Chapter 14: No One Can Save You

The white crane flapped its wings.

That long cry, bearing the penetrating power unique to a Taiyi Golden Immortal, scattered the rolling clouds above Da Lei Yin Si by a few degrees.

The Southern Pole Immortal Elder perched high on the crane's back.

He held in his hands a decree emitting a purple Dao Rhythm, his expression solemn, the white whiskers on his chin fluttering in the wind.

He is a veteran Quasi-Saint.

Moreover, he is the senior disciple under the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, a true immortal of the Chan Sect's benevolent virtue, and is daily favored by Hóngjūn Dàozǔ.

His appearance this time does not represent himself.

It represents the Chan Sect.

It represents the Heavenly Dao.

It even stands for the supreme being of the Purple Sky Palace.

"Sun Wukong!"

The Southern Pole Immortal Elder's voice rang loudly, carrying an air of commanding authority.

"The Dao Patriarch commands, the Six-Eared Macaque is involved in the Journey to the West tribulation, its fate not yet ended, it must not be killed!"

"Step back quickly, or the Heavenly Dao will descend..."

He did not finish speaking.

Sun Wukong did not even lift his head.

His hand gripping the Golden Cudgel did not even pause for a micron.

The iron rod still emitted a whistling wind, striking unflinchingly toward the Six-Eared Macaque's forehead.

Decree?

Dao Patriarch?

None of Old Sun's business!

The Southern Pole Immortal Elder was stunned.

He did not expect this mischievous monkey to go so far, even denying Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's face.

"How audacious!"

The Southern Pole Immortal Elder became enraged.

Waving his staff, the white crane beneath him emitted a sharp screech, flapped its wings, turning into a white streak of light that lunged straight at Sun Wukong's Golden Cudgel.

This white crane is also of a different kind.

Having followed the Southern Pole Immortal Elder for tens of thousands of years, its cultivation had already reached Great Luo, its flesh robust, and this single strike could deflect any posthumous spirit treasure.

It intends to save someone.

Even if it cannot save, as long as it blocks this instant, with it present, the monkey would not dare act again.

However.

At the very moment the white crane surged into Da Lei Yin Si's area.

The Bodhi Patriarch, who had been standing beside as a backdrop, moved.

He did not summon any treasure.

Nor did he perform any earth-shattering divine skill.

He simply raised his right hand casually.

His index finger curled.

He gave a gentle flick toward the rapidly diving massive white crane.

As if flicking away a speck of dust from a garment's corner.

Bang.

A soft sound.

In the noisy great hall, the sound was not loud, yet it pierced clearly into everyone's ears.

Immediately after.

The crane possessing Great Luo Golden Immortal cultivation, capable of traversing the vast world.

Suddenly halted in Mid-Air.

Then.

Boom—!!!

It exploded.

No warning, no resistance.

The entire white crane instantly turned into a swirl of mournful crimson mist.

Feathers fluttered.

Not even a Cànjiào could be uttered before it completely vanished between heaven and earth.

Xíngshén jù miè.

The Southern Pole Immortal Elder, seated on the crane's back, had originally maintained an aloof posture.

His mount suddenly disappeared.

He kept a lotus posture in the air, stunned for half a second.

Then.

Drawn by gravity, his whole body fell down in a terribly awkward tumble.

His face hit the ground first.

Splat.

A muffled thud.

This Fortune and Virtue True Immortal, a Chan Teaching adept, fell in a 'dog-eating-shit' pose onto the bloodstained golden bricks of Da Lei Yin Si.

He fell beside a pile of minced meat.

Silence.

Deathly silence.

The Rulai Buddha's eyes, which had just lit up, dimmed again.

Guanyin Bodhisattva's head, which had just risen, lowered again.

Even the two saints, Zhunti and Jieyin, couldn't help but turn their faces aside, pretending to look at the scenery.

Too horrible.

This is the senior disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun!

The South Pole Immortal Old Man climbed up from the ground.

His face was covered in blood.

His well-kept white beard was covered in dust and the shattered flesh of the exploded white crane.

He was dazed.

His head buzzed.

Who am I?

Where am I?

Who hit me?

Until he saw the old Daoist in green robes slowly retracting his finger, wiping it on his robe.

The South Pole Immortal Old Man's anger instantly shattered his reason.

Humiliation!

This is naked humiliation!

"You... you demonic Daoist!"

"I am the chief disciple of the Chan Teaching! I act under the Dao Ancestor's order..."

Smack.

A foot.

A foot wearing ordinary cloth shoes.

It stepped directly onto the South Pole Immortal Old Man's face, which was about to chatter on.

It pressed down his half-raised head back into the mud.

It ground down hard.

"Mmm! Mmm-mmm!"

The South Pole Immortal Old Man frantically scratched at the ground with both hands, trying to struggle, trying to use his magic to shake off that foot.

But he discovered in horror.

His own Quasi-Saint cultivation, which he prided himself on.

Before that foot, it was as if sealed.

He couldn't muster even a trace of spiritual energy.

That wasn't a foot.

That was the heavens collapsing!

The Bodhi Patriarch lowered his head, looking at the South Pole Immortal Old Man beneath his feet.

