plumnovel Chapter 111 Zhang Ting
Chapter 111 Zhang Ting
Once Black Stone Road opened, the sea breeze rushed in.
The bamboo basket was still rolling at Chen Fan's feet.
Zongwu bent down first, picked up the bamboo basket, and whispered, "Let's go. They've noticed."
Chen Fan remained silent.
He tucked the scriptures into his bosom and stepped onto the road.
The road is not long.
The ground beneath my feet is covered with old characters.
It was as if someone had crushed page after page of discarded manuscripts and then pressed them into stone. Every step was painful and uncomfortable underfoot. Shadows flickered on both sides, some human-shaped, some animal-shaped, and one even had half a face pressed against the roadside, muttering a phrase over and over.
"Submit page two... Submit page two..."
Zongwu felt a chill run down his spine, cursed, and kicked the half-face off.
Chen Fan walked even faster.
The last reminder from the previous anchor point was still stuck in his mind.
Don't let the monkeys go through the door first.
This means that the Grand Censorate is already waiting for a "true protagonist" to return.
Whoever steps in first may be locked out.
A light appeared at the end of the road.
The Grand Revision Court reappeared before my eyes.
It was still that same large courtyard.
It's frighteningly tall.
All four sides were covered with hanging black pages. The corners of the pages turned, like a group of eyelids staring intently. The long table in the courtroom remained unchanged, the cataloger sat at the front, still with that deathly expression. The presiding judge stood on the left, his sleeves rolled up, his eyes even colder. The judge sat at the head of the table, his pen still twirling in his hand.
They acted as if they hadn't moved at all.
It's like I've been waiting all along.
As soon as Chen Fan and Zong Wu stepped across the threshold, the cataloger spoke.
"They came back quickly."
His voice was dry.
It scratches the table like a piece of paper.
"What about the second page?"
All eyes in the courtroom turned towards them.
Zongwu's throat moved.
Chen Fan didn't even look at him, lifted his foot and continued walking inside, heading straight to the courtyard.
The cataloger lifted his eyelids.
"I'm asking you, where's the second page?"
Chen Fan stopped and looked up at him.
"What's your hurry?"
Upon hearing this, several people in the courtyard frowned.
The cataloger's face darkened.
"Chen Fan, the place you're standing here isn't Five Finger Mountain, nor is it your broken Flower Fruit Mountain. If you dare to delay, the Deletion Order will continue to suppress you. If there's no proof on the first page, it will also be invalidated. Tang Sanzang will be erased first, then the White Dragon Horse, and after that, you know in your heart who will be next."
After he finished speaking, he even gave a deliberate laugh.
"I'm just curious."
"Who are you planning to kill first this time?"
Zong Wu clenched his fist, almost rushing forward.
That's a really harsh statement.
It wasn't about pressuring for payment; it was about stabbing Chen Fan in the heart with a knife.
Several clerks in the courtroom also looked up, their eyes shining, as if they were watching a play.
They all want to see it.
Chen Fan couldn't hold on any longer.
Watch him hand over the second page.
Watch as he personally chooses someone to die.
Chen Fan wasn't in a hurry.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the receipt.
The first page.
The paper is small.
The corners were still damp from the Sea of Life.
The words on it, however, were dazzlingly bright.
Without any preamble, he simply raised his hand and flicked it away.
Snapped!
The certificate was slammed heavily onto the courtroom table.
The sound wasn't loud.
The entire courtroom fell silent.
The cataloger's smile froze for a moment.
Zong Wu was stunned for a moment, then took a deep breath and his eyes lit up.
"you……"
Chen Fan stared at the cataloger.
"Don't we need proof?"
"Open your eyes wide and look."
"I brought back the price of the first page."
The paper seemed to come alive, spreading out on the table by itself.
The handwriting emerged line by line.
Anchor point replacement. The life account book serves as proof. Tang Sanzang, first page, legally valid.
The last line is even more ruthless.
The traces left by the previous generation have been collected.
It cannot be revoked.
As soon as these eight words were uttered, the hanging scrolls in the courtyard all trembled.
The judge at the head of the table stopped twirling his pen.
He sat up straight for the first time.
The chief official's expression also changed.
The cataloger, needless to say, had his hands pressed directly against the edge of the table, his knuckles stiff.
"impossible."
His voice lowered.
"The Sea of Life and Death won't give you something like that."
Chen Fan smiled.
"Go ask the sea."
"Asking me is useless."
Zong Wu finally realized what was happening and immediately stepped forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Isn't the Chief Justice the most rule-abiding court? The evidence is right here. The first page is legal. What did you mean by suppressing it before?"
This made the matter crystal clear.
Face slap.
He still slapped her in the face in court.
The clerks looked at each other, their pens falling silent.
They were expecting to see Chen Fan kneel down, but he came back and presented irrefutable evidence first.
The judge, with a stern face, raised his hand and gestured.
The certificate flew right in front of him.
He glanced at it, and the more he looked, the more his brows furrowed.
The illusory image of the Boundary Deletion Order hanging in the courtyard trembled. The few lines of text that had been blackened on it began to retreat. First, it retreated from the crack under Tang Sanzang's name, then it retreated to the edge of the main westward journey, and even the several sub-lines that had been suppressed at Flower Fruit Mountain also loosened.
Zongwu's eyelids twitched as he watched, and he almost burst out laughing.
"They've withdrawn, they've really withdrawn."
Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
This trip was worthwhile.
The previous generation of anchor points were not wasted.
After reading it, the judge remained silent for three breaths before placing the evidence back on the table.
"Page 1, approved and effective."
A single sentence was uttered.
The courtyard immediately erupted in hushed whispers.
"You really admit it?"
"How is that possible? He really brought it back from the Sea of Life and Death..."
"What about the previous rejection ruling?"
"Shut up, don't talk nonsense."
The cataloger's face had turned ashen.
He stared at Chen Fan, the amusement gone from his eyes, replaced by coldness.
Chen Fan also stared at him.
"Anything else to say?"
The cataloger's lips twitched, then he suddenly smiled.
"have."
"So what if we admit it on the first page?"
"Your storyline is still flawed. Reverting the deletion order doesn't mean it's canceled. The gap in the protagonist's position remains. The second page still needs to be filled."
The master then took a step forward, flicked his sleeve, and spoke in a very calm voice.
"good."
"The Supreme Court adheres to the rules, not personal relationships. The first page merely proves that Tang Sanzang can live temporarily."
"If we want to keep the whole storyline stable, we still need a true protagonist who will explain the price."
He looked at the judge.
"The most suitable person right now is actually quite clear."
Zong Wu's face darkened.
Chen Fan's eyes turned cold.
The chief clerk slowly uttered three words.
"Sun Wukong".
The courtyard fell silent instantly.
Then, it was like water dripping into boiling oil.
"Yes, Sun Wukong is the main character."
"He's the most reliable."
"Moreover, he is the one most implicated, and his death will make up for it all at once."
"Tang Sanzang can stay, and the journey to the West can continue, it's just in a different form."
These people talk so lightly.
Like picking out an item.
Zongwu, enraged, immediately cursed, "Bullshit! You guys really dare to think that way! If the monkey dies, what's the point of the journey west?!"
The cataloger coldly replied, "Whether you leave or not is not up to you."
"Now the court only recognizes the profits."
