At the very instant when Tripitaka and Marshal Silver were swallowed by the giant hand formed from Blackwater, Monkey King desperately reached out, trying to stop it.
But in that same moment, he exposed a flaw.
The surging Blackwater enveloped him completely; in his panic, some of it even flooded into his mouth.
In that last glimpse, he saw the giant hand of Blackwater shattered by his own strike—yet inside, it was already empty. The next instant, he was plunged into open combat with the raging river itself.
Spray exploded, blotting out the sky.
His gigantic form brought immense power and defense, but at the same time, it drastically reduced his speed and agility. Against a formation of this scale, it was not just useless—it was actively harmful.
Barry Bear, General Curtain, and Prince Adrian—already stranded on the far shore—stared back in shock at the chaos unfolding behind them.
......
"He’s been caught!" Beneath the water, King Roc abruptly stopped manipulating the array, gripped his halberd, and pointed at King Gloomape: "You stay here."
With a kick, he shot off into the distance, swimming away.
This swimming involved no spiritual power, not even any real movement—he simply let the river’s current carry him.
King Liontusk hesitated for a moment, then hurried to catch up.
The real battle had begun.
......
"Scatter—!"
With a thunderous roar, Monkey King blasted away the entangling Blackwater with raw spiritual force.
In his urgency, the surge of power even whipped up a spiraling gale, sweeping outward in all directions. Prince Adrian, caught off guard, could only shield himself and stagger back a few steps.
The whole river surface seemed to explode, then suddenly calmed.
Seizing the moment as the waters receded, Monkey King quickly dismissed his body-enlarging art, looked down, and saw that Marshal Silver and Tripitaka were nowhere to be found. Amid the torrent, fragments of the shattered boat drifted by.
Because he suddenly ended the body-enlarging art, a gigantic whirlpool formed on the river’s surface, forcing the rampaging currents to spiral around its suction—buying them a brief moment to breathe.
But before he could even land, columns of water twisted into tornadoes and shot up again, roaring toward him.
"Hold steady."
A voice rang out in Monkey King's mind.
"Marshal Silver?" Monkey King blinked in surprise.
"It's me. This river is strange—it blocks perception from outside in, but not from inside out."
"What's your situation? Where are you?"
"Tripitaka is with me. We're temporarily safe. We're about five hundred zhang southeast of your vertical position."
At that moment, Marshal Silver had already planted one foot in the riverbed mud and raised a spherical shield, centered on himself, more than three zhang in diameter, isolating all the river water outside.
Within the shield, there was enough air. Tripitaka stood beside Marshal Silver, gasping for breath.
Gripping his Nine-Toothed Rake, Marshal Silver glanced around warily.
Droplets trickled slowly down his forehead; it was impossible to tell whether it was sweat or just the river water itself.
At this moment, their predicament could hardly be worse.
He could still sense everything on the river's surface with perfect clarity, but once submerged, only the three-zhan radius around him remained. Beyond that, everything was blank.
To be ambushed at such close range—especially with Tripitaka at his side—even if he were alone, it would be difficult to handle any attacker above the Celestial Sage level.
Without hesitation, Monkey King plummeted from midair like a meteor, dodged the surging waters, and dove into the river.
The flight-ban array was still active, meaning he couldn't freely control his movements. Whether in air or water, the principle was the same. In such violent currents, unless one was born of water, swimming was impossible.
To move in a place like this, perhaps the only option left was to walk.
He sank straight to the riverbed, sprinting toward the direction Marshal Silver had indicated.
But after only a few steps, he sensed something strange.
On the riverbed, countless unfamiliar formations were inscribed, all in Sanskrit—clearly the handiwork of Buddhist powers. Many of them had not yet been activated.
Clearly, the enemy had planned every detail, even calculating all their possible moves and preparing countermeasures for each.
“They really went all out...” Monkey King chuckled under his breath.
He could already sense the coming deadlock.
An opponent who can sit and plot with such care is far more terrifying than those who simply charge in with blades and spears. This, perhaps, is the true danger of the Sage’s Path compared to the Traveler’s Path.
On the battlefield, the Sage’s Path is no match for the Traveler’s Path. But once they retreat to the shadows, they quickly become a formidable adversary.
Regrettably, the Buddhist powers are almost all Sage’s Path—and having cast off both suffering and joy, they are even purer and more adept at dissecting their opponents than the Daoist sages.
Soon, he discovered an even bigger problem—the riverbed was soft silt!
Ordinarily, he could have moved forward by stepping on this silt. But not this time.
Monkey King pressed his legs into the silt, but the river currents—sharp as blades—swept it away as easily as autumn wind scatters fallen leaves.
The river couldn’t move Monkey King’s body, but it could make the ground beneath his feet flow like a second, raging current, leaving him unable to advance.
