Why this response?

Why did Li Changshou feel a hint of eagerness, a slight stirring of anticipation at Honored Teacher Jieyin’s question?

Was the Great Saint afraid to openly defy Heaven, instead expressing his discontent in subtle ways?

Unfortunately, if they wanted him to speak up first, there was no way—not even a window of opportunity.

Li Changshou pondered briefly before speaking softly, “Master, your disciple is foolish. What do you think… should I unlock the Dao Realm shackles set by the Heavenly Dao? I will follow Master’s guidance completely, and I don’t wish for Master to be implicated in this matter.”

Returning the ball to the server.

Honored Teacher Jieyin clearly hesitated, evidently unable to decide between helping his disciple and offending the Heavenly Dao.

Li Changshou didn’t rush, simply waiting quietly.

Honored Teacher Jieyin sighed, “Not unlocking the Heavenly Dao’s shackles would benefit you as well…”

Li Changshou: …

If you dare not, then just say so—it’s not as if he would mock a Saint.

The atmosphere in the thatched cottage grew somewhat heavy. Li Changshou, disguised as Xu Puti, sat quietly, waiting for Honored Teacher Jieyin to speak.

Almost half a day passed, and the battle at Mount Huaguo in the Eastern Continent had already begun when Honored Teacher Jieyin finally spoke slowly:

“Puti, what are your thoughts on the current state of Buddhism?”

Li Changshou carefully considered before responding, “Master, your disciple feels that Buddhism has become somewhat superficial and lacks the grandeur of the Western Saints’ great teachings. However, disciple doesn’t understand why Master yielded that day. If Master had given disciple even a word or a glance then, I would have…”

Honored Teacher Jieyin showed a gentle smile: “That’s all in the past. No need to complain further.”

‘Xu Puti’ sighed: “But Master, your disciple truly doesn’t understand.”

Jieyin said: “That day, Elder Brother Yuan Shi was nearby, and Manjusri and others who were sent to the Sect of Enlightenment years ago no longer have their hearts in the Western Teachings. Though that day was somewhat embarrassing, I knew this would happen when Manjusri and the others returned to Spirit Mountain. I just hadn’t expected that Duo Bao of the Severing Sect would come to seize power in the end. But the Buddhist teachings and dharmic principles were all established by me—they are the foundation of the Western fortunes. They cannot change or shake these, only mix in some Enlightenment Sect teachings. Tell me, did I ultimately lose or win?”

Xu Puti pondered for a moment before responding, “Master certainly won, though the victory was somewhat… less than dignified.”

“Between dignity and life, which weighs more?”

Honored Teacher Jieyin’s Dao rhythm slowly circulated, temporarily isolating the Heavenly Dao’s power around him.

Jieyin’s eyes revealed some emotion as he spoke slowly: “The lifeline of the Primordial World has actually been in the hands of a few beings since ancient times. Being late by one step means being late at every step; one wrong move means death and dissolution of one’s Dao. How would the beings of the Primordial World today know of the dangers of ancient times? They still think of ancient times as an era when Innate Powerful Beings walked everywhere and everyone was like dragons. Puti, there are some things you cannot imagine or understand. The Primordial World has always had a predetermined path, countless beings are all led by silk strings, not allowed to leave this path. Those who controlled the fate of heaven and earth fell out twice. Once in ancient times, when your master’s teacher and I had our Dao destroyed, the Ancestor Dragon and First Phoenix either perished or were gravely wounded. Once in high antiquity, when those unique beings who had accompanied Pan Gu in creating heaven and earth didn’t even leave ashes behind in the end. Ah…”

Honored Teacher Jieyin sighed slightly: “There is no so-called truth in this world, Puti. How I wish your Empty Space Great Dao was truly correct—that everything arises from emptiness and returns to emptiness.”

“Master,” Li Changshou said slowly, “the Dao has no right or wrong, no true or false. Returning to emptiness is not the only path.”

Honored Teacher Jieyin looked at ‘Xu Puti’ before him with somewhat surprised eyes and smiled:

“Puti, since that person was defeated and left the Primordial World, you have truly overcome your mental demons. Being able to understand such principles, no wonder your Dao Realm has made such great leaps. The Heavenly Dao sealing your Dao Realm might be a sign of its wariness of you. Throughout history, fewer than a hundred cultivators have achieved this level.”