"With Sun Wukong dead, the gap will be the smallest, and the recovery the most. Aren't you all the most protective of that monk? Then let's use the monkey to fill the gap."
After he finished speaking, his gaze returned to Chen Fan's face, tinged with malice.
"Chen Fan, aren't you supposed to be a good picky eater?"
"It's your turn now."
"A monk, or a monkey?"
Whom are you protecting?
At this, the group of scribes who were watching all fell silent.
Everyone was staring at Chen Fan.
Wait for his answer.
They wanted to see his expression change.
I want to see him break down.
The person who had been stirring up trouble all along was finally forced to make a choice.
Chen Fan stood in the courtyard, motionless for a long time.
Zong Wu took half a step closer to him and said in a low voice, "Don't fall for it. They're doing this on purpose."
Chen Fan certainly knew.
This is not a suggestion.
This is a coup d'état.
The slap on the first page was too loud; they lost face and immediately wanted to turn the tide. Since Tang Sanzang couldn't be moved for the time being, they turned their attention to Sun Wukong.
The monkey is the loose end of the thread.
It's also the source of the fire.
If we can suppress him, even if this anti-Heavenly Court line is not broken, it will be half destroyed.
The judge remained silent.
At that moment, he finally raised his eyes.
Arguing is pointless.
"Since the court has not reached a decision, let's proceed as usual."
The cataloger's eyes lit up.
The chief official nodded slowly.
Zongwu's heart sank.
He hates the phrase "as usual" the most.
The so-called old precedents of the General Revision Court are, nine times out of ten, not good things.
The judge raised his pen and made a dot in the air.
"Draw lots".
Two words were uttered.
The entire Grand Chamber trembled.
The four hanging pages flipped rapidly, making a dense, clattering sound. A crack appeared in the darkness of the courtyard ceiling, and a bronze divination tube slowly descended. The tube was covered with old engravings, as if touched by countless hands. Each engraving was filled with pale gold characters.
Zongwu gasped.
"The fortune-telling box that locks in the protagonist's position..."
His voice has changed.
"How come this thing is still here?"
The cataloger smiled grimly: "Of course. Who takes the lead isn't determined by who shouts the loudest, but by what the court decides."
Chen Fan looked at the divination stick container and gently bit down with his back teeth.
He got it.
The old anchor's saying, "Don't let the monkeys go in first," refers to this.
Whoever gets locked out first gets the draw.
But now, it's no longer a question of whether or not to get in.
They want to draw directly.
The judge raised his hand.
The lottery box trembled violently.
Bamboo skewers clashed wildly inside, the sound urgent and chaotic, making one's heart ache. A faint light began to appear above the heads of everyone in the courtroom. First it appeared above the cataloger's head, then above the chief judge's, but not above the judge's head, and even above Zongwu's head, there was a faint gray light.
Chen Fan looked up and around, his brows furrowing more and more tightly.
These lights are not symbols of identity.
It is a lockable "bit".
Whoever shines the brightest is the one most likely to be chosen by the court to replace the protagonist.
next moment.
The lottery box suddenly stopped.
A golden token flew out with a whoosh, spun three times in mid-air, and pointed straight towards the direction outside the courtyard gate.
Zong Wu was taken aback at first, then his expression changed drastically.
"Flower and Fruit Mountain!"
"They're locking up monkeys!"
A ruthless glint appeared in the cataloger's eyes. Just as he was about to speak, a second slip of paper flew out.
This time, we didn't go outside.
It circled once in the courtyard and then suddenly stopped.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
Chen Fan also looked up.
A pale golden character began to light up from above his head.
First, there's a horizontal line.
Then there's a vertical line.
Finally, they were spelled out as two glaringly large characters.
protagonist.
The entire Grand Chamber fell into a deathly silence.
Zong Wu's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, his mouth agape, unable to utter a word for a long time.
The cataloger was also stunned.
For the first time, the Master's face showed genuine surprise.
Even the judge's pen froze in mid-air.
Chen Fan stood still.
He felt the two words above his head were burning hot, as if someone had placed a red-hot branding iron on the top of his head.
Then, the third stick in the divination tube slowly rose up.
Chapter 171 Protagonist Lottery
The third slip rose halfway up, but didn't land immediately.
The body of the scepter was black, but the tip was slightly pale.
It looks like it was ground from bone.
The judge stared at the slip of paper, his expression turning grim for the first time.
"Rules on page two, updated."
As soon as he finished speaking, the huge book that was open above the entire Grand Chamber turned a page by itself.
The paper made a very soft sound.
A chill ran down everyone's spine.
There is only one line of text on the new page.
The protagonist's death can be replaced with a more stable main story.
As soon as the words appeared, Zong Wu cursed out, "You son of a bitch, is this what you call a rule?"
The cataloger was taken aback at first, then his eyes suddenly lit up.
He felt as if he had suddenly grabbed the hilt of a knife.
"Good, very good." He stared at Sun Wukong, his voice barely audible. "Now that the main character has appeared, let's stick to the old formula. The monkey was the main character all along; if he dies, the whole story is safe."
Wukong grinned.
His smile was devoid of any warmth.
Say it again, I, Old Sun, am listening.
The cataloger didn't back down; instead, he took a step forward: "You've gotten to where you are today just because you're the main character? Without that persona, what are you? A remnant of a havoc in Heaven? Or a monkey that should be sent back down the mountain?"
The courtyard fell silent instantly.
The chief official did not stop them.
He's watching.
Let's see who gets hurt by these new rules.
The two "protagonists" on Chen Fan's head were still burning, hooking at his forehead like hooks. He didn't look at the cataloger, but looked up at the giant book first.
Below the new page, three pale gold lines are drooping downwards.
One fell on Wukong's head.
One fell on Tang Sanzang's head.
The last one landed right on his head.
The judge took a breath and slowly announced, "There are currently three abnormal protagonists."
"Sun Wukong".
"Tang Sanzang".
"Chen Fan".
The moment the words were spoken, the entire court erupted in uproar.
"How come there are three?"
"Can the main characters be listed side-by-side?"
"Tang Sanzang can still do calculations? Wasn't his meridian line already crooked?"
"And what gives Chen Fan the right?"
Zong Wu grinned as he listened, then turned to look at Chen Fan: "Your face is really valuable; you earned yourself a title as soon as you walked in."
Chen Fan didn't respond to that.
He saw the cataloger's lips twitch.
This old man was just about to pin the protagonist to Wukong, but when the rules were changed, three protagonists appeared at once.
Half of the abacus beads broke first.
The cataloger quickly regained his composure, pointing at Wukong: "Abnormalities don't count. The main storyline still originates with the stone monkey. Tang Sanzang merely carries the pilgrimage storyline, and Chen Fan is just a random anchor point. They're all considered off-pages. The only one truly deserving of a death sentence is Sun Wukong."
The judge remained silent.
This shows that the statement is not entirely wrong.
Zong Wu's face darkened immediately.
"Chen Fan, we have to grab him."
"Nonsense." Chen Fan uttered two words, his eyes already narrowed.
The protagonist's defining characteristic is the sword.
Whoever hangs the most securely on their head is the most likely to be used as a filler.
What looks like glory now is actually a death knell.
What's even more ruthless is that the cataloger wanted to keep this knife firmly planted on Wukong's head.
