Primordial Era: Jade Cauldron Forgot to Take on Disciples

Chapter 428 I just want to send you, this old demon, back to the abyss! 4000

Caught off guard, Li Jing was pierced through the chest by Nezha's spear and fell from the clouds, landing straight on Flower Fruit Mountain.

Without their commander, the 100,000 heavenly soldiers were thrown into disarray and were driven back by the demons of Flower Fruit Mountain, retreating in a panic.

Nezha did not return to Heaven, but stayed on Flower Fruit Mountain and joined the rebellious demon clan.

Yang Jian shifted his gaze from the images displayed on the Jade Disc of Creation to Hongjun.

Hongjun laughed and said, "As long as this monkey is not captured and taken to the Heavenly Court, no matter what methods you use, you will not be able to subdue this monkey."

"It's just a last-ditch resistance."

Yang Jian shook his head.

The celestial beings of Heaven were vastly inferior to the demons of Flower Fruit Mountain; Flower Fruit Mountain was absolutely no match for Heaven.

"Is that so? Young friend, you might want to think carefully about whether there are any oversights in the Investiture of the Gods."

Hongjun's words were pointed.

Yang Jian was taken aback upon hearing this, and discovered that demons from all directions were constantly gathering in Flower Fruit Mountain as shown by the Jade Disc of Creation. He hurriedly used the Investiture of the Gods to monitor the prehistoric world.

Suddenly, they saw the guiding banner floating above Beiju Luzhou, which converted countless demons and sent them to Huaguo Mountain.

"I have already made my move. How do you intend to respond, young friend?"

Hongjun revealed a look of confidence in his victory.

Yang Jian asked in confusion, "Does Goddess Nuwa intend to ignore Dao Ancestor's manipulation of the demon race?"

Hongjun: "I have already informed the other sages that we should use this game as the deciding factor. If I lose, I will cease all interference and never meddle in the Heavenly Dao again; otherwise—"

"I see."

Yang Jian nodded. He secretly fiddled with the jade talisman in his sleeve and sent a message to Su Daji, instructing her to impersonate the Bull Demon King and join the Monkey King's rebellious army as an inside agent.

Huaguo Mountain achieved its first great victory against the Heavenly Court. Within a few months, demons gathered, and in addition to the Monkey King, six other demon kings emerged, all of whom were called Great Sages.

The Heavenly Court dispatched troops to besiege the enemy multiple times, but all attempts failed.

One by one, the Golden Immortals in Heaven were defeated by Nezha's spear.

Seeing this, Yang Jian refined the impure thoughts he had previously captured into an external avatar, wielding a three-pointed double-edged sword, and offered the Vajra Bracelet to Laozi in exchange for Laozi's cooperation.

Only when Yang Jian transformed into Nezha was the Heavenly Court able to stop its defeat.

With Su Daji acting as an inside agent, the demons of Flower Fruit Mountain were finally defeated by the Heavenly Court. The Monkey King was captured and taken to the Heavenly Court, where Laozi threw him into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, preparing him to follow in Yang Jian's footsteps and refine the Primordial Dao Guide in the furnace to condense the Golden Immortal Dao Fruit.

Soon after, the monkey escaped from the furnace and wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Court, even fighting right up to the Jade Emperor's throne.

Just as the monkey was clamoring for Haotian to leave the throne of the Heavenly Emperor in exchange for him becoming the ruler of the primordial world, the Buddha Tathagata of the West immediately appeared.

Buddha made a bet with Wukong using his magical powers. As expected, the monkey was no match for Buddha and was suppressed by Buddha's Buddhist teachings. The Mahayana Buddhist teachings transformed into the Five Finger Mountain, pressing the monkey under the mountain.

Hongjun laughed and said, "Young friend, you truly have remarkable skills. Many powerful beings in this primordial world are willing to put on this wonderful show with you."

As he spoke, he gestured for Yang Jian to place a primordial spiritual treasure into the porcelain plate so that it could be used to dismember the saint's body for enjoyment.

Yang Jian slowly shook his head: "This kind of opportunity to become a saint is not the path I want."

Yang Jian knew that Hongjun was using his desire for the holy throne to his advantage, so he refused to go along with it.

Hongjun wanted him to separate from the innate spiritual treasure that protected him.

