At this time, the Lingxiao Palace was embroiled in a chaotic battle.
Originally, it was the three brothers, Sun Wukong and his disciples, against four Divine Emperors, but as soon as the fight began, Sandy inexplicably hid in the back and sat down cross-legged.
As a result, it was only Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie taking on four opponents, making the battle extremely brutal. Wukong was still managing okay, fighting ferociously with his Vajra Indestructible Body against the Jade Emperor and the Emperor of Eternal Life, with all three sustaining injuries. However, Zhu Bajie was in complete contrast.
Although Zhu Bajie's mana was close to Sun Wukong's, his execution was severely lacking. He had the strength but could not land a blow, which made the old pig suffer terribly. Fortunately, Wukong would extricate himself at critical moments to lend a hand, but over time, Zhu Bajie was left to simply take a beating.
Luckily, Zhu Bajie had thick skin and flesh; although he was seriously injured, it wasn't life-threatening. However, it was clear he couldn't hold on much longer. As time passed, the tide of battle tilted increasingly against Sun Wukong and his side.
"Old Sandy, aren't you ready yet? If you don't hurry up, you'll have no second brother left," Bajie called out to Sandy in desperation.
But that glance back gave the Black Tortoise and Purple Tassel emperors the opening they needed. They launched a long-planned joint attack with all their might against Zhu Bajie, sending him flying through the air.
After that strike, instead of stopping, the two emperors gathered even more powerful spells, aiming to deal a fatal blow to Zhu Bajie while he was vulnerable.
All of this was seen by Sandy, who immediately had a fierce light in his eyes, ready to interrupt the spell he had been preparing since the beginning.
"Keep going, Old Sandy, I'll save the idiot," said Sun Wukong.
Before his voice even faded, Sun Wukong suddenly threw his Golden Hoop toward the Jade Emperor and Emperor of Eternal Life he was entangled with and turned to rush toward Zhu Bajie, who was still in mid-flight.
Then, with a thunderous noise, a surge of overwhelming star power burst forth. Looking at the ground, a deep, bottomless pit had appeared for all to see.
One must understand, this place was where the Jade Emperor would hold court on a regular day— the Lingxiao Palace. This was the face of the entire Heaven, and the Jade Emperor had taken great pains with it. All the materials used for the construction were of the highest quality jade, with countless seals of all sizes. Not to mention those seals were thousands of years of accumulation by the Jade Emperor. Otherwise, such a great battle would not have been set here.
Even so, a dark hole was blasted open, which goes to show how powerful the strike from Purple Tassel and the Black Tortoise was. It was so powerful that due to their borrowing the power of the stars, all the stars in the entire Heaven dimmed.
The four emperors cautiously approached the large hole. Although by all accounts the monkey must have been seriously injured, no one let their guard down without seeing for themselves.
Underestimating an opponent was not a mistake that the four Divine Emperors would make— especially when facing Sun Wukong, the monkey known throughout the Three Realms for being unkillable.
In a corner, Sha Wujing was so anxious that he bit his own teeth until they bled. Watching his brothers fight desperately, suffering severe injuries with their lives hanging in the balance, yet he could only watch, unable to step forward and help. This agony made Sha Wujing so furious that even his whiskers bristled.
Even so, even though his killing intent was sky-high, Sha Wujing still did not move. However, the tears of blood at the corners of his eyes fully proved his anger and pain.
Silently, he looked up. The nine massive prayer beads around his neck silently floated up and landed in Sha Wujing's clasped hands. One after another, they silently burst. They did not even cause a ripple of mana.
From the beginning, the four Heavenly Emperors had noticed Sha Wujing, but nobody took him seriously. Before the last phase, what Sha Wujing managed sounded impressive: 'Juanlian General.' Stated less flatteringly, he was just a gatekeeper. However, he watched over quite a few gates; in Heaven, beside those secret locations, all the major gates were under Sha Wujing's supervision. Even the gates of the Lingxiao Palace used to be opened and closed by Sha Wujing.
Although after the journey to the west Sha Wujing was promoted to Golden Body Arhat, a rank not much higher than that of the Giant Spirit God, this was still an existence the Jade Emperor could squash at any time; naturally, he wouldn't be too concerned. What they were truly worried about was only Sun Wukong!
The four Heavenly Emperors stood guard at the edge of the crater with caution, each looking at the others. They all wanted to know Sun Wukong's condition, but no one wanted to go down there. Sun Wukong's strength and resilience were legendary; they weren't certain he had been injured at all.
Eventually, the four decided to join forces for another strike. Even if Sun Wukong hadn't been injured by the previous attack, this time he would not escape unharmed. So the four Heavenly Emperors gathered their strength together, preparing for a combined attack from all four.
At that moment, a roar like that of a wild beast erupted from the depths of the pit—a roar filled with endless anger and self-reproach that made the four Heavenly Emperors hesitate. During their moment of hesitation, a dark shadow shot out from the bottom of the pit.
The four Heavenly Emperors quickly recovered their senses and looked sharply only to be overjoyed! It turned out that Sun Wukong was injured. Zhu Bajie stood in front of Sha Wujing, holding one of Wukong's arms. Although the exact nature of the injury was unknown, the bloodstains on his back suggested that it was quite severe. Moreover, Zhu Bajie was also covered in wounds, many of which were still bleeding profusely.
"You, you're going too far. Are you picking on me because I'm slow? It's one thing to bully me, but to injure my eldest brother too. It seems you really think we brothers have no one to back us up?" Zhu Bajie's face was smeared with blood, looking fiercely grim.
"Today you'll learn that—a pig is not so easily bullied!" With that, he gave a single-handed shake, and the Nine-Toothed Rake flew into Zhu Bajie's hand.
