Volume 4: The Revelation Unveiled Chapter 558: Awakening from a Dream

The Tathagata would certainly not send the Great Sun Tathagata back into the furnace. This demonic thought held great significance for him—maintaining a complete state of mind was extremely beneficial for advancing his cultivation. Now that Wukong was protected by many saints and had entered the Lingming Hall, it was indeed difficult to snatch him away from them with his current level of cultivation.

Yet, this demonic thought of the Great Sun Tathagata could not be forced either. The Tathagata still did not possess the means to swallow such thoughts outright. If anything went wrong, it would be irreparable.

With no other choice, the Tathagata trapped the Great Sun Tathagata in the hall using a formation and went alone to the top of Little Mount Sumeru to think of a solution.

Inside the massive furnace, he was well aware of the transformations of Pangu. But he paid little attention to what happened within the furnace—as long as the thoughts of the saints remained unharmed, everything would be fine.

The transformations of Pangu surprised the Tathagata, but he already regarded Pangu as something entirely under his control. In this world, how could Pangu escape his grasp? If Pangu was like this, the rest were even less of a concern.

Wukong’s escape was always shadowed by the figure of the Lord of Mount Sumeru. In this world, the person the Tathagata feared the most was the Lord of Mount Sumeru. That was why he did not dare take any reckless actions before the Lord went into seclusion.

The Tathagata was right about one thing—the Lord of Mount Sumeru had embarked on a path with no return. One day, as his divine gaze swept over the Lingming Hall on Mount Sumeru, what he saw was the corpse of the Lord!

All the glory, in the blink of an eye, reduced to nothing but a corpse.

Wukong stood there, stunned, facing this corpse.

The back hall was empty, with only this corpse present.

Was this the so-called Lord of Mount Sumeru? These days, the name “Lord of Mount Sumeru” had worn a hole in Wukong’s ears.

Before entering the back hall, he had guessed what he might encounter—perhaps an old man with white hair and beard, or a monkey that looked exactly like him, or even a world full of wonders. But he never imagined it would be a corpse.

The Lord of Mount Sumeru showed no sign of life, yet his clothes were as new and his skin as fresh, appearing no different from a living person. Wukong was slightly surprised. Wasn’t the Lord of Mount Sumeru supposed to be a monkey? Why did he still appear in human form during seclusion? Well, it seemed that for him, the second form and his true form made no difference.

The corpse sat upright in place, its body straight, with only its head lowered so that its face was invisible. Wukong grew curious and wanted to see the master of Mount Dasi’s face. He bent down to take a look, only to be so shocked that he sat back down on the ground.

The master of Mount Dasi looked exactly the same as Wukong’s past life—Shi Hou!

Wukong remained seated without getting up. He simply couldn’t understand how such a coincidence could exist. Could it really be that the master of Mount Dasi was the same person? How could one person have two bodies?

At that moment, Wukong noticed that the strange energy in the room moved on its own, without any wind. At first, it flowed very slowly, then gradually faster. This sense of movement felt eerily familiar. Wukong suddenly remembered how similar this flow was to the movement of the Taiji diagram in his dantian!

Strangely enough, as soon as he thought this, the Taiji diagram in his dantian indeed began to move in sync with the external energy, in the same direction and at the same frequency.

Although the energy in the room was intangible, Wukong could sense it. It gradually gathered into the shape of a Taiji diagram, swirling around him.

Wukong was at a loss for a moment, but he wasn’t panicked. He had a strong intuition that the master of Mount Dasi would never harm him—what he offered must be a great blessing!

The Taiji diagram outside his body gradually condensed and shrank, then suddenly disappeared into Wukong’s body from some unknown source, merging with the Taiji diagram in his dantian, leaving no trace behind.

“Bang!” An immense blessing spread out instantly, filling Wukong’s entire body—from his internal organs to every strand of hair—occupied by the strongest blessing in the world.

Wukong widened his eyes, unable to hide his astonishment. He murmured, “I’ve finally… awakened.” No sooner had he said this than another wave of powerful blessing erupted, causing him to faint immediately.

Wukong finally awoke. Though it was still a dream, he finally understood what awakening meant. The master of Mount Dasi was so powerful that almost nothing in this world escaped his notice.

In this surreal and extraordinary realm, Wukong quietly reflected on the story left by the master of Mount Dasi:

I am Lingming, the most powerful being in this world.

I was originally an ape, but by chance, I attained my second form. It doesn’t matter what kind of body one has. Since most people in this world take human form, I will walk among them in my second form.

