Emperor Gou Chen must have already become a Daluo Golden Immortal, capable of contending with his Magical Treasure, I fear only a Saint's Magical Treasure, right? Otherwise, what other Magical Treasure could restrain a Daluo Golden Immortal? Even a Taiyi Golden Immortal is already invincible against any disaster, just needing to be a bit careful to live forever. A Daluo Golden Immortal is even closer to understanding the connections of karma, and if able to step forward one stride, could Slay the Three Corpses and attain Dao," Wukong said.
"Magical Treasure, what in this world could possibly restrain a Daluo Golden Immortal?" Wukong wondered aloud.
"That Magical Treasure is the bane of my Golden Crow Clan," Di Lin replied.
Upon hearing this, Wukong grew even more curious and asked, "What?"
Di Lin said, "In Ancient Times, our ancestor, Di Jun, established the Heavenly Court and declared himself the Heavenly Emperor, commanding nine Daluo Golden Immortal-level Golden Crows. However, from the Witch Clan emerged a man named Hou Yi, who was adept with bow and arrows. During the great battle between witches and demons, the Lord of Primordial Beginning forged a Magical Treasure called — the Sun-Shooting Bow! The Tong Tian Sect Master forged nine arrows named — Sun-Shooting Arrows!"
"Sun-Shooting Bow? Sun-Shooting Arrows?" Wukong muttered to himself. "Di Jun was born with the sun, and the Golden Crow Clan cultivates using the power of the sun. Using this bow and arrows against the Golden Crow Clan, the name 'Sun-Shooting' is indeed fitting!"
Di Lin continued, "That Hou Yi excelled with the bow and was extraordinarily talented. Within merely a century, he had cultivated to the realm of Taiyi Golden Immortal. At the onset of the great battle between witches and demons, hiding in the shadows, he shot down eight of the Heavenly Emperor's Golden Crows! The last Golden Crow, although not killed, was hit in the wings. Its mana greatly reduced, battled Hou Yi magic against magic, both sides suffering injuries, and finally Hou Yi was killed by it. But after, it seized the nine Sun-Shooting Arrows and the Sun-Shooting Bow, brought them back to its clan and then perished."
Wukong felt a slight tremor in his heart. A Taiyi Golden Immortal was able to kill Daluo Golden Immortal-level Golden Crows?
Wukong said, "You mean that the Sun-Shooting Bow and Sun-Shooting Arrows are now in the Golden Crow Clan?"
Di Lin did not answer directly but asked instead, "Do you know the origin of this Heaven Pillar Mountain?"
Wukong, looking at the mountain towering into the clouds, which almost rivaled Mount Buzhou in height, said curiously, "I do not."
With a sigh, Di Lin said, "In the past, when Gonggong angrily struck Mount Buzhou, causing it to collapse, the Heavenly Court crumbled. The Heavenly Emperor, using great magical power, moved this half of Mount Buzhou here. He wished to use it as a foundation to rebuild the Heavenly Court at Southern Ridge Demon Mountain."
Suddenly, Wukong understood. Gonggong's furious strike broke Mount Buzhou. During the reconstruction of the Heavenly Court, the Lord of Primordial Beginning used his magical power to fuse the Eastern Emperor Bell into the mountain body, attaching it to the broken peak. Today's Heavenly Court was thus constructed atop it. This Heaven Pillar Mountain was precisely that broken peak!
Di Lin sighed again, seemingly reminiscing about the Golden Crow Clan's glorious past. The clan was still well-known, but compared to the age of the Heavenly Emperor in Ancient Times, it wasn't nearly as illustrious. His eyes were deep as he looked toward the cloud-piercing Heaven Pillar Mountain, filled with endless emotion.
"Later, knowing the inevitable decline, but recognizing that the Sun-Shooting Bow and Arrows were lethal weapons against our Golden Crow Clan, the Heavenly Emperor used his magical power to seal the Sun-Shooting Bow and Arrows at the summit of the Heaven Pillar Mountain. On the summit, there are forty-nine Heavenly Steps, and even Indra could only ascend thirty-six levels," Di Lin finished, sighing once more.
