Chapter 156: Obstruction from All Sides

Hearing Jieyin's words, Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu immediately frowned. When they came down from the Holy Court, the order Di Xin gave them was that not a single breathing thing should be seen in the eight-hundred-mile Lion Camel Ridge, and the same went for Spirit Mountain.

But the current situation was that there were no breathing things left in the eight-hundred-mile Lion Camel Ridge, yet there were still survivors on Spirit Mountain.

To say how much they feared the Saints, truthfully, they didn't fear them that much, but the face that should be given still had to be given. After all, they were Saints. Just because they couldn't appear in the Primordial World now didn't mean they wouldn't be able to appear in the Primordial World in the future!

"Stop while we are ahead? When these three demons slaughtered our human race, did they ever think about stopping while they were ahead?" Huang Feihu looked at Jieyin coldly.

"What do you want?" Zhunti frowned.

They were truly too stifled now. If their true bodies were here, would these humans still dare to act like this? The Dao Ancestor was truly too unfair.

"Since you just said that we should only punish the chief culprit, then let the Tathagata be dissolved." Wen Zhong also spoke at this moment.

"Hmph!" Zhunti snorted coldly, the meaning of which was already very clear: it was simply impossible.

"Then let the Tathagata swear by his Dao heart that he knew nothing about this matter and never participated in it." Seeing Zhunti like this, a mocking expression appeared on Huang Feihu's face.

Upon hearing Huang Feihu's words, the Tathagata's heart tightened. To say he participated, he truly had never participated, but to say he didn't know about this matter, the Tathagata really didn't dare to swear, because this matter was actually facilitated by him.

"Enough! This monk will leave his words here today: stop while you are ahead. The majesty of us Saints cannot be profaned. Leave." Jieyin was somewhat angry.

"Remember, the Dao Ancestor only said that we Saints cannot descend into the Primordial World, but he never said we cannot descend into the Holy Court." Zhunti seemed to have thought of something at this moment and said to Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu.

"Since that's the case, then there's nothing to talk about! All generals, kill!" Huang Feihu was a hot-tempered person, and when he heard Zhunti actually dare to threaten the Holy Court, he directly exploded.

The Holy Court warriors who received the order raised the battle blades in their hands once again.

Boom—

A Saint's pressure erupted from the bodies of Jieyin and Zhunti. In an instant, the Holy Court warriors charging toward Spirit Mountain were directly blown into blood mist. This was the two of them adding a sliver of their will to their phantom images.

"Damn it!" Seeing this scene, a flash of anger crossed Wen Zhong's face.

However, he did not consider the anger on the Tathagata's face just a moment ago when they were wantonly slaughtering the Arhats and novices of Spirit Mountain.

After the Holy Court warriors died, Nezha and the others prepared to strike, but just then, a terrifying pressure appeared over Spirit Mountain. This was the pressure of the Heavenly Dao; at the critical moment, the Heavenly Dao had acted after all.

After the Heavenly Dao pressure appeared, a purple vertical eye immediately appeared above Spirit Mountain. This vertical eye was none other than the Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

After the Eye of Heavenly Punishment appeared, it just looked coldly at Wen Zhong and the crowd of Holy Court warriors, as if it were saying: retreat quickly, otherwise, I will truly act.

Looking at the Eye of Heavenly Punishment before them, unwillingness flashed in the eyes of Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu. In the end, they prepared to retreat, because they truly could not contend with the Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

"Junior brother, stop!" Just as they were preparing to retreat, Yang Jian's voice appeared in the ears of Wen Zhong and the others.

The next second, Yang Jian and Dapeng arrived before the crowd.

Then Yang Jian and the others saw the Eye of Heavenly Punishment, and the scene was somewhat awkward for a moment.

"Are you here to persuade us to retreat?" Huang Feihu asked with some confusion.

Although they had the intention to retreat now, that was forced by the situation, but why were Yang Jian and the others getting involved?

"Yes, we are indeed here to persuade you to retreat." Dapeng nodded.

"Why?" Wen Zhong asked in a deep voice.

"We were entrusted by Master Xuanzang. The reasons for this cannot be explained in a sentence or two. Master Xuanzang requests that we be able to persuade the Holy Court to let the Holy Court retreat." Yang Jian looked at Wen Zhong and said.

"Hmm!" Hearing Yang Jian say this, Wen Zhong nodded. The arrival of Yang Jian and the others was just enough for Wen Zhong and the others to use as a pretext to step down.

They could tell the outside world that they were not afraid of the Eye of Heavenly Punishment, but were retreating out of consideration for their fellow disciples.

With this excuse from Yang Jian and the others, Wen Zhong quickly gathered his troops. Before leaving, he looked coldly at the Tathagata: "If there is a next time, even if the Heavenly Dao obstructs, I will definitely destroy your Spirit Mountain."

After speaking, Wen Zhong and the others left Spirit Mountain with the Holy Court warriors.

