Chapter 29: The Leader of the Aquatic Tribe

  After finishing a delicious snake meat, Sun Wukong waved his hand and retrieved the illusory flower. Then he identified the direction, got up and flew away. In just a few breaths, Sun Wukong had disappeared without a trace. Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, as if some enormous beast was rushing towards this place. A moment later, a gigantic snow-white bull with flying snow was seen running towards where Sun Wukong had just roasted and eaten the snake meat.

  When the giant ox arrived, it gazed at the snakeskin and snake meat scattered all over the ground, and let out a thunderous roar that shook the sky. The sound was filled with immense sorrow. Apparently, this giant snow ox and the huge snake were familiar with each other, but unfortunately, it had come one step too late.

  Actually, Sun Wukong realized the distress signal sent out by the big snake before it died, but he just ignored it. When he finished eating the snake meat, Sun Wukong felt a tremor in the air and guessed that the snake's helper might have arrived. That's why he didn't hesitate to consume his spiritual power and flash away.

  Hearing the loud roar behind him, Sun Wukong shook his head. His own strength was insufficient, yet he dared to covet another's life. Since you want to eat me, old Sun, then I'll eat you first.

  When Sun Wukong landed, it just so happened to be at the foot of an iceberg. Sun Wukong reached into his bosom and touched the snake pearl, falling into deep thought. Should he find a place to take the snake elixir now or continue heading north first?

  If you take the snake pearl on the spot, your physical body will definitely become stronger, but it will delay a lot of time. If you continue northward, you can indeed save time, but in this extremely dangerous Arctic ice field, the more strength you have, the higher the probability of self-protection.

  After a moment's thought, Sun Wukong had already made up his mind. Find a quiet place to take the snake pearl. Even if he set off north immediately, he still didn't know where the water tribe was, and could only rely on feeling his way north. But this journey was completely unpredictable, no one knew when they would find the water tribe. So even if he delayed for some time now, it didn't matter, and with his increased strength, he would be able to travel faster.

  Having made up his mind, Sun Wukong no longer hesitated. With a wave of his hand, he summoned the Void Degree Transformation Flower and then pulled out the Golden Cudgel from his ear. With a casual blow, the Void Degree Transformation Flower flew to one end of the Golden Cudgel. Thus, Sun Wukong shouldered the Golden Cudgel and swaggered towards the ice mountain. Just as he was about to crash into the ice mountain, the Transformation Flower flashed slightly, and a huge hole quietly opened up on the wall of the ice mountain.

  Sun Wukong, although already promoted to a middle-ranking saint, still has not changed his playful nature. He actually used the famous Duhua Flower to roast meat first, and then again to open roads. If others were to see this, they would probably exclaim that it's a waste of heaven's treasures!

  Unfortunately, there was no one else here, even if there was Sun Wukong, he wouldn't have noticed. When walking to the central position of the mountain belly, Sun Wukong stopped his footsteps and then withdrew the Degree Flower and Golden Cudgel. Turning around to look at this long human-shaped passageway, Sun Wukong chuckled. Then, blowing in all directions, the ice in the central part of the mountain belly quickly melted into a clear stream. Sun Wukong pointed with one hand, and this stream flowed along the passageway where Sun Wukong came from, completely sealing it off in just a few blinks of an eye. It then froze into an ice block. From the outside, there was absolutely no sign of anything unusual.

  Sun Wukong nodded in satisfaction, then summoned the混天绫 (Heavenly Cloud Gauze) and wrapped it around himself to form a large circle. Only then did he sit down cross-legged, close his eyes, and meditate. Although this place was extremely secluded, being prepared for any situation was always good. In case some monster suddenly appeared at the critical moment when he was swallowing the Snake Pearl, it could lead to an unexpected disaster.

  One hour later, Sun Wukong opened his eyes, and two golden lights shot out from his eyes, creating two holes the size of fingers in the ice mountain. It seems that this Fire Eye Golden Eyeball can be used as an unexpected attack method. If he were to use it on his opponent's eyes during a fight, it would be hilarious. Given Sun Wukong's personality, this is not impossible.

  After a period of recuperation, Sun Wukong's vital energy had reached its peak. It was time to swallow the Snake Pearl to enhance his physical strength.

  At once, Sun Wukong took out the snake pearl from his bosom and swallowed it in one gulp. Instantly, he felt a giant python rushing into his mouth, then instantly transformed into countless small snakes, rampaging inside his body. In just half a breath's time, more than half of his muscles were shattered. This made Sun Wukong both shocked and enraged.

  When Sun Wukong killed the big snake, a wisp of vengeful spirit floated out and drilled into the Snake Pearl. At that time, Sun Wukong was careless and didn't notice, but when he swallowed the Snake Pearl, this wisp of vengeful spirit mixed with the spiritual energy of the pearl and drilled into Sun Wukong's five organs, six bowels, skin, flesh, tendons, and bones, attempting to destroy his vitality from within.

  But Sun Wukong, a dignified middle-ranking saint, how could he let such a thing happen. Sun Wukong exerted his full strength to urge the spiritual power in his body, and began to surround and suppress the snake pearl's spiritual power that was running wild everywhere.

  Finally, after a long time of siege, the snake pearl's spiritual energy was finally condensed in the dantian. However, Sun Wukong encountered another difficulty - although all the spiritual energy had been captured, how could he get rid of the resentful spirit inside? If that strand of resentful spirit wasn't gotten rid of, these spiritual energies would never be absorbed. And once his own spiritual energy had a slight leak, this snake pearl's spiritual energy would definitely disperse and continue to destroy his body. Just then, Sun Wukong felt a warmth in his dantian, and upon closer inspection, it was a tiny, almost imperceptible Void Degree Flower.

