Volume 2: The Path That Can Be Told, Chapter 154: Great Fate

What an excellent qilin—truly worthy of being an ancient mythical beast and a Golden Immortal of Hunyuan. Its meridians are broad and resilient, surpassing Wukong’s by far more than ten times. Its dantian is even vaster and more expansive. When Wukong first explored it, he felt as if he had ventured into the vast starry sky.

He searched inside for a long time and found that the qilin’s dantian was vastly different from his own. His own dantian contained only one mass of fate, with numerous elements intertwined and crowded together. In the qilin’s dantian, the elements of fate were like stars, scattered here and there, and extremely pure.

Wukong’s spiritual sense moved like a bee among flowers, searching thoroughly. Seeing Wukong frowning in thought, the qilin had already delved into its own dantian. After a long time with no reaction, realizing Wukong had no ill intentions, it felt greatly relieved—it had indeed not misjudged him. If Wukong had shown any suspicious behavior, the qilin would have had a contingency plan.

Finally, Wukong spotted a faint gray thread of fate attached to one of these star-like elements—so thin and short, even smaller than the fate emitted by a blade of grass. Apart from the Seven Divine Apes, no one could detect this thread; perhaps even the qilin itself could not discern its shape or appearance.

Wukong used a little magic to draw this thread of fate into his fingertip but dared not go deeper, fearing trouble. At that moment, the qilin’s body trembled, and then a dazzling golden light radiated from its entire body, blasting Wukong dozens of feet away.

“Hahaha…” The qilin’s loud laughter echoed through the valley. All beasts within a thousand miles rejoiced upon hearing it, and the young qilin jumped up and down. Though not yet fully grown, it already possessed spiritual awareness. Since its birth, it had never seen its father so happy.

Although blown away, Wukong stabilized himself quickly. By chance, he had succeeded in what he thought was impossible—a pleasant surprise indeed. From afar, Wukong bowed and said, “Congratulations, uncle!”

The qilin replied joyfully, “I must thank my worthy nephew for helping me rid myself of this great trouble!”

Wukong said, “We’re all family—why be formal? May I ask, uncle, is it possible to leave this place now?”

At the mention of leaving, the qilin’s eyebrows raised, and it shouted, “If I don’t avenge this, how can I preserve my dignity?”

Wukong said, “Uncle, if you go after those two villains, what if you encounter that gang again?” This question left the qilin speechless.

Wukong added, “There’s no rush to seek revenge. Thirty thousand years have passed—why rush? In my opinion, we should leave this place first and return to our world before planning further.”

The qilin nodded and sighed, “It’s a great fortune for Yuan Sheng to have such a brother. But I still haven’t asked your name, worthy nephew.”

“My surname is Sun, and my name is Wukong.”

“Wukong, Wukong… What a strange name. Young man, what supernatural power did you use just now? I’ve never heard of it before,” the Qilin asked again.
Wukong smiled and said, “It’s not that I intend to hide it, but it’s hard to explain in just a few words. Briefly speaking, I happen to have a method that allows me to see such things—sort of by chance.” At this moment, Wukong didn’t mention that he was the Divine Ape. He didn’t know if the Qilin had any connection to the Divine Ape tens of thousands of years ago, fearing it might lead to further complications.
The Qilin said, “Good. There are countless supernatural powers in the world, so it’s not surprising at all.”
Wukong said, “Finding you today has fulfilled one of my wishes. I still have a few minor matters to settle here. How about I come back in a few days to leave together?”
The Qilin asked, “What matters remain? Do you need my help?”
Wukong smiled and said, “They’re all trivial matters. I have a few friends here as well, so I don’t need to trouble you.”
The Qilin said, “Alright. If you need anything, just come to me.”
Wukong bid farewell to the Qilin and went to find Dayu with great joy. Seeing that Wukong was unharmed, Dayu was naturally happy. After hearing Wukong recount what had happened, Dayu said cheerfully, “In that case, we share the same enemy.”
Wukong said, “Now that everything here is settled, shall we leave right away?”
Dayu laughed and said, “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. Now that you mention leaving, I feel a sense of emptiness.” Wukong replied, “After living here for tens of thousands of years, deep bonds have naturally formed. Even iron and wood can bloom. But though this place is nice, it’s only suitable as a retirement spot. Since the elders here possess extraordinary powers and care deeply for all living beings, wouldn’t it be a waste of time to stay here any longer?”
Dayu laughed heartily and said, “You’re trying to provoke me too. Without you saying it, we’ve already made up our minds. We’re ready to leave at your command!”
Wukong said, “What merits or abilities do I have to dare use the word ‘command’?”
Dayu replied, “Aspiration knows no age. Besides, looking back at past lives, who in the world can compare to you?”
Wukong said, “Since we’re leaving, then let the elders go find the Golden God and the others. I’ll go call on Elder Qilin. We can meet here in a while, how about that?”
So Wukong and Dayu went their separate ways and returned in just a short while. Rùshōu, Zhurong, Houyi, Dayu, and Jùmáng all went alone, while Chisongzi led the divine bird Shāngyáng. Only the Qilin, besides his little Qilin, was followed by many strange beasts—Taotie, Bifang, Xiezhi, Baize, Yingzhao, Kuiniu… Many of which Wukong had only heard of before and saw in person for the first time today.

