Sovereign of the Ashes

The summit between the high-ranking leaders of the Magus Civilization and the Immortal Realm was considered a top-level secret on the civilizational battlefield.

On the Magus Civilization’s side, only the core powerhouses stationed in the Valthwain Star Domain who had reached peak Rank Six or above knew of this event.

In fact, news of the summit had not even been made public within the Magus Alliance.

Among the alliance’s member planes, perhaps only Titan World, Elven World, and Beastmen World had caught the faintest hint that something was happening.

The summit was being held at the heart of the Valthwain Star Domain.

Three majestic star cities stood side by side there, surrounded by nearly a thousand space fortresses.

Apart from the familiar high-ranking figures of Magus World, several powerhouses with more mysterious backgrounds had also gathered at the site.

“Hey, you bald donkey! This isn’t right at all! I sent a distress signal to the Buddhist Realm ages ago, yet I didn’t see so much as the shadow of a Buddhist legion until the war was already over!”

The moment he arrived at the venue, the Great Monkey of Destruction began grumbling at the Lamp-Bearing Buddha, who had arrived earlier with a string of prayer beads in hand.

“Amitabha. This humble monk—” Before the Lamp-Bearing Buddha could explain, Wukong waved him off.

“I don’t want to hear your excuses! You’d better make it up to me! I, Old Sun, had a massive hole blasted straight through my chest. Don’t you and that Old Thus-Come think you owe me something? I am the Victorious Fighting Buddha of the Buddhist faction!”

“Or should I go find Buddha Mother Zhunti instead? After all, it was that mosquito who fought me head-on this time!” Wukong said, pounding his chest.

Had he not mentioned the hole in his chest himself, no one would have guessed that he was seriously injured.

The grudge between Mosquito Daoist and the Buddhist faction ran deep.

Although the Lamp-Bearing Buddha had no personal feud with him, the Thus-Come Buddha, the Bodhisattva of Mercy, and Buddha Mother Zhunti all shared a blood vendetta against Mosquito Daoist.

This was because Mosquito Daoist had been directly involved in the downfall of Jieyin, one of the founding sages of the Buddhist faction.

That said, even if the Lamp-Bearing Buddha and the others had arrived sooner, stopping Mosquito Daoist would have been nearly impossible.

Simply reaching the battlefield in time was already unrealistic. The distance between the Magus Civilization’s battlefield and the Immortal Realm was immense, and the Buddhist faction would also have needed time to mobilise its legions.

To surround and eliminate a Rank Eight Overlord like Mosquito Daoist, they would first have needed to cast an inescapable net. Just as the Magus Civilization had done when it surrounded and killed the Amenkha Empire’s Eighth Pharaoh, numerous overlords would have needed to take their positions and lie in wait for the target.

Once a Rank Eight overlord was determined to escape, stopping them became extremely difficult.

The Cosmic King had ultimately met his end in the Grand Cosmic World partly because Makhast was simply too powerful, and partly because he had been unwilling to abandon his wealth until it was too late.

The other overlords of the Grand Cosmic World had died for much the same reason.

The Gluttonous Snake Overlord had simply been luckier. More importantly, the Magus Civilization still needed it as a figurehead to help take control of the Grand Cosmic World’s vast wealth.

As for the Great Monkey of Destruction’s demand for compensation, it sounded more like shameless pestering than a genuine grievance.

However, to the sage-level powerhouses of the Immortal Realm who knew the monkey’s temperament, this was hardly unusual.

Whenever that troublesome monkey went on a rampage, he dared to stir up trouble even in the Heavenly Court and the Underworld.

Back then, when the sage of the Palace of Eight Views summoned him for a scolding, the monkey had somehow walked away with several furnaces’ worth of the sage’s golden pills afterward...

Thanks to those pills, the Great Monkey of Destruction now appeared energetic despite having only recently survived his brutal battle on Planet Teyran. He had barely arrived in the Valthwain Star Domain before he began causing trouble again.

And the monkey did not stop at words.

A black, furry hand reached toward the Lamp-Bearing Buddha’s hand.

“Hey, let me see what that is,” the Great Monkey of Destruction said.

“Amita— Hey, hey, hey! Those aren’t even finished yet!” Seeing the monkey reach for his treasured prayer beads, the Lamp-Bearing Buddha hurriedly tried to snatch them back.

In terms of raw strength, the Great Monkey of Destruction was slightly stronger than the Lamp-Bearing Buddha.

However, with his injuries still far from healed, he could not wrest the treasure away immediately.

For a Rank Eight overlord to snatch another person’s treasure in a public place where the highest-ranking leaders of two civilizations were about to gather—and to do so without the slightest hint of shame...

That was indeed something only the Great Monkey of Destruction would dare to do!

The string of prayer beads in the Lamp-Bearing Buddha’s hand was still unfinished.

As the two struggled over it, the raw material intended for the treasure slipped out from the sleeve of the Lamp-Bearing Buddha’s monastic robe.

It was a severed horn that had already been sawn down until only half remained.

The dense, dark energy faintly swirling around it made its origin unmistakable... The horn had once belonged to an overlord-level powerhouse.

