Great Demon Sun Wukong

At this moment, Sun Wukong's rationality had been completely devoured by hatred and rage. With a piercing roar to the sky, Wukong's figure moved, and in the next instant, he had appeared behind Tathagata. His right hand wielding the Jingu Bang made move to smash down, but two beams of golden light shot forward quickly and formed the shape of a lotus flower, glittering with gold, behind Tathagata Buddha. Though it appeared to be just a lotus flower made of light, it firmly blocked Wukong's staff attack.

These two were none other than Tathagata's disciples, the Bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra. Before Wukong could retract his Jingu Bang, Tathagata flicked a finger, and Wukong was sent flying backward. Announcing a Buddha's name, Tathagata said to Wukong, "Sun Wukong, you have lost. You have lost completely, and now, you have nothing left. Your Demon Clan army, I will soon transform them all into soldiers for my Western Paradise Sacred Mountain. Give up, as long as you kneel and convert to my teachings, I, will spare your life."

Sun Wukong did not answer, nor did he hurl insults. He just slowly stood up, abruptly lifted his head, and glared furiously at Tathagata Buddha. Then, he forcefully stabbed the Jingu Bang into the ground beside him. Turning his head for a glance at the lifeless Zhu Bajie on the ground and others like the Bull Demon King trapped by the Buddhist Soldiers, Wukong grabbed the golden hoop on his head. "Aaaaah!" His visceral scream was proof of the immense pain Wukong was enduring at that moment. Hot blood spurts from his wounds continuously, and the muscles in Wukong's arms even began to tear, a result of the tremendous strength that the muscles couldn't withstand.

Finally, just before the muscles in Wukong's arms completely shattered, he succeeded in removing the golden hoop from his head. The moment the hoop hit the ground, an incredibly ferocious aura, filled with boundless and endless murderous intent, swept out. As this aura continued to build, the injuries across Wukong's body also started to heal gradually. When the aura peaked, the injuries and the mana Wukong had expended had fully recovered. Moreover, Wukong's combat power at this moment was double what it had been before.

"Tathagata old man, you forced this upon me, you forced this upon me. Even if I die today, I will kill you. I will kill you, kill, kill you!" At this moment, Sun Wukong had become utterly frenzied, with only one thought in his heart — to kill Tathagata.

"I didn't expect this monkey to have such a trick up his sleeve. No wonder that after his journey to the west years ago, I removed his golden hoop, but shortly after, another appeared on his head. It turns out that this golden hoop was placed by himself all along. Yet this hoop had always been suppressing his strength and had infused nearly a thousand years of accumulated spiritual energy into the monkey instantaneously, which also counts as quite a rare treasure."

Tathagata Buddha, also known as the Multi-treasure Tathagata, clearly showed his deep love for magic treasures. "All Buddhist Soldiers, heed my command, and form the Myriad Buddhas Demon-Subduing Formation!" Although Tathagata was curious about what kind of magic treasure the golden hoop was, he did not lose his focus and immediately ordered all Buddhas to retreat behind him while calling a million Buddhist Soldiers to step forward. Tathagata well understood that Wukong's strength had soared to dangerous heights and probably required the joint efforts of all present Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to handle. However, this would undoubtedly lead to significant casualties, as each lost Buddha or Bodhisattva would be irreplaceable. Nevertheless, Tathagata had no qualms about sacrificing Buddhist Soldiers to wear Wukong down, for there was an abundance of them, and those fallen could simply be reborn through transcendence. Among the demon clan and Heaven's remaining forces, there were as many as a million defeated soldiers present.

Thus, the battlefield saw such a scene. Out of the three million Buddhist Soldiers who had come with Tathagata, a million formed the Demon-Trapping Deity-Sealing Formation to control nearly a million demon and heavenly soldiers. The remaining two million encircled the rampaging Sun Wukong in a circular formation. If Wukong wished to kill Tathagata, he had to break the formation or kill two million Buddhist Soldiers.

However, Wukong had already been possessed by rage, with only the thought of killing Tathagata on his mind, even losing all reason. So, Wukong's only choice was to kill. To slaughter everything in front of him and then take revenge – for Bajie, for Old Sand, for his master, for Flower Fruit Mountain, for the countless fallen demons. The Jingu Bang waved continuously in his hands, each swing taking the life of a Buddhist Soldier, sometimes even more. So much blood was spilled that the sky turned red, the earth turned red, the whole world turned red. All he could see were the endless Buddhist Soldiers and scattered limbs, and all he could hear were the roaring sounds of battle. The strength within his body was ebbing away bit by bit, but the number of Buddhist Soldiers in front of him did not seem to decrease. How many had he killed? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Or half a million?

All this, Sun Wukong did not know. All he knew was to keep swinging the Jingu Bang, to keep on killing. Finally, after Wukong slaughtered a total of one million two hundred thousand Buddhist Soldiers, Sun Wukong fell. The blood on his body was thick and coagulated, the pungent metallic scent visible to the naked eye. Even the Jingu Bang, which was indestructible, had several marks on it. No matter how strong a being was, they reached a point of exhaustion, and gods were no exception. Even Pangu the Great God, who had opened the heavens and earth, perished in the end from exhaustion.

Sun Wukong was in despair. His body felt completely hollow, without a trace of strength. He was so tired, incredibly tired. Just as Wukong was about to close his eyes, a flash of five-colored light streaked by.