Once Wukong becomes the sole protagonist, the next step is to force him to his death.
Chen Fan suddenly smiled.
The cataloger's heart skipped a beat when he saw him smile.
Whenever this kid laughs like that, it's never anything good.
"What are you laughing at?" the cataloger asked coldly.
Chen Fan raised his hand and pointed to the huge book.
"You say there can only be one main character? I don't believe it."
"Now that the rules have been adopted three times, why are you still pretending to be an old accountant?"
The cataloger scoffed: "That's an anomaly."
"Abnormalities are also acknowledged." Chen Fan took two steps forward, his voice not loud, but everyone in the courtroom could hear him clearly. "Since a complete story can establish a person and be listed, it's not the exclusive domain of a monkey. Whoever has the information can claim it."
Upon hearing this, the Master's eyelids twitched slightly.
The judge also turned and glanced at him.
The cataloger's face turned ashen: "Bullshit. Do you think the main character is like a wooden sign at the execution ground, something anyone can just take off?"
"Whether it's possible or not, just ask and you'll find out."
Chen Fan abruptly turned to look at Zong Wu: "Ask!"
Zong Wu grinned, as if he had been waiting for this sentence.
He took a step forward, and slammed the stone in his hand onto the ground.
The cracks on the stone surface instantly spread.
"Use your right to question the current page regulations!"
"Can anyone with a complete storyline compete for the lead role?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the stone emitted a sharp sound.
The entire courtroom was staring at the stone.
The cataloger tried to interrupt, but before he could even raise his hand, the judge's pen was already held horizontally.
"The court hearing is not yet over; no disturbances allowed."
The cataloger was so exhausted from chewing his teeth that he could only stand.
The stone shook three times.
The first crack is shiny.
The second time, the core is red.
On the third strike, a character suddenly appeared in the middle of the stone surface.
can.
The whole court fell silent.
The next moment, an uproar erupted.
Zong Wu burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking with mirth: "Did you hear that? Yeah. I love these hard, unyielding words."
The cataloger's face turned pale.
"Impossible, this is impossible!"
"How could the rules have gotten to this level!"
Chen Fan didn't even look at him, and pointed into the courtyard.
"Then don't just sit around doing nothing."
"Master, do you have a complete storyline?"
The chief stood on the high steps, his eyes cold.
Chen Fan continued, "You've been in charge of the Supreme Court for so many years, countless cases have passed through your hands. You're not just a background figure. You have a history, choices, and stances. Of course you have your own agenda."
As soon as he finished speaking, a golden light actually appeared above the Master's head.
It's very light.
But it really did light up.
The master narrowed his eyes, not immediately suppressing it for the first time.
Zong Wu's scalp tingled: "Can it really hang?"
Chen Fan laughed even faster and turned his head to nod again.
"Where is the principal debtor?"
The dark figure that had remained hidden outside the courtyard seemed to sway slightly upon hearing the name.
"You've been collecting debts in the Sea of Debts for so long, and the debtors have changed time and again. You yourself are a line in the sand. What are you hiding from?"
boom.
Outside the courtyard gate, a wisp of golden characters shot up above the dark figure.
Although it is intangible and scattered, it has still taken shape as half of the form.
Wait.
Everyone in the room nearly had their eyes pop out.
The cataloger panicked this time and yelled at the judge, "Stop! If this continues, the main characters will be a complete mess!"
The judge stared at the huge book, sweat beading on his forehead.
Because the giant book was not denied.
Not denying it is tantamount to tacit approval.
Chen Fan seized the opportunity and continued to push outwards.
"Who else?"
"Those who have a complete line, step forward."
As soon as he shouted, everyone in the courtyard who had been hiding started to move.
An old clerk guarding the records looked up and stammered, "I...I've looked at the pages seven times, does that count?"
A flash of light appeared above his head.
It's unstable; it's gone.
Another proofreader with one arm stepped forward: "I've been following this from the first page to now, and I was present for all three revisions."
It also flashed above his head.
It shines a little longer than the old official.
Everyone went crazy.
"I have a cable!"
"I have one too!"
"I was once in charge of dividing the Journey to the West volumes!"
"I've seen the first draft of the main text!"
In an instant, golden characters flew wildly in the sky above the entire General Correctional Court.
Some are "waiters", some are half "masters", and some are shattered as soon as they emerge.
Like a flock of crows scrambling for a spot, they swarmed everywhere.
Zongwu, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, slapped his thigh and laughed, "Chaos! Even more chaos! I love watching you accountants steal the show!"
The cataloger was so angry he almost fainted, and suddenly pointed at Chen Fan: "You're ruining the court! Do you know what will happen if the main character is taken away?"
Chen Fan turned to look at him, his tone very calm.
"I know."
"Wukong won't stand on the target alone."
This sentence was like a hammer blow.
Wukong, who had been silent until now, turned his head and glanced at Chen Fan.
That look was very short.
But the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.
"Okay, it's for feeding monkeys."
"Your hands are dirtier than if you smashed a mountain."
Chen Fan waved his hand: "You're welcome."
The cataloger wanted to argue, but suddenly looked up.
Because the third stick finally moved.
It spun in mid-air, and the previously pale white tip suddenly split open with three cracks.
Every opening faces one person.
Wukong.
Tang Sanzang.
Chen Fan.
The judge hissed, "Dead contracts have been diverted."
Zong Wu's smile vanished instantly: "Diverting traffic isn't a good thing either."
Chen Fan certainly knew.
Diversion is not a cancellation.
It went from one person being certain to die to all three potentially being drawn.
Moreover, with so many potential main characters emerging, the rules are looking for new support structures.
Whoever has the most complete line will be caught and sent to patch up the holes.
The chief official suddenly spoke.
"Chen Fan, you're trying to steal the right to define it."
"Yes," Chen Fan admitted readily.
The magistrate stared at him: "Even if you manage to snatch it, you might not survive."
"It's nothing." Chen Fan forced a smile. "Let's make sure others don't die so easily."
After those words were spoken, even the judge fell silent for a moment.
The cataloger seemed to suddenly realize something, and a sinister smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"You're celebrating too soon."
He flicked his sleeve and pulled an old nail from his pocket.
A wisp of monkey hair was wrapped around the nail.
Wukong's eyes turned cold.
It was peeled off from an old scroll.
"The main character candidates can be eliminated, but the main character's origin cannot be changed." The cataloger stared at the monkey hair as if grasping at the last rope. "If I put the source nail back on the stone monkey's head, all the side branches will have to retreat. In the end, he'll still be the one to bear the brunt of the blame!"
He was about to press the nail down after he finished speaking.
Wukong raised his foot and charged.
The official raised his hand to seal it.
The judge also picked up his pen and put it down.
The General Revision Court was instantly thrown into chaos.
Just then, a scream suddenly came from outside the courtyard.
That wasn't a human shouting.
It looked like something had been forcibly pulled over from a distance.
Everyone paused for a moment.
The next moment, the courtyard gate was flung open with a loud crash.
A figure was dragged in, close to the ground.
He gripped the ground with both hands, his ten fingers bleeding, but he still couldn't stop sliding forward.
His face is exactly the same as Wukong's.
His eyes were just darker and wilder.
Six-eared macaque.
He was dragged into the center of the main hall by an unseen force, his neck jerked up, and a blinding golden light flashed above his head.
