Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

Up Knife Mountain, down into the oil pot.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

In the Underworld, these are two of countless punishments.

Those who entered Hell after death were sentenced based on their behavior in life. If they were guilty, the punishment depended on the severity of their sins, and only when their sentence was complete could they be reincarnated.

Naturally, if they were good people in life, they might enter the Heavenly Court to serve the real Immortals of the Immortal Rank, or some with martial prowess could become Heavenly Soldiers.

Within the Underworld, Sun Wukong had long been familiar. After learning what he wanted to know, he left the City of the Wrongfully Dead and headed for Knife Mountain.

A mountain bristling with knife edges, countless wronged souls were driven to walk atop Knife Mountain, their screams incessant.

Regarding all this, Sun Wukong naturally paid no attention. Instead, he headed toward the foot of Knife Mountain, having heard that the Dragon King of Jing River's soul was located there, coming here was undoubtedly correct.

Knife Mountain was majestic; searching it thoroughly was not so easy. Reaching the foot of the mountain, Sun Wukong undid his disguise and, after a search, indeed found what he was looking for. Find adventures on empire

A robust dragon-shaped soul was coiled at the foot of Knife Mountain, its body also shackled by hefty chains adorned with shining golden Mantra Talismans; around it were dozens of Underworld Soldiers on guard.

Seeing this, Sun Wukong grinned, silently recited an incantation and blew a breath towards these Underworld Soldiers, who immediately fell unconscious.

Suddenly, Sun Wukong approached and said, "Dragon King of Jing River?"

"You are? Great Sage!?" The soul of the Dragon King of Jing River, surprised to see all the Underworld Soldiers knocked unconscious, exclaimed in surprise upon seeing Sun Wukong.

Why on earth was the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, Sun Wukong, standing before him without reason?

"Are you the Dragon King of Jing River?" Sun Wukong asked again without answering.

"Indeed, it is I, Little Dragon. I'm not sure why the Great Sage has come; what are your commands!?" The Dragon King of Jing River, realizing Sun Wukong had come for him, quickly bowed and answered.

"Hmm, then I have not found the wrong one!" Hearing the Dragon King of Jing River's affirmative response, Sun Wukong nodded.

Digging into his ear, he pulled out the Ruyi Golden Cudgel and struck the chains binding the Dragon King.

The Mantra Talismans on the chains instantly shattered, and naturally, the hefty chains also broke apart.

"Let's go!" After freeing the Dragon King of Jing River from the chains, Sun Wukong reached into his bosom again and pulled out the Dragon Soul Bracelet, shaking it at the Dragon King.

A strange attractive force appeared, and the soul of the Dragon King of Jing River was instantly sucked into the Dragon Soul Bracelet.

Just then, however, a sudden change occurred.

As the Dragon King of Jing River was rescued, a huge array suddenly appeared on the ground, countless densely packed Buddhist Sect Mantra Talismans lit up, forming a golden, radiant massive iron cage that enveloped the space within a ten-zhang radius.

"The soul of the mere Dragon King of Jing River, not only locked up but also guarded by Underworld Soldiers and even this kind of trap?" Seeing this, even Sun Wukong realized that there might be something unusual about the Dragon King of Jing River's soul being detained here.

Merely the Dragon King of Jing River, in the Immortal Realm, he was nothing more than an Earth Immortal, managing only a river, was he really worth such great effort to suppress?

However, now was not the time to think too much. Trapped in the array, Sun Wukong stored the Dragon Soul Bracelet and lifted his Jingu Bang, smashing fiercely at the golden iron cage.

With a loud bang, several cracks immediately appeared on the cage.

"A mere array thinks it can trap I, Old Sun!?" With one strike causing cracks to appear on the cage, Sun Wukong sneered and smashed down with the Golden Hoop again.

Bang, bang, bang!

With no finesse whatsoever, Sun Wukong was purely using brute force to break the array. As the Jingu Bang continued to fall, the cracks on the golden iron cage formed by the array grew longer and deeper.

Clearly, it would only be moments before Sun Wukong would smash the cage entirely, unable to contain him for long.

However strong Sun Wukong's power was, the Underworld's response was also extraordinarily fast. In just a moment, as the array activated, the King of Biancheng rushed from the City of the Wrongfully Dead with his subordinates, Bullhead and Horseface, arriving at the foot of Knife Mountain, just in time to see Sun Wukong smashing the array and breaking free.

"You, you are, Sun Wukong!?" The King of Biancheng, rushing over with great momentum, saw Sun Wukong's figure and changed his expression, speaking with apprehension.

The matter of Sun Wukong having once wreaked havoc in the Underworld and even in the Heavenly Palace was clearly remembered by the Ten Kings of Hell; suddenly seeing this scourge appear before him, the King of Biancheng's heart trembled with fear.

"Uh..."

Sun Wukong hesitated after breaking out of the array.

He naturally did not regard the Ten Kings of Hell highly, but, remembering his master's specific instructions not to reveal his identity before departing, being discovered was rather embarrassing, wasn't it?

Fortunately, though Sun Wukong was impetuous and lacked great wisdom, he had plenty of cunning.

