Achilles felt power rushing through him and wondered, had Freya’s healing really gone up another notch?
Not only was it faster, but more thorough than ever.
As everyone reveled in their newfound strength, Achilles suddenly paled, looking down at his abdomen—it was actually slightly swollen!
And not just him, everyone noticed something strange about their bodies.
“Sorry,” Freya smiled, “just a tiny side effect. After absorbing the authority of the Subhuti River, my healing got a massive boost, but also a few ‘minor’ drawbacks.”
She checked her teammates’ state, estimating, “Hm—should last about three to four hours?”
Everyone: “……”
Achilles and the others looked ashen, but had to admit—the feeling of being back at full power was just too good.
There was no way to refuse.
Besides, once burned, twice shy… but you get used to it!
Achilles glared at Yellow Browed Monster, “Attack!”
He gritted his teeth, “Take them all down!”
***
This scene left everyone at the Jianxia Mountains speechless.
“Never thought Freya would end up getting the biggest benefit.”
“Exactly, to bring the whole team back to peak form in no time—a healer like this is priceless.”
“As for that side effect…” Someone hesitated, but could only cough awkwardly.
At this point, the battlefield had split in two.
Achilles’ team faced Yellow Browed Monster, while Su Fu stood alone against the Bull Demon King.
“Achilles’ team really is strong,” Fox Hart sighed, “multiple power attackers, a super healer, and a flawless prophet…”
But as for Su Fu…
Many couldn’t bear to watch, turning away.
“Forget three minutes—lasting even one blow is already impressive,” Fujiwara Chiyo shook her head.
“Yeah,” Kofman’s eyes showed sympathy, “and now there’s no Yellow Browed Monster to distract him, no teammates to balance things out—it’s just her and him…”
How could she possibly win?
She was doomed to lose.
On screen, the Bull Demon King had reached Su Fu, his iron staff sweeping down with a torrent of rage, aiming to crush her head-on!
“Die!”
At the critical moment, Su Fu swung her Golden Cudgel, meeting the iron staff head-on.
Her Saint’s Manifestation behind her moved in perfect sync, the hundred-meter-tall golden monkey wielding an equally enlarged Golden Cudgel, perfectly overlapping with the one in her hands, magnifying her power.
“Boom—!”
Golden Cudgel collided with iron staff, a burst of blinding golden light and a thunderous crack as if tearing heaven and earth apart.
The two forces cancelled each other out, neither yielding, both combatants blasted backward by the shockwave, skidding dozens of steps and carving deep ruts into the ground.
The Bull Demon King panted heavily, eyes red as blood, face twisted with rage.
“Well, well,” his voice rasped, “you really did inherit some of that monkey’s skill, blocking my strike.”
Before the words faded, he turned into a blur, charging Su Fu again.
His second blow howled through the air; Su Fu sidestepped, Golden Cudgel sweeping at the Bull Demon King’s waist.
The Bull Demon King took a half step back, not giving her any chance to breathe.
His iron staff spun, bringing a third blow crashing down from above.
“Boom!”
They clashed again, the shockwave scattering clouds above, revealing a patch of clear sky.
The two pulled apart, pausing for breath, eyes locked.
For a moment, neither gained the upper hand.
“What damned monkey,” Su Fu sneered, “If the Great Sage is a monkey, then you’re just a stubborn ox, aren’t you?”
She’d wanted to retort for a long time.
The Bull Demon King’s face darkened, nostrils flaring with twin jets of white air as he roared, “You brat, you’ve got a sharp tongue.”
His eyes contemptuous, “What Great Sage? He’s just a dog for the gods and Buddhas now, having turned to their fold—does he still deserve the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven?”
He hated Sun Wukong for submitting to the Buddhists, hated him even more for harming his own child for their sake, and for extinguishing his own Flame Mountain…
All these grudges, he’d take out on the little girl before him.
He refused to believe that if she died, that damned monkey wouldn’t show himself.