His gaze was flat, without a ripple.

"Dao Ancestor?"

"Hongjun, that little old man, didn't he teach you manners?"

"Adults are handling business."

"Kids, don't interrupt."

Bodhi exerted a little force underfoot.

Crack.

The South Pole Immortal Old Man's nasal bone broke.

Such physical pain meant nothing to an immortal, but the mental blow made him wish to dissolve his body on the spot.

He was stepped on the face.

Before the countless gods and buddhas.

Before the two Western saints.

As this Chan Teaching senior brother, he was trampled underfoot like a cockroach.

Bodhi couldn't even be bothered to glance at him again.

He raised his head and looked toward Sun Wukong not far away.

"Wukong."

"What are you doing standing there?"

"A fly got into the house; as the master, I'll just swat it dead."

"You continue."

Sun Wukong grinned.

In that smile, there was not a hint of warmth.

Only the purest brutality.

That little interlude just now, to him, was like watching a boring farce.

It didn't deviate his Golden Cudgel in the slightest.

The Six-Eared Macaque lay collapsed on the ground.

Watching the South Pole Immortal being stepped on underfoot, the last glimmer of light in his eyes went out.

Even the one holding the Dao Ancestor's edict was stepped on.

These Three Realms.

Who else could save him?

No one.

"No… don't…"

The Six-Eared Macaque let out its final death wail.

Whoosh—

The Golden Cudgel fell.

There was no sky-filling golden light.

No laws turned.

It was pure gravity, plus the power enough to shatter stars.

Pfft.

A sound that made teeth ache.

Like a ripe watermelon smashed by an iron hammer.

The Six-Eared Macaque's head, together with its still-pleading mouth, vanished instantly.

Next came the neck, chest cavity, and limbs.

The whole person.

On the ground of Da Lei Yin Si, he was smashed into a mush of meat where no facial features could be distinguished.

Together with the Original Spirit hidden in the Purple Palace.

All were utterly pulverized beneath this blow.

The True Spirit was annihilated.

From then on.

The world no longer had a Six-Eared Macaque.

No longer that Worldly Four Monkeys who were good at listening to sounds, could discern principles, knew past and future, and understood all things.

Only a puddle of rotting flesh remained.

Rumble—

The ground couldn't bear this residual wave, cracking open a chasm ten thousand zhang deep.

At the bottom of the abyss.

Dark winds howled furiously.

Faintly visible was the scene of the eighteen layers of hell.

That place was the netherworld's underworld.

The Ten Kings of Hell were gathered together, looking up in terror through this fissure at the scene above.

Seeing that monkey kill the Six-Ears with a single blow of his staff.

Seeing that invincible Bodhi Patriarch stepping on the South Pole Immortal.

"Quick! Close the door!"

King Qin Guang was so frightened his hat fell off, and he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"If that calamity star comes down, we won't be able to keep our underworld!"

"What about the Six-Ears' soul? Are we going to hook it?"

"Hook my ass! It's all been blasted to ashes—are we supposed to hook air?!"

Boom!

The great gate of the Gate of Ghosts slammed shut.

The underworld severed all ties with Ling Shan.

This muddy water, even ghosts dare not wade through.

Inside Da Lei Yin Si.

Sun Wukong maintained the posture of having struck down.

After a long while.

Only then did he slowly retract his Golden Cudgel.

The staff was smeared with red and white matter.

Sun Wukong flicked his wrist.

Hum.

The Golden Cudgel vibrated at high speed, shaking off all the filth.

It became once again radiant with golden light, spotless.

He turned around.

His boots stepped on that puddle of blood-mud, making a squelching sound.

Each step.

They all left a bloody footprint.

It stretched all the way to the center of the hall.

He stopped his steps.

He raised his head.

Those eyes burning with stellar fire pierced through the swirling dust.

He stared straight up at the Rulai Buddha seated high on the lotus platform.

The Rulai Buddha stiffened all over.

He instinctively shrank his neck.

What kind of gaze is that.

No anger.

No frenzy.

Only a calmness toward the dead.

Just as he had just killed the Six-Eared Macaque, he merely swatted a mosquito to death.

Now.

He was about to start killing.

Crack.

The nine-petal golden lotus beneath the Rulai Buddha suddenly split open a fine crack.

This is a sign of the mind's defenses being broken.

The venerable Lord of Myriad Buddhas.

A mighty one at the peak of Quasi-Saint.

He was actually shaken by a gaze, his Dao Heart unsteady.

"That fake has been dealt with."

"Sun Wukong's voice was soft."

"It echoed within the hall."

"He raised the Golden Cudgel, pointing far away at the Rulai Buddha's fat, big face."

"The corner of his mouth twitched open a bit."

"Revealing a mouthful of stark white fangs."

"Rulai Buddha."

"When you once covered him in the golden bowl."

"Have you ever thought..."

"I could also smash your broken Ling Shan into flat ground?"

"Sun Wukong stepped forward."

"This step."

"He shattered the steps of Ling Shan."

"And trampled the last dignity of the Buddhist sect."

"Come down."

"Sun Wukong curled his finger."

"Or rather..."

"Do you want me, Old Sun, to go up and knock off each of those bumps on your head?"