Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

"Noisy creature!"

Facing the Ghost Mother's sky-full of water arrow attacks, Sun Wukong finally reacted. An impatient expression surfaced on his face. Reaching into his ear, he pulled out the Ruyi Silver-Hooped Rod, enlarged it to the size of a bowl's mouth, and swept it horizontally. In an instant, countless rod shadows materialized and shattered the water arrows flooding the sky.

"Crack!"

A slight cracking sound rang out, but Sun Wukong's heart suddenly sank. The feeling of emptiness returned under his feet— he had broken the surface of the Naihe Bridge!

The Naihe Bridge, which was meant only for the passage of soul bodies, could barely withstand the weight of Sun Wukong's physical body. The action of drawing out the Ruyi Silver-Hooped Rod just added fuel to the fire, and the bridge surface could no longer bear his weight.

After a wobble, Sun Wukong fell from the lowest level of the Naihe Bridge straight into the waters of the River of Oblivion. He immediately felt endless chills attacking him from all directions. These were the Netherworld Ghost Qi of the River of Oblivion.

"Damn it!"

Sun Wukong gritted his teeth, attempting to use the Water Escape Technique to surface but found it to be futile. The restriction of the ban on flying still dragged him down toward the bottom of the River of Oblivion.

Where did this insurmountable flight restriction come from? It's so strange!

Generally, flight restrictions only affect the air and should become ineffective once one enters the water. But here, near the Naihe Bridge, the river was filled with the force of the flight ban. Even with Sun Wukong's current cultivation strength, he couldn't resist it.

He quickly sank to the bottom of the River of Oblivion, his feet stepping on the sandy riverbed, at which point the flight restriction finally disappeared.

Sun Wukong furrowed his brows. After a moment of his eyes changing expressions, a golden light intensified within them, and he powered up his Void-Breaking Divine Eye to its full strength, examining the riverbed and surroundings closely.

Upon looking, he discovered the problem—beneath the mud and sand of the river lay a huge Array, enveloping the entirety of Naihe Bridge and the surrounding area within a mile. It was this Array that had created the flight restriction effect, rendering Sun Wukong's flying and Water Escape Techniques completely ineffective.

"What a strange formation, I've never seen it in any ancient books!"

Under the Void-Breaking Divine Eye, the Array was laid bare before Sun Wukong's eyes— even the depths of the Dao Patterns on the Array were clear. He observed them carefully and found himself frowning; he had never seen this type of Array before.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The Great Dao Runes that made up this Array were very peculiar, not even recorded within the ancient tomes of the Scripture Pavilion in Three-Star Cave Heaven.

"Cackle cackle cackle! I thought you were some formidable expert," the Ghost Mother taunted with her hoarse voice. "It seems even this Nether Soul-Trap Formation can thwart you! Boy, it looks like you've got no way to fly away today!"

Just as he was about to study the Great Dao Runes on the Array more closely, the Ghost Mother's raspy voice echoed again. Sun Wukong turned his head to look, and she had already dived into the water, swimming toward the bottom and approaching him.

"What a nuisance!"

With a slightly annoyed frown, Sun Wukong's eyes focused sharply, and the True Solar Fire surged out from within him once more, forming a layer of Flame Armor around his body.

A large area of the river water evaporated, the waters around Sun Wukong began to boil, the onrushing Netherworld Ghost Qi was pushed aside, and soon the True Solar Fire formed a spherical Protective Shield that enveloped Sun Wukong entirely, driving the waters of the River of Oblivion outside the shield.

If one were to look down from the surface of the River of Oblivion, they might discern a giant fiery red Light Sphere. Inside the sphere, Sun Wukong looked coldly at the Ghost Mother, who had stopped three zhang away, his expression somewhat grim.

"Boy, you..."

"No matter who you are, no matter what your purpose is, I, old Sun, will give you the count of three to disappear from my sight!"

Sun Wukong cut off the Ghost Mother before she could finish her sentence, his tone was extremely defiant, and his eyes flashed dangerously.

"What a big tone you've got there, boy! Do you even know who you're talking to?"

The Ghost Mother was left speechless by Sun Wukong's words. After a moment of stunned silence, a ferocious look crossed her face, and she stared at Sun Wukong with a sinister gaze as she spoke.

"I, old Sun, don't need to know who you are. You only have the count of three!"

"Three!"

"You're too arrogant, boy!"

"Two!"

"You'll pay for your arrogance!"

"One!"

"I am the Ghost Mother of the Netherworld, one of the four Great Demon Generals of the Asura Tribe..."

"Demon General my foot, if you don't want to leave, then meet your death at the hands of Old Sun!"

Before Ghost Mother could finish introducing herself after the count of three, Sun Wukong stomped his foot and charged at her, ignoring entirely the corrosive and obstructive force of the River of Oblivion's water. He swung his Ruyi Silver-Hooped Rod in a sweeping strike that seemed utterly straightforward but caused the Ghost Mother's face to drastically change in that instant.