Li Changshou: How did having one’s Dao Realm sealed by the Heavenly Dao become something to be proud of?

Out of respect for the Western Teaching’s corporate culture, Li Changshou still honestly lowered his head and agreed.

“Master, about my Dao Realm…”

Honored Teacher Jieyin didn’t say much, instead closing his eyes in meditation, wearing an expression of letting Li Changshou comprehend on his own.

Li Changshou put on a thoughtful frown, but in his heart, he was calculating how to make Jieyin and the Heavenly Dao oppose each other, diverting the Dao Ancestor’s attention.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Jieyin was already under the Heavenly Dao’s surveillance and restraint at this time.

Could this Saint truly be so accepting?

If someone said Honored Teacher Jieyin had no thoughts in his heart, Li Changshou absolutely wouldn’t believe it. Moreover, their recent conversation proved that Honored Teacher Jieyin was quite dissatisfied with the Heavenly Dao and the Dao Ancestor.

He just stopped short of directly cursing the Dao Ancestor for gaining his position improperly, secretly controlling the Primordial World since ancient times, restraining all beings… and so on.

But Jieyin and the Western Teaching he represented didn’t have much backbone either. Their teachings all encouraged people to endure in silence. Expecting them to rebel against Heaven was less reliable than expecting the Dao Ancestor to leave the Primordial Source of his own accord.

Long silence fell in the thatched cottage.

This reminded Li Changshou of his conversations with his teacher in the Supreme Clarity Observatory.

The difference was that his teacher was close to the Great Dao and accustomed to the passage of time;

Between Jieyin and Xu Puti, it was pure awkwardness.

Finally, Jieyin decided this wasn’t much of an issue. He raised his hand and drew a circle in front of him, using a Saint’s power to observe Mount Huaguo in the Eastern Victory Divine Continent.

“Puti, this disciple of yours is not bad. Let’s see how he walks his path from here.”

“Yes, Master.”

‘Xu Puti’ agreed, and Jieyin pushed the cloud mirror aside, slowly expanding it until one wall of the thatched cottage became a ‘screen,’ showing the scene at Mount Huaguo just after the great battle had ended.

The world was desolate.

Within several hundred miles of Mount Huaguo, dozens of battlefields were now filled with demon corpses.

When Heavenly Soldiers died in battle, their bodies would transform into points of light, their divine spirits returning to the Heaven Court’s Merit Pool. If they had enough merit, they could consume it to reconstruct their true bodies. If they lacked sufficient merit for reconstruction, they would be sent to the Six Paths of Reincarnation to be reborn as celestial beings.

Demon soldiers had no such treatment. Usually, powerful demons would cast demon fire that only consumed demon bodies, letting dust return to dust and earth to earth. The magical treasures and battle armor left behind would belong to the demon forces cleaning up the battlefield.

At the peak of Mount Huaguo, the two great banners that had fallen earlier had been raised again.

All the Demon Kings gathered halfway up the mountain, most cheering and celebrating having repelled the Heavenly Army again today, but Sun Wukong was nowhere to be seen.

Honored Teacher Jieyin’s finger traced across, and the scene in the cloud mirror spread like ink in water, becoming the scene inside the Water Curtain Cave.

Sun Wukong’s somewhat thin figure was sunken into the stone seat. The Water Curtain Cave was empty and rather dim.

The phoenix wing purple gold crown’s feathers stretched over the stone chair’s back. The monkey’s face was hidden in the darkness, only the chain armor on his body retained a faint golden light, and the gold-banded staff hadn’t been put away, lying diagonally across his shoulder.

“Huff…”

The monkey slowly exhaled, lowering his head slightly, lost in thought.

“Great King!”

A somewhat shrill voice sounded outside the Water Curtain Cave—it was the monkey’s followers coming to invite Sun Wukong to the victory feast.

Sun Wukong waved his hand and said indifferently, “Today’s battle with Nezha has left your Great King somewhat tired. Let the brothers celebrate. I’ll meditate and rest here. Don’t let anyone enter.”

Those monkey spirits were stunned, not knowing what was wrong with their Great King, but they could only obey, quickly turning and running away.

