Chapter 792: The Twenty-Eight Mansions Descend to the Mortal Realm

"Aren't we supposed to face the greatest difficulty since we began our westward journey? How come it's just an abandoned manor with no one around? Are they scared?"

Sun Wu carried a thick black club and said to Tang Luo.

After speaking, he looked up at the sky, his hair and clothes fluttering in the wind, posing like a lonely master.

It has been half a year since we embarked on the westward journey; during this half year, we have been traveling west, fighting and killing, fighting and killing, and fighting and killing.

Our strength has surged forward—not small, medium, large, but medium, large, and extra-large in terms of progress.

The ones who made extraordinary progress are Sun Wu and Tang Seng.

Ao Yu made significant progress; Gao Cuilan and the White Bone Spirit are considered to have made moderate progress.

Two people are just marking time: one is Zhu Bajie, the other is Pulu Pulu, and only Sha Wujing, who fights back only when attacked.

The situations of these two are relatively special and cannot be generalized.

Zhu Bajie has devoted most of his energy to recovery; his own strength is not weak.

Now everyone's position is at Wuzhuang Guan, which is where Zhenyuanzi resides.

Tang Luo gave Sun Wu a preventive shot in advance; the enemies here are truly formidable!

This made Sun Wu eager to try.

As a result, Wuzhuang Guan was dilapidated, with no one present and no ginseng fruit tree.

Facing Sun Wukong's question, Tang Luo turned his head to look at Zhu Bajie and Ao Yu.

These two are experienced individuals.

Zhu Bajie said: "Last time we merely passed by; we knew Zhenyuanzi's name but did not enter the manor."

"I see." Tang Luo nodded, "Probably they went wandering in the clouds. What's the rush? There will be more enemies for you to fight later. Remember not to become arrogant and complacent."

"I don't want to be arrogant either, but my club won't allow it."

Sun Wu is very smug.

His club is not the Golden Cudgel, but a weapon seized from an unknown monster, which he directly claimed as his own.

The monster is not a good one, but the club is a good one.

That monster is not originally one of the difficulties of the westward journey, but rather the mount of a certain heavenly immortal who refuses to reveal their name.

Monsters of such identity, cultivators, will continue to appear one after another in the future.

Named immortals dare not act; they dare to send down a Tang Luo, and we kill one.

Therefore, they can only send people.

During this period, heavenly immortals have widely recruited disciples; when they go out, if they don't have a few hundred disciples following them, they feel embarrassed to greet people.

They change mounts every day, and in a month they never repeat the same one.

Eighty-one difficulties?

No, just the westward journey alone, they can create eight hundred and eleven difficulties.

Everyone is almost killing every ten steps, fighting their way through hardship; Sun Wu's strength has surged.

In the past half month, anyone who dared to jump out to block us could not withstand three strikes from Sun Wu.

Within three strikes, the enemy must die.

As the beloved one grows more invincible in appearance, the White Bone Spirit looks at Sun Wu with eyes that grow increasingly watery, as if seeing the Great Sage Equal to Heaven of old.

"Pa-li."

The invincible-appearing Sun Wu was slapped to the ground by Tang Luo.

"Be humble." Tang Luo said, "You're still far behind. When we first began the westward journey, you were a hundred in wisdom depth; now you're only fifty—you've actually regressed, don't you know?"

"……" Sun Wu got up, muttering, "The great monk isn't someone who stands still, unchanging."

"Amitabha." The Tang Seng beside him pressed his palms together, "The monk merely happened to be present."

He wore a monk's robe, his hands empty, bald, with a sturdy frame and a fierce expression.

At first glance, you know he's not a good person.

After getting up, Sun Wu took a step to the side.

As a 1.8-meter-tall handsome man, he refuses to stand beside Tang Seng, who is two meters tall and a fierce man.

How does the seventy-two transformations still have a height-increasing effect?

And why does this effect only appear on the great monk?

Sun Wu has recently been researching this, hoping to grow a little taller.