Not the main character.
It consists of four characters.
Substitute lead actor.
Liu Er looked up and saw those four words. His pupils instantly shrank to a point, and he immediately started cursing.
"Who the hell is standing up for whom?"
Chapter 172 Substitute Protagonist Liu Er
Text content
The six-eared macaque lay on the ground, its chest heaving rapidly.
He cursed first, then looked up at the four golden characters, and the fierce look in his eyes slowly changed.
Substitute lead actor.
His Adam's apple bobbed.
The next moment, he smiled, a slight upward smirk playing on his lips.
"A substitute?"
"Alright."
"Isn't coming on as a substitute the same as playing?"
Upon hearing this, many people in the courtroom looked up.
The cataloger was the first to realize it.
He stepped out, his eyes flashing with an alarming light, and his voice even quickened a few decibels.
"good!"
"The Grand Council doesn't care about background, only whether someone can fill a position."
"Sun Wukong has deviated from the original text multiple times. In that case, it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace him with someone more obedient."
Upon hearing this, Liu Er straightened his back.
He was digging at the ground just now, but now he stands up, dusts off his hands, and acts as if he's already taken his seat.
"Did you hear me?"
Liu Er glanced sideways at Wukong.
"It's not that I'm trying to cause you trouble, it's just that even this place thinks you should step aside."
Zong Wu stood behind Chen Fan and muttered a curse under his breath.
"This beast, it hasn't even settled into its seat yet, and it's already got cocky."
The chief remained silent.
He just stared at the divination tube, at the four characters above Liu Er's head, his face colder than a stone slab.
The judge held the pen, the tip pausing twice in the air, as if waiting.
Who will speak first?
All eyes quickly fell on Wukong.
Logically speaking, it should have exploded at this point.
It's time to turn against them.
That would have ripped the roof off the courtyard.
But Wukong just picked at his ears and yawned.
"oh."
One word.
The entire courtroom was stunned.
Liu Er was also stunned.
He had prepared a whole host of provocative remarks, but Wukong simply replied with an "oh."
That feeling was worse than being slapped.
Liu Er gritted his teeth and raised his voice.
"What are you pretending for?"
"Aren't you afraid?"
Wukong looked up at him, his eyes full of impatience.
"What are you afraid of?"
"You can take my place if you want."
"Take my baton first."
The moment he finished speaking, the golden cudgel was already in his hand.
No nonsense.
The staff shuddered, and the entire headquarters seemed to shudder.
Liu Er's eyelids twitched wildly, but he still didn't back down.
He laughed loudly and grabbed with his backhand.
A ring of Buddhist light burst forth from the void with a "clang".
A new stick fell into his hand.
The staff was thinner than Wukong's, with coils of Buddhist scriptures wrapped around it, and a golden ring hanging from the end. The golden ring jingled softly as it gently clattered, a sound that was quite annoying.
A hint of smugness appeared in the cataloger's eyes.
"A new Buddhist system, a magic staff to suppress falsehoods."
"Prepared specifically for those who need to fill in missing pages."
Liu Er grasped the stick, his arm suddenly felt heavy, and then his face lit up with surprise.
"My darling!"
He spun the staff, the golden rings jingled, and a beam of Buddhist light shot up the staff, making the four characters above his head even brighter.
"Sun Wukong".
"Today, in front of everyone in this courtyard, I'll beat you into a useless piece of trash!"
Before he could finish speaking, Wukong had already arrived.
The first blow hit right in the face.
No fancy tricks, just speed.
Liu Er hurriedly raised his stick to block.
"boom!"
The two sticks collided with a loud bang.
The black stone ground beneath Liu Er's feet instantly shattered, and cracks shot all the way to the pillars of the courtyard.
His legs sank half a foot into the ground, and his tiger's mouth split open instantly.
Blood trickled down his palm.
The smile on Liu Er's face froze.
The officials who had initially been watching with amusement were taken aback by the blow.
"You suppressed them with the very first move?"
"That's a new staff in Buddhism!"
"Isn't Liu Er from the same origin as him? Why are they so different?"
Liu Er's face twitched twice upon hearing these words.
He didn't believe it.
He hates it most when people say he's not as good as Sun Wukong.
"Again!"
He suddenly pulled himself up and burst out of the rubble, skimming the ground as he swung his staff upwards at a sharp angle, aiming straight for Wukong's ribs.
This move was as fast as a cold wind.
Wukong didn't even glance at it, and pressed down with the tail of his staff.
"clang!"
Another sound.
Liu Er's new staff was bent for a moment under the pressure.
Immediately afterwards, Wukong flipped his wrist, and the golden cudgel swept horizontally.
Liu Er quickly leaned back.
It was still half an inch too slow.
The wind blew past his face, splitting half of his face open and sending blood flying.
He screamed and tumbled several dozen feet away before crashing into a tombstone and coming to a stop.
The life-destiny tablet shook twice, and a long crack appeared on its surface.
The courtyard fell completely silent.
Liu Er covered his face, his palms covered in blood.
His eyes started to glaze over.
wrong.
That's not right.
In his mind, having taken the new staff and bearing the title of substitute protagonist, he should at least be able to put up a fight with Goku.
It shouldn't be this bad.
But now, two moves.
There are only two moves.
He's been beaten like a dog.
Wukong carried his staff and slowly walked over.
"Take his place."
"Keep replacing them."
"Old Sun is giving you a chance."
Each sentence was like a slap across Liu Er's face.
The cataloger's face turned ashen, and he suddenly shouted, "Six Ears, you have your name on your head! What are you afraid of! The fact that the position has fallen to you means that the court acknowledges that you can take over the case!"
These words reminded Liu Er.
He suddenly looked up at the four words above his head, as if grasping at the last rope.
Correct.
He also has this.
Substitute lead actor.
These words are not just for show.
Liu Er gritted his teeth, held the new stick horizontally in front of his chest with both hands, and roared fiercely.
"Cover your body with scriptures!"
"Leveraging the main storyline!"
The character "金" trembled.
A ray of golden light actually fell down and wrapped around him.
His wounds began to close, and the runes on the staff became dazzlingly bright.
Six Ears immediately started trembling again.
"See that?"
"This is clearly whose side fate is on!"
With a stomp of his foot, he soared into the sky, and with the help of that golden light, the shadow of his staff split into two, then four, and smashed towards Wukong from all directions.
This time, the scale is really impressive.
Even Zongwu shrank his neck.
"That bastard actually managed to get away with it."
Chen Fan remained silent.
He looked at the four characters above Liu Er's head, then at the golden light emanating from him, and his gaze slowly darkened.
This is not simply filling in for someone else.
Someone genuinely wanted to elevate Liu Er to be a shield.
The higher you lift someone up, the harder they'll fall.
With a flick of his palm, the scripture silently slipped into his sleeve.
On the other side, Wukong finally smiled.
It's not happiness.
It's the kind of laughter you get when you see a monkey show.
"this one?"
The third baton hits down.
There was no overwhelming presence of bats.
There is only one.
And only once.
When it fell, all the shadowy sticks that Liu Er had created shattered as if they were made of paper.
The golden light broke first.
The patterns on the surface disappeared.
The new Buddhist staff snapped open in the middle with a "crack".
Liu Er was still holding the broken stick in both hands, frozen in mid-air.
next moment.
