This pressure, this was a suppression due to the difference in cultivation bases.

　　Feng Lin’s body was bent like there was a heavy mountain on his back. Creaking sounds rang out as he tried to straighten his back, but he was under so much pressure that he felt his bones were on the verge of shattering.

　　“Little monkey, prepare to die!”

　　The wolf king shot out from the darkness, rushing toward Feng Lin and slashing out with its claws. Its crimson eyes were filled with hatred. It was like it could already see Feng Lin dead beneath its claws.

　　A pair of golden eyes looked up, staring straight at the wolf king. The ruthless aura within actually caused the heart of the wolf king to feel a chill.

　　What?

　　This was merely a monkey that had just stepped upon the cultivation path. How could it block the might radiating from a demon king?

　　The wolf king started to panic. It felt like it had miscounted something, and a strong sense of unease welled up in its heart.

　　“Straighten for me!” Feng Lin roared in a low voice. His body then slowly straightened under the formless pressure.

　　A beast king innately possessed prestige and might. They could generate double-layer suppression for those who were weaker than them. The first layer was the difference in vitality stat, and the second was the toughness of the body.

　　However, Feng Lin’s current body was that of a genuine spiritual stone monkey; he was also an innate heart monkey with an incomparably vast spirit force. How could he be controlled by an enemy’s mind control? Only this pressure that resulted from a difference in vitality stat was somewhat hard for him to deal with.

　　Feng Lin summoned the entirety of his strength and stood up straight. After that, he unleashed the ‘Vajra Subduing Devil Fist’ instinctively.

　　The wolf king was startled for a moment because it didn’t expect Feng Lin’s counterattack to be so strong. It was instantly sent flying as its long snout was almost crooked from the impact.

　　“Damn monkey, die!” The Green Wolf King was so angry that its seven apertures emitted steam. Its body trembled and it melded once more into the darkness. Countless dark shadows manifested, shifting in and out, circling Feng Lin. It was extremely tough to differentiate the real from the shadows.

　　Feng Lin stood at his original location, planning to use ‘no change’ to deal with ‘a myriad of changes’.

　　Swish~

　　A sonic boom rang out as a claw shadow slashed down.

　　Feng Lin instinctively punched out, causing his fist and the claw to clash.

　　A vast surge of energy gushed forth. Feng Lin wasn’t able to block it and was blown backward.

　　Chi~

　　But before he could stabilize his footing, a dark shadow already appeared behind him, intending on clawing his back.

　　Bzz~

　　Crackle!

　　Sparks flew everywhere.

　　The body of a spiritual stone monkey was as tough as steel, yet claw wounds could be seen on his back. Golden blood leaked from those wounds.

　　“What?” the wolf king howled in surprise.

　　Feng Lin twisted his body and faced his enemy, instinctively launching the ‘Vajra Dragon Claw’ against the wolf king.

　　The dark shadow was instantly grabbed, but it dissipated immediately. It wasn’t the wolf king’s true body.

　　In the darkness, the dark wolf shadows multiplied, prancing and leaping about. It was indeed hard to track the wolf king’s movement.

　　Feng Lin’s expression was heavy. In this short exchange of blows, he was already clear about the demon wolf king’s capabilities.

　　It used the black blanket created by its demonic qi to meld itself with the darkness.

　　Feng Lin depended on his spirit force and activated spiritual perception. He discovered that these shadows weren’t illusions or clones. All of them were corporeal. It was just that the wolf king’s speed was too quick and that Feng Lin’s eyes couldn’t catch up to its speed, which resulted in the dark shadows.

　　Bzz~

　　Claw attacks were unleashed continuously.

　　The wolf king acted directly with the intention to kill. The entire space was also filled with its shadow images.

　　Feng Lin barely managed to block one claw attack, and he suffered over ten attacks in that instant. His body was riddled with injuries.

　　“Hehehe, although I don’t know your origin, the disparity in cultivation isn’t something talent can mitigate. Today, both you and that old ape must die!” The wolf king’s malevolent laughter echoed through the air once again. Its killing intent felt icy cold, sinking Feng Lin’s heart to the bottom of the valley.

　　Feng Lin couldn’t keep up with the wolf king’s speed. He was now in a situation of extreme danger.

　　At most, he could only stabilize himself and try to guard his body. However, his body trembled violently from every impact; he didn’t know how long he could last.

　　“You dare?!” Upon seeing Feng Lin—the new monkey king’s candidate it had chosen—in danger, the old ape was completely enraged.

　　In its eyes, Feng Lin was the hope of the entire monkey tribe. How could it let something happen to Feng Lin?

