Xuanzang slowly closed his eyes.
The vast net woven of silver and black above him was still pressing down. Veins bulged on Sha Wujing's forehead as he braced both hands against the Demon-Subduing Treasure Staff, the yellow light around him giving off a teeth-grating hum.
Wukong had already charged above Xuanzang.
The Golden Cudgel spun ceaselessly in his hands, great swaths of golden cudgel shadows churning into the net. Layer after layer of silver-black threads curled toward him, only to be torn apart by the spinning weapon.
Yet the Demon Net kept mending itself, fresh threads winding across its severed sections in the blink of an eye.
The enormous Black Scorpion crouched beneath the Gray Sun.
Its two massive pincers abruptly opened.
Its segmented tail swept across the sky, its stinger blazing with dazzling black light as it stabbed down at Xuanzang.
Clang-!
The stinger struck the Golden Cudgel.
Sparks exploded in midair.
Wukong flicked his wrists upward, levering his cudgel with the motion and forcibly throwing the entire enormous tail high into the air.
"You want to touch my master?"
Wukong lifted his golden eyes.
"Ask Old Sun first."
The Wind and Moon Demon shrieked, its massive pincers closing in from either side.
Wukong did not dodge. He merely sank an inch in midair, then swept his cudgel sideways, golden light crashing into the black shadow.
The blow knocked the giant scorpion askew.
Just then.
Xuanzang's chanting slowly rose from the long staircase.
"When I attain bodhi in a future life, may all sentient beings afflicted by illness, with no help or refuge, no physician or medicine, no kin or home, impoverished and suffering greatly-"
Each word passed through the Demon Net.
The White Silver Buddha Wheel turned soundlessly, and the moonlight filling the sky suddenly began to flow.