The Water Curtain Cave fell silent again. Sun Wukong drew some bananas from the pile of fruit stacked in the corner, sitting there slowly eating them.

Spirit Mountain, thatched cottage.

Honored Teacher Jieyin asked gently: “Puti, could it be that your disciple already knows he’s being used by the Heaven Court?”

‘Xu Puti’ gave a bitter smile and said: “Master, Wukong is more than just intelligent—he can understand people’s hearts and comprehend changes. Perhaps earlier he didn’t understand because he was caught in the situation, but now he has already seen where the problem lies.”

“Oh?”

Honored Teacher Jieyin watched Sun Wukong’s figure in the cloud mirror. “Then can he find a way to break free from this situation?”

“This situation was set by the Dao Ancestor; it’s not something he can solve,” ‘Xu Puti’ seemed to want to say more but held back.

Honored Teacher Jieyin nodded slightly, his eyes showing some emotion.

Before Xu Puti came, he actually hadn’t paid attention to the Eastern Continent’s war, nor had he focused on this stone monkey who should have had great connections to his Western Teaching.

It was only because Xu Puti was here, and master and disciple couldn’t find topics to discuss, that they thought to take a peek at the monkey’s situation.

This look wasn’t trivial—it caused Jieyin to fall into contemplation, as if he had found some ‘opportunity.’

Li Changshou took advantage of the Saint’s cloud mirror technique to get a good look at Sun Wukong.

He could understand the pressure on Sun Wukong and could feel Sun Wukong’s current predicament. He was somewhat worried that Sun Wukong’s temperament might change because of this.

Thus, the light in ‘Xu Puti’s’ eyes now was full of a master’s concern for his disciple.

Honored Teacher Jieyin saw this scene and his eyes also flickered with light. He again gently slid his fingertip, and the scene in the cloud mirror changed once more.

This time, it showed a scene within the dark clouds above Mount Huaguo.

Jieyin said: “Keep watching. Perhaps you’ll find an opportunity to help him.”

“Thank you, Master,” Li Changshou said softly. “However, the Dao Ancestor has strictly ordered disciple not to continue interfering in Wukong’s affairs. Disciple can only watch…”

Jieyin nodded slightly, not saying more.

From the scene came the sound of exploding flames.

Nezha, wearing the Universe Ring at his waist and standing on his Wind Fire Wheels, jumped directly over the heads of the heavenly generals and rushed before Li Jing, who was discussing battle strategy with the other generals.

“Father! Why arrange the army and formation this way? Your child cannot understand!”

Li Jing frowned at Nezha and said slowly: “Don’t charge around recklessly in the army. Later, go receive five lashes with the thunder whip.”

“Yes…”

Nezha agreed, apologizing with clasped hands to the surrounding heavenly generals. Then he stepped forward two paces, his elegant face showing slight anger.

“Father, in these dozens of great battles, why do we let Sun Wukong escape every time?”

Li Jing answered: “Sun Wukong is exceptionally brave and martial, quite alert in combat, and has excellent escape techniques. If Father could easily capture him, I would have done so long ago. Why would I need your reminder?”

Nezha clenched his fists, facing Li Jing and the many heavenly generals behind him.

Nezha said firmly: “Father, I alone could clearly suppress Sun Wukong. Every time I’m about to use my Killing Energy Divine Body, Father orders us to withdraw! Father, why must we needlessly spill soldiers’ blood when we could end this quickly? If the Heaven Court wants to gather the demon race and kill their vital energy, we could deploy troops to seal off the Five Continents and Four Seas, suppress them with our great army, and kill all demons! Why use such underhanded schemes!”

“Silence!”

Li Jing commanded sternly: “Stop this nonsense, or face military and heavenly law!”

Flames appeared in Nezha’s pupils: “Father, I’ll go capture Sun Wukong right now!”

“Without the Marshal’s order, no one may rashly leave formation!”

“Father!”

Nezha gripped his Fire-Tipped Spear, the flames of his Wind Fire Wheels blazing high.

“Withdraw,” Li Jing’s face was calm, his expression extremely stern. “This is a military order.”

“Hmph,” Nezha turned and left, clearly quite resentful.

Li Jing said gravely: “Send two generals to watch Nezha. Don’t let him cause trouble.”

