Chapter 1: The Victorious Fighting Buddha's One-Year Investiture, a Blood-Soaked Letter Shakes Ling Shan!

Have you heard? Today marks the first anniversary of the Victorious Fighting Buddha's investiture.

Of course, nowadays on Ling Shan, who doesn't know that this monkey is a favorite of the Buddha Patriarch?

Ah, thinking back, that reckless monkey was utterly incorrigible, causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace, yet now he has attained fruition and become the most pious Victorious Fighting Buddha—truly, the Buddha's teachings are boundless.

Shh! Keep it down—that's not a reckless monkey, it's the Victorious Fighting Buddha! Watch out, if he hears you he'll smash you to pulp with a single blow!

At the foot of Ling Shan.

Several novice monks tasked with sweeping lowered their heads, whispering among themselves.

They gazed in awe at the Da Lei Yin Si, its golden light shining myriad zhang.

Today, Ling Shan is bathed in Buddha's light.

Celestial chants echo, and heavenly blossoms fall in profusion.

Inside the Da Lei Yin Si.

Thousands of arhats and five hundred bodhisattvas gather together.

Beside the central lotus throne, a single golden seat is set apart.

Seated there is none other than Sun Wukong, clad in a jeweled monk's robe and wearing the Vairochana monk's cap.

That is, one year ago, the Six-Eared Macaque was invested as the Victorious Fighting Buddha in the Da Lei Yin Si.

Now.

The Six-Eared Macaque turns prayer beads in his hand, a compassionate smile on his face.

But in his heart, he is overjoyed.

Exhilarating!

Truly exhilarating!

Sitting in the position of Victorious Fighting Buddha is simply comfortable!

The Six-Eared Macaque's gaze sweeps over the arhats below who bow to him with utmost reverence, his heart swelling with pride.

One year ago.

The ordeal of the True and False Monkey King.

He joined forces with the Rulai Buddha, and before the myriad gods and buddhas, he struck down the true Sun Wukong with a single blow!

From then on, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven ceased to exist in the world.

Only this obedient Six-Eared Macaque attained fruition and received offerings.

Sun Wukong, oh Sun Wukong.

You're nothing but a fool.

Only a dead monkey is a good monkey.

Look at me now—this old monkey… no, I, the venerable one, am worshiped by tens of thousands, while you? Your soul has fled and your spirit scattered, not even a trace remains!

The Six-Eared Macaque chuckles coldly again and again in his heart.

He relishes this feeling of being high above.

The pleasure of toying with the world in the palm of his hand.

Above.

The Rulai Buddha's Dharma Aspect is solemn and majestic, his voice resonant like a bell:

"Victorious Fighting Buddha, having entered my sangha for a year, you have slain demons, eradicated evil, upheld the true Dharma, and accrued boundless merit."

"Today, I specially bestow upon you a single nine-turn golden lotus as a reward."

Whoosh——

The assembled buddhas below erupt in an uproar.

Nine-turn golden lotus!

That is the supreme treasure of Ling Shan; it not only can enhance one's cultivation, but also can reforge the golden body!

Countless envious and jealous eyes turn toward the Six-Eared Macaque.

The Six-Eared Macaque, barely containing his ecstasy, presses his palms together and is about to rise to give thanks:

"Disciple, I thank the Buddha Patriarch's grace……"

However.

At the very moment the word "diǎn" had not yet left his lips.

Suddenly, an anomaly arises!

Boom——!!!

The formerly auspicious-cloud-wreathed, Buddha-light-bathed firmament of Ling Shan suddenly changes hue!

No dark clouds.

No lightning.

Only a suffocating expanse of blood-red!

As if the heavens were torn open, pouring forth torrents of blood!

Immediately thereafter.

An indescribable terrifying pressure, like countless Tai Gu Shen Shan collapsing, slams down upon the summit of the Da Lei Yin Si!

Pfft——

At the main hall's gate, the eighteen guardian vajras tasked with defending the Dharma, without even a grunt, are forced to their knees by this aura, spitting blood!

What's happening?!

An attack?! Which demon dares to intrude upon Ling Shan!

