Journey to the West: I am the fiercest bird under Bodhi's seat

He also noticed that Marshals Ma Liu and Generals Beng Ba were both among the Four Great Spirit Monkeys, possessing extraordinary talents, so he imparted his knowledge to them without reservation.

In just over ten days, the four monkey generals had benefited greatly and their combat power had increased significantly.

Wukong saw this and was delighted, thinking to himself: "The bear my senior brother brought back is indeed remarkable!"

Occasionally, when he felt the urge to challenge someone, he would spar with the Black Bear Spirit.

Wukong is now at the early stage of Taiyi Golden Immortal, while the Black Bear Spirit is at the Great Perfection of Heavenly Immortal, just one step away from breaking through. The two are evenly matched in their fight, with both attacking and defending.

Overall, however, Wukong still has a slight advantage.

Because their strengths are similar, they can learn from each other and improve together.

After several exchanges, the Black Bear Spirit was surprised to find that the bottleneck he had been unable to break through for many years was beginning to loosen!

ecstatic.

He possessed a unique bloodline, yet had been stuck at the Great Perfection of the Celestial Immortal realm for hundreds of years, unable to advance any further. This was due to three main reasons: firstly, the level of his cultivation techniques was limited; secondly, he lacked opportunities and favorable circumstances; and thirdly, he had no one to spar with and hone his skills against.

As described in the original Journey to the West, after Sun Wukong wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, he consumed the Peaches of Immortality and the Golden Elixir, and his cultivation reached the late stage of the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm; while the Black Bear Spirit only broke through to the early stage of the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm five hundred years later, at which time he was still able to briefly contend with Sun Wukong.

The fact that the two met five hundred years earlier is due to a different cause and effect.

Ye Feng also took this opportunity to focus on his cultivation. The last trace of solar essence in his body was finally refined and exhausted. In addition, the Dragon Palace treasury contained many high-grade immortal pills. Although they were not as good as the divine medicines of the Supreme Lord Laozi's Tushita Palace, they were still extraordinary.

With the cultivation of both internal and external aspects, Ye Feng's cultivation level steadily improved, eventually reaching the late stage of Taiyi Golden Immortal.

At this point, his mind became clear, his six senses were sharp, and the laws of heaven and earth became increasingly clear before his eyes.

Holding the Primordial Chaos Heaven-Slaying Sword, he already has the confidence to face veteran Grand Luo Golden Immortals.

If someone is new to the Great Luo realm, he might even kill them despite their higher level.

Having entered the late stage of the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, Ye Feng had a better grasp of his future plans.

Since leaving Fangcun Mountain, he has seemingly been wandering aimlessly with Wukong, but in reality... he hasn't done anything significant.

The reason is simple—our strength was still relatively weak before.

To outsiders, Taiyi Jinxian might be considered a master, but in this unfathomable world of Journey to the West, where even quasi-saints can easily drown, well, if they really tried to escape, they probably wouldn't even know how they died.

Therefore, he has been practicing diligently behind closed doors until today, when he finally feels a sense of stability and security.

One must at least master the Primordial Chaos Heaven-Slaying Sword and set up the Great Array of Heavenly Gods and Demons to be qualified to stand on equal footing with those veteran powerhouses.

The real adversary now is undoubtedly the Heavenly Court.

The calamity of "Havoc in Heaven" was ultimately unavoidable. Even setting aside the matter of stealing treasures from the Dragon Palace, the mere fact that the Underworld sent the Black and White Impermanence to take away the monkey's soul was enough to stir up a huge upheaval.

But strangely, this "soul-stealing" matter is full of oddities.

The monkey had already attained the rank of Taiyi Golden Immortal, his primordial spirit was stable, and his three souls and seven spirits were all condensed within himself; his life and death were no longer under the control of the underworld. How could someone of such a level still be summoned by the underworld to have their soul taken? Wasn't that absurd?

Having personally cultivated in this world, Ye Feng naturally knew that once one steps into the threshold of immortality, one's name will be automatically erased from the Book of Life and Death.

That Book of Life and Death is the "Book of Man" among the three books of Heaven, Earth, and Man. It holds the laws of the underworld and is a top-tier innate spiritual treasure that cannot be altered by ordinary means.

