"Damn, Supreme Elder Lord is really playing with fire. Brothers, do we stand our ground or run for it? Make a decision quick. My Vajra Bracelet can't take this much fire," the Rhinoceros Demon said as he exerted his greatest magical power to defend himself while looking back at the others.
"Rhinoceros Brother, aren't you screwing us over? Why the hell did you provoke that old man when all was calm? He was already frustrated enough, and you had to go and rile him up. Now look at the mess we're in. Back in the day, when Monkey King knocked a few bricks down, it turned into Flame Mountain. This time, it's going to burn down the whole Nine Provinces."
"Oh, cut the cold jokes, Old Bull. We better go all out now, or you'll end up as beef jerky," the Peng Demon King urgently said. After this great battle, if the Peng Demon King were lucky enough to survive, he probably wouldn't go near fire ever again in his life.
On the other side, Supreme Elder Lord was also secretly wailing. Although the fire was from the Eight Trigrams Furnace and the furnace was Supreme Elder Lord's signature magic treasure, the fire was docile inside the furnace. But once it erupted, it would truly be terrifying. Moreover, in his rage, the Elder Lord had caused the Eight Trigrams Furnace to explode and had added everything inside as fuel to the Eight Trigrams Fire, basically igniting heavenly thunder and earthly fire.
What kind of treasure was the Eight Trigrams Furnace? It was the object through which Supreme Elder Lord attained enlightenment, an Innate Treasure, and the fire inside was the flame that burned in the furnace since Pangu created the world. Now that the two had fused together, you can imagine the might.
"Junior brother, aid me."
With just that phrase, the Elder Lord was slightly distracted, and a wisp of Eight Trigrams Fire spilled out, immediately turning that patch of space into nothingness, an expanse of pure black.
Seeing the power of this flame, faces of the Bull Demon King and the others turned green. This, this isn't just fire, this could compare to the Chaotic currents of the Void in the Nine Heavens. The space itself was burned away; if it were to touch one's body, the mere thought was terrifying beyond belief.
Thus, everyone's steps unconsciously began to slowly retreat.
Silence, utter silence, more shocking and silent than the Transcendence Bloom shower they had just witnessed with Tang Sanzang.
In this eerie quiet, two sighs echoed. One came from Sect Hierarch Tongtian, and the other was from Tang Sanzang beside Queen of Western Liang.
Sect Hierarch Tongtian sighed for the pity of Supreme Elder Lord's lifetime of Cultivation. They had been fellow sect brothers for countless eons, and this depth of feeling was not something trivial.
But now, with Supreme Elder Lord having self-destructed his signature magic treasure, he had lost eight or nine out of ten parts of his Cultivation and severely damaged his Dao foundation. Even if he survived this time, in the future, he would be reduced to a third-rate Immortal. Unless he chose reincarnation and cultivation from scratch.
What's worse, once this wildfire spread into the Mortal World, it would harm countless living beings. The Karmic Force accrued from this would be enough for Supreme Elder Lord to bear. In short, Supreme Elder Lord was finished.
But why did Tang Sanzang sigh?
Time rewound to when Sect Hierarch Tongtian noticed the Elder Lord's unusual movement and shouted, "Brother, hold on." At that moment, Tang Sanzang also realized Supreme Elder Lord's intentions, but he said nothing. His eyes only showed deep reluctance and helplessness. Then he turned to look at Queen of Western Liang beside him.
The Queen of Western Liang didn't say anything either, seeming to understand everything. She then extended her wrist, gently hugged Sanzang's head, and softly kissed his forehead. Her eyes were filled with undissolvable love and finality.
After the kiss, she took out a smooth little stone from her sachet on her waist and placed it in Sanzang's hand.
Then she stood up and began to dance. Next to Sanzang, on the connected platform, under the sharp intent to kill, she danced as if all else ceased to exist, only Sanzang beside her mattered. As her dancing became swifter, her figure grew fainter and eventually faded away entirely. Simultaneously, three vibrant green leaves appeared atop the rotating Transcendence Bloom surrounding Sanzang.
And Sanzang, tears had already filled his face.
Clutching the stone in his left hand tightly, he then stood up. In the moment Sanzang stood and lifted his head, a massive aura swept across the Seven Realms and Eight Desolates.
Now there was no sorrow or reluctance in Sanzang's eyes, only sharp dominance and a readiness to die with courage.
Tang Sanzang had become a Saint.
It was not through force nor merit, but a way no one before had ever done. He became a Saint through love.
Everyone was shocked once again.
The shock they experienced this day was more than a lifetime's worth. So much so that everyone thought they were hallucinating, thinking it was just a dream, though the dream felt incredibly real.
But everyone present, including Sect Hierarch Tongtian and Supreme Elder Lord, was unwilling to believe that a person could attain enlightenment so easily.
After all, since Pangu created heaven and earth, those who had achieved the Supreme Great Dao had done so after enduring countless lifetimes of unwavering belief, with each understanding the Heavenly Dao little by little.
When Nuwa created humans and refined the Five-Colored Divine Stone to mend the heavens, she became a Saint through merit, showing how arduously difficult it is to become a Saint.
But did Tang Sanzang truly become a saint just like that? Without doing or saying anything, without earth-shaking events or grand declarations, silently, through the simple act of rising from sitting, he became a saint, an immortal and indestructible being.
Tang Sanzang slowly extended his left hand, and the continually circling Transcendence Bloom gently landed on the back of his hand. Sanzang caressed it tenderly with his right hand, then, after his right index finger brushed past a green leaf, it dropped down.
