Yan Zhaoge and Feng Yunsheng walked by the mountain range. Upon looking back, they could still see the shiny bronze mirror-like gaze that was flickering.

After waving their hands, they left the Five Elements Mountain together.

“Zhaoge, the Great Sage Equalling Heavens seemed like it was judging you when looking towards you, as if… he had some other intention in mind?”

On the road, Feng Yunsheng frowned and asked with uncertainty.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Yan Zhaoge nodded, “He seemed to have noticed some problems that even I haven’t noticed previously.”

“Although I have no idea what he had noticed, I can guess what it’s related to.”

“Elder Lord…”

Yan Zhaoge let out a long sigh, “Unlike others, it’s impossible to meet the Elder Lord. At most, one would only be able to greet him from afar and speak courteously for a while.”

“This Demon Race Great Sage seemed to have interacted with the Elder Lord in the past, according to the legends.”

“I can’t say for sure that he’s the Grand Heavenly Immortal that understands the Elder Lord the most. However, his understanding of the Elder Lord far surpasses normal people.”

Feng Yunsheng pondered for a while, and said, “Does that mean, from the Great Sage Equalling Heavens’ perspective, you’re… related to the Elder Lord?”

“Actually, I’ve already had some guesses previously. Only, my thoughts hadn’t been tidied yet. The Great Sage Equalling Heaven’s response was an affirmation to my guesses,” said Yan Zhaoge. “Do you remember the time when I told you how I became more proficient in cultivating the Grand Clear lineage’s supreme martial arts, and my perception towards it became faster and deeper?”

Feng Yunsheng nodded, “I remember.”

“This matter alone wasn’t anything unique.” Yan Zhaoge shrugged, “You can’t just judge a martial art practitioner’s talents in terms of perception.”

His dad – Yan Di, had been accompanying the Grand Simplicity Splendour Cloud for a thousand years. Yan Di had only been nurturing the Creation Saber’s saber intent.

Cultivating the Jade Clear lineage and the Grand Clear lineage held no differences for Yan Di. Even when cultivating the Grand Clear lineage, there weren’t any apparent advantages.

Among blood relatives, genetic talents might be passed down.

However, for martial art practitioners’ cultivation, or even for a specific type of martial art, their talents in perception was unrelated to their bloodline. It was mostly due to the uniqueness of their soul.

For example, the “Sikong Qing”s manifested by the Heavenly Essence Stone’s fragments made their innate talent in terms of perception outstanding. However, they weren’t blood-related either.

As such, the theory that the Grand Simplicity Splendour Cloud could “pass down the talent” was impractical.

In terms of cultivator’s talents, Yan Zhaoge was Yan Zhaoge, and Yan Di was Yan Di. There was no relation between the two.

Since the dawn of time, it was perfectly normal for someone to be exceptionally proficient in a particular type of martial art.

That’s how many heaven’s favored children appeared. Such advantages gave them the qualifications to be exceptional.

For example, Yan Xintang, Di Qinglian, Gao Qingxuan, Long Xingquan, Yin Shiyang, Long Xueji, Nie Jingshen, Yue Zhenbei, Yu Ye, He Mian, and the others were people that possessed exceptionally high talent towards sword martial arts.

Among them, although Long Xueji and Yu Ye were related to Gao Qingxuan and Long Xingquan, the benefits they got were mostly from the high-quality pointers influencing their learnings.

Their perception talents towards sword martial arts were mostly due to how great a foundation they had since birth.

As such, Yan Zhaoge’s exceptional sensitiveness and understanding towards the Grand Clear lineage’s supreme arts wasn’t something unbelievable.

At most, others would only hold exceptional talent towards a kind of martial art, while he held exceptional talent towards a lineage’s entire martial arts.

However, while this might seem like a coincidence, if more related matters were pieced together, saying that it was merely a coincidence would be inconceivable.

At the very least, Yan Zhaoge wouldn’t believe it.

“Even the East Sovereign, the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord, the Maitreya Buddha, and other bigwigs couldn’t see through what the Elder Lord is thinking, not to mention us.”

Yan Zhaoge murmured to himself, “I’m still uncertain whether my current condition is related to the Elder Lord.”

“Instead, the Southern Extremity Longevity Emperor might have saw through something, which was why he asked us to come here.”

Obviously, if they had to pick someone that wasn’t afraid of offending the Mystical Mountain’s Tathagata Buddha that had already transcended, the person would be either the Three Clear Grand Masters or Mother Goddess Nuwa, both of which had already transcended as well.