After the Holy Court's troops withdrew from Spirit Mountain, the Eye of Heavenly Punishment slowly faded away. The phantom images of Jieyin and Zhunti took a deep look at the direction of the Holy Court, then told the Tathagata and the others to rebuild Spirit Mountain, and then dissipated as well.

In the Dark Abyss, Kinnara dissipated the demonic energy in his hands. Just a moment ago, he had almost acted, but fortunately, he held back at the last moment.

"This Tathagata can only be mine!" Looking at the direction of the Great Hall, Kinnara muttered to himself.

"This Tathagata can only be killed by me! No one else!" On the side of the Wuji Kingdom, Xuanzang looked toward the west, his fists clenched tightly, and muttered to himself.

Yang Jian and the others had indeed been entrusted by Xuanzang to go to Spirit Mountain to stop the Holy Court from attacking Spirit Mountain.

When he first heard this news, Xuanzang felt a little bit of unwillingness in his heart, but he found that he seemed unable to stop it at all.

Just as Yang Jian and the others were preparing to leave, the unwillingness in Xuanzang's heart gained the upper hand. He stood up and told Yang Jian and the others to see if they could persuade the Holy Court's troops to retreat.

Yang Jian and the others had looked at Xuanzang with confusion at the time, and even those from the Demon Race had looked at Xuanzang with confusion. They had now heard a little bit about Xuanzang's affairs from the Black Bear Demon.

Didn't Master Xuanzang have a grudge against the West? Then what was he doing now?

"We are still on the journey to seek scriptures. If Spirit Mountain is destroyed, how will you obtain your merit?" Xuanzang looked at the group of demons and asked.

Weren't these demons following him for the sake of merit? But if Spirit Mountain were destroyed, how would they obtain their merit?

Upon hearing Xuanzang's words, the group of demons were moved to tears. They hadn't expected that their master still cared about them, even though he had a blood feud with Spirit Mountain, he was still thinking of them.

However, those who had followed Xuanzang from the beginning, like Yang Jian and the others, didn't think so. Xuanzang was likely wanting to finish off the Tathagata with his own hands, which was why he had this request.

In the end, Yang Jian and Dapeng agreed to Xuanzang, which led to the scene of them stopping Wen Zhong and the others at Spirit Mountain.

And Wen Zhong and the others just happened to use it as a pretext to step down. This way, it wasn't a threat from the Saints, but persuasion from their own fellow disciples, which sounded better when spoken of.

After returning to the Wuji Kingdom, Xuanzang immediately stood up.

"Master Xuanzang, rest assured, Spirit Mountain is still there." Seeing Xuanzang like this, Dapeng said with a smile.

"I know, I can feel the fortune of Spirit Mountain. I wanted to ask how Spirit Mountain is now? Is the Tathagata dead?" Xuanzang asked.

"Rest assured, the Tathagata is fine, he is still alive and well. It's just that there aren't many people left on Spirit Mountain. Except for those more powerful Bodhisattvas and Arhats, and those high-level Buddhas of Spirit Mountain, the rest have basically been killed off." Yang Jian said.

"That's good, that's good. As long as the Tathagata is not dead, nothing else is important." Xuanzang breathed a sigh of relief.

The Tathagata was now Xuanzang's motivation, Xuanzang's obsession. He had to kill the Tathagata with his own hands, otherwise, Xuanzang's thoughts would not be clear.

"Since Spirit Mountain is fine, let's continue on our way." Xuanzang said with a smile.

"Okay!" Everyone nodded.

After Xuanzang and the others continued on their journey, Spirit Mountain was working hard to rebuild. The destroyed environment was easy to deal with; it only required magic power to restore it. But the missing people could not be replenished.

In the past, when Ksitigarbha was there, Spirit Mountain never had to worry about the problem of people. But now that Ksitigarbha was no longer a person of Spirit Mountain, the replenishment of Spirit Mountain's personnel had to rely on themselves.

"Buddha of the Past, Buddha of the Future, the problem of replenishing Spirit Mountain's personnel is left to you two. We will be responsible for repairing Spirit Mountain, and then wait for the newcomers to arrive." The Tathagata looked at Dipankara and Maitreya Buddha and said.

"Agreed!" The two of them looked at each other and nodded.

With Spirit Mountain in this state, the Tathagata, as the backbone, had to be there, otherwise, the remaining people would likely have unstable mindsets.

Just like that, the Tathagata sat in Spirit Mountain, directing the remaining people to start rebuilding Spirit Mountain, while Dipankara and Maitreya Buddha wandered in the West. When they saw someone they liked, they would forcibly convert them to Spirit Mountain to become Bodhisattvas and Arhats of Spirit Mountain.

They didn't actually want to do this, but Spirit Mountain was currently short of people. In their words now, this was a great fortune. They had no reason to disagree; if they didn't agree now, it was just because they hadn't thought it through yet. So they would convert them first, and sooner or later they would think it through.

It only took three days for them to replenish the missing personnel of Spirit Mountain. Looking at these pious people behind them, Dipankara and Maitreya Buddha revealed a smile.

