Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

"Duanmu Arhat, how have you come out? It's not time yet!"

The approaching group of Arhat Venerables looked at Duanmu Arhat stepping out from the space channel, somewhat puzzled. It had been less than two months since Duanmu Arhat had entered the Twenty-Four Heavens' Worlds. How come he was already coming out? The three-year cultivation period was so precious, what was he thinking?

"I left behind an important item outside; I must go retrieve it."

Duanmu Arhat chuckled, not daring to linger any longer and, at Sun Wukong's urging, walked towards the outskirt of the side hall.

"Strange, what kind of important item is worth making a special trip out for?"

The several Arhat Venerables looked at each other in confusion, quite puzzled. But since it was Duanmu Arhat's own affair and he didn't mind wasting time, why should they meddle needlessly? Shaking their heads, they continued towards the passage to the side hall and the main hall; it was almost time for Tathagata Buddha's sermon, so hurrying there to listen was the sensible thing to do.

"Why are so many people coming this way? Did you secretly do something?"

Duanmu Arhat, with Sun Wukong who had transformed into a tiny insect, left the side hall and walked quickly towards the doors of Great Thunder Sound Temple. However, after just a few steps, they saw a large crowd of Arhats, Venerables, Heavenly Kings, and Bhikkhus flooding in from every direction, heading towards the main hall of Great Thunder Sound Temple.

Sun Wukong's heart tightened, a chill flashed in his eyes, and in a flash, he positioned himself at the vital acupoint on the back of Duanmu Arhat's neck. If this guy dared to play any tricks, he would be the first to cut him down!

"No, no! They're not coming for us! It's the time for the Ancestral Buddha's preaching; they are all going to listen!"

Duanmu Arhat hastily explained, and indeed, several Bodhisattvas and Buddhas flew in from midair, landing on the square outside of Great Thunder Sound Temple and headed inside. It seemed indeed as Duanmu Arhat said—they were all coming to listen to Tathagata Buddha's sermon.

Damn it, why did that bald donkey choose this exact time to give a sermon?

Sun Wukong cursed inwardly and looked around, fixing his gaze on a side hall at the far western side of Great Thunder Sound Temple's main hall. It seemed to be deserted; he decided to hide there for the time being.

"There are too many people, let's hide over there temporarily!"

Sun Wukong signaled for Duanmu Arhat to head towards the side hall on the far west side. Duanmu Arhat did as he was told and approached the entrance of the hall, but then he stopped, his face showing his discomfort, "Great Saint, this place is forbidden. We can't enter without the Ancestral Buddha's permission! Shouldn't we find another place?"

"Forbidden? Are there forbidden places in Spiritual Mountain?"
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A playful light flashed in Sun Wukong's eyes and he immediately made up his mind, "We'll go nowhere else but here!"

"But if we enter without the Buddha's permission, we'll face severe punishment, I..."

Duanmu Arhat still did not dare to move forward. There were Prohibition Barriers at the entrance of the side hall's door, and touching them would alarm the high-level Buddhist Sect. Even if Sun Wukong spared him, the Buddhist Sect would not.

"What a coward!"

With a disdainful snort, Sun Wukong channeled a surge of Chaos Primordial Force into the vital acupoint at the back of Duanmu Arhat's neck, sealing all his strength. Duanmu Arhat's eyes rolled back, as if about to collapse on the ground, but he was supported by an invisible force and walked to a stone step in the corner before slowly falling to the ground.

Sun Wukong changed back from the tiny insect, cast an Invisibility Technique on himself, and looking at Duanmu Arhat lying on the ground, he frowned. To kill, or not to kill?

After a moment of hesitation, Sun Wukong made a decision. He pressed his palm towards the empty air above Duanmu Arhat, and a beam of True Solar Fire shot onto Duanmu Arhat's body, quickly reducing it to ashes. A wisp of green energy flew out from Duanmu Arhat's burnt physical body, sucked into the Six Paths of Reincarnation Realms that appeared in Sun Wukong's palm.

"Go on and be reborn properly. Don't enter Buddhism in your next life!"

Being merciful to an enemy was cruelty to oneself; Sun Wukong knew this very well. Once Duanmu Arhat's presence is discovered, it wouldn't be long before the entire Buddhist Sect would know of an enemy invading Great Thunder Sound Temple. If Tathagata Buddha and the others were alerted, his chances of leaving safely would be in jeopardy.

What Sun Wukong could do was to allow Duanmu Arhat's Soul's True Spirit to enter the Heavenly Dao channel of the Six Paths of Reincarnation Realm so he could be reborn, perhaps in the Heaven Realm or some other spiritually abundant fairy mountain or precious land, doing right by him.

As more followers of Buddhism entered Great Thunder Sound Temple from all directions, Sun Wukong did not dare to stay outside any longer. Although he had cast an Invisibility Technique, who knew if these Buddhist baldies had a way to detect invisibility?

With Barriers restricting mid-air movement in Great Thunder Sound Temple, he couldn't leave by flight, so he had to exit through one of the four temple gates, which seemed impossible right now. He had to wait for the followers to enter the main hall and listen to the sermon before finding a chance to leave.

"Void-Breaking Heavy Pupils!"

