Great Demon Sun Wukong

With a soft sigh, Sun Wukong looked up with a complex expression at the giant toad that was getting closer and closer. At that moment, Sun Wukong truly possessed the aura of someone whose composure wouldn’t falter even if Mount Tai were collapsing in front of him. In fact, the toad’s meteor-like plummet, in terms of both attack power and visual impact, was hardly less than the collapse of Mount Tai itself. Soon, the rapidly expanding Jingu Bang clashed fiercely with the descending Stone Mountain toad, Hidden Mountain.

However, the expected scene of the toad being directly pierced by the Jingu Bang did not occur. Instead, the spear tip formed from the Primordial Earth on the Jingu Bang instantly shattered, reverting back into fine sand. Though the impromptu spear tip conceived by Sun Wukong did not have the intended effect, the Jingu Bang, now nearly a kilometer in diameter, still managed to block the descending impact of the Stone Mountain toad. But the Jingu Bang was also driven a third of the way into the ground.

As the Stone Mountain toad, Hidden Mountain, bowed its gigantic head to see what had stopped its fall, it only managed to lower its head halfway before its entire body suddenly stiffened, unable to move even a fraction. Then, an endless sea of merciless sand began to spread from the Jingu Bang upwards towards Hidden Mountain. Within a few breaths, the huge toad, which had transformed from Blood Mist Mountain, was completely covered by the yellow quicksand. From afar, it looked as though a pillar had grown a toad statue.

Meanwhile, the complex look on Sun Wukong’s face faded to one of sheer boredom. He sat cross-legged on the ground, looking up at the Hidden Mountain now turned into a statue by the Primordial Earth, and shouted, "Ming Tiekuang, I think you can stop now; otherwise, I’ll destroy this giant toad!" As Sun Wukong spoke, the Dragon Emperor and Ye Zi moved to his side. Aside from a bit of dirt on their clothes, they appeared uninjured.

The Dragon Emperor and Ye Zi stood behind Sun Wukong with their hands clasped, saying nothing. As Sun Wukong looked up, noticing no reaction from above, he shook his head helplessly. He then raised his right hand high, transforming his palm into a Sword Finger, but did not swing down immediately. As he did so, a thick arm suddenly appeared above the statue-like Hidden Mountain, perched atop the Jingu Bang.

The arm appeared to be made of stone as well, but was even thicker than the kilometer-wide Jingu Bang below. Mountain Suppressing Finger was a move uniquely created by Sun Wukong, based on the skills he had learned at the Spiritual Mount combined with the Heavensplitting Strike from the Chaos Five Decisions. The mighty arm in the sky was formed by the combined forces of Five Elements Power, Three Thousand Desolate Sands, and the method of wielding Chaotic Power from Heavensplitting Strike. This finger possessed not only the all-devouring capability of the Three Thousand Desolate Sands, but also the disintegrating power formed by the fusion of Five Elements Power and Chaotic Power.

Just as this arm materialized, a voice suddenly came from the toad that had turned into a statue; it was Ming Tiekuang’s voice. "Great Saint, please hold your hand. Although Hidden Mountain is not a benevolent creature, it can still be an asset in the Great Saint’s upcoming battles!" As he spoke, Ming Tiekuang had already leapt down. Next to him was another figure, enshrouded in a light red mist, completely hidden under a deep red cloak, leaving their face indiscernible.

Seeing Ming Tiekuang appear, Sun Wukong nodded slightly and then waved his right hand, causing the giant arm in the air to slowly dissipate. With his raised right arm now lowered, Sun Wukong remained seated, his gaze intensely fixed on Ming Tiekuang and the person beside him who had just landed in front of the trio. Ming Tiekuang looked unfazed, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with him, "This is the last trial from the Spirit Controller for the Great Saint. If there has been offense, I ask for the Great Saint’s forgiveness!"

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Upon hearing Ming Tiekuang’s words, Sun Wukong’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, "Are you sure that was the last of it? That this kind of situation won’t happen again?" Ming Tiekuang nodded, but said nothing more. Sun Wukong then turned his gaze to the man in the red robe and asked, "Are you Wu Ming?" The man in the red robe did not remove his hood, but bent in a bow, his voice sycophantically saying, "Hehe, admirable discernment, Great Sage, truly admirable. I had no other choice just now; I hope the Great Sage, Dragon Emperor, and Brother Ye Zi won’t blame me. I’ll surely be of great help in the future, truly great help!"

Sun Wukong wasn’t noticeably moved by Wu Ming, but Ye Zi suddenly couldn’t hold back his anger. What did Wu Ming mean by this? Addressing Sun Wukong as "Great Sage," the Dragon Emperor as "Dragon Lord," and referring to himself as "Brother" Ye Zi? Didn’t that essentially place him in the same category as Sun Wukong and the Dragon Emperor’s juniors? Ye Zi couldn’t tolerate such disrespect, and his face filled with anger, preparing to react. But Wu Ming showed no respect towards Ye Zi and even spoke with a provoking tone, "What’s the matter? Can’t accept it? Calling you ’brother’ is already giving face to the Great Sage and the Dragon Lord. Otherwise, with your strength, you wouldn’t be able to beat me even if I used only one hand!"

