Heaven-Defying Rebel Sage-Chapter 81: Green Snake Fearlessly Faces the Great Catastrophe

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Green Snake Fearlessly Faces the Great Catastrophe

Tathagata spread his palm and smiled, "If I could suppress you for five hundred years, I can do it again for another five hundred years. Do you want to bet again?"

Wukong, furious to the point of laughter, exclaimed, "Very well, Tathagata! You perform the feat of holding a Buddha land in your palm, creating a realm to trap me. To outsiders, this seems like an all-encompassing ability, yet you cloak it with compassion, leaving leeway! I’ve always wondered why everyone in the Buddhist Sect is so deceptive and sanctimonious. You truly live up to being that dead Tang Monk’s master!"

Having said that, he grabbed his Buddha Beating Staff and soared into the sky, swinging furiously at Tathagata.

Tathagata, with his extremely high cultivation level, would not allow Wukong to hit him. With a flick of his finger, a ray of Buddha’s Light, seemingly transcending time and space, struck Wukong’s face directly, leaving his face swollen and bruised, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth as he was sent flying.

Tathagata caught Wukong in his hand and smiled, "I give you another chance to fly, to see if you can escape from the palm of my hand."

Manjushri Bodhisattva smirked at the side. It seemed this monkey was going to endure another oppression. Tathagata didn’t kill Wukong because he wanted to regain his face. If he could suppress you once, he could do it twice, if he could for five hundred years, then he could for a thousand years.

Wukong struck Tathagata’s fingers with his staff, angrily shouting, "Do you really see me as an ant?"

But with a flash of golden light from those fingers, Wukong was repelled back. He frenziedly struck dozens of times with his staff to no avail.

Wukong thought to himself, "This is suffering! Xuan Ming warned me never to leave the Water Curtain Cave, but I wouldn’t listen, and now I face calamity. Tathagata wants to recover his face and likely won’t kill me, but I’ll be suppressed again for God knows how many hundreds or thousands of years!"

Meanwhile, Green Snake had already hidden far away, applying an Invisibility Talisman given by Xuan Ming to herself, and quietly chanting a spell. A strand of golden monkey hair hidden in her hair began to glow. Her figure flickered, and she transformed into Wukong’s appearance, while holding two other monkey hairs in her hand.

In the eyes of the Buddha Ancestor and the Bodhisattvas, she was an insignificant character not worth their attention, nor would they take action themselves. Seeing her flee, they let her escape.

Wukong was helpless and had to use his Somersault Cloud, flipping over eighteen thousand miles away!

Tathagata clenched his fingers into a mountain, aiming to suppress Wukong beneath it.

In the distance, Green Snake stopped her spell chant, and her body disappeared in a flash of light after executing the Witch Clan’s secret technique of body swapping taught by Xuan Ming, switching places with Wukong in Buddha’s palm. As the Five Fingers Mountain descended, she clasped her hands, not in reverence to Buddha, but praying for escape from this disaster.

This was a Witch Clan secret technique, and not even the Buddha Ancestor and the Bodhisattvas noticed that the one in the palm was no longer Wukong, but the inconspicuous Green Snake.

The Five Fingers Mountain crushed down on Green Snake, and Tathagata held the Five Elements Mountain in his hand and laughed, "Wukong, another five hundred years of suppression, and let’s see if you remain so defiant!"

Wukong, watching this from the side, wondered how he suddenly escaped from Tathagata’s palm, and who was the person now being suppressed under the Five Fingers Mountain?

Tathagata laughed heartily as he held the Five Elements Mountain and moved towards the Western Direction. Manjushri Bodhisattva mounted the Green Lion, called Jinzha over to carry a sword and hold the Seven Treasures Golden Lotus, and followed the Buddha Ancestor.

Wukong suddenly noticed a golden hair floating in front of him, quickly catching it with his hand—it was one of his own monkey hairs.

"Is this... one of the three monkey hairs I gave to Green Snake?" Wukong looked at the hair in his hand, his heart trembling.

He looked towards the Western Direction and muttered, "Does that mean, the one who suffered the calamity for me, was Green Snake?"

Wukong felt chaotic as if his heart was pierced by thousands of arrows. Why did another girl make such a huge sacrifice for him? He felt immensely guilty!

I’ve already wronged Zixia, why must I wrong Green Snake too?

Wukong sighed softly and a True Fire surged in his hand, burning the monkey hair to ash. His eyes were half-closed, and on his Golden Core appeared the one thousand and first spiraling mark, this path called "Emotion." The Path of Emotion is the most difficult to unravel. Wukong had some understanding, but this comprehension was so painful, so saddening.

He barely knew Green Snake; she was willing to sacrifice herself for him, for a deeply hidden sorrowful emotion within her heart.

Zixia felt the same, didn’t she?

Wukong looked up at the sky, unable to hold back his tears, raised his staff angrily towards the Western Direction, and shouted, "Tathagata, I will kill you!"