　　“DIE, DIE, DIE!” The old monkey king ignored the exertion to its life force. It frenziedly summoned its demonic aura to power up its sword qi. With a single sweep, a group of demonic wolves was instantly split apart. It opened up a bloody path as it rushed toward Feng Lin.

　　“Old ape, have you forgotten about me?”

　　The Blood Jackal King laughed sinisterly as its long claws danced in the air, generating a blood fog that entered the bodies of the nearby demonic wolves. Those demonic wolves actually expanded in size under its influence. Their fur glimmered with blood-colored light like they were coated in blood.

　　The old monkey king unleashed its usual sword strike. However, the blood coating the wolves actually congealed together and managed to dull the sharpness of the sword attack.

　　Its heart sank. It understood that this must be a bizarre ability of the Blood Jackal King. Under the influence of the blood fog, the demonic wolves in the surroundings were under its control. The Blood Jackal King wanted to use these wolves to entangle it. If the old monkey king wanted to shake them free, it first had to defeat the Blood Jackal King.

　　All of a sudden, the old monkey king’s body transformed. It stepped out and performed an unimaginably wondrous attack. It was like an agile monkey leaping across the mountain streams as it fused as one with the sword.

　　The sword qi intensified instantly, slashing apart three demonic wolves. The remnants of the sword qi then gushed straight toward the Blood Jackal King.

　　But Jackals were cunning in nature, and it had long since made preparations for this. It controlled the wolves to rush forward and die in its stead, negating the brunt of the sword qi.

　　The old monkey king only saw numerous wolves rushing him again and again. It felt like it had sunk into a swamp and wasn’t able to struggle free.

　　A sense of weakness surfaced in him.

　　Its heart also sank to the bottom. It was already very old and would soon die. Every time it evoked its demonic aura, the price was the reduction of its life force.

　　Now, it seemed that it wouldn’t be able to continue living for much longer.

　　(Since this is the case, let’s give it all to preserve ‘hope’!)

　　Staring at Feng Lin in the distance, the old monkey grabbed the sword in its hands tighter and made a decision in its heart.

　　Jejeje~

　　The strange laughter of the wolf king echoed in the darkness.

　　The Green Wolf King was attacking like crazy. It unleashed his claw attacks frenziedly without stop.

　　Feng Lin’s entire body was already soaked in fresh blood.

　　The disparity was just too great!

　　He had already unleashed all the techniques he had, but still, there was no way to mitigate the disparity in their cultivation bases. He felt heavy helplessness in his heart.

　　Strength, speed, cultivation…he was dominated by the wolf king in all aspects.

　　All techniques were useless, he wouldn’t be able to reverse this.

　　He entered a situation of unprecedented danger.

　　Although Feng Lin had the body of a spiritual stone monkey, its immense talent wasn’t able to mitigate the disparity in their strengths.

　　The wolf king was considered a beast king of a region. Its strength was more than one level above Feng Lin.

　　He was like an ancient tree now, standing there unmoving and trying his best to guard his vital points. He didn’t even think about retaliating, he could only defend passively.

　　However, the attacks of the wolf king were as fierce as a thunderstorm. Feng Lin trembled violently from the impact and could fall at any moment. His eyes weren’t able to keep up with the wolf king’s speed; hence, there was no way for him to counter-attack.

　　There never had been someone who was born immensely powerful.

　　Talent was, after all, just a talent. It didn’t represent real strength.

　　Feng Lin was incomparably clear that he had no hope of winning at all.

　　“Can I only reach this step?” Feng Lin silently sighed. He was filled with an intense reluctance as he hadn’t managed to uncover all the secrets behind the Monkey King Gene.

　　If he was devoured by the wolf king in this illusion-scape formed by the hereditary memories, the consequences would be unimaginably dire.

　　He didn’t want to accept this. In the depths of his heart, he roared loudly, wanting to awaken and free himself from this illusion-scape.

　　Bzz~

　　The buzzing of a sword rang out, startling him out of his reverie.

　　Feng Lin glanced toward the sound only to see the old monkey king wielding the sword with both hands and piercing out with it. It transformed into a sharp beam of light, breaking apart the darkness.

　　Boundless astral energy gathered, causing the sword beam to glow brighter and brighter to the extent where the radiance eclipsed the moon and the starlight. It became the only source of illumination in the darkness.

　　Also at the same time, the body of the old monkey king started to disintegrate.

　　“Sword Controls the Nine Heavens!”

　　A cold voice echoed through the air.