Ye Zi was immediately enraged, but his anger was quickly suppressed by reason. Wu Ming’s words were impolite, but not inaccurate, as Ye Zi’s current attack power was indeed not as strong as Wu Ming’s, and the difference was not just by a single notch. The reason Ye Zi could fight the little monkey to a draw before was firstly because the monkey was afraid of being detected by the Spirit Controller and thus dared not to use his full strength, not to mention most of his abilities; secondly, Ye Zi had the advantage of the terrain, drawing a continuous flow of life force from the boundless forest. Therefore, it was less a draw between the two and more that the little monkey simply couldn’t outlast Ye Zi and opted to retreat instead.

However, if there were to be a conflict with Wu Ming here, resulting in a fierce battle, Ye Zi did not have the means to defeat him. Although he wouldn’t die due to his strong life force and healing ability, it would ultimately be a thankless effort, and he would also end up being brutally beaten by Wu Ming. For this reason, Ye Zi refrained from lashing out because he knew that as long as he stuck with Sun Wukong, Sun Wukong would help him rebuild Ye Wu’s body. Then, when the time came, Ye Zi was confident in giving Wu Ming a good thrashing.

At this point, Sun Wukong also noticed that Wu Ming was clearly the type that bullied the weak and feared the strong—a character entirely different from that of the Dragon Emperor. If the Dragon Emperor was someone who felt overwhelmingly dominant, then Wu Ming would be like a weasel, cunning and scheming everywhere. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that Wu Ming’s strength wasn’t weak either; otherwise, he couldn’t have become one of the four ferocious beasts that roamed the Celestial World.

Thinking this, Sun Wukong couldn’t help but marvel at the power of his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, which had saved him from danger numerous times. Earlier, when facing the Spirit Controller, had it not been for his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes allowing him to see the essence and hidden things, Sun Wukong would probably have died long ago, and his current situation would be nonexistent. Just now, it was through the Heaven and Earth Dao Eye that he had discovered some things, which is why he took a series of actions.

It all began when the group first entered Blood Mist Mountain. As they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Sun Wukong intended to use his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes to scout out Blood Mist Mountain but was stopped by Ming Tiekuang, who claimed that the mists of blood would erode Sun Wukong’s Divine Sense. It was then that Sun Wukong became suspicious of Ming Tiekuang. Ming Tiekuang was not from the Celestial World, and even Ye Zi and the Dragon Emperor did not know that the mists could erode Divine Sense and even affect the Heaven and Earth Dao Eye, so how could Ming Tiekuang know?

Later when they encountered the first wave of Blood Spirits attacking the group, Ming Tiekuang once again stopped everyone from taking action and dispatched the Blood Spirits himself with his unmatched speed in the blink of an eye. Sun Wukong’s suspicion deepened. He hadn’t used his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, but he had covertly deployed his Spirit Power in the fashion of the Heaven and Earth Dao Eye, concentrating it in his eyes. He then discovered that each of Ming Tiekuang’s strikes hit the vital points of the Blood Spirits, yet he held back each time, seemingly afraid to kill the Blood Spirits in one hit.

Moreover, he noticed that the mist outside did not seem to erode Ming Tiekuang at all—it was as if, for Ming Tiekuang, the blood mist did not exist. Of course, all of this was not enough to make Sun Wukong completely distrust Ming Tiekuang. His doubts solidified when they reached the stone platform, and after the Dragon Emperor’s attack on the mountain proved futile, and Sun Wukong lifted the two of them up to fly, Ming Tiekuang suddenly broke free from Sun Wukong and went his own way.

At that time, Sun Wukong thought Ming Tiekuang must have discovered Wu Ming’s true body and went to attack Wu Ming directly, so he didn’t care much about it. Later, Hidden Mountain suddenly erupted, merging with Blood Mist Mountain, and as Sun Wukong and the other two were suspended in midair by the shattered Blood Mist Mountain, Sun Wukong asked Ye Zi and Long Hu if they had seen Ming Tiekuang. After they said no, Sun Wukong, worried about his safety, activated his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes to search, and during this search, he saw Ming Tiekuang standing side by side with a person in a red robe atop Hidden Mountain, seemingly controlling Hidden Mountain.

It was this revelation that informed Sun Wukong of a lot of things: Ming Tiekuang was in cahoots with Wu Ming, and it was unclear who was controlling Hidden Mountain. A Nine Patterns Supreme ferocious beast, even being powerful, could not possibly possess strength to withstand both Sun Wukong and the Dragon Emperor together. The reason for this was that Ming Tiekuang and Wu Ming were infusing their power into Hidden Mountain’s body.

Upon realizing this, Sun Wukong adopted a strategy, secretly signalling Ye Zi and the Dragon Emperor, pretending to be hit by that tongue, and then as he landed on the ground, he had Ye Zi and the Dragon Emperor covertly infuse their Spirit Power into his body. The reason for this was due to the formidable nature of the Five Elements Power within Sun Wukong’s body, which engenders each other, and can accommodate all powers and make them his own.