The Bodhi tree swayed, rustling with a sound like the turning of pages. They had moved to a different location. Everyone sat cross-legged beneath the precious tree — Pang Bo, Long Ma, Ji Haoyue, and the others focused on healing their wounds.

Ye Fan also stood motionless beneath the tree, savoring everything that had just occurred, consolidating the fruits of his Dao.

The Bodhi tree — its roots were like dragons, driven deep into the earth below. Every leaf on the full-grown tree rustled and rang, as if great bells and ancient chimes were resounding. Ye Fan, Ji Ziyue, Little Dot, and the others felt their hearts grow tranquil. Those who were comprehending the Dao comprehended it; those who were healing healed. Spirit, life force, and mind were unified, drawing close to nature.

None knew how long had passed. The Bodhi tree was like a scripture turning its pages, transmitting the sound of chanted sutras, as one extraordinary vision after another appeared — leaving everyone astonished and bewildered.

Looking carefully, one could discern that the sequence began from the more recent past, gradually reaching further and further back into the ancient ages — presenting one silhouette after another, each with a distinctly different bearing and presence.

Ji Haoyue, Long Ma, the Ancient Golden Roc, and the others successively awakened, gazing at all of this in a daze.

“Can it be… Shakyamuni?!” Pang Bo cried out in surprise. The first figure to appear closely resembled the Buddhist statues enshrined in the temples back on Earth. This sent a wave of startled alarm through everyone — was this a brand imprinted by a past supreme figure? Was there some hidden significance? Was there perhaps some inexplicable danger lurking within?

The vision flickered and shifted, and another indistinct Buddhist form appeared — ancient and time-worn, like a span of years, like a stretch of history, flowing here from out of the distant past.

“This is… Amitabha Buddha!” Ji Ziyue and her older brother changed color simultaneously. The second figure to appear bore a close resemblance to the Buddhist statues enshrined in the Great Thunder Sound Temple of the Western Desert — both were indistinct.

Two Buddhas appearing in succession left the assembled people with a feeling of sudden illumination — as if they were on the verge of a spontaneous awakening, gaining enlightenment through an extraordinary channel, poised to reach a state of transcendence beyond the ordinary.

Ye Fan was the first to snap awake. He scanned the expressions of everyone present and found no one had been led astray — it was simply a kind of spiritual impression recorded by the Dao-comprehending tree, giving rise to a feeling of comprehension. With that, he set his mind at ease.

It was connected to the Buddhas, but there was no need to reject it. The world contained ten thousand methods — one could observe them all to one’s heart’s content. But one did not necessarily have to walk the same path as another.

A great and magnanimous aura arose spontaneously, as if the two Buddhas of former days were expounding the Dao — broad and generous, great in compassion and mercy, discerning good from evil, with an intent of awakening to true reality.

The others also roused themselves, silently savoring and cross-referencing what they perceived, gaining enlightenment in their own laws and Dao.

Boom! Rumble! Suddenly, the two Buddhas blazed with brilliant radiance. One after another, they paced four-square beneath the Bodhi tree — forty-nine steps in total, coming to a halt. Strange flowers followed in their wake, emanating extraordinary radiance.

“The Bodhi tree is remarkable indeed — it has recorded a great realm of the Buddhist path, supremely exalted. For those of the Buddhist faith, this may well be an extraordinary opportunity,” Ji Haoyue remarked softly with a sigh.

Suddenly, every leaf on the tree stirred, and another vision emerged. This was an aged figure with white hair and beard, a broad and prominent forehead, eyes full of wisdom. One look told you this was a person of immense ancient wisdom — an aura of serene, effortless non-action about him.

And yet, an even older atmosphere came sweeping toward them — as if it spanned the entire history of humanity, impossibly distant.

“Somehow, I feel as though this image is coming from the very ends of heaven and earth,” someone said.

“Perhaps this is someone from the mythological era — after all, the Bodhi tree once belonged to different heavenly revered ones and great emperors,” Pang Bo and Long Ma discussed between themselves.

This person was unmistakably of immeasurable antiquity. Ages had accumulated upon him. It was as if a fog from the distant past had parted, and he had appeared here through it.

In truth, that was exactly so. From Shakyamuni, to Amitabha Buddha, and then to this person — this was a process moving in reverse along the river of time, progressing step by step further backward.

“Why does this seem somehow familiar?” Ji Ziyue said, puzzled.

At these words, Ji Haoyue’s body gave a start, as if something had come to mind. An expression of utter disbelief crossed his face, and he looked toward his younger sister.

“Brother Haoyue — have you noticed something?” Pang Bo pressed him.

