Chapter 927: You Didn't Expect That!

Without a doubt, in the Mountain Sea Realm, the human race is the one that rules the world. The monster race is numerous and has many strong individuals, but in terms of the strongest, there is still a gap compared to humans.

Long before, the monster race was the ruler of the Mountain Sea Realm, but later, during the era of the Heavenly Court and the Great Thunder Sound Temple, the monster race was basically in a suppressed state.

At that time, the most famous monster was the Seven Great Sages, as well as the mounts of those immortals and buddhas.

However, this does not mean that the strongest monster is the Seven Great Sages; there must be monsters stronger than them, hidden in the Mountain Sea Realm, not showing themselves.

After all, the Mountain Sea Realm is vast, and there are many legends left by powerful monsters or monster races.

Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng is such a powerful monster; during the Journey to the West, he occasionally revealed his ferocity, then quickly retracted his claws.

Until today, he has appeared again!

Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng will appear in the Demon Subduing Pagoda, not because he was truly captured, but because he willingly entered the Demon Subduing Pagoda to train himself.

This is a bet between him and Maitreya: whether Maitreya will convert and subdue him into the Great Thunder Sound Temple, or she will use the Demon Subduing Pagoda to go further.

Being able to make such a bet with Maitreya proves that Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng is also a powerhouse of the Great Luo and Buddha level.

Applied to a monster, he becomes a Monster God, already the Ultimate Monster King.

Whether he or Maitreya is stronger is hard to judge, but since he stands in our way, there's nothing more to say.

Who is stronger doesn't matter either.

Tang Luo unleashes Thousand Hands Cannot Defend, endless glazed bone claw palm shadows sweeping over, sealing off all dodging space of Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng.

Only the front remains, and in the front, Sun Wukong, as the main attacker, has already swung his staff over.

The Golden Hooped Staff traced a solid 'staff' in midair, as if countless Golden Hooped Staffs formed a semicircle.

In most situations, Tang Luo and Sun Wukong are the ones being besieged.

But they are not without having besieged others; the Bull Demon King once enjoyed the treatment of a master-disciple mixed doubles. Now it's the turn of this Ultimate Monster King, Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng.

Besieging such heretical demons is a matter of course.

Tang Luo and Sun Wukong, who are usually besieged, all said there is no moral pressure at all.

However, now the two of them besieging Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng is different from besieging the Bull Demon King; back then, Sun Wukong and Tang Luo had not thought of killing the Bull Demon King, they just wanted to give him a beating.

But now, it's a life-and-death battle!

In the sealed space, he could only hard-block Sun Wukong's staff, and the 'jest, anger, scorn' on Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's face had completely retracted.

His originally handsome and heroic face suddenly changed into a beast's head like a lion's.

At the same time, a strange apparition appeared behind him, its shape like a human-faced sheep, with eyes under the arms, tiger teeth and human hands — the Gluttonous Beast!

The Gluttonous Beast apparition opened its mouth, a black vortex swallowing Tang Luo's Thousand Hands Cannot Defend.

His true self then thrust both hands forward to meet Sun Wukong's Golden Hooped Staff.

Clang!

The tremendous roar like a great bell and lute scattered power, leaving cracks on the ground and the nearby walls.

In Tang Luo's hollow eye sockets, flames surged up.

The palm shadows about to be swallowed by the Gluttonous Beast suddenly increased; if before it was just a surging wave, now it is a heaven-shaking sea tsunami, as if the entire ocean were overturned and pouring down.

That Gluttonous Beast apparition swelled up, being forcibly burst by Tang Luo's Thousand Hands Cannot Defend.

It was still insufficient to bear all the power.

At the moment the Gluttonous Beast apparition was burst by Tang Luo, another layer of apparition emerged from Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's body, protecting the surroundings.

It was a turtle shell.

The turtle shell blocked Tang Luo's Thousand Hands Cannot Defend, constantly rotating to dissipate the power, and the cracks around it grew more numerous.

Coincidentally, before Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng extended his hands, it was also a turtle shell blocking.

