Chapter Nineteen: The Buddha Arrives in the East; The Fiery Ordeal of Fire Mountain

  Power cut for a whole night, made Viola very upset, fortunately it's not too late, first update!

  Western Spiritual Mountain

  Youyi Lingguan and Yisheng Zhenjun, along with all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, paid their respects. Afterwards, they faced the Nine-Step Lotus Platform and bowed three times to the Tathagata Buddha Patriarch.

  "What important matter does Jade Emperor have? It's a trouble to bother the two saints to come to my Western Spiritual Mountain." Many Treasures Tathagata sat high on the lotus platform, opening his mouth to ask the two below.

  "Return to the Buddha's ancestor." The two of them heard this and hastily replied: "Some time ago, a stone monkey appeared on the Flower Fruit Mountain in the Eastern Victory God Continent of the lower world. It is unknown where he learned his magical powers, but he gathered a group of monkeys and caused chaos in the lower world. The Jade Emperor issued an edict to recruit him, and appointed him as 'Bai Ma Wen'. Who would have thought that he was dissatisfied with the small official position, and instead rebelled against the Heavenly Court? The Great Heavenly Respect dispatched Li Tianwang and Nezha San Taizi to capture him, but they were unsuccessful. Another edict was issued to recruit him, and he was appointed as 'Qitian Dasheng' with an official position but no salary. He was only in charge of guarding the Peach Garden, but unexpectedly, he stole peaches, and later, during the Peach Festival, he snuck into the Jade Pool, stole food and wine, and disrupted the grand assembly. Moreover, relying on his drunkenness, he sneaked into Lao Jun's palace and stole the elixir. Fortunately, Guanyin recommended Erlang Shen to capture the monkey head, and with the help of Lao Jun's golden might, they finally captured him. However, who would have thought that the monkey head had such powerful magical powers? Knives, guns, axes, and halberds could not harm him, and he was also unafraid of thunder and lightning. Only when Lao Jun suggested pushing him into the Eight Trigrams Furnace to refine him did they realize that after 49 days, he would be refined into an elixir. Unexpectedly, he escaped again, jumped out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace, and caused chaos in the palace. Now, he is rampaging through the Heavenly Court, killing everywhere. Only when Wang Lingguan from the Fire Department and the 36 Thunder Generals from the Thunder Department joined forces were they able to surround him outside the Dou Niu Palace. The Great Heavenly Respect has therefore dispatched us two to request that the Buddha's ancestor go to the Heavenly Court to subdue the demonic monkey, in order to restore the dignity of the Heavenly Court."

  "Haha!" The Tathagata smiled slightly upon hearing this, casting his gaze around the grand hall before looking towards the eastern horizon, as if seeing through the endless void to the scenes unfolding in the heavenly court.

  "We were on our way here, and we still heard him shouting over there, wanting to fight his way up to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and take the throne of the Heavenly Lord." Seeing that Tathagata did not speak, the Holy Lord Yun continued to open his mouth again.

  "Alas!" The Tathagata heard the words, but remained silent for a long time. He looked at everyone, then gazed at the two people in front of him before speaking: "Heaven's will is thus, the Great Heavenly Lord has invited me, and I shall go forthwith."

  Having spoken, he turned his head to the many Bodhisattvas beside him and said: "You all sit steadily in the Dharma court, do not disturb the meditation seats, wait for me to refine the demons and rescue the carriage."

  He then nodded towards the two of them and called out to ānanda and Mahākā?yapa, who were standing by his side. He left the Thunder Sound Temple and headed east...

  But at this moment, a massive earthquake occurred in the Western Wilderness of Hongyuan.

  Originally, outside the nine heavens, for some unknown reason, a huge fire brick suddenly flew down, burning with purple flames, raging fiercely, and soaring to a height of ten thousand feet. A scorching, violent breath swept across the west, just like the golden crow that had caused chaos in the vast wilderness at the beginning, causing the living beings in the west to be terrified and uneasy.

  It was that fire brick that covered the sky and obscured the sun, and when it fell to the ground, it transformed into a giant mountain range of ten thousand feet. Only a loud "rumble" sound was heard, and the entire western region shook three times. Moreover, countless ordinary people were frightened to death, but those who woke up found that the giant mountain had inexplicably moved 300 miles westward without harming the nearby city-states.

  On this day, all the immortals and demons in the Western world knew that three hundred miles west of Mount Qingyun, a new mountain had emerged, called Huoyan Mountain. The mountain was as its name suggested, with flames spreading across its surface, covering an area of one hundred miles where not even a single blade of grass grew.

