We calculated everything, but at the crucial moment, Maitreya caught us off guard.

Our master and disciples were ruthlessly abandoned by him.

Why did he do this?

I looked at the hundred thousand heavenly soldiers of the Celestial Court, knowing there was no way out.

"Senior Brother, I'm going to kill Maitreya!"

The Monkey did not answer but grinned at me strangely, then suddenly threw away his stick, clutching his head in pain as he fell to the ground.

I immediately led our master and the others to retreat.

At this moment, the Monkey seemed to be out of control.

His head was just a skeleton, and on it, there were eyes everywhere.

More eyes!

I was horrified and kicked the Monkey away.

But the Monkey lunged at Brother Sha again.

Fortunately, Brother Sha was prepared and used the end of his demon-subduing staff with the crescent shovel to pin the Monkey's neck to the ground.

"Senior Brother, what's wrong with you?" Brother Sha asked with tears in his eyes.

"He's... infected!"

Suddenly, I thought of our master who was sometimes unconscious and sometimes awake. He was still on the back of the dragon horse.

"Watch the Monkey, don't let him run away; he's no longer Senior Brother!"

The Monkey bared his teeth, struggling in pain.

I went to the dragon horse, lifted the brocade robe covering the master, and was shocked to find that the master had also completely changed.

His body was curled up, and his entire body was beginning to rot.

The exposed skin was covered with bizarre triangular eyes.

Despite our speculations along the way, I still saw the irreversible scene unfold with my own eyes.

The illnesses of Senior Brother and the master were actually infections.

"Master!"

Suddenly, the Monkey seemed to be greatly stimulated.

He bared his fangs and bit Brother Sha's arm.

"Brother Sha..." I exclaimed.

Brother Sha's arm had already been torn off a large piece of flesh by the Monkey, exposing the white bone.

"Eight Rings! I'm not far from completely losing control, Brother Sha, I'm sorry, I didn't expect that at the end, I would cause you harm."

"I understand, Senior Brother. All of this is a calamity. From the moment we started our journey to the West to fetch the scriptures, this calamity was inevitable."

Brother Sha was surprisingly calm about being infected by the Monkey.

The Monkey nodded and said to me, "Behind the journey to the West to fetch the scriptures, there must be a huge conspiracy. Perhaps we are all pawns and cannon fodder. Eight Rings, remember, trust no one."

Brother Sha and I yearn for freedom and would never willingly become these half-dead monsters. And the master is the core figure of the journey to the West to fetch the scriptures; he must stay alive.

And you, being completely uninfected so far, I suspect you may be a key player and piece in this game.

Everything now depends on you."

I solemnly nodded, as Senior Brother was clearly giving his last instructions.

For the one who wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace to utter such desperate words, it was evident that even he felt hopeless.

This kind of infection was beyond the scope of the prehistoric world's norms.

If it was indeed the worm of the Heavenly Way, as Maitreya said.

But it was clearly entirely different from the rules of this world.

"Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, I'm leaving first."

Brother Sha's infection was shockingly fierce.

Gray light rose from his body, and the wound bitten by Senior Brother turned a dark purple-black.

Accompanying the purple-black were countless dense compound eyes.

Brother Sha sat cross-legged.

He put his hands together, and his head exploded with a bang.

He chose the most tragic way for a cultivator to fall.

To return to the heavens and earth with his primordial spirit and true essence.

A spiritual tide surged on Ling Mountain.

That was a sign of Brother Sha's fall, returning all the spiritual energy to heaven and earth.

Soon, the Monkey also chose this method to return to the heavens and earth.

The spiritual tide subsided, and where the Monkey had been, there remained a five-colored stone.

That was the original spirit fetus of the Monkey, the Replenish Heaven Stone.

"Senior Brother left the Replenish Heaven Stone spirit fetus; there must be deep meaning."

At the dragon horse's reminder, I collected the Replenish Heaven Stone.

Senior Brother's and Brother Sha's sudden fall.

Made the already precarious team fetching the scriptures even weaker.

At this moment, the heavenly soldiers and generals had reached us.

Li Jing, the Pagoda Bearing Heavenly King, said coldly, "Within a thousand miles of Ling Mountain, leave not a single living soul!"