Journey to the West: Black Six Ears

The Six Ding Divine Fire exploded inside Shi Ji's body.

This time, unlike the Six Ding Divine Fire just now, it can't sacrifice its roots for safety.

Sun Qiong could imagine that the Six Ding Divine Fire could definitely burn Shi Ji to ashes.

However, when the smoke and dust cleared, Sun Qiong saw that Shiji was still standing there.

Shi Ji's body was covered in burns, but the Six Ding Divine Fire did not burn her as he had expected.

"He's still alive?"

Sun Qiong raised an eyebrow in surprise.

How could Shi Ji withstand the Six Ding Divine Fire?

No, absolutely not!

The Six Ding Divine Fire, used by Laozi to refine elixirs, is something even a monkey could refine.

It's impossible for Shiji to be more sturdy than Shihou.

So Sun Qiong immediately realized something was wrong.

From the very beginning, Shi Ji had a large amount of shell on her body.

These outer shells absorbed all the attacks.

To kill this creature, the Six Ding Divine Fire should ideally work within its body.

"So what if it's the Six Ding Divine Fire? It can't kill me!"

Shi Ji laughed loudly and opened her mouth to bite Sun Qiong.

Sun Qiong's eyes flickered slightly, then she stood still.

Sun Qiong now has two choices.

First, retreat immediately to avoid being swallowed by the rock.

But this brought them back to their original state, and they continued to fight against Shi Ji.

Only when the outer shell of the rock is completely peeled off can we hunt its true form.

Secondly, they could turn the tables and let Shi Ji swallow him, then sabotage him from the inside.

If the second method is used, there is a chance to hunt down Shi Ji.

The second option is naturally very dangerous.

But Sun Qiong made her decision in an instant.

He did not retreat. He held the iron rod horizontally in front of him and plunged it into Shi Ji's cracked body.

Boom!

Shi Ji's body closed up.

The world in Sun Qiong's eyes instantly plunged into darkness.

Unlike the previous dark space, this time it was true darkness.

If one uses their supernatural ability of divine vision, they can see what's inside.

Stones, stones are everywhere you look.

There was no light inside Shi Ji's body, only a dense, suffocating spiritual energy.

This spiritual energy was not ordinary spiritual energy, but spiritual energy that had been absorbed by Shi Ji, carrying a strong bloody smell.

As soon as Sun Qiong entered, he felt the spiritual energy pressing down from all directions, and the stone walls on both sides squeezed in as if to crush him into a meat patty and assimilate his spiritual energy.

Sun Qiong possessed the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts, and a protective golden light formed a thin layer of shield on her body's surface, temporarily isolating her from the erosion of these spiritual energies.

But if she stays inside for too long, the spiritual energy in Sun Qiong's body will eventually be completely depleted.

After all, the spiritual energy in this place belongs to Shi Ji, and he cannot absorb it. If he tries to absorb it by force, he will only suffer a qi deviation due to the bloody spiritual energy.

In this place, Sun Qiong's spiritual power was constantly being depleted and could not be restored.

However, he doesn't plan to stay here.

"drink!"

Sun Qiong shouted "Big!" at the Iron Pole Soldier in his hand.

The next moment, the Iron Pole Soldiers moved and charged to both sides.

In the blink of an eye, the iron bar supported the stones on both sides.

"What is it?"

Sun Qiong looked up, and Shi Ji's voice came from above her.

Shi Ji's voice carried a hint of surprise.

It hadn't expected that the iron rod in Sun Qiong's hand would have such power, that even its own strength couldn't withstand such resistance.

Sun Qiong braced it, and with the iron bar in hand, she didn't have to worry about it pressing down from both sides.

"hateful!"

Shi Ji was shocked, never expecting Sun Qiong to have such a way of fighting back.

It roared angrily and changed its attack to a pincer movement from above and below.

Anyway, Sun Qiong is inside its body, so it can do whatever it wants.

Sun Qiong did not rush to use the Six Ding Divine Fire.

He sensed the direction of the spiritual energy flow and walked deeper into the area.

Shi Ji seemed to realize something, and his reaction confirmed Sun Qiong's judgment.

It began to squeeze Sun Qiong more violently, trying to stop him from moving in that direction.

But having already discovered something, Sun Qiong quickened her pace.

He no longer carefully avoided the erosion of spiritual energy, but instead directly used his protective golden light to force his way through.

The spiritual energy exploded on the surface of her body, making a hissing sound. The protective golden light was constantly being consumed, but Sun Qiong didn't care.