The turtle shell barely blocked Sun Wukong's Golden Hooped Staff, only a step away from complete shattering; it seems it would break earlier than the turtle shell blocking Thousand Hands Cannot Defend.

Sun Wukong bared his teeth, gripping the Golden Hooped Staff and continuing to exert force.

With a cracking sound, Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's hands shook violently, turning into two black scaleless long snakes that coiled and wound toward the Golden Hooped Staff.

The moment the two snakes wrapped the Golden Hooped Staff, the turtle shell in front of Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng shattered.

But the taut black snakes also successfully blocked Sun Wukong's Golden Hooped Staff from smashing his head.

Without any hesitation or surprise, Sun Wukong released one hand, kept the other gripping the Golden Hooped Staff, and twisted his wrist sharply.

The terrifying spiral twisting force crushed the two black scaleless long snakes into pieces; the spinning Golden Hooped Staff resembled the world's sharpest drill, boring toward Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's head.

The turtle shell bearing the Thousand Hands Cannot Defend impact also shattered at the same time.

Countless palm shadows turned into claw shadows, grabbing toward Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's head.

It seemed as if they were competing with the Golden Hooped Staff, that which could burst his beast's head more quickly.

Roar!

An angry low roar issued from Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's mouth; at the moment the master and disciple shattered his skull, black light swirled around his body.

He transformed in an instant into a ferocious turtle with fierce short spikes on its back, entwined with symbiotic black scaleless snakes that have heads both front and back.

Four Symbols Black Tortoise!

Tang Luo and Sun Wukong's attacks all landed on the Black Tortoise, shattering its shell, crushing its flesh; the counterattack power instantly erupted, the black snakes turning into countless afterimages, sweeping toward Tang Luo and Sun Wukong.

In silence, a gust of wind blew over, making the cracks on the ground and walls shallower yet deeper.

The shallowness came from the terrifying destructive power directly shaving off a thick layer of the walls and ground; the deepening came from the Demon Subduing Pagoda being further destroyed on top of that.

Interestingly, the Lotus Stone Platform remained standing, only becoming much shorter and smaller.

Sun Wukong's Golden Hooped Staff smashed a large pit into the ground; Tang Luo, however, retracted his Thousand Hands Cannot Defend with ease and turned to look the other way.

No defense, only counterattack!

The Four Symbols Black Tortoise was destroyed by the joint efforts of the master and disciple.

Though it sounds lengthy, in fact it was only a few breaths before the three concluded this exchange.

Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng did not die with the disappearance of the Black Tortoise.

He appeared in the direction Tang Luo turned to look, the beast's head lowly growling, two white fierce tigers leapt out and lunged at Sun Wukong and Tang Luo.

These two white tigers exuded a golden, iron-like killing aura, as if they were two vicious weapons incarnate.

But though they looked formidable, they were merely embroidered pillows—golden on the outside, rotten inside—and not even as strong as the Four Fiends that first appeared.

The two white tigers were quickly smashed by Tang Luo and Sun Wukong, but after them, Chaos emerged.

Chaos blocked Tang Luo and Sun Wukong's assault, also buying Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng a moment to complete his transformation.

As Tang Luo and Sun Wukong tore apart Chaos, the Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng before them was no longer in its original human-body beast-head form.

He planted his limbs on the ground, his body fully transformed into a beast's form, somewhat like a tiger or lion but with much stouter limbs.

His front was covered in scales, his back in fine hairs as thin as steel needles.

Strange patterns crawled over his body, constantly shifting, forming the images of myriad demonic beasts, then scattering and vanishing, forming again, constantly shifting.

At his neck grew a mane like a male lion's, flickering like flames.

From within, nine strands of black mist protruded, forming his neck.

On top of the nine necks sat nine heads, respectively the Four Fiends: Gluttony Beast, Chaos Beast, Stubborn Beast, Strange Beast.

The Four Symbols: Black Tortoise (three heads), Vermilion Bird, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and the Lion's Head in the center.

Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng is nothing but these Nine Spirits.

Taking a step forward, Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng shattered the ground beneath his feet, and all nine heads roared skyward at once.

A sound wave burst forth, the entire Demon Subduing Pagoda trembled, and a roaring noise continued to emanate.

This proved that if Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng wished, he could completely leave the Demon Subduing Pagoda.

Now, however, it could also be destroyed—of course, this is based on the foundation of Sun Wukong and Tang Luo's continual destruction; otherwise, it wouldn't be so easy, and he would have to fight his way up.

The roaring Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng had countless phantom demonic beasts surge forth from his body, rushing toward Tang Luo and Sun Wukong.

Unicorn Beast, Lion Beast, Tiger-Dragon Beast, Horned Lion Beast, Double-Eyed Bird, One-Legged Bird, and other demonic beasts known and unknown to Tang Luo attacked, their terrifying power causing the Demon Subduing Pagoda to begin "collapsing".

The moment the phantoms appeared, the heads of the Four Fiends also lunged at Tang Luo, making him their primary target.

Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng is the lion, the Four Fiends, and the Four Symbols—these "Nine Spirits"—yet he is more than just these Nine Spirits.

Nine is not an actual number but a hollow reference, representing the ultimate.

He is the myriad demons' origin, the demons' Holy Sage, the Ultimate Monster King!

Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's choice to make Tang Luo his primary target is also quite simple.

Sun Wukong was at his peak, while Tang Luo was gravely wounded; naturally, one would first kill the wounded, and from the earlier siege, Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng had clearly realized he was no match for the two working together.

Thus, reducing the enemy's numbers became the top priority.

Meanwhile, the Four Symbols were sent to block Sun Wukong—appearing as if they were trying to stop him from saving his master.

The leader of the Four Symbols suddenly veered midway; the Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger all opened their mouths, spewing flames, gale winds, azure light, and black water, which mixed together to form an erosive force far surpassing the Chaos Void.

Despite launching later, it arrived before Tang Luo's eyes.

And Sun Wukong? As he raised his Golden Hooped Staff, intending to first strike Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng half to death, golden light poured down and a giant hand descended from the heavens, pressing toward Sun Wukong.

Binding and restraining forces surged forth, forcibly halting Sun Wukong's movements and solidifying his power.

Even if only a brief instant, it was already enough.

Maitreya!

The owner of the giant hand was none other than Maitreya!

Don't forget, what is collapsing and being destroyed around us is the Demon Subduing Pagoda, the Demon Subduing Pagoda of the Great Thunder Sound Temple!

It's perfectly normal for Maitreya to intervene at this critical moment.

He blocked Sun Wukong, and Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng sought to kill Tang Xuanzang!

Faced with the imminent killing strike, Tang Luo's expression remained calm; a golden lotus pattern appeared on his forehead between the brows, and then his whole body turned translucent.

Merit Jade Lotus, untouchable!

Merit Jade Lotus, besides healing and enlightening, also possesses the "three unattainables": invisible, inaudible, imperceptible.

Tang Luo has always used these "three unattainables" as an aid for infiltration.

Including during the Journey to the West, it was the same.

But today marks the first time he used it in battle, turning it into a dodging technique!

This act even surprised Sun Wukong, who froze for a moment, wondering if it could be used this way.

Of course it can be used this way; Tang Luo simply had never done so before.

Because he is a brute, his fighting is head-on clash, attack against attack, at most defense; dodging is rare, making people prone to mental inertia.

When suddenly employed, it was indeed unexpected.

"Ha! Didn't expect that, did you?" a mocking voice seemed to come.

Maitreya turned his palm, released Sun Wukong, snatched the Jade Pure Bottle, and vanished.

Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng's attack passed through Tang Luo's translucent body and vanished into the void.

As Maitreya acted, the Demon Subduing Pagoda collapsed completely.

Yet the three appeared above the Great Thunder Sound Temple, beneath them the majestic and solemn Monk's Temple.

Buddhist chants echoed, seeking to draw the three together into it.