Chapter 58: This Is… The End?

This is… the end?

When the thought arose in the girl’s heart, the war between the two realms had already left the entire world in ruins.

Jiang Cha could clearly feel it—the illusory sensation of time was gradually synchronizing with the time axis she existed on. She felt the world’s very cry of sorrow, as the barely holding rules shattered completely.

In this battle, five demon saints fell in the Demon Realm, and countless demon soldiers and generals perished.

In this battle, the Heavenly Court fell, the Underworld shattered, while the Western Paradise remained untouched.

In this battle…

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was invincible.

“Smile a little, why the long face? You avenged your grievances and conquered this world, didn’t you?”

“Jiang Cha, do you know?”

“What?”

The two still stood inside the Water Curtain Cave, but their familiar environment was utterly destroyed, blackened by the traces of the Samadhi True Fire.

The waterfall had long since dried up, and even the mountaintop above the cave had been blasted apart.

The world’s death wails echoed to the skies; the setting sun bled red, and yet heavy rain poured down.

“Heaven is telling me no—it is begging me for help.”

Monkey Queen’s expression was sorrowful, but her gaze toward the girl was full of deep love and pain.

“If I kill you, if I kill you, this world can continue; everything can be restored. If I kill you… my monkeys, my descendants, they can be resurrected.”

“Then will you kill me?”

The girl still wore that playful, light smile, her crimson eyes gazing softly at Monkey Queen.

“Great Sage?”

“No.”

Monkey Queen shook her head.

“Until today, everything has been my own choice. I must bear the consequences. Whether you are the real culprit behind the world’s collapse or not… it doesn’t matter.”

Her armor was battered and broken from years of battle, her golden staff stained with blood and tossed casually on the ground.

That Monkey Queen seemed to have returned.

Pure, without any impurity—an innate spirit.

“I just… I just feel regret.”

Monkey Queen sighed, sitting back in the last intact chair inside the Water Curtain Cave.

A drop of water fell on the stone slab, the crisp sound carrying far through the chaotic world.

“It’s a pity I’ll never see you again.”

“Taotao, are you crying?”

The girl asked gently, reaching out to wipe away the water stain.

But that motion seemed to trigger something, and Monkey Queen suddenly erupted in anger, shouting!

“I’m not!!!”

“I am the Great Sage Equal to Heaven! How could I shed tears for a demon woman like you! No one can make me cry!!”

“I didn’t cry when the little monkeys died! I didn’t cry when the Water Curtain Cave was destroyed! Even if the Three Realms fall, I won’t shed a single tear!”

“…..”

But after the outburst came endless silence.

Tick. Tick.

She…

Was ultimately not the Great Sage who suffered countless hardships, but Sun Taotao.

Everything quietly changed from the moment they met.

“Go.”

She waved her hand, and her figure gradually became intangible.

—This utterly broken world could no longer bear the energy needed to calculate her existence.

This also made her realize she would never again accompany Jiang Cha.

An incomplete life…

Though incomplete, why did I fall in love with someone whole?

“…..”

“Go.”

Seeing the girl remain silent, Monkey Queen lowered her head and softly repeated.

But Jiang Cha did not leave; instead, she raised her hand, casting a creation spell to produce two jars of Monkey Wine.

Exactly the same as the wine they drank when deciding to battle Erlang Shen all those years ago.

The witch girl smiled alluringly, pursing her lips as she shook the jars.

“Another drink?”

“How do you still have some?”

Monkey Queen was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

She tore open the jar with a claw and took a big gulp.

“Good! One drink it is! Since Flower-Fruit Mountain was destroyed, I haven’t tasted Monkey Wine for a long time!”

“That’s more like it.”

The girl laughed along.

“This is the Taotao I know, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven I know.”

“You cried, too, boohoo~ so embarrassing.”

“Go away! I’m the true nature of the Demon King, what does it matter to a soulless witch like you?”

On this ruined mountaintop, Monkey Queen and the witch drank jar after jar. They didn’t talk about the past, nor the future—not even Jiang Cha’s origins or purpose.

They only joked and teased,

Just like over the past hundred-plus years.

Until…

They faded away.

…..

“How do you feel?”

When the girl opened her eyes again, she saw the familiar universe and her master’s teasing face.

Mortel could tell Jiang Cha was far from calm—that was normal. The first time a little witch experienced a fragment world was always like this.

She once…

Never mind, not bringing it up.

“A really strange journey, a memory worth treasuring… By the way, how long was it? Master, you picked a really long fragment story this time!”

“Four days, definitely long, but that’s okay. The longer, the more you gain.”

“That’s true, but thank you, Master…”

Jiang Cha was about to thank her, but then noticed the red lip mark on Mortel’s neck—she was sure it wasn’t there before!

“This place even delivers takeout now!? Has Red Light Street’s business gotten this wild!?”

“Not really~”

“I was out having fun, you seriously wanted me to wait in this godforsaken place for four days? That’d be so boring.”

Mortel waved dismissively.

Jiang Cha: “…..”

She always knew her master was unreliable!

……

At the same time the fragment world Jiang Cha entered collapsed,

On the distant front lines,

A golden-armored, blond-haired, black-eyed witch wielding a golden staff stabbed through three starships miles long. She was about to move to support elsewhere when she suddenly stopped, startled.

“What’s wrong, Great Sage?”

A witch beside her noticed the oddity, glanced at the surrounding mechs trying to sneak up, and unleashed a force field to crush them.

“Nothing, just suddenly received an interesting residual soul memory.”

The blond witch shook her head, her expression strangely sad.

“What?”

“I never expected my long-lost residual soul to be hiding in a fragment world… Looks like I still owe some karmic debts.”

“We witches don’t care much about karma.”

The other witch laughed.

“You’ve been transformed for over 200 years, why can’t you drop old habits?”

“Can’t.”

The Great Sage sighed softly.

“Can’t at all! Hahaha.”

“Let’s finish this battlefield quickly and go report. The young ones these days can’t even handle a level three mechanical civilization without us stepping in.”

“No choice, after all, there’s a manpower shortage on vacation.”