Wukong's staff struck him squarely in the chest.
"Bang!"
Liu Er flew out like a tattered sack.
Along the way, it smashed three memorial tablets and a courtyard pillar, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.
Finally, it crashed to the edge of the courtyard and couldn't get up for a long time.
He opened his mouth and spat a mouthful of blood onto his chest.
The four characters above my head began to flicker.
The onlookers gasped in surprise.
It's completely blown up.
"This is what you call a substitute lead actor?"
"Three moves! Just three moves!"
"Even Buddhist teachings couldn't protect him?"
"He's not even half as good as Sun Wukong!"
The cataloger's face looked like it had been slapped hundreds of times with the sole of a shoe, turning pale and then flushed.
He was jumping the most enthusiastically just now.
Now, everyone looks at him with an indescribable feeling.
Six Ears lay in the blood, his ears ringing.
Only one sentence remained in his mind.
On what grounds?
They are both monkeys.
Why is there such a big difference?
He looked up, wanting to curse, wanting to beg, wanting to grasp at something else.
Chen Fan made his move at that moment.
He took two steps forward.
Unhappy.
But every step felt like stepping on the corner of a page.
The scripture slipped out of his sleeve and was opened.
That page was the one we had previously seized from the Sea of Life and Death.
The corners of the page feel cold.
The words still carried the fishy smell of the sea.
Chen Fan glanced at Liu Er, then at the swaying golden characters above his head, and a slight twitch appeared on his lips.
"The best time to change a name is when the story is at its most complete."
Zongwu's eyelids twitched upon hearing this.
"What are you going to do?"
Chen Fan ignored him.
He raised his hand and pressed his fingertips directly into the middle of the scripture page.
There was originally a blank line on that page.
It's like waiting for someone to fill in the form.
Chen Fan uttered four words.
"The Death of the Protagonist".
The courtyard fell silent.
The cataloger was the first to react, shouting sternly, "Stop! That's not a page you can touch!"
Chen Fan looked up at him.
"If you can help a substitute get promoted, it's not unreasonable for me to change a page, is it?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he made a stroke with his fingertip.
The blank line suddenly displayed the character "墨".
At first, the name was still lingering.
It's like oscillating between Wukong and Liu Er.
But the four "substitute protagonists" above Liu Er's head suddenly lit up, as if they had voluntarily accepted the plot.
The next instant, the ink character was completely set.
Six-eared macaque.
Three words, dark and heavy.
The cataloger's eyes turned red, and he lunged forward to snatch it.
The master raised his hand to stop him, freezing him in place.
"Let him finish writing."
The cataloger's face contorted in disgust.
"Master!"
The chief judge didn't even glance at him, his eyes fixed on that page.
He also wanted to know what the outcome would be if he wrote this down to the end.
Liu Er also saw it at this moment.
He didn't understand at first.
When he saw the words "The Death of the Protagonist" and then saw his own name pasted on the back, he completely exploded.
"No!"
"It wasn't me!"
"I'm just a substitute! Does being a substitute count as being a main character?!"
He shouted as he climbed.
His fingers dug bloody marks into the ground.
He wanted to climb the social ladder by working for the catalogers.
He wants to climb the social ladder to the Master's side.
He wants someone to save him.
But no one moved.
Even the cataloger who had just been advocating for him to take on the task was now frozen in place, forced to watch helplessly.
The book suddenly turned a page by itself.
"Whoosh—"
The second page is blank; text will automatically appear on the page.
He writes very quickly.
It's like someone is holding a pen and writing furiously in the dark.
As Liu Er stared at that page, the color drained from his face.
Because what was written on it was exactly how he looked at that moment.
Three moves reveal his true colors.
The attempt to borrow the stick failed.
The subrogation turned into a sacrificial page.
With each additional line of text, the golden aura emanating from him diminished.
The four characters above his head also dimmed slightly.
Liu Er finally panicked.
This time it wasn't an act.
He roared at Wukong.
"We share the same roots! Save me!"
Wukong stood there, carrying his staff, without even lifting his eyelids.
"Weren't you going to do it for me?"
"Then we'll see it through to the end."
It had six ears and one mouth, its teeth covered in blood.
He looked at Chen Fan again, his voice cracking.
"Chen Fan! I know a lot of things! I'll pledge my allegiance to you! I'll be your dog!"
Chen Fan closed half of the scripture book.
"It's too late."
"You laughed too soon."
The last word fell.
The second page is finished.
The entire book of scriptures suddenly trembled.
Suddenly, all the blood beneath Liu Er flowed towards the pages of the book.
It didn't flow onto the ground.
It floats into the air.
Every single strand was sucked in.
Liu Er looked down and saw that half of his leg was gone.
It felt like being swallowed up by the pages of a book, starting from the feet.
"No--"
He had barely uttered a single word when his lower body transformed into ink lines and was swept into the scriptures.
He lunged forward with all his might.
He gripped the ground tightly with both hands.
My nail flipped over.
Stone chips flew all over my face.
I still can't stop myself from sliding into the book.
The cataloger's eyes were practically popping out of their sockets as he screamed hoarsely, "Stop! He can still fix it! He can still—"
The rest of the sentence was left unsaid.
Liu Er had been completely swallowed by the scriptures, leaving only one hand.
The hand groped around on the ground, finally grabbing a broken gold ring.
The last remaining thing left by the new Buddhist staff.
next interest.
That hand is gone too.
The sutra book snapped shut.
In the center of the courtyard, only the small gold ring remained, spinning twice on the ground before slowly coming to a stop.
The entire room fell silent.
In the dead silence, a line of fine text appeared on the cover of the sutra.
Like a comment.
Like annotations.
Chen Fan glanced down at it.
There's only a short string above—
[Pseudo-Mandate of Heaven's evaluation: It can fill pages, but not form a complete volume; it can serve as a substitute for a time, but not for the end.]
After Zongwu finished reading it, he felt a chill run down his spine.
"This thing...it can even evaluate itself?"
Chen Fan did not reply.
Because behind that string of words, new ink dots suddenly and slowly emerged.
There seems to be a second sentence.
This time, however, the ink dot did not stop on the page with the six ears.
It crawled forward.
Little by little.
They climbed toward Wukong's name.
Chapter 173, page 2 is written
The string of ink dots actually climbed up to the side of Wukong's name.
Everyone in the room was staring.
Liu Er couldn't hold back any longer.
He stiffened his neck and yelled at the judge, "What exactly is this lousy court trying to do? You just threw me out a substitute lead role, and now you want to use me as a scapegoat?"
The judge ignored him.
The pen in his hand hovered, and the tip trembled slightly.
He had never seen anything like this before.
The judge took half a step forward, his voice deep: "The records have been reviewed. The false destiny can be added to the page. Then, according to the rules, the substitute remains the substitute, and the true protagonist remains the true protagonist. The third lot falls on the substitute."
Zong Wu's face paled, and he immediately retorted, "You call this the rules? This is just something you made up on the spot!"
The cataloger got anxious, flicked his sleeve, and tried to flip through the catalog to check the entries.
He had just raised his hand when the scripture moved first.
Wow.
The blank page will open automatically.
A line of text appeared.
[The replacement page is unacceptable; the main text is temporarily suspended.]