Beside them, Ji Ziyue also gave a start. Brilliant light shot from her beautiful eyes as she said: “It is him. He came to our Ji Family — our family’s old ancestors and the rest all saw him.”

“What?! You have seen this person before — he visited your Ji Family?” Even Ye Fan was stunned.

Ji Ziyue nodded. Her bright eyes and white teeth framed an expression of complete amazement. “That’s right. More than two thousand years ago, an old man riding a bull came to visit our family. Some of the elder members of our clan saw him. A portrait was drawn of him and kept in our scripture pavilion. My older brother and I happened to come across it.”

Laozi!

Long ago, this man of immense ancient wisdom had crossed the starry sky, descended to the Northern Dipper, and once visited the Ji Family. Ye Fan had heard the two siblings speak of this before.

“How can this be — Laozi… an ancient man from the mythological era… who has never died?!” Pang Bo felt his mind going to pieces. The news was simply too shocking.

Ye Fan stood in a daze. His mind turned to certain legends from the other shore of the starry sky. He stared off into the distance, thinking carefully — perhaps this could explain a few things.

According to tradition, a woman of the Li family was washing clothes by the riverside at the village entrance when she found a yellow plum, and from it conceived a child. But from the very moment of birth, the child had white brows and white hair, along with a full fluffy white beard — and so was given the name Laozi.

To later generations, this was obviously absurd — dismissed as utter nonsense, something beyond all reason. But looking at it now, there was perhaps a hidden truth within.

“Can one actually believe such a thing? It was surely invented to mythologize an ancient figure,” Ji Haoyue frowned.

“No — this is a folk legend from our homeland. Ye Fan, have you thought of something?” Pang Bo asked.

Ye Fan nodded and shared some of his speculations.

According to the historical records, Laozi was born in Ku County of the state of Chu — what is now Luyi County. More than two thousand five hundred years ago, during the Spring and Autumn period, the land of Chu suffered mountain floods and great waters many times over.

When the floods were most severe in the Chu lands, mountains collapsed and the earth split open. One could find bone scrolls, stone steles, and even exposed skeletal remains, carried out by the waters and adrift on the current.

“How could any person be born already appearing like an old man — with white hair and white beard…?”

Ye Fan’s speculation was this: Laozi was an ancient revered one who had formed a reincarnation seal within his body. When the mountain floods erupted, he was swept out from within a mountain’s belly by the great waters. As the floods subsided and he drifted downstream, he was found by the woman of the Li family, who pulled him from the water.

“Clearly, he was someone of enormous background — a heavenly revered one from the mythological era, with a reincarnation seal inside his body. In that former life, his primordial spirit had already died — but his physical body remained undecaying. Having given rise to new spiritual consciousness, he became Laozi of this lifetime.”

Pang Bo listened with his jaw hanging open, then sighed: “Ye Fan, this is a thing that could only be said on this side of the starry sky. If you said it back on Earth, people would tear you apart with their words.”

“I think it’s entirely possible,” Long Ma said, completely unconcerned with anything else. He believed that what people called Laozi was simply a heavenly revered one from the mythological era, who had seen the light of day again when the mountain floods burst forth.

The Bodhi tree stood fresh and jade-green. Beneath it, they comprehended the Dao, discussed the methods, pondered the lineages of ancient figures, and deliberated on the possibility of eternal life — all of them moved to many reflections.

“Ye Fan—!”

Suddenly, a great shout came from outside — a roar shaking the heavens, like a heavenly god bellowing. It was so powerful it penetrated through the densely laid array formations and reached them within, making everyone’s blood and vital energy surge.

The ten holy figures, the Ancient Golden Roc, and others were all startled. Who was this? Their strength was so tremendous — penetrating the tightly laid formations and transmitting their voice inside.

Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Ji Ziyue, and the others all froze upon hearing that roar — and then expressions of utter astonishment broke across their faces, followed by tremendous joy. This was completely unexpected. This was a person they knew.

“Is it him?”

“That’s right — it’s Elder Monkey.”

They could never have imagined hearing the Holy Primate’s voice. They quickly dismantled the array markings and walked out from the formation — and sure enough, they saw a divine ape with a jaw like a thunderclap deity and golden pupils, its entire body blazing with golden radiance.

“No wonder such power — it truly is the legendary Battle-Saint Ape!” the Black Bear holy figure and the others were inwardly shaken. They had laid eyes on one of the most terrifying bloodlines in existence.

“Elder Monkey!” Pang Bo laughed out loud.

Ye Fan, Ji Haoyue, and all the others went forward to meet him. This was truly beyond all expectation — the Holy Primate had also appeared on the far shore. It exceeded what anyone had anticipated.

