The vine I remembered hadn't appeared yet; perhaps because the discovery of the Water Curtain Cave Heaven had been a bit premature, that vine hadn't grown fully. Sun Wukong had no choice but to pull down a vine from the top of a cliff above the waterfall and led the monkeys into the Water Curtain Cave Heaven.
As agreed, the monkeys proclaimed Sun Wukong king and named him the Beautiful Monkey King. They celebrated grandly for three days and nights. On the morning of the fourth day, Sun Wukong gathered all the monkeys together.
"Although we now have this Cave Heaven and Blessed Land and are not subject to the oppression and constraints of birds and insects, a person who doesn't plan for the future will soon find trouble at hand. This saying applies to our Monkey Tribe as well. We monkeys have a limited lifespan; if we let time slip away and wait until old age weakens us, we cannot escape death in the end. When our souls return to the Netherworld, this Cave Heaven and Blessed Land will become the abode of others."
As Sun Wukong spoke, the group of monkeys immediately fell silent. The more they thought about it, the sadder they became until one by one, they began to cover their faces and cry. Only the old monkey, who had earlier tried to test Sun Wukong, had a glint of sharpness flash through his cloudy old eyes as he coughed lightly and stood up.
"Our king is indeed far-sighted, and we are not! Since the king has already thought of this, surely he must have a good strategy. Please, teach us how we can avoid the disasters of birth, old age, sickness, and death."
Sun Wukong gave the old monkey a glance, nodded slightly, and said aloud, "Everything in the world has its own lifespan, varying only in length. To extend our lifespan, we must take nature's spiritual essence and refine our bodies, constantly breaking through the limits of our own lives to reach higher levels of existence."
"In the world today, only Immortals, Buddhas, and Saints can transcend the limits of lifespan and are not governed by the King of Hell; they alone can achieve eternal youth. What we need to do now is to strive hard in our cultivation, absorb the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth to refine our bodies, increase our lifespan, and eventually transcend the mundane to become holy, ascend from the ordinary to become Immortals. Only then can we truly wander freely between heaven and earth!"
In his heart, Sun Wukong knew very well that eternal youth did not mean being indestructible. Even without falling to another's blade, there were still the Three Disasters and Nine Tribulations awaiting. However, for the Monkey Tribe, these things were far too distant. It was important first to reach the Earth Immortal Realm and achieve eternal youth. Anything more he said now would be incomprehensible to them since their realms were not high enough to understand.
After hearing Sun Wukong's words, the somber expressions on the monkeys' faces disappeared, and they became enthusiastic and excited again. The old monkey spoke once more, "But we do not understand the Method of Cultivation. Relying on our instincts to absorb the essence of the sun and moon is simply too slow! Do you have a better method, my king?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to talk about! As you know, I am a stone monkey born from heaven. At the time of my birth, I was already at the peak of Human Immortals; I just need to withstand the Doomsday Thunder Disaster to reach the Earth Immortal Realm and achieve eternal youth. I have a set of Dharma Decrees that everyone can cultivate with. Although it's not the most suitable, as long as you cultivate diligently, eternal youth is not just a dream. Now I ask you all, do you want it?"
Sun Wukong's lips curled into a meaningful smile. What he was going to teach the monkeys was the Eight-Nine Profound Skill he cultivated, but this Cultivation Technique had extremely high requirements for aptitude. Those with insufficient talent would find practicing it to be much less effective. Therefore, he simplified it so that it might not reach the full effect of the original Eight-Nine Profound Skill, but it would be much easier to achieve transcendence and ascend to immortality. As for the Realm they could reach, that would depend on each monkey's destiny.
After passing on the Oral Incantation of the Cultivation Technique to the monkeys, allowing them to start their slow cultivation, Sun Wukong wandered around inside the Water Curtain Cave Heaven by himself. The stone tables, stone chairs, stone ladles, and stone bowls all seemed to be left behind by someone else. The Water Curtain Cave Heaven certainly had its former master, though he didn't know who it might be. But one thing was sure - it must have been an Immortal or God, and not an ordinary one at that; otherwise, this place would have been occupied by others a long time ago.
Intuition told Sun Wukong that there must be some secret or treasure hidden within the Water Curtain Cave Heaven. He intended to inspect it thoroughly.
"Eh? This tree looks rather peculiar!"
Reaching the depths of the Water Curtain Cave Heaven, this area was different from the outside; it didn't have many exotic flowers and plants but boasted a large tree instead. Its canopy was immense, its branches reaching deeply into the stone walls on all sides.
However, these were not the main points. The crucial part was the scorching sensation Sun Wukong felt as his gaze swept over the giant tree. His eyes flickered with a hint of gold, and the whole tree seemed to become ethereal. Sun Wukong saw its veins, observed the process of the tree absorbing nutrients, and even more so, he saw a green stem about one-foot-long in the center of the tree with strands of Chaos Qi entwining around it.
There indeed was a treasure!
Sun Wukong was overjoyed deep inside and a touch of doubt flew through his mind. He could see through such thick bark and discern everything inside, clear and meticulous. His eyes seemed to be much more powerful than in his previous life!
