Time passed, day after day.
Near Spirit Mountain, the Monkey had already begun studying Buddhist scriptures, while the reckless General Draco Jiao led his army to press the borders of Blossom Mountain.
Perhaps out of trust in General Draco Jiao, or perhaps out of sheer desperation, the Celestial Court believed his bold promises and authorized the coalition to gather nearly every Heavenly General available—except those at Guang River Estuary—setting up a life-or-death confrontation five hundred li northwest of Blossom Mountain.
At the same time, they dispatched smaller units to all four continents to begin demon-hunting operations.
By now, the world’s demons had long since gathered at Blossom Mountain; the scattered demons left on the four continents were mostly minor spirits below Spirit-Transformation Stage, and naturally no match for the Celestial Army.
To counter this, Blossom Mountain dispatched large forces to intercept the Celestial Army on each continent, yet on the main front they showed rare restraint—leaving all Three Realms puzzled, as they had expected Blossom Mountain to crush General Draco Jiao in a spectacular show.
......
Just as both sides reached the brink of war, in the Western Isle—
Amidst the vast world, an unmarked sky-ship sailed slowly forward. On its deck, demons in full armor moved about, nerves taut.
Yet what troubled the demons was not the Celestial Army that could appear anywhere in the mortal world, but rather the Spirit Mountain they were now approaching.
From afar, an eagle demon—at least Spirit-Transformation Stage—spread its wings and glided rapidly toward the sky-ship, landing steadily on the deck.
"F-Found the Great Sage!" he stammered.
"You found him?"
The demons cried out in astonishment, quickly making way.
At the end of the passage stood Anna Yang, wrapped in a white cloak and wearing a veil.
She strode quickly to the eagle demon, urgently asking, "Where is he?"
"Just fifty li ahead," the eagle demon replied, lifting his head.
"Fifty li ahead..." Anna Yang's expression grew colder, her brows tightening. She took a deep breath and asked calmly, "Are there any Buddhists around him?"
"There are... but only a few insignificant young monks, no one else. It's just a mud-brick house, not a single barrier or ward."
After a brief hesitation, Anna Yang said, "Order the sky-ship to accelerate."
"Yes, ma'am!"
With a shout, the sky-ship unfurled its sails and accelerated in the direction the eagle demon had indicated.
Soon, a perfectly ordinary little peak appeared on the horizon. At its summit stood a brand-new temple—just three small mud-brick rooms—with smoke curling from its chimney.
Pointing to the temple, the eagle demon whispered, "Holy Mother, the Great Sage is right there."
Anna Yang’s hand tightened unconsciously under her cloak.
The sky-ship hovered slowly over the mountain peak.
A young monk, carrying water buckets out of the temple, caught sight of the demon faces on the sky-ship and screamed in terror, dropping the buckets and running back inside.
The entire temple was instantly filled with a clamor of voices.
Soon, a white-bearded old monk, wrapped in his kasaya, timidly shuffled out.
He had barely stepped outside when the temple doors slammed shut behind him, the other monks nervously peeking out through the cracks.
Facing the sky-ship, the old monk’s legs seemed to tremble ever so slightly.
Before the gangplank could be lowered, the demons leapt from the deck, weapons gleaming coldly, muscles taut—making the old monk shudder with terror.
When the gangplank finally dropped and Anna Yang approached in her white cloak, the old monk seemed to relax just a little.
He pressed his palms together and bowed: "This humble monk’s Dharma name is Clear-Mind, abbot of this temple. May I ask what brings you to our humble monastery?"
Ignoring the old monk, Anna Yang turned to the demon beside her and said, "Seize him."
At her words, the old monk collapsed to the ground.
Before he could react, two demons had already hoisted him up.
"W-Wait! The Great Sage sent me out—"
The two demons quickly trussed him up and tossed him aside, stuffing his mouth for good measure.
Without a backward glance, Anna Yang strode toward the tightly closed temple doors, flanked by three Spirit-Transformation Stage demons on each side, weapons in hand, jogging ahead to clear the way.
Inside the doorway, the young monks were already trembling with fear.
Two burly demons charged ahead to the temple gate, roared, and tore the doors off their hinges, flinging them aside.
Amid swirling dust, the monks behind the door scrambled away in terror, some stumbling, one even wetting his pants on the spot.
A gentle breeze swept away the fallen leaves scattered across the courtyard.
Guarded by demons, Anna strode coldly through the temple gate, crossing the small courtyard and stepping into the modest main hall, where she found the Monkey King in monk’s robes, lazily scratching his head over a Buddhist scripture on a meditation cushion.
His eyebrows twitched slightly.
Several young monks knelt before him, kowtowing and crying, "Great Sage, save us! Great Sage, save us!"
"Don’t panic, you won’t die." Seeing their tearful faces, Simon sighed helplessly and rubbed his brow. "Why make such a fuss? I’d just gotten them to warm up to me, and now you’ve ruined it. From now on... sigh..."
Anna removed her veil and strode forward, her gaze icy and fixed on Simon.
The young monks shrank back in terror, making way.
The demons, filing in behind Anna, filled the main hall and watched in silence.
Simon looked up and met Anna’s cold gaze, freezing in place.
Smack—
A sharp, ringing sound filled the air.
Before he could react, Simon’s cheek was struck hard.
For a moment, the entire hall fell silent.
Everyone was stunned—Anna’s demons, the monks kneeling on the floor—all stared in shock at Anna and Simon.
Even Simon was completely dumbfounded.
He tilted his head, dazed, and touched his cheek, staring at Anna in disbelief.