In this critical moment, a quick thought sprung to mind, his face twisted ferociously, his eyes flashing fiercely, baring his teeth, he shouted angrily, "Rubbish! You fools! I hate it most when people mistake me for Sun Wukong!"

"You're not Sun Wukong? Then who are you!?" Looking at the Sun Wukong before him, King of Biancheng was utterly bewildered.

Could he be lying? This clearly looked like the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, Sun Wukong, whom he had personally seen causing havoc in the Underworld years ago.

"Hmph, although I look like that guy Sun Wukong, I am not him!" Demon Qi surged, and Sun Wukong's face showed even greater anger.

With those words, he slightly turned his head and pointed behind his ear, saying, "See? I have two more ears behind mine. You, you can call me Six-Eared Macaque!"

As his voice fell, Sun Wukong leaped up and fled into the distance, moving as fast as lightning, swiftly leaving the Underworld.

As for whether others believed his words about being the Six-Eared Macaque, Sun Wukong didn't care. When the time came, he would just adamantly deny everything.

"Lord Yama, that, was that really not Great Sage Sun just now?"

A Ghost Messenger standing beside him, too scared to act while watching Sun Wukong's retreating figure, was naturally skeptical about the claims of being the Six-Eared Macaque and asked King of Biancheng.

"If it really were Great Sage Sun, he could have taken away the Dragon King of Jing River's soul, could we have stopped him?" Turning to glance at the Ghost Messenger, King of Biancheng counter-asked.

This remark made all the Ghost Messengers behind tremble with fear and quickly shake their heads.

Just kidding, even a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals couldn't hold him back in the past, how could they stop him? Wouldn't that be just marching to their own deaths?

"So, was it really the Six-Eared Macaque? When did such a powerful monkey appear among the Three Realms? I've never heard of him," wondered the Ghost Messenger, asking again.

"Even if it's not Sun Wukong, that surge of demon Qi was tremendous, definitely at the level of a Demon Saint. How could we confront such a being? Thus, whether it is Sun Wukong or not is irrelevant; we wouldn't be able to stop him anyway. Let's report this immediately and let those above make the decision," shaking his head, King of Biancheng turned and left Knife Mountain.

...

The faint morning light seeped in; although one couldn't see the sky outside from within this cave, the biological clock over the long term had awoken Jiang Liu.

After a night of meditation, he had gained just over 10,000 experience points. Using experience points to measure his cultivation level, Jiang Liu felt a definite improvement in his cultivation within.

This kind of cultivation, where one can clearly feel their growth rate, was indeed a great motivation for Jiang Liu.

Looking at his side, with snores loud as thunder, Zhu Bajie was still sound asleep.

On the other side, Sun Wukong lay quietly, evidently having fallen asleep too, showing that after last night's journey to the Underworld, Sun Wukong had returned without waking him.

Not saying much, Jiang Liu stepped out of the stone chamber to wash up, and after a few moments, Sun Wukong also followed, the master and disciple both crouching on the ground, rinsing their mouths with clean water.

Gurgle gurgle!

After a few gurgles of water in his mouth, after spitting the water out, Sun Wukong took out a bracelet and presented it before Jiang Liu, saying, "Here, for you."

Setting down the stone cup in his hand, Jiang Liu took the bracelet, glanced down at it, and sure enough, the attribute information of the Dragon Soul Bracelet had changed.

Dragon Soul Bracelet (Legendary Quality): Required Level 25, Defense +440, Special Effect: Moving Clouds and Rain, capable of commanding the Dragon King Power to bring down Sweet Dew, Cooldown Time 10 days, Durability 25/25.

Seeing the quality of the Dragon Soul Bracelet, Jiang Liu's face lit up with joy.

No matter what, the Dragon King of Jing River was in control of a major river, and even though he might not measure up to the Four Seas Dragon Kings, he was still rightfully a Dragon King, so his soul elevating the quality to Legendary Level was not surprising.

However, after closely inspecting the Dragon Soul Bracelet, Jiang Liu's mouth twitched slightly. This legendary quality, isn't it a bit too weak?

An increase of 440 in defense value indeed reached the legendary quality level, but this special effect, doesn't it seem entirely unhelpful in battle?

Is this the weakest legendary-quality equipment?

Shaking his head inwardly, fortunately, the main purpose of his Dragon Soul Bracelet wasn't to enhance the quality of the equipment but rather the significance of the existence of the Dragon King of Jing River.

Taking off the bronze bracelet that only required a level 10 from his hand, Jiang Liu replaced it with the Dragon Soul Bracelet, significantly boosting his defense attribute.

Regardless, this was his fifth piece of legendary-quality equipment, which was quite good.

"By the way, during this trip, you weren't discovered, were you?" After switching to the Dragon Soul Bracelet, Jiang Liu spoke.

"Rest assured, when have I, Old Sun, ever made a mistake?" Sun Wukong shook his head confidently.

His words made Jiang Liu nod, picking the stone cup up again.

However, pausing slightly, Sun Wukong added, "Even if we were discovered, I, Old Sun, am clever. I improvised an identity on the spot, claiming I was the Six-Eared Macaque, not Sun Wukong."

Pfft...