Creation, Transformation, Furnace.”

Tongfeng was stunned for a long time, as if frozen, not even blinking. Seeing his strange expression, Wukong glanced at Wu Zhiqi with his eyes. Wu Zhiqi said, “Don’t disturb him. He’s also remembered it.”

Finally, Tongfeng slapped his head. “I remember! It’s the Creation Furnace!”

It was the first time Wukong had heard this name. The first image that came to mind was four heavenly generals sitting around a small furnace. He asked, “What is the Creation Furnace? Is it the one used by those four heavenly generals?”

Tongfeng smiled and said, “It’s related, but given their status, they can at most afford an imitation. The real Creation Furnace could truly be considered the greatest treasure in the world!”

Wukong was astonished. “It’s that powerful!”

Tongfeng nodded and said, “Just think—tens of thousands of immortals, gods, and earthly immortals perished that day. How much creation energy must there be in total? It’s likely more than a thousand times the creation energy you’ve gathered from hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the heavenly court. All these unseen creations are taken away by the Creation Furnace. Don’t you think it’s amazing?”

Wukong scratched his head, still somewhat skeptical. “How do you know it’s the work of the Creation Furnace?”

Wuzhi said, “The Creation Furnace is a treasure born from the essence of creation. It existed before heaven and earth, just like us. This furnace is capable of gathering all forms of creation energy; no matter what quality it is, once it enters the Creation Furnace, it becomes purest and most authentic, comparable to chaos. If a cultivator can obtain this Creation Furnace, they will be secure for life. Not to mention attaining immortality, even becoming a Taiyi Golden Immortal or achieving the Ultimate Dao in just a short time is not unusual.”
Wukong finally understood that this Creation Furnace was indeed a magical artifact to aid in cultivation, but in terms of its functions, it was no different from the abilities of the Seven Divine Apes. He laughed and said, “You’re exaggerating. Everyone in the world wants this Creation Furnace, yet it’s completely useless to the Seven Divine Apes.”
Tongfeng nodded and said, “That’s true. Anyone who gets this Creation Furnace will be overjoyed. Only you and I find it useless. This is one of the greatest secrets of the Seven Divine Apes—we are originally the Creation Furnaces!”
“What?” Wukong was shocked. “You mean the Seven Divine Apes are actually seven Creation Furnaces?”