Chapter 24: The Daoist Arena Erupts Again at Guanjiangkou

Ever since the Heaven-Defying Taoist encountered Yang Jian at the Southern Heavenly Gate, Wukong had been planning.

He shared a kindred spirit with this Heaven-Defying Taoist, whose murderous intent had transmitted over and was certainly felt. Thinking of Yang Jian, Wukong was extremely infuriated—not only had they fought to a standstill before, but this bastard had even killed Zixia with his blade! He was only able to survive because of the seed Zixia had planted; if not for that, he would have long been reduced to ashes by the Eight Divisions.

"Humph, Yang Jian! Now is the perfect opportunity, I will go and smash your Guanjiangkou Taoist Temple!"

With a heart full of fire, Wukong somersaulted through the air, heading towards Guanjiangkou.

Yang Jian and the Six Sages of Meishan were sworn brothers, and those six demon spirits indeed had some abilities. In the battle at the Water Curtain Cave, they killed quite a few of Wukong's underlings. Now that Yang Jian was embroiled in a fierce battle with the Heaven-Defying Taoist in the Celestial Realm, Wukong would kill those six demon spirits and overturn his Taoist Temple!

Just as Wukong arrived outside Guanjiangkou, he heard a dog barking. He had intended to disguise himself as Yang Jian to catch them by surprise and kill them, but unexpectedly, that Howling Heaven Hound was actually guarding inside the True Monarch's Temple! Well then, this dog being Yang Jian's right-hand man, it would be best to kill it today as well!

The Howling Heaven Hound charged out from the True Monarch's Temple, sensing the murderous intent on Wukong's body.

"You beast!" Wukong snorted softly as he drew his Buddha Beating Staff.

With several loud howls, the Howling Heaven Hound called out all of the Six Sages of Meishan.

Wukong declared, "Perfect, everyone is here. Today, I will kill you all at once!"

As soon as his words fell, twelve hundred Vine Head Gods manifested from inside the True Monarch's Temple and walked out.

Wukong slung his long spear over his shoulder and said, "Today, all of you are going to die!"

Although he gave his most powerful World-Cleansing Dust Whisk to the Heaven-Defying Taoist, Wukong felt it was enough to deal with these people!

Zhang Boshi asked, "Who are you? We have no grudges or hatreds, so why do this?"

Wukong sneered coldly and replied, "The grudge is greater than heaven itself! There's no need for you to know who I am because you're about to die!"

Wukong was never one for empty words, so he took action, moving as fast as lightning. With a pinch of his Dharma Decree, he launched the Heavenly Emperor's Giant Seal, a technique bestowed by Di Jun, with a thundering slam! With one palm strike, he immediately overturned a hundred Vine Head Gods.

The Six Sages of Meishan were shocked; this man's mana was profound, surely at the level of a Taiyi Golden Immortal!

"A few minor immortals, mere dregs, dare to contend with me!"

Wukong chuckled coldly as he launched yet another technique, the fiery blaze of True Sunfire spreading far and wide, intending to burn the entire Guanjiangkou down! His heart was truly ruthless.

Zhang Boshi roared angrily. Seeing three hundred Vine Head Gods killed in an instant, he joined the five others and attacked, with the Howling Heaven Hound flanking them, waiting for an opportunity to bite a chunk out of Wukong. However, Wukong, employing the Golden Crow Chasing the Sun Body Technique, moved in an extremely bizarre manner, making it impossible for the six to form a great formation to resist him, forcing them to fight individually and wield Magical Treasures and Spells in defense.

As Wukong's mana was far superior to theirs, how could they be his match? They only held on because of their numbers and with the Howling Heaven Hound beside them.

"Big brother will be back soon—just hang on a little longer!" Li Huanzhang shouted.

"Your big brother is fiercely fighting the Heaven-Defying Taoist at the Southern Heavenly Gate, already severely wounded," Wukong mocked, "he would not dare come down to the Lower Realm!"

Upon hearing this, Yao Gonglin was startled and Wukong caught him off guard. With a strike of the Heavenly Emperor's Giant Seal, he left him with broken bones and tendons; Wukong followed up with a Heavenly Emperor Sword Art technique, piercing Yao Gonglin's forehead. In an instant, the Sword Qi raged and shredded Yao Gonglin's spiritual platform, not even giving his Primordial Spirit a chance to escape.

"Run! This sorcerer must have seized the opportunity to come here and provoke us," Zhang Boshi decided on the spot, "We cannot allow ourselves to be sacrificed in vain."

But Wukong taunted, "Do you think you can escape?!"

With that said, a spear came crashing down, unleashing a force of three million pounds!

Zhang Boshi, unwise, tried to block with a Magical Treasure, oblivious to the immense force behind the spear. Crying out for danger too late, it was already too late to flee. He was struck by that three million-pound force, his head bursting like a watermelon, leaving behind a headless body that sprayed blood as it flew out.

The Howling Heaven Hound, seeing the bad turn of events, thought to flee first.

Naturally, Wukong wouldn't allow it, a strand of hair falling from his head and transforming into another Wukong-like Taoist to block the Howling Heaven Hound rushing towards the Heavenly Realm, brandishing his long spear to attack! As Wukong attacked, the Howling Heaven Hound ran, a chase ensued.

"This Staff Technique... so familiar!" Guo Shen seemed to recognize something, "You are that impudent monkey!"

Wukong hadn't expected Guo Shen to identify his true form and sneered, "Since you've already seen through it, all the more reason I cannot let you escape!"

Without further ado, his attacks intensified, and once he activated the Primordial Great Strength Technique, the force behind each casual swing of his staff exceeded a hundred thousand pounds. How could these few resist? Plus, they were all frightened and looking to escape, naturally unable to fight wholeheartedly as before. This also saved Wukong a lot of energy, and with another move of the Heavenly Emperor's Giant Seal, he directly turned Guo Shen into ash.

