Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me
Chapter 414: Three Nine Nine Chaos World Territory

Chapter 414: Three Nine Nine Chaos World Territory

Jiang Chen chuckled, and proceeded to exit Cangtian Temple.

Approaching Sun Wukong, Jiang Chen said, "Monkey, you claim to have made great progress recently, but I tend to disbelieve. If you want my acknowledgement, you first have to defeat me."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong didn’t fly into a rage. Instead, he grinned and responded, "We can spar, but you cannot use your eccentric magic treasures, otherwise you might capture me in an instant, and then how could we spar?"

Jiang Chen was taken aback upon hearing this, he hadn’t expected Sun Wukong to utter such a challenge. However, this proposition suited him perfectly.

Jiang Chen swished his sleeve, and from the bamboo forest at the foot of the mountain, he cut off a fresh bamboo stick. About five feet long and as thick as a thumb, he held it in his hand as a weapon and said to Sun Wukong:

"Alright, today you and I will compare our divine abilities, nothing more."

Seeing Jiang Chen using a bamboo stick as his weapon, Sun Wukong cast aside his golden cudgel, echoing Jiang Chen, he too selected a bamboo stick as his weapon, and said, "It’s fair only when both of us use bamboo, then there would be no excuses if defeated."

As he finished, Sun Wukong lifted his bamboo stick, showing off the Great Evolution Stick Technique and attacked Jiang Chen.

In Sun Wukong’s hands, the bamboo stick transformed abruptly, with one multiplying into two, two into four, and four into eight. In a blink of an eye, it went through infinite changes, filling up the entire space.

"Haha, good!"

Upon seeing this, Jiang Chen roared with laughter. Using the bamboo stick as a sword, he made a stab. It was perfectly aimed and skillfully neutralized all changes of the Great Evolution Stick Technique, compelling Sun Wukong to withdraw his stick.

This sword technique was taught to Jiang Chen by the Upper Qing Saints — intercepting all changes and permutations, all forms of life.

Thereafter, no matter how Sun Wukong manipulated his divine ability, Jiang Chen was always able to flawlessly negate it. This left Sun Wukong frustrated, as he couldn’t unleash his potential, ultimately leading to an increasingly stifled battle.

After a while, the bamboo stick in Sun Wukong’s hand suddenly dissolved. It couldn’t withstand Monkey’s growing strength and was crushed to dust by his divine power.

At this moment, Jiang Chen abruptly commanded, "Monkey, use your golden cudgel!"

As he spoke, mysterious forces around him converged into various mystical runes and branded onto his bamboo stick. Forming intricate arrays, they silently began to revolve.

Suddenly, the forces of heaven and earth in the surroundings, under the influence of the array, started integrating into the bamboo stick, attempting to alter its material.

Meanwhile, Sun Wukong, having no outlet for his pent-up annoyance, took out his golden cudgel upon Jiang Chen’s command and swung it down without a thought.

In reality, Jiang Chen’s bamboo stick was nothing more than a mortal object. Even if protected by the array, it could never go head-to-head with the golden cudgel.

Consequently, at his command, the array pattern on the bamboo stick changed instantaneously, rearranging and transforming into a Yin-Yang Mantra Formation. The Yin and Yang energies stirred, nullifying the force exerted on the golden cudgel.

Next, the array pattern on the bamboo stick transformed again, this time into a Five Elements Grand Array. Carrying the power of the Five Elements of heaven and earth, it forcefully struck the golden cudgel, sending it flying.

Just like this, Jiang Chen, wielding his bamboo stick, constantly changed the array and engaged Sun Wukong in a tit-for-tat battle.

Unfortunately, the bamboo stick remained a mortal object, bound by limits. After dozens of rounds, it was on the brink of collapse.

Jiang Chen, not wanting to drag the entanglement any further, and sensing the imminent crumble of the stick, forcefully exerted even hundreds of millions of uniformly distributed strength. He forcefully sent the golden cudgel flying out of Sun Wukong’s hold.

This was a skill Jiang Chen had mastered after his enlightenment: using heavy as light and light as heavy. It was exceptionally profound and magical, with the difference between heavy and light just a thought away.

Looking at the dumbfounded Sun Wukong, Jiang Chen said, "Monkey, this is called making the heavy as light as a feather. Only mastering the intricacies of one’s strength can lead to true enlightenment. Only when you reach this realm will you truly make progress."

"How can you call yourself powerful if you can’t even completely control your own strength?"

Having said that, Jiang Chen glanced at Sun Wukong, who was now lost in thought, and continued, "You ponder this at your leisure. When you’re done, take your monkey soldiers and head to Dongsheng Divine Continent to exterminate the demons."

"Don’t continue to idle your days away, find some tasks for yourself. If you stay idle for too long, some people might not be able to endure."

"I’ll have Yun Ting go with you. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask him."

Having said this, Jiang Chen turned around and left.

It was obvious that Sun Wukong’s idleness had started to bother the heavenly court.

To prevent others from using this as a pretext to criticize him, Jiang Chen decided to assign him some tasks. He will kill demons and monsters on the side, thereby accumulating some merits.

By doing this, even if others intend to criticize him, they would have no grounds.

As for the monkeys of Huaguo Mountain?