At that moment, Su Fu suddenly raised the Golden Cudgel high, her Saint’s Manifestation behind her mirroring her move, both bringing their massive cudgels crashing down on the Bull Demon King with the force of a mountain!
The Golden Cudgel, splitting the air, came down from above, as if to crush everything beneath it!
“You’re fit to speak of the Great Sage?” Su Fu barked coldly.
“Your child made trouble first, and Iron Fan Princess indulged in turning the Flame Mountain into your private domain, harming the people for profit! If the Great Sage hadn’t intervened, countless innocents would have suffered! Who are you to blame anyone? You brought this on yourself!”
“Ha!” The Bull Demon King roared, catching the blow with his iron staff!
“Boom—!”
Su Fu had put all her strength into this strike; the Bull Demon King was forced back by sheer force, his feet gouging two deep ruts into the ground, retreating over a hundred steps before he barely managed to stabilize himself.
His arms trembled slightly as he lifted his head, staring at Su Fu in shock, ‘How could she possess such tremendous power?’
Their eyes met, both of them gasping heavily.
Su Fu felt as though her internal organs were burning fiercely.
She couldn’t help but inwardly praise: As expected of the Bull Demon King!
His divine strength was truly terrifying, and his combat skills were formidable as well.
Even with the Saint’s Manifestation bolstering her, raising all her abilities by more than tenfold, she could only manage a draw against this mighty Bull Demon King.
In Journey to the West, the true Bull Demon King was indeed a powerful fighter.
To capture him, Sun Wukong not only summoned the Four Heavenly Kings, but also invited Pagoda-bearing Heavenly King Li and Nezha Third Prince.
Together, they surrounded and besieged the Bull Demon King.
Yet even then, the Bull Demon King fought them all in a fierce battle.
In the end, he was wounded by Nezha Prince with the Demon-Slaying Sword and immobilized by Li Heavenly King’s Yaoguang Mirror.
Only then, exhausted, was he captured.
To be sworn brothers with the Great Sage, this “Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven” certainly lived up to his title.
Su Fu stared intently at the Bull Demon King before her.
So, to what extent had this anomaly been copied?
“Hahahaha!” The Bull Demon King roared with laughter.
“What a ‘not worthy’! What a ‘you brought this upon yourself’!”
Blood-red light surged in his eyes, and his twisted, fierce expression became a terrifying grin: “Now, you deserve to die here! You truly brought this upon yourself!”
Before the words even faded, the Bull Demon King’s body began to change drastically.
His form swelled rapidly, limbs morphing as his hands and feet became hooves, his horns on his brow grew thicker and sharper.
Within seconds, he had fully transformed into a colossal, snow-white ox.
This ox was a hundred meters tall, its body pure white, breath roaring like a dragon and gusting in waves.
Muscles coiled and bulged across its form, emanating an overwhelming sense of power.
“This is—” Su Fu’s pupils contracted, “His true form! He’s even mastered transformation?”
In Journey to the West, the Bull Demon King’s true form was this enormous white ox, which was why he could battle the Great Sage’s Saint’s Manifestation to a standstill.
Now, this anomaly had copied the Bull Demon King’s characteristic.
Although not quite a hundred zhang tall, if it were given more time to grow…
An S-class Anomaly, already extremely close to the original.
In the Jianxia Mountains, everyone was too shocked for words.
A giant ox a hundred meters tall.
Fujiwara Chiyo stared at the scene in disbelief.
So the Bull Demon King hadn’t even been using his full strength before?
Even so, he’d nearly beaten her half to death.
But what stunned the crowd even more—
“Su Fu… she can actually fight the Bull Demon King to a draw?” Lina subconsciously looked at Fujiwara Chiyo.
Not only were they evenly matched, but Su Fu even gained the upper hand at times.
Fujiwara Chiyo: “…..”
‘Why are you looking at me?’
She wanted to slip away, but leaving now would be even more embarrassing.
“Great Sage Equal to Heaven…” someone muttered, “Just how powerful is that?”
The key to fighting the Bull Demon King evenly lay undoubtedly in Su Fu’s Saint’s Manifestation—that is, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
“So, she can contend with the Bull Demon King’s concept of ‘strength’?”