Onlookers might not see it, but Ghost Mother felt distinctly clear that the moment Sun Wukong swung his rod, the River of Oblivion's waters seemed to come under his command, pressing down on her violently along with the rod. The sensation was like an enormous mountain crashing down on her, leaving no room to dodge—she had no choice but to take the blow head-on!

With two curved blades appearing in her hands, Ghost Mother crossed them to block the strike from Sun Wukong's Ruyi Silver-Hooped Rod. A massive boom erupted from the depths of the River of Oblivion, water shot up a hundred feet into the air, sweeping countless lonely souls and ghosts from Naihe Bridge into the river, their screams filling the air.

A figure shot up from the River of Oblivion, tracing a perfect parabola before crashing down heavily on the bank—it was the Ghost Mother!

Now, the Ghost Mother looked utterly pathetic, hair in disarray and body covered in blood. The originally protruding ring around her waist had vanished, revealing gaping and bloody wounds that were eerie to behold. She had vomited a mouthful of blood even as she hit the ground.

On the other side of the riverbank, Sun Wukong, with his Ruyi Silver-Hooped Rod in hand, walked step by step from the river bottom. True Solar Fire enveloped him completely. Not even his clothes were creased, let alone being injured. He glanced indifferently at the Ghost Mother, a touch of scorn curling at his lips, and without a word turned and walked towards the path leading to the Yellow Springs.

"Where did this monkey come from, and how is he so powerful?"

The Ghost Mother felt a rush of humiliation and alarm at being swept by Sun Wukong's contemptuous gaze. She spouted another mouthful of blood in frustration.

The sound of rushing water heralded the arrival of three figures surging out from the River of Oblivion, landing beside the Ghost Mother—they were Indra, Vishnu, and Lutoro, three of the Asura Tribe's four Great Demon Generals.

"Ghost Mother, what happened? Who injured you?"

Seeing the wounds on Ghost Mother, the faces of Indra and the others twisted with rage, as white breath spewed from their nostrils, they angrily questioned.

"Could it have been Ksitigarbha, that bald donkey? But that doesn't seem right. If it were that bald donkey, you, Ghost Mother, would probably have been subdued by him by now. However, aside from him, who else within this Netherworld could have injured you so severely in such a short time?"

As Indra's eyes shifted in thought, he knew well Ghost Mother's strength; just a notch below him among the four Great Demon Generals, stronger than both Vishnu and Lutoro. It had been less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea from when they felt the battle's energies to their arrival, yet Ghost Mother was already so grievously injured.

When had such a powerful being appeared in the Netherworld?

"I was injured by a demon monkey."

After stifling her injuries through cultivation, an indignant Ghost Mother relayed the details, "That demon monkey is also of the Taiyi Scattered Immortal Realm. Although he does not carry the Netherworld Ghost Qi of our realm, he is completely unafraid of the corrosion of the River of Oblivion. On top of that, he possesses somehow unyielding and intensely yang True Fire.

His attacks were tremendous, and within three moves, I was beaten and hurt by him."

"You were hurt within three moves?"

Indra and the others exchanged looks, realizing that the gap between Ghost Mother and Sun Wukong was not small at all!

"Ghost Mother, could it be that you underestimated him? Non-natives of the Netherworld have their combat power reduced by thirty percent here, especially within the waters of the River of Oblivion. How could someone of the same realm defeat you within three moves? I don't believe it!" Vishnu scoffed, expressing doubt about Ghost Mother's words.

"Is it an honor to be defeated in three moves? Do I need to lower myself to deceive you all?"

Ghost Mother was furious. Already enraged from being injured by Sun Wukong in just three moves, and now doubted by Vishnu, she couldn't hold back any longer. She leapt up from the ground, "If you don't believe it, I'll take you to find that demon monkey and have you try your hand against him to see if I'm exaggerating!"

"Ghost Mother, don't get angry. Vishnu didn't mean that! However, it would be good to meet that fellow. He dared to injure you, Ghost Mother—it's as if he disregarded the faces of us four Great Demon Generals. We must reclaim our dignity," Indra quickly interceded to calm Ghost Mother, a sharp light flashing across his eyes.

He was eager to see for himself the person capable of injuring Ghost Mother within three moves. However strong this Sun Wukong was, after all he was just a Taiyi Scattered Immortal. If the four of them, the Great Demon Generals, joined forces, even Sovereign Mara Papiyas, the leading figure among the four Great Demon Kings, could be challenged.

Could they really not handle a single Taiyi Scattered Immortal?

"He went in that direction. He seems to be headed towards the Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm. If we rush over from the River of Oblivion, we should be able to catch up to him quickly!"

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