"What?!"
"The Grand Demon Sacrifice Ritual?!"
"They're actually performing a sacrificial ritual—and not just any sacrifice, but with hundreds of thousands of young human men as the offerings, along with the national fortune of the Savage Demon Kingdom! What is the Chaos Demon King trying to accomplish?!"
"The Progenitor of Ten Thousand Demons? Who is that supposed to be?"
"In the demon race, I've only ever heard of Sage Nuwa, and the two demon emperors—Di Jun and Donghuang Taiyi, as well as the Demon Master Kunpeng. But never a 'Progenitor of Ten Thousand Demons.' Who is this figure?"
Everyone present—Sun Wukong, the Pig Demon, and even the Queen of the Women Kingdom—felt not only shocked, but also deeply confused.
From everything they knew, no one in the demon race had ever earned the right to be called the "Progenitor of Ten Thousand Demons".Even Di Jun and Donghuang Taiyi had only been titled as Demon Emperor or Demon Sovereign—they never dared claim to be such a being. Even Nuwa never used such a title.
Only a being who had ruled the demon race across countless ages, unchallenged and eternal, would qualify for such a name—someone who had achieved unimaginable feats within demonkind.
But no one had ever heard of such an existence.
Even the monkey and the pig—both demons themselves—had never heard of this supposed progenitor.
Now, the Chaos Demon King was performing a ritual to this mysterious being, using the Grand Demon Sacrifice Technique (大圣祭术).
That alone confirmed it: such a being must exist.Likely someone hidden beneath the currents of history, a supreme existence lost to time.
"Tang Xuanzang is a Heaven's Favored One (天眷者)?Yuan Gang, what's going on?"
Yi Tianxing frowned as he looked at the bound monk atop the altar.Then he turned to the monkey beside him, whose identity he was now nearly certain of.
This monkey was Yuan Gang—the same greedy monkey Yi had met once on the battlefield of gods and demons.But why had he now taken on the form of Sun Wukong, walking the path of the Westward Journey?That, Yi didn't yet understand.But first, he needed to uncover the truth about Tang Xuanzang's identity.
After all, a Heaven's Favored One was not just any random person from the modern world. Only those who had survived the great cataclysm of heaven and earth—like Yi Tianxing himself—qualified. They were beings blessed by the heavens, their very existence a manifestation of fate and destiny. Each one had the potential to rise and become a legend.
The monkey looked at Yi Tianxing, inwardly puzzled that Yi knew who he was.But this wasn't the time for secrecy.
"Yes, that monk is a Heaven's Favored One, his real name is Tang Buer,"the monkey said quickly."According to Old Tang himself, after becoming a Heaven's Favored, he was taken in by a great power and became a core disciple of Red Lotus Temple, trained under Red Lotus Buddha."
"We gathered to walk the Westward Journey path.The goal is to restore the Ancient Earth Vein, and in doing so, earn great merit.Every step of the journey grants a portion of that merit, which can then directly elevate one's cultivation.It's a divine task of heavenly virtue."
This explanation cast new light on the Westward Journey.Back in the previous era, the Journey to the West wasn't meritorious simply because they traveled and spread Buddhism.
Rather—In the Western world, there existed a primordial earth vein, an ancestral meridian that had been shattered for unknown reasons.Even the spiritual soul of that earth vein had scattered.
The journey westward was about gathering Earth Qi, calling back the lost soul of the ancestral vein, and rebuilding it.
Once complete, the earth vein would be reborn—and that act would bring forth immeasurable virtue, a feat akin to remaking the world itself.
Those who walked the journey could become Buddhas and Saints.
That was in the last era.
Now, in the Eternal Era, with the fusion of myriad realms and the convergence of countless fantasies, the Westward Journey world existed in many forms, overlapping and echoing one another.
A fragmented ancestral vein still existed in this reality—one equal in strength to any current ancestral vein in the Eternal World.
If successfully restored, this vein could elevate an entire domain, possibly turning a region into a tenth continent, alongside the Nine Heavens Province.
However, only those with special destinies could call forth the ancestral vein's soul.
Two fates were essential:
Ten Lives of Virtue (十世善人)
Heavenly Virtue Mandate (功德天命)
Without these, no one could restore the ancestral vein—no matter how far they walked.
