Great Demon Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong truly underestimated this blood-colored forest. Although the little monkey had mentioned how easy it was to get lost in the forest, Sun Wukong believed that, with his strength as a Nine Patterns Supreme, there were very few places in the world that could trap him. Even if it was an extremely complex maze, he could smash his way out with brute force. However, the blood-colored forest and this blood-colored island truly exceeded Sun Wukong's expectations. Not only him, even if more Nine Patterns Supremes came, they would be trapped here. Moreover, without any accidents, the most likely outcome for those trapped would be to remain confined until death.

Although Sun Wukong was also trapped and had no way to instantly free himself, he would not truly die here. Setting aside the possibility of the little monkey returning to save him, the recovery of his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes had also given Sun Wukong the confidence to leave this place. Any place capable of trapping people could only do so in two ways. One way was through a genuine inescapable predicament, like a prison, or a place that could not be destroyed by brute force. Generally, once trapped in such a place, it would be very difficult to escape by oneself. The other way was through the use of various bizarre Illusory Realms and Illusion Arrays to achieve the purpose of trapping people. In such places, if one could not destroy the Formation, then it would be futile no matter how many people came.

Sun Wukong estimated that this island belonged to the second scenario. Sitting cross-legged, he familiarized himself with the Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, now fully recovered, and he felt greatly reassured. His Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes were so powerful, it was no wonder that someone had noticed and secretly acted against him. Although he hadn't yet figured out who was behind it, it was definitely related to that great individual. Feeling the powerful strength return to his eyes, Sun Wukong breathed a sigh of relief. "To scheme against me, you really have some skills. When I catch you, I'll make sure you also experience the pleasure of slowly becoming blind!" With hatred in his voice, Sun Wukong had already stood up and slowly started to operate his Spiritual Power, activating his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes.

This time, Sun Wukong once again experienced the peculiar sensation he felt the first time he activated the Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, as if his eyes could see through heaven and earth. Although it was not as exaggerated as that, it was almost the same. With one glance, Sun Wukong saw through the mysteries of the blood-colored island and forest. After observing closely for a moment, everything became clear in his heart. These fully-powered Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes were indeed incomparable to before, revealing far too many things, including the formation of the island, the truth about why one couldn't leave, and even some things Sun Wukong had not anticipated. "Heh heh, this little monkey also has his own agenda, but it seems he does not mean to harm me. It's better to pretend I'm unaware. Yet, I'm curious to see what this little monkey truly intends to do."

Having said that, Sun Wukong stood up, not bothering to discern any direction, and randomly chose one to start moving forward. Oddly enough, after randomly choosing a direction and walking for a little over a day, he managed to leave the blood-colored forest and reached the edge of the island. In front of him was the boundless Blood Sea, and behind him stood towering blood trees reaching up to the sky. Watching the surging waves in the Blood Sea, Sun Wukong smiled, then soared up and flew along the side of the island back to the starting point, where the little monkey was. The little monkey was meditating at the moment, and the Lingzhi Sun Wukong had given him was nowhere to be seen. Clearly, during these seven or eight days, the little monkey had finished eating the Lingzhi.

Seeing Sun Wukong flying over from a distance, the little monkey was somewhat surprised. When Sun Wukong landed beside him with a smiling face, the little monkey couldn't help but ask, "How did you get out? No, that's not right, I didn't notice you had any communication with it, tell me quickly!" A rare look of urgency appeared in the little monkey's eyes. Sun Wukong chuckled and replied, "It seems that you must know everything about this island, but fortunately, you had no intention of harming me. Although I didn't communicate with it, I discovered what was on its mind, which is how I knew how to leave!"

It turned out that, after Sun Wukong's Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes fully recovered, he noticed at first glance that the blood-colored island was actually a gigantic turtle, or more appropriately, an Island Turtle. The entire island was an Island Turtle, and the blood-colored forest grew on the turtle's shell. Over countless years, the Island Turtle absorbed the Vital Energy of the Blood Sea, causing a mutation into a Blood Island Turtle; the blood-colored forest on its back grew from its internal Vital Energy. This Blood Island Turtle was peculiar, existing in a gap between life and death where you could consider it as already dead or still alive—a very subtle state.

Sun Wukong guessed that the Island Turtle had encountered some sort of miraculous fortune at the brink of death to have transformed into its current state. After Sun Wukong identified the true nature of this island, he quickly sensed a very faint notion from this half-dead-and-not-dead Blood Island Turtle. This notion was so weak that Sun Wukong would have never discovered it without relying on his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes. Nonetheless, though faint, the resulting effect was immensely powerful. This notion could influence all people or other spiritually wise creatures within the blood-colored forest without leaving any traces.

