Chapter 600

For Sun Wukong's sudden outburst, the Tathagata had long been prepared, slowly extending his hand, neither hurried nor slow.

The many bodhisattvas and arhats nearby shouted in unison: "Beast!"

The Tathagata extended his hand, pressing toward Sun Wukong.

The top layer of the Mahavira Hall instantly transformed into a massive palm, descending downward.

The immense force forcibly pressed the leaping Sun Wukong back to the ground, shattering all the white jade stone slabs, and even the entire hall turned into swirling clouds and mist.

Beneath his feet lay the summit of Ling Mountain, extraordinarily solid; if ordinary mountains were like tofu blocks, then this peak was steel forged through a thousand tempers.

Several jade dragon-carved pillars transformed into five fingers, merging with the giant palm to envelop Sun Wukong.

The surrounding bodhisattvas, seated on lotus thrones and mats, retreated a distance in all directions.

The Diamond Arhats also retreated, glaring angrily at Sun Wukong.

Countless gods and buddhas hovered above the mountain peak, looking down from on high, Buddhist chants echoing repeatedly.

Sun Wukong half-knelt on the summit, gripping his golden hooped staff with one hand, bracing it against the ground, with a cage formed by the giant palm above his head.

Above that were the gods and buddhas who would place the tight-fillet spell upon him.

"Great..."

Releasing the golden hooped staff, Sun Wukong suddenly lifted his head and slowly rose to his feet.

The golden hooped staff began to grow immense, soon pressing against the palm above his head.

The Tathagata let out a faint sound of doubt; his originally expressionless face began to show a smile—this is more interesting.

Resist, roar, fight!

Then, collapse in despair.

The Tathagata could barely suppress the urge to laugh wildly, but not yet.

After all, this was before the "Assembly of Buddhas"; though they also disliked this monkey, they agreed to obliterate this earth-born demon in this manner.

But overall, this group of hypocrites still wanted to maintain the appearance of righteousness.

Why bother, when they have already submitted?

They are also a group of demons and monsters, yet they pretend to be gods and buddhas—truly laughable.

However, after this monkey dies, their final masks will also fall away.

Then, all buddhas will become demons!

This world belongs to them—these demons, these monsters!

"Continue! Great!"

Sun Wukong had already fully risen to his feet, one hand pressing on the golden hooped staff, his face fierce.

The golden hooped staff resisting the palm, under his urging, grew even larger, and cracks began to appear on the flat ground.

The surrounding five massive fingers also began to tremble faintly.

"Beast!"

"Obstinately ignorant!"

Before the Tathagata could act, the surrounding bodhisattvas and vajras had already shouted loudly, their mudras and mantras transforming into streams of light that converged into the giant palm above Sun Wukong's head.

The giant palm emitted a dazzling golden light, and a grand heavenly sound emanated from within it.

But upon careful listening, it also sounded like countless roars.

The Wrath of the Vajras!

Flames ignited on the palm, its patterns turning into brilliant gold-red hues, like surging magma.

The golden light at the tip of the golden hooped staff began to glow red, spreading downward section by section.

Gradually forced downward by the giant palm, it pierced into the mountain peak beneath his feet, with small fine cracks appearing around it, spreading in all directions.

"Roar!"

Sun Wukong let out a bellow, his form rapidly swelling in size.

A violent giant ape appeared, with crimson eyes and hair dancing like black flames; he extended both hands, resisting the giant palm above his head.

His earth-shaking bellow transformed into gusts of wild wind, air waves surging in all directions.

The five "fingers" began to tremble from the blast.

The surrounding clouds and mist were blown apart considerably; those gods and buddhas vaguely visible within the mist now appeared much more distinct.

Their expressions could be seen—anger, mockery, disdain, delight, or indifference.

"Beast, do you still wish to resist?" the Tathagata spoke, his voice like heavenly sound.

Though Sun Wukong's massive frame resisting the palm was slightly hunched, he showed no intention of yielding; on the contrary, his violent power surged forward in successive waves.

His hands, in contact with the palm, were already entirely crimson, with white bones faintly visible.

The pain instead stimulated his ferocity.

"How pitiful, yet another meaningless resistance, merely a cycle of rebirth." the Tathagata said, "Beast. The sea of suffering is boundless; turning back is the shore."

"Die for me, you stinking monk!" was Sun Wukong's bellowed reply.

"Obstinately ignorant."

The Tathagata slightly shook his head, raised a single hand before his chest, and began to chant the tight-fillet spell.

This time, instead of immense pain striking, his entire body utterly lost strength, weak as a fish stranded on land.

Various chaotic images flashed through his mind, memories endlessly echoing.

Sun Wukong lifted his head and let out a long howl, seven-colored light bursting from his eyes.

This light penetrated the palm, condensed in the sky, and formed various images.

A mighty monkey stood on the mountain peak, a waterfall at his feet, surrounded by a large troop of monkeys cheering and leaping about him.

"From now on, this place shall be your homeland—Flower-Fruit Mountain, and I am your king!"

He wielded the Golden-Hooped Rod in his hand; though a monkey, his features were handsome, bearing none of the present-day ferocity, ugliness, and savagery.

The monkeys beside him cheered.

Soon, the scene shifted.

Over a land of clear mountains and beautiful waters, a vast shadow fell; dark clouds pressed down on the city.

Above the dark clouds stood Buddhas and gods; they lofted high above, gazing down at the apes and monkeys below.

"Sun Wukong, you dare defy the gods and Buddhas, defy Heaven's decree?"

