In the twilight, a boy carrying firewood walked along the mountain path.

Suddenly, a tiger leaped out from the forest and pinned him to the ground.

"Ah!"

The boy covered his head with his hands in fear, but the anticipated pain did not come after a long wait.

He moved his hands away and saw a young man in front of him, caressing the tiger.

The tiger wagged its tail, docile like a cat.

"I'll give you a bit of immortal power so you won't eat humans anymore."

Sun Wukong smiled and patted the tiger: "Take me to the village below the mountain."

"Ao."

The tiger wagged its tail and lay down on the ground.

The boy was stunned.

"Come on up."

Sun Wukong turned around, pulled him up, and placed him on the tiger's back.

With a prompt, the tiger carried them both towards the foot of the mountain.

Upon reaching the base of the mountain, Sun Wukong released the tiger back into the forest.

He and the boy walked into the village and were immediately surrounded by several villagers wielding hoes.

"Who are you?"

They looked at Sun Wukong warily.

This village was isolated from the world, and except for bandits, hardly any outsiders came here.

"He's not a bad person."

The boy hastily said: "There was a tiger about to eat me just now; he saved me."

The villagers lowered their hoes with half belief and half doubt.

Sun Wukong walked a few circles around the village and then came to an open space.

"Right here!"

He thought to himself and casually waved a hand, and a giant stone landed on the ground.

The stone was as tall as a person, and the villagers were all shocked, staring at him dumbfounded.

"Are you a cultivator?"

Someone couldn't help asking.

Sun Wukong nodded.

"This stone is called a Shadow Talisman."

He continued: "It can emit sound, teaching you some knowledge."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Shadow Talisman lit up, presenting a character.

"There's a ghost!"

The villagers, who had never seen such a thing, were frightened and ran off.

"Don't worry."

Sun Wukong couldn't help but laugh: "These are just some simple images."

Shadow Talismans are Spiritual Objects developed based on musical notes.

Sun Wukong had long wanted to convey images through Spiritual Objects, and the Shadow Talisman was the result of over a decade of development—unfortunately, now it could only transmit some text and simple images.

But in any case, it was more useful than musical notes.

The villagers mustered the courage to come over and indeed heard sound coming from the Shadow Talisman.

"I've heard of this; it's a musical note, a Spiritual Object from Wanling Country."

An elder spoke.

The villagers were less afraid.

"So it's a Spiritual Object."

"Does it move?"

They gathered around the Shadow Talisman for a closer look.

Sun Wukong recited a spell, and the Earth God, who was sleeping underground, was immediately pulled out.

The Earth God, groggy and turning in circles, saw Sun Wukong and knelt down promptly.

"Great Saint has descended; forgive me for not welcoming you from afar!"

"It's alright."

Sun Wukong shook his head; it was his clone, so it was normal that the Earth God couldn't sense him.

"This Shadow Talisman will increase your incense offerings, and from now on you are to protect it, ensuring it is not taken by others."

Sun Wukong added.

The Earth God nodded joyfully and, glancing at the astonished villagers, hastily reminded them.

"This is the Heavenly Venerate who presides over the Western Continent, how come you have not knelt down yet?"

The villagers came to their senses and knelt on the ground, not daring to move an inch.

"This Shadow Talisman can impart the knowledge of Wanling Country to you."

Sun Wukong said, "You all must study well."

After saying that, he rode the clouds and flew into the sky until he disappeared.

The villagers stared blankly at the sky, feeling as though they were dreaming.

When they came back to their senses, they realized the Earth God had also vanished.

Immediately after, the villagers ran home and called their families out.

It didn't take long for people of all ages in the village to gather around the Shadow Talisman, curiously listening to the sounds coming from within.

Sun Wukong watched from the sky for a while, then turned into a golden light and returned to Wanling City.

At the same time, countless streams of golden light flew up from various parts of the Western Continent, all heading towards Wanling City.

People everywhere knelt on the ground, a Shadow Talisman by their side.

The appearance of the Shadow Talismans was in the places where countries had not signed agreements with Wanling Country.

Before the Kings could react, Shadow Talismans were already spread across every village and town.

Although the other countries did not have Shadow Talismans, a craze for purchasing Sound Talismans also arose.

Wanling Country began spreading knowledge, art, and a variety of stories throughout the Western Continent.

A year later, in any part of the Western Continent, whenever there was spare time, crowds would gather, using either Sound Talismans or Shadow Talismans, to receive the voices from Wanling Country.

This change was happening faster than Sun Wukong had expected.

Of course, it also surpassed the expectations of the other countries.

Unfortunately, by the time they felt this change and wanted to stop it, their efforts were futile.

"This is the trend of the times; no one can resist it."

In the Kingdom of Biqiu, Lady Earth Flow told stories to a group of little demons from within her carriage.

Her caravan, full of Spiritual Objects, made its way along the road.

The little ones gathered inside the carriage, curiously asking, "Why can't it be resisted?"

"Just moving the Shadow Talisman away would do the trick!"

Their words made Lady Earth Flow laugh.

"Whenever the Government comes, those Earth Gods hide the Shadow Talismans underground. They can't even find them."

"What about the Sound Talismans?"

A little boy asked, "Wouldn't not selling them work?"

"It's possible not to sell."

Lady Earth Flow nodded, "The Earth Gods would love it if they didn't sell; in that case, the Great Saint would bring over the Shadow Talismans."

The little ones were instantly amazed.

"Doesn't that mean there's no way to stop it?"

"That's exactly it!"

A girl spoke loudly, "The Great Saint is doing good deeds, those Kings are baddies, how can they stop others from doing good deeds!"

"Good deeds?"

Lady Earth Flow really wanted to roll her eyes at her.

Sound Talismans and Shadow Talismans certainly weren't good for the countries.

A bloodless conquest of the Western Continent was Sun Wukong's goal.

"The Great Saint really is domineering."

Lady Earth Flow thought to herself.

Sun Wukong, when he doesn't make a move, it's still; but when he does, he aims to achieve his goal.

She lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside.

Up ahead on the road was a newly-built Heavenly Venerate Temple.

Unconsciously, the skies of the Western Continent had started to change.

"In the end, we've still reached this point."

In Wanling Country, the Water Moon Fairy looked up at the sky.

The Buddha Light enveloping the skies above the Western Continent was being devoured and driven away by a golden glow.

That was a light invisible to mortals, belonging to the Great Sage Equalling Heaven.

From the very beginning of the Sound Talismans' birth, the Water Moon Fairy had a premonition about this.

Sun Wukong had never made a decision, and she thought he might not go through with it.

But in the end, he did it.

"This isn't the Western Continent I knew anymore."

The Water Moon Fairy felt a bit melancholy.

The spread of ideas is the best method to rule over all beings.

No one understands the importance of spreading ideas more than Lingshan.

But the ideas Sun Wukong spread were somewhat different from those of Lingshan.

His main focus was on knowledge and technology.

The Water Moon Fairy wanted to see just what path Sun Wukong would lead the Western Continent down.

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