In a daze, Monkey saw the Adamantine Ring land in the hand of General Curtin not far away.
"Is that... the Adamantine Ring? Damn it, isn’t Lord Lao supposed to be in seclusion? Are you kidding me!" Gritting his teeth against the pain, he broke away, fleeing for his life.
He hadn’t even covered a hundred yards before he realized he’d already fallen into the encirclement of the Heavenly Generals.
"Get out of my way—!"
Without a moment's pause, he roared and spun toward one of the Heavenly Generals, raising his Golden Staff and smashing down.
With a scream, the unprepared Heavenly General’s entire shoulder twisted, the scales on his shoulder armor scattering in all directions.
"After him—!"
All the Heavenly Generals surged after Monkey once more.
In the midst of his frantic sprint, Monkey suddenly noticed the Adamantine Ring, just to his right, shifting trajectory at incredible speed and whipping toward him.
Panicking, he twisted aside to dodge, only to crash headlong into a tumbling floating stone.
In that instant, the pursuing Heavenly Generals had already surrounded the massive, trembling floating stone. The Twenty-Eight Mansions seized the opportunity to join forces and raise a battle formation, sealing off the entire region around the stone.
At this point, the generals who had chased Monkey across the sky for five whole hours couldn’t help but laugh in relief at General Curtin.
This battle had been nothing but frustration. If Curtin hadn’t arrived with the Adamantine Ring, they truly had no idea how long they’d be chasing this monkey.
King Eastwell glanced down at the golden ring in Curtin’s hand and quietly asked, "Did Lord Lao really agree to lend it?"
Curtin’s face turned ashen; he said nothing.
Was the Adamantine Ring really ‘lent’ to them?
For the Heavenly Generals present, capturing Monkey meant the mission was complete. For Curtin, though, catching Monkey was only the beginning...
"Heh heh heh heh." As the smoke cleared, Monkey staggered to his feet atop the floating stone, wiped the blood from his mouth, and swept his gaze across the generals, laughing coldly: "How many of you against one monkey? In the end you even had to borrow Lord Lao’s treasure—aren’t you ashamed?"
With that, he slammed his Golden Staff down. A series of sharp cracks rang out as the floating stone beneath him splintered from the point of impact.
"You damned monkey, you still dare to talk big at a time like this!" a Heavenly General shouted.
"At a time like this? And what of it? Do you really think you’ve been chasing me for five hours, and I’ve just been running away?" Monkey grinned at them, furrowing his brow as he spoke softly: "If I’m not mistaken, your Cloudrealm Sky Harbor has already been breached, hasn’t it? Next comes the army at South Heaven Gate. Even if you catch me, who wins—Heaven or Blossom Mountain—is still undecided. Besides..."
"You might not be able to catch me at all—!"
Before he finished speaking, the grin on his face twisted into a snarl, veins bulging on his forehead.
Before the generals could react, he was already roaring, swinging his Golden Staff with all his strength and hurling it at them.
A sudden gale erupted!
Only now did the Heavenly Generals realize that the Golden Staff had silently elongated, lifting the floating stone beneath his feet!
Monkey wielded the multi-million-pound floating stone like a giant war hammer, smashing it fiercely toward the formation raised by the Twenty-Eight Mansions.
In that instant, the generals scattered in panic; Curtin gritted his teeth and hurled the Adamantine Ring, while the Twenty-Eight Mansions, faces pale, could only struggle to hold the formation.
Where stone met formation, lightning rolled and the world seemed to dim.
The hard floating stone rapidly blackened, fragmenting into smoke and drifting away; even the formation itself was shaken to its core by the bombardment.
The Adamantine Ring struck Monkey squarely in the back, spraying a mouthful of blood onto his Golden Staff.
Yet he gritted his teeth and endured, forcing the floating stone through the formation!
......
Inside Tusita Palace, Belle knelt with her head bowed and asked softly, "Was the Adamantine Ring deliberately allowed to be stolen?"
Lord Lao said nothing.
Belle did not press further.
After a long silence, Lord Lao sighed, "Heaven is the central axis of the Three Realms. His Majesty cannot swallow this humiliation and refuses to open South Heaven Gate, and I cannot let Monkey run rampant forever. Curtin may not wield the Adamantine Ring skillfully, but it’s enough to bring Monkey down."
"And after he’s captured?"
"What happens after he’s captured, we’ll discuss then," Lord Lao said lightly.
......
The chase across the Seventh Heaven resumed, but the situation was now completely different.
As a Dao ancestor, Lord Lao had forged countless legendary treasures known throughout the Three Realms—even Monkey’s Golden Staff was made by his hand. But the Adamantine Ring was the most formidable of all.
Compared to Heaven’s other great treasures, it looked plain, lacking any extravagant or bizarre functions. But its speed was unmatched, its power overwhelming, and it seemed almost sentient—able to pursue its target on its own.
Monkey flew past flower pools—it followed. Monkey circled the Moon Tree—it circled too. No matter where Monkey went, it never left his side by more than ten feet, always searching for an opening, ready to strike.
Forced to defend against the Adamantine Ring while also watching for attacks from the Heavenly Generals, Monkey’s earlier ease vanished—he was now fighting at his absolute limit.
By the time Monkey crashed before South Heaven Gate, he was spent—body and spirit utterly exhausted.
"Is this really the end? Beaten by a single artifact... Are you kidding me..." He lay on his back, laughing aloud, baffling all the Heavenly Generals around him.
......
Outside South Heaven Gate, the vast demon army had arrived.
Facing a million-strong force, the gate’s defenders had long since withdrawn their forward pickets, huddling behind the walls.
King Southwell, responsible for the gate’s defense, peered through a narrow slit and saw the black-hulled fleet outside—like locusts swarming the sky. He shuddered in fear.
"Open the gate! Open the gate! Open the gate!"
All the demons shouted in unison, pounding their weapons against the decks, raising a thunderous clamor.
......
Monkey leaned on his Golden Staff and slowly stood up, looking around at the Heavenly Generals encircling him, listening to the roars coming from just beyond the gate. He reached for the 'message slip' at his waist.
On it, there were only four words—"I am outside the gate."
He couldn’t help but laugh.
Dipping his finger in his own blood, he reached for the message slip, but suddenly paused, unsure what to reply.
"Still not surrendering?" Jiao Mu Jiao shouted at Monkey.
Monkey didn’t even lift his head, just stared blankly at the message slip, hesitated for a long time, and finally gave a bitter smile, tucking it away inside his robe.
Gripping the Golden Staff once more, Monkey bared his fangs in a wide grin.
"Enough talk! What’s the use of so many words? We fight, and that’s all!"
......
On the flagship of the demon army, separated by nothing but a single wall, Anna Yang silently stared at the Linked Bamboo Scroll, anxiously waiting.
Through the Jade Tablet she used to communicate with Monkey, she already knew he was just beyond that gate.
But what was really happening on the other side?
At last, a faint ring of ink slowly spread across the Linked Bamboo Scroll—nothing else appeared.
Anna Yang’s nose tingled with emotion.
She tilted her head slightly, letting the cold wind brush her jade-like face.
"Sister Anna, what should we do now?" Isabel Su asked softly.
"Bombard."
"Bombard?"
"Bombard to the death."
All the warships turned in unison. In an instant—Boom!—ten thousand cannons roared, and the thunder shook all Thirty-Three Heavens!