Chapter 106 Return to Accumulated Thunder Mountain

  Guanyin, along with Puxian and Wenshu, the three Bodhisattvas, were leading a group of Arhats flying towards Mount Ling, when suddenly their cloud-riding movement came to an abrupt halt. They all stood still, their facial expressions frozen in time, as if they had been paused in mid-air.

  Then a figure slowly descended from high above.

  Although he was caught off guard, Guanyin Bodhisattva's heart only felt a little flustered, but not fearful. This feeling of being frozen in place was all too familiar to him. In the past, his master, the Primordial Saint, could immobilize even quasi-saint level cultivators like Yun Xiao with just one move. So he guessed that the one who came must be one of the saints.

  As this figure approached, Guanyin secretly said in her heart, "Indeed".

  It was none other than Taishang Laojun riding a green bull, the good corpse of the three corpses of Taishang Shengren.

  After Taishang Laojun approached, the three Bodhisattvas resumed their movements. As for the other Arhats, they still maintained their previous poses, clearly indicating that they had not yet qualified to pay homage to the sacred countenance.

  Guanyin, along with Puxian and Wenshu, the three Bodhisattvas, immediately knelt down on both knees in mid-air, respectfully greeting: "Guanyin (Puxian, Wenshu) pays respects to Master!"

  The Supreme Elderly Lord lifted his drooping eyelids and glanced at the three Bodhisattvas, calmly saying: "I, the Old Tao, do not have a disciple named Guanyin Bodhisattva. I only have one disciple called Ci Hang Daoren."

  The faces of the three Bodhisattvas darkened, and the events of that year were a scar in their hearts that could not be erased. Although they had sealed off all mouths under heaven with their master's brothers' might, they could not change the fact that they had broken away from the sect. They truly had no way to turn back now.

  The Bodhisattva Guanyin's eyes dropped tears, and after knocking her head on the ground, she said sorrowfully: "My master's nephew is very clear. My three master brothers and I broke out of the door and lost face for both Master Bo and Master Zun. It was only because Master Zun took into account the emotions of tens of thousands of years of masters and disciples that he tolerated us to barely survive in this world. However, no matter what, my three master brothers and I have been single-mindedly recovering our cultivation in order to take a step closer to the Great Way. For thousands of years, we have never had, nor dared to have, even half a thought of disloyalty towards the sect. I hope that Master Bo will sympathize with our hearts that are devoted to the Way."

  Universal Worthy and Manjusri also shed tears, knocked their heads and said sorrowfully: "We only hope that our elder will take pity on us."

  The old master bowed his head to the three bodhisattvas, and after a long time, he lightly sighed and said: "Forget it, what happened back then was indeed done by you all. No matter what, Tongtian is your junior uncle, but you sent him and his entire family to the Sealing God's List, no wonder Yun Xiao that little girl cut off your top three flowers, closed your chest five airs, today's result, are all caused by the past."

  The three Bodhisattvas' bodies shook violently, but they still spoke in unison: "Elder Master is right."

  The Jade Emperor continued, "I didn't come here specifically to scold you all, but rather to save the little monkey in your bottle. This monkey ate several of my Golden Elixir pills and will inevitably have to pass through my Eight Trigrams Furnace." After finishing speaking, the Jade Emperor stretched out his wrinkled hand with age spots and waved it at Guanyin, and Sun Wukong appeared in the palm of his hand from the sheep fat jade bottle.

  The eyes saw the hands of Sun Wukong flying, and the three Bodhisattvas did not dare to have any dissenting opinions, but only buried their heads tightly, with a look that was entirely up to the Taishang Laojun.

  The blue cow mooed and was about to leave, but the Supreme Old Lord gently patted its horns, signaling it to stop in its tracks. The Supreme Old Lord turned his head and took a last look at the three Bodhisattvas, calmly saying: "No matter whether you are in the Taoist or Buddhist sects, remember that your heart must not lose its aspiration for the Tao."

  Having said that, Taishang Laojun sat on a green cow and slowly left with a calm expression.

  It wasn't until much later, after the Supreme Old Lord had left, that the three Bodhisattvas stood up. Manjusri turned his head to face Guanyin and asked, "Younger brother, what's to be done? Before he left, the Ancient Lamp Buddha repeatedly instructed us three brothers to bring that demon monkey back to Mount Ling, but now we've returned empty-handed - how are we supposed to explain this to the Ancient Buddha?"

  Guanyin sighed and said, "If Master Patriarch himself comes to the mortal world to capture someone, what can my senior brother do? If the Ancient Buddha of Burning Lamp blames him, then let him go to Mount Potola to find Master Patriarch to capture the person."

  On this side, Guanyin's three brothers were still wailing and crying, while on the other side, Lei Hao also found his several elder brothers.

  "Hahaha, Old Bull said that today early in the morning, there were magpies chirping non-stop in front of the Mochun Cave. It turned out that brothers are about to reunite, it's really a great joy, a great joy." The majestic laughter of Niu Mo Wang echoed far away, and Lei Hao heard it as soon as he entered the Accumulated Thunder Mountain.

  The demon king laughed and said: "This old cow is still so fond of being arrogant!"

  Lei Hao, who had been gloomy-faced all along, forced a smile and said: "Little brother doesn't come to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing, I've brought trouble to big brother."

  The words had barely fallen when the figures of Niu Mo Wang and Tie Shan Gong Zhu appeared in Lei Hao's line of sight.

  The Bull Demon King said with a pretended displeasure: "Old Seventh, what are you talking about? Has it been only a hundred years since we last met that brothers have become estranged?"

