Chapter 926

Fortunately, Sun Wukong is no longer what he once was; back then, the Tathagata pinned him under Five Fingers Mountain with a single six-character mantra for five hundred years.

Now, there are many six-character mantras around that are not the Tathagata's, merely making his movements inconvenient.

Brandishing the Golden Hooped Staff, Sun Wukong swung wildly in all directions, instantly striking out ten million staff blows.

The surrounding six-character mantras emitted golden brilliant light, and the grand Buddhist chant sounded, together forming a golden light curtain, layer upon layer, blocking Sun Wukong's attack.

Under the staff shadows, the light curtain shattered; a large number of six-character mantra talismans were torn apart, and the remaining ones still had to be wrapped up—Tang Luo reached out and grabbed them.

Even a Thousand Hands cannot defend!

Glazed bone claw shredded the remaining six-character mantra talismans; Tang Luo and Sun Wukong immediately fell, and this time the descent was much slower than before.

It felt like sinking into the sea, slowly descending.

"Huh?" Sun Wukong frowned; he disliked such damp, sticky environments the most.

Well, he also dislikes hot places like Flaming Mountain, but a bit of cold is fine.

"Wukong, this is the next level." Tang Luo reminded Sun Wukong that he could get to work.

"Oh, but Master, what is imprisoned here?" Sun Wukong looked left and right, his Fiery Eyes, Golden Gaze blinking, but he saw no enemy for the moment.

He also thought about which direction to smash, using the Golden Hooped Staff to break through a passage to the next level, at least needing some direction.

Sinking here does not necessarily mean that 'down' is truly the downward direction.

Or perhaps just smash in all directions?

"I don't know; the stone tablet only shows quantities, and I also don't know which level this is, but it seems there really isn't a level that imprisons just a single prisoner." Tang Luo recalled.

The previous two levels held Taotie and Hundun; if it weren't Taotie, Tang Luo would suspect they were actually inside Taotie's belly.

Just then, a strange sound like resentment and longing, like weeping and lamentation, came.

In the black-water-like surroundings, an amorphous, semi-transparent object drifted over.

At first glance, it looked like a torn cloak wrapped around an invisible human body.

"Chaos?" Sun Wukong asked Tang Luo.

"I don't know it either." Tang Luo said this thing looked inedible at a glance, and he was unfamiliar with it.

The master and disciple exchanged a glance; regardless of what it was, they decided to attack.

The two attacked simultaneously; the incoming Chaos was met on the left by Sun Wukong's Golden Hooped Staff and on the right by Tang Luo's Great Hand Seal.

It had no strength to resist and was instantly torn into fragments.

Those flying fragments didn't vanish; they spun, turning into more chaos, and in an instant expanded to the normal size just seen.

Hundreds of chaos surrounded Tang Luo and Sun Wukong.

"Hahaha!" Sun Wukong laughed, "Come, come! Let's see whether you recover fast or I, Old Sun, kill fast!"

A shake of the Golden Hooped Staff in his hand, though clearly a stone staff, sent out a spray of spear‑like blossoms.

The spear‑flower staff shadows piled up like falling rain, striking at the chaos.

All the chaos was shattered by a point of the Golden Hooped Staff, re‑formed, then shattered again.

Vast amounts of chaos kept appearing, but Sun Wukong firmly blocked them outside. Moreover, the Golden Hooped Staff kept lengthening, expanding its attack range, not only annihilating the chaos but also destroying the surrounding environment.

Those black‑water‑like things, when stirred up into huge waves, kept evaporating and disappearing.

After the time of an incense stick, Sun Wukong retracted the Golden Hooped Staff, the chaos was slain by him, and the surrounding area revealed the talismans of the Six‑Syllable Mantra.

However, these talismans differed from those of the previous layer; they had completely faded, many of them tattered.

A black void beneath their feet gave the feeling that chaos was running up from the lower layer to the upper one.