Helpless, Monkey King resorted to his Weight-Sinking Art, increasing his own mass until he sank deep into the silt and finally braced himself on firmer sand below.
Spreading his arms, he strode over the sand, breaking through the oncoming silt with all his strength. But even so, his speed was painfully slow.
......
Elsewhere in the river...
With a dull thud, Marshal Silver’s shield was torn open from the side and rear. A great saber burst through the gap, and in the black water, King Liontusk’s figure appeared.
(Irrelevant system message skipped)
Before Marshal Silver could turn, King Liontusk had already closed the short three-zhan distance and slashed him across the waist.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Marshal Silver swung his Nine-Toothed Rake in retaliation.
But before the rake could strike, the enemy had already slipped through another gap in the shield, vanishing into the Blackwater.
Marshal Silver clutched his wounded waist, dropping to one knee as blood trickled between his fingers.
"Marshal..."
Tripitaka tried to help, but Marshal Silver stopped him with a gesture.
"Don't worry about me... Just be careful yourself..."
He said that, but what could Tripitaka possibly do at the riverbed?
The enemy was lurking nearby, waiting for an opening. Marshal Silver stared into the darkness, but could see nothing.
Just then, Marshal Silver sensed Monkey King bursting out of the water, propelled by the power of his Golden-Hooped Staff. His heart skipped a beat.
Monkey King's position had changed—he was even farther away now!
Because he could sense changes outside, using a few reference points, Marshal Silver realized that although he and Tripitaka hadn’t moved, their position was silently shifting.
Worse still, Monkey King was farther away than before. Clearly, he’d run into some trouble on the riverbed, causing his position to shift.
"Our position changed—twenty zhang west of where we started!"
In that fleeting instant, Marshal Silver quickly relayed his location to Monkey King.
Monkey King didn’t reply, but dove straight into the water.
The situation left him no time to think.
Marshal Silver gripped his Nine-Toothed Rake and slowly stood, switching hands and taking a defensive stance. His gaze swept constantly over the black water outside the shield.
With a muffled boom, the shield overhead was breached.
A halberd thrust down through the gap, aiming for Marshal Silver’s forehead.
In the chaos, Marshal Silver could only dodge to the side.
At that moment, the shield was breached again from the side—King Liontusk charged through, his saber aimed at Marshal Silver’s neck.
In a flash, gritting his teeth, Marshal Silver raised his Nine-Toothed Rake to block.
But just then, King Roc burst through the crack overhead, spinning in midair. His halberd slashed deeply across Marshal Silver’s arm—blood gushed out!
Just as Marshal Silver dodged King Roc’s halberd, King Liontusk freed a hand and punched Marshal Silver’s wounded waist—hard!
The blow made Marshal Silver cough up blood.
The next moment, just as Marshal Silver thought it was over, the two demon kings spun and broke through the shield, vanishing into the Blackwater.
A surge of spiritual power gathered in Marshal Silver’s palm, and the battered shield quickly repaired itself, stopping the flood of Blackwater.
He turned and saw Tripitaka standing nearby, palms pressed together and face solemn. Marshal Silver couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.
In a battle of this scale, Tripitaka had no way to participate. As long as he could take care of himself and not get in the way, that was already a huge help.
But what was with King Liontusk and King Roc?
He’d thought they were with the Buddhist powers, but it turned out two demon kings had appeared. What did this mean? Did the demon kings join the Buddhists? Or did they really believe the rumor about immortality spread by the Buddhists?
Marshal Silver couldn’t spare the time to think deeply about it. What concerned him more was whether their earlier actions were cautious—or simply confident.
What an opportunity it was—he’d already taken two wounds and faced King Liontusk’s close-range assault. If King Roc had taken a risk, he might have captured Tripitaka.
But they gave up...
Could they really be so sure that Monkey King couldn’t get here in time?
Just then, Marshal Silver sensed Monkey King burst out of the water again, wielding the Golden-Hooped Staff.
"Current position... fifty-one zhang northwest..."
A mouthful of blood spilled from Marshal Silver’s lips.
They’d moved again—even though they hadn’t budged, the river and even the riverbed silt were shifting. Worse, Monkey King’s distance kept changing, proving he hadn’t escaped the riverbed’s trap.
With things like this, could Monkey King really find him?
Just when Marshal Silver was losing hope, Monkey King—falling from midair—adjusted his posture and pointed the Golden-Hooped Staff straight at the spot Marshal Silver had reported!
"Extend—!"
With a shout, Monkey King’s Golden-Hooped Staff suddenly stretched, piercing the river, scraping Marshal Silver’s shield, and stabbing into the silt beside Tripitaka at the riverbed!