Chapter 120: First Lesson in the Dungeon

Perhaps nothing was more uncomfortable for Hua Feng at this moment than sitting on a dog sled, enduring the biting cold wind, and not knowing what extraordinary events might lie ahead. They had traveled thousands of miles to this place, yet felt none of the warmth from the Alaskan people. Instead, from the outset, they were thrust into a series of intense operations—an exploding plane, parachuting, then navigating a dog sled to a destination eighty kilometers away. Along the way, they had to detour around Chinese communities to avoid direct contact with the locals... All these complications left the hundred or so participants utterly confused.

Hua Feng wondered how the other trainees who had come from different places fared—whether they, too, had encountered these absurd directives. Sometimes, sudden orders transmitted through the communicators tucked into their packs would baffle even someone as disciplined as Hua Feng: massaging the sled dogs, giving them baths, scavenging for food, locating supply points.

During this time, they spent two hours learning to handle the sled dogs, getting familiar with each other, correcting their course, and adjusting the pace of the mission.

By the time things finally began to take shape, a long time had passed. Many of the slower trainees had given up on their enrollment tasks; when unable to control their sled dogs, their spirits nearly broken, they requested to return home. None of them had expected that, as elites from various fields, they would be brought down by what seemed like trivial matters. Those who withdrew were all escorted back to their countries by designated personnel.

Once all of this was settled, the remaining group pressed on. After three hours, Hua Feng and his companions finally arrived at their destination—a vast frozen lake.

This was part of the inland corridor belonging to southeastern Alaska, a glacially carved terrain surrounded by hemlocks and spruces.

“Brother Hua Feng, Sister Bai Feng, look! That blond, blue-eyed elder must be the instructor here to receive us,” Yun Meng stood on the sled, scanning the distance. An elderly man in a golden silk robe, probably in his sixties, stood bathed in the sunset’s afterglow, smiling as he observed the small group of just over ten arrivals, his gaze deep and inscrutable.

Hua Feng and Bai Feng secured the sled dogs and looked toward where Yun Meng pointed. The old man was moving toward them at a speed so swift it seemed almost instantaneous; each pause was already several dozen feet ahead, with only his afterimage lingering in the air. To onlookers, this astonishing effect resembled the legendary art of creating duplicates.

Despite Hua Feng’s keen eyesight, he could not discern what powered the man’s movement. “It’s magic. This person must be a magician,” Bai Feng said, having spent time among vampires in Europe and witnessed such wondrous abilities.

“A magician?” Though surprised, Hua Feng had encountered so many reality-shattering phenomena that he had grown accustomed to suddenly confronting the unknown.

“Alright, students, congratulations on passing the enrollment ceremony. Let us enter the Dawn Academy together!” The elder waved a magic wand casually, and the surroundings transformed into a kaleidoscope of bizarre colors and shapes. Hua Feng felt them moving rapidly across the ice lake, descending subtly underground.

Three days later, they arrived at an underground city and finally entered the legendary Dawn Academy. On the first day of classes, a lean man with yellow skin and black eyes, dressed in traditional Chinese attire, began to teach them about Sun Wukong, the protagonist of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West:

“Students, Sun Wukong was born on Flower-Fruit Mountain in the Proud Land of Dongsheng Divine Continent within the Sahā world. He was born from a divine stone that appeared since the creation of the world. This stone was no ordinary rock; it lay on the ancestral veins of the Ten Continents and Three Islands, structured according to the twenty-four solar terms, with its apertures corresponding to the nine palaces of the Bagua (the nine orifices and eight openings). One day, the stone cracked open, producing a stone egg, which the wind transformed into a stone monkey. Upon its birth, two beams of divine light shot from the monkey’s eyes, piercing the Dipper and the Mansion, alarming the Jade Emperor in Heaven. Later, after successfully entering the Water Curtain Cave, the monkey was crowned ‘Handsome Monkey King’ by the monkeys of Flower-Fruit Mountain.”

Sun Wukong is one of China’s most famous mythical figures, originating from the classical novel Journey to the West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels. Born from a celestial stone on the ancestral land of Dongsheng Divine Continent, he became the king of the monkeys after leading them into the Water Curtain Cave, earning the title ‘Handsome Monkey King.’ He later traveled far and wide to study under the master Subhuti, receiving the name Sun Wukong and mastering seventy-two transformations, the Somersault Cloud, immortality, and other formidable magical arts.

With his powers developed, Sun Wukong first wreaked havoc in the Dragon Palace, seizing the Ruyi Jingu Bang (the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod), then caused chaos in the Underworld by stealing the Register of Life and Death. The Heavenly Court then recruited him, granting him the title ‘Keeper of the Horses.’ Upon discovering the lowly nature of this position, he rebelled, returning to Flower-Fruit Mountain. After defeating Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and his third prince’s forces, he compelled the Jade Emperor to confer upon him the title ‘Great Sage Equal to Heaven,’ establishing his palace in Heaven and entrusting him with the management of the Peach Garden.

Due to drunken disorder at the Queen Mother’s Peach Banquet, stealing the pills of immortality from the Supreme Lord Laozi, and accidentally refining his eyes in Laozi’s furnace to obtain ‘Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils,’ Sun Wukong caused a great uproar in Heaven. Even with ten thousand heavenly soldiers, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions besieging him, none could defeat him. Eventually, he lost a wager and magical duel against the Buddha and was imprisoned beneath the Five Elements Mountain for over five hundred years to reflect on his misdeeds.