“Yes!”

Two Golden Immortal realm heavenly generals volunteered, turning to follow beside Nezha.

After Nezha had gone far, Li Jing sighed and said: “Continue reporting today’s battle casualties from each division.”

The heavenly generals each agreed, and the general who had been reporting earlier continued listing the day’s casualties.

…

Li Changshou watched this scene in the heavenly army formation, feeling somewhat gratified in his heart, though ‘Xu Puti’s’ false body showed a slightly troubled expression.

He truly felt gratified, both for Nezha’s uncorrupted dao heart and adherence to his sense of right and wrong, and for Li Jing’s composure and steadiness.

From Nezha’s perspective, he was always concerned about the Heaven Court’s soldiers’ casualties;

From Li Jing’s position, he had to consider both orders from above and the troops’ morale—the pressure was heavy, but he had to bear this burden.

However, based on his understanding of Nezha as Uncle Chang’an, it would be absolutely abnormal if Nezha didn’t cause trouble next.

Honored Teacher Jieyin temporarily dispersed the cloud mirror, his eyes also full of emotion.

Li Changshou asked: “Master, you are…”

“Puti, you tell me, were your Master and your Uncle wrong in our previous busy work of saving people and strengthening the Western Teaching?”

Honored Teacher Jieyin said: “Seeing Nezha now, I suddenly realize that previously, when your Uncle and I accepted disciples, we only focused on strengthening the Western Teaching’s fortune and consolidating its foundation, but neglected the matter of legacy. Never mind Wukong—among the Western Teaching’s third-generation disciples, not one is useful. The Enlightenment Sect has Yang Jian, Nezha, and Lei Zhenzi. The Severing Sect has Huo Ling, Yu Yuan, and countless others. Only our Western Teaching… in the end, I even wrongly trusted a Primordial Fierce Beast, brewing today’s bitter fruit.”

“Master,” Li Changshou could only comfort him, “You and Uncle had no choice back then.”

“Enough,” Honored Teacher Jieyin shook his head, “Now there is no Western Teaching, only this Buddhism. Puti, you excel in strategy—do you have any way to save Wukong?”

“Master, there is no way,” Li Changshou hurriedly said, “But I expect the Heavenly Dao won’t truly harm Wukong’s life.”

Jieyin calculated with his fingers and quickly fell into contemplation, seeming to be divining the heavenly patterns around Sun Wukong.

—Now that the great tribulation had dispersed, there was no more tribulation fortune interfering with divination.

The more he calculated, the deeper Jieyin’s brows furrowed.

“Strange, why are Sun Wukong’s fate numbers different from this poor dao’s previous calculations?”

As he spoke, the Saint’s dao rhythm around Jieyin grew thicker. His left hand formed signs quite slowly, and a force of the Heavenly Dao appeared again, though this time within Honored Teacher Jieyin’s body.

Clearly, this was invoking the power of the Primordial Purple Qi.

Li Changshou waited quietly, though his heart was somewhat concerned.

By his calculations, with Nezha’s temper flaring up, he must have already charged toward Mount Huaguo by now—those two Golden Immortal realm heavenly generals certainly couldn’t hold back little Nezha.

Who was his Nezha?

His physical body was in the Investiture of the Gods list, a famous proper deity of the Heaven Court, Grand Master Yuan Shi’s grand-disciple, and the Great Yin-Yang Master’s disciple!

Though scolded by his own father, his master would definitely support him. At worst, he’d stop being a proper deity and return to the mountains to live freely, cultivating, sleeping, and hunting rabbits.

In fact, Li Changshou suspected that Li Jing was deliberately provoking Nezha.

Thinking carefully, this possibility was quite high.

Li Jing was quite protective of Nezha. Usually when they disagreed, he would patiently explain with reason, not issue a cold military order.

That’s right—Li Jing also didn’t want to continue fighting like this, but he couldn’t openly defy orders from above.

Letting Nezha disrupt certain powerful deities’ arrangements in the Heaven Court and end the Mount Huaguo battle early had all benefits and no drawbacks.

Li Changshou kept track of time in his heart. By now they might already be fighting; in these few breaths one side might already be wounded.

Unfortunately, he could only wait for Honored Teacher Jieyin to open the cloud mirror.