Hiss—everyone exchanged looks, utterly shaken.
They watched as the Bull Demon King in the projection transformed into his true form.
That colossal ox, just by standing there, exuded suffocating pressure.
It was like a moving mountain, an unstoppable force of nature.
“So,” Zhou Yu speculated, “this true form is the source of his ‘strength’ concept? This white ox represents primitive strength, bestial power—raw, pure might and Su Fu’s Saint’s Manifestation happened to counteract that strength, which was why the earlier fight was so balanced, a true fifty-fifty.”
“But now…” Fujiwara Chiyo’s expression grew grave, “With the Bull Demon King’s true form revealed, his power will surely skyrocket.”
Everyone stared anxiously at the projection, dreading the next second would show Su Fu being crushed into pulp by a single hoof.
Would the tide turn completely?
The giant white ox bellowed toward the sky, then lowered its massive head, blood-red eyes fixed on Su Fu.
“Your time is up!” With that, it stomped forward, each step sinking the earth several feet, yet its speed was astonishing.
Its horns lowered, as if to skewer her in a single charge.
The wind howled around it, reducing everything in its path to dust.
This was the ultimate use of the “strength” concept—obliterating, pulverizing, annihilating all before it.
Upon seeing this true form, Su Fu merely let out a soft sigh and put away the Golden Cudgel.
“In that case”, She spoke, “For the sake of slaying demons and subduing devils, I call upon—”
“Fighting Buddha!”
In an instant, heaven and earth changed color.
Golden light blazed and the howling winds turned into bursts of Sanskrit chanting, as if echoing from the Ninth Heaven.
The manifestation behind Su Fu began to transform.
The phoenix-winged golden coronet atop its head became a halo of Buddha’s radiance.
The golden armor on its body turned into a gold kasaya.
The brilliance was dazzling, illuminating the world.
No longer the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, but… the Fighting Buddha.
Buddhist chants resounded, Sanskrit hymns unceasing, the manifestation’s aura vast and majestic, gazing down upon all beings.
The gigantic white ox’s hoof crashed down, about to grind Su Fu to dust, but at the instant it touched that golden light, its hoof slammed into an invisible mountain and could advance no further—then was forcefully bounced back.
“Demon, your sins are grave and karma entangles you.” The distant voice of the Fighting Buddha rang out, like a morning bell and evening drum. “Yet you remain unrepentant. Today, I shall bring you to justice!”
The Bull Demon King roared in fury.
That hundred-meter-tall white ox body once again lunged to crush Su Fu.
“Damn dog of the Buddhist sect, playing tricks!”
Su Fu and the manifestation of the Fighting Buddha behind her slowly raised their right hands in unison, that giant palm meeting the charging ox with casual grace.
“Boom—!”
The collision exploded with shockwaves like a tsunami, spreading in all directions.
The giant white ox was flipped over, blood gushing instantly.
At that moment, Su Fu seemed to hear the Great Sage’s sigh in her ear: ‘The journey for scriptures is fraught with perils. Slaying demons and subduing devils is not merely the destruction of form, but the salvation of the heart.’
Su Fu’s spirit trembled, she suddenly turned, gazing at the towering manifestation behind her.
In that instant, she and the Great Sage’s eyes met, as though all else ceased.
Insignificance and grandeur, the momentary and the eternal, suffering and transcendence.
The Great Sage was conversing with her, telling her of his own path.
What path?
Journey to the West.
The Great Sage asked: ‘How should one move forward?’
This question echoed in her heart, and in a flash, the answer became clear.
‘Press on without hesitation.’ These four words exploded in Su Fu’s mind like a bolt of lightning.
Countless scenes flickered before her eyes, from Huaguo Mountain to Wuxing Mountain, from the pilgrimage to Ling Shan for enlightenment…
That was the path of the Great Sage.
Unprecedented enlightenment surged within her, a thousand threads of thought suddenly clear.
Press on without hesitation—such is the Fighting Buddha.