Following Nature as Teacher, Dao Equal to Heaven

Ominous clouds blotted out the sun, banners covered the sky, and a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals arrived with twelve Heavenly Nets and Earthly Nets. The void surrounding Flower-Fruit Mountain was completely sealed off.

"Demon monkey, surrender at once!"

Li Jing stood before the vast army, pagoda in hand, his bearing extraordinary as he shouted, "It was only because of His Majesty's great grace that you were appointed Bimawen. Yet you demon monkey showed no gratitude, released the heavenly horses, and fled back to the lower realm! If you surrender now, I can still put in a good word for you before the Jade Emperor! But if you fail to appreciate my kindness and lead the demons of Flower-Fruit Mountain in stubborn resistance, then death will be your only path!"

Seeing no response, Li Jing immediately dispatched the Giant Spirit God as the vanguard, sending him into Flower-Fruit Mountain's territory.

The Giant Spirit God lived up to his name. His greatest skill was the Giant Spirit Art, and in an instant, his body grew as tall as Flower-Fruit Mountain itself. When the little demons across the mountain saw him, terror seized their hearts, and they hurriedly scattered in all directions!

But Sun Wukong stood fearless. He had the monkeys under his command beat their drums to bolster their morale, and ordered General Beng Ba to raise the banner bearing the title "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" atop Flower-Fruit Mountain.

He laughed. "Go back and tell the Jade Emperor, that furry god, that I possess heaven-reaching abilities, yet he refused to recognize talent and had me raise horses for him. He has gone too far in bullying me!"

"Look at the title on my banner. If he promotes me according to that title, I will not raise arms against him!"

"But if that Jade Emperor refuses to satisfy Old Sun, then tomorrow, Old Sun will storm the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and make sure he cannot sit peacefully upon his dragon bed!"

Before his words had even faded, Sun Wukong unleashed Heaven and Earth Manifestation. His body became even larger than the Giant Spirit God's, and with two blows of his staff, he sent his opponent flying.

After listening to Xuan Yin explain Wu Zhiqi's many deeds, Sun Wukong had understood that if he wanted the Heavenly Court to enfeoff him as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, he had to first let the gods of the Heavenly Court witness his divine abilities.

Thus, from the very beginning, he used Heaven and Earth Manifestation without holding anything back.

"Nezha, you go!"

Li Jing was horrified at the sight. Among the gods present, he knew that perhaps only Nezha could rely on his Magic Treasures to contend with Sun Wukong.

Nezha gave no reply, but he moved without the slightest delay. In the blink of an eye, he rode the Wind-Fire Wheels to Sun Wukong's side.

In an instant, the two were locked in battle. Nezha manifested Three Heads Six Arms, and the Universe Ring, Sky-Mixing Silk, Demon-Slaying Sword, and other Magic Treasures bombarded Sun Wukong in succession, shaking the void violently. Countless streams of fire fell from the heavens into Flower-Fruit Mountain.

Sun Wukong feared nothing. His Golden Cudgel split into thousands upon thousands of copies, and together with his Monkey-Hair Clones, he used numbers to overwhelm Nezha, catching him completely off guard.

After several dozen exchanges, Nezha retreated in defeat, while Sun Wukong's arrogance only grew fiercer.

Li Jing's expression darkened further. He immediately ordered the Four Heavenly Kings, Nine Luminaries Star Lords, Twenty-Eight Mansions, and other Immortals and Gods of the Heavenly Court to attack together.

Beyond that, he had the Twelve Ecliptic Longitudes and Six Ding and Six Jia lead the heavenly soldiers in a fierce assault on Flower-Fruit Mountain, hoping to make Sun Wukong hesitate out of concern for his allies.

This time, Bull Demon King and the others were not there to help. If Sun Wukong had to rely on himself alone, then even if he won, Flower-Fruit Mountain would certainly suffer devastating losses.

"It is my turn to act!"

Xuan Yin did not hesitate. Since he had decided to enter the game himself, he naturally would not stand by and watch. Under his command, the power of the earth veins of the Ten Continents and Three Islands instantly transformed into barriers that rose into the sky.

Boom!

The methods of the Twelve Ecliptic Longitudes and the others struck the great formation like clay oxen sinking into the sea. Yet since the formation Xuan Yin had set up was linked to the earth veins, their attacks were no different from striking the earth veins themselves.

"Something is wrong!"

"Stop!"

Li Jing noticed the problem at once. If they continued bombarding Flower-Fruit Mountain's formation and caused problems in the earth veins of all Dongsheng Shenzhou, the backlash produced by the earth veins would surely affect the Heavenly Court's fortune.

