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

Upon entering the cave, one sees a stone bridge surrounded by monkeys, with Marshals Ma Liu and Generals Beng Ba in the center.

The old ape shouted, "Make way! The Great King has arrived!"

The monkeys all retreated, and the four generals quickly stepped forward. General Beng said in a trembling voice, "Great King, Great King, he..."

Ye Feng raised his hand to stop him from speaking, then slowly stepped forward and looked down at the sleeping monkey.

Previously, he had become arrogant after swearing brotherhood with the Bull Demon King, believing himself to have made some heroic brothers. He drank excessively, almost on par with the Bull Demon King. Before even reaching the stone bed inside the cave, he leaned against the bridge and fell asleep.

Now it is as still as a withered stone, without breath or movement, as if its soul has departed.

Ye Feng crouched down and silently activated his Golden Crow Divine Eye, and sure enough, he sensed that Wukong's soul was no longer in his body and had disappeared.

If it were someone else, they might need to use divination and other methods to find the cause.

But Ye Feng didn't need to do that; he knew perfectly well what was going on.

The monkey's soul had already been taken away by the Black and White Impermanence, just as the messengers from the underworld were about to arrive.

In fact, Ye Feng had been waiting for this moment for a long time—the underworld would take his soul.

He had repeatedly considered how to wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace in the future and escape unscathed, and the Underworld was the key link.

However, before the underworld messengers arrived, the Bull Demon King and his companions came first.

He had no choice but to beat up the Bull Demon first to intimidate the demons and establish his authority.

He thought it would take some more time, but unexpectedly, in just over three hours, the messengers of the underworld had already come to his door and taken away Wukong's soul.

He slowly rose to his feet, and all the monkeys held their breath, their eyes fixed on him.

Ye Feng smiled calmly: "No need to panic, this is actually a stroke of luck. Wukong is already in the underworld, and you might even see him cross his name off the Book of Life and Death."

Upon hearing this, the old ape's expression changed drastically: "Your Majesty, you must not be joking! This old monkey has heard that the underworld is the domain of Yama, the King of Hell, the place where the souls of the dead return. Your Majesty has already attained immortality, your physical body is indestructible, how could you possibly set foot in such a netherworld place?"

Ye Feng stood with his hands behind his back, his tone calm: "The reasons behind this are complex and cannot be explained in a few words. If you are uneasy, I will personally go to the Yellow Springs. You will stay here and remember to protect Wukong's body."

As soon as he finished speaking, he formed a hand seal and lightly touched the void with his fingertips, causing space to distort like ripples on water. He took a step forward, and his figure vanished without a trace.

In a single thought, the yin and yang are separated.

What he used was the "Tongyou Technique"—one of the Seventy-Two Transformations of the Earthly Fiends, which allows a living person's body to travel through the underworld.

Upon entering this realm, Ye Feng looked around.

This was the first time he had ever truly set foot in the underworld.

This realm is neither within the Four Continents nor under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Court, but rather a self-contained space. It has existed since the beginning of time, coexisting with heaven and earth, and is dependent on the main realm, yet it is filled with yin energy and chilling coldness.

In the past, the Wu tribe ruled the land, and this place was also under their control. At that time, it was merely a place where yin spirits gathered, filled with yin spiritual energy, which could automatically draw the souls of all living beings after death into it.

That's it.

Those departed souls wandered aimlessly, without beginning or end, until their consciousness was extinguished and they completely vanished into the world.

For the Wu tribe, this terrain was like a chicken bone—irrelevant and of no importance.

Until the ancestral witch Houtu sacrificed herself to enter the cycle of reincarnation, yin and yang were in order, life and death were governed by laws, and the six realms were opened, thus completing the laws of the primordial world.

The initial authority over reincarnation was held by the witch clan.

However, all of this is now history, and Ye Feng did not come here to reminisce about the past.

At this moment, he hovered in mid-air in the underworld. Looking around, he saw only a gray sky and no sun, moon, or stars, a scene quite different from the four continents.

But a faint light still falls from the sky, neither too bright nor too dim, just enough to illuminate everything in the darkness.

In the distance, the Yinshan Mountains stretch endlessly to the ends of the earth.

