Great Demon Sun Wukong

Because he was influenced by the giant black stone statue outside, Sun Wukong at first glance thought there were three black stone statues in the stone house as well, but upon entering, he realized these three were not statues. They felt more like three people who had been instantly frozen in place for some reason. The positions of these statues were also rather odd, seated inside the inner room on three chairs, with the postures of people eating, and indeed, there were stone sculptures of food on the stone table in front of them. If this wasn't someone whimsically carving an entire city and everything inside it out of black stone, then the only explanation was that the city had been petrified in an instant.

The more Sun Wukong looked, the more he felt this was likely, as no one could have carved these with such precision. Everything in the room was completely accounted for, though all made of stone. "So it seems," he mused, "that this city was not built with black stone as I previously thought, but that someone with great magical power turned the entire city into black stone. Who could have done this, and why? And what did the city originally look like?" Sun Wukong's curiosity grew. He stepped out of the stone house and onto the street outside. Now, as he looked around, Sun Wukong noticed even more clues that signaled without a doubt this was indeed a petrified city, not one sculpted or cast from black stone.

Looking up at the large stone statue in the center of the city, could it be that this too, was not a statue but a giant that had been petrified? A whole city petrified would certainly not be without reason. Either someone had attacked this place, and petrified the city as a last resort during war or, there was some secret hidden within the city, something so detrimental it couldn't be destroyed, so petrification was the next best option. On reflection, the first scenario seemed unlikely—there were no traces of war in or around this area.

Activating his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, Sun Wukong began to search inch by inch, every part of the land, not overlooking any insignificant corner. However, after a full day and night of searching, Sun Wukong had carefully scouted every part of the Stone City but found nothing amiss. It seemed as though this place was indeed just an empty, uninhabited Stone City. "Impossible, there can't be nothing here. Could I have guessed wrong?" He was reluctant to give up, but Sun Wukong was also growing tired. In this strange and dangerous world, the basic principle of survival was always to retain eighty percent of one's strength.

So, though unwilling, Sun Wukong chose an empty stone house to rest. His world within the artifact contained plenty of food, so he wasn't worried about going hungry. After resting and eating for about three Chinese hours, Sun Wukong opened his eyes, ready to search one last time. If still nothing was found, he would leave immediately. He couldn't afford to waste too much time here. But as soon as he opened his eyes, Sun Wukong felt that something was off, though he couldn't quite pinpoint what. On guard, he took out his Jingu Bang and the World Suppressing Stele, and carefully pushed open the stone gate.

As the door opened, Sun Wukong's pupils instantly dilated, and his body reacted immediately, crouching low and rolling to the side to take cover behind the door of the inner room. He then saw a dark, large tail smash the stone table inside the house to pieces, and immediately after, that same large tail with a sharp, coldly gleaming poison needle at the front stabbed towards the inner room where Sun Wukong had been. The very sight of this tail made the hairs on his body stand on end. He recognized it instantly—it was the tail of a scorpion; a giant scorpion at that.

Back in the day, when he was journeying to the Western Paradise, Sun Wukong and his companions had passed through the Kingdom of Women and encountered a scorpion spirit. That scorpion was incredibly fierce; Sun Wukong was accidentally stung by its tail, and it had hurt for a long time. Therefore, the moment that tail appeared, Sun Wukong recognized it. Watching the black tail shoot towards him like lightning, Sun Wukong tossed the World Suppressing Stele over his head. As he rapidly retreated, the Stele was once again used like a brick. The scorpion's tail stabbed right onto the oncoming World Suppressing Stele.

Maybe the scorpion had grown accustomed to having its way in this place, never having met a proper adversary, so it didn't flinch as something smashed towards it. But this time, the large scorpion was out of luck. How sturdy was the World Suppressing Stele? Even though the poison needle on the scorpion's tail was tough and sharp, it was directly smashed by the Stele. Sun Wukong followed up with the Seal Heavenly Stamp, three diamond-like chains shot out rapidly, coiling along the scorpion's tail. Simultaneously, Sun Wukong heard a piercing shriek. With a smirk, he said, "You dared to clash with the World Suppressing Stele head-on, you're asking for it!"

Looking up, Sun Wukong instantly leaped and burst through the rooftop, appearing on the exterior rooftop of the stone house. However, as soon as he steadied himself, Sun Wukong was stunned, and he involuntarily gasped, "Hisss, why are there so many?" Standing atop the rooftop with a commanding view, Sun Wukong could see most of Stone City. Beyond the black stone architecture, everywhere he looked were giant scorpions, bigger than himself, with bodies that shone like black mirrors. Thousands of them, densely packed together, filled every crevice of the city, and many of similar massive size had taken positions on the rooftops of neighboring stone houses.

Although Sun Wukong didn't recognize what species these black scorpions were, he found it rather inconceivable. He had previously scouted the area with his Divine Consciousness and had found Stone City devoid of people and any living things. But in the short time, he had rested, so many had appeared—a truly unbelievable scene. While Sun Wukong was still in shock, the giant scorpions did not idle. In an instant, the whole place seemed to be boiling with excitement; the scorpions started stirring, and those underneath and near the stone house where Sun Wukong was, began preparing to attack him.

Even though there were many of these intimidating scorpions, Sun Wukong wasn't overly concerned. Under the scrutiny of his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, these scorpions' Cultivation was at the level of Nine Patterns Supreme, the same as Sun Wukong's, but their actual Combat Power was far inferior. He recalled his World Suppressing Stele, and watching the giant scorpions now climbing the walls of the stone house, he didn't immediately act but instead considered the best method to eliminate them.

Sun Wukong had numerous tactics at his disposal. He could use the Seal Heavenly Stamp to immobilize them and then kill them off one by one; he could also fly into the air and crush them one by one with the World Suppressing Stele. Of course, he could also turn the scorpions into dried husks with the Three Thousand Desolate Sands. However, Sun Wukong had the distinct impression that the sudden appearance of these giant scorpions was highly abnormal—something was definitely amiss. Therefore, instead of choosing to exterminate the scorpions straightaway, he rose up and flew toward the tallest statue in the center of the city. Though numerous and powerful, these scorpions presented a disaster to any world, and even a Divine Kingdom would pay a steep price to eradicate them. In a High Level world, they could have caused complete annihilation. However, these scorpions had one fatal flaw: they couldn't fly. Once Sun Wukong took to the skies, they were powerless against him.

When Sun Wukong stood atop the giant statue's head, he was shocked once again—but this time, he was utterly dumbfounded. From this viewpoint, he saw that the entire Black Stone City had been taken over by the black scorpions. Earlier, from a lower vantage point, he had only seen thousands and thought they were besieging him. Now Sun Wukong realized that he might have been too self-involved—their target wasn't him at all. Perhaps they had attacked because they were startled when Sun Wukong suddenly pushed open the Stone Gate.

The reason for this speculation was that Sun Wukong saw on the outskirts of Black Stone City a virtually endless expanse of creatures. But this time, they weren't scorpions; they were incredibly plump worms, very much like earthworms, only much, much larger. Each of these giant worms had a mouthful of reverse barbs resembling fangs, numbering in the thousands at least.

"Could this be... a war between two species? Giant scorpions and giant earthworms?"

What Sun Wukong didn't know was that these black scorpions were known as Black Mirror Scorpions, and what he had called earthworms were known as Tongtian Worms! (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to head over to Starting Point (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation and Monthly Pass votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)