Mount Emei, Holy Buddha Cave.
Sun Wukong, who had become a Buddha five hundred years ago, sat cross-legged before a Buddha statue, praying that the Buddha Lord would protect his monkey kin and help them escape this catastrophe. Suddenly, bang! Black Bear's statue exploded. Black lotuses drifted out of its fragments, flickering with ominous light.
Sun Wukong's expression changed drastically. He immediately leaped backward, drew his Golden-Banded Staff, and swung it. With a hum, a vast expanse of Buddha light flashed forth.
"Boom!" Several lotuses burst apart on the spot, but new black lotuses actually sprouted from their scattered fragments. Then all the lotuses fired beams of light straight at him.
Sun Wukong hurriedly held the Golden-Banded Staff across his body.
"Bang!" The next instant, he was sent flying and crashed ignominiously to the ground.
Lying on the ground, Sun Wukong stared at the scene before him, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Something's happened to the Buddha Lord too. The Pure Land World... this is bad!" he murmured.
He hurriedly scrambled up, fled the cave in panic, then mounted his Somersault Cloud and flew into the distance.
Not long after he left, black lotuses completely occupied the Holy Buddha Cave. Dazzling demon light flashed, and with a thunderous crash, the cave dwelling Black Bear had bestowed upon Sun Wukong collapsed, sending up great clouds of dust.
The same thing happened elsewhere.
With a terrified expression, Zhu Bajie ran out of his Pure Altar Temple with the Nine-Toothed Rake over his shoulder. A tremendous crash sounded behind him, demon light flashed, and his temple collapsed within the radiance.
Maitreya, Sunlight, Moonlight, Mahasthamaprapta, Medicine Buddha, Dizang... their temples were all occupied by countless black lotuses at the same time, then reduced to ruins.
The vast Buddhist order, a power hailed as the