“See this? This monkey is my junior. We once killed the Heaven’s Imperial Prince together,” Long Ma boasted without any shame, trailing behind and bragging to the Golden Lion holy figure, the Azure Luan, and the others.

Everyone rolled their eyes collectively, disdaining him together.

The Holy Primate’s bearing far surpassed what it once had been — fire eyes and golden pupils, his coat of fur radiant and brilliant, his spirit, life force, and mind like flames burning — vigorous and awe-inspiring.

“Boom! Rumble!”

He gave Ye Fan a palm strike the moment he arrived — fierce, fierce, and overwhelmingly powerful. The entire divine-demonic burial grounds trembled, heaven cracking and earth splitting!

Everyone’s expressions changed. That palm was too ferocious. What ordinary person could withstand it? His blood energy was like an ocean.

Ye Fan, seeing what was coming, swung out a fist in calm response. The two collided with a great rumbling sound — fearsome beyond measure.

“Not bad — so the rumors really were true. You killed all the supreme powerhouses in this expanse of starry sky single-handedly!” The Holy Primate broke out in a great laugh, stopping his attack, greeting everyone together.

It turned out that he had just landed on this ancient star, and upon hearing about Ye Fan’s massacre and the bloodbath at the divine-demonic burial grounds, had rushed over immediately — afraid they might have run into trouble.

“Squeak squeak…!” Little Dot came forward, pressing through the crowd and rubbing her head against the Holy Primate’s great hand.

“This is… the Lightning Phoenix Bird chick from back then?!” The monkey was also quite surprised.

Reuniting in this place, everyone felt a sense of unreality. Naturally they had to celebrate, and they all set out together, walking beyond the divine-demonic ridge.

Over all these years, the many Great Sages had been battering at the gates while the Divine Elder had held his killing array formation, long since carving open a safe passage — a way to enter and exit this deadly ground.

“Elder Monkey, what brought you here?” Pang Bo asked.

“I wandered through the starry sky. Over these past few decades, I kept hearing rumors — something about an emperor’s coffin, an ancient tree of life. Pursuing it from one lead to the next, crossing through many ancient domains, I finally arrived here,” the Holy Primate answered.

Long ago, the Holy Primate, under the guidance of the Fighting Buddha, had entered the burial place of his father — the ancestral mountain of the Battle-Saint Ape bloodline — and there discovered a domain gate leading into the starry sky, traveling directly to the ancestral star of their origin.

“Elder Monkey, has that rascal Duan De woken up yet? Be careful — whatever you do, don’t let him find out where the Old Holy Primate is buried,” Long Ma said with a sly grin.

“Go on with you!”

The Holy Primate had returned to the ancestral star to find it desolate and empty — not a single clansman remaining. This bloodline had never been populous even at its peak, and now was utterly extinct.

He found a domain gate there and wandered from one ancient domain to the next, a constant wanderer, tempering himself, carving out a path of invincibility through battle.

“By the way — are you really Elder Monkey? You’re not the Six-Eared Macaque, are you?” As they walked, Pang Bo suddenly blurted out that question.

Everyone was startled, but quickly relaxed. The monkey had spoken of many secret matters of the Northern Dipper that the Six-Eared Macaque surely could not have known.

“You say there’s a divine ape that looks like me?” The Holy Primate’s eyes went sharp.

“That monkey is no simple creature — you need to be very careful,” Ye Fan said.

“In all these years wandering the starry sky, what have I not encountered? I have no fear of him!” the monkey said, and recounted many of his experiences.

He made special mention of once encountering a peculiar ancient bull, who had insisted on becoming sworn brothers with him, calling itself the Bull God King.

“Laozi’s bull!” Ye Fan was greatly shocked. In the ancient star domain of Purple Subtlety, he had once seen the brand left behind by the Bull God King.

“How did you know of it?” The Holy Primate was surprised.

“Where did they go? Did you ever see Laozi?” Pang Bo asked. They had just witnessed the image of Laozi in a past life beneath the Bodhi tree, and now to hear word of him from the monkey’s own mouth — of course it startled them.

“The Bull God King invited me to travel with it, saying it was heading to an extraordinarily important ancient site. I declined,” the Holy Primate answered.

“Why did you decline?!” Everyone felt the pang of regret and excitement together — because they knew Laozi’s identity was far beyond ordinary, and whatever ancient site he sought had to be equally extraordinary.

“It is someone else’s mount. If I traveled along with it, would I not be subjecting myself to being ordered about by another? I’ll have none of that,” the Holy Primate said, rolling his eyes.