Tang Buer was a Ten Lives of Virtue man.
The monkey—Yuan Gang—carried the Heavenly Virtue Mandate.
With them united, the others in the journey mattered less.Their presence helped, but wasn't essential.
And of course, the Westward Journey required more than just a walk.It demanded spiritual resonance, trials, and more that only participants would come to understand.
"He's a Ten Lives of Virtue man and a Heaven's Favored One?!"
Yi Tianxing was stunned.
A Ten Lives of Virtue man was exceedingly rare—someone who had lived ten consecutive lifetimes as a truly great and benevolent person.
Not just "good"—but saintly, across ten reincarnations.
Such a soul moved heaven and earth.
Even immortals and gods dared not touch him.
With such fortune, he was shielded by spirits, blessed by fate.He wasn't meant to die.And if he did, he would become a monstrous calamity.
"Old Tang mustn't die. If he dies, it's all over!!"the monkey shouted in anguish.
"It is precisely because he is a Ten Lives of Virtue man that he must be sacrificed,"the Chaos Demon King responded coldly.
She had clearly known all along.If Tang Buer were not a Ten Lives of Virtue man, she wouldn't have selected him as the core offering in the Grand Sacrifice.
"The sacrifice has begun. None of you can stop it now.To be sacrificed to the great Progenitor of Ten Thousand Demons—that is their honor."
Her words held fanatical reverence.
As she finished, the altar erupted.
Countless mysterious sacrificial runes surged across its surface.
A golden flame appeared out of thin air, enveloping all the young men, including Tang Buer.The fire was sacred, ancient, and mysterious.
Within it, countless shadowy figures appeared—worshipping, chanting, sacrificing.
Ancient sacrificial hymns echoed throughout the altar and the entire Savage Demon Kingdom.
"AHHH!!"
"No! I don't want to die!"
"Save me, please!!"
"I was about to start a new, happy life! Why do I have to die like this?! I'm not ready!"
The altar was filled with cries of fear, anger, and despair.
And then, one by one, the young men were burned to ash.Their bodies dissolved, their souls transformed into glowing sacrificial runes, which flew upward into the skies.
The hymn grew louder, the golden light brighter, forming a pillar of divine energy that pierced the heavens.
This was the Sacred Sacrificial Flame (圣祭天火)—No offering could resist it.
Once chosen, they would be consumed.
"I won't accept this! I'm a Heaven's Favored One! Why must I be sacrificed?!"
Tang Buer's face twisted in agonized defiance.
He had never imagined this would be his fate—to die not in battle, but as a sacrificial offering. It was the cruelest injustice—he couldn't accept it.
But fate was indifferent.
The Sacred Flame consumed him.
His body began to dissolve visibly, turning into the most precious of offerings.
At the same time, a tide of vast fate surged into the altar—The national fortune of the Savage Demon Kingdom.
This was an offering of everything—even their kingdom's destiny.Should the offering fail, it would mean extinction for the entire nation.
The Chaos Demon King had burned all bridges, leaving no path to retreat.She had bet everything on this one ritual.
"It's over…"
The monkey trembled with fury, gripping his iron staff so tightly it cracked.
BOOM—!!
The Grand Demon Sacrifice was now fully underway.
A mysterious connection had been opened.
Above the Savage Demon Kingdom, the void twisted.
A vision appeared in the sky—
A mighty, endless river.
No one could see where it began or ended.
It stretched across the cosmos, and within it…all of existence flowed—a river of time itself.
Within its waters were countless scenes:
All beings, all moments, all events—real, past, or unfolding.
"That's… time…"
"The River of Time…"
"The legendary River of Time (时空长河)?!"
The moment they saw it, knowledge awakened in everyone's minds.They recognized it instantly:
This was the river that connected past, present, and future—the arbiter of fate and existence.
The future is destiny.
The present is the only truth.
The past is memory.
At this moment, under the influence of the ritual hymns,the River of Time began to reverse—flowing violently backward, racing upstream.
It revealed the evolution of civilizations, the birth of life, even the moment of the fusion of ten thousand realms…
The River of Time surged backward—against the current.