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What a strong personality!

Listening to the Great Sage’s brief description, Ye Zichen got a sense of what it must have been like.

After waking up and seeing his master, the Great Sage must have been stunned, only for his master to casually wave away his shocked greetings, instruct him to use the power hidden within his body well, then kick him off the mountain.

There was no need to wonder any further; that’s definitely how it was.

Ye Zichen couldn’t help but grimace. This Grandmaster Subhuti clearly valued the Great Sage, but his personality…

Well, it was hard to describe!

He glanced at the Great Sage, who was smiling bitterly as he recounted his tale. Ye Zichen knew the Great Sage hadn’t wanted to live. Clearly, he didn’t understand his master’s methods either!

Back when he’d learned from his master directly, he’d stolen secret arts in the dead of night.

After succeeding, his master kicked him out, then forbade him from calling him his disciple. When the Great Sage had difficulties, Grandmaster Subhuti was the first to step in and lend a hand, saving the Great Sage from the brink of death and even instilling him with enough power to break through directly into the ruler level.

He’d done all that, only to kick the Great Sage out again. The Great Sage still couldn’t call himself his master’s disciple in front of outsiders.

What was the point of that prohibition, anyway? Everyone knew the Great Sage was his disciple!

Ye Zichen couldn’t help but mutter to himself, but he couldn’t deny it….

It was difficult for ordinary people to fathom top experts’ thought processes.

This was also proof of Grandmaster Subhuti’s profound strength.

The energy he’d left inside the Great Sage’s body was enough for him to break through and become a ruler, at top speed, starting at the diviner level. To leave such a seed inside the Great Sage, just… just how strong was this Grandmaster Subhuti?

He had to be tougher than the three emperors, at least!

There was a heaven beyond the heavens! There was always someone stronger out there, no doubt!

On the surface, it seemed as if the three emperors were the strongest in the three realms, but who knew how many reclusive experts were hidden out there?

They just weren’t willing to intervene in petty squabbles, but that didn’t mean they were weaker than the emperors.

“This won’t be easy.” Ye Zichen sighed. He was thinking about how best to seize celestial fate.

He’d learned of Zhou Wu’s hidden, enormous faction from Xuan Ji, and knew that the other two emperors were at least roughly on par. If he wanted to seize celestial fate from them and transcend, it would be endlessly difficult.

Gu Li was watching and waiting, and then there were reclusive, absolute experts to deal with.

When the end of the Third Era truly arrived, they would undoubtedly jump out of the woodworks.

Ye Zichen was like a canoe floating on the surface of the sea. The waters might look turbulent, but storms and tidal waves were brewing in secret. A single slip-up could capsize his humble vessel. If that happened, he’d be eaten alive, without so much as leaving his bones behind. 

He didn’t know why, but even with the Outsiders’ support, Ye Zichen struggled to calm himself.

Just as Ye Zichen fell into silent contemplation, Yang Jian, who’d been agitated for a while, suddenly grew agitated.

After the Great Sage insulted him, he’d mulled things over for a while.

If he’d only gone on a rampage to release his hidden power, and he’d been rational that whole time, didn’t that mean the Great Sage had beaten him black and blue on purpose?

If the Great Sage had recognized him even in his madness, he….

“Blast it, you hit me on purpose, didn’t you?”  

The Great Sage glanced sideways at him, his expression cold. “That’s right, I did it on purpose. What of it?”

“I…. You….” He was furious! 

But he couldn’t win.

If he really went all out, Yang Jian didn’t think he was inferior by much.

But to really try and kill each other?

Although they fought all the time, they weren’t really enemies. They’d beat each other and hurl insults, but they didn’t hate each other, not really.

If he fought the monkey, he definitely wouldn’t attempt any fatal blows.

But if they were just sparring, there was really now way he could beat the current Great Sage.

He glared at the monkey for a while, then let out a long sigh. “You’ve truly let me down. I was worried you’d hurt yourself in your frenzy and was trying to protect you, but you had to take that blasted staff of yours and whack me. You gave me two black eyes! I look like a frickin’ panda! If you’d lost your wits at the time, I could let it go, but now you’re saying you were self-aware the whole time. How cruel…. Really, we’ve been bros all these years for nothing. Monkey, you’ve really disappointed me.” 

Yang Jian covered his face and seemed on the verge of breaking off their friendship.

If other people saw this, they might have been moved. The Great Sage, however, merely crossed his arms and took in Yang Jian’s deeply wounded expressions. “Lies, and more lies…”

“....” 

“Surely you of all people know why I beat you up? Think about it. Why did the stones, at first, avoid you, then suddenly start hitting you right in the face?” asked the Great Sage.

“....”

“The first stone was a warning, but you didn’t heed it. You even tried to come attack me. Was I supposed to just let you be?”

“You heard me?” Yang Jian’s eyes widened and he cried out on the brink of despair.

“Hah….”

The Great Sage merely laughed coldly, then let him wallow in despair.

“Then I wasn’t wrong, was I?” Yang Jian still tried to argue. “When you left Zixia’s place, you were fine, then all of a sudden, you started attacking at random. Of course I suspected you’d been cuck-....!”  

Wham!

Before he could finish his sentence, the Great Sage smacked him right in the face, pushing him right into the earth.

Ye Zichen and Pu Jingwan watched this play out in silence. From time to time, they couldn’t help but shake their heads. This was no longer merely “having a dirty mouth.” The Great Sage had already clearly expressed his displeasure at hearing those words, but Yang Jian still had the gall to bring it up again? Was there something wrong with his brain? 

“Your friend’s brain….” she pointed, drawing a circle in the air. 

Ye Zichen sighed and shook his head. “Don’t worry about him.”

“How did he live this long?” asked Pu Jingwan.

“Lucky, I guess.” Ye Zichen sighed.

This time, instead of putting the Ruyi Jingu Bang away, the Great Sage thickened it and stuck it into the earth, pressing Yang Jian into the dirt and preventing him from standing up.

A long time passed, but Yang Jian didn’t so much as twitch. Ye Zichen couldn’t help but worry. “How about you let him up? Don’t kill him.”  

“It would be better if he died.” The Great Sage glanced at him, then spat. Hearing this, however, only made Ye Zichen relax.

Yang Jian wasn’t going to die today. In that case, there wasn’t much left for Ye Zichen to worry about. There was clearly something wrong with Yang Jian’s brain, so taking a beating wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It might even wake him up.

Ye Zichen no longer tried pleading for mercy on Yang Jian’s behalf. Instead, he asked, “Then, about Zixia….”

He’d been avoiding this topic all along for fear of bringing up the Great Sage’s emotional wounds and causing him to lose control. Still, after thinking it over, he decided he’d still best ask. After all, he was currently working with the Outside, and was their Special Emissary. Who knew? He might even be able to help the Great Sage.

Undisguised bitterness surfaced on the Great Sage’s face. He forced it back down and smiled, but his lips quivered. Finally, he sighed, and gazed into the distant, western sky. “We’re…. It’s all over between us….”