I know nothing about when this world began or when it will end. All I know is that I am the first creature in this world. From birth, I understood all things in the world and grasped their principles. Gradually, I embarked on the path of the Dao.

The Dao is the most wondrous and profound thing in this world. From a mortal state, I have ascended to sainthood, yet I feel the path of the Dao growing ever broader and boundless, leaving me at times feeling lost.
One thing is undeniable: the Dao seeks eternity. The truly great things can endure in this world forever, never perishing. This is what I seek.
At first, I thought attaining sainthood was the end of the Dao, but once I reached that realm, I still felt uneasy. Though my body is as solid as the stones of Mount Sumeru, what good is that?
I lived on Mount Sumeru for sixty million years, and yet the mountain has shrunk by three inches. Even the gentle breeze and light rain hold such power—how dare I boast that being a sage means reaching the ultimate of the Dao?
Therefore, I must retreat in seclusion! But before that, there is one thing to do.
Most of the rules of this world are set by me, and all the sages are my descendants. As long as I am here, they all behave properly and never overstep their bounds. If there is any balance in this world, it is me who maintains it.
But if I am gone, that balance will be shattered instantly.
I gathered all the sages in the Hall of Enlightenment and announced my decision to retreat. Most were surprised and confused, but one person’s heart beat a little faster—that person was Tathagata.
The name “Enlightenment” is not something one can obtain easily. True enlightenment lies in one’s original heart! My understanding of the human heart far exceeds what they know. Tathagata’s secret joy escaped my notice none the less.
Thus, I remained vigilant, leaving a divine thought to observe what Tathagata would do.
Sure enough, Tathagata is an unruly one. He traveled the world, gathering the thoughts of sages; defeated Pangu to seize Little Mount Sumeru; secretly used soft worms to transform Mount Sumeru’s stones to create a realm of a great furnace; he also infused his own demonic thoughts into souls within that realm to nurture them; and even severed a part of his own demonic thought and threw it into the furnace…
I suddenly understood—Tathagata, like me, is also seeking the essence of the Dao. Truly an extraordinary individual. Though I led the way, it is no small feat for Tathagata to think of such things. Yet his methods seem somewhat hasty and unconventional. Alas, this is just my speculation; I can’t say he is definitely wrong.
What surprised me even more was that Tathagata didn’t spare even my own thoughts of the Dao. The Divine Ape of Enlightenment gradually grew within that furnace. How interesting! Tathagata is truly a genius!
Oh? The crisis of the Primordial Essence—Tathagata is worried that that demonic thought might emerge and disrupt his own Dao heart. This step is also wrong. Evil arises from the heart; it cannot be severed. With Buddha’s thoughts filling everything, the demonic thoughts naturally have nowhere to hide.

No! Besides weakening evil thoughts, does the Calamity of the Primordial Elements have any other use? After observing it several times, I understood that what the Tathagata cares most about is my own path of cultivation. If my path of cultivation does not meet his satisfaction, he will overthrow everything and start over. There is only one answer: the Tathagata wants to seize my path of cultivation! The Tathagata left behind a Key to the Heavens, which can only be wielded by the Divine Intelligent Ape, which further confirms my guess. Using someone else’s path of cultivation to achieve enlightenment is a grave mistake and something I despise. At that moment, I suddenly felt that after thousands of years of seclusion, my vitality was weakening. It seems I have failed; I ultimately cannot retain this body. But that doesn’t matter. Though I have failed today, someone else might succeed tomorrow. Those who seek the Way all end up at the same place. Since I have taken this path, others won’t repeat my mistakes. Still, I want to see what outcome the Tathagata will achieve this time in his pursuit of the Way. If the Tathagata can collect my path of cultivation, then my own path can naturally separate as well. Since the Tathagata wants my path to grow, well, I’ll help him grow it and show him. So, I gave a strand of my path of cultivation, imbued with divine powers, to Pangu. This strand of path is light, capable of illuminating the Divine Intelligent Ape’s path of cultivation. The Tathagata’s evil thoughts aim to rise to the heavens, thus suppressing everyone from beginning to end. By using this to make evil thoughts grow, it is indeed a clever strategy. These evil thoughts have far greater understanding beyond the heavens than others, so it is extremely difficult for the Divine Intelligent Ape to turn things around. But with the help of this strand of light, things might get better. Strangely enough, this strand of light calls itself Randeng. As for the original path of cultivation of the Ancient Buddha Randeng, within the Furnace World, it was rather ordinary. Not only him—among these seven Primordial Elements, if a sage’s path of cultivation encounters opportunity, they can achieve great things; but without such fortune, it’s not unusual for them to blend in with the crowd. As for the paths of Laozi and Zhuangzi, hardly any trace can be found in the Furnace World. They merely cycle through life and death like ordinary people, with not even a hint of a sage’s presence. In comparison, Kunpeng is far superior to them. As for figures like Taihao, Chiyou, and Gonggong, you won’t even recognize them, for their fates are too unpredictable to control by human effort. In the sixth Primordial Element, everything remains as before—Randeng, created from Pangu’s energy, has no connection with Lingming. The world is full of complexities; even if everything is planned out, it still depends on fate, and there’s no rush.