Later, enlightened by Guanyin Bodhisattva and rescued by the monk Tang Sanzang, he assumed the Buddhist name ‘Pilgrim’ and accompanied the monk on the journey to retrieve the sacred scriptures from the West. Along the way, he vanquished demons and monsters, enduring eighty-one hardships, ultimately achieving Buddhahood as the ‘Victorious Fighting Buddha.’

Sun Wukong is famous for his intelligence, agility, loyalty, and hatred of evil. In folk culture, he represents wit and courage. Since the Tang Dynasty, legends about Journey to the West have persisted, culminating in the Ming Dynasty’s comprehensive novel. Across generations, Sun Wukong has been revered as a deity in Chinese folklore.

His many magical skills include:

- Great Celestial Immortal Art: The fundamental cultivation that forms the golden elixir. It condenses essence and qi while dispelling evil desires. After three years of practice, Sun Wukong mastered the nature of the Dao, rooted in the source, and refined his spiritual body to become a celestial immortal. His Tao is profound; he shares longevity with Heaven, harmonizes fire and water, and resists all diseases. He transcends reincarnation, immortal through countless calamities. However, this secret art disrupts the natural order, provoking spirits and demons. While it preserves youth and prolongs life, it cannot fully protect against the three disasters, requiring mastery of the seventy-two transformations to evade them.

- Somersault Cloud: By performing a mystical mantra and a special hand seal, he can leap 108,000 li (approximately 54,000 kilometers) in a single somersault.

- Seventy-Two Transformations: The ability to transform into seventy-two different forms.

- Heavenly Form and Earthly Shape: Growing to immense size—head like Mount Tai, waist like towering mountains, eyes like lightning, mouth like a blood basin, and teeth like swords and halberds. His staff stretches from the Thirty-Three Heavens to the Eighteen Levels of Hell.

- Multiple Bodies: After achieving immortality, he can manifest 84,000 hairs, each transforming at will. He can multiply himself from one into ten, then into hundreds, thousands, and billions.

- Astral Projection: His spirit can leave the body and wander elsewhere.

- Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils: His eyes, refined in Laozi’s furnace, can see through disguises.

- Vajra Body: Thanks to consuming countless peaches and elixirs, his body is impervious to blades, fire, poison, and alcohol.

Three lifesaving hairs gifted by Guanyin assist him in overcoming dangers.

He employed three heads and six arms during his battle with Nezha, wielded the power of mountains and moons against the Silver Horn King, and could shift stars and overturn seas.

At 342 years old, having exhausted his lifespan, he rebelled in the Underworld, destroying the Register of Life and Death for himself and his monkey descendants, returning to the mortal realm. The King of Hell reported this to the Heavenly Court. The Jade Emperor sought to capture him, but Venus advised recruitment instead. Sun Wukong was summoned and deceitfully appointed as ‘Keeper of the Horses.’ Upon learning this was a trivial title, he rebelled, breaking through the South Heavenly Gate. Two demon kings came to recruit him, suggesting he declare himself ‘Great Sage Equal to Heaven.’

The Jade Emperor ordered Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, to suppress him. Sun Wukong defeated the Giant Spirit God, Nezha, and the Third Prince. Following Venus’s advice, the Heavenly Court granted him the nominal title ‘Great Sage Equal to Heaven’ and entrusted him with the Peach Garden. Defiant, Sun Wukong stole peaches, drank celestial wine, and disrupted the banquet. Enraged, the Jade Emperor dispatched Li Jing with 100,000 heavenly soldiers and eighteen celestial nets to capture the Monkey King. Sun Wukong defeated the Nine Luminaries, five Heavenly Kings, and Nezha, even using his duplication art to overcome the vast army, his fame spreading throughout the world.

At the Peach Banquet, Guanyin sent her disciple Hui’an to assist in the battle, but Hui’an was defeated, prompting Li Jing to seek help from Heaven. Guanyin recommended the Jade Emperor’s nephew, Erlang Shen, to capture Sun Wukong. Erlang Shen arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain and fought Sun Wukong for three hundred rounds without a clear victor. Both transformed their forms, displaying great magical power. The six brothers of Mount Mei set the mountains ablaze from behind, forcing Sun Wukong to flee and challenge Erlang Shen to a transformation duel. After a day’s fierce battle, Guanyin attempted to help Erlang Shen with her purification vase but was stopped by Laozi, who replaced it with a vajra mace. Sun Wukong suffered a bite from Erlang Shen’s celestial hound on his leg and was finally captured.

Brought to the Execution Platform for judgment, Sun Wukong’s golden body, forged by the elixir, rendered many punishments ineffective. Laozi took him to the Tushita Palace for forty-nine days of refining, which ironically gave him the fiery golden eyes. Enraged, Sun Wukong overturned the furnace and raged in Heaven, wielding his golden staff to defeat all opposition. The battle reached the Illuminated Hall, where he fought the Spirit Officer Wang Lingguan. Thirty-six thunder generals surrounded him, but the fight ended when the Buddha appeared. Sun Wukong lost the magical duel and was imprisoned beneath the Five Elements Mountain.

Hua Feng, Bai Feng, Yun Meng, and the others listened, bewildered by the teacher’s elaborate tale, unsure of its meaning.