The moment the one thousand and first mark appeared on the Golden Core, Wukong felt a surge of immense power throughout his body. He had finally touched upon that rule, gently reaching out his hand, now able to twist it. He, a mere Taiyi Golden Immortal, had mastered the power of rules, a power only a Daluo Golden Immortal should wield, allowing him to bend it unexpectedly against his foes.

A woman in a pink dress walked towards him slowly, her face carrying an unusual tranquility.

Wukong knelt on the ground, his palms on the dirt, feeling as if his heart was being pierced through.

The newcomer was Xuan Ming, her face no longer cold and harsh as before, but exuding an indescribable warmth.

"Heaven-Defying," Xuan Ming called out softly.

This was the name Heaven-Defying used in his second reincarnation. Heaven-Defying Swordsman!

Wukong lifted his head lightly and sighed, "It is your plan, right?"

Xuan Ming nodded and said, "This tribulation is hard to overcome, we must replace him with someone else."

Wukong slowly stood up, gazed at Xuan Ming for a long time, and said, "So that’s how it is."

Xuan Ming subtly smiled, she seldom smiled, but when she did, it felt like the ice and snow melting, spring warming and flowers blooming. She mastered slaughter, her knowing smile was like a plum blossom quietly blooming amid the fierce winter snow—not coquettish, but exuding an ethereal beauty and elegance.

Xuan Ming said, "Do you hate me?"

Wukong dusted off his clothes and sighed, "Hate? You saved me, how could I hate you? Everything you did was for me, how could I make you sad? Yet, someone else has suffered the tribulation for me; it saddens my heart."

Xuan Ming smiled faintly and said, "Is she the second Zixia?"

Wukong, holding his Buddha Beating Staff, thrust it into the ground causing the surrounding area to tremble ceaselessly, as if the earth dragon were turning over. He slowly exhaled a long breath before speaking, "Now that she has faced the tribulation for me, I can no longer recover it... Eventually, I will ascend to the Western Heaven, and tear apart these deceitful gods and Buddhas to their face for their kindness and affection!"

Xuan Ming said, "You do not need to repay my kindness and affection."

Wukong gritted his teeth, lifted his head, and said, "I will repay you someday!"

Xuan Ming, feeling displeased in her heart, sternly said, "I said you don’t need to repay it!"

Wukong pondered for a moment, sighed deeply again, and said, "Do you want me to owe you for a lifetime?"

Xuan Ming said, "Not for a lifetime, I only ask for a fixed term... I hope it to be ten thousand years."

Having said that, she employed the Wind Escape, rose in the wind, floating ethereally like a fairy, with a corner of her lips curling up in a peerless smile, and disappeared into the horizon.

Wukong smiled bitterly in his heart; having entered reincarnation, he had not found Zixia but had tied himself to a significant cause and effect. To resolve this cause and effect, did it truly require ten thousand years? He did not know, nor did he want to. Zixia had become a thing of the past, uncatchable as the wind, yet Wukong always felt he could find her, as if... as if she were right beside him watching over him, just like those five hundred years, silently observing, never shifting her gaze, never wavering her thoughts.

If among the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Xuan Ming was the least likely to be moved, fate teased and played, six reincarnations passed, only in the seventh did one’s true heart emerge... In such deep entanglements within reincarnation, even a Saint might lose hold of themselves.

Wukong caressed his face with his hand, letting out a fierce howl, and headed towards the Water Curtain Cave.

The Buddha Ancestor used his mana to capture the Five Elements Mountain within the Western Direction domain, then casually threw it into a desolate desert.

"Five hundred years from now, I will deal with you again," Tathagata said indifferently, looking toward Spiritual Mount.

Green Snake transformed into Wukong’s form, was suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain. She placed her hands together, her mind serene, and smilingly said, "Only today have I truly seen through the true faces of you hypocritical Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! By suffering for him, Green Snake has no regrets. He is the great hero of the Demon Tribe, the Green Emperor of the Demon Tribe, destined to lead the Demon Tribe towards freedom... You, these deceitful Buddhas, one day soon, will be torn to pieces by him!"

"Hypocritical gods and Buddhas, I no longer fear you!" Green Snake said, her smile serene and ethereal.

"I am humble, only able to humbly gaze at you, look up at your retreating figure. You are the Green Emperor of the Demon Tribe, while I am but a mere little snake spirit, insignificant as dust. Now, do you recognize my existence, do you know my intentions?" Green Snake whispered softly, "Even if suppressed for a hundred or a thousand years, I have no regrets."

Green Snake sighed, thinking to herself, "Sister, I finally understand you. So, this is what love is..."

"Green Snake has no regrets."

At that moment, an old Zen Master came walking through the desert, glanced at Green Snake.

The Zen Master placed his palms together and sighed, "Beyond calamities, beyond measure! My good disciple, you have escaped another calamity."

Then, he slightly shook his head and departed.

Confused, Green Snake called out, "Old monk, what is your name?"

The old Zen Master did not turn back, did not speak, and disappeared into the swirling sandstorm.