Wukong's eyes also followed the rising height of Heaven Pillar Mountain, remarking, "This Heaven Pillar Mountain must be thousands of feet high."
Di Lin said, "Nearly so, it totals 9999 feet; Gonggong indeed had good fortune to strike upon such an auspicious number."
Wukong said, "The Heavenly Emperor set up forty-nine Heavenly Steps, and I am named Heaven-Defying. Do these Sun-Shooting Bow and Arrows not seem meant for me to retrieve?!"
Di Lin said, "There's karma inherent in the cosmos; I do not know, Taoist brother. You will see when you take a look."
With that, Di Lin stamped his feet, and had already flown out the skylight, heading towards the summit of Heaven Pillar Mountain.
Wukong thought, "This pace of yours is too slow!"
With that thought, he somersaulted, and Di Lin saw a blur before his eyes. Di Lin also saw a flash of blue light. Turning to look, the Heaven-Defying Taoist was nowhere to be seen anymore. Thus, he increased his speed, soaring and piercing through the layers of fierce winds to reach the summit of Heaven Pillar Mountain.
At the summit of Heaven Pillar Mountain stood the forty-nine Heavenly Steps, each nine feet high, with a golden bow and nine bloodstained arrows hanging in the air, the murderous aura distinct! With the Magical Treasure stained with the blood of nine Daluo Golden Immortal-level Golden Crows, one can only imagine how fierce the murderous aura imbued in this Magical Treasure was!
"This is the Heavenly Ladder, Heaven-Defying Taoist brother, take extra care. If it proves too difficult, do not force yourself, as it will only cause you harm," Di Lin advised.
"I am aware of my own limits, Taoist brother, you worry too much," Wukong replied.
"Please, Taoist brother," Di Lin said.
In a moment, Di Lin also arrived at the summit of Heaven Pillar Mountain, followed swiftly by his two subordinates.
Wukong took a deep breath, looking at the forty-nine steps. Di Jun's arrangement clearly harmonized with the Heavenly Dao. As the saying goes, "the Tao evolves through forty-nine, escaping the one," Di Jun evidently interpreted this layer of meaning; moreover, each of these steps was nine feet tall, seeing Di Jun's use of the number nine brought to its extreme.
"Prosperity must decline, the soaring dragon has regrets. That year Di Jun was so ambitious, declaring himself the supreme of nines. Yet the Great Dao is ruthless; how could he not decline?" Wukong sighed to himself.
The soaring dragon regrets, the scholars of the Middle Ages eliminated nine from the middle four, thus later only the Supreme of Nine Five was acclaimed.
Wukong no longer dwelled on these thoughts, relaxed his mind, cleared his spiritual platform, and his thoughts surged, gathering his spirit and energy.
With a light jump, Wukong had already stepped onto the first layer of stairs.
A pressing force immediately came, but it was only ten thousand jin, and Wukong felt it was not much of an issue.
The second layer.
The moment his foot touched the ground, the force turned into fifty thousand jin. Wukong had been prepared and was not frightened by this sudden increase of forty thousand jin.
"If it's just an increase in force, then this Heavenly Ladder is nothing much," Wukong thought to himself.
As he stepped onto the third level, the pressure sharply increased to one hundred thousand jin! Wukong's whole skeleton emitted a series of crisp sounds.
Wukong thought to himself, "With my current physique, I can withstand several million jins of tremendous force. If I add the Primordial Great Strength Technique, I'll at most suffer some injuries, but I will definitely be able to obtain this Magical Treasure!"
The fourth layer, one hundred and fifty thousand jins!
The fifth layer, two hundred thousand jins!
...
The tenth layer, five hundred thousand jins!
Wukong's pores opened wide, his skin slightly swelled, and his veins began to show, clearly affected.
The eleventh layer.
As he stepped down, he heard sharp winds howling beside his ears, as if spirits were wailing and gods were sobbing. Each gust that struck his face was like a knife scraping against it, and it even felt like it was penetrating his bones! These were even more severe than the Nine Heavens' fierce winds, and if one's Mana were slightly weaker, they might have had their souls blown away.
The twelfth layer, a tremendous force of five hundred fifty thousand jins, and the Yin wind was even more severe!
