Honghuang: My understanding is beyond belief. I am the first immortal of Jiejiao.

"Who?!"

Sun Wukong's eyes blazed with golden light, his fiery eyes piercing through the darkness, but he could only see layers upon layers of Buddhist restrictions inside the mountain.

"My name is Lin Zhu, a rogue cultivator."

The voice carried a hint of amusement.

"Seeing that the Great Sage was struggling to find a solution, I came here to enlighten him."

Sun Wukong bared his teeth.

"You cowardly rat hiding your head and tail! Show your true colors if you dare!"

"The great sage is joking."

Lin Zhu's voice was neither hurried nor slow.

"This Five Elements Mountain is sealed by the Six-Syllable Mantra. If I show myself, I'm afraid I'll alarm that person at Mount Ling. Perhaps we can just talk like this?"

Upon hearing the words "Mount Ling," Sun Wukong's eyes darkened.

He snorted coldly.

"What do you want to talk to me about, Old Sun?"

"Let's talk about why the Great Sage was at the foot of this mountain back then."

Lin Zhu's voice suddenly lowered.

"Great Sage, have you ever considered why Buddha insisted on gambling with you when he was already prepared to give up?"

Sun Wukong's breath hitched.

Memories flooded back to the day he stormed the Lingxiao Palace, routing the 100,000 heavenly soldiers. Just as he was about to withdraw, Buddha suddenly appeared.
"If he doesn't care, I, Old Sun, will go back on my own after I've made enough of a scene!"

Sun Wukong gritted his teeth and said.

"But that old man insisted on stopping me!"

Lin Zhu said softly.

"What's even stranger is that the Buddha himself would disregard his status and bet with you on a somersault? Doesn't the Great Sage think this is a bit too deliberate?"

Sun Wukong was startled. In five hundred years, he had never thought of it from this perspective.

The Buddha's meaningful smile when he appeared, the trap hidden in the bet, and the decisiveness when he finally suppressed the Buddha with a flick of his palm.
"what do you want to say in the end?"

Sun Wukong's voice lowered.

"Not urgent."

Lin Zhu changed the subject.

"Great Sage, answer me first: do you think it's reasonable for the Jade Emperor to appoint you as the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses?"

"Pooh!"

Sun Wukong was furious whenever this matter was mentioned.

"That Jade Emperor is going too far! I, Sun Wukong, a dignified Taiyi Golden Immortal, am being asked to tend horses?!"

"exactly."

Lin Zhu's voice suddenly turned serious.

"Heavenly official positions have always been matched with cultivation level. A Taiyi Golden Immortal should at least be a Star Lord. Making the Great Sage the Keeper of the Horses is as absurd as making Erlang Shen sweep the floor or Nezha fetch water."

Sun Wukong was stunned.

He only felt humiliated back then, but never considered that the arrangement itself was unreasonable.

Lin Zhu continued.

"What's even more ingenious is that they later made the Great Sage guard the Peach Garden. Isn't having a monkey guard the peach garden just like having a hungry wolf guard a sheepfold?"

"You mean"

Sun Wukong's pupils contracted.

"Did they do it on purpose?"

"Great Sage, think about it. If no one gave the order, how could the Seven Fairies have said to your face, 'How dare a mere stable boy like you attend the Peach Banquet?' And if no one made the arrangements, why would the Peach Banquet be held just when you were guarding the garden?"

Sun Wukong felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Looking back now, all those "coincidences" seem like a carefully designed trap!
"But why?"

Sun Wukong's voice trembled.

"I, Old Sun, have no grudge against them."

"Because of you, Great Sage."

Lin Zhu spoke slowly and deliberately.

"I was a pawn from birth."

"nonsense!"

Sun Wukong flew into a rage, causing the mountain to tremble slightly.

"I, Old Sun, am born of Heaven and Earth, how could I be someone else's pawn!"

"Does the Great Sage know what Flower Fruit Mountain is?"