  It turned out that Princess Tie Shan was careful and observed the somewhat pale face and worried expression of Lei Hao, pulled the Bull Demon King and said: "You old cow, how come you don't have eyesight, didn't you see Lei Hao's brother's face looking so bad?"

  Niú Mó Wáng heard this, carefully sizing him up, and discovered that Léi Háo's breath was somewhat disordered, his footsteps also somewhat empty and floating, clearly he had injuries on his body. At the moment, one hand grasping Léi Háo, the other hand grasping Jiǎo Mó Wáng, he said: "Having arrived at big brother's territory, even the biggest matters will be borne by big brother, Old Seventh need not worry, we'll slowly discuss it inside the Mó Yún Cave."

  Lei Hao smiled and temporarily suppressed his worries in his heart.

  Upon entering the Cave of Wandering Clouds, as soon as he sat down, a little demon came forward to pay respects and presented fragrant tea and fresh fruit.

  As soon as he sat down, Lei Hao eagerly said to Niu Mo Wang: "This time, big brother can really help little brother." At the end, Lei Hao, who was somewhat excited, stood up again and bowed deeply to Niu Mo Wang.

  Niú Mó Wáng hastily went forward to help up Léi Hào, and asked in puzzlement: "What matter has made you so flustered, Old Seventh? Don't be anxious, speak slowly."

  Lei Hao spoke at length about the cause and effect of Sun Wukong being captured by Guanyin, and finally said with eyes almost red: "Wukong encountered this great difficulty, all because I, as his elder brother, did not advise him enough in daily life. So today, please, big brother, no matter what, give little brother a clear direction."

  The Bull Demon King's face was also gloomy, and he slammed his hand on the case in front of him, shouting: "Guanyin, these three traitors are really too much! Last time, I still haven't settled accounts with Lao Niu, and they dare to surround my brother again, courting death!"

  Niú Mó Wáng paused, then turned his head to scold Léi Hào: "Old Seventh, you're also like this. You knew you couldn't hold on, why didn't you ask the elder brothers for help? My Jī Léi Mountain is far away, can't Old Piāo's Piāo Mó Gōng be far too?"

  Lei Hao's face was filled with self-reproach as he said, "This is my fault. I thought the strength of the Heavenly Court was just that, but I didn't expect those three monks to be so shameless!"

  "Big brother, don't be angry," said the demon king, mediating. "Old Seven is not afraid of being implicated with us old guys, is he? Now that Old Eight has fallen into Guanyin's sheep fat jade bottle, I'm afraid it won't be long before he falls into Ling Shan's hands. By then, it will be even harder to rescue him. We should think about how to save Old Eight; we can't just watch as Ling Shan harms him like this."

  The hall immediately fell silent, and after a long time, the Bull Demon King stood up with an iron face, coarsely saying: "Why don't I, old cow, go to Mount Ling again? Even if I sacrifice this old face, I will rescue Old Eight."

  After some discussion, some of the confused and bewildered Li Huo's minds also cleared up. He heard the words and stood up, saying urgently: "It can't be done, absolutely can't be done! If we rescue Wukong like this, even if Wukong comes back, he will scold me."

  The Bull Demon King looked at Lei Hao and asked: "Do you have a better way?"

  Lei Hao thought for a moment and said: "I believe that Heaven will not let Ling Shan take Goku away just like that."

  The Bull Demon King spat out two words in a somewhat puzzled tone: "Reason."

  Lei Hao Zheng said: "Wukong has made a mess of the heavenly peach banquet, and with the temperament of Yu Huang and Wang Mu, even if it's just to save face, they won't let Wukong off so easily. Moreover, Wukong has eaten Taishang Laojun's golden elixir, how can he be taken away by Ling Shan so easily? As long as Heaven takes over Wukong, we brothers can take the opportunity to go to Heaven and snatch Wukong out, with the ability of those useless people in Heaven, they are far from being able to stop us seven brothers."

  After thinking for a while, the Bull Demon King asked: "Old Seventh, how confident are you?"

  Lei Hao's firm words: "Ten percent."

  The Bull Demon King clapped his hands and said, "Alright, I'll send the little demon to call all my brothers over. If we're going to make a scene, let's make it big! Let all the forces in the three realms know that my eight brothers are not to be trifled with!" As soon as he finished speaking, a strange and familiar aura of pressure emanated from the Bull Demon King's body.

  But the Jiaomo Wang beside him was stunned and exclaimed: "Big brother, you've also broken through?"

  The Ox Demon King nodded slightly with a self-satisfied expression: "After lingering at the gate of the Taiyi True Immortal for over a thousand years, I finally stepped inside."

  The Bull Demon King heard this and also slightly released a bit of his Taiyi True Immortal aura, startling the Ox Demon King. He stared with his ox eyes, somewhat disbelievingly asking: "Old Jiao, you've also broken through."

  The demon king Doser nodded.

  Lei Hao, who was caught between the two Taiyi True Immortals' oppressive auras, had no choice but to release all of his Double-Layered Golden Immortal aura. For a time, he was also evenly matched with the two Taiyi True Immortals, and it seemed that neither side would gain the upper hand in the short term.

  Niú Mó Wáng and Jiǎo Mó Wáng, who had just been shocked, felt the pressure of Léi Hào's split-court confrontation and were shocked again. After carefully distinguishing for a moment, they almost simultaneously exclaimed: "Dual Original Golden Immortals?" The sound that shook the hall was even louder than when they learned that their opponent had advanced to the Taiyi True Immortal.

  Lei Hao nodded calmly.

  The three brothers sighed in unison: "It turns out it's not just our family member who is making progress."

  The sound fell, and the three brothers looked at each other, bursting into loud laughter. The majestic voice echoed non-stop in Moyun Cave. "It's great to have brothers around." Lei Hao silently flashed these few words.