The green leaf, as if having its own spirit, swayed a few times before flying away from the Transcendence Bloom, circling around Sanzang, and then landing on his forehead. However, it didn't stay long, merely a moment before flying off again. This time, it headed straight for the Peng Demon King and circled around his severed arm.
What happened next was astonishing. The Peng Demon King, whose arm could never regrow because of the loss of his soul, suddenly began to regenerate anew. Even though the new arm still looked a bit tender, it was undoubtedly a real arm.
The Peng Demon King, already too shocked to know what to say, felt his once-incomplete soul not only become whole again but also purer and more concentrated. He believed that, after going back and stabilizing it a bit, it would be equivalent to three hundred years of arduous cultivation.
After repairing the Peng Demon King's arm, the green leaf flew above everyone else. A downpour of verdant mist scattered, and all those touched by this mist saw their wounds heal instantly. Their entire beings also shimmered with a wave of verdant radiance.
It was then that Tang Sanzang finally spoke, his gaze steady as he looked around and said unhurriedly, "This green radiance can instantly heal everyone's injuries, and it possesses a strong resistance to fire. Now, please assist me, for I shall transcend Supreme Elder Lord's flames."
The calm words, along with the miraculous green leaf and Transcendence Bloom, dramatically boosted everyone's confidence.
As one side rejoices, another despairs. At this crucial moment, Master Tongtian's face twisted with viciousness. He had not expected that Tang Sanzang would become a saint on the spot. While the standstill had already been broken with the arrival of reinforcements like the White Bone Spirit, they were barely holding their ground and could have still fought. But Tang Sanzang's sudden sainthood forced Master Tongtian to fight desperately. Otherwise, the Eight Trigrams Fire from the Supreme Elder Lord's furnace would have exploded in vain.
These words might seem tedious, but in reality, everything happened in an instant. Just as Master Tongtian was about to fight with all he had, he suddenly felt the suppression from the Bodhi Patriarch weaken slightly. Master Tongtian, being who he was, caught this fleeting opportunity, despite it lasting merely a fraction of a moment.
Mana surged throughout his body, shaking the Bodhi Tree and giving him the chance to break free.
Expressions flitted across the Bodhi Patriarch's face before he shouted loudly, "Act quickly, Wukong is in trouble!"
His cry was like a giant rock plunging into a lake, causing ripples to spread.
The first to act wasn't Tang Sanzang, but the Bull Demon King.
The Bull Demon King's eyes instantly turned blood-red, filled with surging mana. His hands gripping the Mixed Iron Stick clenched so tightly that veins bulged and, with forceful steps, he bolted toward Master Tongtian like an arrow. Raising the iron stick infused with all his strength, he struck down at Master Tongtian with the force to split even Mount Tai.
However, Tang Sanzang's green leaf moved just a fraction slower, not flying toward the Supreme Elder Lord's flames, but instead hovering next to the Transcendence Bloom. As if responding, the vibrant petals of the flower quivered, and a countless number of them separated from the main bloom, creating an infinite cascade toward the direction of the Supreme Elder Lord. The green leaf stayed next to the flower, and if one looked closely, they could see that the petals continuously emitted a faint green light as they engulfed the area.
After Tang Sanzang made his move, the rest of the group also came to their senses and unleashed their most powerful techniques.
The Hundred-Eyed Demon Monarch suddenly opened countless eyes all over his body, shooting blinding beams of light at Master Tongtian.
Hong Hai'er wrapped his Fire-tipped Spear with Samadhi True Fire and shot it toward Tongtian.
The pale skull of the White Bone Spirit, the Samadhi Divine Wind of the Yellow Wind Demon, and many others poured their attacks onto Master Tongtian.
Why were all attacking Master Tongtian and disregarding the Supreme Elder Lord?
That's because the Supreme Elder Lord and the skies filled with Eight Trigrams Fire were already cloaked in an endless rain of flowers, amidst which the figures of six transcended Heavenly Demons could be seen swooping and soaring.
A moment later, a scream combined with a roar and a deafening explosion all erupted simultaneously.
Upon closer inspection, the one screaming was the floating Monkey King. A long, blood-red needle was stuck in his chest, while the Bull Demon King stood behind him. The Bull Demon King was also in dire straits, his arms shredded, with flesh and blood flying, tendons severed, and stark white bones visible.
The roar belonged to Master Tongtian. Although he had severely injured both the Bull Demon King and the Monkey King, he himself was left in a ragged state from the barrage of attacks.
"Ah, Monkey King! Ahh. Tongtian, you old Daoist, you and I shall never coexist!"
As it turned out, the Bull Demon King's strike didn't harm Tongtian; it was instead deflected by Master Tongtian's Supreme Rank Magic Treasure, the Reincarnation Mirror, which bounced back all the force. Thus, the Bull Demon King ended up hurting himself. While the Bull Demon King's arms were rendered useless by the rebound, Tongtian didn't stop there and shot out another Supreme Rank Magical Treasure, the Blood Shadow Needle.
The Blood Shadow Needle: A Supreme Rank Innate Spiritual Treasure. It originated from the treasures of the Nether Blood Sea, numbering twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty. An extremely vicious artifact, once unleashed, anyone who was struck would instantly turn into a pool of blood.
Just as the Blood Shadow Needle was about to strike the Bull Demon King, suddenly, a figure moved at an incredible speed into its path.
The Blood Shadow Needle pierced deeply into the heart region.
The Demon Clan's Seven Victors—Monkey King—fell in battle. He didn't even have the chance to utter a last word.