Looking down, a massive mountain range had been carved out by human hands, with countless crisscrossing paths, and countless souls walking slowly forward expressionlessly.

The majority of the group consisted of humans, all dressed in plain white, who moved slowly forward with the flow of people.

Most were in a daze, completely unconscious, with only a few exceptions.

For example, in the direction Ye Feng's gaze fell, a young man with wide-open eyes, his anger still burning, clearly still possessing consciousness, and must be a cultivator.

"I am a disciple of the Nine Yang Palace! Who are you? Where is this place?!"

Snapped!

A whip flashed past, and a tall, ferocious ghost guard, without explanation, lashed out with his whip like rain, casting a dark shadow all around. The young man screamed repeatedly, his soul nearly disintegrating before he finally stopped.

Such scenes are commonplace. Not only this person, but also many other spirits with demonic forms on their heads retain consciousness, and anyone who dares to question them is invariably subjected to severe beatings and punishments.

Thousands of souls formed a long line, moving forward in silence.

Over time, even the most vigorous will eventually become numb.

Ye Feng watched coldly from the sidelines, not intervening, and simply followed the direction of the soul flow to fly away.

After flying for about fifteen minutes, a magnificent city suddenly appeared at the end of the long dragon ahead. The city was vast and boundless, its end nowhere in sight, with ten towering palaces arranged in a row within it.

All souls eventually flow into this city.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out in front of the city gate.

The once orderly array of souls suddenly descended into chaos.

Ye Feng's lips curled up slightly, and he knew the reason without even looking closely—the monkey had been unconscious for several hours before finally sobering up.

It was only because the Black and White Impermanence were extremely lucky that Wukong happened to be drunk; otherwise, with the power of the Taiyi Golden Immortal, how could the two underworld messengers have been so easily captured? They would probably have been beaten to a pulp as soon as they got close.

Ye Feng silently recited the invisibility spell, concealing his figure, and quietly landed on the city wall.

Sure enough, at the city gate, Sun Wukong stood with a face full of anger, holding his golden cudgel horizontally in his hand, with a large number of underworld ghost soldiers kneeling before him.

The two men who initially came to arrest him have long since vanished into thin air.

"You bunch of scoundrels! I, Old Sun, have only had a few drinks, yet you dare to detain me here! How dare you!"

The monkey was clearly enraged. He glanced at the city wall out of the corner of his eye and saw the three large characters "Netherworld".

He crossed oceans and endured countless hardships in his youth, all in search of the way to immortality; his only fear was death.

Now, after finally cultivating an immortal body and enjoying a carefree life for less than half a year, he was summoned by the underworld.

It strikes at a deep, old wound.

He had just questioned the reason, and the Black and White Impermanence replied, "His lifespan has come to an end." Before they finished speaking, they were killed with a blow.

He died unjustly.

At this moment, the ghost soldiers guarding the gate realized that they had provoked an extraordinary being.

One by one, they knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly, pleading, "Great Sage, spare our lives! We really didn't know anything; perhaps our men arrested the wrong people."

The monkey bared its teeth, burning with rage: "A bunch of chickens and dogs! I'm not going to waste my breath on you. Quickly call out someone who can make a decision!"

A clerk kneeling in front quickly replied, "Great Sage, please calm your anger. This is the Netherworld, and the officials in charge are the Ten Kings of Hell, who are in charge of the Book of Life and Death in the city."

Before the words were even finished, the monkey let out a cold snort and slammed his golden cudgel into the ground. With a deafening roar, the earth cracked, and fissures shot out like lightning, piercing straight through the city wall. In an instant, the entire section of the city wall collapsed, sending dust billowing into the sky.

Without even glancing at the mess behind him, the monkey leaped into the city and headed straight for the most magnificent palace.

The underworld was thrown into chaos.

A judge was ordered to intercept him. As soon as he stepped into the square in front of the palace, the ground suddenly surged, and countless black chains burst from the earth, coiling around the monkey like venomous snakes, attempting to suppress his soul.

Ye Feng, hidden high in the sky, watched coldly, utterly uninterested. The underworld's methods were nothing more than this; they couldn't harm the monkey in the slightest.

He seized the opportunity to leap into the air, soaring thousands of feet into the void. Golden flames ignited in his eyes as he scanned the surroundings, seemingly searching for a certain location.

