Volume 4: The Revelation Unveiled, Chapter 549: Gathering the Demon’s Thoughts

On the summit of Great Sumeru Mountain, a group of sages stood in the air or sat on the ground, all their gazes fixed on the Lingming Hall. It had been some time since Wukong entered, and no one knew if anything might go wrong.

At that moment, Fuxi suddenly stood up, gazing into the distance with a look of astonishment. He murmured, “This is… my own Dao thought?” In the distance, a thin figure flew over, looking confused—it was the Yin-Yang Divine Ape that had emerged from the furnace.

Having left the Great Furnace and Small Sumeru Mountain, the Yin-Yang Divine Ape didn’t know where to go. The world was far larger than it had imagined. It had no idea where to find Tathagata, nor where Wukong was. But suddenly, it sensed an extremely faint divine thought—familiar, as if there was a spiritual connection between them. With nowhere else to go, it decided to fly in the direction of that thought. Soon, it saw a peak much taller than Small Sumeru Mountain in the distance; that divine thought came from atop that peak.

When they reached the summit, the Yin-Yang Divine Ape and Fuxi met eyes, and a dizzying sensation overcame them, as if the essence within them was about to burst forth. Fuxi was also surprised—the ape form of the Yin-Yang Divine Ape was exactly his own form before attaining his second transformation, yet he had known nothing about this!

The others also sensed something was wrong with Fuxi, but only the Phoenix, who had seen Fuxi in his true form, understood why he was astonished. Fuxi and the Yin-Yang Divine Ape didn’t know what to say for a while. Then, silently, a man in white stepped out of the Lingming Hall.

Everyone exclaimed in shock, but everyone else called him “Mountain Lord,” while only the Yin-Yang Divine Ape cried out in joy, “Wukong!”

Of course, this man was the one who had absorbed all the Mountain Lord’s Dao thoughts—Wukong, now at the level of a true sage. His cultivation had reached the peak of the former Mountain Lord, and his mental strength was even greater. Thus, he emitted an overwhelming pressure, stirring up fierce winds on the summit of Great Sumeru Mountain, making the sages feel compelled to bow in reverence.

Wukong smiled at them without explaining why he wasn’t the Mountain Lord. He said to the Yin-Yang Divine Ape, “You’ve come out too?” The Yin-Yang Divine Ape nodded. Seeing Wukong, it felt reassured and said, “I must eliminate Tathagata to avenge our past grievances.”

Hearing this, everyone was astonished. This little monkey, with only the cultivation of a Profound Immortal, wanted to kill Tathagata? Didn’t it know that Tathagata had already reached a state of purity beyond falsehood?

Wukong waved his hand and told everyone to sit down. He explained in detail how Tathagata had gathered the thoughts of saints, created his own realm to nurture those thoughts and let them grow, in order to achieve his own ultimate goal. However, he concealed the subtle connection between him and the Master of Mount Mahasumera. It wasn’t that Wukong was hiding something; it was simply because revealing this matter would be utterly unbelievable. Even the Master of Mount Mahasumera didn’t know the underlying reason, let alone those saints.

Upon hearing this, everyone was filled with indignation. How could Tathagata have such sinister ambitions? Who could tolerate such behavior? Yet the Master’s return from seclusion was the greatest joy in the world. As long as the Master was around, there was no problem that couldn’t be solved.

Qilin, the most impatient among them, said, “This matter must be spread throughout the world, so that figures like the Three Pure Ones, the Mysterious Maiden, and Maitreya can also know Tathagata’s true nature!” Wukong replied, “There’s no need for that. We should capture him right now.”

Only at this level had Wukong finally understood what it felt like to control the universe. Among these saints, Fuxi had the highest cultivation level. But Wukong was confident that to subdue Fuxi, he would need no more than three divine techniques.

The concept of “manipulating fate” mentioned by the Master of Mount Mahasumera, and the realization by Qilin, Fuxi, and others that Wukong was from Mount Mahasumera, stemmed from the same reason. Wukong now understood that no matter what divine technique he used, he had to rely on the power of fate. Yet there were two types of fate in the universe—positive and negative. To maximize the power of one’s divine techniques actually depended greatly on the proportion of positive and negative fate used. And this proportion was closely tied to the principles of the universe. It was useless for others to know, as understanding the universe required precision; even a slight error could lead to huge mistakes.

When Wukong said they should capture Tathagata, everyone agreed in unison, and they set off in large numbers toward Mount Lesser Mahasumera.

Yin Yang came to Wukong’s side and whispered, “Um… the Great Sun Tathagata has also appeared, but I haven’t seen anyone else.” Wukong replied, “He must have been captured by Tathagata. It doesn’t matter.”

Wukong knew that the Great Sun Tathagata was a demonic thought separated from Tathagata, and this demonic thought would be extremely useful to Tathagata. The Furnace Realm was a space created specifically to nurture divine thoughts, where those thoughts could grow independently.

Upon further reflection, the demonic thought of Tathagata had grown far beyond those of the other saints. After enduring the trials of the seven cycles and failing time and time again to ascend to heaven, how much evil energy must this demonic thought have accumulated?

Imagine these seven ages of cultivation—this demonic thought has spent its entire time in scheming. Compared to when it first entered this world, it has naturally grown immensely. If the original demonic thought was like an innocent child, now it is already a seasoned adult. Now that this demonic thought has returned to Tathagata’s body, it is likely to cause tremendous changes in him.