Upon hearing that this person was none other than Sun Wukong, their souls nearly fled in terror.

The remaining three were already disarrayed, trembling in their hands and feet. Wukong charged forward and exchanged a few more moves with them before noticing that the battle between the Heaven-Defying Taoist and Erlang God Yang Jian had ended. He intensified his assault, and in no time, one of them got struck by his staff, leaving all three down for the count. As for the remaining minor deities, Wukong dispatched them with a few punches and kicks, and a burst of True Sunfire ended their lives.

"Enlarge!"

Wukong shouted, and the spear in his hand grew in size, becoming like a Heavenly Pillar. With one thrust, he toppled True Monarch's Temple, sending it crashing down. Even Erlang's divine statue was destroyed by Wukong's thrust, and the Incense Willpower that drifted out of it was completely absorbed by Wukong.

The flipping of the temple was the ultimate face-slap, and now Wukong had flipped over Yang Jian's temple, meaning Yang Jian probably couldn't swagger around as before! The Six Sages of Meishan were incredibly powerful, with the howling celestial dog and twelve hundred minor deities defending the place, not the sort of enemies one would provoke lightly. Moreover, Yang Jian could return from the Heavenly Court within moments, but he was delayed because the Heaven-Defying Taoist stopped him for a fight.

After Wukong absorbed the Incense Willpower, he recited scriptures to refine it, then exhaled True Sunfire, setting ablaze everything at the river mouth. The area was soon engulfed in flames, with thick smoke billowing into the sky.

"Isn't this harming my merit?" Wukong thought to himself, but then reconsidered, "Am I going to follow those Buddhas and use merit to prove my way in the future? What do I care about damaging my merit? Even if I kill hundreds of times more people, I'm not afraid!"

The river mouth was under Yang Jian's jurisdiction, home to many demon beasts that heeded his commands. Wukong was determined to eradicate them to prevent future nuisances. Who knew if, in a few thousand years, there might be another Six Sages or Seven Sages of Meishan among these demon beasts? Tathagata had not killed him, leaving him as a future threat, and he wasn't about to make such a foolish mistake.

In the meantime, Wukong's clone chased the celestial dog all the way to the gates of the Celestial Realm, but just as he was reaching, a Taoist burst out from the dark clouds ahead.

"The celestial dog?" It was indeed the Heaven-Defying Taoist.

"If your master did not die, do you think I could not kill you, beast?" The Heaven-Defying Taoist also knew that this celestial dog was Yang Jian's trusted aid, incredibly formidable, yet now left with no choice but to flee when faced with him alone.

Upon seeing the fierce opponent, the celestial dog turned to continue its escape. However, the Heaven-Defying Taoist raised his dust whisk and swept it through the air.

"Swoosh!"

The Seven-Colored Divine Light struck and sent the celestial dog tumbling through the air repeatedly. Wukong, following close behind, saw this and unceremoniously swung his staff, striking the dog's head and sending it hurtling back like a ball. The Heaven-Defying Taoist gave another sweep, brushing the celestial dog back toward him.

This time, Wukong put all his strength into it, unleashing the Primordial Great Strength Technique with his staff—a force of a million pounds!

"Bang!"

The celestial dog howled in agony as it was struck dead, its body flying off again, piercing through the layers of storm clouds and landing before the Southern Heavenly Gate.

"Go!" The Heaven-Defying Taoist shouted and with a somersault vanished without a trace.

This clone, however, just smiled slightly, his body ignited with True Sunfire, and turned into a single strand of hair before burning to ash.

"Celestial dog!"

Yang Jian roared, his eyes blood-red, grieved by the death of his beloved pet and comrade who had fought countless battles by his side, only to end up with its head smashed to pieces. Even Yang Jian, with his heart of steel, couldn't help but shed two tears at this moment.

"Thousand-Mile Eye, tell me what happened at my river mouth!" Yang Jian demanded angrily.

Thousand-Mile Eye looked towards the river mouth and saw flames reaching the sky amid the rolling smoke.

"Erlang God..." Thousand-Mile Eye hesitated.

"Speak plainly!" Yang Jian ordered.

"Your temple has been burned down," Thousand-Mile Eye said.

Upon hearing this, Yang Jian thought of the likely death of the Six Sages and the burning of his temple; the slap to his face was loud and clear. His vision went dark, his Dao heart wavered, and he almost passed out on the spot.

"That Taoist you fought with must be the recently notorious Heaven-Defying devil. He's the one who killed the Journey to the West's messenger and repeatedly slapped the face of the Buddhist Sect. Your temple was probably burnt by his accomplices who joined him in ambushing the messengers," suggested Clairaudient.

Erlang God Yang Jian had never suffered such humiliation since he entered the Dao. He slammed his fist into the ground in fury, shaking the entire Southern Heavenly Gate three times!

"What enmity do I have with this Heaven-Defying devil that he would destroy my temple?" A sudden apprehension gripped Yang Jian's heart, "Heaven-Defying? Do I have a feud with these two words? Last time, it was that monkey calling himself the Great Sage Equalling Heaven who opposed me. Now, another Heaven-Defying Taoist appears... Could it be that monkey Sun Wukong is still alive? Impossible, Tathagata Buddha's mana has no bounds, how could he fail to deal with that macaque?"

"If not, why did this Heaven-Defying Taoist attack me with such vengeance?"

Troubled by these thoughts, Yang Jian stood dazed for a while, then picked up the corpse of his celestial dog and descended to the Lower Realm, bellowing through clenched teeth, "No matter who you are, I will kill you!"