For some unknown reason, he always feels a sense of crisis, not just from one source.

"No fight to be had, then let's go." Ao Yu, who had swept through Wuzhuang Guan, walked back and said.

To speak frankly, among the pilgrimage team, the most hot-tempered and fiercest in combat is not Sun Wu, but Ao Yu.

"Continue on the road; the more you walk, the more you'll understand what you truly seek." Tang Luo said, then flew straight into the sky and vanished without a trace.

"Amitabha."

Tang Seng chanted a Buddhist phrase, his expression somewhat confused.

At this point, he could not possibly not know the "true identity" of Tang Luo, the Great Heavenly Demon.

Originally thought to be the true Buddha, but turned out to be the true demon.

The group around him are also true demons and monsters; their purpose in going to the Western Heaven is not to obtain the true scriptures, but to kill their way into the Western Heaven.

This is completely contrary to Tang Seng's original intention.

But…… during this time, Tang Seng has also somewhat seen those distant gods and buddhas in the heavens, and what their true faces really are.

They are high and mighty, yet not noble.

The Great Compassionate and Merciful Guanyin Bodhisattva?

Tang Seng clearly knows that the one who established the Black Wind Ridge and caused havoc for a hundred miles—the Black Bear Spirit—was precisely released by Guanyin!

The mortal world is filthy — how much better could the Heavenly Court or Spirit Mountain be?

The world is entirely turbid; where to go, what to do?

"If you can't figure it out, stop thinking so much." Sun Wu rarely walked over and slapped Tang Seng on the shoulder. "Look, I still don't know anything even now. But I'm certain of at least one thing: I'm going to the Western Heaven, and no one can stop my steps!"

Tang Seng nodded: "Many thanks."

"Thanks for what? We're comrades-in-arms, however you put it." Sun Wu laughed and took another step back.

They can all fly now, but being higher than the opponent only by flying up is rather disgraceful.

How would Sun Wu ever do that?

The Heavenly Court.

"I'm not going!" Yellow-Robed Monster — to use another name, Kui Mu Lang of the Twenty-Eight Mansions — spoke in a ringing voice, carrying suppressed anger.

According to the original "Eighty-One Tribulations" tempering.

It was about his turn to appear and give Sun Wukong and the others one tribulation.

Before, Kui Mu Lang was quite interested in this, even drew up a detailed plan, and invited friends from the Pei Xiang Hall to join in, intending to properly torment that group of scripture-fetchers.

Back when Sun Wukong wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, the Twenty-Eight Mansions also suffered heavy losses.

Naturally, grudges repaid, grievances repaid.

Right now, things are different from the past.

Kui Mu Lang worried that the moment he descended to the mortal realm, that Great Heavenly Demon would pinch him to death with a hand, no more trouble than pinching a bug.

But the mission from above has already been passed down to their Twenty-Eight Mansions; this time they must act.

And they need some achievement; pressure instantly fell on Kui Mu Lang's side.

"Just make a trip, at least injure someone, let His Majesty be pleased for a bit." Wei Yue Yan said, "Our names are all on the Investiture of the Gods List; we won't really die."

Having names on the Investiture of the Gods List, they need no longer worry about the three calamities and five declines, and can roam freely between heaven and earth, "living as long as sun and moon."

Even if killed, they can resurrect.

Back when Sun Wukong wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, quite a few named gods died by his hand; afterward they gradually resurrected one after another through the Investiture of the Gods List.

Returned to their divine positions.

Of course, damage to strength is unavoidable; they must rely on themselves to recover — the Investiture of the Gods List can't help with that.

"Hmph! Sounds nice; why don't you go try?" Kui Mu Lang snorted coldly.

The Investiture of the Gods List is indeed a supreme treasure that can preserve life.

But that depends on the situation.

The Great Heavenly Demon even beat the Tathagata Buddha into nirvana; even with the Investiture of the Gods List's protection, who can guarantee the opponent has no way to thoroughly kill them?