One majestic sentence, like Heaven's punishment and judgment.

The scene went black, leaving only a stretch of barren mountains and foul waters, stagnant dead water that could not flow, scorched black earth, withered flowers, grasses, and trees that turned to black powder at a breath of wind.

Several gigantic Heaven-Pillars seemed to connect heaven and earth.

Chains spread down from above, locking Sun Wukong, suspending him upside-down between heaven and earth.

Thunderbolts fell incessantly, blasting against his body.

The howling wind turned into merciless, endless blades, all descending upon him.

The chains' lashing became giant hammers' blows, sharp axes' chops.

He slowly turned into a shapeless mass of flesh and blood; anyone would think he should be dead, yet the violent thumping of his heart reverberated between heaven and earth.

A cluster of undying flame burned, an undying heart beat!

"Hahaha! You want to kill me with just you lot? A ten thousand years too early!"

Endless punishment, until...

"Wukong..."

A gentle voice sounded; the terrible, cruel punishment vanished, a golden halo fell from the sky, merging into the flesh and blood.

"Begin your journey of despair."

That gentle voice turned into incomparably malicious mockery.

The halo was a shackle, a collar, named the "Golden Headband Spell".

No true Heavenly Court, no so-called brotherhood of immortals, no five hundred years under Five-Finger Mountain, no rescue by Tang Sanzang — these were all false memories the shackle gave him.

Even the Flower-Fruit Mountain deadland of barren mountains and foul waters was beautified.

Only the Journey West! Journey West! Journey West!

Once, twice, three times, four times... ten times, twenty times!

One Journey West after another, battles, and betrayals from those puppets of Master and junior disciples; Sun Wukong grew more and more ferocious, more and more ugly, more and more berserk.

And also weaker and weaker.

"See it? Remember now?"

The Tathagata said, "This is the destiny you cannot escape; you are merely our toy, death is your final destination."

"Resistance is meaningless; it will only intensify your suffering."

"This is only the beginning; the journey of despair will never stop."

"Kneel, bow your head, only then will everything truly end, only then can you obtain true liberation."

Sun Wukong maintained the posture of holding both hands high, standing tall between heaven and earth, yet his aura was no longer berserk and surging.

Instead it became incomparably calm, calm like a stubborn stone.

"Go on, kill him, and you can be liberated."

The Tathagata looked toward Tang Luo and the others beside him.

Betrayal from companions and comrades-in-arms, at least fellow travelers — this was the bitter fruit Sun Wukong had to force down.

It was these gods' and Buddhas' after-dinner sweet dessert.

"Amitabha." A Buddha's invocation rang from Tang Luo's mouth, "So it is."

No one paid attention to this pawn's voice, so strangely calm at this moment; even the Tathagata only glanced over casually when he spoke just now.

They were all watching Sun Wukong.

Waiting for this unruly monkey to fall once more.

His life was already a candle in the wind; would this death be the true death?

"A bunch of ignorant fools, you can even get the target of your revenge wrong." Tang Luo raised his head, looking at the "Tathagata" high above in the sky, then at "Sha Seng", "Bajie, did you leave nine pits on this guy's head back then?"

"No, actually the one who smashed his head back then was Sha Shidi." Zhu Bajie seriously shifted the blame.

As the two conversed, the ever-present, chaotic chanting voices forming the heavenly music suddenly vanished.

Heaven and earth fell utterly silent; the wind stopped in that instant, as if everything around was frozen.

Tang Luo's gaze swept over the sky-full of gods and Buddhas: "Oh, so there are some acquaintances too. That guy, what Arhat are you? Forgotten. And you, this seat remembers you were a monk of the Demon-Subduing Pagoda; what, fed your body to a tiger? 'If I don't enter hell, who will?' Learning from Ksitigarbha?"

"Master, and some minor soldiers and minor gods of the Heavenly Court too." Zhu Bajie said.

"Heh, convert to Buddhism me? Learn from Guanyin, Samantabhadra?"

Tang Luo's mockery entered the ears, his tone sounding rather light and cheerful, yet the atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive and heavy.

Like a giant palm enveloping Sun Wukong, an invisible giant hand also slowly enveloped them.

"You—"

Finally, the "Tathagata" spoke: "It's you?! No, impossible—"

"Impossible?"

Tang Luo stepped forward one step; the disguise on him vanished, white long hair fluttering, the blood-color on his brocade kasaya surging like a living thing, "Spirit Mountain? Great Thunderclap Temple? Hahaha!"

"Your Fighting Victorious Buddha has returned!"

Berserk power surged; the mere revealed aura was like a sky-tilting giant wave, rolling back heaven and earth.

One majestic, solemn, lofty face after another "shattered", revealing expressions of ferocity, jealousy, and shock.

The monk's robes draped over a monster that wasn't even humanoid in shape, looking utterly ridiculous.

The sky filled with gods and buddhas were once some monks, some immortals, and more, a horde of monsters!

The Tathagata on the golden lotus throne still had a "fat head and big ears."

Though still seated upright, he was struck by Tang Luo's aura and involuntarily revealed his true face.

Broken tusks, only half of his trunk remained, the left side of his head slightly sunken in, the right side of his face bore several grotesque circular scars.

The left elephant ear was also missing a third.

The mutilated elephant head.

"Pretending to be the Tathagata, are you happy? White Elephant."

"But you, you can't even do this." He turned his head, looking to the other side, Tang Luo continued, "You thought you hid well? Feathered freak."