The losses would far outweigh the gains!

Li Jing was now caught between a rock and a hard place. Retreating would damage the Heavenly Court's prestige, but continuing the attack would accomplish nothing, as their methods could not break Flower-Fruit Mountain's great formation.

Though he was a Heavenly Court king, his other two sons were in the Buddhist Sect, so he naturally knew of some of the Buddhist Sect's plans for Sun Wukong.

But now that Flower-Fruit Mountain was covered by the great formation, Sun Wukong was like a stone in a latrine—stinking and unyielding. He was truly difficult to deal with!

"Heaven's Will has changed!"

The moment the great formation appeared, Great Powers such as the Jade Emperor, Rulai, and Guanyin, all of whom had been watching Sun Wukong, felt waves of shock rise in their hearts.

"Who changed Sun Wukong's fate?"

Rulai sat upon his lotus platform, his appearance solemn and dignified, but the disbelief on his face could not be concealed.

As one of the strongest beings in this world, he could sense the existence of Heaven's Will. He also knew that Sun Wukong was the one destined to obtain the scriptures in the future.

The Jade Emperor could not help frowning as well.

If the Heavenly Court truly wished to subdue a single Sun Wukong, they only needed to send a few genuine great gods.

But that was only if Sun Wukong had not mastered this method of "moral coercion." Now, even he had begun to hesitate out of concern.

"Haha!"

With Flower-Fruit Mountain protected, Sun Wukong no longer had any worries. He fought more fiercely with every battle, suppressing many Immortals and Gods of the Heavenly Court with his strength alone.

Logically, this should have been impossible. Though Sun Wukong was powerful, these Immortals and Gods were also among the finest figures in this world.

"Heaven's Will's blessing!"

Those Immortals and Gods could not understand what was happening, but Xuan Yin saw it clearly. At the same cultivation realm, Sun Wukong could draw upon more of heaven and earth's power than he could.

When the time came, heaven and earth lent their strength. As the child of destiny, the stronger Sun Wukong's will became, the more power of heaven and earth he could command.

Under certain circumstances, he could even fight across realms and shatter the barriers between cultivation stages.

One realm was one heaven. The reason Buddha Tathagata could suppress Sun Wukong was because his realm far surpassed Sun Wukong's.

In the Primordial True Realm, without an Innate Spiritual Treasure, it was impossible to fight across realms through one's own strength alone. Though this world's laws differed somewhat from those of the Primordial True Realm, they were still broadly similar.

"No, Sun Wukong's current state should be following nature as teacher, with the Dao equal to heaven!"

Seeing Sun Wukong like this, a gleam flashed through Xuan Yin's eyes. Endless power of heaven and earth also emerged around him.

He had previously believed that his Heavenly Immortal Dao Fruit was already completely flawless, but now it seemed that it was only perfection beneath the Heavenly Dao!

What was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?

It was not a title, but a cultivation path. It was the attainment of a state where one's own Dao stood level with heaven, where all the primordial energy of heaven and earth became the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's subjects.

Suddenly, inspiration struck Xuan Yin, and several arrangements within this world flashed through his mind.

Flower-Fruit Mountain was the dragon vein of origin for the Three Islands and the ancestral vein of the Ten Continents. Did that not correspond to the three burners of the human body and the ten organs connected to them?

And Square Inch Mountain—spirit platform, square inch. Taken literally, did that not form the character for heart?

Xuan Yin suddenly understood. "The eighty-one trials are not tests at all, but a method of cultivation! The heart ape and the mind horse are one thing! But the eighty-one trials are precisely the refinement of cultivation! The fire within the Eight Trigrams Furnace and the fire of Flame Mountain are both Samadhi True Fire capable of tempering the primordial spirit!"

"The Daughter Kingdom tests the barrier of emotion. Does that not correspond to the realm of constant responsiveness and constant stillness?"

"The Tightening Headband Spell is a method for gathering and restraining the mind. The true and false Handsome Monkey King represents subduing one's heart, while the Westward Journey for scriptures is the process of understanding one's mind and seeing one's nature!"

"Man follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows Dao, Dao follows nature. Everything in this world is actually the core cultivation method of the Taiqing Lineage!"

The moment Xuan Yin comprehended all this, he immediately discovered that the shackles binding his Heavenly Immortal Dao Fruit had vanished without a trace!

Patriarch Bodhi had once said that this world contained more than one opportunity. Now it seemed that this heaven and earth itself was the greatest cultivation opportunity!

The inheritances of the Four Mixed Monkeys and the Chaos Demon Ape could only be considered minor opportunities!