Chapter 128: Da Lei Yin Si, Old Friends Meet

The mountain road is very long.

For mortals, this is perhaps a pilgrimage route that would take several days, even several months, to complete.

But for Sun Wukong, it is merely the distance between lifting a foot and setting it down.

He walks very slowly.

He looks at the mortals around him.

Looking at them, they chant Buddha's name in their mouths, their eyes flashing with fervor.

Looking at them, they place all their hopes upon that illusory, blissful afterlife.

Sun Wukong's heart is as still as an ancient well.

Once, he might have felt anger at these mortals' foolishness.

But not anymore.

All beings suffer.

Praying to gods and bowing to Buddhas is merely the last straw they grasp in the sea of suffering.

The ridiculous thing is.

That very straw they clutch is itself one of the creators of the sea of suffering.

Soon.

That somewhat dilapidated Da Lei Yin Si soon came into view.

At the temple gate, two little novice monks wearing gray Sēngpáo were weakly sweeping the fallen leaves on the ground.

Their Xiūwéi is pitifully low.

They aren't even immortals.

At most, they are just two martial monks a bit stronger than ordinary mortals.

Seeing Sun Wukong, this visitor who neither kowtows nor chants Buddha swaggered over.

One of them, the slightly older little novice monk, immediately stepped forward.

He placed his palms together and bowed to Sun Wukong in a Buddhist salute.

"Sir, are you here to offer incense?"

Sun Wukong gave him a once‑over.

"I, Old Sun, neither burn incense nor bow to Buddha."

"I've come to find someone."

The little novice monk froze for a moment.

On his face appeared a hint of a professional, embarrassed smile.

"Sir, sorry."

"Our temple is open to incense‑visitors only on the first and fifteenth days."

"At other times, we do not receive outside guests."

Sun Wukong smiled.

"Oh?"

"I, Old Sun, am not an outsider."

"Go tell your Buddha Patriarch."

"Just say that his Victorious Fighting Buddha has returned."

"Tell him to get out and see me!"

The moment the four words 'Victorious Fighting Buddha' left his mouth,

That little novice monk's face instantly changed!

Turning deathly pale!

His eyes showed a mixture of fear and incredulity!

"You… you…"

He pointed at Sun Wukong, his lips trembling, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long while!

The other little novice monk also sensed something was wrong.

He quickly dropped his broom and ran over.

"Senior Brother, what's wrong?"

"He… he… he…"

The little novice monk called Senior Brother, as if seeing a ghost, pointed at Sun Wukong.

"He… he says he is… the Victorious Fighting Buddha!"

As soon as those words were spoken,

The other little novice monk was also dumbfounded.

The two stared blankly at Sun Wukong.

As if they were looking at a demon that had crawled out of hell!

Sun Wukong looked at them, somewhat amused.

"How?"

"You don't recognize me?"

"Or is it that seeing the true master has instead frightened you silly?"

"No! Impossible!"

That Senior Brother finally reacted!

He seemed to be bolstering his own courage, shouting loudly, retorting.

"The Victorious Fighting Buddha, year after year, sits at the Buddha Patriarch's feet, listening to sutras and expounding the Dharma!"

"I saw him just a few days ago!"

"You… you monkey demon! Where exactly did you come from!"

"How dare you impersonate the Dharma-protecting Buddha of our Buddhist sect!"

"Simply, your sin deserves myriad deaths!"

While speaking, he simultaneously pulled from his bosom a talisman glowing with faint golden light.

It looks like he's getting ready to strike.

Sun Wukong looked at his blustering but cowardly demeanor.

The smile on his face grew thicker.

"Oh?"

"You've seen him too?"

"That's perfect."

"Go, call him out."

"I, Old Sun, want to see for myself."

"Is this 'Buddha' of his genuine?"

"Or is it my 'monkey demon' that's genuine!"

He said.

Sun Wukong stepped forward lightly.

Just an ordinary step like that.

No earth-shaking, mountain-moving.

Nor any shattering of laws.

But!

The two novice monks blocking his way.

But it was as if they had been smashed head-on by an invisible Tai Gu Shen Shan!

"Pfft!"

The two didn't even have time to utter a miserable cry!

Their bodies instantly turned into two clouds of blood mist.

Body and spirit both destroyed!

Sun Wukong didn't even glance at those two clouds of blood mist.

He raised his head, his gaze piercing the heavy gate of Da Lei Yin Si.

It landed upon the lofty golden Buddha statue inside the hall.

And.

Beneath the statue sat a figure cross-legged, wearing a brocade kasaya.

The corner of his mouth curled into a chilling arc.

"Tathagata."

"Six-Ears."

"I, Old Sun, have returned!"

"Your time of death has come!"

"Boom!!"

"Before the words even fell!"

"That door, made of ten-thousand-year agarwood and engraved with countless Buddhist sect formations, was a heavy temple gate!"

"It exploded and shattered!"

"Amidst the flying wood chips."

"A golden figure shot forth like a cannonball from the barrel!"

"Bringing boundless rage and killing intent!"

"It shot straight toward Sun Wukong!"

"Where did this monster come from!"

"How dare you run wild in my Ling Shan holy ground!"

"You're asking for death!"

"That voice was exactly the same as Sun Wukong's!"

"That aura was indistinguishable from Sun Wukong's!"

"Even the staff in his hand, flashing with myriad zhang of golden light!"

"Was indistinguishable from the Ruyi Golden Hoop Staff!"

"Exactly, the one who stole Sun Wukong's lifetime and replaced all his karma……"

"Six-Eared Macaque!"

"Or rather."

"The present Victorious Fighting Buddha!"

"He has come!"

"He came bearing the supreme glory of the Buddhist sect and the boundless wrath of a Buddha!"

However.

Facing this, it is sufficient to, with a single stick, turn an ordinary Luo Golden Immortal into minced meat—a thunder strike.

Sun Wukong, even his eyelids, he couldn't be bothered to lift.

He merely stood in place.

He quietly watched as that, rushing madly toward himself, "himself".

On his face, even, there was a hint of a cat-playing-with-mouse-like, teasing smile.

Just as that counterfeit Golden Cudgel was about to strike his crown of the head, in the instant before.

Sun Wukong finally moved.

He did not take out his own Golden Cudgel.

Nor did he use any earth-shattering divine ability.

He simply raised his right hand.

Then.

Toward the whistling staff coming at him.

He curled his finger.

And flicked.

Ding——!!!

A sound, clear to the extreme, of metal clanging!

It echoed throughout the entire Ling Shan!