In the beginning,

here,

he used eight carts of bananas

to lure her in.

Conquer, conquer, conquer...

In the process of accompanying him to conquer Hell, it, covered in purple fur, was injured and corrupted, turning black for the rest of its life.

Before his fall,

sensing his end was near,

he gave it freedom.

It didn't leave.

After he was gone,

it carried his coffin and moved into this far western sealed land with him.

It wasn't sealed, yet it was like the most sealed of all.

For thousands of years,

the other sealed beings had more or less rioted, attempting to break free from the shackles of fate.

It had always been the quietest.

A prime of life, a personality that should have been as playful as a monkey's, was forced to sit quietly in this desolate tomb, sitting until its own end arrived.

Actually,

it had already "died" back then,

but in order to see him for a little longer, to protect him for a little longer, it kept overdrawing its life.

Finally,

before the final curtain call,

it came out.

One part unlocked the seal of the sealed land, leading these bone fragments to attack cities and change the "Book of Life and Death."

The other part went to the mortal realm, found the last emperor, and questioned him why he had given away the empire that he and it had fought for together!

In its eyes, he was still alive.

He was always peerless and elegant, yes, this is how outsiders and later myths and legends saw him.

In reality,

what it remembered most deeply

was the day they met,

the way he leaned against the cart, pointing at the bananas behind him and grinning mischievously.

At that time, it had only brute strength and couldn't even transform, but it was lured in by his big bananas.

He reached out,

touched its head,

and said:

"Follow me, and you'll have bananas to eat!"

Heaven have mercy,

the invincible Purple-Gold Divine Monkey beside the first Lord of Hell in later myths and legends of the underworld,

was actually tricked here with several carts of bananas.

Right now,

in the swamp,

there are bananas everywhere.

Boss Zhou didn't know who would be bored enough to plant bananas in a truly desolate place like Hell.

He also didn't know how the first Lord knew there were bananas there.

Of course,

the fruit farmer's weeping is no longer important.

This is a memorial.

It guarded his spirit for thousands of years,

and today,

he offers it sacrifices.

When mortal men and women are in love, they like to make all kinds of vows, but compared to the scene before him, the mutual protection and remembrance of one person and one monkey seem to be the true essence that has been tempered and washed by time.

Boss Zhou couldn't empathize with this kind of sorrow.

Life is but a hundred years.

Zhou Ze, in his two lifetimes combined, hasn't even lived for forty years.

Even though he has experienced too many ups and downs in the past two years and seen too many bizarre things, it is still somewhat unrealistic to try to empathize with an emotion and companionship that spans thousands of years.

Bubbles occasionally rise from the swamp.

He is still crying,

crying his heart out.

However,

now there won't be a simple-minded monkey popping out, putting its finger in its mouth, and drooling as it looks at the bananas all over the mountains and plains.

Although it is "Zhou Ze" who is crying, and it is "Zhou Ze" who is heartbroken,

Boss Zhou is more like an observer.

To the point that Boss Zhou suddenly felt that maybe living so long wasn't that interesting after all.

When your descendants have become like strangers to you, when you have truly become a lonely person;

what is the meaning

of your time?

Of course, this is just talking without experiencing it; if Boss Zhou were really asked to die right now, he definitely wouldn't want to.

Boss Zhou still remembered that the Purple-Gold Divine Monkey was actually almost "mentally unsound" at the end; it kept fantasizing that he was still alive, and even imagined a "him."

Perhaps, after he left,

the Underworld that it and he created together

was the only thing it cherished.

Not for fame and fortune, nor for power; otherwise, it wouldn't have been a tomb keeper for so many years. If it hadn't stayed in the sealed land, relying on its Purple-Gold Divine Monkey lifespan, it could still have been an "emeritus emperor" or "emeritus elder" in the era of later Lords of Hell.

What it cared about were the bits and pieces it shared with him.

This is not love; in fact, using the word "love" to describe the relationship between them would be a desecration.

Hell is undergoing a great change,

like a dam that has been held back for a long time finally bursting, and the rolling waves will sweep away everything below.

Some are panicking, some are looking around, some are looking forward;

but under this wave, the people who should have really cared seem very casual.

One is Ying Gou,

and the other is the first Lord.

Ying Gou punched the bodhisattva twice and was ready to leave.

The first Lord punched the bodhisattva once, and then came here to pay respects.

Zhou Ze only remembered that after the memorial service,

the sky of Hell had become riddled with holes, and those thick blue veins were locking everything in with undisguised ferocity.

Then,

the first Lord left the swamp, returned to the cave he had come out of before, and lay back in his coffin.

…………

White light,

again, this white light that could almost cause snow blindness.

Lazy Wang still had one hand on Zhou Ze's shoulder as they walked forward together.

It's only because Boss Zhou has seen so many big scenes that he doesn't feel anything; if it were someone else, like An Buqi, if he could really put his arm around the first Lord of Hell one day,

tsk tsk...