The Golden Crow's Divine Eyes opened, overlooking the entire Netherworld.

This world is vast and boundless, comparable to the four great continents.

But in Ye Feng's eyes, a thousand miles seemed within reach, and half of the Netherworld was spread out before him.

Suddenly, he saw a Yinshan Mountain standing thousands of miles away, with a Buddha's light flowing around its summit, gentle yet vast, illuminating the darkness for thousands of miles.

As my gaze fell upon it, I faintly heard the chanting of Buddhist hymns, a profound sense of Zen.

At the foot of the mountain, souls formed a long dragon, continuously moving towards the City of the Underworld. However, when they passed by the Buddha Mountain, any Buddhist disciple with ordination scars on their heads, once bathed in the Buddha's light, would as if summoned, break away from the group, plunge into the sea of ​​light, and ascend directly into the Buddha Kingdom within the mountain.

The surrounding underworld officials, accustomed to this sight, did not step forward to stop them.

"Found it."

Ye Feng lowered his gaze slightly, stood with his hands behind his back in the void, and remained calm.

The netherworld Buddha realm manifested by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

A thought flickered in his mind, and he then turned his gaze to the battle below.

The monkey was rampaging through the city, transformed into a furious golden ape, unstoppable in its path.

Buildings collapsed along the way, souls scattered, ghost generals and underworld officials lay dead everywhere, and magical weapons and artifacts shattered like rain.

Ye Feng shook his head slightly. This time, the Underworld had truly kicked a hornet's nest.

Although the monkey at this time is only at the early stage of Taiyi Golden Immortal cultivation, it should not be underestimated.

Even a Taiyi Golden Immortal is still just a Golden Immortal.

Looking across the Three Realms and Six Paths, he is enough to dominate a region.

The Underworld is not weak, even stronger than the Dragon Palace. It has ten Kings of Hell and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva guarding the underworld. Ordinary strongmen can hardly shake its foundation.

Whether monkeys belong to the "ordinary" category is another matter.

Although his cultivation level was not high, the power of his golden cudgel was unparalleled; a touch would result in death, and a mere graze would cause injury. Without an equal divine weapon to counter him, almost no one could stop him.

Just as Ye Feng was pondering, the monkey had already reached the front of the first main hall.

The entire Netherworld City has fallen into chaos.

Countless underworld gods perished under the blows of the staff, and the underworld messengers who escorted souls scattered and fled, with countless souls escaping in the chaos.

The monkey raced all the way to the palace. Looking up, it saw a magnificent palace, over a thousand feet high, exuding a chilling aura and an oppressive presence. Layer upon layer of steps led straight to the clouds, like a giant mountain rising from the ground.

A plaque hangs high above the hall, bearing the three characters: Qin Guangwang Hall.

The monkey pondered for a moment, then muttered, "I've heard that there are ten Kings of Hell in the underworld, with King Qin Guang at the head, ruling the First Court. This must be his residence. I was merely drunk, yet these ghosts and gods dare to detain this Great Sage without permission. Since King Yama is the ruler, I must go in and reason with him today!"

Once he made up his mind, he leaped into the hall.

Upon seeing this, the guards at the palace gates shouted sternly, "What kind of demon dares to trespass into the palace of King Qin Guang!"

This person was none other than the Ox-Headed Ghost General, clad in black armor, wielding a three-pronged steel halberd, exuding an imposing aura, quite different from the previous miscellaneous Yin spirits.

He had long seen the monkeys wreaking havoc in the city, but was unable to leave his post due to his duty. Now that he saw the monkeys arrive in person, he roared and his body suddenly swelled up.

In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a gigantic being ten thousand feet tall, its steel fork wielding the force of wind and thunder as it stabbed down at the monkey's head.

This bull-headed creature is a ghost general from the underworld, ranked among the righteous gods, and its cultivation has reached the late stage of Earth Immortal.

"Get out of here!"

The monkey remained expressionless, without using any supernatural powers, simply swinging his golden cudgel in the wind.

boom--!

A deafening crash shook the heavens, and the steel fork flew out of his hand, breaking instantly with cracks all over its surface.

Before the opponent could react, the second blow came in quick succession, striking the bull's head and abdomen.