If one wants to tamper with it silently, no one in the world can do it except a sage.

His first suspect was Patriarch Bodhi.

He knew that old man's ways perfectly well, so it wasn't surprising at all that he did something like this.

In the original story, the monkey's every move was meticulously calculated, clearly a carefully orchestrated scheme.

But this time, Ye Feng is an added variable.

The confrontation with the Heavenly Court was already inevitable. All he could do was to strategize and plan as much as possible to prevent the situation from spiraling into the worst possible outcome.

Especially the Five Elements Mountain, it must never be allowed to appear.

Now he shares the same boat with the monkeys; if the monkeys are suppressed, his fate will not be much better.

He didn't want to go through time travel only to end up serving time in prison to atone for his sins, and then be assigned to escort Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures.

Moreover, it remains to be seen whether he is even qualified to be included in the pilgrimage team.

In order to take control of his own destiny, he had been planning something big.

This was a momentous act that shook the entire Three Realms, far surpassing the monkey's seemingly lively but actually childish "Havoc in Heaven."

Now, he has cultivated to the level of a Taiyi Golden Immortal and finally possesses the strength to carry out the first step.

He was just waiting for the underworld to send someone to take away the monkey's soul, so he could take advantage of the situation to make his move.

However, unexpectedly, before the Black and White Impermanence of the Underworld appeared, another group of uninvited guests arrived at Flower Fruit Mountain first.

To be precise, there was more than one person who came.

On this day, Ye Feng was meditating in the Yiyuan Palace when a little monkey rushed into the hall, knelt down, and reported: "Great King, six demon kings have come from outside the mountain. The leader claims to be the Bull Demon King of Xiniu Hezhou. Having heard of the great king's and Great King's reputation, they have come to pay their respects!"

"Um."

Ye Feng finished his practice and stood up, his eyebrows slightly raised.

He had almost forgotten about it.

When he punished the Demon King that day, the other party claimed that the Bull Demon King was his elder brother, so he took note of it, thinking that the other party would come looking for him soon.

Nearly half a year has passed in the blink of an eye, and only today has there been any movement.

This is also due to the vague timeline in the original work, which only briefly mentions the sworn brotherhood of the Seven Great Sages, saying only that Sun Wukong made a few brothers, without explaining any other details.

"Ding, the Seven Great Sages' Brotherhood event has been triggered. Select to activate."

Option 1: Witness the sworn brotherhood ceremony and be rewarded with a low-grade innate spiritual treasure.

Option 2: Prevent the sworn brotherhood, reward with Divine Firmament Purple Mansion Heavenly Thunder.

"Option 3: Participate in the sworn brotherhood, and intimidate the demons to be rewarded with a young Huangzhong plum seedling."

The system notification sounded at the right time, and Ye Feng pondered for a moment.

Low-grade innate spiritual treasures are of limited use to him; although the Divine Firmament Purple Mansion Heavenly Thunder sounds powerful, like some kind of high-level thunder technique, it is not something he urgently needs at the moment.

Only the "Yellow Plum Seedlings" stirred something within him.

The Huangzhong Plum is one of the ten great spiritual roots of the primordial world, a rare treasure of heaven and earth. It is ranked alongside the Queen Mother's peaches, which ripen once every nine thousand years, and Zhen Yuanzi's ginseng fruit, all possessing endless wonderful uses.

If one can obtain it, it will greatly enhance one's fundamental strength.

The only drawback is that it's just a seedling; it's unknown how many years it will take to bear fruit.

After a moment's thought, he finally chose the third option.

He then stood up and said, "I'll go check the situation. You go to Black Wind Cave immediately and invite the Black Wind King here."

The Black Bear Spirit was loyal and affectionate. Although he had settled down in Flower Fruit Mountain, he still used the old name and called his residence Black Wind Cave.

Ye Feng left Yiyuan Palace and hurried down the mountain path.

This place was originally uninhabited; it was only through his long-term residence and daily walks that this path was created.

As the saying goes: There was originally no road in the world, but as more people walked on it, it became a road.

The same applies if the monkeys walk more.

The palace was originally named "Yiyuan Palace" because it signifies "the beginning of the universe," which aligns with the profound principle of "the Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three."

