Volume 1: Unsayable – Chapter 71: The Great Battle

Seeing the extraordinary abilities of the King of Growth, a skill utterly unique within the Taoist sect, Zhang Daoling praised, “Indeed, all paths converge at the origin, yet each is distinct.”
Without delay, the King of Growth sat cross-legged on the ground and recited mantras. Immediately, a vajra appeared before him, its radiant light dispelling the gloomy winds and dark mist within a radius of thirty feet, revealing a clear and bright world.
The King of Growth clasped his hands into fists, raised his middle fingers, and joined their tips together. With a loud shout, he declared, “Let the mighty and luminous king’s power manifest, burning away the karmic troubles of all beings!”
The vajra moved on its own, floating mid-air with even brighter light, instantly illuminating an area of a hundred feet in all directions. Now, mountains were just mountains, and waters were just waters—the terrifying formation from earlier had vanished without a trace.
The King of Wide Eyes gestured for everyone to move forward and used magic to lift the King of Growth into the air, ensuring the heavenly troops were safe within that hundred-foot radius. Li Jing was greatly relieved. Though this method was somewhat slow, it allowed the troops to advance safely. Repeating this process four or five times would enable all 60,000 heavenly troops to enter Flower-Fruit Mountain.
When they had reached halfway up the hill, Li Jing suddenly remembered something: “Oh no! Stop advancing!” Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His joy had made him forget that dividing troops was also a major tactical mistake. With tens of thousands of soldiers entering Flower-Fruit Mountain, the demons there could wait patiently, using their numbers to overwhelm them—just like sheep walking into a tiger’s den. Moreover, this would erase the advantage of having 100,000 heavenly troops. Looking at the King of Growth, it was clear he had exhausted his strength—the hundred-foot radius was the maximum range the vajra could illuminate. What could they do now?
At that moment, Zhang Daoling said cheerfully, “King, this formation is an illusion. With your magic, I’ve seen through it—those gloomy winds and dark mist are all illusions; they’re not real!”
Li Jing was overjoyed. This news was like timely help in a crisis. Yet he still asked, “Really?!” Zhang Daoling replied, “Within a hundred feet, I’ll guarantee it with my head.”
Li Jing said, “Good! Then tell the troops behind to follow closely, using their weapons to keep in touch. Even if strange phenomena appear, don’t panic—these are just illusions!”
After fighting hard for half a day, more than 10,000 of the 100,000 heavenly troops had already been killed before even entering the mountain. How could they not feel hatred? Once inside Flower-Fruit Mountain, they vowed to uproot it completely. The 60,000 heavenly troops advanced swiftly, protected by the light of the King of Growth’s vajra.
Wukong and the others had already returned to the mountain top and were standing above the waterfall in Water Curtain Cave, looking down. Seeing that the heavenly troops had come up with such a method to break through the formation, Wukong was speechless.
Tongfeng said, “Time is tight. We can only set up a few illusions. Though they’re eye-catching, they’re useless.”

Wukong said, “It’s fine. Having this formation to buy us some time is good too. If victory could be achieved just with us brothers, how could the little demons in the mountains be tempered? We must make them face battle firsthand so they understand how hard-won our Flower-Fruit Mountain’s foundation is.”

At this moment, the leaders of the seventy-two caves had already arranged their troops in formation. Leading them was the White Rhinoceros King, who gathered all the demons from his cave—massive creatures like wild elephants, rhinoceroses, bears, and boars. Clad in heavy armor and wielding large iron spikes, they stood on the hillside, ready to charge as soon as the heavenly soldiers appeared.

Next to them were the demons from the Lion and Tiger Caves. The Yellow Lion Spirit led over a thousand lions and tigers, perched on the rocks on the side, emitting impatient roars. In the grass, serpents and giant pythons slithered and hid, while in the jungle, cats, raccoons, monkeys, and rodents darted about… Divine dogs barked wildly, wolves and raccoon dogs wagged their tails, sun bears sniffed the air, and sheep-like creatures pricked up their ears…

Wukong saw that although the demons were uneasy, their desire to fight was fierce. It was inevitable they would be nervous before a great battle, but only in this way could they train into strong warriors.

The demons on the mountain top waited for a long time, growing increasingly impatient. The leading demon king kept roaring to maintain order. After a while, finally, the first heavenly soldier appeared at the foot of the mountain. The Bull Demon King turned to Wukong with a smile and said, “Don’t let the shameless ones bully the weak and make my children suffer.” With that, he leaped down the mountain and mixed in with the herd of wild bulls.

The White Rhinoceros King’s eyes turned red, and the black hairs between his brows stood on end. With a furious roar, “Moo—” he led a herd of bulls, elephants, bears, and horses down from the mountain top like a thunderstorm, charging straight into the ranks of the heavenly soldiers.