Without further ado, Tang Luo and Sun Wukong jumped down.

Just as they entered, a beast's roar came, accompanied by a gust of bloody wind; a bloody maw opened wide and lunged at Tang Luo and Sun Wukong.

The interlocking sharp teeth, each like a sky‑holding pillar.

Compared to the bloody maw, the statures of Sun Wukong and Tang Luo were so small they couldn't even fill the gaps between its teeth.

Sun Wukong threw the Golden Hooped Staff forward, shouting "Great!"

With a soft shout, the Golden Hooped Staff instantly became towering, colliding with the two rows of interlocking sharp teeth and shattering them to pieces.

Moreover, the Golden Hooped Staff grew larger and thicker, forcibly tearing the bloody maw apart.

Imagine a toothpick standing upright in the mouth, bitten down hard; while it hurts, the toothpick turns into a rolling pin.

The bloody maw retreated, its roar turning into a howl before finally vanishing.

Tang Luo and Sun Wukong looked over and saw a beast as huge as a mountain range lying on the ground, roughly resembling a tiger, with a pair of curved blood‑red horns on its head and a pair of black wings on its back.

Qiongqi.

"I don't get why they're locking up these guys," Sun Wukong muttered; the Four Ferocious Beasts, though strong, are nowhere near the level to be imprisoned deep in the Demon‑Suppressing Pagoda.

He had originally expected to encounter something like a demonic monk.

This layer is extremely vast, lacking both talismans and the suppressive force inherent to the Demon‑Suppressing Pagoda itself.

Sun Wukong was about to smash downward again, but Tang Luo spotted the passage to the lower layer and called him over.

Since entering the Demon‑Suppressing Pagoda, this was the first time they walked properly. Following the spiral staircase downward, Sun Wukong led the way: "Master! We've arrived!"

They suddenly realized they had arrived at the final layer of the Demon‑Suppressing Pagoda.

The imagined hardships and obstacles did not appear; the final Four Ferocious Beasts were only a bit stronger, but that's all.

Not to mention the present Sun Wukong; even the earlier Sun Wukong would feel no fear.

Along the way Tang Luo also earned a considerable amount of merit power; Maitreya's arrangement this time leaves people somewhat puzzled.

Even if there is consumption, it's actually not much; Sun Wukong radiates vigor and could still "fight another five hundred years."

As for Tang Luo, his injuries—whether a bit more or a bit less consumption—really don't make much difference.

If the injury can be suppressed, everything is fine; if not, the outbreak will have serious consequences—no matter how you look at it, that's the situation.

The appearance of the final layer of the Demon‑Suppressing Pagoda (if the stone tablet isn't lying) is basically no different from that of the first layer.

However, the big Buddha in the middle turned into a lotus stone platform.

On the stone platform sits Guanyin's Willow Jade Pure Bottle, but the willow on it has completely withered, hinting at the master's fate.

Under the lotus stone platform is a pillar, with iron chains wrapped around it.

Sun Wukong leapt up, grabbing for the Jade Pure Bottle on the lotus stone platform.

At the moment his right hand touched the Jade Pure Bottle, the bottle rippled like a flower in a mirror, moon in water.

Let Sun Wukong's palm pass through.

"I knew that bald donkey would play dirty!" Sun Wukong cursed, raising his Golden Hoop Staff to completely destroy this Demon-Subduing Pagoda.

A clanking of chains sounded.

The chains on the stone pillar clanged.

These chains are not completely wrapped around the stone pillar, but part of them extends out to the group of Buddha statues; the source of the chains' movement comes from those statues.

"Who's playing tricks? Get out, you Sun Grandpa!" Sun Wukong shouted, sweeping his staff at those Buddha statues.

The Buddha statues were swept into fragments by the staff, but the chains rose up, blocking Sun Wukong's Golden Hoop Staff and then snapped.

In the middle of the shattered Buddha statues, a person sat cross-legged, with two chains bound to his hands.