The moment those eight words were uttered, the entire General Revision Court felt as if it had been slapped in the face.
Liu Er's eyes turned red.
"Can a substitute page die?"
He gritted his teeth and read it out word by word, his face bursting with arrogance.
"In all my years, this is the first time I've heard someone write about killing so fluently."
Wukong suddenly laughed.
It wasn't a sneer.
It's the kind of mockery that you can't even be bothered to suppress.
He stood in the courtyard, still holding the golden cudgel in his hand, his shoulder tilted to one side, looking at Liu Er as if he were a hapless fellow.
"Haven't you always wanted to take my place?"
"Here you go."
"Go on."
Liu Er turned and glared at him, his lips twitching.
"Sun Wukong, stop pretending."
"If these bastards hadn't been using me like a morsel, do you think you could be standing this steady?"
Wukong grinned: "Then blame them. What kind of skill is it to yell at me?"
In one sentence, Liu Er's face turned pale.
The clerks and minor officials who were watching had just been keeping a straight face, but now their eyes all changed.
They originally thought that today was the day to officially recognize Chen Fan as the protagonist.
In the blink of an eye, it turned into a death sentence for Liu Er.
Even more critically, the scriptures actually tacitly approved of it.
Chen Fan remained silent.
He saw it very clearly.
The key point is the sentence "[Main text postponed]".
Six Ears died; the one who died was his replacement.
Wukong wasn't dragged in directly.
He still has a choice.
In other words, this strike cuts down the fake protagonist while preserving the initiative of the real protagonist.
The gap that the previous generation of anchors risked their lives to create has finally been filled.
The head of the department clearly realized what was happening, and his face immediately turned extremely ugly.
He stared at the scriptures, his eyes revealing an uncontrollable annoyance for the first time.
He originally intended to use the Six Ears as a thread to reclaim the branches on Wukong's body and completely bind the new pilgrimage group.
it's good now.
The book itself cut the thread in half.
Six ears should replace the page and die.
Wukong, on the contrary, managed to escape.
The cataloger's face froze as he ran his finger across the pages.
"My archive slot..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
Zong Wu immediately leaned over to take a look, and the next moment, he burst out laughing.
"Haha, it's missing a section, really missing a section."
On the cataloger's black book, the ink mark that should have been connected to the "six-ear line" was now turning gray.
It looks like someone has forcibly erased a corner of it.
More than one corner.
The gray stain was slowly spreading to both sides.
He used to be able to access all of Liu Er's archived records, but now only half of them remain.
As you flip further down, many of the older pages are now empty.
The cataloger was sweating profusely, frantically flipping through three pages, each one emptier than the last.
"How could this happen?"
"Is the sutra book classified by its fanqie system?"
The chief official said in a deep voice, "Shut up."
He kept his mouth shut, but his hands clenched tightly.
Chen Fan understood it even better.
It wasn't just the cataloger who lost their access.
The master also lost his hand.
He has lost the ability to retrieve the six-ear wire.
This means that today, Liu Er is dead, and that's it.
This line cannot be retracted, filled in, or continued.
It's like the General Revision Court spent so much effort, only to end up with a worthless page.
Big loss.
Liu Er also noticed it.
He suddenly looked up at the Master, all traces of hope vanishing from his eyes.
"You can't save me?"
The chief did not answer.
Liu Er's breathing became heavy, his chest rising and falling.
"You fucking can't save me?"
No one spoke.
The courtyard was eerily quiet.
The judge finally spoke: "The third sentence has been decided. The substitute will take the place of the robber. This case is closed."
He had barely finished speaking when the third slip of paper fell with a "thud".
Impartially, it nailed to the feet of the six-eared creature.
The last part of the contract is on fire.
The fire wasn't big, but it burned very quickly.
Liu Er glanced down, his face twitched, and then he suddenly laughed.
He laughed fiercely.
"OK."
"So you're all using me to fill the hole, huh?"
"Before I die, I'll make sure you guys kick this hole down too."
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and slapped his chest.
boom!
A golden-red shadow mixed with black energy was forcibly shaken out of his body.
The moment the shadow appeared, the cataloger's expression changed drastically.
"Six-eared fragment print!"
The master rushed forward, intending to take it.
late.
Liu Er spat out a mouthful of blood, and the torn page exploded on the spot.
It wasn't blown outwards.
It's fried facing upwards.
The shattered words, like a handful of sand, were smeared all over the dome of the Grand Correctional Court.
Click.
Click click.
The gray-white sky overhead had actually cracked.
As soon as the crack appeared, a gust of wind rushed in from outside.
The wind carries the familiar scent of fruit.
Chen Fan's eyes flickered.
Huaguoshan!
The next moment, a boundary marker hanging in the courtyard made a "humming" sound.
The densely packed characters on the surface of the monument began to peel off piece by piece.
Drop the outer perimeter first.
Then remove the corners.
With each piece that falls away, a familiar landscape appears outside the cracked dome.
Rocky cliff.
Peach grove.
The lookout tower built by the monkey troop.
And there's that ring of reefs by the sea.
It's like someone holding a pen, painstakingly redrawing the parts that were erased.
Zongwu's mouth dropped open in a wide grin.
"It's been rolled back!"
"The area surrounding Flower Fruit Mountain has been rolled back!"
"The boundary deletion order has been relaxed!"
Wukong, who was still watching Liu Er, suddenly looked up when he heard this.
The suppressed fire in his eyes suddenly ignited.
"it is good."
"very nice."
He slammed his golden cudgel down on the ground, making the ground creak.
"I told you long ago, I couldn't control it."
"After suppressing it for so many years, I still have to let it out."
The onlookers were thrown into chaos.
Several clerks tried desperately to support the boundary marker, but as soon as they touched it, two more pieces of the character "删" (shān, meaning "to delete") fell off.
They were so anxious their faces turned pale.
"It can't be sealed off!"
"Land parcels in the outer areas are flowing back in!"
"Monkey Ridge on the east side has become visible!"
"The orchards on the north bank are also returning!"
Even the judge frowned at this.
He originally only wanted to quickly resolve the mess, get rid of Liu Er, and settle things at San Ting.
Who would have thought that the death of Liu Er, the substitute, would break through most of the Huaguo Mountain Deletion Order?
This is no small matter.
This is a proper way to wear underwear.
The chief inspector stared at the boundary marker, his face hardening with tension.
He wants three results today.
First, lock up Wukong.
Second, recycle the six-ear wire.
Third, keep Flower Fruit Mountain suppressed within the Deleted Realm.
Of the three goals, two and a half have been shattered.
Liu Er knelt on the ground, blood still dripping from the corner of his mouth. Upon seeing the Master's face, he suddenly burst into laughter.
"Take it."
"Aren't you the best at collecting money?"
"Take my life, take my rope, take the mountain of monkeys."
Come on.
"Let me see you accept another one."
As he laughed, his body began to sag.
First, loosen the tips of the ears.
Then loosen your shoulders.
Like a lump of ink dried by fire, its edges curled up layer by layer.
But the smile on his face didn't stop.
That ruthless demeanor made many people in the court feel uneasy.
Wukong glanced at him and suddenly spoke: "Six Ears."
Liu Er was startled and turned to look at him.
Wukong grinned, his voice not loud, just loud enough for everyone in the audience to hear.
"You've only ever acted like a monkey today."