"After this, the road in and out of the Yin and Yang realms will be difficult to travel."

Lazy Wang sighed,

the corner of his eye

seemed to still have some unrubbed eye...crust.

"Going here is not as good as going to Sanya for a vacation."

"What kind of place is Sanya?"

"A place with the sea and lots of sunshine. Oh, the prices are quite high there, and the houses are damn expensive."

"If you stay here for a long time, you'll feel that Hell is actually not bad. All appearances are false, and sometimes, things in Hell are purer."

"I'm just a vulgar person; it's so difficult to eat a banana in Hell; it's really not suitable for me."

The wellhead is ahead.

Ying Gou is standing next to the wellhead.

"Take care of my spendthrift son for me."

"I will."

"Mount Tai is yours."

"How can I be so impolite..."

"It was originally in your body anyway; I didn't do anything."

"…………" Zhou Ze.

Suddenly,

he felt a great loss.

You're rewarding me with something that was already in my hands?

"It's really a pity, why didn't you just try your best?"

The first Lord was still not completely willing; he was born in the wrong era and didn't make it to this time.

Perhaps,

deep down,

he was not convinced by Ying Gou.

But there was no way;

the two were Lords of Hell from different eras,

and they missed the opportunity to fight.

Both were invincible and lonely in their own eras,

but Ying Gou had personally chopped off those hands,

forcibly preventing the coming of change.

It's like everyone is the best athlete in the country, winning gold medals in provincial and national games, and being hailed as the strongest in their era.

But one has won an Olympic gold medal, while the other, for various reasons, failed to participate in the Olympics.

In the end,

it's different.

"Actually, I think Lao Dao...uh, I think that spendthrift son did a good job too; he preserved the living forces. Marshal Zhang did the same back then."

"Who is Marshal Zhang?"

Lazy Wang didn't understand again.

Ying Gou, standing by the well, didn't pay attention, but clearly, he didn't understand either.

Zhou Ze shrugged; it was difficult for him to explain who "Little Zhang" was to these two people who were thousands or tens of thousands of years old.

He could only say:

"His evaluation is not bad, and he is very similar to your spendthrift son."

"Oh?" Lazy Wang was puzzled for a moment, and then he immediately realized the key point. "He sat in the right %*...right?"

Saying that,

Lazy Wang patted Zhou Ze's shoulder hard again.

"Young man, I have high hopes for you."

After saying this,

the first Lord walked up to Ying Gou

and said:

"I'm comfortable now; I'm returning it to you."

"…………" Zhou Ze.

"…………" Ying Gou.

"Don't take A-Zi's matter to heart; I just took the opportunity to untie it, and that dead knot no longer exists."

"What do you call that monkey?"

"A-Zi."

"So, are you people so casual with your names?"

"A name is just a title. For example, how many people in Hell now know my name?"

"That seems to be true. Wait a minute, so you lured a female...with eight carts of bananas back then..."

Lazy Wang reached out and covered Zhou Ze's mouth, while saying to Ying Gou:

"If you don't leave now, you won't be able to leave."

Boss Zhou struggled to break free from Lazy Wang's hand,

and didn't pursue the gender issue of the Purple-Gold Divine Monkey,

but asked a question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time, and that generations of Hell officers had wanted to know.

"Why does every Lord of Hell have to be accompanied by a monkey?"

"Oh? Do they all have monkeys by their side? I never noticed."

"They all do!"

Boss Zhou said with certainty.

Could it be that your family, generation after generation, has a deep affinity with monkeys?

"It's nothing much. The first one ate melons."

"Um, and then?"

"The second one imitated eating melons."

"Um, and then?"

"The third one imitated the first two eating melons."

"And after that?"

"Tradition, that's how it came to be."

"Just like that?"

"Are you not very satisfied with this answer?"

"It doesn't feel very exciting."

"Sorry to disappoint you. Or, should I make up an exciting answer for you?"

"I think that's a good idea."

Ying Gou reached out his hand

and grabbed Zhou Ze's shoulder.

Obviously,

he couldn't stand Zhou Ze and Lazy Wang chatting for so long.

"I think it's not too late to talk for a while longer," Boss Zhou said to Ying Gou.

A smile appeared on the corner of Ying Gou's mouth

as he looked at the well in front of him.

He said:

"Do you know how long it takes to return to the mortal realm from here?"

"How long?"

Zhou Ze looked at Ying Gou, and then at Lazy Wang.

Lazy Wang scratched his head and said:

"In the past, an incense stick's worth of time was enough; it was only a little slower than the Road to the Yellow Springs.

But now that the world is changing,

it'll probably take a year.

If you delay a little longer, after the world has changed, it may take ten years.

Hey,

don't be anxious,

wait a little longer, don't be in a hurry to leave!

I promise to make up an answer that will satisfy you..."