Chapter 293
Chapter 293
Kong Hanchi followed the two women cautiously, his pig’s face full of misery.
The moment he stepped through that gate, his faction was fixed.
Once he went outside again, anyone who saw him would strike first and ask questions later.
Of course, it wouldn’t be surprising if the monkey simply whacked him with his staff.
The underworld was far larger than he had imagined. He followed them for more than an hour.
Finally, after passing through something like a portal, they reached the eighteenth level.
You Bai looked at the great hall nearby and paused.
“Where’s Ksitigarbha?”
Guanyin smiled. “The Demon Progenitor acted personally. He’s imprisoned, with Patriarch Minghe guarding him.”
You Bai nodded without asking further.
Ksitigarbha wasn’t much of a threat. It was merely his status that mattered.
The Demon Progenitor could contend with Hongjun for authority over the Heavenly Dao.
Capturing an Asura was hardly surprising for him.
Guanyin brought them to the hall’s entrance and stopped.
“Please.”
“Thank you, Guanyin.”
You Bai took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.
Inside, more than a dozen elite soldiers and generals who had fallen to the fiendish path stood along either side.
Their lucky Tang Sanzang was naturally among them.
At the center of the hall, a figure on a black lotus pedestal slowly raised his head.
A hoarse voice instantly rang in everyone’s ears.
“Everyone is here. I’ll explain the plan.”
The Demon Progenitor’s gaze settled on Tang Sanzang. “Tomorrow, you will lead five hundred thousand fiends onto Spirit Mountain. Kill anyone who blocks your path.”
“Yes!”
“I will hold off the seven Sages tomorrow. Wutian will lead you in attacking Tianting!”
“Yes!”
No one was surprised. With the Demon Progenitor’s return, dominion over the world was his by right.
Besides, as long as the Sages didn’t intervene, Wutian was invincible.
Deep night arrived unnoticed. Turmoil threatened the Three Realms.
In Tianting, the Four Sovereigns and Five Elders all emerged and gathered together.
In the mortal realm, a group of monks brought the monkey to a hidden Buddhist realm.
In the Kingdom of Women, Su Daji leaned beside the bed, tails swaying, watching Qingqing work on a magical array.
She was a demon. She should have been enjoying family life among her fellow foxes.
Instead, a command from Nüwa Palace had forced her into the great calamity of divine investiture.
To survive and preserve the fox race, she had been made a pawn and burdened with the curses of all living beings.
She resented it. She wanted to resist.
But Nüwa Palace, beyond the thirty-three heavens, crushed those thoughts utterly.
All beneath the Sages were ants. She had no right to choose.
This sovereign, however…
Wonder flickered repeatedly through Su Daji’s eyes.
First, she had awakened the Demon Progenitor with a strand of fiendish energy. Then she had used every possible means to send one fighter after another into the underworld.
Barring the unexpected, the Three Realms were about to descend into chaos.
If the plan succeeded, no one would ever control them again.
It was a pity about King Zhou. A god of marriage?
Hah. She had merely used that to keep him content as a pawn.
“Little Su, we’re nearly ready. Now we just wait for them to start fighting.”
“Are you sure of this?”
“Relax. With Tang Sanzang there, nothing will go wrong.”
Su Daji nodded, gazing absently at the faintly glowing array.
Who would imagine that a fox and a mortal were behind the upheaval of all Three Realms?
She had watched this mortal send strands of fiendish energy into one person after another.
Guanyin, who had been observing the journey west from behind the scenes.
The little scorpion who had tried to infiltrate the palace.
Even Jinchanzi, a Buddha through nine lifetimes.
The night passed uneventfully, and daylight soon returned.
A bell rang through heaven and earth. In the underworld, the gates of ghosts swung wide!
A Twelfth-Rank Black Lotus carried the Demon Progenitor beyond the thirty-three heavens.
Countless fiendish troops poured out of the underworld toward the celestial realm.
Spirit Mountain and Tianting both plunged into war.
Li Yang’s expression grew grave at the fiends gathering outside Spirit Mountain.
“Take men and set up arrays. Stop them.”
“Yes!”
The young demons around him trembled as they hurried away to obey.
Buddhists should have been defending Spirit Mountain. Now demons held it instead.
It wasn’t what the plan called for, but their lucky star, now wielding the fiends’ power, wasn’t overly concerned.
“Attack!”
At his command, countless fiends charged up Spirit Mountain.
Within moments, demon blood and fiend blood mingled on the ground.
This was a fight to the death. No one would retreat.
Behind the fiendish army, their lucky star began laying out an array according to orders received by voice transmission.
On the surface, this was simply a struggle between three forces: the demons, Tianting, and the fiends.
In truth, Tang Sanzang was a seasoned infiltrator.
The Buddhists who had escaped Spirit Mountain had taken the monkey away to execute a hidden plan.
The three-way war had become a contest among a multitude of contenders.
“Little Su! Little Su! Who do you think will die first?”
“The Two Sages of the West, or Tongtian.”
“Why?”
“If the Two Sages of the West are attacked first, no one else will help them. If the Demon Progenitor fears the Immortal-Execution Sword Formation, he will concentrate his strength on killing Tongtian first.”
Sages were immortal and indestructible, but only in relative terms.
Against the Demon Progenitor, any of them might fall.
Sages were not invincible.
Beyond the thirty-three heavens, the Two Sages of the West watched the approaching Demon Progenitor with grave expressions.
“Demon Progenitor, you provoke strife across the Three Realms and bring about a great calamity. Do you truly not fear our teacher?”
“Can he still come out?”
Having merged his body with Heaven, how could he withstand assimilation by the Heavenly Dao without extraordinarily powerful means?
At best, he could preserve his own awareness and wait for a sliver of opportunity.
The Two Sages of the West looked sick at his words.
Since the investiture of the gods, they too had gone a long time without seeing their teacher.
The Demon Progenitor glanced up at the sky, then rose from the black lotus.
“Submit to me, the Demon Progenitor, or die!”
The two Sages exchanged a look and attacked together, opening with killing moves.
Far away in the mortal realm, the monkey held his Golden-Hooped Staff and turned his fiery golden eyes toward the celestial realm.
Eighty-one Buddhas transformed their golden bodies into relics, pouring their power into him.
Chuunibyou only knew that he was strong now. Absurdly strong.
But the plan forbade him from acting yet. He had to endure it until the Demon Progenitor was injured.
The battle continued. The Demon Progenitor’s power exceeded anything the Two Sages of the West had imagined.
Together, the two of them could overturn the entire world.
Now, however, they were on the brink of death.
One palm strike shattered their merit-forged golden bodies. The Demon Progenitor’s killing intent emerged.
“Sages are immortal and indestructible. Must you take this so far?”
He laughed softly. “Do you truly believe that?”
“Our true spirits are hidden in the Heavenly Dao. You cannot kill us!”
“Then let us try.”
A streak of black appeared abruptly as he spoke.
A black shaft. A red point.
A supreme innate treasure: the God-Slaying Spear!