By pursuing spiritual power, Sun Qiong traversed Shi Ji's body for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

Soon, Sun Qiong was found.

"Demon Core".

Looking at the fist-sized rock not far away, Sun Qiong took a deep breath.

Demon cores are not something that just any monster can cultivate.

The existence of this thing indicates that it represents at least the realm of a Golden Immortal, or even a Taiyi Golden Immortal!

"Is this the level you've reached?"

Sun Qiong took a deep breath; Shi Ji's demon core was a stone.

A stone that looks exactly like the black stone on the ground.

However, this demon core has various patterns similar to sealing runes.

These patterns are slowly glowing, and with each glow, a portion of the surrounding spiritual energy is absorbed by the stone.

"Has this completed a full cycle?"

Sun Qiong could feel that a complete cycle had been traversed on the stone.

It devours and digests spiritual energy in its own way.

These crimson spiritual energies were filled with a nauseating, fishy stench.

Sun Qiong took a deep breath, raised the Iron Pole Soldier in her hand, and aimed it at the black stone.

Even if Shi Ji doesn't die from this blow, she will be severely injured.

But just as he raised the iron bar, that aged voice rang out from all around him:

"Little monkey, do you think you can get out of here by killing me?"

Sun Qiong paused slightly, but did not stop.

How could Sun Qiong let him off the hook just because of what he said?

"Without my suppression, this blessed land will collapse immediately. You are a True Immortal, but you cannot withstand the power of spatial collapse."

A slight glint appeared in Sun Qiong's eyes.

He was indeed worried about this, but Sun Qiong did not think that Shi Ji could dominate this sealed world.

"You are not in control of this world."

"You're right. This blessed land was meant to seal me away, but I've been sealed away for tens of thousands of years. At least half of this space has already assimilated with me. Once I die, that half of the space will collapse."

Sun Qiong's iron rod was suspended in mid-air. He really hadn't considered that.

The reason this space has been able to exist is largely to seal Shiji.

There was nothing wrong with it originally, but while its core was devouring spiritual energy, it was also drawing power from this space.

If the core is destroyed, space will become unbalanced.

Even if he kills Shi Ji, he himself will likely be buried in the collapsed space.

"What do you want?"

Sun Qiong asked.

"Let me out," Shi Ji couldn't help but say. "Let me leave this hellhole, and I'll do three things for you."

Sun Qiong scoffed.

This stone reeks of blood; it's clearly not a good thing.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" he sneered. "If I let you out, the first person you'll kill will be me once you regain your strength."

"I swear to God."

"Swear to the heavens?" Sun Qiong's smile grew even colder. "Do you think I don't know what you are? Lady Shiji?"

Shi Ji fell silent.

Sun Qiong didn't intend to waste any more words on it and directly struck at Shi Ji Niangniang's demon core with her staff.

"stop!"

The club slammed into the demon core, and in an instant, the demon core was smashed into dust by the iron club and disappeared into the air.

At the same time, Lady Shiji's body was also collapsing.

"You're a lunatic!"

One by one, the roots lost their strength and drooped to the ground, like withered leaves.

The dense spiritual energy began to dissipate, returning to ordinary spiritual energy.

Sun Qiong broke free from her collapsed body and stood on the cave floor.

Shi Ji's body was like a collapsing mountain, emitting a deafening roar.

Everything was collapsing, but Sun Qiong noticed a detail: Shi Ji's body was collapsing, but the blessed land had not yet collapsed.

At the same time, the fragments of documents on the ground began to recombine, and the runes shone even brighter.

However, because these documents were broken in half, the flow of spiritual energy was not smooth.

It's like a rusted gear; something always goes wrong somewhere.

Unlike the gourd in Sun Qiong's hand, this blessed land seems to be able to achieve the circulation of spiritual energy.

Such a thing naturally gave rise to some thoughts in Sun Qiong's mind.

If we could also put this blessed land into the gourd, wouldn't Sun Qiong's desired internal circulation blessed land be complete?

Sun Qiong squatted in front of the runes, watching the characters gradually brighten and then fade away, and suddenly some thoughts came to her mind.

He still couldn't understand the runes on them, but after killing Shi Ji, he could feel the power contained within them.

It is a force of order, a manifestation of the laws of heaven and earth within this blessed land.

Sun Qiong pondered for a moment, then reached out and gently touched the document sphere.

The moment their fingertips touched, the document sphere suddenly dispersed, turning into countless points of light that merged into his divine soul.

Sun Qiong's body trembled.

All those runes, those words, those patterns flooded into his mind at that moment.