Therefore, he had previously said that to take care of this saint's body, four treasures were needed, which corresponded to the four innate items that Yang Jian possessed.

They are the Vajra Bracelet, the Pangu Banner, the Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife, and the Taiji Diagram.

Yang Jian knew that Hongjun's most important goal was the Taiji Diagram.

The reason why Hongjun was willing to sit here and talk to him in a friendly manner was because as long as the Taiji Diagram existed on Yang Jian, Hongjun would be unable to do anything to Yang Jian. That's why he came up with the method of enticing him with the position of saint.

But Yang Jian won't take the bait.

After all, even the two Western Saints could not escape Hongjun's grasp. If he were to follow in their footsteps, he would only become another puppet under Hongjun's control.

Hongjun's eyes flashed with a strange light: "Since you are unwilling, why did you gamble with me on this game?"

Yang Jian sneered, "The Dao Ancestor will understand after that."

Upon hearing this, Hongjun frowned, unable to understand what he was relying on.

The two sat in the Zixiao Palace, watching the primordial landscape reflected on the Jade Disc of Creation.

Five hundred years have passed in a flash.

Jin Chanzi reincarnated ten times and embarked on a journey to the west.

He subdued the monkey at the foot of the Five Elements Mountain, rode a triumphant horse in the Eagle's Sorrow Stream, subdued Pigsy in the Cloud Stack Cave, and met Sand Monk Wujing at the Flowing Sand River.

The westward journey proceeded very smoothly, and Hongjun did not create any obstacles along the way.

Yang Jian wondered if Hongjun was about to admit defeat, when he saw Hongjun make a move, transforming a skeleton into Lady White Bone.

Yang Jian chuckled upon seeing this: "You think you can sow discord between master and disciples? I'm afraid the Dao Ancestor won't succeed. Of the four of them, only the monkey has extraordinary supernatural powers. Without the monkey, they would have no chance of reaching the Western Paradise."

Hongjun sneered, "You underestimate my abilities."

~~~~

The familiar scenario of "Three Battles with the White Bone Demon" unfolded, and Wukong was indeed banished by Tang Sanzang.

Yang Jian laughed and said, "Just watch, these three will surely bring the monkey back."

He was completely confident and didn't bother to deal with Hongjun's methods.

Later, Tang Sanzang was trapped in Baoxiang Kingdom, falsely accused of being a demon tiger, and imprisoned in a cage.

Pigsy and Sandy were unable to defeat the Yellow Robe Monster, so they had no choice but to go and find their eldest brother.

Pigsy had just taken to Flower Fruit Mountain on a cloud. After flying for half a day, he saw Flower Fruit Mountain in the East Sea and met his eldest brother there.

Pigsy was so excited he couldn't express it, and invited his eldest brother back.

~~~~

Yang Jian was astonished when he saw this.

There's something wrong with the Flower Fruit Mountain that Bajie went to. The Kingdom of Treasure Elephant is in Xiniu Hezhou, which is extremely far from Dongsheng Shenzhou. With Bajie's meager cultivation level, how could he possibly fly there in half a day? The Monkey King there must be someone else.

Using the Investiture of the Gods as a guide, he explored Flower Fruit Mountain and discovered that Sun Wukong was enjoying himself as the Monkey King in the Water Curtain Cave, having clearly forgotten about the journey to the West.

"Oh no!"

Yang Jian instantly realized something: the monkey who went back with Bajie was fake. Hongjun had intervened again at some point, arranging for a fake Monkey King to appear and replace the real Sun Wukong.

And looking at that fake monkey, its supernatural powers were exactly the same as those of the real monkey, and even its cultivation of the Primordial Dao Guide was the same.

This discovery raised a great alarm in Yang Jian's heart. As far as he knew, only he had practiced the Primordial Dao Guide, and later he passed it on to the monkey. So how did this fake monkey learn it?

Hongjun's move was extremely insidious. He used the White Bone Demon to sow discord between the master and disciple, and then sent out a fake monkey when Tang Sanzang's mind was at its weakest. As long as Tang Sanzang could not tell that it was fake, then the real Sun Wukong would become the fake.

"The Real and the Fake Monkey King!"

Yang Jian muttered to himself.

The current situation is equivalent to bringing this calamity forward. If he sends someone to wake up Sun Wukong and tell him that he has been impersonated, Sun Wukong will definitely be furious and attack him.

