Chapter Eighty-Four Leaving Huo Gong (Part 1)

  Sun Wukong didn't hesitate either, and after sending a message to Lei Hao, he followed Taibai Jinxing out of the Water Curtain Cave.

  Lei Hao threw down his jade chopsticks and sighed to the sky: "From now on, Mount Huaguo will have many troubles."

  Without shedding a tear, she threw two inquiring glances, and seeing that Lei Hao was unwilling to speak, she didn't ask again either. Silently, she put away her bowl and chopsticks.

  Lei Hao looked at Wu Lei in front of him, who was busy and energetic, and suddenly felt a sense of fulfillment.

  "No tears, wait for Monkey King's return, we'll get married then." Lei Hao stepped forward and gently hugged Wu Lei, saying softly.

  She nodded lightly without tears, for her, whether they got married or not didn't matter, anyway, Lei Hao had long been her husband.

  …………

  In a spiritual stone room of the Water Curtain Cave, Lei Hao closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on a straw mat. He didn't know how long he had been there before he slowly let out a breath.

  "The Six-Piece Departure from Fire Golden Immortal's Secret is almost complete, it's time to consider the next step." Lei Hao lightly opened his eyes and said to himself.

  The original manual of the Six Products Departing from Fire and Golden Immortal's Secret, which was obtained from Zi Yan Wang, was a method for advancing from the Golden Elixir Realm to the Golden Immortal Realm. Now that Lei Hao has broken through to the Golden Immortal Realm, although he knows the general direction of his next cultivation, he is unable to grasp the key point. Every time he cultivates, he can only supplement his magical powers, but he cannot enter that profound state of understanding the origin of thunder again. If he continues to cultivate like this for several hundred years, Lei Hao will only be able to refine his magical powers further, but his cultivation will never be able to advance even a little bit more.

  Therefore, finding the subsequent Gongfa of "Liu Pin Li Huo Jin Xian Jue" is imminent.

  "Not long ago, the Taoist who left Huo Gong said that the poor guy who died at the hands of Zi Bat King was their laborious young master. In this way, the 'Sixth-Ranked Huo Fire Golden Immortal Formula' should also be a technique from Huo Fire Palace." Lei Hao thought to himself.

  "Never mind," Lei Hao muttered to himself. "Whether it is or isn't, I will find out after leaving the Fire Temple."

  A few days later, in the gray sky, there were small raindrops floating around. Lei Hao held a brand new oil-paper umbrella and wore a white dress, strolling in the capital of Ao Lai Guo.

  People coming and going in a hurry couldn't affect Lei Hao's pace, he just walked with a firm step, each step covering the same distance, and the direction he was heading in was the imperial palace of the Ao Lai country.

  In the distance, after seeing the guards with swords standing guard in front of the red-tiled and yellow-walled palace, Lei Hao stopped in his tracks, and a hint of intimidation suddenly emanated from him towards the imperial palace of the proud country.

  "That Daoist friend has arrived at this humble abode of the Proud Come Country's Daoist temple?" After a breath, a majestic voice began to reverberate within the imperial palace of the Proud Come Country.

  "Lei Hao." Lei Hao slowly and powerfully spat out the two words, but unlike that voice, they were not mixed with magic, just like ordinary conversation.

  But these two words were like an atomic bomb exploding in the palace of the proud country, and the reverberating sound stopped immediately. The palace was filled with a chaotic noise like a vegetable market, but after just a few breaths, the chaos subsided one by one.

  Then there was a dead silence, and the vast imperial palace seemed like an empty city without any living thing.

  Lei Hao held up an oil-paper umbrella, standing still and upright.

  Soon, the gate of the imperial palace creaked open and a team of Taoist priests in neat robes rushed out, led by Kan Lidao, who had met Lei Hao once.

  A crimson-robed Taoist priest hastily walked up to Lei Hao, bowing his head in a sincere and fearful manner: "The humble Taoist pays respects to the Great Deity Wan Jun."

  Lei Hao lightly responded with a "hmm" and ignored Kan Lidao, lifting his leg to head towards the imperial palace.

  Kan Lidi hurriedly stood up and followed Lei Hao into the house.

  After entering the imperial palace, Lei Hao thought he had been there before and walked straight south. Without walking a few steps, the red tiles and yellow walls gradually receded, revealing a lush forest. In the midst of the forest was a Daoist palace covering several square miles. Lei Hao strode into the grand hall.

  In the grand hall, the statues of the Three Pure Ones were enshrined. In front of the statues, three incense burners quietly emitted a clear and elegant fragrance. Leihao entered the main hall without hesitation and sat down in the master's seat. Although Leihao was seated, not one of the Taoist priests dared to sit down; they all stood at the entrance of the grand hall, sweating profusely and trembling with fear, as if they would turn around and run away as soon as the person in front of them turned into a monster that eats people.

  At the same time, they were also carefully guessing why their ancestor had come this time.

  After a few breaths, Kan Lidao gave his disciples a calming glance and then stepped forward with a forced calmness, sweating on his forehead. He bowed to Lei Hao and said: "I didn't know the great saint was coming, I'm sorry for not welcoming you from afar, please forgive me." Kan Lidao knew clearly in his heart that this white-clothed man who looked harmless was definitely someone he couldn't mess with.