Lin Zhu remained calm and unhurried.

"That is the ancestral vein of the Ten Continents, the source of the Three Islands, the core of a spiritual vein that has existed since the beginning of time. And the immortal stone from which the Great Sage was born..."

"Press the twenty-four solar terms high, and align the orifices with the nine palaces and eight trigrams."

Sun Wukong instinctively replied, and his expression immediately changed drastically.

"How do you know?"

"Because this is not a coincidence at all."

Lin Zhu's voice suddenly became sharp.

"That immortal stone was deliberately placed there! Great Sage, have you ever wondered why it had to be you? Why that particular time?"

Sun Wukong was struck as if by lightning.

He recalled the naturally formed Dao patterns on the immortal stone, and the golden light that shot from his eyes when he was born, which seemed to be under the watchful gaze of some being.

"No, it's impossible."

Sun Wukong murmured, but then he recalled more details: when he went out to sea to seek immortals, a strange wind blew him directly to Xiniu Hezhou; when he became a disciple, it seemed that Patriarch Bodhi had been waiting for him all along.
“There are even more coincidences.”

Lin Zhu sneered.

"The Great Sage's master, Bodhi Patriarch, was actually Zhunti Daoist, one of the two Western Saints."

"what?!"

Sun Wukong suddenly struggled to his feet, causing the Five Elements Mountain to rumble loudly.

"How dare you slander my master!"

"With your fiery eyes, Great Sage, could you see through Bodhi's true form?"

Lin Zhu countered with a question.

"Why is Lingtai Fangcun Mountain located in Xiniu Hezhou? Why did it disappear without a trace after teaching the Great Sage? Why was it instructed that you must not mention his name?"

Each question struck Sun Wukong's heart like a heavy hammer.

The doubts he had when he was learning his skills began to surface one by one, revealing the true Buddhist meaning that Bodhi Patriarch occasionally revealed during his sermons, and how he specifically taught him the somersault cloud and the seventy-two transformations when imparting supernatural powers.
Somersault Cloud

Sun Wukong suddenly gave a bitter laugh.

No wonder Buddha wanted to bet on somersaults.

"Does the Great Sage understand now?"

Lin Zhu sighed.

“From birth to learning his craft, from being a stable boy to the Peach Garden, until his rebellion in Heaven was suppressed, every step was calculated.”

Sun Wukong was silent.

For the first time in five hundred years, he felt real fear not of the Buddha's power, but of this scheme that spanned a thousand years.

Five hundred years of wind, frost, rain and snow have polished the rocks at the foot of Wuxing Mountain until they are as smooth as a mirror.

Sun Wukong was trapped at the bottom of the mountain, with only his furry head and half an arm showing, but his golden eyes and fiery pupils were still bright and piercing.

He was idly counting the clouds drifting across the sky when he suddenly smelled a faint aroma of wine.

"Hehe, how have you been, Great Sage?"

A clear voice came from the foot of the mountain.

Sun Wukong rolled his eyes and saw a young man in a blue robe leaning against a rock, holding a gourd of wine in his hand, with a half-smile on his face.

"Who are you?"

Sun Wukong asked warily, as very few people had come to see him in the past five hundred years, and this unfamiliar face made him instinctively uneasy.

"My name is Lin Zhu, and I am merely a wanderer who travels far and wide."

The man tilted his head back and took a sip of wine.

"Seeing that the Great Sage is lonely here, I came to keep you company and talk to you."

Sun Wukong snorted coldly.

"I, Old Sun, don't need anyone to keep me company! If it weren't for this damned mountain pressing down on me, I would have been long ago..."

"What if it was already so long ago?"

Lin Zhu interrupted him, her eyes flashing with a sharp light.

"Continue to wreak havoc in Heaven? Or get slapped down by Buddha again?"

Sun Wukong flew into a rage upon hearing this, his eyes blazing with golden light. "You scoundrel, how utterly rude! If I weren't being held down, I would definitely let you taste the power of the Golden Cudgel!"