  When this void-degree flower appeared, the gathered snake pearl spirit power suddenly began to restlessly stir, as if extremely terrified of this smiling void-degree flower.

  "Haha, how could I have forgotten that. Duhua flower is the nemesis of all vengeful spirits. Next time, let's see you try to run."

  As expected, just as the void degree was about to envelop the spiritual power below, the snake pearl's spiritual power twisted and a small grayish-black snake broke away from it, fiercely colliding with the spiritual power that Sun Wukong had used to wrap around the snake pearl. However, it was all in vain.

  The next moment, a strand of extremely fine fire threads emerged from the Void Degree Flower and wrapped around the dark gray snake. Instantly, the dark gray snake let out a series of painful hisses. Then it was incinerated into nothingness by the Void Degree Flower.

  Seeing this, Sun Wukong couldn't help but feel a surge of joy in his heart, and at the same time, a lingering fear. Fortunately, there was this Degree Transformation Flower; otherwise, not only would he have lost an imperial-grade snake pearl for nothing, but he might also have been seriously injured again. It seemed that he had indeed been too careless.

  The vengeful spirit has left, and what's left is to absorb the spiritual energy of the snake pearl to strengthen his physical body. Originally, this was an extremely difficult step, but when Sun Wukong tried to absorb the spiritual energy of the snake pearl, he found that these energies were very obedient and easy to absorb. Could it be that after being burned by the Degree Flower, they became easier to absorb?

  Sun Wukong couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it and decided to wait for another opportunity to experiment later. For now, he should focus on using his spiritual energy to strengthen his physical body.

  Time passed quietly like this. Three days later, the iceberg suddenly burst and shattered at its peak, and a figure rushed out from within.

  Three days ago, Sun Wukong officially entered the belly of the mountain and swallowed the snake pearl.

  "It seems that the physical strength should have already reached the level of a high-ranking saint. Three days ago, his own physical strength was only at the middle-ranking saint level, although it was much stronger than an ordinary saint, but it wasn't too much stronger. But now it has actually increased by a whole level, which shocked Sun Wukong greatly. Even if the Emperor-level Snake Pearl is powerful, it shouldn't have such a terrifying effect. Could it be that the Void Degree Flower really did something?"

  Shaking his head, he stopped thinking about it. Just then, Sun Wukong suddenly turned around, his fiery eyes and golden pupils reaching their limits as he gazed into the distance. He saw a figure in the far-off ice field rushing towards him, and when he looked again at what was behind the figure, he saw a huge snow-white bull chasing after it.

  Sun Wukong couldn't help but smile bitterly. It turned out to be the companion of the big snake from before, this was too coincidental. It's highly likely that the giant ox couldn't find itself and went on a killing spree. However, Sun Wukong couldn't help but feel curious that there were still people in this extreme northern ice field.

  In the blink of an eye, the figure had rushed to Sun Wukong's face. It was only then that Sun Wukong could see the person clearly. The person had a head of fiery red long hair, a thin build, and wore blue leather armor. Before Sun Wukong could even observe him further, he heard the man say to himself: "Friend, run quickly! That stupid cow has gone mad. Don't let it catch up to you, or else it will self-destruct."

  Sun Wukong's playful heart suddenly arose, and he followed the man to run together. "Fellow Taoist, what did you just mean? Why would that cow self-destruct? Judging from its power, it should be at least mid-Emperor level already?"

  "Friends, you don't know that this is one of the few untouchable demons in the Arctic tundra. The name behind it is called Snow-colored Exploding Cow. This demon is extremely gentle on a daily basis, but once something angers it, it will immediately go mad and attack all living things within its line of sight. If it encounters an opponent that it can't defeat, it will self-destruct without hesitation. That's why no one dares to provoke it. Today, I don't know how unlucky I am, as soon as I stepped out the door, I encountered a furious Snow Cow."

  "Alright, haha. Let's hurry then." Sun Wukong was momentarily embarrassed and didn't know what to say.

  "By the way, what's your name? This extreme north ice field is rarely visited by anyone."

  "Down with the heavenly great sage Sun Wukong."

  "What what, you're Sun Wukong? The Sun Wukong of the demon tribe? The Stone Monkey Sun Wukong?"

  "I'm Old Sun, I don't change my name when I walk and I don't change my surname when I sit. I am Sun Wukong."

  At that moment, the man suddenly stopped in his tracks. Unfortunately, the ice was too slippery, and although he had stopped moving his feet, he still slid a long way. Seeing this person stop, Sun Wukong also halted in his tracks.

  Before Sun Wukong could speak, the man waved his hand and a blue water arrow shot out. The snow cow dodged too late and was hit by the blue water arrow. The next moment, Sun Wukong was shocked speechless. Because that huge snow cow was completely frozen to death by the water arrow, without any signs of life left.

  "Now that you're here, I won't play anymore. Haha, finally waited for you. Sun Wukong."

  "Who are you? How did you know my name?" Sun Wukong asked cautiously.

  "Me? Haha, remember, I am the leader of the Extreme North Ice Tribe. Azure Flame - Eight God Flame!" As soon as the words fell, a water arrow much larger than before suddenly appeared and flew rapidly towards Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong, danger!