  Wuzhuangguan

  In the quiet room, Zhenyuanzi gained insight into the heavenly machine and fed back the news about the great disturbance in heaven and the descent of Huoyanshan after entering concentration and waking up.

  "Huoyan Mountain?" Zhenyuanzi's expression turned solemn, and a large auspicious cloud emerged from behind his head. Within the cloud, a bright blue light shone, and there was a large tree floating up and down in it. A thick yellow glow lingered among the branches of the tree, which was actually a jade book - the terrestrial fetal membrane, the pre-heavenly spiritual treasure land scripture.

  "Hmm!"

  After a long time, Zhenyuan opened his eyes and smiled slightly: "This is very good, my good younger brother. Although you may not remember the past, and this life is even more trapped in a desperate situation, as your older brother, I must protect you completely."

  As soon as the words were spoken, a message was sent into the earth book with a raised hand. Amidst the faintness, a hazy yellow glow flew out of Wuzhuang Temple and headed straight for the Ninth Underworld.

  A moment later, another faint blue light flew out of the Taichu Temple in the underworld and headed towards the Western Wilderness of the Hongyuan Continent, towards the Flame Mountain in Xiniuhezhou.

  "Ah!"

  In the Flame Mountain, in a cave, a Taoist priest opened his eyes. As if sensing some heavenly machine, he looked westward to the sky.

  "Hum!"

  About a third of the incense stick later, a faint blue light descended from the sky and landed in front of the Taoist priest. It transformed into a black iron token with the words "Nine You" on it, as well as three mountains and five peaks.

  "Hiss!"

  The Taoist saw this, but instead reached out to take it, hesitated for a moment, and then revealed a smile. He put away the iron order and bowed in the direction of Jiuyou and Wanshou Mountain, saying: "Thank you, Master and Great Immortal."

  In Wuzhuang Temple, he felt the gratitude of Taoist priests, but Zhenyuanzi just smiled and shook his head, stroked his beard, stood up straight and walked out of the door.

  In the backyard of Wuzhuang Temple, Hong Haier and Qingfeng Mingyue, along with his own little brother Zheng Yanba, stared eagerly at the ginseng fruit shining brightly among the branches.

  It turned out that since the last Peach Conference, Qingfeng Mingyue had known about his master's attitude towards Hong Haier, and he was as close to him as the second master used to be. Moreover, the four of them looked similar in age, although the first two were actually old demons who had lived for countless years, but their nature was still like that of children. The two sides felt even closer, so they often hung out together. Qingfeng Mingyue even privately called Hong Haier "Little Master", distinguishing him from the second master who had already passed away.

  After getting drunk, Qingfeng let slip that the ginseng fruit, although it only bears thirty fruits every ten thousand years and is even rarer than peaches, still has a considerable number of remaining fruits after countless years since the opening of the Honghuang world. The Zhenyuan Great Immortal's divine powers are vast and profound, so he naturally understands the method of nourishment, causing the fruit to neither leave the tree nor fall off and get damaged.

  At that time, when the witch calamity was still raging and people often came to this place to catch the autumn wind, they would harm the ginseng fruit. Now that person is gone, and Master wants these fruits only for alchemy and to satisfy his appetite, so he has kept quite a few of them.

  Upon hearing this, how could the Red Boy not be moved? That Sun Monkey had eaten more than half of the Peaches of Immortality Garden and even stolen the ambrosia, divine wine, and elixir. He had obtained the Taiyi Golden Immortal cultivation. The accumulation of countless years by the Town Temple Great Immortal was even greater!

  Although our family is currently unable to improve its cultivation due to internal issues, isn't it true that good things are always welcome?

  Furthermore, the Flame Mountain should also descend into the world now, and one's own opportunity will arrive. At that time, as long as one refines the innate fire spirit within their body, their Dao cultivation will be able to advance by leaps and bounds.

  Moreover, although my father the king has not personally taught me, those various skills, such as the Nine Revolutions of the Daoist Gate's Mysterious Merit, have already been passed down. When the time comes, I will be able to use them with ease, just like a monkey. With countless divine elixirs and wonderful medicines to supplement my magical powers, becoming the Taiyi Golden Immortal is not an easy task?

  Hong Haier's heart was thinking, but it was a bit fluttered, staring at the huge tree crown below, countless fruits flashing with strange colors, his eyes shining brightly. The name of the person who had harmed the ginseng fruit, Qingfeng Er, although they hadn't mentioned it, Hong Haier was also a transmigrator, how could he not be familiar with the first good man and jinxed egg in the vast wilderness, Red Cloud Old Ancestor?