Since Honored Teacher Jieyin was using the Heavenly Dao to calculate, perhaps the Heavenly Dao and Dao Ancestor were also watching them. To be safe, he didn’t shift his divine consciousness to Mount Huaguo to watch the battle.

Being rational, he couldn’t help anything even if he saw the specific situation.

Finally…

After calculating for half an hour, Honored Teacher Jieyin’s face showed some relief as he said: “Don’t worry, Wukong has a great opportunity, closely related to Buddhism’s prosperity. He won’t have too much trouble.”

With that, he raised his hand and opened the cloud mirror that Li Changshou had been eagerly awaiting.

Li Changshou thought to himself “as expected,” though the worry in his eyes wasn’t fake.

…

At sunset, in a forest by the Eastern Sea.

There, vast forests had turned to ashes, the earth cracked, and mountain rocks shattered.

A figure wrapped in black qi hovered in the air, extending six arms holding various weapons, launching a storm of attacks downward at lightning speed.

When the flowing light bombarded, Sun Wukong held up his gold-banded staff to forcefully withstand it. His feet had sunk into the earth’s rock layer, and around him had been blasted into a huge stone pit.

“Sun Wukong!”

Nezha shouted coldly: “Did you think I couldn’t defeat you?”

Sun Wukong gave a cold laugh, but under the suppression of Nezha’s Six-Armed Divine Body and numerous precious treasures, he couldn’t counterattack from the ground.

This was pure suppression—suppression through treasures and magical power.

There was some doubt in Sun Wukong’s eyes.

He had fought with Nezha many times before and knew Nezha’s combat patterns by heart. He had also seen Nezha use his Six-Armed Divine Body.

But today was the first time Sun Wukong had seen such thick killing energy around Nezha, the first time he had seen Nezha’s pupils turn blood red.

The attacks Nezha was launching now only allowed him to defend, with no chance to counter.

Was this the little boy’s true strength?

Indeed, the Heaven Court was just using his title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven to attract more demons, and then capture them all at once.

Indeed, as Brother Niu had secretly warned him, there was no justice or fairness in this world—demons were inherently enemies of the Heaven Court, and the Heaven Court simply wanted to eliminate the demon race’s main force.

Indeed, he couldn’t protect Mount Huaguo.

Thunder roared, and swords howled.

The gold-banded staff kept trembling, firmly blocking the many magical treasures Nezha was bombarding him with.

The overwhelming force continuously scattered in all directions, crushing the surrounding earth and rocks. Even though the ground contained that strange power, it was now being destroyed by the aftermath of their battle.

That power—he had secretly asked several elder brothers about it—was the power of the Heavenly Dao, responsible for protecting this world.

Heavenly Dao.

In the monkey’s understanding, it was the dao of the Heaven Court, the law of the Heaven Court, and the rules set by the Heaven Court.

Master hadn’t taught him these things, but that was probably how it was.

Previously, not knowing the heights of heaven, after encountering a few Heaven Court military officers, he thought the Heaven Court wasn’t much.

But when the Heaven Court’s great army pressed their borders, Sun Wukong finally realized that only he had the power to fight the Heaven Court on Mount Huaguo—his monkey children couldn’t face such a vast number of heavenly soldiers.

That was the first time he felt pressure.

The pressure of being a king.

When the Heaven Court’s army pressed their borders and those old demons who had originally sought refuge here left, he didn’t think much of it.

Mount Huaguo was free—those who wanted to come could come, and those who wanted to leave could naturally leave. He wouldn’t force other demons to do anything, nor would he owe anyone favors because of this.

But over the past few months, he suddenly discovered that if he had a few more allies, perhaps Mount Huaguo’s situation would improve greatly.

However, gradually, Sun Wukong discovered everything wasn’t as simple as he had thought.

The Heaven Court’s strength was unfathomable. The heavenly army’s formations were often like millstones grinding living beings—once activated, they could annihilate demon soldiers and demon experts in swathes.

The strength that he was so proud of would probably be directly suppressed under such formations.

But the Heaven Court had always only let Nezha or several other military officers fight him together, never using such formations.

And a few days ago while drinking, after Brother Niu got drunk, he whispered a few words that made Sun Wukong somewhat depressed.