Liu Er was stunned for a moment.
The next moment, he swore and then laughed.
In the end, the whole face started to crumble.
"Sun Wukong".
"Don't die too young."
"I can't stand you, and I can't stand them either."
"If you can actually smash these bastards to pieces... then you win."
The last word fell.
He suddenly collapsed.
There was no body.
All that remained was a pile of grayish ink fragments.
The four "substitute protagonists" above their heads flashed twice and then disappeared.
The entire courtyard was deathly silent.
Turn the pages of the book yourself.
On that page, Liu Er's name quickly faded.
In the end, it faded to just a blurry mark.
A line of small characters appeared below the seal.
The replacement page has been burned; the original page remains undetermined.
Chen Fan slowly exhaled.
It became.
The closed loop has been completely broken.
Liu Er is dead.
Wukong was not nailed to the ground.
The real protagonist is still a step outside the game.
This step was incredibly worthwhile.
Zongwu leaned closer, suppressing his excitement, and asked, "Did we win?"
Chen Fan stared at the scripture and whispered, "We've won half the game."
"My other half hasn't arrived yet."
Before he could finish speaking, Wukong exploded.
"What a load of crap."
He carried the stick forward, stood in the center of the courtyard, and began to curse.
"After all that effort, all you've managed to produce is a substitute lead actor?"
"You want to use a fake to prolong the life of your new pilgrimage team?"
"That's hilarious."
He became increasingly ruthless as he spoke.
"Tang Sanzang got a new brain, the White Dragon Horse changed its tune, and Pigsy and Sandy were a bunch of patches sewn together."
"You think you can pass for the new draft if you stuff another six ears in there?"
"You are not a pilgrimage group."
"You're just collecting scraps."
"They pieced together bits and pieces from here and there, and ended up with a hodgepodge that they still treated like a treasure."
Each sentence was harsher than the last.
The officials in the court, who had always maintained an air of superiority, turned green with rage.
Someone tried to stop them.
He opened his mouth, but when he met Wukong's eyes, he swallowed his words back.
Wukong isn't finished yet.
He pointed the stick at the judge, then at the chief judge.
"The most ridiculous thing is that you yourselves don't believe it."
"If it were truly a completed exam, why bother arresting me?"
"If it could truly succeed, why bother with Liu Er?"
"To put it bluntly, your entire new pilgrimage group is a joke."
"It's easy to fool others by putting something out there, but it's hard to fool yourself."
When the last sentence came down, even Zongwu gasped.
ruthless.
It's too cruel.
This is no longer just a slap in the face.
This is like overturning the table in the General Revision Court and then forcing their heads to bang on the ground.
The judge's eyelids twitched.
He clearly wanted to have an outburst.
But after glancing at the cracked dome above and then at the outer perimeter of Flower Fruit Mountain, which was reverting to its previous state, he ultimately suppressed it.
He took a deep breath and put down his pen.
"The replacement pages are all gone."
"The final page is yet to be determined."
"Today's court hearing is now adjourned—"
The word "stop" hadn't been uttered yet.
A muffled thud suddenly came from above.
It's not thunder.
It felt like a heavy object pressing down on the entire Grand Correctional Court.
thump.
After that sound, everyone looked up.
The judge's expression changed drastically.
A token flew out of his sleeve, and as soon as it rose, it cracked open with a "snap".
The chief's pupils contracted.
"An order from above?"
No one dared to make a move.
The judge, who had just wanted to adjourn the court, froze on the spot, as if something unseen was pressing down on his shoulder.
He gritted his teeth, and the veins on his forehead bulged.
"Who is altering the court order?"
The cataloger hurriedly flipped through the books, but stopped abruptly halfway through.
"It's not about changing it."
"It is... Ya Ting."
As soon as he finished speaking, all the lights in the entire General Correctional Court went out for a moment.
When the light returned, the blank scripture in the center of the courtyard flew up on its own.
It hangs in mid-air, moving automatically even without wind.
The first page.
Page 2.
Then, with a "whoosh," the page turned to the third page.
Chen Fan's eyes darkened.
coming.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on that page.
That page was originally blank.
At this moment, black ink slowly seeped through the paper.
Each stroke, one character at a time.
It's as if someone is writing from another place, on the other side.
There aren't many words.
But no one in the room dared to utter a sound.
Soon, that sentence resurfaced completely—
Please submit the original sin of the Three Realms.
Chapter 174 The First Sin of the Three Realms
After that line of text appeared on the third page, the entire General Revision Court felt as if someone had grabbed its neck.
Please submit the original sin of the Three Realms.
No one spoke.
Even Zongwu, who was usually the most prone to jumping up and down, kept his mouth shut at this moment.
He stared at the page, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, as if he wanted to curse, yet also as if he dared not.
Chen Fan first looked at the scriptures, then looked up at the people.
The principal debtor remained silent.
The official remained silent.
The cataloger remained silent.
These three people were putting on airs just a moment ago, but now they're all like wooden statues.
There's a ghost.
And the ghost is quite large.
Wukong couldn't hold back any longer and took a step forward, carrying his golden cudgel.
Write it down.
"Don't you all know the rules?"
"Give me whatever you want on page three."
The creditor's eyelid twitched, but he still didn't respond.
Wukong sneered.
"What's wrong? You could write on the first two pages, but your hand broke on this one?"
Liu Er grinned from the side, adding fuel to the fire.
"I told you, these old fogies are the best at pretending. But when you really get to the bottom of things, they're all dumbfounded."
Zong Wu's face turned pale, and he hissed, "Shut up! Don't touch this page!"
"Can't touch it?" Chen Fan interjected, his voice low. "Or is it that touching it will kill someone?"
Zongwu suddenly looked at him.
That look in his eyes suggested that Chen Fan had already guessed the doorway.
Chen Fan ignored him and scanned the group one by one.
The debtor's hand was tucked into his sleeve, and a vein bulged on the back of his hand.
The boss usually doesn't have much energy on his face, but now his chin is very taut.
The cataloger was more direct; the fine pen in his hand had been idle for a long time, and drops of ink were dripping from the tip, leaving several black dots on the ground.
It's not that I don't know.
This is something I know, but I don't want to say.
The judge hadn't moved until now, when he finally picked up his pen and made a dot in the air.
With a buzzing sound.
Fine lines lit up on all four black walls in the courtyard.
Like a kind of sealing restriction.
Upon seeing this, Zongwu's forehead was immediately covered in sweat.
"Your Honor, is this page... really going to be opened?"
The judge didn't look at him; he was only staring at the third page.
"The questions asked in the scriptures must be answered in the courtyard."
"If no one answers, it shall be considered a concealed crime."
Upon hearing this, the creditor's expression changed.
The chief official also raised his head.
The theory of concealed guilt.
Those three words are ruthless enough.
If you know something but don't report it, the blame will fall on you.
Wukong was amused.
"it is good."
"Now that's more like a trial."
He turned to look at the group of men and slammed the stick into the ground.
"explain."
The principal debtor remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.
"I can't say his full name."
Chen Fan's eyes flashed.
As expected, I knew.
"Then say what you can say," Chen Fan pressed on, "The third page demands the original sin of the Three Realms. You won't even give us a fraction of that?"
The principal debtor looked at the scripture, his voice heavy.