  There are some sighs, in the vastness of the universe, everything seems to be predetermined by heaven. The Heavenly Way dominates the vastness, and the overall trend remains unchanged. Although I relied on crossing over and knew some causes and consequences, if I wanted to defy heaven, I still felt my scalp tingling with fear.

  "Ah!" A pained cry rang out, and it was Qingfeng who had accidentally triggered a seal while using the Golden Hammer to strike the Ginseng Fruit, getting struck by a bolt of True Earth Thunder.

  The ginseng fruit is more precious than the peaches of immortality. Although Zhenyuanzi no longer needs it to enhance his magical powers, such a treasure is unique to the Hongmang world, so how can he not cherish it? The area around the ginseng tree is naturally heavily restricted, and even if a quasi-sage were to come here, they would not be able to get any benefits.

  It's just that Qingfeng Mingyue is extremely familiar with the restrictions in this place, and without the permission of Zhen Yuansu, it's also difficult to pick a single fruit.

  Fortunately, the Town Temple Master took great care of his own disciples, always turning a blind eye and shutting down most of the powerful restrictions. This is also why during the Western Journey, Sun Wukong, a small Taiyi immortal, was able to steal peaches and push trees.

  "Clear wind and bright moon!" Zhenyuanzi Fang walked out of the house, stretched out his divine sense and saw this scene, but he was speechless with laughter, and spoke out loud.

  "Alas!"

  The four people who were stealing heard the sound, and they all shouted in unison, flying towards the outside of the courtyard. The one watching from the side, the Carefree True Immortal, shook his head repeatedly. Lowering his head, he didn't pay attention to the four little rascals, continuing to think about what to do next.

  "Hey!" Zhen Yuansu saw this, but couldn't help but laugh. He stretched out his hand and a figure appeared before him - it was the Red Boy who had been running at the front.

  "Ah!" Hong Haier was originally about to go out the back door, but unexpectedly felt dizzy and disoriented, let out a cry of surprise, and found himself standing in front of Zhen Yuansi.

  "Hmm." Zhenyuanzi didn't seem to have any intention of blaming him, instead he looked at himself with a playful expression. Hong Haier's mind was certain. He whispered "Old Glass" and then smiled and looked at Zhenyuanzi: "That, great immortal, senior, hmm, the scenery of Wuzhuangguan is not bad."

  After finishing speaking, his old face turned red, he raised his head to look at the sky, and the soft sunlight shone into his eyes, feeling very dazzling.

  "You little scamp." Seeing that Hong Haier was telling a lie and his face turned red, Zhen Yuansu shook his head, cursed lightly, and immediately changed the subject, saying: "Just now in Xicow Hezhou, something big happened."

  "What?" Hong Haier was secretly scolding in his heart, but was again sparked with interest by a sentence from Zhen Yuansi.

  "There was a 'Blazing Mountain' that fell from the Ninth Heaven, causing the Western multitude to tremble." Zhenyuanzi saw Hong Haier's expression and smiled slightly.

  "Blazing Mountain!" Upon hearing these words, Hong Haier's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness, and then his face revealed an excited expression.

  "What? Does Little Friend know about this mountain?" Zhenyuanzi saw this and was taken aback for a moment, then became somewhat perplexed.

  "Hmm." Hong Haier's heart skipped a beat, but he shook his head repeatedly and dryly said: "I don't know, I hope the great immortal will enlighten me."

  "I have calculated that the arrival of the Flame Mountain this time is your opportunity. You should go and prepare, then leave my Five Elements Temple and go seek out your opportunity." Zhenyuanzi wanted to speak but stopped himself, although he had doubts in his heart, he didn't say anything, only sighing that this person was still as honest as he was back then.

  "The junior thanks the great immortal for pointing out the way." Hong Hai'er saw this, but was secretly delighted. Although he had hoped to gain more benefits in the Five Elements Hall, since Zhenyuanzi refused to take action himself and wanted him to go find opportunities, he must have had his reasons. Besides, it's better to rely on oneself than to seek others.

  Coming from the future, Hong Haier naturally knew that going to Huoyan Mountain was a choice to quickly improve his own strength. He no longer paid attention to the strangeness of Zhenyuanzi, and after giving him a courtesy, he respectfully went towards the Wuzhuangguan Xie Fang.

  "Alas!" Gazing at the back of Hong Haier, Zhen Yuansu shook his head and let out a soft sigh, looking up at the endless void as if there was something melancholic in his memories...