Activating the Void-Breaking Divine Eye to the Third Phase and wrapping his body with the Void-Breaking Divine Light, Sun Wukong walked into the side hall of the forbidden area mentioned by Duanmu Arhat. As his body passed through the Prohibition Barrier, the Void-Breaking Divine Light flickered and did not trigger any reaction from the prohibitions, allowing him safe entry.

"This is the forbidden area? It doesn't look special at all!"

Upon entering the side hall, Sun Wukong's gaze swept over the surroundings, feeling no difference from the previous side hall... Wait, what was that?

Suddenly, Sun Wukong's eyes landed on the Buddha statue in the center of the great hall. It was an Amitabha Buddha statue, and it wasn't strange to have an Amitabha Buddha statue in the Great Thunder Sound Temple. However, what was peculiar was that Sun Wukong's Void-Breaking Heavy Pupils saw a spatial node hidden within the statue's forehead, concealed at the center of the eyebrows.

Could it be that this was also an entrance to the Twenty-Four Heavens' Worlds?

But something was off. If it really was an entrance to the Twenty-Four Heavens' Worlds, why hide it? If this place was deemed forbidden, it surely had something special about it. It couldn't be that simple!

"Anyway, I can't leave now, might as well see what tricks are up their sleeves!"

Driven by curiosity, Sun Wukong leapt to the forehead of the Buddha statue, his figure floating there. Two beams of golden light shot from his eyes, illuminating the spatial node at the center of the eyebrows, and instantly, the spatial node rapidly expanded to form a spatial passageway.

"It doesn't seem like the Twenty-Four Heavens' Worlds, feels different!"

Sun Wukong did not immediately enter the passageway. Who knew what kind of space was inside, and what if he couldn't get out once he entered? He still had to hurry back to Flower-Fruit Mountain to deal with Ran Deng Buddha!

Scratching the back of his head, Sun Wukong sent a wisp of Divine Sense into it to investigate. The other end of the spatial passageway undoubtedly led to a minor world, but what filled it didn't seem to be Buddha Primordial Force, but a kind of power Sun Wukong had never seen before, with a nature that seemed to contain and oppose Buddha Primordial Force. What exactly was this place?

"Who's there?"

It seemed Sun Wukong's Divine Sense had startled someone. A Divine Sense came through from the minor world at the other end of the spatial passageway, catching Sun Wukong off guard. He thought he had been discovered by someone of the Buddhist Sect and was about to immediately close the spatial passageway.

"You're neither Manjushri nor Tathagata. You carry Monster Qi but don't quite seem like one. Is Tathagata scheming again and trying to deceive me? Go back and tell your master I will never compromise with him! If he wants to take my Buddha Spirit Path Trace, he can dream on!"

Sun Wukong, who had been about to close the spatial passageway immediately, paused upon hearing this. From the tone of it, it seemed that the person behind the Divine Sense had a deep grudge against Tathagata Buddha!

Interesting indeed! Within the Thunder Sound Temple at the Western Heaven Spiritual Mountain lay such a Buddhist Sect's forbidden area, sheltering a strange person with a deep enmity against Tathagata Buddha. Sun Wukong instantly felt an overwhelming surge of curiosity as he sensed the scent of a conspiracy.

"I am Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven from Flower-Fruit Mountain Water Curtain Cave, not some lapdog of that old Tathagata! Who are you, why are you here, and what is your feud with that old Tathagata?"

Glancing around, Sun Wukong inquired into the spatial passageway with Divine Sense transmitted voice.

"Great Sage Equalling Heaven? Heh, what grandiose airs! When did such a character appear in the Three Realms? Kid, are you of the Human Race or the Demon Clan? From your tone, you don't seem to like Tathagata either!"

The mysterious individual's voice rang out again from the spatial passageway.

"I am from the Demon Clan, whether my tone is grand or not is of no concern to you! Who exactly are you, and why are you trapped here? If you're not going to talk, then I'm leaving!"

Sun Wukong frowned with impatience. This mysterious person had a big attitude, ignoring his questions and instead asking his own! If it wasn't for his sincere curiosity, Sun Wukong would have already wanted to close the passageway and leave. Ran Deng Buddha was still waiting to be dealt with!

"Kid, you've got quite the temper!"

The mysterious person laughed lightly, with a trace of arrogance in the voice, "No harm in telling you, I am Amitabha Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist Sect!"

"Amitabha Buddha? What kind of joke is that?"

As soon as he heard this, Sun Wukong's eyes widened, and he nearly leaped up. This mysterious person claimed to be Amitabha Buddha—the founder and Buddha Lord of Buddhism, Amitabha Buddha!

"Hadn't Amitabha Buddha long passed into nirvana? How could he be here? Hey, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say anything. Are you really Amitabha Buddha? The previous Western Sect Leader, the Guiding Daoist?"

"Oh? You actually know my former title, boy! You've got some insight!"

The mysterious person sounded surprised, paused for a moment and continued, "Indeed, I am Amitabha Buddha. As for passing into nirvana, hmph! Was it Tathagata who told you that?"

The voice was thick with hatred, as if filled with endless resentment towards Tathagata Buddha.

"That old Tathagata never told me anything, but this is what Buddhism has declared to the world: ancestor of ten thousand Buddhas, Amitabha Buddha had attained nirvana through the kalpas. The mantle of Buddha Lord was inherited by Sakyamuni Tathagata, known as Tathagata Buddha."