"Nine-Toothed Rake, combine!" With a roar, the Nine-Toothed Rake began to pulsate like a beating heart (referencing Iron-fragment Fang's transformation), and then remarkably merged into Bajie's body. At that moment, Bajie's body began to radiate the halo that only a top-level magic treasure possesses.
"Zhu Bajie Desperate First Form—Devouring!"
Sha Wujing's mouth was already agape with shock! He thought to himself: Since when could Second Brother perform this move? Shocked as he was, Wujing anxiously glanced at Elder Brother, who was casually leaning against a corner pillar. But what he saw left him dumbstruck for a long while: Did I just see Elder Brother blink at me? Usually, Elder Brother only does that when he's about to play a trick on Second Brother! Sure enough, just as Zhu Bajie charged forward with a ferocious face, Sun Wukong, under the stunned gaze of Wujing, nonchalantly stood up. After giving Wujing a mischievous smile, he sat back down again. "Old Sandy, how much longer till you wrap this up?" Sun Wukong asked while picking his ear with his pinky finger, watching the flash-like Zhu Bajie battling it out with the four Emperors of Heaven. "Uh, probably, probably soon! Big Brother, Second, Second Brother won't be harmed, right? How did he get so fast?"
Sha Wujing refocused his gaze and shrank his neck to ask. "Hehe, don't worry, the blockhead merged with the divine power contained within Pangu's eyelashes, but the idiot doesn't know how to use it. He has all this divine power but can only take a beating. So I had to do this, trigger the blockhead's anger. Originally, I just wanted him to be able to fight back a bit, but who knew that the blockhead had such tricks up his sleeve? Sheesh, he's faster than my Cloud Somersaults," Sun Wukong said, and, without forgetting, flicked the earwax toward the Jade Emperor mockingly. Then he shook his head and sighed, "Such a pity, it didn't hit." He was talking about the earwax! "How come Second Brother's rake, how come it merged into his body?" "I don't know about that, when the blockhead gets angry, he's fiercely fierce. Looks like we can't play with the blockhead's pig ears so freely in the future." Barely had the words left his mouth when Sha Wujing, sitting beside him, suddenly shouted: "Big Brother, dodge quickly! Second Brother, he's coming!" Sun Wukong immediately sprang to his feet, deftly dodging to the side. Zhu Bajie also found time to glance back. The first thing he saw was not Wujing but the grinning Sun Wukong beside him. Zhu Bajie might have been a bit slow, but he instantly knew he'd been fooled. "You damn monkey, tricking me again, I'll never be done with you." Clenching his fists, the space around them compressed sharply, then with palms together, they formed a wall resembling a spatial rift. Seizing the chance, he flipped over beside Sun Wukong. As soon as he landed, the rake appeared in Zhu Bajie's hand, ready to strike at Wukong. "Blockhead, stop playing, protect Old Sandy!" "Hmph, I'll settle with you later, always deceiving me." While they were still speaking, a vibration shook them, and then all the doors of the Lingxiao Palace flew open, followed by a surging Heavenly River flooding through the open portals. In an instant, the entire Lingxiao Palace was submerged by the great flood. And Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie were already standing behind Sha Wujing, the three of them looking sinisterly at the four Heavenly Emperors struggling in the great waters, pointing and commenting. "Old Sandy, does the Jade Emperor not know how to swim? Why can't he surface?" asked Sun Wukong. "Hey, Elder Brother, it's not right to say that, how could the Jade Emperor not know how to swim? It's just that there's something wrong with this water." After speaking, Wujing's face turned red with embarrassment. While the three were watching with glee, a white shape swam up through the water, and suddenly, a strikingly handsome young man appeared before them. The White Dragon had finally shown up. "Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother. I've returned."
"Haha, Little White Dragon, you've really done a great service this time. With old Sandy's Flowing Sands River, the weak waters you've led here, and old Piggy's heavy Heavenly River water—haha, if this doesn't turn Heaven into a vast ocean, what will?" Sun Wukong clapped the White Dragon on the shoulder. Seeing this, everyone must have understood, right? The reason Little White Dragon was absent before is that he used his Innate Reverse Water Dragon Body to dive into the Netherworld Asura Realm. With his mana, he drew the Asuras' weak waters along with his dragon form coiling upward, signaling Monk Sha, who, with his own mana inside the Lingxiao Palace, helped guide and locate the White Dragon. After breaking through Eagle Sorrow Gully, the weak waters rushed up all the way, blending into the Heavenly River from the bottom, and then fused with the waters of the Flowing Sands River. Finally, these three waters became the Nine Heavens Deadly Water. As previously stated, having once been Marshal Juanlian, Monk Sha took advantage of the moment when Heaven's forces were deployed, opening all the portals he could. The result of this was that when the Nine Heavens Deadly Water surged out from the Heavenly River, it swept over the entire Heaven. Not a single Immortal's Cave Mansion or Spirit Platform Palace was spared—all submerged by the great flood. And this wasn't just any water; with great weight and devoid of buoyancy, its corrosive power slowly destroyed everything it encountered. You can imagine the despair felt by the returning heavenly soldiers when they found Heaven gone—replaced by an endless sea. Monk Sha, usually seen as the least harmful, dealt the final catastrophic blow to Heaven at the crucial moment! And at this very moment, Monk Sha, still bashfully asked Zhu Bajie if they should also bring in the waters of the Tongtian River. And Zhu Bajie? After a thieves' grin, he said, "That doesn't seem right, does it? How about we bring down The Moon Palace instead? Then, we'll have ourselves an Ice Age!"