Lin Zhu calmly sat down on the ground, looking directly at Sun Wukong.

"Why is the Great Sage angry? I am just curious, have you ever thought about why you were different from others when you sprang from a stone? Why you were able to find Lingtai Fangcun Mountain so easily? Why did Patriarch Bodhi take you as his disciple?"

Sun Wukong was taken aback; he had never thought deeply about these questions before.

He was born and raised in nature, free and unrestrained, and everything seemed to him to be in accordance with the natural order.

"What do you mean?"

Sun Wukong narrowed his eyes.

Lin Zhu gently shook the wine gourd.

"Great Sage, do you know that Lingtai Fangcun Mountain and Xieyue Sanxing Cave do not actually exist?"

"Nonsense!"

Sun Wukong roared angrily.

"I, Old Sun, studied there for seven years. I learned the Seventy-Two Transformations and the Somersault Cloud there!"

Lin Zhu smiled slightly.

"Does the Great Sage still remember where Lingtai Fangcun Mountain is? And where is Xieyue Sanxing Cave located?"

Sun Wukong opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly found that his memory was blurry.

He remembered the beautiful mountains and clear waters, and the deep, secluded cave, but he couldn't recall the exact location.

"This"

Sun Wukong's golden eyes were filled with confusion.

"Because that was originally an illusion planted in your heart by a saint."

Lin Zhu's voice suddenly became low.

"From the moment you were born, you were woven into a large net, and every step was arranged clearly."

Sun Wukong felt a wave of dizziness, as if the ground beneath his feet was shaking.

He forced himself to remain calm.

"What evidence do you have?"

Lin Zhu took out a crystal-clear jade slip from his sleeve and tossed it gently. The jade slip turned into a stream of light and entered Sun Wukong's brow.

In an instant, countless images flashed through Sun Wukong's mind.
He saw golden light shimmering above the clouds as he sprang from the stone; he saw a mysterious force guiding him as he searched for the sacred mountain in the vast ocean; he saw the Bodhi Patriarch's face appearing and disappearing in the Buddha's light as he imparted magical arts to him.
"No this is impossible!"

Sun Wukong roared, his voice echoing through the valley.

"I, Old Sun, was born and raised by nature, free and unrestrained!"

"free?"

Lin Zhu sneered.

"Even your imprisonment here is part of the plan. Why do you think Buddha didn't kill you? Because you are a key pawn in the journey to the West!"

A fierce rage ignited in Sun Wukong's golden eyes, and the five hundred years of suppression suddenly took on a completely new meaning.

He wasn't defeated by Buddha; he was outmaneuvered from the very beginning!

"Who is the Bodhi Patriarch?"

Sun Wukong asked through gritted teeth.

Lin Zhu finished the last sip of wine and spoke slowly.

"The Sage Zhunti".

These four words struck Sun Wukong's heart like a heavy hammer.

Zhunti, one of the two Western Saints, is an existence on par with Tathagata! It turns out that his master, his mentor, was also a participant in this conspiracy!
"Why choose me?"

Sun Wukong's voice was terrifyingly deep.

"Because you are extraordinary by nature, you are transformed from the stone that mended the sky, and you carry great fortune."

Lin Zhu stood up and looked down at Sun Wukong.

"The Western Paradise needs a great act of merit, and you are the protagonist of this play."

Sun Wukong suddenly burst into laughter, his laughter filled with madness.

"What a Western Paradise! What a Buddha! He's making a fool of me, Old Sun!"

Lin Zhu looked at him calmly.

"Soon a monk will come to rescue you and ask you to protect him on his journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures."

That's their plan.

"A pilgrimage to the West?"

Sun Wukong's laughter stopped abruptly, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

"I, Old Sun, am going to take their dog lives!"

Lin Zhu seemed satisfied with Sun Wukong's reaction, and he took a few steps back.

"Great Sage, the wine is finished, and the words have been spoken. I hope we will meet again."