My heavens, this aura… my golden body is about to burst!

The hall was in utter chaos.

The arhats who usually loomed high and mighty now had deathly pale faces and trembled all over.

Those with lesser cultivation, the lesser cultivators, flung themselves to the ground, blood pouring from their seven apertures, unable to move.

Even Guanyin, Manjusri and a few great bodhisattvas' expressions shifted drastically; they had to summon all their power to desperately resist this sudden pressure.

This is no ordinary demon!

This is... a terror that shakes heaven and earth!

Rulai Buddha's smile froze instantly.

He suddenly lifted his head, his gaze locked on the space above the hall.

There.

A streak of golden light tore through the sky!

That golden light was too fast!

It ignored Ling Shan's mountain-protecting formation!

It ignored the mental power seal of the three thousand buddhas!

"That is..."

The Six-Eared Macaque fell onto the lotus platform, his monkey hair standing on end.

He felt a chill rise from the depths of his soul.

That was the taste of death!

The golden light hovered at the exact center of Da Lei Yin Si.

The light faded.

That was no magical treasure.

Nor was it any divine ability.

But a letter.

A letter that at this moment glared horribly, dripping golden liquid— a bloody letter.

Even before the letter was opened, killing intent had arrived.

The temperature throughout Da Lei Yin Si plunged to freezing in an instant.

It seemed as if even the air had been frozen by this killing intent.

On the envelope.

It bore no recipient's name.

Only three vigorous, powerful large characters, filled with endless sorrow and fury——

"A Debt Collection Notice!"

These three characters seemed to have been carved by the very law of the Great Dao.

Each stroke pulsed with a Saint's Dao rhythm capable of destroying heaven and earth.

"Collect a debt?"

"Who are they collecting a debt from?"

"Within the Three Realms, who dares to demand payment from Ling Shan?!!"

All the buddhas were terrified out of their wits.

Rulai Buddha's brows knotted into the character 'chuan', and an extremely ominous premonition welled up in his heart.

This aura……

All too familiar!

So familiar that even he, the myriad buddhas' ancestor, felt a shudder of heart‑pounding fright!

Just then.

The floating bloody letter ignited without a wind!

But it did not burn to ash.

But it turned into lines of blood‑red characters that blotted out the sky, forcibly projected into everyone's sea of consciousness.

Each character dripped with blood.

Each utterance thundered in the ears.

That was not mere writing.

That was an ancient, sorrow‑filled and indignant roar, suppressed for five hundred years:

"Back then you called him a demon monkey; I endured, for that was his fate."

"Later you buried him for five hundred years; I endured, for that was his tribulation."

"Now you have laid a trap to kill him, destroy his body, annihilate his soul, letting this Six‑Eared Macaque masquerade as him……"

"If I endure this any longer, I would be unworthy as a teacher!!!"

Boom!!!

As the final line appeared, the whole Da Lei Yin Si shook violently, as if a magnitude‑10 earthquake had struck!

The blood‑red characters coalesced in the air, finally forming a proclamation that sent the Six‑Eared Macaque's soul flying:

"Where is my disciple, Wukong?!!"

"Today, as his master, I have come to seek… to retrieve… justice for him!"

Pfft——!

This roar seemed to traverse the ages.

Instantly, half of the five hundred arhats present spat a mouthful of golden blood as they looked up, their vitality fading.

This is the wrath of a Saint!

This is a sorrow and indignation that even the Heavenly Dao cannot bear!

At this very moment.

The Six-Eared Macaque seated atop the Liántái had already turned pallid with fear; the prayer beads it was playing with snapped "pa-da" and fell to the ground, rolling far away.

He trembled as he looked toward the Rulai, his voice choked with sobs:

"Buddha... Buddha Patriarch..."

"Who... who is this?"

The Rulai Buddha stared fixedly at the gradually fading bloody characters.

On his face, usually calm and unperturbed, finally appeared a trace of unprecedented terror.

His lips quivered slightly, and from between his teeth he forced out the name that had made him wary for countless ages:

"Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave..."

"Xuputi!!!"