Mother Nuwa hesitated briefly. In the next instant, she saw the Six-Eared Macaque turn and charge toward Tripitaka.
......
On the mountainside, the Buddhas pressed their palms together and began silently reciting sutras once again.
Yet, the Tightening Spell could no longer restrain the Six-Eared Macaque.
......
The Six-Eared Macaque roared, enduring the searing pain from the Golden Circlet, and his charge toward Tripitaka grew ever faster.
......
Mother Nuwa’s eyes widened slightly.
In her panic, she could only slam her palm heavily against the ground.
Suddenly, the earth behind Barry Bear exploded without warning, sand and stones swirling. A colossal stone wall, towering like a mountain, rose up out of nowhere.
The Six-Eared Macaque did not dodge or evade; he crashed straight into the wall.
With a thunderous roar, the stone wall shattered like rotting wood, serving only to delay the Six-Eared Macaque’s assault.
The stone barrier was pierced through.
In that split second, Barry Bear hurled Tripitaka aside and reached out to catch the Golden Staff wielded by the Six-Eared Macaque...
"Clang—"
A deafening crash.
No one could see clearly what had happened; all they knew was that the ground where Barry Bear stood erupted. Sand surged skyward like a fountain, the earth split open in an instant, and vast chasms spread across every corner.
Tripitaka, flung far away, crashed heavily to the ground. He stared in terror at the scene before him, reaching out—yet unable even to cry out.
In the next moment, Mother Nuwa was already standing before Tripitaka, raising a massive shield.
Amid the swirling sand and stones, the Six-Eared Macaque, trailing clouds of dust, shot upward like a rapidly growing branch, then veered suddenly toward the Emerald.
Yet, on the other side of the Emerald, there was another Mother Nuwa.
The Golden Staff swept across, and Mother Nuwa shifted her body slightly, lifting the Emerald to a higher level and easily dodging the attack.
The Six-Eared Macaque froze. He stared at the Mother Nuwa guarding the Emerald, glanced back at the Mother Nuwa shielding Tripitaka, and laughed.
“Not bad, very good, very good. Hahaha, excellent! Let’s see how many things you can protect!”
......
On the mountainside, Right-Dharma Radiance Tathāgata slowly lowered his hands and sighed, "In the end, it still had to happen."
The Buddhas all fell silent.
......
Upon the lotus platform, Tathāgata’s expression had long since grown utterly indifferent.
......
High overhead, the Three Pure Ones had already left the Southern Heaven Gate, heading toward the Western Isle.
"How much longer until Heavenly Tribulation ends?"
"Three quarters remain."
...
"Can you protect the mountain?"
The Golden Staff stretched long again, smashing down with terrible force onto a towering peak. Instantly, the mountain collapsed.
Mother Nuwa was stunned for a moment.
"Can you protect the earth?"
The Golden Staff smashed down hard, instantly gouging a deep pit into the plain, throwing up mountains on either side.
"Can you protect the river?"
Under the flash of lightning, the Golden Staff spun madly, sweeping across the land like slicing through tofu, obliterating everything it touched and hurling debris into the sky.
Everyone could only stare in shock, watching his rampage, powerless to stop it.
"Hahaha—! Can you protect the sun!"
In that instant, every mind flashed back to the scene from more than six hundred years ago.
Six centuries ago, Monkey’s apocalyptic battle for vengeance began with the slaying of the Sun Crow…
Mother Nuwa could no longer sit still. With a flicker, she split off an avatar and charged forward.
Two meteors burst through the Heavenly Tribulation clouds, colliding before the sun in the Sixth Heaven. Instantly, violent currents exploded outward, sweeping down from the Sixth Heaven. The whole world was shaken.
In the raging wind, not only the Western Isle—every blade of grass and tree in the world trembled. In the sky, Heavenly Tribulation left only a vast black hole, no more storm clouds.
"Heh heh heh, looks like I’ve finally found something else you care about." Six-Eared Macaque grinned viciously, pushing his power ever higher.
The Golden Staff advanced inch by inch along the place where their spiritual powers met.
Mother Nuwa unleashed all her strength, but still she was forced to retreat, step by step.
The avatars of Mother Nuwa—one shielding Tripitaka, one guarding the Emerald—both gradually faded, until they vanished without a trace.
Limitless Way against Limitless Way. In direct confrontation, Mother Nuwa could no longer spare energy for projections.
If this were six centuries ago, she might have managed it. Back then, the sun was the Sun Crow incarnate—if Mother Nuwa could hold out for just a moment, she could protect the sun as she protected Tripitaka and the Emerald. But the Sun Crow’s sun was slain by Monkey long ago.
Now the sun is a lifeless fireball, forged by Lord Lao and Subhuti. No one can move it.
Attack what must be defended. At this moment, Mother Nuwa was completely at a disadvantage.
Lightning flashed and tangled across the sky like a raging storm.
Mother Nuwa’s eyes narrowed into slits, locking onto Six-Eared Macaque. "You won’t win. There isn’t enough time for you to exhaust all my power."
"I know—I can’t win. But none of you will win, either." Six-Eared Macaque parted his lips, exhaling a breath that was instantly shredded by the swirling energy around him.
"You will not succeed."
"If I don’t try, how will I ever know? Ahahaha!" Six-Eared Macaque spun wildly, charging straight for Tripitaka.
Just as Mother Nuwa prepared to rush toward Tripitaka, he spun again, sweeping the Golden Staff straight at the sun. Helpless, Mother Nuwa was forced to turn back and brace herself against the staff’s assault.
...
Far away, the Three Pure Ones hovered quietly in midair, watching the contest between Mother Nuwa and Six-Eared Macaque.
Lord Skygate lowered his voice: "He’s already attacking the machinery of heaven and earth itself. We can’t wait any longer."
Turning, he glanced toward Lord Lao.
Lord Lao still blinked in hesitation, lost in thought.
...
On the lotus throne, Lord Buddha remained seated in perfect calm. His attention, from beginning to end, never left Tripitaka and Six-Eared Macaque.
...
At the foot of Spirit Mountain, amid the rolling sand and shattered stone, Tripitaka lay atop a mound of rubble, clawing through the debris with hands already torn and bloody.
"Hold on... You must hold on, your master is coming to save you... You can’t die. You mustn’t die. You absolutely mustn’t die. Your master... your master hasn’t reached Spirit Mountain yet... How can you die!" He kept muttering, repeating the words like a machine.
Tears fell, mixing with the blood-soaked earth, turning it a color of pure sorrow.
All his dreams and faith, once shining in the haze of hope, were now shattered by brutal reality.
His body, already at its limits, struggled on through the swirling dust—like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be snuffed out at any moment. Just as he was a wandering soul lost in the red-dust world, so was his entire journey westward.