　　The sword was like a flying immortal who descended to the mortal world, advancing forth with great momentum and radiating the intent to exterminate everything.

　　“I’m going to die. Next, I will hand over the monkey tribe to you. Allow me to use the last remaining bits of my life force to clear a path for you!” A calm voice echoed in Feng Lin’s mind. This voice was also transmitted to all the monkeys. “From today onward, that spiritual stone monkey shall be the new king of the monkey tribe!”

　　The sword beam closed in.

　　The eyes of the Blood Jackal King and the Green Wolf King were wide open. They felt as though a great calamity was about to descend upon them as they frenziedly started to flee.

　　However, the sword attack had already landed. It was like divine punishment, and there was no way to escape.

　　“NO~” Howls of fear rang out.

　　The beam of sword light circled the air, leaving behind silvery arcs that were incomparably beautiful.

　　At the next instant, the two demon kings and the remaining demonic wolves were all slashed into twain. Their blood flooded out, dyeing the ground red.

　　Right when it was done, the body of the old monkey king disintegrated completely along with the sword beam. They transformed into pinpoints of starlight that vanished into the air.

　　Feng Lin stood at his original location and was completely dazzled. Deathly silence was everywhere; it was like he was the last remaining monkey.

　　In the blink of an eye, one day passed…

　　Feng Lin stood on the ground and glanced up at the thousand-foot waterfall. He sank into contemplation.

　　“King!” Numerous voices called out.

　　Feng Lin’s gaze regained clarity. He glanced back only to see the monkeys staring at him with nervousness in their eyes. A formless energy congregated on his body. His heart was completely clear, and there were no longer any layers of fog blinding him.

　　What does it mean to be king?

　　A king represents prestige, power, and responsibility!

　　To awaken the Monkey King Gene, it wasn’t as simple as leaping through the water curtain.

　　What was important was the fact that the members of the entire race or tribe would look up to you for their survival. Their will to live was wrapped around you. This was what being a king means!

　　If this was the case, even if he didn’t leap through the water curtain, he would also be a beast king.

　　This was why the Beast King Gene required Bloodthirst, Prestige, Strength—all these basic genes before they could be combined together and form the Beast King Gene.

　　The world beasts lived in was a bloodthirsty one: the weak are food for the strong.

　　Only by maturing through the cruel laws of nature would one grow strong enough to become a true beast king!

　　Upon using the old monkey king as a reference, Feng Lin finally understood the true essence of the Monkey King Gene.

　　The Monkey King wasn’t just a title. It also represented power and responsibility.

　　“With great power comes great responsibility.”

　　There had been cases of names being called wrongly before, but never titles.

　　Sun Wukong started his path from a nameless stone monkey to the Great Sage Equal to Heavens, one who could laugh proudly at all existences in the three realms. He slowly matured, from being nameless, to the Monkey King, to Sun Wukong, etc…

　　Each title represented the growth of his power.

　　The dao of the heart monkey simply meant the dao of cultivating one’s heart.

　　What was Wukong (comprehending emptiness) meant then?

　　Gaining comprehension of the great emptiness to break free from all illusions. That was Wukong!

　　This was the true meaning behind why Patriarch Subhuti had given the heart monkey the name ‘Sun Wukong’.

　　Sun meant one of the members of the monkey race, and Wukong was the dao of the heart monkey.

　　“Hahaha!”

　　Feng Lin stood up as he laughed uproariously. He felt boundless comfort in his heart. He had solved all the mysteries!

　　Amidst a shout of excitement, he suddenly leaped out. His weak-looking frame actually jumped toward the thousand-foot waterfall.

　　The vaster one’s heart was, the greater would one’s strength be!

　　Using a weak body to resist the might of the heavens and earth. What did he have to fear?

　　He was already clear of his heart and understood the emptiness!

　　…

　　RUMBLE~

　　The space trembled.

　　Feng Lin’s eyes abruptly opened. There seemed to be a white flash of lightning breaking apart the mist in his heart. His body changed and his aura was now completely different, erupting forth like lava from a volcano. Even the space around him started to twist; the fluctuations of his energy began to spread out in all directions.

　　In the area around him, there was a huge vortex that could even disrupt space.

　　In the genetic map of his body, numerous dark stars lit up as they glowed with resplendent light.

　　Beast Heart Gene Awakening +1, +1, +1…

　　Strength Gene Awakening +1, +1, +1…

　　Savage Gene Awakening +1, +1, +1…

　　Pressure Gene Awakening +1, +1, +1…

　　Prestige Gene Awakening +1, +1, +1…

　　The sequential genes for the Beast King Gene all started to enhance instantly!