Fortunately, the final result was that the matter reached the Buddha's doorstep, and everyone involved turned out to be one of their own.

~~~~~

Meanwhile, the four travelers had already passed through the Women's Kingdom of Xiliang. The fake Sun Wukong killed several mortals and threatened Tang Sanzang, but was eventually driven away by Tang Sanzang.

Knowing that the time was right, Yang Jian sent a message to several spies planted on Flower Fruit Mountain, whispering in Sun Wukong's ear that he should return to the westward journey as soon as possible.

Sun Wukong had been staying there for quite a while, as if Tang Sanzang and his two junior brothers had truly forgotten about him. However, he couldn't go back directly, so he could only go to Mount Luojia in the South China Sea to plead with Guanyin Bodhisattva.

No sooner had he left than the fake monkey returned to Flower Fruit Mountain.

Two days later, Sha Wujing came to ask for the fake monkey, only to find that the fake monkey had already transformed into another pilgrimage team and was preparing to go to the Western Paradise on his own.

Enraged, he stormed out of Flower Fruit Mountain and went to the South China Sea to complain to Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Upon entering the Purple Bamboo Forest, he saw Sun Wukong and assumed that the monkey had arrived before him, so he prepared to make a accusation.

Sha Wujing told Guanyin about the monkey's evil deeds and asked her to punish the demon monkey.

Guanyin explained that the monkey had been there for four days, which did not match the time mentioned by Sha Wujing.

When the monkey heard that his lair had been occupied as soon as he left, he was furious. He bid farewell to the Bodhisattva with Sha Wujing and returned to the Water Curtain Cave.

The two monkeys immediately engaged in a fierce battle, their feet treading on clouds. The fight was so intense that neither could gain the upper hand, and wherever they passed, the clouds scattered, causing mountains and rivers to crumble.

~~~~~

When the two monkeys met, Hongjun's face showed satisfaction: "Yang Jian, can you now tell which one is real and which one is fake?"

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

Yang Jian took a deep breath and slowly shook his head: "The Dao Ancestor's divine powers are indeed extraordinary. I wonder how this fake monkey was enlightened, as his divine powers are exactly the same."

Hongjun smiled but remained silent.

In the video, the two monkeys fought as they walked, shouting all the way to the South China Sea, and then went straight to Mount Luojia, disturbing Guanyin Bodhisattva.

The two monkeys shouted for Guanyin to come out and tell them who was real and who was fake.

Guanyin silently recited the Tightening-Headband Mantra, and both monkeys suddenly felt pain.

He shook his head and said, "I don't recognize you either. Back when you caused a ruckus in the Heavenly Palace, many of the gods recognized you. Go to the Heavenly Palace and try."

Upon hearing this, the two monkeys fought their way to the Lingxiao Palace and asked Haotian to make a judgment.

Haotian's head immediately swelled upon seeing them, and he couldn't tell which of the two monkeys was real and which was fake.

Even with a magic mirror, it would be difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.

The two monkeys fought from heaven to earth, but they were no different in front of Tang Sanzang.

Then he entered the underworld, arrived at the Yama Palace, disturbed the Ten Kings of Hell, and checked the Book of Life and Death. Since Sun Wukong had previously crossed out the life and death of all monkeys, he could not see the results here.

The Ten Kings of Hell were worried that the two monkeys would destroy Fengdu, so in order to shift the blame, they said that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had a divine beast called Di Ting, which could distinguish right from wrong.

The two monkeys indeed went down to hell and came before Ksitigarbha, asking him to discern their identities.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva summoned Di Ting to listen.

Di Ting prostrated himself on the ground. After a moment, he raised his head and shook his head repeatedly at Dizang.

Ksitigarbha understood immediately and said, "This humble monk's Buddhist teachings are limited and I cannot distinguish between them. Only the World-Honored One, Tathagata, possesses boundless power and should be able to discern the truth from falsehood between these two."

Upon hearing this, the two monkeys indeed flew away on the clouds.

Ksitigarbha asked Di Ting why he did not speak.

With lingering fear, Di Ting whispered in Di Zang's ear, "That monster has a very powerful background. If we tell, we might not be able to protect the eighteen levels of hell."

"What does that mean?"