‘Brother, do you know where Nezha ranks in strength within the Heaven Court? This number… at most thirtieth. You’re still young—don’t be used by the demon race, and don’t be used by the Heaven Court. If the Heaven Court truly wanted to destroy you, they wouldn’t need to send troops—just direct the Ten Directions’ Heaven Punishment and Mount Huaguo would be destroyed in an instant. Ah, you’ve been made into a chess piece to scheme against the demon race, to make more demon experts come to Mount Huaguo as burial companions, especially those ancient demon beings hiding underground and not showing themselves.’

Nezha, thirtieth?

Sun Wukong raised his head to look at the figure wrapped in killing energy in the sky, his raised gold-banded staff constantly trembling.

Chess piece, scheme, ancient demons… Mount Huaguo, burial ground…

His Mount Huaguo had become the demon race’s burial ground.

Then would his monkey children also be crushed to dust and turned to ashes?!

Was this the power of Heaven?

It truly made this demon king feel somewhat breathless.

Sun Wukong thought for several nights, looking for a way to break free, trying to find a gap to break through between the Heaven Court’s encirclement and the demon race’s binding.

He tried to think, attempted to analyze, but the more he thought, the more he analyzed, the more he discovered that waiting for Mount Huaguo was only a tragic end.

The Heaven Court was showing false weakness, and the demon race had their heads turned by so-called victories.

Mount Huaguo already had more and more demon tribes, the monkey clan’s voice had become practically negligible, and they had suffered various losses in successive great battles.

‘Perhaps I’m not a good king.’

Sun Wukong thought this in his heart, the golden light in his eyes slightly dimming, that raised gold-banded staff slowly being forced toward his face.

Nezha’s attacks grew increasingly fierce, rolling killing energy in the sky condensed into Nezha’s black shadow.

The sky darkened.

Li Changshou stared at this scene in the cloud mirror. He could almost feel the monkey’s inner struggle, but also knew this was a mental barrier the monkey had to cross.

Great Sage Equal to Heaven wasn’t a title to be called casually;

Handsome Monkey King wasn’t just a name—for this stone monkey picked up by the monkey tribe, it was also a responsibility.

However, wasn’t Nezha’s firepower a bit too strong?

Who would have thought that the killing energy Honored Teacher Zhunti had planted in Lady Yin back then would eventually create this small Heaven Court general who could control killing energy in battle?

Both sides were dear to him—Li Changshou couldn’t bear to see either of them hurt.

Honored Teacher Jieyin now watched the ‘Xu Puti’ before him with a smile, raising his hand to tap lightly, splitting the cloud mirror’s scene in two.

The left still showed Nezha urging his killing energy body, using treasures to suppress the monkey; the right revealed Li Jing and the many heavenly soldiers and generals in the high clouds.

At this moment, the heavenly generals were applying pressure from the sky, blocking the demon kings who wanted to rush to Sun Wukong’s aid on the ground, giving the demon side immense pressure—another great battle could break out at any time.

Li Jing just watched Nezha, concerned about the killing energy’s erosion of his dao heart, ready to deploy the pagoda in his hand at any moment.

A heavenly general beside him spoke softly, asking whether to help Nezha, but was stopped by Li Jing’s voice.

“Just watch,” Li Jing said, “Nezha still has strength to spare.”

The heavenly generals couldn’t help but look at each other.

By the seaside, the power of the Heavenly Dao had shown its shadow, with a thin layer of squares spread across the ground.

Sun Wukong already had half his body beaten into the ground, the great pit around him affecting dozens of miles;

Nezha stood motionless in the sky, the force of his thrown magical treasures not diminishing at all, their frequency even subtly increasing.

Sun Wukong’s palms were stained with blood, and his vajra-indestructible flesh was also destroyed by the force transmitted through the gold-banded staff.

‘Brother, we’re just a few Golden Immortals…’

Brother Niu’s voice seemed to still echo in his ears.

‘Even Daluo Immortals don’t count for much in the Heaven Court, and there are all sorts of realms above Daluo. You and I are just shields pushed out by the demon race. What are we fighting for? Just have some fun and that’s enough—when there’s a chance, leave if you should leave, slip away if you should slip away. Fly out of the Five Continents, the Primordial World is vast.’

