Heaven-Defying Rebel Sage
Chapter 313 - 297: The Laughing Man and the Well Frog

Chapter 313: Chapter 297: The Laughing Man and the Well Frog

But Wukong sat high above the thirty-three heavens, his hands forming a spell, driving the cycles of reincarnation.

He produced a crystal-clear teardrop and placed it in the center of the Reincarnation Disk, beginning to channel his Mana.

The Reincarnation Disk is the manifestation of reincarnation. Indeed, reincarnation is omnipresent; to master it, one must control this six-colored great disk!

"Hum, hum, hum!"

The Reincarnation Disk trembled as Wukong pulled twelve streams of turbid qi from within reincarnation.

Reincarnation is everywhere, founded on the Taoist Magic laws, all things in the world enter into reincarnation; only the Great Dao is eternal. It could be said that the Reincarnation Law is the foremost principle beneath the Great Dao! Wukong, having penetrated the true essence of reincarnation, could resurrect a person and bring them back to life, so long as a sliver of their True Spirit or breath still existed.

"With my current Mana, I could resurrect a Heavenly Dao Saint!" Wukong said slowly, "This tear is also key; without it here, I, like a skilled wife unable to cook without rice, would be unable to resurrect Xuan Ming as a Heavenly Dao Saint."

All was happening in the obscure predestined ways; life, after all, is composed of countless coincidences, which makes it colorful. Without one link, life might well undergo a tremendous change.

The twelve streams of turbid qi flew out from the great Reincarnation Disk, transformations of Pangu’s physical body, and the original forms of the Twelve Ancestral Witches.

Under the push of reincarnation, the turbid qi turned into Di Jiang, Houtu, Jiang Liang, Zhu Rong, Tian Wu, Shebishi, Ru Shou, Gonggong, Tikhe Yin, and Xuan Ming! Their eyes slightly closed, they sat cross-legged above the void, forming the Twelve Capital Heavens. Their formidable qi circulated amongst them.

Wukong then retrieved that teardrop, long-refined by the Reincarnation Disk, and injected it directly into the center of Xuan Ming’s brow.

"Boom!"

Xuan Ming’s Primordial Spirit Thoughts underwent earth-shattering changes. Originally a Primordial Golden Immortal in terms of Cultivation Level, but her aura was climbing unstoppably. A strand of Primordial Spirit escaped her body and flew up to the ninth heaven, straight into the firmament, taking refuge in the Heavenly Dao Laws! In other words, she had become the world’s first Heavenly Dao Saint!

By resurrecting the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Wukong felt his Mana grow slightly stronger. His grasp on the way of Reincarnation became more precise, and the Great Reincarnation Technique developed many marvelous uses.

The Twelve Ancestral Witches slowly descended from the clouds. Seeing Wukong, they couldn’t help but look surprised.

Only Xuan Ming’s gaze remained calm as water, unmoved, as if everything was within her calculations.

Wukong also looked only at Xuan Ming. The two had shared life and death, trusted each other with their lives, and their souls had merged into one. Now unable to part, even if their eyes were calm, they could no longer look away.

Gonggong laughed wickedly, "Brother-in-law, you have some skill! Bringing us back to life."

"Ah...!"

Then Gonggong screamed miserably, sent flying across the sky, a huge swelling forming on his head. Even the body of an Ancestral Witch swelled up hugely, which shows the severity of the blow! Thus, the other ten Ancestral Witches, without further ado, used their Escape Techniques and scattered like frightened birds and beasts.

Yet Xuan Ming pointed at Wukong and smiled, "You’re really mean, hitting Gonggong and making them think I was the one who did it."

Wukong shrugged and replied, "Who told you to always bully them? I’ve found Gonggong’s mouth to be too much, and I’ve long wanted to take action. Now that I can do it without anyone noticing, I naturally had to seize the chance to vent. Ha-ha!"

Xuan Ming said, "But now I’m the one who ends up taking the blame for it."

The two of them were just joking—these words should not be taken seriously; their affection was already tempered true as gold in the fire.

Xuan Ming sat down cross-legged and said, "I didn’t expect that you would truly become the Turning Wheel Sage King."

Wukong nodded slightly and replied, "In the Reincarnation World, I disbanded all my Cultivation Levels and started to cultivate anew..."

He then began to recount the events that had unfolded in the Reincarnation World and how he had become the Turning Wheel Sage King.

"Seven Treasures?"

Xuan Ming’s lips slightly curled into a graceful arc and remarked, "The wheel, the elephant, the horse, the woman... a harem of three thousand beauties, you certainly have boundless good fortune."

Wukong broke out in a cold sweat and said, "That was just in the Reincarnation World, where everything was illusory. It was all accidental, a series of fortunate mishaps, that led me to become the Turning Wheel Sage King."

Wukong felt that it wasn’t right to disclose everything about the Turning Wheel Sage King; it was better to keep some secrets—a man who doesn’t lie is just too naive.

Xuan Ming did not pursue the matter further. It was all said in jest, but because she was usually so serious, her jokes could startle one into a cold sweat.

"In this rebirth, I feel like I’ve gained some new insights. I’ve also comprehended the true essence of reincarnation, but alas, I can’t seem to take the final step. This part of the Three Thousand Great Paths, I don’t know if I will be able to travel smoothly," Xuan Ming said slowly.

"Hmm," Wukong nodded slightly, "the Three Thousand Great Paths are indeed key to becoming a Great Dao Sage. To grasp the Three Thousand Great Paths, one needs great fortune and perseverance."