It's not about learning or memorizing, but about making it instinctive.

It's as if he was born with this kind of knowledge, born with the ability to do it.

These runes record the information about the birth of this space, the arrangement and maintenance of the seal, and the tens of thousands of years that Shiji was imprisoned.

These are all invaluable treasures to Sun Qiong.

"I see."

Sun Qiong looked at the space in front of her.

Just as Shi Ji said, the space was collapsing when Sun Qiong killed it.

Even though Sun Qiong had mastered these texts, she still couldn't stabilize the space.

"The only option is to cut it."

Sun Qiong took a deep breath and made a decision.

The collapse of this space is inevitable, and there is only one way for Sun Qiong to survive.

Combine the two blessed lands into one!

Sun Qiong took out the gourd.

This gourd contains its own hidden paradise.

However, compared to this blessed land that can contain a whole forest, Sun Qiong's place is nothing.

Sun Qiong removed the gourd stopper and held the gourd up to the sky.

"Enter!"

With a command given.

Sun Qiong immediately noticed that the runes not far away seemed to come alive and were flying towards the gourd.

Although a piece of these runes was broken off, the gourd itself didn't explode, and it only consumed half of this space.

So the pressure isn't too great.

Sun Qiong controlled the rune, making it climb up the gourd little by little.

As the runes fully adhered to the gourd, a faint blue light emanated from its surface. The runes, like vines, coiled and spread, gradually outlining a complete array.

Sweat beaded on Sun Qiong's forehead, her fingertips trembled slightly but she did not relax, guiding the last remaining talisman into the array's core.

With a muffled boom, the entire world suddenly contracted, transforming into a stream of light that disappeared into the depths of the gourd.

The gourd trembled slightly a few times before falling silent, and a hazy tree shadow appeared on its surface, a manifestation of the initial fusion of two blessed lands.

Sun Qiong looked at the gourd emitting blue light in her hand, and the tremors in the surrounding space suddenly intensified, with a cracking sound like breaking glass that was extremely piercing.

Now, the entire space is about to collapse.

But Sun Qiong simply pointed the bottle opening towards herself and said, "Stop."

The next moment, Sun Qiong was sucked into the gourd.

The surrounding space collapsed rapidly, and the world was like glass shattered by an external force, with countless cracks appearing.

As Shi Ji said, once space begins to collapse, no one knows what will happen.

But the gourd hangs steadily in mid-air, looking like a small boat on the sea, but in reality it is a stabilizing force.

However, the collapse outside was no longer relevant to Sun Qiong at this moment.

Now, he's starting to explore the new world inside the gourd.

This is indeed a new world; this place has now become a forest.

Moreover, because the remains of the Golden-Winged Roc are here, the spiritual energy inside the gourd is even more abundant.

After entering the gourd, these trees became part of the spiritual energy once again.

They absorb spiritual energy and release spiritual energy, allowing the gourd to complete its cycle.

Now, Sun Qiong was finally able to plant the thousand-year-old peach and laurel branches.

However, Sun Qiong wasn't thinking about that right now.

He's concerned about something else now.

After experiencing these things, he could feel some changes in his body.

"Do I also have runes on me?"

Sun Qiong looked at her palm.

Those runes had just climbed up the gourd little by little through his fingers.

But Sun Qiong never expected that this thing would actually stay on her body.

Now, all of this information has become part of Sun Qiong's life.

Nourished by these runes, his soul began a qualitative leap.

The bottleneck in refining the spirit has loosened.

Sun Qiong closed her eyes and felt the changes within her body.

The spiritual energy that was originally unable to enter the soul began to merge as the soul changed.

This also means.

Divine consciousness began to form.

This feeling is wonderful.

Sun Qiong's feeling about this is probably the same as if she had an extra eye.

Moreover, this eye is not limited by space and can observe everything around it in a panoramic view.

Although the current area is still very small, only about 10 feet around the body.

But as her divine consciousness gradually matured, Sun Qiong felt her body become lighter.

This feeling is very strange.

Unlike the Heavenly Eye, which requires mana to activate, divine sense is more passive, and it's a passive ability that doesn't consume mana.

This thing is truly amazing; no wonder those powerful beings can see the changes around them without even opening their eyes.

Although Sun Qiong's divine sense was only a few feet long, he was currently only at the True Immortal realm. Having divine sense at this time was like having an extra trump card for him.

However, he was only one step away from breaking through to the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm.

Sun Qiong still felt a little regretful, so she took a deep breath and suppressed her excitement.

This step cannot be rushed.