Next, what impressed me the most was the Seventh Era. The Buddha’s evil thoughts led him to do something utterly incredible—he actually brought the Three Purities and the Mystic Maiden here unharmed! In desperate situations, people often resort to extraordinary actions, and it was this very action that gave rise to a miraculous Divine Ape that left me stunned.

The Divine Ape was still my Dao essence, without a doubt. But what surprised me first was Nagarjuna. His understanding of the Dao was truly astonishing; despite his humble cultivation level, he still pursued the Great Dao within the furnace. Not only could I not imagine such a thing, but even the Buddha was greatly surprised.

Under the pressure of circumstances, the Mystic Maiden had no choice but to kill Nagarjuna—a truly regrettable act. Leaving aside what became of the Divine Ape after Nagarjuna’s rebirth, the Buddha then took another astonishing step. Unwilling to let such a remarkable Bodhisattva like Nagarjuna perish, he used his Dao essence to recreate a monk named Nagarjuna. This monk had nothing to do with me anymore; he still carried on Nagarjuna’s pursuit of the Dao. The Buddha’s obsession with Dao essence indeed exceeded my imagination.

One Nagarjuna was one thing, but the Mystic Maiden transferring the Divine Ape’s soul to a blessed land was clearly meant to allow it to grow properly—a perfectly understandable move.

While the Divine Ape was being nurtured within the stone, I suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of weakness. Time was running out; I needed to take care of matters behind me.

The Divine Ape of the Seventh Era was vastly different from previous ones. I had a strongfeeling that this time, it might truly bring about a revolution.

So I left behind a trace of my Dao essence for the Buddha. This trace was closely connected to the Divine Ape in the furnace. If it left the furnace, the Buddha would hear the words, “I’m leaving my seclusion.” Heh, from what I know of him, upon hearing these words, he would put aside even the most important matters to come to Mount Sumeru.

Those who pursue the Dao are stubborn by nature, especially those at the Buddha’s level. He and I followed completely different paths; naturally, he believed his own way was the right one. Perhaps in his eyes, my seclusion meant I would never emerge again.

I brought the Buddha here, at least to give you a brief respite. Whether you can escape his grasp depends on luck. However, if the other sages in this world aren’t completely foolish, they should be able to see the connection between us.

Since you are my Dao essence, the powers you wield when using your supernatural abilities are no different from mine. Only you and I can do this. Although Pangu is my disciple, he has only learned a superficial version.

Finally, I will spread my Dao thoughts throughout this hall. As long as you can enter, my entire life’s worth of Dao thoughts will belong to you.
To be honest, I was extremely surprised when I saw you manifest your second form. Though you are my Dao thoughts, you bear not a trace of my memories. Why is your second form exactly like mine? It feels as though I’m seeing another version of myself in another realm.
I will never know the answer to this question, but my Dao thoughts will. The eternity of the Dao—this is what it means. Do you understand?
The path ahead is yours. “Do not lose your true heart; help others not lose theirs!” How could someone who could say such words disappoint me?
The words left by the master of Mount Mahamaya ended here. After hearing them, Wukong remained motionless for a long time.
The greatest warrior in the world vanished on his quest for the Dao. This man was unmatched in both cultivation and wisdom. Even in his final moments, he managed to manipulate Buddha at will—truly beyond comparison.
And now, I am that other man. Wukong now possessed tens of millions of years of memories—his powers, spells, restrictions, formations, and everything the master of Mount Mahamaya had seen and heard—all given to him without reservation!
Just moments ago, in a state between wakefulness and sleep, Wukong actually reached the realm of the True Sage!
If that’s the case, what is there to fear? With a thought, Wukong manifested his second form and flew out of the Lingming Hall. At the hall’s entrance, he placed a restriction to protect the entire hall.
With the master of Mount Mahamaya’s remains inside, this highest place in the world would now be permanently sealed as his burial ground.