If Yan Zhaoge were affected by the Supreme Elder Lord’s arrangements, whether the Elder Lord planned it or not, he would have a much easier time moving around in the Five Elements Mountain. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to be wary of angering the Tathagata Buddha.

Of course, this was only relatively speaking.

This was speculated using the principles of human feelings in this world.

However, the Tathagata Buddha, the Three Clear Grand Master, and the others’ emotions weren’t able to be speculated using ordinary means.

As such, risks were still involved. No one was certain whether the risk was huge or not.

“The Southern Extremity Longevity Emperor might not know about the truth beneath the Five Elements Mountain. However, the Tathagata Buddha had personally suppressed someone here, which meant that things were not simple at all. After the Southern Extremity Longevity Emperor got wind of it, he wanted to know who it was, which is why I’m here now.”

Yan Zhaoge lightly rubbed his temples and smiled bitterly.

“And yet, here you are,” said Feng Yunsheng softly. “In fact, you’ve even undergone a huge risk and agreed to help the Great Sage escape.”

Yan Zhaoge remained silent for a while and smiled, “My previous words to the Great Sage weren’t pleasantries, nor was it made to appeal to him. They were my true thoughts.”

Feng Yunsheng nodded, “I can tell.”

“Frankly speaking, my morals have its limits,” said Yan Zhaoge softly. “Most of the time, I’m quite a realistic person.”

“Naturally, it’ll be for the best if I could do something that benefits both parties. However, other than a few specific people, if I were forced to pick one, I would rather benefit myself.”

“To seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, to care about gains and losses. I often do these as well.”

Yan Zhaoge first laughed at himself and retracted his smile. He pointed towards his heart, “However, sometimes, there’s a little boy inside my heart that likes to dream. When facing certain matters, he would recklessly jump out.”

That was precisely the case at this very moment.

Great Sage Equalling Heavens – Sun Wukong!

In the distant memory of his previous life, the monkey was Yan Zhaoge’s childhood idol!

It didn’t change even after reading through many texts and understood much other information, which pointed out how imperfect a monkey his childhood idol was.

In those stories, the monkey didn’t even cause a ruckus in the Heavenly Palace, nor did he ever incite havoc within the mortal world.

In fact, before entering the Soaring Clouds Palace, he was chased away by a Heavenly General.

Later on, during his Journey to the West, he had suffered a lot and was always seeking reinforcements.

Yan Zhaoge knew that the original story could very possibly be describing monk Sanzang’s internal demons [1]. It was a story used to insult the problematic era they were living in…

His impression towards Sun Wukong had mostly originated from the reflection and replenishment of his emotions. These weren’t his initial impressions towards Sun Wukong anymore. Instead, he had continuously erased Sun Wukong’s flaws and always compensated them with Sun Wukong’s merits. He selectively chose to ignore matters that would taint Sun Wukong’s impression within his mind and even added various other scenes that didn’t exist…

However, for Yan Zhaoge, these were nothing!

While he could be sensible towards other matters, he wouldn’t allow this at all!

Even if someone called him a brain-dead fan, he wouldn’t bat an eye at all.

Yan Zhaoge had even detested the monkey that came out from the Five Elements Mountain.

In his heart, the fearless monkey that could battle against the entire heavens and never yield, the monkey that could conquer the world with his rod, the unparalleled hero that could trample across the Southern Heavenly Gate and flip over the Soaring Sky Palace was the true Great Sage Equalling Heavens – Sun Wukong!

This was his previous life.

In this life, after reading through the Heavenly Court’s Divine Palace’s texts, Yan Zhaoge knew that the Great Sage Equalling Heavens – Sun Wukong had indeed caused a ruckus within the Heavenly Court’s Divine Palace. In fact, Sun Wukong was an unparalleled Great Demon that was undefeatable among the Heavenly Immortals and even rampaged throughout the heavens without any worries.

As such, Yan Zhaoge was even more disappointed when he ultimately transformed into the Travelling Monk Sun and became a Buddha after the pilgrimage.

After knowing the truth beneath the Five Elements Mountain, the amount of comfort and joy Yan Zhaoge was much more than what was written on his face.

As such, just like what Feng Yunsheng said, he arrived at the Five Elements Mountain in the end.

Not only did he arrive here, he even wanted to assist the monkey!

For other matters, he might still have moments where he was merely recklessly doing things as he desired.

However, his recklessness stood extraordinarily firmly towards this matter!

[1] Some people speculated that all four of Tang Sanzang’s companions (Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and his horse) were all his internal demons, the impurities within his heart. Only by conquering and overcoming these humanly emotions would he be able to become a Buddha.