Then the notion would bewilder and guide them, eventually creating a space resembling a large mental Illusory Realm. If someone who entered this blood-colored forest kept a mindset of moving straight ahead, nothing unusual would happen, and the person could walk from one end of the forest to the other and out. However, as soon as the mindset of moving straight ahead wavered, and one began moving left, right, or backward, that notion would start its effect, guiding and manipulating the person's thoughts, plunging them into an illusion from which they could never escape. Previously, Sun Wukong began to get lost only after deciding to exit the forest and choosing to retreat. When he entered, there had been no abnormalities along the way.

This notion created an Illusion Array that targeted the soul. In fact, as soon as Sun Wukong had decided to retreat, he had not really moved at all; everything he felt he walked through countless times using numerous methods to escape, all happened within Sun Wukong's soul. Therefore, whenever he thought about stopping, he would find himself in the same place as before, next to the large tree he had rested under. When he had the intention to destroy the blood-colored trees, he was only destroying the illusory trees in his consciousness, which was why the trees would immediately restore themselves after being destroyed.

This was a rather clever illusion technique; let alone Sun Wukong, even if it were Ye Xingchen, the Dream Kirin among the Nine Kirin, who came here, he would have been fooled. If it weren't for the Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes that saw through everything, then Sun Wukong would have had no choice but to wait for the little monkey to save him. "What's the story with this Island Turtle? I have to admit, this illusion technique is quite impressive; I almost couldn't make it out!" Sun Wukong didn't tell the little monkey everything about how he got out, only that he began to meditate and think after realizing he couldn't find his way out. It was then that he felt the intentions of the Island Turtle, an unyielding resolve to move forward and never retreat, so Sun Wukong tried following that thought and ended up finding his way out.

The little monkey looked at Sun Wukong with an expression that kept changing, and sighed lightly, "I myself almost spent half a year to uncover the secret here and reached an agreement with that Island Turtle before getting out immediately. It's unexpected that you took less than ten days. This Island Turtle, he said he is a soul from an ancient battle that didn't die, but beyond that, I don't know much. The memories of this Island Turtle seem to be quite chaotic." Sun Wukong nodded. Given the current state of the Island Turtle, the fact that its intentions could deeply influence Sun Wukong suggested that the Island Turtle at its prime must definitely have been a powerhouse at the Heavenly Venerate's Peak level and must have participated in the ancient battle. In the intentions emitted by the Island Turtle over a whole year, Sun Wukong could clearly sense the unyielding determination.

Even though he had figured out the situation of the island and successfully got away, in actuality, Sun Wukong still came out empty-handed. The Island Turtle was indeed strange, but it wasn't what he was looking for. Looking at the little monkey, a playful smile appeared on Sun Wukong's lips. After thinking it over, Sun Wukong decided not to ask. If he did, the little monkey might just flee immediately upon realizing it has been exposed, leaving Sun Wukong clueless again. Now with the little monkey guiding him, it was indeed much more convenient than doing it himself.

The little monkey didn't notice the change in Sun Wukong's expression. Since Sun Wukong had already discovered the secret of the island, the little monkey stopped hiding it and communicated with the Island Turtle in front of Sun Wukong, and their mode of communication was completely through thoughts. Normally, only someone whose cultivation was much higher than theirs could detect such a mode of communication, but Sun Wukong, who possessed the Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, immediately noticed it. The little monkey probably hadn't expected Sun Wukong to detect it, so it wasn't guarded. And this is what Sun Wukong heard.

"Old Turtle, he should be considered to have passed the test, right? If you think he has passed, then I'll take him to the next place. We don't have much time left," said the little monkey, and after a long while, a very old voice responded, of course also in the form of thoughts, "Passed, passed. I didn't expect to actually wait for this person, his eyes, they are very special. Little Spirit, take him along. There are still three more tests, I hope everything goes smoothly for him!" After the voice finished, Sun Wukong suddenly felt a tremor under his feet, as if the space around him was fluctuating.

However, the fluctuation was just momentary. After the fluctuation passed, Sun Wukong suddenly felt something was odd and hastily looked back, only to find that the cape he was wearing had changed. The originally scarlet cape turned black, with golden lines forming a pattern of stars on it.

"This is..."

"Just a treasure awarded to you, Fangxiang, this is definitely good stuff. Alright, let's go to the next strange place!" After saying that, the Saint Armor Turtle with a skeleton appearance reappeared, and the little monkey leapt up and jumped onto it before waving to Sun Wukong.

"Could it be, this is the reward for passing this test? Heh heh, how interesting!"(To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Starting Point (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, Monthly Passes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)