"It's not a loss of life, not a major battle, and not a rebellion."
"What is that?" Liu Er asked.
The creditor's lips moved, but it took him a long time to utter a single sentence.
"What was deleted?"
The entire room fell silent.
Chen Fan's heart sank.
What was deleted?
Once this answer was revealed, many of the previous fragments suddenly connected.
Ninth old debt.
Piracy is a life-or-death struggle.
The warning before the previous anchor point shattered.
This book of scriptures keeps pushing them to look for "who wrote the story".
Chen Fan's mind raced, and his gaze fell on the line of text on the third page.
The original sin in the Three Realms.
It's not about who killed first.
It's not about who lied first.
This was the first time someone had exercised the power of "deletion" when the Three Realms were first established.
Delete a record.
Delete a group of people.
Delete a truth.
They even deleted the original draft of an entire "world".
He stared at the principal debtor and slowly began to speak.
Original sin is not the sin itself.
"This is the first time the power to delete boundaries has been used."
Upon hearing this, the cataloger's pen fell to the ground with a thud.
The Master suddenly looked at Chen Fan.
Zongwu went even further, taking half a step back, his shoe sole scraping against the ground with a crisp sound.
Wukong tilted his head to look at Chen Fan.
"Delete boundaries?"
Liu Er also squinted.
"You mean, someone was altering the accounts from the very beginning?"
Chen Fan didn't answer them, and continued to stare at the three of them.
"The ninth old debt points to old, incomplete pages. Piracy points to replacement."
"Now, on page three, we'll directly follow the original text."
"If I'm not mistaken, the so-called original sin of the Three Realms was that for the first time someone erased something that shouldn't have disappeared from the records of the Three Realms."
"And it was that erasure that led to all the debts that followed."
The principal debtor's face turned ashen.
The chief did not refute this for the first time.
The cataloger squatted down to pick up the pen, his hand trembling twice before he finally managed to pick it up.
Zong Wu's mouth was dry, and he managed to squeeze out a low voice, "How...how dare you guess that?"
Chen Fan smiled.
"That's a good question."
"If you don't call me a liar, and you ask me how I dared to say that, then it means I guessed right."
Zong Wu choked.
Liu Er slapped his thigh and burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, old turtle, your mouth really knows how to betray people."
Wukong laughed, but his eyes grew even colder after he finished laughing.
"explain."
Who deleted it?
The debtor closed his eyes, as if he were carrying something.
"I can't say it directly."
"I told you, the name will crack."
Upon hearing this, Liu Er immediately retorted, "Bullshit! You say your name will crack? Why don't you just say your tongue will explode?"
The cataloger finally whispered a comment.
"He's telling the truth."
"That record is not in the current records. Mentioning the full name will trigger a circumvention clause."
Chen Fan frowned.
This is troublesome.
It's not that they don't want to talk about it; it's that someone has already kept it under wraps.
And it was locked very early.
Even at the level of the principal debtor, we can only talk about it indirectly.
Wukong had no patience and swung his staff horizontally.
"Isn't it annoying to go around in circles like this?"
"If we can't talk about people, then let's talk about places."
This time, the chief official spoke up.
He spoke slowly, as if he had to carefully choose each word before uttering it.
"The third page isn't written here."
"What do you mean?" Chen Fan asked.
"This page needs to be filled in, not at the General Revision Court." The chief priest stared at the scripture. "We need to go to the old site."
Chen Fan immediately grasped the key point.
"What old site?"
The judge then raised his pen and pointed to the third page.
The black characters on the paper jolted me.
The next moment, an even smaller line of text appeared below.
[Written at: Old construction site outside the city]
Upon hearing these six words, Zong Wu's legs went weak, and he almost collapsed onto his backside.
Liu Er was stunned for a moment.
"An old construction site? What's that?"
Wukong, carrying his staff, grinned.
"No matter where it is, just go."
After he finished speaking, he was about to walk out of the courtyard gate.
"Monkey," Chen Fan called out to him.
Wukong turned around.
Chen Fan raised his chin at those people.
"Let's find out first. Since this place is called an old construction site, it means that not just anyone can go in."
The chief official said in a deep voice, "We can't get in."
Wukong squinted.
Say it again.
The chief looked at him and forced himself to speak.
"The old construction site outside the heavens was the site where the scaffolding was erected in the Three Realms. It was later sealed off."
"The one who sealed the gate was the former Ministry of Works of the Heavenly Court."
"Without the key, I can't even find the door."
Liu Er was furious upon hearing this.
"So all that 'knowing all this' you were talking about was just empty talk?"
Zongwu was getting anxious now.
"That's no nonsense! That place is not one you can just go to casually. Don't even mention you, even if you were a true god now, you could only wander around outside. There's no road outside the old construction site, only locks."
Chen Fan's heart skipped a beat.
Former Ministry of Works.
key.
There aren't many people left who can be brought out.
Just then, footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.
Unhappy.
Every step was steady.
The Grand Chambers are in enough chaos today; there aren't many people who would still walk like this at a time like this.
Wukong turned his head, his eyes suddenly sharpening.
A person walked in from the shadows of the courtyard gate.
Black armor with silver patterns.
The divine eyes on his forehead were closed.
He had no weapon in his hand, yet his back was as straight as a gun stuck in the ground.
Yang Jian.
The atmosphere in the courtyard became even more tense as soon as he entered.
Zongwu almost shouted it out.
The Master's expression changed as well.
Even the judge glanced at him.
Yang Jian stopped, first looking at the scriptures, then at Chen Fan, and finally at Wukong.
"You're going to the old construction site in outer space?"
Wukong raised an eyebrow.
"You're stopping me?"
Yang Jian said calmly, "You can't find the door."
As soon as he said that, Wukong raised the staff in his hand by a section.
Liu Er chuckled coldly from the side.
"Another one spouting nonsense."
Chen Fan didn't interrupt.
Yang Jian's arrival in court at this time is not to watch the spectacle.
Sure enough, the next moment, Yang Jian reached into his sleeve and took out something.
Half a bronze key.
The edges are jagged, as if it was cut off in the middle.
It has very old engravings on it.
It's not the fancy divine runes of the Heavenly Court now; it's more like the marks left by craftsmen in the early days.
When the half-key appeared, the Master's breathing became erratic.
The cataloger's eyes widened.
Zongwu exclaimed in disbelief, "The old key?"
Yang Jian held the half-key in his hand, his tone not harsh.
"The last key to unlocking the former Ministry of Works of Heaven was split in two."
"I have half a bunch here."
Wukong grinned.
"Perfect."
"Open the door."
Yang Jian looked at him but didn't move.
Chen Fan understood.
If that's the case, there must be a second half to the sentence.
"And the other half?" Chen Fan asked directly.
Yang Jian remained silent for a moment.
In that instant, even the sound of breathing in the courtyard subsided.
Then he spoke.
"In the hands of Laozi."
The smile on Wukong's face gradually disappeared.
Liu Er's mouth also froze.
Zong Wu gasped, as if he had heard the name he least wanted to hear.
Chen Fan stared at the half of the bronze key, his gaze slowly darkening.
Laozi (the Supreme Lord Lao)
That old thing, sure enough, is in the deepest layer.
Yang Jian put the key back into his sleeve and added another sentence.
"and."
"Laojun left the Tushita Palace yesterday."