Leave?

This thought arose from Sun Wukong’s heart, suddenly becoming unstoppable.

But how could he leave?

The various demon kings probably wouldn’t allow it, and he couldn’t take all his monkey children with him; Mount Huaguo was also his root—he was born here, and this was his native land.

How could he leave?

Fear the Heaven Court? Fear the immortals and gods?

Yes, at some unknown time, his dao heart had developed fear—fear of powers like the Heaven Court.

Wanting to protect his monkey children was also an excuse—most of those family members close to him had already died of old age when he was seeking immortality.

Everything was just the fear in his dao heart, a crack in his dao heart.

Everything was due to his insufficient strength, leading to the current predicament.

By what right?

This vast world, yet no place for him to belong!

Again, by what right?

This Heaven Court rules everything—give the Heaven Court a bit of color, and you’re labeled as rebellious!

Sun Wukong gritted his teeth and gave a heavy grunt, streaks of golden fire appearing in his eyes, his palms, and the web between thumb and forefinger bursting with golden light!

Clang!

The Universe Ring struck down, and the gold-banded staff sank downward, but Sun Wukong’s right hand gripped it in reverse, planting it before him.

Golden light blazed from his forehead. The streams of light hammering down from the sky mercilessly struck Sun Wukong’s face but were all blocked by the golden light bursting from around Sun Wukong!

Undying Golden Soul!

A phantom, a phantom hundreds of feet tall, a figure like an ape hundreds of feet tall, appeared behind Sun Wukong, raising its head to roar at Nezha in the sky.

“Empty show of force.”

Nezha gripped his Fire-Tipped Spear, Universe Ring, Mix-Heaven Silk, Gold Brick, and Yin-Yang Sword, the shadow of the Demon Lord’s Original Self appearing behind him as he dove down from the sky.

Demon flames raged to the heavens, yet were surrounded by the power of merit!

The ape phantom behind Sun Wukong clenched both fists, smashing the ground violently. Sun Wukong’s figure shot up from deep in the earth, that giant ape enveloping his form!

Sun Wukong gripped the gold-banded staff tightly with both hands to strike at Nezha, the giant ape’s clenched fist hammering toward the Demon Lord’s shadow.

‘Great King, when will you become immortal?’

‘Great King, our Mount Huaguo is now famous throughout the Five Continents!’

‘Great King… Great King…’

‘Wukong.’

Sun Wukong’s eyes filled with golden light, his whole body suddenly bursting with an overwhelmingly strong pressure!

What did it matter if heaven was high or earth was thick?

This heaven was within reach, this earth was under his feet!

The Heaven Court was mighty? Then he would fight his way into the Heaven Court, and plant his banner in the Crystal Palace!

He was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong!

Look to the sky!

Two figures suddenly collided, waves of ripples sweeping and raging in all directions through the sky, that golden ape and pitch-black demon shadow exploding simultaneously, making many heavenly generals’ eyelids twitch!

A light shout, an angry roar, followed by the sound of weapons clashing.

Heaven’s thunder surged chaotically, and heaven’s fire spread everywhere.

In the rumbling, Nezha’s figure flew backward into the sky, lowering his head to spit a mouthful of blood, a depression appearing on his chest.

Sun Wukong’s figure similarly fell toward the ground, a fingernail-sized bloody hole appearing on his forehead, making his expression appear more fierce.

These two, almost simultaneously stopping their momentum, each lunged forward to kill!

The demon race’s cheers were harsh and ear-piercing while rolling drum sounds echoed behind the heavenly generals.

Li Jing gripped the sword at his waist even tighter, ready to step forward and break the balance in the field at any moment.

Just then!

“Stop! Both of you stop quickly!”

In the twilight, a figure wearing white robes appeared at the edge of Nezha and Sun Wukong’s great battle, raising the imperial edict in his hand.

“His Majesty the Jade Emperor has decreed: The Handsome Monkey King Sun Wukong is hereby appointed as Great Sage Equal to Heaven, to receive salary from the Heaven Court! Build the Palace of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!”

“Get lost!”

Nezha and Sun Wukong shouted abuse at that old immortal figure almost in unison, making all the immortals and gods, demon kings, and lesser demons’ eyelids twitch.