"What can't you do, you plague-ridden monkey? Hurry up and use your fiery eyes and golden pupils to take a look; otherwise, if old pig gets hit by your rod again, I really won't be able to take it."
Without using his fiery eyes and golden pupils, Sun Wukong had already figured it out. Having spent decades together on the Pilgrimage Route, he knew Zhu Bajie like the back of his hand. It was just that he was too shocked by Zhu Bajie's current strength to believe it. You see, back in the day on the Pilgrimage Route, Zhu Bajie's combat power was so low that he couldn't even defeat one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, Kui Mulang. But now, he was even stronger than the Erlang God, a gap so huge that it was hard to believe—especially since Zhu Bajie was not this fierce just a moment ago at the Southern Heavenly Gate.
"Old pig, did you take advantage of the Supreme Elder Lord's absence and swipe his pills from the Douluo Palace or something? How did your strength increase so much all of a sudden? Come on, tell the truth, how many Golden Cores did you steal?"
"Go away, old pig's character has always been upright, why would I steal the Elder Lord's Golden Cores? But, heh, I just happened to come back from Chang'er, saw Douluo Palace unguarded, and accidentally raided the Elder's nest, heh heh heh."
"Idiot, I knew you glutton were always eyeing the Elder's Immortal Pills. Now you've finally gotten your wish, right? Come on, give Brother Monkey a few, that hit just now did hurt me a bit."
"Brother Monkey, you saying that is like looking down on old pig, isn't it? Although I'm usually gluttonous, the Elder's Immortal Pills are not just regular stuff, I have divided them up, five portions in total. Brother Sand, the white horse, Master, and the two of us—one for each. Here, this is yours, and yours has the most."
"Heh heh, that's more like it. You've improved. But Bajie, these Immortal Pills can't be eaten too much, you know. Back then, I stole several gourds of the Elder's Immortal Pills, and the potency was so strong, it almost caused an explosion within me. If the Supreme Elder Lord hadn't refined the potency while smelting me in the Eight Trigrams Furnace, I probably wouldn't have had my great upheaval in the Heavenly Palace afterward."
"Don't worry, Brother Monkey, I haven't eaten a single Immortal Pill. This strength of mine, it wasn't gained from eating Immortal Pills."
"Oh? So what exactly happened? Spit it out quickly. After that, let's storm the Lingxiao Palace together and raid the Jade Emperor's dragon throne."
"The thing is, it goes back to the old days. I was in love with Chang'er and violated the Heavenly laws. The Jade Emperor wanted to cast me into the cycle of Reincarnation to suffer the bond of a previous life's romance, but he was also worried that the Six Paths of Reincarnation wouldn't be able to cleanse my mana and memory, since I had been an immortal for over a hundred thousand years, and my powers had already merged thoroughly, not so easily washed away. So later, the Jade Emperor stripped me of my mana and sealed it within the osmanthus tree in The Moon Palace. You know the tree, right? The one made from the eyelashes of Pangu the Great God. And he commanded Wu Gang to chop at it day and night. Since my mana was inside the tree, each chop made my mana leak out to heal the cuts on the tree. Eventually, all of my mana would be gone, and I would lose my immortal status forever and become a mere mortal."
As he spoke, Zhu Bajie threw an Immortal Pill into his mouth and then sat down cross-legged to restore the mana he had just spent. His Wolf Fang Club also transformed back into a Nine-Toothed Rake. Sun Wukong did the same, sitting cross-legged to recover his mana. Zhu Bajie continued, "But there's a saying that goes, 'A blessing in disguise.' Although Wu Gang chops the tree every time, what he doesn't know is that the tree, being made from the eyelashes of Pangu, help me, as my true form is the primordial, mythical beast Thunder Horn Overlord Pig from ancient times, and I share a slight blood relation with Pangu the Great God. So instead of depleting my mana, the tree has actually been refining it. Over the years, the mana left in the tree has developed a trace of Pangu's essence. So after reclaiming my mana this time at The Moon Palace, I transformed back into Tianpeng Marshal, and even surpassed my past self by a lot. Now my mana has not yet fully integrated. If in the future I can refine all the mana from the osmanthus tree, my mana should be two to three times what it is now."
After Bajie finished speaking, Sun Wukong was so astonished that he couldn't close his mouth, with only one thought in his heart: The Jade Emperor is really in for it now!