Then, Wukong's body shuddered suddenly, and another apocalyptic aura, fierce and overwhelming, burst forth.

"Nezha, Nezha, I, Old Sun, will never forget your great kindness. I'll avenge your grudge for you." As Wukong, who had been at the end of his vigor, stood up once more, his aura was even more formidable than before. This scene suddenly twisted Tathagata's expression. He had thought to be the oriole behind the mantis catching the cicada, waiting for the Demon Clan and Heaven to inflict mutual heavy losses before he cleaned up the mess. However, he had not expected that just Sun Wukong alone would cause the loss of one million two hundred thousand Buddhist Soldiers. If he could capture Wukong after this and emerge entirely victorious, Tathagata could accept it. Yet, when everyone thought Wukong had fallen completely exhausted, inexplicably, Wukong was standing once more. And, apparently, he was even more powerful than before, even overwhelming Tathagata by far too much.

At this moment, if he were to fight Sun Wukong one-on-one, Tathagata felt that he might not be able to withstand even three of his blows. This infuriated Tathagata to a great extent. A mere character that he could have easily crushed and suppressed in the past was now capable of instilling a feeling of fear in him, something Tathagata Buddha found utterly unacceptable.

"All Buddhist Soldiers, heed my command, withdraw three hundred thousand to join the formation besieging Sun Wukong. Even if all are to perish in battle, they must stop Sun Wukong for me. All other Buddhas, strike with all your might, and slay the demon Sun Wukong!"

By now, one could discern the impatience and unease in Tathagata's voice. He had initially thought victory was in his grasp, which was why he had brought five million Buddhist Soldiers. They were divided into two groups, with two million attacking Flower Fruit Mountain. However, what Tathagata had not anticipated was the presence of Patriarch Bodhi and Golden Cicada at Flower Fruit Mountain. Moreover, Golden Cicada had even advanced to Saint status. With two Saints defending Flower Fruit Mountain, it became significantly more challenging.

Yet, despite this, Tathagata had no choice but to press on with determination. As the Buddhist Soldiers advanced in their attack, Tathagata found that Golden Cicada seemed to have suffered severe injuries, and Patriarch Bodhi had also greatly diminished in mana. Ultimately, under Tathagata's relentless offensive, which disregarded all losses, Flower Fruit Mountain was breached. Patriarch Bodhi was sealed, and Golden Cicada was captured. However, of the two million Buddhist Soldiers who attacked Flower Fruit Mountain, only about seven hundred thousand remained. These survivors did not follow Tathagata to Heaven, for they stayed behind at Flower Fruit Mountain to attend to the aftermath.

Therefore, only about one point one million were available for use at this time. The remaining seven hundred thousand had to maintain the Great Formation. Otherwise, if the Demon Clan's army were to break through the formation, Tathagata's efforts would have been utterly wasted.

For this reason, at this moment, Tathagata mobilized all his strength, determined to slay Sun Wukong. Over a million Buddhist Soldiers immediately advanced, essentially sacrificing their lives to halt Sun Wukong's progress. However, at that moment, everyone witnessed a terrifying scene.

The reason the Buddhist Soldiers had previously been able to deplete Sun Wukong's power was that he had become possessed, consumed by a murderous intent with no other thoughts – a ferocious beast that only knew slaughter. But this time was different. Before the Buddhist Soldiers could form their ranks, Sun Wukong teleported and vanished from where he stood. In the next instant, he appeared behind Tathagata.

Without turning his head, Sun Wukong simply swung his arm around and struck with his staff. This time, Tathagata dared not underestimate his opponent and hurriedly maneuvered the Lotus Pedestal to dodge. This Lotus Pedestal indeed was a Supreme Rank magic treasure, with Tathagata sitting atop it, his speed was like lightning. Seeing his initial strike miss, Sun Wukong instantly twisted his wrist and the Jingu Bang followed, sweeping toward Manjushri and Samantabhadra on either side. These two did not have the speed of Tathagata's pedestal and had no choice but to endure the strike.

But just as the Jingu Bang was about to sweep into Manjushri's Lotus Flower Shield, the staff suddenly vanished. Before Manjushri could react, a scream was heard in the distance and, upon looking up, a severed arm was seen flying through the air, while the scream was emitted by the Medicine Buddha. Picking on the softer targets was universally acknowledged as rational behavior.

Just as everyone had their magic treasures ready, Sun Wukong vanished again from their sight, followed by another scream. This time, what flew were the eight arms of the Four Heavenly Vajra Kings. Subsequently, all the Buddhas present witnessed what mortal Hell was like, the kind of overwhelming fear that could not be resisted. In just the blink of an eye, every Buddha there, except for Ancient Buddha of the Lamp, Tathagata Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, and Bodhisattva Guanyin, either had both arms or both legs severed. In short, not a single one remained intact.

When Sun Wukong's form finally steadied, the look of fear in everyone's eyes as they gazed at Sun Wukong was palpable. How formidable he was—such speed was beyond comprehension for all present, and it was feared that this speed was now virtually on par with thought itself.

Everyone knew that the only thing to do now seemed to be to flee, for continuing to fight very well might result in their demise right there. Just as everyone entertained thoughts of retreat, Sun Wukong suddenly collapsed straight to the ground. It seemed he had once again exhausted all his strength. But all were too terrified to move, lest their own heads be the next to fly.

However, after a long silence, it appeared that Sun Wukong had truly exhausted himself to death.