The incident at Stone Gate Pass between Wang Bugui and the green dragon spirit of the array was finally over. This was the first battle since he had completed his training, and his opponent was a few realms higher than him. Somehow, the youth had managed to win, but he had expanded all of the aura in his body. He coughed out huge mouthfuls of blood and drew out a shrub of herbs from the within the pendant and consumed it. He had obtained it earlier from the Jiuhua Paradise.

He then began to sit in a cross-legged fashion to replenish his divine power. After all, he was already used to being on the verge of dying. When he was training his physique and explosiveness in the Yuxu Pure Land, he had broken his bones and got crippled countless times. As the medicinal properties of the herb began to take effect, his divine power was slowly replenished, and his wounds got slightly better. He immediately channeled the Whole after Thousand Disasters technique, and the wounds on his body healed visibly quickly.

“Phew…”

Wang Bugui let out a long breath of air, and his wounds were completely healed in less than one minute; the Supplementary Method was truly wonderful. He got up and walked deep into the interior of Stone Gate Pass, and enveloped the entire area with his sense field. He managed to locate the center of the formation in an instant and flew over hurriedly. As he drew nearer, he realized that the child of the divine monkey and nine-tailed fox was unharmed, but it was imprisoned in a ball of light.

He could sense the magic left behind by the divine monkey and the nine-tailed fox, and there was also a shred of their essence that protected their child. It was no wonder that the mysterious intruder was unable to kill the child; his Tao powers were unable to break the seal. Furthermore, future generations of humans considered this place as holy ground, and he could not stay for too long. As such, he could only leave a maze-like formation behind and suppress the natural event that was the birth of the child.

Wang Bugui used his Divine Eyes to peer at the child in the ball of light and noticed that it was a small gold monkey with the mark of silver fox fire between its eyebrows. There was a thick golden glow from little creature’s soft fur, and it looked as if it was covered by gold silk. It had placed its small hands in its mouth, and its eyes were closed. Its ears would twitch occassionally as it remained sound in sleep, and it looked so heart warmingly cute.

“Little monkey, can you hear me? I’m here to rescue you. Are you willing to leave with me?” Wang Bugui transmitted his voice to the little creature with his will.

The little monkey’s eyes jumped a little as he heard Wang Bugui. Its eyes were slowly opened and gradually its vision got clearer. It took a look at the person in front of him and thought about what the human had just said, before it began to weep in grief. “Father, mother, they… Sob…” it cried.

Wang Bugui heard the monkey’s painful cries and observed huge tears fall from its big watery eyes. He could not help but sigh and reply, “Little monkey, your parents were great heroes. You’re their hope, and they placed everything they had left on you. Therefore you can’t cry; in future, you have to become a big hero like them!”

“I don’t want heroes, I want my parents back!” the little monkey cried as it wept.

“They’re not coming back! I’ve lost my parents too, and the dead can’t come back to the world of the living, even with the aid of a true immortal. Therefore, we’ve to make up our minds to become strong. Only then, will we live up to their expectations. Do you want to become a useless being, or do you want to become a strong person with indomitable will and inherit their legacy?!” Wang Bugui chided the monkey.

His words were too harsh for a small child, but it was a spiritual being and was intelligent beyond its years. That said, it still had the nature of a child, and one could not expect it to be very resilient. Wang Bugui imparted everything he saw from his mind sea to the little monkey’s spirit hall. It could now see how its parents had fought against the demons, and their tragic deaths caused tears to fall from its eyes again.

“If you want to come with me, I can bring you to where I’ve been training. I won’t force you to, however. After all, your parents were buried here, and it’s natural for you to want to remain behind. If that’s the case, I’ll do my best to mend the seals that help absorb Nature’s energy to aid you in growing. It’s entirely up to you to leave or stay behind!” Wang Bugui continued as he shook his head. Eventually, he sat down at a side, allowing the monkey to vent its sorrow by crying.

The little monkey finally calmed down after 10 minutes. Its voice had become hoarse from crying, and its eyes which had been full of spirituality were now red and puffy. It gazed at the person sitting beside it, and replied after a moment’s hesitation, “I… I can leave with you. But, you have to help me become stronger. I want to become a hero like my parents and kill all the demons that plague this world!”

“Fine, that’s a deal!” Wang Bugui said with a smile, gratified that the little monkey understood the meaning behind his words. He patted his chest before continuing with a laugh, “My name is Wang Bugui, what’s yours?”

“My parents didn’t have the time to give me one yet…” the monkey replied dejectedly.

“In that case, let me give you a name. Hmm… The most powerful monkey king in the legends of us Chinese people was called Sun Wukong, and he was given the title of ‘Great Sage Equalling Heaven’. Right, what do you think of the name Qitian?” Wang Bugui chuckled as he thought about a suitable name for the little creature. (Note to reader: Qitian in Mandarin means ‘Equalling Heaven’.)

“Qitian, derived from the title of Great Sage Equalling Heaven? Hmm? Hmm… fine, I shall be known as this name!” the monkey finally agreed after hugging its head and thinking seriously for a long while.

