"Ascend to Heaven's Way?" Damon Six-Ears grinned wide. "Good, good! I like this! Hahahaha!"
Mother Nuwa's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed, her smile slowly fading away. In its place appeared a frost-like indifference.
Mother Nuwa could only hear Damon Six-Ears' side of the conversation with Lord Buddha. Yet even without the full exchange, she could easily guess who was speaking and what was being said.
Wasn't this exactly what she'd anticipated before the battle began?
The seed she had planted with her own hands had now grown into a towering tree, blossomed and borne fruit—its shadow blanketing the entire Three Realms.
Since no one else could do anything about him, let her be the one to personally... bury him.
Seated upon the lotus dais, Lord Buddha silently recited his mantra.
The Sanskrit chant traveled ten thousand miles, landing in Damon Six-Ears' ears.
It was a strange language—more spell than speech. Damon Six-Ears certainly couldn't understand the Sanskrit, yet in an instant he comprehended every detail of how his other self once ascended to Heaven's Way, down to the flow of every meridian. It was as if he personally experienced it all over again. That knowledge etched itself deep into his mind in a single moment.
A surge of battle intent blazed fiercely in his heart.
...
Across the barren plain, Prince Adrian, the Little White Dragon, raced forward at full speed, his breath held tight.
Amid the turmoil, Tripitaka, his strength long exhausted, clung desperately to the horse's neck with the last of his power. He pressed westward.
...
In the chaos, Barry Bear tripped over a stone. Before he could react, Marshal Silver and General Curtain rushed up, lifting him left and right. The group kept running without a moment's pause.
...
Clara Heart was racing toward the Women's Kingdom, and Anna Yang was doing the same.
...
Within Tusita Palace, the collapsed Nuwa Temple, and the pavilion on Spirit Mountain's slope, everyone was silent. The immortals in the High Sky Throne Hall were even more so.
Everyone understood what was about to happen.
Perhaps so. Perhaps it was all destined. What was about to unfold was merely the continuation of the battle from over six hundred years ago. There was no escape, no way to avoid it.
...
Lightning still crisscrossed the sky. Amid the thunder, the power of Heavenly Tribulation seeped in bit by bit from beyond, brewing a new, fiercer strike.
...
Damon Six-Ears took a deep breath and clenched his fists. Instantly, spiritual energy from heaven and earth surged wildly toward him.
He looked at Mother Nuwa, grinning savagely.
...
Deep in the Netherworld, all the ghost messengers stared dumbfounded at the sunlight streaming in from the distant sky.
Yes, sunlight—faint, but unmistakable—sunlight that should never appear in the Netherworld.
Perhaps only Heavenly Tribulation had such power, the force to pierce straight through the mortal world and the Netherworld.
Surging seawater poured through the breach like a pillar holding up the sky. Everything below was swept away, turning into a vast ocean that slowly spread outward.
At the same time, countless ghosts fled through the gap.
King Brightcourt collapsed to the ground, too devastated even to cry.
...
Amidst a field of emerald green, the Monkey, wrapped in surging spiritual energy, trembled slightly, his fists tightening bit by bit.
...
From the massive breach blasted open by Heavenly Tribulation, hordes of black evil spirits rose up with shrill howls, scattering like rolling smoke.
Damon Six-Ears still hovered in midair, grinning savagely, veins bulging on his forehead.
At the pulse points of his limbs, two streams of golden light began to flow slowly along his meridians.
"So you really are Mother Nuwa. Hahahaha, what an honor. Too bad—I sprang from a stone. You created all living things, but not me. And now you want to protect him? In that case, I have even less reason to show mercy."
Mother Nuwa slowly raised her head, gazing up at the enormous vortex in the sky.
Within the vortex, the frequency of lightning was rising—faster and faster—dense as prison bars. It was as if a fierce beast was brewing, waiting for the right moment to strike.
"One hour," she murmured, bowing her head. "In one hour, Heavenly Tribulation will gather enough power to take us both down."
"One hour... that's plenty of time for me to break that turtle shell and drag him out to take my place." Damon Six-Ears grinned, eyes wide, wisps of smoke curling from his lips into the scorching air.
"Then give it a try," Mother Nuwa replied with a scornful smile.
"Come on—!" With a sudden roar, Damon Six-Ears turned into a streak of golden light, hurtling toward Mother Nuwa. The Golden Staff shot out, piercing the clouds and then crashing down with a long, blazing arc.
In an instant, Mother Nuwa twisted aside, pointing behind her at the Emerald Wall. The massive emerald, which had been in the path of the Golden Staff's strike, suddenly shifted a mile away—out of harm's way.
With a thunderous crash, the Golden Staff slammed down. Mountains, rivers—everything was pulverized in an instant. The blast of sand and dust surged outward like a tidal wave.
At the same moment, both the Golden Staff and Damon Six-Ears vanished without a trace.
Without hesitation, Mother Nuwa spun around, her massive serpent tail whipping behind her. The gust she stirred up became a tornado—and at its heart, Damon Six-Ears was trapped!
The Golden Staff extended again, sweeping toward Mother Nuwa. Yet the currents she stirred weakened its force, though it still moved mountains and seas.
But just as the Golden Staff was about to strike Mother Nuwa, her form flickered—splitting into two!
"This trick again?"
The Golden Staff swept past the two figures, missing them both. At the same time, the two Mother Nuwas attacked Damon Six-Ears from above and below.
(This chapter is not finished yet~.~ Please click next page to continue reading!)
The real battle had begun. Yet between two Heaven's Way cultivators, it was never a simple clash of brute force.
Damon Six-Ears darted back and forth, wielding the Golden Staff across sky and earth, leaving utter devastation in his wake—except for the massive Emerald Wall.
Whenever Damon Six-Ears targeted the Emerald Wall, Mother Nuwa always anticipated him, deftly moving the emerald out of harm's way. Stranger still, one Mother Nuwa became two, then four. In an instant, dozens of her filled the sky, battling Damon Six-Ears. Their forms were huge yet impossibly agile. No matter how he struggled, he could not touch a single one.
Frustrated, Damon Six-Ears could only chase after the emerald, attacking relentlessly. But what difference did it make?
By now, Mother Nuwa's forms filled every corner of the battlefield, as if countless versions of her worked together. No matter how clever Damon Six-Ears' staffwork or tricky his angles, under her control, the Emerald Wall always dodged in time.
It shifted so wildly that, from a distance, it seemed as if countless emeralds existed at once.
In the blink of an eye, the two had battled across a thousand miles.
This was a battle with no regard for anything else.
Scattered lightning fell from the sky—Damon Six-Ears' Golden Staff, Mother Nuwa's summoned tornadoes to delay him... Mountains, rivers, even human cities were destroyed along the way, leaving not even ruins behind.
Everyone else could only watch—this was a battle none could join. Even Anna Yang, who had arrived with her demon generals, could only observe from afar.
Except for powers like Lord Buddha, Lord Lao, and Master Sage Subhuti, any being in the Three Realms caught up in this fight would be doomed.
Raging winds tore down city walls, sweeping everything into the sky. The land was filled with wailing.
...
On the lotus platform, Lord Buddha pressed two fingers together.
In an instant, scene after scene flashed through Tripitaka's mind; cries of anguish rang in his ears.
Every lost soul cried out to him, demanding answers—asking why he journeyed west, telling him they needed no one to save them...
Facing it all, Tripitaka could only grit his teeth, clutch the horse's neck tightly, and endure—racing westward without pause.
Drops of blood seeped from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose...