Chapter 78: The Predecessor Meets the Successor
"This man in front of him seems really unreliable. He said he had limited time before his divine sense disperses and yet, he started by bombarding me invaluable information…" Min Hong thought to himself as he kept looking at the man with the same expression.
"I am truly sorry, I guess that's what happens when one has been left alone for a very long time." The man smiled awkwardly before apologizing. Then he gazed at Min Hong with a slightly serious expression which when coupled with his three bizarre eyes frightened Min Hong slightly.
"My name is Chen Shuifan, and I am the previous master of the 'Eye of Infinite Dao'. So, in a way, I am your predecessor. But I would prefer you to address me as your 'Senior Apprentice Brother'…" The middle-aged man said.
"No! Elder Chen sounds better." Min Hong interjected before continuing. "Moreover, why would I call you senior apprentice brother?" Min Hong was quizzed and stunned at that form of address.
"Haha! That is because we will end up having the same master… but, that's not for me to determine, so let's talk about what is currently more important." Elder Chen responded.
"Who is Little Sun? What is a divine sense? Do they normally take their owners form? Why did you rename the clone of the 'Eye of Infinite Dao' to 'Eye of Myriad Universe'?" Min Hong fired several questions at the man.
"You should have met the Sun Wukong, the venerable, the honorable, the intolerable." The man laughed lightly as he reminisced, then afterwards a pained expression appeared on his face as he looked towards Min Hong and spoke.
"Please take care of Little Sun for me. I wasn't really reliable and couldn't even live long enough to fulfil his only wish. I am probably the most unreliable master he had ever come across." Great sorrow, regret and a sense of loss radiated from Elder Chen's voice.
"He might seem very old because of his age, but within his clan he is still a teenager. Thus, he would behave reckless and unreliable most times. But, just always have it at the back of your mind that, it is for your own good."
"He gave his all to ensure that I had a bright future, but in the end, I messed it up."
"I reached out for a love that was not on the same plane of existence as myself and ended up becoming a thorn in the side of other suitors who belonged to a great power. Inevitably they set out to cut down this thorn and that was how my quest for love came to an end."
"I don't regret how everything eventually panned out because she loved me just as much as I did. But what I regret is that my selfish quest cost my only true kin his own future. Now that you are here, I beg you to help me fulfill my promise to him so that my soul can rest in peace."
The man then bowed towards Min Hong as he begged. "Please help me fulfil my wish of forging a body for Sun Wukong and help him get his life back. Help him reunite with his loved ones."
"Oh, was that why Little Wu was mad when I spoke about getting back my cultivation base?" Min Hong thought to himself. "He must have remembered his unreliable master who couldn't even grant one wish of his."
"Hmph! I, Min Hong, am not an ungrateful and unreliable person. If anyone shows me kindness, I will repay it a hundred times over and if someone hurts me in any way, they will surely reap the reward a hundred-fold." Min Hong thought.
"I have already promised and even sworn a heavenly oath to forge one for Little Wu. One of my way of life is to repay peoples deeds towards me a hundred-fold." Min Hong spoke.
"Hu!" Elder Chen sighed in relief. "You're a really good person and since you have done as you said, I would reward you by telling you everything I know about the 'Eye of Infinite Dao' and the inheritance ground." Elder Chen spoke solemnly.
"What?!" Min Hong was shocked stupid. "Didn't you swear any oath to keep everything about the inheritance trial a secret? Wasn't the process erased from your memory afterwards?" he fired several questions once again.
"I am already dead. Moreover, if it wasn't for the 'Eye of Infinite Dao' which preserved this tiny bit of my divine sense, it would have dispersed long ago, since I already passed away thousands of years ago."
"Furthermore, the worst it would have done if I was alive is to wipe off my memory. So, now that I am only a fragment of my divine sense, it can only wipe me away completely. But don't worry, once one has lived long enough like me, one picks up several tricks." Elder Chen looked at Min Hong with a cunning smile plastered all over his face.
"I will also teach you a very daring and bold phony which you can use to comprehend the most fearsome and unrivaled Lightning Law in existence; The Tribulation Lightning!"
"What?! The Tribulation Lightning?!" a fuse exploded within Min Hong's mind when he heard this.
"But firstly, let me answer your earlier questions…" Elder Chen changed the topic before he continued.
"The physical aspect of your existence has what they call 'reflexes', your mental aspect has the 'mental sense'. Once your mental sense increases and you break into the next level, it becomes 'Spirit sense' and afterwards it becomes 'Divine sense."
"There are also others like the 'Void sense', 'God sense' and so on. But Little Sun would explain all that to you as you grow in strength. Secondly, the owner of the divine sense can make it take any form he pleases. Just like when one builds his mind palace."