Not to mention, if the Investiture of the Gods List were before the Great Heavenly Demon, it would probably be torn to shreds and utterly destroyed.

However mysterious the Investiture of the Gods List, is it more formidable than the Tathagata?

"If you do your part thoroughly, the Great Heavenly Demon might not necessarily act." Wei Yue Yan said, "Quite a few people were dispatched, yet they didn't even touch a hair on that demon monkey, instead giving him training troops; His Majesty is already very angry."

"It's not that we don't want to go; with the Great Heavenly Demon there, who dares go?" Kui Mu Lang said hatefully.

Named, powerful gods all dare not "descend to the mortal realm," fearing to provoke the Great Heavenly Demon into personally acting; they can only send all kinds of cannon fodder.

But cannon fodder is cannon fodder after all; it only gives the other side training troops.

On the surface, it looks as stupid as villain characters in storybooks.

In reality, the Heavenly Court has suffering it knows itself.

Knowing this for so long, the Jade Emperor's inner anger has only accumulated more and more.

The Twenty-Eight Mansions bear the brunt; among the Twenty-Eight Mansions, Kui Mu Lang — who was originally slated to move out — faces the greatest pressure.

Who told him to be the most enthusiastic back then?

The Twenty-Eight Mansions aren't twenty-eight brothers and sisters; able to push Kui Mu Lang out to shoulder the pressure, they wouldn't be soft-hearted either.

Just as they were arguing noisily, fire argued out but didn't come out.

A guard outside reported: Tai Bai Jin Xing has arrived.

The Twenty-Eight Mansions immediately went out to welcome him.

Tai Bai Jin Xing's face was solemn; not waiting for the Twenty-Eight Mansions to speak, he directly proclaimed the edict: "His Majesty has an edict: the Twenty-Eight Mansions have violated heavenly laws, their crime is unpardonable; effective immediately, their divine posts as Twenty-Eight Mansions are stripped, and they are exiled to the mortal realm..."

He quickly finished reading the Jade Emperor's "imperial edict" in one go; not waiting for the Twenty-Eight to resist, Tai Bai Jin Xing waved his hand and dismissed the attendants: "Everyone, calm down for a moment."

The words the Twenty-Eight Mansions originally wanted to say were forcibly swallowed down.

"What just now was a show for outsiders." Tai Bai Jin Xing sighed, "His Majesty's rage can no longer be contained; you must act."

"Will the Great Heavenly Demon act?" Kui Mu Lang pointed straight at the crux.

The Jade Emperor's meaning is very clear: their Twenty-Eight Mansions must act.

For this, he even stripped the Twenty-Eight Mansions of their divine posts.

In this way, at least on the surface, the Twenty-Eight Mansions and the Heavenly Court have no further connection.

They don't count as any famous, named gods.

According to the tacit understanding between both sides, the Great Heavenly Demon should not act.

But from another angle, since they are no longer Heavenly Court people, what tacit understanding would the Great Heavenly Demon still observe? Lonely souls and wild ghosts — killed, so what?

"You all remain on the Investiture of the Gods List; His Majesty specially permits opening the treasury, letting each of you pick one magic treasure. Kill at least one scripture-fetcher, and His Majesty will naturally let you return — not only restored to your original posts, but even a step further." Tai Bai Jin Xing said.

Washing clean their identities and returning is no difficult matter; going through reincarnation once accomplishes it.

Reincarnation can be punishment, or a method to conceal and evade.

The Twenty-Eight Mansions smiled wryly in helplessness; things have come to this pass — what else can they do?

Don't forget, they are all "people" with names on the Investiture of the Gods List; even if they disagree now, the Jade Emperor holds the Investiture of the Gods List and waves his great brush once, and they'll still obediently have to go deal with the scripture-fetchers.

There is simply no room for resistance.

That would be the time of truly certain death.

The God-Enfeoffment List is a double-edged sword to begin with.