"Holy Mother, what are you—"
"Out."
"Huh?"
"All of you—get out!"
[Omitted: Irrelevant navigation text.]
The demons and monks scrambled out in a panic.
The doors and all the windows were shut tight. Demons stood guard with weapons, forbidding the monks from approaching.
Light filtered through the cracks, illuminating the dust suspended in the air.
In the small main hall, only Simon and Anna remained, staring at each other—one fearful, one expressionless.
After a long silence, Simon managed a faint smile and asked quietly, "What... what are you doing?"
"What did you promise me?"
"I..."
"Didn’t you say you’d take responsibility from now on? Now General Draco Jiao is besieging Blossom Mountain—where are you? What are you doing here?"
"I..." Simon blinked blankly and swallowed. "I—I want to cultivate Buddhism, force Lord Lao to appear, make him unseal Birdie’s record in the Book of Life and Death."
"Cultivate Buddhism? Force Lord Lao to appear? Ridiculous." Anna laughed coldly. "If you don’t truly cultivate, why would he show up? Do you take him for a fool?"
"Then—I’ll really cultivate."
"How many lives do you have to throw away?"
Simon turned his face aside and muttered, "I don’t understand what you mean by ‘how many lives.’"
"Buddhist cultivation means escaping the eight sufferings, letting go of obsession. You think I don’t know? You’re steeped in killing karma—how could you possibly succeed? You’ll cripple your own cultivation before you even begin."
Simon gripped the scripture tightly and whispered, "I... understand—a little."
"You understand and still insist on cultivating?"
"What else can I do?" Summoning his courage, Simon lifted his head. "No one can break the seal on the Book of Life and Death. If I don’t force Lord Lao to come out himself, what choice do I have? Do you want me to just abandon Birdie?"
"Birdie, Birdie..." Anna let out a bitter laugh and slapped him again.
The sharp sound of the slap made even the demons outside the door shrink back, exchanging uneasy glances.
The scripture in Simon's hand fell to the floor.
He touched his cheek in a daze, trembling. "I... I won’t argue with you..."
"What is there to argue about? What do you think you’re entitled to argue about?" Anna’s voice was hollow. "I used to let you do as you pleased, but do you even know what you’re doing now? Do you know how much blood and sweat it took to get here, how many nights we struggled to build Blossom Mountain? Now you’re the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, famed across the Three Realms—are you going to throw it all away?"
Simon sat there, dumb and silent.
"You’re insane, you know that? I could have used this chance to devour Draco Jiao’s new army in one blow—do you know why I didn’t?"
Simon blinked, eyes lowered.
Anna bent to pick up the scripture, her voice cold. "Because of this. Because of this, I had to let Draco Jiao go."
"Because you insist on cultivating Buddhism, I had to rush here, had to hand command over to Shortbeak and have him hold the fort."
"Birdie, Birdie..."
"Besides your Birdie, do you remember anything? Do you remember you’re the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Demon King of Blossom Mountain?"
"Do you remember you promised to shoulder all of Blossom Mountain’s burdens?"
Simon lowered his head and clenched his fists.
Anna laughed hollowly. In the dim light, tears glittered in her eyes.
She stood there, eyes closed, breathing deeply.
"I truly don’t understand you. After all these years, no matter how hard or bitter, we endured together. We made the impossible happen, but now I realize—I never understood you at all."
"I... I must bring Birdie back." Simon pressed his hand to his brow, dazed. "I owe her, I promised her. No matter what, I have to do it..."
"Just for a canary, for a promise that seems impossible to fulfill, you’d betray the hundreds of thousands under Blossom Mountain?"
"It’s not an impossible promise!" Simon lifted his head, eyes blazing. "I don’t care what anyone thinks. I have to keep this promise—no matter what!"
Seeing his twisted, resolute face, Anna was stunned.
After a long silence, she smiled bitterly, stepped back, and nodded.
Pressing her lips together, she spoke softly: "Fine. You want to talk about promises? Let’s talk about promises. I want you to fulfill your promise to me—right now. From this day forward, you’re not allowed to mention searching for Birdie ever again!"
"Impossible!"
His shout shook the hall.
Anna stood frozen, hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
For a moment, she wavered, her figure trembling, tears falling like rain.
Simon panicked, struggling to rise and support her, but Anna hurled the scripture at his face.
"Don’t come near me!" She clutched her chest and screamed, "You insist on fulfilling your promise to her, but mine can be ignored? What am I to you? What am I—?"
"No... no, that’s not it. Anything but that—I’ll agree to anything else you ask."
"Good." Anna fixed her gaze on Simon, enunciating each word: "Then I want you to marry me. Immediately."
In that instant, everyone inside and outside the hall was stunned.
In the shadowed hall, only Anna’s quiet sobbing remained.
She stared blankly at the seemingly heartless Monkey, waiting for his answer.
The answer she had always wanted, or one that would plunge her into despair.
A breeze swept through, stirring the fallen leaves across the floor.
The demons in the courtyard exchanged silent glances.
At this moment, all of Blossom Mountain awaited the Great Sage’s long-delayed answer.
In the dim hall, Simon stood frozen, his mind a blank.
---
High above in the Thirty-Three Heavens, Lord Lao’s lips curled into a faint smile.
He swept his sleeve aside, placed a stone on the chessboard, and smiled at the Birdie sitting opposite him. "They say the onlooker sees clearly, the players are lost. Ha ha ha! Little girl, tell me—how’s this move?"
Birdie curled her lip in disdain. "Dirty."