He moved swiftly and soon reached the foot of the mountain.

In the open space in front of the Water Curtain Cave, Wukong was scratching his ears and cheeks in frustration, with six demons standing opposite him.

The leader was a burly man with bull horns on his head, wearing golden scale armor and a scarlet cloak, exuding an imposing aura—it was none other than the Bull Demon King.

Beside him were five other demon kings, some with lion heads and human bodies, some with roc wings covering their shoulders, some with ferocious monkey shapes, and some with coiled dragon bodies. They were dressed in different clothes, but each of them had a powerful aura and was by no means an ordinary person.

"My brother's here!"

Upon seeing Ye Feng appear, Wukong was overjoyed and quickly went to greet him.

Ye Feng nodded slightly, stepped forward slowly, and bowed to the six demon kings.

He remained calm, bowed respectfully according to the etiquette of the demon race, and said indifferently, "Your Excellencies have graced Cold Mountain with your presence. Are you here to visit friends and reminisce, or to challenge us? Please speak frankly."

His tone was gentle yet flawless, which left the Bull Demon King and the others unsure of what to do, and they exchanged glances.

There is little interaction between demons.

As for the Demon King himself arriving, that is even more rare.

After all, demons are not like humans; they are not bound by etiquette and laws, and their interactions depend entirely on mutual affinity. If someone is not an old acquaintance and suddenly comes to their door, nine times out of ten they are there to seize territory and compete for fortune, inevitably leading to a bloody battle.

The Bull Demon King was an anomaly among demon kings. He harbored great ambitions and enjoyed making friends with powerful figures from all directions. Anyone with ability would either be recruited to his service or become his sworn brother and brought under his command.

This was not his first time visiting Huaguo Mountain. Years ago, when he traveled around the world, he passed through this place and immediately recognized it as a rare and beautiful place in the world.

What's even more amazing is that there are no top-tier demon kings guarding this place.

He immediately decided to seize the mountain.

However, their base was in Xiniu Hezhou, far away, making it impossible for them to reach them. So, upon returning, they summoned the Demon King of Chaos and ordered him to investigate the situation, though their true intention was to use him as a tool to test the waters.

That foolish and ignorant devil thought he had gotten a great job and came excitedly.

Until several months ago, when there was no news at all, the Bull Demon King sent people to investigate and found out that the person had already died.

He did not immediately confront the perpetrators, but instead sent spies to secretly gather intelligence.

Only then did they learn that two new demon kings had emerged from Huaguo Mountain, who not only slew the Chaos Demon King but also unified all seventy-two caves, thus rising to become a powerful force.

Upon hearing this, the Bull Demon King realized that it could not be ignored and thus came in person.

Meet the person first, then decide on a strategy.

If someone has only a hollow reputation, then lure them with benefits and make them your vassals;

If someone has genuine talent and ability, then we should use our brotherly bond to win them over and work together to achieve great things.

However, upon arrival, he noticed something was amiss.

That monkey was alright—it held its head high, its eyes were bright, and it was covered in golden armor, so it was clear that it had some skill.

But this "elder brother" was extremely strange; regardless of his temperament or appearance, he was clearly a Taoist practitioner.

When demons transform into human form, especially males, they often do not pay much attention to their appearance. In addition, since they often do not enter the human world when they transform, most of them still retain some characteristics of their original form, and most of them are rough and ferocious.

People like Ye Feng, who are both physically and spiritually complete and show no signs of beastly behavior, are extremely rare.

There is usually only one possibility: that he has received orthodox spiritual teachings and has achieved success in his cultivation.

The Bull Demon King pondered for a moment, then suddenly burst into loud laughter, his voice filled with boundless pride: "Haha, my good brother, that's an interesting question! We've naturally come as guests. We've long heard of the two heroes of Flower Fruit Mountain rising together, and have come to pay our respects. Seeing them today, you truly live up to your reputation, even more valiant than the rumors suggest!"

Wukong loved flattery the most, and upon hearing this, he beamed with pride.

Ye Feng simply nodded with a smile, his tone indifferent: "Since you are a guest, then welcome."

His gaze swept over the six demon kings without making a sound, and deep within his eyes, a golden flame flickered quietly.