The thirteenth layer...
By the time he reached the nineteenth layer, Wukong had to use his spells. His body enveloped in a golden light, he used a Dharma Gate called "Celestial Soldiers' Battle Qi" to block most of the Yin wind, making him feel quite comfortable. After a slight pause, he stepped onto the twentieth layer!
Immediately, Heavy Water formed out of the void, and on the twentieth layer, heavy water surged!
This heavy water, with one bucket weighing ten thousand jins, the surging heavy water probably weighed a million jins!
"Primordial Great Strength Technique!"
Wukong had to activate the Dharma Decree, Celestial Soldiers' Battle Qi enveloped his entire body, Hongmeng Purple Qi circulated within him, and his strength suddenly skyrocketed. He spread his palms and positioned his feet in a character "eight" stance, all five toes curling inward, steady as Mount Tai.
After the heavy water rushed past, Wukong felt a substantial drain on his Mana and rested for a moment before stepping on the twenty-first layer!
"Heaven-Defying Taoist is indeed formidable, having reached the twenty-first layer," Di Lin thought to himself.
This time, what came at him was the essence of Sunflower Water, and its weight was even greater!
By the time he reached the twenty-ninth layer, he had already withstood a force of one million four hundred fifty thousand jins, and this time the oncoming wave was Weak Water!
In the Celestial Realm exists a river called Weak Water, which the Immortals greatly avoid for its corrosive power is extremely strong, and it's exceedingly heavy, so much so that flying over it could sweep one into it, then corrode them to nothing but bones.
"It's actually Weak Water, Di Jun really has boundless capabilities, he even managed to bring Weak Water here!"
Wukong, greatly astonished, stretched out his left hand and took out the horsetail whisk from behind his waist and brushed against the incoming Weak Water!
Seven-Colored Divine Light surged out like a tide!
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The Seven-Colored Divine Light was usually able to brush away anything, but when it encountered the Weak Water, it was extremely hard to move. The two met and continuously set off booming explosions, blasting water droplets everywhere, scattering divine light. Yet, the Seven-Colored Divine Light was always slightly stronger. Wukong circulated his Golden Core within him and, with another fierce brush, finally pushed the Weak Water back.
He had just stepped onto the thirtieth layer when the one hundred forty-five thousand jins of tremendous force suddenly increased to two million jins!
"The thirtieth layer now, even if I don't get the magical treasure, this is already impressive enough. It would be best if I could exceed Indra's thirty-six layers." Di Lin's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Sweat droplets the size of beans fell from Wukong's forehead. He wasn't yet stable on his feet when a blast of True Fire came at him!
Having refined his body with Primordial Body Refining Technique for many years and now having achieved the Taiyi Golden Immortal, Wukong was many times stronger than before when he had the Vajra-Indestructible Body, thus he was not afraid of this ordinary True Fire. As soon as he summoned the Celestial Soldiers' Battle Qi, he even blocked the sensation of the heat.
"So it turns out that these initial forty steps are arranged in the sequence of earth, wind, water, fire. Di Jun is indeed formidable. Earth, water, wind, and fire are the fundamental elements of creation, yet he has evolved them into this heavenly staircase's protective formation," Wukong thought secretly, his spirit of not admitting defeat growing even more. He stepped onto the thirty-first layer.
Two million two hundred thousand jins!
The Samadhi True Fire came at him, and Wukong regarded it as nothing special. Back then, he had been burnt in the furnace of the Venerable Lord for who knows how long and even developed a pair of Fiery Eyes with Golden Vision.
By the thirty-sixth layer, he was already bearing a tremendous force of three million two hundred thousand jins, and the flames that came at him were in fact Solar True Essence!
Wukong, in great shock, waved the World-Cleansing Dust Whisk hastily, eventually summoning Di Jun's Dharma Body, and in one gulp swallowed the Solar True Essence that was spraying towards him.
The might of Solar True Essence was extremely domineering. Even the Golden Crow Clan had to be cautious confronting it, otherwise, with a slight mishap, they too would be burned to ashes.
Thus, bearing over three million jins, Wukong propelled Di Jun's Dharma Body to devour the flames and ascended to the fortieth layer!