A night so dark you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face.
All of Avalon Mountain, stronghold of the Kunlun Sect, seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, shrouded in silence. Only Goldlight Cave—the sect’s war room atop the summit—blazed with light.
At Master Taiyi’s command, Kunlun’s vast but sluggish intelligence network had finally been activated. Countless reports, like falling snow, poured in from all directions to Goldlight Cave. After being sifted, they were handed to the Twelve Golden Immortals, Kunlun’s highest echelon.
“So what’s really happening in the Dharma-Quest Kingdom now? Has Tripitaka lost his mind or not?”
“I’d say he’s lost it. But that Monkey is stubborn—looks like even if Tripitaka’s gone mad, he still plans to keep heading west.”
“Heading west even after losing his mind? Seems like that Monkey has gone mad too.”
“No, he’s not mad.” Lord Pureheart sighed softly. “Westward is the only road left to him. Even if Tripitaka’s lost his mind, what difference does it make? Do you really think he has any other path? The Westward Quest—Tripitaka’s journey to Spirit Mountain—is his only chance to survive.”
Master Clearwater shook his head, puzzled. “Why do you say he has no other path? The Buddhist Order doesn’t seem intent on fighting him to the death. After all, he’s been out of Five Elements Mountain for quite a while, and they haven’t made a move.”
“No move?” Grandmaster Spirit-Treasure pursed his lips and smiled. “Imagine sharing a room with someone holding a knife, who says he won’t kill you. What would you think?”
Master Clearwater was stunned by this. He blinked, looking in confusion at Lord Pureheart.
Lord Pureheart fell silent for a moment, then sighed quietly: “If the world has thousands upon thousands of people, many will hold knives, and the threat is diffused—a complex game. But if only two remain, everything changes… Either you kill the other, or you are killed. That’s the situation Monkey faces now. And the only reason the Buddhist Order hasn’t moved against him is that Tripitaka stands between them—a single monk, and a doctrinal dispute. Why do you think Monkey endured five centuries beneath Five Elements Mountain, never calling his own people to rescue him, even though he could have? He chose silence, knowing the risk.”
As he spoke, Lord Pureheart fell silent again, tossed aside the intelligence report he’d just read, and said, “The Westward Quest—for Monkey, it’s a struggle of life and death, and his only way out. But even that last lifeline is fraying now.”
“That’s what comes of courting disaster!” Master Golden Dragon—one of the Twelve Golden Immortals, famed for his dragon-infused cultivation—leaned forward and said, “For years, that Monkey has rampaged across the Three Realms, stirring up chaos among demons and immortals alike. No one’s been able to stop him—a thing unseen in all the ages. Once this crisis is past, all those entrenched Demon Kings ought to be beaten back into their true forms!”
Just then, Lord Pureheart suddenly turned and looked toward the hall’s entrance.
After a long pause, Lord Pureheart slowly shook his head. “Nothing. Maybe just a false alarm.”
At that moment, in the dense forest ten miles outside Goldlight Cave, Damon Six-Ears—the Six-Eared Macaque—kicked a demon general to the ground.
Many-Eyes the Centipede hurried over and asked in a low voice, “Great Sage, what happened?”