Just then, Sun Wukong's staff sweep broke them.

That person stood up, the chains on his hands 'remnants' fell down, turning into a pile of powder.

"Sun Wukong." He smiled at Sun Wukong, his hair flowing back on its own, revealing a handsome, unrestrained face, "Did you have fun just now?"

"It's you!" Sun Wukong narrowed his eyes.

"Huh, how is it you?" Tang Luo walked over, first reaching for the Jade Pure Bottle on the lotus stone platform, similarly as if touching an illusion, then looked at that person and said.

"Since just now, I've been playing with you guys. You actually didn't notice, really disappointing." That person spoke lightly, with a hint of teasing.

"What a load of crap! Want to fight? If not, get lost!" Sun Wukong raised his Golden Hoop Staff, pointing at this person.

"Heh." That person chuckled lightly, "Monkey, you're still so arrogant. Don't you remember how I almost bit you to death back then?"

Nine Spirit Yuan Sheng!

During the journey west, the scripture-seeking team encountered monsters, actually far more than those in Journey to the West.

If we count every time encountering monsters or those lusting after Tang Luo's body, it would far exceed the "Eighty-One Tribulations".

When facing various roadblock tigers, most of the time Sun Wukong just gets by, barely enough.

One aspect is Tang Luo's demand, he wants "to fight to sustain fighting"; another aspect, not all monsters are worth Sun Wukong seriously acting.

Many monsters seem to be shaking uncontrollably, even letting Sun Wukong go fetch reinforcements, but actually it's because he's lazy to act.

Those monsters rely on marvelous magic treasures, not their own strength.

But among them, some monsters are very strong, for example the Bull Demon King, the Three Kings of Lion Camel Ridge, the Hundred-Eyed Centipede, and also Nine Spirit Yuan Sheng!

Among them, Nine Spirit Yuan Sheng is the most special existence.

At that time, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie etc. joined forces, yet could not subdue him.

The final result was not that some servant of Taiyi Jiuzu Tianzun beat Nine Spirit Yuan Sheng until his face bloomed, but rather this "Nine-Headed Lion" fought a bit and then left on its own.

He and Taiyi Jiuzu Tianzun also have no relation.

Back then Sun Wukong also said, Nine Spirit Yuan Sheng is a more troublesome enemy than Erlang Shen.

The meaning of these words amounted to an implicit admission that, in fact, he, Sun Wukong, was no match for the Nine Spirit Primordial Sage.

However, after the journey westward, Tang Luo and the others never saw the Nine Spirit Primordial Sage again.

Yet they never expected to meet again here.

"See whether you bite me to death or I, this old monkey, run you through!" Sun Wukong didn't bother to ask why the Nine Spirit Primordial Sage was here.

Whether he was imprisoned or had defected to Maitreya doesn't matter.

Since they are enemies, let's fight.

With a roar, the golden staff pointed at the Nine Spirit Primordial Sage.

The faint smile on the Nine Spirit Primordial Sage's face turned into a sneer, his long hair fluttering, and a ferocious head phantom appeared behind him—not a lion's head.

It turned out to be the wicked beast that had just appeared!

The wicked beast's head elongated, like a strange, twisted venomous snake, biting toward Sun Wukong's golden-hooped rod.

Just as they were about to collide, the glazed bone claw fan swept over from the side and struck the wicked beast's head.

The wicked beast's head was blasted apart by the fan, and Sun Wukong's golden-hooped rod slipped in, tapping the Nine Spirit Primordial Sage's palm.

The Nine Spirit Primordial Sage retreated ten steps, almost crashing into the wall behind him, and fragments like tortoise-shell shards rained down from his palm.

He stared at Tang Luo, the sneering smile gradually fading.

"What are you looking at? Do you think we'll duel you, this kind of evil heresy, one-on-one?" Tang Luo waved a hand. "Wukong, don't hold back—let's go together and kill him!"