Di Ting cautiously called out, "Yang Jian!"

~~~~

Two monkeys stormed Mount Sumeru and entered the Great Thunder Temple, where they saw countless gods and Buddhas.

Ahead is a seven-jeweled lotus platform, upon which the Tathagata is preaching the Dharma.

~~~~~

Zixiao Palace.

Yang Jian frowned. When he saw Di Ting utter the name Yang Jian, his heart skipped a beat, and he realized something.

He thought to himself that if he transformed into a monkey, the gods and Buddhas in the sky would certainly not be able to recognize him.

The fake monkey's identity became clear instantly; it must be one of his three corpses, who had somehow defected to Hongjun to disrupt Yang Jian's grand plan.

Yang Jian sneered, "Dao Ancestor, you have quite the skill. I have been searching for these three corpses for a thousand years and have never found a single clue, yet Dao Ancestor has found one."

Hongjun laughed and said, "Guess which monkey your Uncle Duobao will kill. If Daoist Duobao kills one of your three corpses, your path to immortality will be damaged, and you will stop at the Golden Immortal level. But if he kills the monkey, you will not be able to fight against my Chaos Demon."

Yang Jian raised an eyebrow: "In the primordial world, only Nuwa could see this method of transformation. It seems that we will only find out when we reach Nuwa's palace."

"Now that your three corpses are in Nuwa's hands, you'll probably never escape her grasp. If you're willing to kill that real monkey, you might have a chance to become a saint. Otherwise, even if you were given the Primordial Purple Qi of Jieyin and Zhunti, you still wouldn't be able to become a saint."

Hongjun sighed.

Yang Jian remained unmoved.

Inside the Great Thunder Temple.

The Buddha found himself unable to distinguish which monkey was the fake one. The two monkeys had the same aura, and their cultivation methods and supernatural powers were almost identical.

Unable to distinguish between them, the Buddha could only say, "Use your transformation techniques to fight each other."

Upon hearing this, the two monkeys simultaneously changed their forms and began fighting again.

Even with his divine eye, the Buddha could not discern the true nature of the two monkeys after their transformations, and immediately realized that the two monkeys were practicing Nuwa's Seventy-Two Transformations.

Then he said, "The methods you all cultivate are all the same, and I cannot distinguish them. But there is the Holy Nuwa. Wukong, your previous life was a spiritual stone that Nuwa transformed. The karma between you is not shallow. The Holy Nuwa's wise eyes will surely be able to see the origins of the two of you. You can go to Nuwa Palace to pay homage to the Holy Nuwa."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong shouted, "That fake monkey, do you dare go to Nuwa's Palace?"

The fake monkey was actually Yang Jian's three corpses, and naturally knew that he would reveal his true colors in front of Nuwa. However, in order not to expose himself in front of the Buddhas, he also shouted, "What is there to be afraid of?"

The two monkeys immediately left Leiyin Temple and flew towards Beiju Luzhou.

Nuwa Palace.

Just as the two monkeys reached the door, a little girl came out and pointed to the monkey on the right: "Come in first, the goddess has something to say to you."

The little girl led the monkey inside.

A moment later, the girl came out again and said to the remaining monkey, "You can go now. The fake monkey has been subdued by the goddess."

~~~~~

The truth about the real and fake Monkey Kings has been revealed.

Yang Jian said to Hongjun, "Dao Ancestor, you have already made three attempts, all of which have failed. If you admit defeat now and give up your attempt to seize the Heavenly Dao, I can make the decision to spare you from the danger of your soul being scattered and allow you to reincarnate."

Hongjun's expression turned cold: "Arrogant brat, are you so confident that this old Daoist will lose?"

Yang Jian nodded and smiled, "That's natural."

Why?

"Because my desire to become a saint is all an act, just to get me involved through the Dao Ancestor! I don't care about the life or death of the Three Corpses. After all, a saint isn't called a saint because of his sainthood. Nuwa, Yuanshi, and Tongtian didn't earn their sainthood themselves. It's just that they were too powerful. If they didn't have sainthood, the two Western saints would seem unworthy of their titles. As for the so-called Primordial Purple Qi, or proving the Dao of Hunyuan and becoming a half-saint, I don't care."

Yang Jian laughed.

His face suddenly contorted into a ferocious expression: "I just want to send you, you old demon, back to the abyss!"

(End of this chapter)