On Mount Small Sumeru,
Tathagata held a string of prayer beads, counting each one carefully. Just as he reached the end of the string, Tathagata leaped up and rushed toward the side hall where the Great Sun Tathagata was imprisoned. Standing outside the hall, Tathagata sighed, “I do not wish to use such tactics to change your mind, but the situation is urgent, and I have no time to waste arguing with you.” It turned out that the formation Tathagata had set up could capture people’s souls and alter their minds. The Great Sun Tathagata, with only a Xuanxian level of cultivation, had almost no ability to resist within Tathagata’s formation. At this point, he was probably nothing but a walking corpse.

As Tathagata strode confidently toward the side hall, his expression suddenly changed drastically as he looked up at the sky.
“That’s impossible!” Tathagata exclaimed. He had merely sensed an aura that was both familiar and terrifying approaching. When he looked up, he actually saw the master of Mount Small Sumeru!
Wukong wore white robes and was surrounded by a group of sages like stars surrounding the moon, standing at the forefront. His face and aura were identical to those of the master of Mount Small Sumeru—how could Tathagata not be shocked?
Yet he had clearly seen from the top of Mount Small Sumeru that the master was already a lifeless corpse. There was no doubt about it. When Wukong landed, Tathagata took another closer look and finally relaxed slightly, saying, “You are… the Spiritual Intelligent Divine Ape?”
Due to his higher cultivation level, Wukong felt no fear at all upon seeing Tathagata again. The world became crystal clear to him, and his spiritual eyes shone with divine light—nothing was left unseen.
“You still recognize me,” Wukong replied.
Tathagata said, “Compared to him, you still seem somewhat immature.”
Wukong smiled slightly. Tathagata had actually used psychological tactics against him. Then Tathagata continued, “The master of Mount Small Sumeru is one of the greatest figures in the world. He is already free from anger and hatred, allowing life and death to follow his will. But you, in terms of mental state, still fall short.”
Wukong did not respond. What Tathagata said made some sense. After all, he only had a thousand years of experience—how could he compare to the master of Mount Small Sumeru? Although the master’s thoughts had entered his body, the influx of tens of millions of years of memories required immense effort just to sort through them. Moreover, since they weren’t accumulated gradually by himself, there was always a sense of artificiality.

However, Wukong grasped the powers within the Dao thoughts fastest. The powers passed down to him by the Master of Mount Sumeru were actually the Thirty-Six Transformations taught to him by Ran Deng, only that at his level, he possessed many extraordinary insights into their subtle intricacies.
Ran Deng had once said that the Thirty-Six Transformations were the result of his joint enlightenment with the Three Pure Ones. It seemed even Ran Deng did not understand how he could master such profound powers—these techniques were naturally implanted into the Dao thoughts by the Master of Mount Sumeru.
Wukong was already extremely familiar with the Thirty-Six Transformations, so it took him little effort to fully understand each of these earth-shattering techniques from start to finish. Though he had never fought anyone using them, Wukong believed that the current Tathagata was by no means his match!
The Tathagata said, “O wise and divine ape, you are merely an object in my furnace. Though you may have had some opportunities, you cannot escape my control.”
Before Wukong could speak, the Qilin cursed, “Tathagata, how dare you steal our Dao thoughts! You’re truly audacious!”
The Tathagata didn’t even glance at the Qilin and said coldly, “Dao thoughts? Those who enter my furnace are those I deem worthy.”
Fuxi glanced at Yin and Yang before saying to the Tathagata, “You are truly deluded. The path of cultivation lies in consistency. Do you really think you can accommodate so many Dao thoughts?”
The Tathagata paid considerable attention to Fuxi and said, “All cultivation methods are different; this is not something a king needs to worry about. You speak of consistency, but isn’t that still the old path taken by the wise one? He has gone astray and lost his vitality—clearly, this path leads nowhere!”
Fuxi pointed at Wukong and said, “The Master is right here. Why do you still talk nonsense?”
The Tathagata smiled and said, “You are all deceiving yourselves. He has merely inherited the Dao thoughts of the wise one. In terms of mental cultivation, he is not even as deep as an ordinary Xuanxian. A castle in the air cannot last long.”
Wukong frowned. Seeing that he showed no fear despite his superior cultivation, the Tathagata seemed confident. Since his own cultivation far surpassed the Tathagata’s, he wondered what the Tathagata could rely on. So Wukong signaled everyone to step back and said to the Tathagata, “Your greed is excessive. If I don’t capture you, the world will never know peace.”
The Tathagata nodded solemnly and said, “This battle is inevitable.”
He stretched out his left hand, and an arm extending dozens of feet long pierced through the window frames and entered the side hall. A dark aura rose along the Tathagata’s arm into the side hall, and in just a moment, he restored his arm to its normal shape.
Checking his body, the Tathagata showed a pleased expression and said, “It truly lives up to the benefits of my cultivation!”

How could Wukong not know that Tathagata had already taken in the evil thought of the Great Sun Tathagata within his body? Full of confidence, he wanted to see just how powerful Tathagata really was, so he did not intervene. Meanwhile, Yin and Yang cried out, “That demon has been taken in by him!” Wukong replied indifferently, “Demons can be born naturally or created later. This self-born Tathagata is far more evil than that one who was forced into this role.” Then, Tathagata straightened his body as if he had become a different person, and an invisible aura spread around him—far more powerful than before.