Seized by Jiang Chen’s light when he was reshaping Cang Mountain, Sun Wukong experienced a certain degree of merit which the monkeys of Huaguo Mountain also benefited from. They were crowned as immortal beasts by the Jade Emperor, henceforth were no longer classified as demons. They were protected by Heaven Court.

From then on, anyone hunting the monkeys of Huaguo Mountain would be violating the heavenly edict and committing a grave sin.

...

.....

Returning to the Cangtian Palace, Jiang Chen picked up the bamboo stick in his hand and began carefully examining it.

At this time, the bamboo stick was obviously different from before. Not only was it flowing with spiritual light, but its texture was also harder than metal and stone.

No one would be able to tell that just half a Shi Chen ago, it was merely an ordinary piece of bamboo. This bamboo has transcended the mundane and become a spiritual artifact.

This is the transmutation method, completely changing the essence of an object, transforming ordinary mortal objects into spiritual ones, making them extraordinary.

With a thought, Jiang Chen implemented the bamboo stick in his hand, using his magical power to mobilize the power of Heaven and Earth, and continued to inscribe array patterns on the bamboo stick.

He wanted to repeatedly temper this bamboo stick with the power of Heaven and Earth to change its essence and see to what extent it could grow.

During his battle with Sun Wukong, Jiang Chen suddenly realized that everything in this world, whether post-cultivation or Innate objects, have evolved from the Chaos Qi, the source is the same.

So, Jiang Chen thought if he could temper this bamboo stick to the extreme, could he trace it back to its source and transform it into an innate object?

This was a kind of experiment for Jiang Chen. If successful, he could understand the mystery of both Innate and post-cultivation stages, comprehend the fundamentals of Heaven and Earth transformation. In that case, he would not be far from acquiring Dao.

Cultivation is just like this, verifying one’s ideas one by one to find the most suitable path for oneself.

...

The essence of the bamboo stick was too low, Jiang Chen dared not use too much force to inscribe any awe-inspiring array, but instead started from the fundamental forces of Yin and Yang, Five Elements, Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind, gradually changing its nature, trying to transform it into an immortal seed, a spirit root.

This path had already reached the realm of creation.

The changes between Yin and Yang, the rotation of the Five Elements, all resulted in the force of creation. The surge between Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind showed more mysteries of all beings, re-enacting the universe.

With this assistance, the spiritual light around the bamboo stick became even denser. It once again showed signs of life, sprouting roots in the void and coming back to life.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen felt hopeful, continuing to adjust the array patterns, continuously evolving new arrays, and using the power of Heaven and Earth to temper the bamboo.

Then, in no time, a loud explosion was heard. The bamboo stick had exploded, turning into fragments and dust in the sky.

Jiang Chen had used too much force, causing the bamboo stick to be unable to bear the power of the array, and it was destroyed.

Waving his hand to clean up the residue caused by the explosion, Jiang Chen fell into deep thought. He had failed, but he was not upset. Because from the failure just now, he had a new idea.

He wanted to integrate the array patterns, rearrange and combine numerous small array patterns, making them interconnected to explode with greater power.

In simple terms, Jiang Chen wanted to change the current structure of the array patterns. The current patterns are formed by Magic Treasures. A number of different Magic Treasures set up according to the rules of Heaven and Earth can borrow the power of Heaven and Earth, forming a powerful formation.

Such formations are flawed; they must have a set of Magic Treasures to set up the array. When separated, they can only be regarded as a single Magic Treasure, and their power is very limited.

Jiang Chen’s idea was to replace these treasures that were used to set up the formation with array patterns. In this way, a complete large formation was no longer composed of Magic Treasures, but formed by various small formations.

A powerful formation that contains numerous small formations. Not only can they become separate formations, but also there are many more changes.

As soon as this idea came up, Jiang Chen felt many inspirations appearing in his mind, like a bursting Yellow River, unstoppable.

With a thought, Jiang Chen brought out the Demon Dragon Palace, sent it deep into the Nine Heavens, baptizing it with the power of Innate Thunder to cleanse the demonic qi in it and restore its original appearance.

Then, Jiang Chen fell into enlightenment. This time he was going to understand the principles of array evolution through enlightenment.

In a daze, Jiang Chen’s consciousness left his body and came to a mysterious and profound space.

This was a place full of chaos and mist. It did not have the passage of time or the concept of space. No matter how long Jiang Chen stayed here, it was always just a moment in the outside world.

This place was the Chaos World. It was the profound realm where Jiang Chen had metamorphosed into an Innate Divine Demon. It can be said that this was the place where the Innate Divine Demon, Yu Dou, was born.

Because of this, Jiang Chen connected with this place, every time he fell into a deep state of enlightenment, he could come here again.

Here, time was completely static. Jiang Chen did not have to worry that when he came out of retreat, thousands or tens of thousands of years would have passed, and his lifespan expended.

This was not impossible. After all, because of their short lifespan, ancient martial arts cultivators were not dare to immerse themselves in enlightenment after they cultivated to the realm of Innate Dao Monarch. They were afraid of expiring their lifespan and dying in enlightenment.

For a Dao Monarch realm expert, using thousands or tens of thousands of years to understand and comprehend Dao was normal. Sometimes, if they were enthusiastic, they might even directly go into retreat for a million years.

When they opened their eyes again, the rivers have changed, and the vicissitudes of life have taken place, which referred to the Innate Dao Monarch.

ps: There should be another Chapter in half an hour.