However, Xuan Ming shook her head slightly, saying, "I’m too lazy to grasp the Three Thousand Great Paths and cultivate as a Great Dao Sage. Cultivation is truly exhausting; one cannot relax for even a moment. Once you relax, it’s like rowing against the current—you fall back rapidly. In my last life, I survived through blood and fire, but in this life, I want to seek plainness and simplicity. I’m tired and don’t wish to cultivate anymore."

Cultivation demands constant progression, a philosophy of endless self-strengthening and ambition.

Now, Xuan Ming felt that cultivation was too tiring—both physically and spiritually exhausting.

Love is indeed a strange emotion that can make one slack and content with the status quo.

Wukong nodded, gently stroking Xuan Ming’s hair, and said, "As you wish, let your heart decide. Now, I have the strength to protect you, so that you won’t get hurt." He suddenly recalled the old Taoist with the willow towering ninety thousand zhang above his head and said, "I’ve encountered a formidable figure, who I couldn’t defeat even with a surprise attack!"

Xuan Ming said, "Oh?"

Wukong said, "That person under the ninety thousand zhang willow, as he dropped three thousand willow silks, possessed boundless Mana, impervious to all spells! Moreover, he mastered the Great Dao Demon God’s profound Dao Techniques. When used, they are even more terrifying. He’s an extremely ancient being who refined three thousand fragmented worlds and performed the Great Destruction Technique, which is simply astonishing."

Xuan Ming’s eyebrows twitched as she said slowly, "Before Hong Jun, there was Heaven; yet Lu Ya, the Taoist Lord, was even earlier."

Wukong responded with a chuckle, "Lu Ya? That’s just a rumor, nothing more than fabrications by his disciples."

Xuan Ming asked, "Do you know how another saying goes?"

Wukong replied, "What saying?"

Xuan Ming said, "Before Hong Jun, there was Heaven; I came a hundred million years before Hong Jun!"

Upon hearing this, Wukong drew a sharp breath and said, "Who said that? So arrogant!"

Xuan Ming shook her head slightly, her eyebrows twitching as she murmured, "This is a phrase from Pangu’s memories, and I don’t know where it originated. Before Hong Jun there was heaven; I came a hundred million years before Hong Jun! Perhaps, the ’hundred million years’ is exaggerated poetic license, just a metaphor. But if counted carefully, it is close to a thousand Kalpas."

A thousand Kalpas!

One hundred ninety-two million years—a terrifying number! A character from a thousand Immeasurable Calamities ago, how formidable could they be?

Wukong, thinking of the old Taoist possessing the three thousand fragmented worlds, was even more shocked and slowly said, "Could this phrase actually have come from that old Taoist I encountered?"

Xuan Ming speculated, "Perhaps only he could be so presumptuously arrogant. There are endless realms in the Chaotic World. Even if there were other beings, they wouldn’t be so rare. Possibly, the old Taoist you spoke of really has survived for more than a hundred million years, through more than a thousand Kalpas. That’s why he’s so terrifying and even pondered methods to eliminate and devour Great Dao Sages. No wonder he could control Dao Techniques characteristic of Great Dao Demon Gods; he must have devoured many Demon Gods and Saints!"

The saying "Before Hong Jun, there was heaven; I came a hundred million years before Hong Jun" from Pangu’s memories is credible and not falsified arrogance like "Before Hong Jun there was heaven, and Lu Ya, the Taoist Lord, predates them both," which is nothing more than self-aggrandizement from his disciples, who also suffer from a narrow perspective. That’s probably why Hong Jun has always been displeased with Lu Ya, intending to use Wukong’s hand to eliminate him.

It all makes sense.

A chill ran down Wukong’s spine as he said, "It seems this person truly is a terrifying existence to have lived for a hundred million years. And his abilities, truly heaven-piercing and earth-shattering, are not boastful. If I hadn’t caught him off guard with an ambush at the start, injuring him, I might have been at a disadvantage in a direct confrontation! But isn’t it said that becoming a Great Dao Sage is the end of the path? What’s his purpose then?"

Xuan Ming glanced at Wukong and slowly said, "The reason a frog in a well cannot see the vast sky is that it is unaware of the world’s vastness outside. People ridicule the frog for its shortsightedness, yet humans believe the sky is a dome and the earth is square; immortals laugh at humans as they do at the frog, but is the world really domed and squared? Sages then laugh at the immortals for their limited vision, for beyond the heavens and earth lies another realm of Chaos. You may have reached the end of the path as a Great Dao Sage, or perhaps not... Do you understand what I mean?"

Wukong gazed into Xuan Ming’s eyes and slowly said, "What you mean is, there might be a broader heaven and earth beyond, and being a Great Dao Sage is not the end? Like people laughing at the frog, immortals laughing at people, and saints laughing at immortals? Perhaps that old Taoist has seen a more profound path?"

Under Wukong’s gaze, Xuan Ming nodded and explained, "There’s a saying: ’As big as your heart is, so is the size of your world.’ People can never truly comprehend the world’s vastness. Perhaps being a Great Dao Sage is the end, or maybe it’s not. It’s a profound topic that no one can answer. Perhaps that old Taoist has the answer, or maybe there are some clues with Hong Jun, the Taoist Patriarch."

"People laugh at the frog in the well, yet little do they realize, in the eyes of others, they are also frogs in a well."

To find out what happens next, please tune in to the following Chapter. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for your recommendation and monthly ticket. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)