Initially, they might have felt guilty, but now, there was only relief on their faces. After all, they had rebuilt the shattered Spirit Mountain.

After the Journey to the West ended, they would settle the score one by one with those who had bullied them, letting the Primordial World know the methods of their West.

"Let's go back!" Maitreya Buddha said to Dipankara.

"Okay!" Dipankara nodded.

On the side of Spirit Mountain, with the efforts of the remaining people, Spirit Mountain was quickly restored to its previous appearance. Now that Dipankara and the others hadn't returned, the entire Spirit Mountain appeared somewhat cold and cheerless.

Just as everyone was thinking this, Dipankara and Maitreya Buddha returned. Seeing the people behind them, everyone revealed a smile. They didn't care at all how these people were found; as long as there were people, and as long as they were loyal to Spirit Mountain, that was enough.

Seven days later, the reconstruction of Spirit Mountain was completed, but the Fortune Golden Dragon was quite withered.

"Wait, you all just wait. After the Journey to the West ends, this monk will settle the score with you one by one." Looking at the unfamiliar faces before him, the Tathagata said coldly in his heart.

After Spirit Mountain was rebuilt, the Tathagata also found candidates to replace Manjusri and Lingji Bodhisattva, and Lingji Bodhisattva, who had been hanging on by a thread, no longer had any need to exist.

Speaking of Xuanzang's side, not long after they came out of the capital of the Wuji Kingdom, they arrived at a place called Hao Mountain, Dry Pine Stream.

"The aura of Samadhi True Fire. Why is there an aura of Samadhi True Fire here?" Feeling the aura in Hao Mountain, Dry Pine Stream, Dapeng was somewhat puzzled.

"What's wrong with this Samadhi True Fire? Is there a problem?" Sun Wukong and Ao Mo'ang were somewhat puzzled.

"Yeah, it's not strange to have Samadhi True Fire, right? There are quite a few people in the Primordial World who possess the divine ability of Samadhi True Fire!" Yang Jian was also somewhat strange.

"There is also an aura of Six-Ding Divine Fire in this Samadhi True Fire. Not just anyone can possess this Six-Ding Divine Fire!" Dapeng narrowed his eyes.

"Are you saying that this place also has a connection to him?" Yang Jian glanced in the direction of the East Sea and then asked.

"It should be, otherwise, the aura of this Six-Ding Divine Fire would simply not appear here." Dapeng rubbed his chin and said.

"Interesting, truly interesting. I wonder what he has set up here? A boy? Or a fox demon?" Yang Jian said with a smile.

Only then did everyone realize what Dapeng and Yang Jian were talking about. It turned out they were talking about the Taiqing Saint. After all, keywords like "boy" and "fox demon" were easily linked to the Taiqing Saint.

"Are you saying that the Taiqing Saint has also laid out a plan here?" Ao Mo'ang asked.

"It should be." Dapeng and Yang Jian nodded.

"Great King, the scripture-seeking monk has already arrived at our Dry Pine Stream." In the Fire Cloud Cave, a small demon was reporting the situation to a little boy wearing a red bellyband.

"Okay, I know." Red Boy nodded.

He, Red Boy, would not be like other demons who gathered the small demons and then rushed toward Xuanzang and the others in a swarm. He had done some homework on the strength of the other side; Xuanzang and the others were still very strong.

Therefore, Red Boy prepared to use a scheme. If he, a little boy with a jade-like appearance, were hung in the wild, any person should feel compassion, right? But what Red Boy didn't expect was that Xuanzang and the others simply didn't have the compassion he spoke of.

Just after entering Dry Pine Stream, Xuanzang and the others heard a faint cry for help. It wasn't just them; everyone in Xuanzang's team heard this cry for help.

"Should we go and see? This is likely something cooked up by the demons in Dry Pine Stream." Yang Jian looked at Xuanzang and said.

"Let's go, let's go and see." After thinking for a moment, Xuanzang nodded.

Soon, they saw Red Boy hung on a tree in the forest. Upon seeing Red Boy, everyone was stunned where they stood.

"This? Is this the demon?" Sun Wukong looked at the child who was only about ten years old and asked with confusion.

The others had the same thought as Sun Wukong. This was the demon in Dry Pine Stream? This was too unexpected, right?

"Whose little child are you?" Sun Wukong asked Red Boy with a playful attitude.

Sun Wukong and the others had been using divine sense transmission just now, so Red Boy simply hadn't heard their discussion, otherwise, he would have been scared enough to run away on the spot.

In reality, when Red Boy saw Xuanzang and the people behind him, he also began to have thoughts of retreating. There were simply too many people; if he were not careful, he might very well end up here, and there would be nowhere to reason with anyone then.

But it was clearly impossible to retreat now, so he could only continue to pretend. Just then, Sun Wukong spoke, so Red Boy followed his words.

"I am from the village ahead. My home is not far away. If you cross this mountain, my home is on the other side. I was kidnapped by bandits, so I ask you all to save me." Red Boy said in a very cute voice.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 157 =====