"And as for your last question, I did it to protect its next master, my successor. The 'Eye of Infinite Dao' is a treasure that is rigorously coveted by hegemon clans and sects of the ancient worlds.
"If a Demigod-level expert with god sense even catch a slight whiff of the 'Eye of Infinite Dao', they can obliterate the entire solar system within which it was sensed, just to silence word about its existence and take it for themselves.��
"I was fortunate enough to have long reshaped my Mind Palace and use my Void Law to put the ancient dimension containing the 'Eye of Infinite Void' within a weaker dummy version which was the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' I had created way earlier."
"Then afterwards I sealed the reckless and revenge-seeking Little Sun within it and put three seals on the ancient door itself."
"So, when I was attacked by my enemies, I could quickly and silently tear through space, slip a tiny portion of my divine sense carrying a shadowed version of the real 'Eye of Infinite Dao' into it, before dropping the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' into the void."
"I knew it would be swept into another dimension through another space crack. It was only due to this that my enemies weren't able to get their hands on it. Or else, with their level of strength and knowledge, a catastrophe would have occurred in my world."
"Since, its next master would always be oblivious to the hidden power within the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' due to fake information, they would both be safe from these ancient powers." Elder Chen explained.
"Wow!" Min Hong was awestruck by this story as a deep respect began for this man in front of him began to surge.
Asides from the fact that he was in the presence of someone who could create a treasure in the league of the 'Eye of Myriad Universe', Elder Chen was someone who was wise enough to think ahead for his successor.
Furthermore, though he didn't understand much about romance yet, he was obviously not new to the stories of people who had died for the sake of love.
If Elder Chen was a casualty of such a thing, then no one could blame him.
The only unreliable thing he had done, was selfishly costing Little Wu his freedom.
But with the way he begged Min Hong to help him forge one in his stead, including the reward he told Min Hong about really showed how much he desired to right his wrongs.
"Haha!" Elder Chen laughed softly before he warned Min Hong.
"Little Kid, if you ever in the future see a divine fairy or a celestial goddess like my Mu Chun, that you happen to love, make sure you possess enough strength to keep her by your side."
"This is because, such a beauty would always have other suitors, many who at that point in time would most likely be stronger than you or belong to a clan, sect or power that you cannot resist or contend with."
"Be wise, don't waste your life like I did. If she truly loves you, she will naturally wait for you to become strong enough to come and take her away, just like my Mu Chun."
"But back then, I was very reckless and hot headed that I walked through the doors of my enemies without doing enough research about their strength."
"I thought his father was the strongest. Even at that his father was still stronger than me by an entire realm, but I had the 'Eye of Infinite Dao' and used virtually the strongest sources of natural elements to comprehend my Laws. Thus, we were somehow even."
"But after making me believe that he was the strongest, about three experts who seemed to be his elder brothers walked out with cultivation base two realms higher than mine."
"But what killed my hopes was that due to the strong perceptive abilities 'Eye of Infinite Dao' I could sense two more auras that were three realms stronger than me awakening deep within the clan."
"In the end I fled in hopes of returning when I got stronger. But they weren't ready to let the matter rest. After all, barging into one's clan was the same as challenging the entire clan. Furthermore, it was just a single person."
"If I was allowed to leave just like that, their reputation would have been dragged through the mud. As a result, they sent their ten supreme elders in pursuit."
"I was chased for five months by ten experts who were two cultivation realms stronger than me and they also possessed 'Void Sense'. I knew it was only a matter of time before they found me, and they did. Then my inevitable demise followed." Elder Chen narrated.
"Wow! I would be sure to definitely keep that in mind. Thanks a lot, senior apprentice brother." Min Hong sincerely thanked Elder Chen as he subtly changed his form of address also.
"Hehe, it's okay little brother." Elder Chen also noticed the subtle change in tone and form of address.
It was only normal that Min Hong would have an initial unfavorable expression of him, so he subtly told him the true story of how everything ended up the way they did.
"Okay that's enough. Let's talk about the 'Eye of Infinite Dao', its functions and abilities." Elder Chen rubbed his chin as he spoke. "How do I go about making it simple enough for you to understand as easily as possible." He mumbled as he sorted his thoughts.
"Okay I guess I should first give you the menus on the list. Then after mentioning them to you, we will then delve into what type of food it is, the ingredients as well as the secret recipes." Elder Chen spoke.
"Unh!" Min Hong was slightly shocked at how simply Elder Chen had hinted what is to come to him. "Hmm. He must be a real foodie when he was alive." Min Hong thought.
"Is that okay by you…" Elder Chen's voice snapped Min Hong out of his train of thoughts.
"Uh...um…Yeah, let's go with that procedure. It sounds very reliable." Min Hong stuttered.