  Lei Hao didn't answer, it was his habit, he first closed his eyes and released his divine sense, the purple divine sense whizzed around the hall, scanning up and down in a circle, and a bit of violent pressure leaked out, immediately pressing all the Taoists to kneel on the ground.

  Lei Hao did not expect that the seemingly simple and unadorned hall was actually made entirely of some spiritual wood that he couldn't even identify, these spiritual woods were all treasures that could be directly refined into magical instruments, yet here they were just ordinary building materials.

  In the corner, what was placed wasn't ordinary flowers and grasses, but rather the rare and seldom-seen Falling Ember Flower. This kind of flower can only be found in extremely high-temperature lava flows, and even Lei Hao had only heard of it but never seen it before. He didn't expect that a small Daoist temple in the country of Ao Lai would have so many precious treasures.

  Suddenly, Lei Hao's divine consciousness stirred, and he actually felt a faint, yet extremely pure demonic aura in the great hall. This thread of demonic aura was extremely weak, and if it weren't for Lei Hao being extremely familiar with demonic aura, he would have absolutely no way of sensing it.

  Lei Hao waved his sleeve lightly, and a decorative item made of a skull monkey head the size of a basin and a pair of cow horns over a meter long flew out from the beam above. The monkey head had no flesh or blood left, only bare white bones, apparently having been dead for many years. On the other hand, the cow horns still emitted a faint smell of blood, obviously cut off from the cow's head not long ago.

  After getting the skull of the ape head and the pair of cow horns, Lei Hao released his spiritual power and sensed that it was at least the remains left behind by a demon who had died in the Earth Immortal Realm.

  As Kan Lidao entered the great hall, he felt a bit tense. When Lei Hao released his divine sense, he was even more terrified. At this moment, seeing Lei Hao summon the skull monkey head and cow horns, Kan Lidao had a feeling of utter despair.

  Lei Hao lowered his head for a long time before raising it again, smiling as he said to Kan Lidi, "I only realized today that the real Kan Li truly hates my two brothers."

  Kan Lide's face turned gloomy as he smiled wryly, saying: "How can I not hate? The first time Master Dao went to Huaguo Mountain, he was almost killed by that demon monkey with a single palm. He returned and spent several years recovering from his injuries. But since then, that demon monkey has been ordering me around, demanding this and that, and if I don't comply, it wants to kill me. How can I not hate? The matter of Feng Lingzi was also reported by me to the Pure Yang Daoists, but unfortunately, Lü Dongbin's skills were too poor, and he failed to kill you demons."

  Lei Hao was still smiling, he raised the skull monkey head and bull horn in his hand and said: "Just because you hated the two brothers of Ben Wang, so you killed them? And leave their remains to make decorative items for appreciation?"

  The Kanli Daoist, who knew he was going to die, didn't care about anything anymore. His face twisted in a ferocious scowl, he growled: "They're demons, and if I, the Daoist master, kill them, what's wrong with that? It's for the people's benefit, executing justice on behalf of Heaven..."

  Before Kang Lidao finished speaking, Lei Hao shot out a knife energy with his hand, wrapping Kang Lidao into a ball of bloody fog.

  All that could be heard was a faint sound of water flowing, and the hall was filled with a stench, it turned out that some Taoist priests were so frightened that they urinated in their pants.

  Lei Hao furrowed his brow and impatiently said: "Is there anyone who can make a decision?"

  A trembling voice replied "Reporting to the Great Sage, I..."

  Lei Hao fixed his eyes on him and found that it was the Qingyan Taoist who had just gone to Huaguo Mountain. Lei Hao beckoned to him, saying: "You come over, I have something to say to you, everyone else can disperse."

  As soon as the words fell, the other Taoists were like amnesty, rolling and crawling out of the main hall, leaving only Lei Hao and Qingyan Taoist in the great hall.

  The Qingyan Taoist walked up with a trembling body, bowed down and saluted with all his might: "I don't know what the great sage has come for this time?"

  Lei Hao's expressionless face said, "This king has come this time to visit your sect leader at the main hall of Lihuo Palace. I also wanted to ask Kan Lidao to be my guide. Now that Kan Lidao is gone, you can take me to Lihuo Palace instead."

  The Qingyan Taoist heard this and immediately showed a hesitant expression on his face. Lei Hao didn't urge him, and with a wave of his hand, a purple flame suddenly appeared, slowly burning the skull monkey head and cow horn into ashes. With another swing of his sleeve, a strong gust of wind blew out, scattering the ashes outside the main hall, dispersing them across the land.

  Lei Hao's powerful palm strike killed Kan Lidi, the Daoist from the front. Qing Yan, the Daoist, did not have the courage to refuse Lei Hao and could only nervously agree.

  (Today is New Year's Eve, and I'm giving you three chapters as a gift. Enjoy them first, and there will be more updates later. Here, I wish all readers of "Journey to the West" a happy new year and may everything go as you wish.)