His body plummeted from above.
As the world spun, countless attacks converged on Monkey, as if about to tear his frail body apart like a drifting, withered leaf.
In a daze, he saw the shield overhead flickering constantly.
In the next instant, he gathered all his strength and charged toward the formation.
......
Outside the core of the South Heaven Gate Grand Formation, Sanskrit characters danced across the battle array formed by the Five Directional Wardens. The five Wardens stood suspended at the array’s nodes, hands pressed together, faces serene.
The Heavenly Generals surrounding them looked lost, as if still unsure what had just happened.
“Father, is the formation alright?” Nezha called out loudly.
Seated on a floating meditation cushion, General Lee was struggling to peel away the two stones thrown into the array, already drenched in sweat.
A bolt of lightning struck the shield of the formation. The core talismans were in chaos, the entire South Heaven Gate shuddered, and massive stones fell from the towering walls. The generals below could barely stay upright, forced to hover in midair.
Forcing the two stones apart would be easy—any Heavenly General present could do it, not just General Lee. But once the stones entered the array core, it was as if they fused with it. Any movement would tug at all the surrounding talismans.
Normally, that would be fine; after separation, the system could be reset. But now, with Heavenly Tribulation raging outside, any disorder could be fatal. Before General Lee could fix the damage, the array might already be shattered by the tribulation...
Clearly, this was a long-planned scheme. These two seemingly ordinary stones had been prepared precisely for this crisis.
“There’s... there’s a problem... Ignore it for now. Guard the formation, deal with those five first!”
All the Heavenly Generals brandished their artifacts and slowly closed in on the Five Directional Wardens. The Wardens retreated with their battle array, but soon had nowhere left to go. The five exchanged glances and smiled helplessly.
Nezha stood at the front, Flame Spear in hand, shouting, “Any resistance will be met with execution!”
“Understood!”
......
Inside the Great Thunderclap Temple on Spirit Mountain, the colossal golden Buddha slowly opened his eyes, a faint smile on his lips. A moment later, the smile faded.
......
Outside South Heaven Gate, Monkey hurled himself forward with all his might, charging at the flickering shield of the formation, as fragile as a candle in the wind.
At this moment, with the formation in such a state, even without Heavenly Tribulation, a full-force strike from Monkey could break the shield. As long as he passed through South Heaven Gate, the tribulation would be blocked outside!
But just then, a blue-glowing shield quietly formed in front of him, blocking his way.
Startled, he tried to retreat, only to realize that many more such shields now surrounded him.
Panicked, he dodged again and again, but no matter what, he could not get any closer to the formation.
......
The golden Buddha’s eyes narrowed to slits.
......
“What is this?” Erik Yang, just arriving, froze in shock.
As he hesitated, the Seven Sages of Mount Mei, Skyhowl, and Skypride all arrived at his side.
Gavin the Goat Sage stroked his curled beard and said, “It seems Heavenly Tribulation has grown stronger.”
“A stronger tribulation can produce shields? I’ve never heard of such a thing!”
Before Erik Yang could move, a blue shield appeared before them, isolating them outside the tribulation zone.
......
In Mi’luo Palace, Lord Genesis and Lord Skygate were both stunned.
“What is that?” Master Taiyi asked softly. “Could it be that Heavenly Tribulation has gained sentience and knows the demon monkey wants to use the formation as shelter?”
“It’s not surprising,” Lord Genesis replied quietly. “Heavenly Tribulation comes from beyond the sky, the soul of the world incarnate, meant to maintain balance. If it has intelligence, that’s no surprise. But how deep that intelligence goes, no one can say.”
Hearing this, Master Taiyi stood up quickly and bowed. “Master, I will go to South Heaven Gate.”
Lord Genesis waved his hand. “Go.”
Before the words had finished echoing, Master Taiyi had already turned into a beam of white light, shooting out of the hall at full speed toward South Heaven Gate.