The King of Growth had been casting spells all along, but now his powers were exhausted. Seeing countless massive creatures charging toward him, he was powerless. Fortunately, the King of Knowledge protected him by leaping to the back.

The Four Great Celestial Masters were at the forefront. Seeing the onslaught of beasts, Ge Hong took out a talisman, chanted a spell, and waved it in front of him. A wall of knives hundreds of feet long appeared, with its blades pointing outward, shining brightly and terrifyingly.

As the beast herd got closer and was about to pierce through the wall of knives, the Bull Demon King stepped forward from the herd, swung his iron rod, and shattered the wall into pieces. Though the blades formed by the talisman were sharper than ordinary steel knives, even the most powerful magic relied on the talisman. Once the Bull Demon King destroyed the talisman, the wall vanished instantly, leaving not even a trace.

Seeing the critical situation, the Four Great Celestial Masters quickly jumped into the air to avoid the beasts. The Bull Demon King followed closely behind, fighting alongside them! Below, the beast herd ravaged the heavenly soldiers like tigers among sheep, turning Flower-Fruit Mountain, once a beautiful celestial realm, into a scene of bloodshed.

The Eastern Vajrapani, seeing that the demonic forces were unstoppable, also left the ground and took out a four-stringed jade pipa from behind him. With a light pluck of the strings, wind and fire surged into the air and blasted toward the beast horde. Most demons were naturally afraid of fire; upon seeing the heavenly flames descend, they panicked, their formation gradually disordered, and their charge slowed down. The heavenly soldiers seized this opportunity to stabilize their positions and engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand battle with the demons from Flower-Fruit Mountain. The Golden-Winged Roc was the fastest to react, disappearing from the mountaintop in an instant. By the time it reappeared, it had landed behind the Vajrapani. Seeing it was the Golden-Winged Roc, the Vajrapani didn’t even dare to fight and quickly put away his magical weapon before retreating at a distance. Yet the Golden-Winged Roc did not assist the demonic soldiers; it merely observed from the air, intervening only if any celestial beings joined the battle, leaving the ordinary heavenly soldiers to fight against the demons below. Wukong stood motionless on the mountaintop, watching the battle between gods and demons—shouts and roars echoing, bodies falling, heads flying, and pools of blood splashing everywhere… Suddenly, a sense of sorrow arose in Wukong’s heart. He felt a strong urge to stop this slaughter, but he knew that even if he stopped it, what good would it do? Those who controlled the killing always watched from behind the scenes. This world was no different from before—power still controlled everything, and fame and fortune still lured ordinary people. All he could do was find ways to ensure that he, his brothers, and companions could live better and more securely. And this slaughter was simply the necessary price to pay for that. By now, the Golden-Winged Roc and the Bull Demon King had already stopped fighting. The Four Great Immortals and the Heavenly Kings also seemed to have reached some understanding, hovering in the air to watch the battle. Wukong’s gaze swept over their faces one by one. The Golden-Winged Roc always looked downcast, rarely lowering its eyes; the Bull Demon King watched the battle without the slightest trace of compassion; the Nine-Spirit Sage had already closed his eyes, lost in thought, while Wu Zhi, Wang Yu, and Feng Tong all looked identical, showing distress whenever someone died unjustly. Wukong thought to himself that perhaps he would feel the same way—when lives are lost, fate perishes, and only those born of fate care about fate. Looking again at the group of gods, Li Jing appeared cold-faced, but upon closer inspection, his fists were clenched and his body trembled slightly, suggesting he was deeply concerned about the outcome of the battle. The Four Great Immortals showed a hint of pity but seemed perfunctory. As for the Eight Bright Stars and Nezha, their eyes revealed a bloodthirsty expression, as if saying, “The more who die, the better!” The Four Heavenly Kings showed neither joy nor sorrow, their expressions unreadable.

An hour later, both armies were exhausted, and they carefully counted their casualties. Although Huaguoshan had the upper hand, it had lost seven or eight thousand demons. The heavenly troops, though numbering sixty thousand, were demoralized from previous heavy losses and had lost nearly twenty thousand soldiers. At least ten thousand heavenly troops formed a vast net in heaven and on earth, but it was of no use except for capturing Marshal Tianpeng.

Seeing the several leaders of Huaguoshan acting carefree, Li Jing sighed inwardly, realizing there was no chance of turning the tide in this battle. Though he was full of ambition to achieve great feats before the Jade Emperor, encountering such a formidable opponent like Huaguoshan left him disheartened. With no other choice, Li Jing ordered his men to sound the retreat signal.

As the gong sounded, Nezha rushed over and whispered, “We can’t withdraw!”