"and many more!"

Sun Wukong shouted sternly.

Why are you telling me all this? Who are you?

Lin Zhu's figure had begun to blur, as if it had merged into the air.

"I'm just an observer, curious to see how the actors will react when the manipulated pieces suddenly jump off the board."

Before he finished speaking, his figure had completely disappeared, leaving only a faint aroma of wine lingering in the wind.

Sun Wukong stared blankly at the spot where Lin Zhu had disappeared, the spiciness of the wine still lingering in his throat.

This is not a dream, nor an illusion; everything that just happened was real!

"what!!!"

A heart-wrenching roar erupted from beneath the Five Elements Mountain, the sound waves causing rocks to tumble down and trees to sway.

Startled by the sudden roar, the Five Directions Protectors appeared to investigate.

"What's gotten into this monkey now?"

"Golden-headed Jiedi frowned."

"Five hundred years have passed, and his temperament has not been tempered."

Silver-headed Jiedi shook his head and sighed.

What they couldn't see was that what burned in Sun Wukong's golden eyes was no longer simple anger, but a deep-seated hatred and murderous intent.

Five hundred years of oppression is nothing compared to the humiliation of being manipulated at will!
"Buddha! Cundi!"

Sun Wukong roared in his heart.

"When I, Old Sun, am freed, I will stain Mount Ling with blood and make you know the price of scheming against me!"

On the distant mountain peak, the figures of Lin Zhu re-emerged.

He gazed in the direction of Five Elements Mountain, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

"The seeds have been planted; now we just wait for them to blossom and bear fruit."

At the border of Ü-Tsang, the setting sun stained the pigsty blood red.

A wild boar, its body jet black and tusks protruding, suddenly opened its eyes. The look in its eyes was not that of a beast; its pupils burned with a resentment that had never been extinguished even after countless reincarnations.

"The 1321st time."

Indistinct human words rolled from Zhu Ganglie's throat, and mud slid down its bristly back.

The memories of this reincarnation awakened earlier than in the past. It remembered that it was once Marshal Tianpeng, who commanded 80,000 naval troops in the Milky Way, and it also remembered the cold laugh of Laozi hidden behind his whisk when it was demoted to the mortal world.

The squeals of a sow came from the next pen.

Pigsy turned his head and saw that the "birth mother" of this body was chewing swill, with murky mucus dripping from the corner of its mouth.

A feeling sharper than fangs suddenly pierced his heart. Why should he have to endure this humiliation for eternity?

"Crack!"

The sound of fangs piercing a neck startled the crows in the locust tree into flight.

Before the sow could even let out a scream, it was choked by the gushing blood and foam. As the other piglets fled in panic, Zhu Ganglie had already broken their spines with his hooves.

As the warm blood flowed over the hooves, the long-lost demonic power began to surge through the meridians.

"Not enough. Far from enough."

It devours the flesh and blood of its own kind, and with each piece of muscle it swallows, a dark red demonic mark appears on its forehead.

When the last half of the ear was chewed up and swallowed, the wooden fence of the pigsty exploded into pieces under the impact of the demonic energy.

The moonlight illuminated the bloodstains on the mountain path.

Pigsy stood upright, its forelegs gradually elongating and deforming as it ran. By the time it charged into the depths of the dense forest, it had transformed into a monster nine feet tall with a pig's head and a human body.

The shadows of the trees behind it twisted into menacing shapes, as if countless wronged souls were cheering for this awakening that defied the laws of nature.

The morning mist over Fuling Mountain was torn apart by a loud bang.

After twelve years of cultivation, Zhu Ganglie leaped out from the bottom of the waterfall pool and swung his nine-toothed rake, snapping a ginkgo tree that would take ten people to encircle in half.

As the treetop crashed down, it saw its reflection in the pool: a blue-faced, fanged monster with sideburns standing on end like steel needles. Where was even a trace of the handsome Marshal Tianpeng of yesteryear? (End of Chapter)