Wang Bugui’s lips cracked into a smile as he rejoiced, “That’s great. We shall now set off on our journey. First, follow me on my pilgrimage for three years, and then I’ll bring you back and get my master to take you in as well!”

He then absorbed the ball of light that Qitian was inside into the space within the pendant, before summoning Puppet Chiou out again. They left Stone Gate Pass and trained by the Lake of Azaleas till early morning of the next day before leaving Heizhugou. Before they left, he went to pay a visit to the old man that had tried to stop him from entering the bamboo forest and told him that it was no longer dangerous to enter Heizhugou, but the mountain mist was still present. He also told the elder that the demon causing trouble at Stone Gate Pass had also been subdued before waving goodbye to him.

“Our people have been camped here for so long, but none of us managed to save the child of the monkey king. Yet he succeeded? Could this person be the practitioner our ancestors told us about?” muttered the elder as he alone stood outside the encampment and watched the young man disappear from sight. Suddenly, he opened his blurry looking eyes wide and staggered backward. He had seen a ball of light appear in the young man’s hand before he reabsorbed it back quickly.

He knew now that this young man was truly a practitioner of Tao; he had the fortune to see the same ball of light when he was young. He could remember that the healthy youths of the camp had armed themselves and tried to break into Stone Gate Pass because of the same ball of light. On that fateful day, however, all of his companions had been swallowed up by green mist, leaving only trails of blood behind to remind anyone else of their existence. He had survived because he could run fast and was not engulfed by the mist.

“Sob… forefather, your final wish has finally been realized. Our ancestors that have died in vain can finally rest in peace. A divine person has been released to our world by the Heavens!” the old man could not stop his tears from flowing; finally, the last wishes of his ancestors were fulfilled.

Wang Bugui did not see all of this happen, as he had used his Hell Step to travel far away. Heizhugou was not far away from Ermei Mountain, and he wanted to go take a look at sacred Buddhist Mountains that the two heroic deities had defended. He sprinted all the way there, and they arrived at the mountain within 15 minutes. The early morning scenery was extremely captivating, and he could see dense clouds from the peak of the mountain. He could also see a mysterious light of the Buddha circle around the various temples once.

Along the way, Wang Bugui used the Soul Threads connected to Puppet Chiou to control her movements and brought her to view the old buildings on the spiritual mountain. They could hear chants of Buddhist scriptures travel slowly toward them, and they breathed in the fresh air from the earth and the plants. They viewed all of the wonderful sights on the mountain and joked around together. A few tourists caught sight of them and could not help but be amazed. One of them was human, while the other was a puppet, but they were as close as lovers. The man was handsome and devilishly charming, while the extremely beautiful puppet looked extremely life-like. They walked alongside each other as they wandered around, stopping only to look at beautiful scenery along the way.

Scenes of them together managed to captivate the hearts of many teenage girls. The man was not too muscular but wiry and tough. He was handsome and his smile contained a devilish charm; it was perfect. They felt their hearts beat extremely fast as they looked at him.

Many men were also stunned by the beauty of the puppet beside him. It was as tall as a real woman, and behaved exactly like one. Her slim, tall figure, blue eyes entirely devoid of spirit and stunning looks gave her a strong exotic charm.

In an instant, many people were following behind Wang Bugui, and all of them had something to speak to him. He acted as if they were not there and hugged Puppet Chiou as he quickened his pace, leaving the tourists behind in a few seconds. He then hid behind a huge rock and waited quietly for the Sun to set.

He waited until the last bit of Sun had completely sunk into the clouds before he led Puppet Chiou down toward them as well. He used his Tao powers to envelop themselves with the mist from the clouds. He hugged her and they danced as they streaked through the sea of clouds, and they traveled freely in this manner to their next destination.

Wang Bugui led Puppet Chiou to Guangzhou, Hainan and Sanya and other lands in the South of China. They then traveled to Shanghai and from there they traveled across the entire Jiangnan region. During their journey, they took care of a few incidences of gangster or ruffians causing trouble, leaving a good reputation behind. A wandering teenage hero and an extremely beautiful puppet were traveling around the world and helping the weak in the process.

They then traveled to Jiangsu. At that region, they became the talk of the town; their actions had much mass appeal. A handsome young man dressed in black, retro attire, was carrying a life-like puppet that was extremely beautiful and they traveled to many renowned places together. The man would lead her to dance, and sometimes he would join her.

It was said that the budding flowers around them would bloom when they danced, and sometimes even the birds would stand up and peek at them, while the fishes would leap out of the water in joy.

Wang Bugui did not notice these things at all. He led Puppet Chiou toward their next destination, and he used different identities during their travels. Sometimes he was a teacher, while other times he could be a businessman or musician.

He even took up the role of waiter in a cafe once, but he was forced to leave as his good looks let to the streets being chocked full of people. They traveled to the frontier and revised the memories of the local soldiers, causing both sides to become allies and guard the border together.

Three years soon passed by, and it was time for him to return back to the Yuxu Pure Land. There was still another year before the Gathering of Practitioners, and Yun Jinghong had prepared an even tougher training ground for him. Wang Bugui was full of hope as he set off again to Kunlun Mountain.