Since we already have that precious pearl, the secret to breaking through should lie within it.

This gourd is absolutely safe.

So Sun Qiong took out the pearl without hesitation and placed it in her palm.

This pearl looks like a simple water-repelling pearl, and there's nothing particularly special about it.

But Sun Qiong always felt that something was wrong with this thing; it didn't seem like an ordinary water-repelling bead.

As Sun Qiong cultivated his divine sense, the true appearance of the water-repelling pearl began to be revealed to him.

In the world of divine consciousness, Sun Qiong could sense the immense spiritual power emanating from the water-repelling pearl.

This spiritual energy was like the sun in the sky, so dazzling that it made people involuntarily close their eyes.

Ordinary water-repellent beads do not have this effect.

Sun Qiong then realized.

This is not a water-repelling bead at all!

The gold thread here is not something simple either.

"It was the first ray of sunlight that cut through day and night when the world was in chaos! It was the most original and purest form of the laws of heaven and earth."

Sun Qiong couldn't help but grin.

So that's what it is. No wonder it could suppress Shi Ji, this ancient demon.

Looking at Baozhu, Sun Qiong could not suppress the excitement in her heart.

Becoming a Taiyi Golden Immortal is a breakthrough to a higher realm, not something that can be achieved simply by absorbing energy.

Under normal circumstances, he would need a catalyst, a sudden realization, or a profound understanding of the laws of nature.

Unless this energy is beyond imagination.

And this gold thread is just such a thing.

Sun Qiong took a deep breath and let her spiritual power penetrate into the water-repelling pearl.

Bang!

However, the moment his spiritual power and divine sense touched the golden thread, it was as if he had been hit hard by a hammer, and instantly retreated back into his mind.

The backlash from the gold thread almost made him fall to the ground.

"What happened?"

Sun Qiong paused for a moment, then tried again, unwilling to give up.

However, the result was still the same.

This golden thread is the first ray of sunlight at sunrise, and no one is allowed to touch it.

"Touching is not allowed, so what should we do?"

Seeing a treasure mountain so close yet being unable to go there is the most despairing thing.

After several attempts, Sun Qiong, not knowing how much time had passed, finally put down the pearl with a sigh of resignation.

It seems he has no other choice.

But if we can find someone else to help.

After thinking it over, Sun Qiong decided on someone.

Without hesitation, he left the gourd.

At this moment, the Blue Hole space had collapsed, and as soon as he left the gourd, he returned to the depths of the East China Sea.

Ao Guang was still waiting outside. When he saw Sun Qiong come out, a look of relief appeared on his face.

"Great Sage, you're finally out! What happened inside? Little Dragon sensed a terrifying aura from outside."

Sun Qiong glanced at Ao Guang, thinking that this guy would only hide and wouldn't dare to approach.

He waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, just a little monster."

Ao Guang's lips twitched.

"A little monster? That aura was so powerful that even he, the Dragon King, felt terrified, yet this monkey called it a little monster?"

But he didn't dare ask any more questions.

A monkey that can defeat that kind of monster is itself a monster.

"Great Sage, has that thing... been dealt with?"

Sun Qiong nodded.

He destroyed the core of Shiji, and the seal fell into Sun Qiong's hands. Blue Hole should disappear soon.

Even a demon like Shiji, a top-tier evil spirit, could not survive.

Sun Qiong touched the bag in her arms, a thoughtful look flashing in her eyes.

Laozi probably had some ulterior motive in sending him here.

As for advancing to the Golden Immortal realm, that will take time.

Sun Qiong raised her head and looked at Ao Guang:

"Old Dragon King, I've disturbed you for many days, it's time for me, Old Sun, to take my leave."

Ao Guang was taken aback, thinking that the damned monkey had finally left, but he still hurriedly asked:

"Is the Great Sage returning to the pilgrimage team?"

Sun Qiong did not answer the question.

He wasn't going to the pilgrimage team, but to another place.

A place where he can refine the precious pearl and attempt to become a Taiyi Golden Immortal.

"Once this matter is settled, you don't need to worry about the rest. Just pretend nothing happened."

After Sun Qiong finished speaking, her body transformed into a golden light, bursting out of the sea and soaring into the sky.

Ao Guang stood there, gazing in the direction where the golden light had disappeared, without saying a word.

He always felt that the monkey had changed after it came out of that blue hole.

It seems like her personality has changed somewhat.

Especially the monkey's eyes; those eyes were like knives.

"Could it be that this monkey has realized he's been manipulated by the Heavenly Court and Mount Ling all along?"