“Oooh, good for you, you old rascal!” Wukong remarked sarcastically.

“When I, Old Sun, arrived on this battlefield, the Gallant Federation blasted me first, and that mosquito yao ambushed me immediately afterward. Not only did I come away empty-handed, but I was also seriously wounded. And yet you’ve already managed to get your hands on a treasure!” he complained, tugging harder on the strand of prayer beads.

While Wukong and the Lamp-Bearing Buddha continued wrestling over the treasure, more figures began arriving at the venue prepared by the Magus Civilization.

The Great Sage of Demonic Heaven, Bi’an, Rank Seven overmage Zenasus, Rank Seven knight Seth, and several others appeared one after another.

Seeing his brother behave like this, Li Qingshan, the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven, could not help but pinch the bridge of his nose.

Fortunately, his vibrant red hair partly concealed his expression. Judging by his reaction, however, he seemed ready to quietly walk away and pretend he had never seen the monkey.

The eight great sages of the Yao Clan differed greatly in personality, but the Great Monkey of Destruction stood out for his sheer brazenness.

He was nowhere near as skilled as the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven when it came to social etiquette, political manoeuvring, or navigating the schemes within the sage courts.

Yet perhaps precisely because he was so shameless, Wukong rarely came away at a disadvantage!

The Great Monkey of Destruction lived entirely as he pleased. His reckless and eccentric nature sometimes even made the other sages of the Immortal Realm secretly envy him.

Still, with more and more people gathering, the monkey finally stopped openly wrestling the Lamp-Bearing Buddha for the treasure.

If that bald donkey was determined not to share the spoils, there was little Wukong could do for the time being.

At the very least, he would have to wait until his injuries healed.

“Old man, that horn is large enough to make two strings of prayer beads. Give me half. My staff is broken. I really need some good materials to repair it,” Wukong said.

“If you refuse, I’ll go straight to Buddha Mother Zhunti and tell her that you stood by while I was in danger and let that mosquito yao escape,” he threatened, clutching the Lamp-Bearing Buddha’s robe.

“All right, all right! I’ll give you half!” the Lamp-Bearing Buddha replied in exasperation. He truly had no way of dealing with this unruly monkey.

Whenever Wukong spotted something valuable, he would charge over and shamelessly claim a share for himself.

During their earlier struggle, the destructive power leaking from the monkey’s fingertips had scorched several marks into the Lamp-Bearing Buddha’s robe, making the high-ranking Buddhist monk look rather dishevelled.

Fortunately, the monkey also knew when to stop.

Wukong chuckled and reached over to smooth the wrinkles from the Lamp-Bearing Buddha’s robe.

“I’m not taking it for free,” he said. “I’ve been saving a batch of special alloys salvaged from the Gallant Federation’s giant warships. They’ll be perfect for a new staff.”

The Lamp-Bearing Buddha nodded, though inwardly he could not help rolling his eyes.

What am I supposed to do with a pile of scrap metal?

While the two were still bickering, Bi’an of the Dragon Clan finally caught a clear glimpse of the object they had been fighting over.

“Isn’t that the horn of the Amenkha Empire’s monster king? Lamp-Bearing Buddha, did you kill it?” Bi’an asked curiously. ℴℴ𝘮

Zenasus and the others turned their attention toward them as well.

The Lamp-Bearing Buddha pressed his palms together and replied, “Amitabha. Heaven cherishes all living things... That evil beast fled too quickly. In the end, this humble monk managed only to take its horn.”

“That’s still quite an achievement,” Bi’an said with admiration. “So many of our dragon brothers gave chase, yet none of us managed to catch up. Where did they flee?”

The Lamp-Bearing Buddha straightened slightly.

“Beneath the radiant light of salvation cast by my Buddhist faction, all evil had no choice but to scatter,” he declared with righteous fervor. “The lands toward which our Buddhist Army now advances are precisely where those creatures have fled.”

Bi’an nodded. He understood that the Lamp-Bearing Buddha was referring to the remnants of the Amenkha Empire’s vanguard, which had already retreated toward the Grand Cosmic World battlefield.

Bi’an was far more tactful than the monkey. Among the Dragon Clan, he was also one of the most handsome and level-headed, which was precisely why he had been chosen to attend this high-level meeting.

Although he knew full well that the Lamp-Bearing Buddha was putting on a show, Bi’an still responded with perfect courtesy.

“The Buddhist faction truly lives up to its reputation as one of the great sage courts of the Immortal Realm. The beings of death and darkness from the Amenkha Empire are indeed perfectly countered by your faction’s might.”

“You led your army in routing the Amenkha Empire’s vanguard and pursued an enemy overlord across the battlefield, displaying the prestige and might of the Immortal Realm. Your deeds have inspired the cultivators and countless sentient beings of the Immortal Realm fighting in this Clash of Civilizations,” Bi’an praised.

“Amitabha! Slaying fiends and suppressing evil are the sacred duties of every disciple of the Buddhist faction,” the Lamp-Bearing Buddha declared with righteous conviction.

Of everyone present, only Wukong curled his lip.

“He’s nowhere near as impressive as he makes himself sound,” the monkey muttered under his breath.