Speaking of eyes, Lin Yi's memory made his Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze sound incredibly magical, yet only he knew the truth. So-called Fiery Eyes and Golden Gaze were nothing but diseased eyes blinded by furnace smoke. Otherwise, with his resistance to both water and fire, he wouldn't have suffered so much from Hong Hai'er's Samadhi True Fire during the Scripture Seeking journey.
Never mind the eyes for now; it was more important to retrieve the treasure first.
Leaping forward, Sun Wukong launched himself in front of the large tree and exerted his strength to punch it.
"Bang!"
A muffled echo sounded, yet the tree did not budge, and his fist throbbed with pain. Sun Wukong widened his eyes in disbelief; how could a tree be so hard?
By now Sun Wukong was at the peak of the Human Immortal Realm, and his Eight-Nine Profound Skill had achieved some minor successes. Even if he was not at the stage of having a Vajra Indestructible Body, a small hill would shatter under his full strength, so how could it be that he couldn't break through this unassuming tree?
Not to mention breaking it, not even the bark had been damaged. It was utterly inconceivable!
"My old Sun can't believe this evil!"
Sun Wukong gritted his teeth and spurred the divine fire within his body, a faint golden flame emerged from his fingertips, burning towards the trunk of the tree.
This was the True Solar Fire, second only in power to the Four Great Heavenly Fires, and on the same level as the Samadhi True Fire. Originally, Sun Wukong's Inner Fire would not have been able to reach such a level, but his Soul's True Spirit had spent so many years in the Heavenly Dao River, absorbing a large amount of Heavenly Dao Law Fragments, causing the True Fire within his body to directly evolve into True Solar Fire.
"Sizzle!"
Under the True Solar Fire, the tree trunk finally began to change, showing slight signs of scorching, but the speed was extremely slow. After Sun Wukong activated the True Solar Fire for a long time, he barely burned into the tree trunk less than half an inch deep; at this rate, it would take an eternity to break through the tree trunk and get to the green stem inside!
Sun Wukong stopped the activation of the True Solar Fire, only to discover that the slightly burnt part of the tree bark was actually healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Well, fire was completely useless, and even the True Solar Fire couldn't do anything to the trunk; unless he could possess the Four Great Heavenly Fires, maybe then there would be some use.
Having stood in front of the tree for three days and three nights, Sun Wukong tried all the tricks up his sleeve but still could not break through the trunk. He scratched his head in frustration. The treasure was right in front of his eyes yet untouchable, which was infuriating. The green stem was absolutely an incredible treasure; maybe the tree trunk was so sturdy because of the influence of the green stem!
"Damn it, what on earth is this green stem that makes this tree so hard?"
A golden light once again flickered in Sun Wukong's eyes. He could see all the veins of the big tree clearly, and it was indeed just an ordinary Banyan Tree. The reason it was so tough was because of the Chaos Qi released from the green stem flowing throughout the interior of the trunk...
Right, flowing!
"How did I not think of this earlier?"
Slapping his forehead, Sun Wukong transformed into a pangolin and burrowed into the ground, tunneling towards the roots of the Banyan Tree. Once at the root, he morphed into an extremely small drop of water and slipped through the tiny pores that absorbed water on the roots.
"It really is Chaos Qi!"
As soon as he entered the tree's veins, Sun Wukong felt the flow of Qi—it was indeed Chaos Qi!
Back in the Heavenly Dao River, besides the fragments of the Heavenly Dao Laws, he had also come across sparse free-floating Chaos Qi. Naturally, Sun Wukong knew this was good stuff; Chaos Qi could create or dissipate all things in the world. Only incredible treasures could produce Chaos Qi, and this time he had struck it rich, haha!
Following the tree's veins, Sun Wukong arrived at the center of the tree, where he returned to his form, albeit much smaller. There was a space about a meter square—the heart of the tree was hollow, and the green stem floated in the middle, with strands of Chaos Qi lingering around it.
Ordinary people would not be able to withstand contact with this kind of Chaos Qi; it would directly disintegrate them into part of the Chaos Qi. However, Sun Wukong's body shimmered with the same lingering light and was not affected. He understood clearly in his heart that this had a lot to do with his Soul's True Spirit spending so many years in the Heavenly Dao River.
"What in the world is this treasure?"
With a hint of excitement and curiousity, Sun Wukong drifted towards the green stem, reached out his palm, and gently touched the green stem.
The moment Sun Wukong's palm touched the green stem, a powerful suction force came from the green stem, firmly gripping Sun Wukong's palm. Suddenly, he felt his body's essence blood and even the origin power of his Soul's True Spirit rushing into the green stem, causing him to be greatly alarmed.
"What the hell is this thing?"
In shock, Sun Wukong tried to pull his palm away, only to find it seemed to have grown together with the green stem, steadfastly attached!
No way, could it be that he was going to be completely absorbed by this damned thing?
Sun Wukong panicked. He had finally had the chance to live again, and before he could achieve great things, was he to be unwittingly sapped dry by this unknown stem?