When Zhu Rong saw the Qilin, he instinctively felt hostility. The Qilin, in high spirits that day, simply smiled at Zhu Rong as a greeting, leaving him puzzled. Ru Shou and the others saw that Wukong called the Qilin “uncle” and that the Qilin obeyed him without question, so they secretly praised Wukong in their hearts—truly the divine ape, capable of turning any situation to his advantage. At the Qilin’s command, many beasts knelt before Wukong to express their gratitude. These exotic creatures were all gathered by the Qilin, and as the king of beasts, he naturally held supreme authority over them. Seeing that these beasts possessed great cultivation skills and that many Taiyi Immortals were among them, Wukong felt both joy and concern. He then said, “Everything is ready; all that’s left now is the east wind.” The Qilin and Dayu asked simultaneously, “What is the east wind?” Wukong replied, “It took Kunpeng great effort to gather so many exotic species. Will he agree if we take them all away today?” The Qilin said, “I’m an old acquaintance of Kunpeng’s; this should not be a problem.” Wukong said, “That’s perfect!” Everyone used their supernatural powers to fly southward toward Kunpeng’s throat. Upon arriving there, Hua She saw Wukong leading everyone out and, after learning their purpose, asked, “May I go with you?” Wukong guessed that Hua She wanted to go look for his offspring and agreed, but joked, “If you go, who will guard the door?” Hua She replied, “Kunpeng has made it clear that if you take me, I may leave; he doesn’t care about the others.” The Qilin looked at Wukong with a puzzled expression and said, “Your status seems much higher than mine!” Wukong gave a casual reply to deflect the question. Kunpeng opened his huge mouth as if intentionally to let them out. When they flew out of his mouth, they realized they weren’t underwater—Kunpeng was floating on the surface. Wukong turned around and said, “Elder Kunpeng, I can’t express enough thanks for your kindness. I’ll repay you generously someday!” By now, he understood that Kunpeng had long known about his plans and that letting him in was actually a great blessing for him. Kunpeng didn’t respond and slowly sank below the surface, leaving only a huge whirlpool on the sea. Wukong told everyone, “Regarding Kunpeng, we must keep this a secret—no one may mention it, to avoid future troubles!” Everyone agreed without hesitation. Now filled with pride, Wukong had made friends with Dayu and the five Hunyuan Immortals, rescued the Qilin from dire straits, and had various strange and divine beasts at his side. He began to dream of returning to that realm to rebuild Flower Fruit Mountain. With these people by his side, even if heaven and Ling Mountain attacked together, what was there to fear?

But to return to that world, one must first leave this realm. Calculating that he had been in the Kunpeng’s belly for three hundred years, and with another two hundred years before this realm perished, meeting the Kunpeng was indeed a pleasant surprise, but it seemed unrelated to leaving the realm. Besides, Wukong’s goal was not to leave the realm, but to save it!