Volume 4: The End of Cosmic Secrets Chapters 556: The Realm of Evil Traps

The world was dim, with only the Wheel Jewel in Buddha’s hand shining brightly, casting a radiant light that illuminated him and the giant elephant beneath him. The elephant looked ferocious, its six tusks fully extended as it charged at Wukong. A white elephant with six tusks—truly a treasure among elephants—its attacking force was likely no less formidable than that of Mount Sumeru.

But Wukong had already seen through it all. He knew that every movement of ordinary things was governed by the laws of fate. With a mere thought, he felt as though he could control all of fate in the world. As the elephant’s tusks neared Wukong, its momentum weakened. With a gentle push, Wukong sent the elephant’s treasure aside.

Buddha’s expression turned extremely unfriendly. He didn’t understand what had changed in Wukong, but he found his every move to be utterly natural, as if the wind stirred the clouds or the moon’s shadow shifted westward—so seamless and effortless.

Laozi and Zhuangzi, standing behind, watched clearly, their eyes filled with admiration they could hardly conceal. They had discussed the laws of fate many times with the master of Mount Sumeru. Though Laozi and Zhuangzi had also attained great understanding, they were just slightly behind the master. Thus, they had never experienced direct control over fate. Yet this slight gap seemed like an insurmountable chasm. Now, seeing Wukong command fate as easily as he did his own arms, Laozi knew that Buddha was doomed to failure.

When the giant elephant charged earlier, Buddha’s face had been almost monstrous. But seeing Wukong defuse the situation so effortlessly, Buddha calmed down instead. He smiled, as if giving a sermon from a platform, raising the Wheel Jewel high. Thousands of beams of light shot toward Wukong, and from within those lights, countless divine weapons surged forth like waves. The Wheel Jewel and its weapons were the mighty tools of the Cakravartin, invincible in battle!

Seeing the power of the Wheel Jewel, Wukong immediately took out the Cosmic Secret Staff from his bosom to confront it. Upon seeing this, Buddha’s eyes flashed with intensity. He muttered a few incantations, and suddenly Wukong felt the Cosmic Secret Staff slipping out of his control. He couldn’t help but sigh bitterly—he had become so accustomed to using this magical weapon that he had forgotten it belonged to Buddha. At that moment, he felt the forces of fate surging within him and flowing into the staff. He tried to let go, but the staff seemed stuck to his hand, impossible to discard.

Anger flared in Wukong’s heart. It wasn’t because Buddha was extremely cunning, nor because he had fallen into Buddha’s trap. Instead, he suddenly thought of Tang Seng, who had been controlled by the Fate-Linked Staff and was ultimately forced to end his own life.

It was said that the Great Sun Buddha trapped in the furnace was possessed by evil thoughts. But this Buddha before him was certainly not controlled by such evil thoughts. His deceptions and sinister tactics were, in fact, his true nature!

Wukong stared intently at Tathagata, allowing the creative forces within him to flow into the Heavenly Fate Rod, gradually a smile appearing on his face. This faint smile scattered Tathagata’s joy like smoke, replacing it with unease and a strange fear.

The Heavenly Fate Rod was naturally Tathagata’s magical weapon. Even now, Wukong still didn’t fully understand how many uses it had—he only knew that reaching the heavens was its greatest function. But what he didn’t know was that Tathagata was fully aware of its true nature. The Heavenly Fate Rod had originally been a fragment of golden essence, which Wukong refined twice to create it; once completed, it truly became the key to reaching the heavens.

Originally meant to unlock formations, in Tathagata’s eyes, the Heavenly Fate Rod was not only a key but also a lock—one that sealed away the creative forces of the universe!

Tathagata was extremely meticulous in his actions. Since the great furnace was under his control, Wukong would almost certainly not be able to escape his grasp if he emerged. Yet he still kept a backup plan just in case, and today it was actually used.

Wukong sneered and said, “Daring to lock away the creative forces—truly trying to swallow an elephant with a snake!” With a thought, the creative forces within thousands of miles surged toward him, all flowing into the Heavenly Fate Rod.

The rod showed no signs of trouble, which surprised Wukong slightly. He said, “Thousands of miles isn’t enough—then let’s try hundreds of thousands!” He repeated his trick, drawing in the creative forces from hundreds of thousands of miles away. Seeing their power, the saints all changed expressions and quickly retreated. Tathagata’s face turned pale—he hadn’t expected Wukong to have such control over these forces, as if all the creative forces in the world belonged to him and could be taken at will. He understood what Wukong was doing. No matter how powerful the Heavenly Fate Rod was, it was still just a magical weapon, and any magical weapon had a limit to how much creative force it could hold. Wukong was about to burst the rod apart!

Indeed, with a loud crack like thunder, the Heavenly Fate Rod could no longer bear the endless flow of creative forces and shattered into dust, never to be restored.

Now that the rod was broken, the creative forces returned to the universe. Wukong opened his mouth and sucked them in, saying to Tathagata, “Good deeds bring good rewards, and evil deeds bring evil retribution.”

Tathagata’s expression was grim. Destroying the Heavenly Fate Rod with the creative forces himself seemed impossible. As the Wheel-Turning Sage King, he claimed to be able to rule the four continents with righteous power, yet he still couldn’t defeat this clever divine ape who had only practiced for a thousand years. Millions of years of effort were about to be wasted. But until the last moment, Tathagata would never give up. Frowning, he asked, “What is good and evil? And on what basis do you judge others’ good or evil?”

Wukong had no intention of arguing further with Tathagata about this matter. He simply said coldly, “What are you doing in this world? I didn’t know before, so I naturally didn’t interfere. But all the sins within that furnace originated from you, causing countless beings to suffer greatly. I truly can’t bear it.”

Tathagata was slightly surprised. He thought Wukong had accepted the teachings of the Master of Mount Mahasumera and thus his nature had changed greatly. He didn’t expect Wukong to still be deeply concerned about what happened inside the furnace. So he smiled and said, “You truly are stubborn. Since you’ve come out, you must know that the furnace is a realm I created myself. As its creator, I naturally have control over it. This is something everyone knows.”

Wukong replied, “Even parents who give birth to children don’t have the right to kill them. Just because you possess slightly greater powers, does that give you the right to do as you please? Back then, just to let Nagarjuna and the dragon maiden meet, you became enraged and struck the furnace with your palm, causing chaos and destruction within it. Such tyranny is unforgivable.”

Tathagata narrowed his eyes, as if recalling the incident, then said, “Monk Nagarjuna… Well, that was my oversight. I merely recreated the path of enlightenment for Nagarjuna Bodhisattva in one person, but I didn’t expect that path to also include the concept of love. If he hid in the mountains with that girl, how could he verify the great truth for me? Fortunately, you’re clever enough to use some trick to resolve this crisis—”

“Shut up!” Wukong shouted. “There are strong and weak in this world, but ultimately, nothing escapes the rule of reason. From now on, don’t walk around in this world anymore.”

“Oh?” Tathagata sneered. “Do you really think you can now hold all power of life and death in your hands? Isn’t that just bullying the weak?”

Seeing Tathagata’s unreasonable arguments, Wukong didn’t say another word. He summoned his divine power and struck the treasure wheel in Tathagata’s hand. Tathagata couldn’t hold on, and the wheel flew far away, landing beside Fuxi tens of thousands of miles away. Fuxi bent down, picked it up, examined it carefully, and put it in his bosom.

Wukong cast another spell, and the giant elephant, which had been standing tall with its trunk raised, suddenly vanished into the void, disappearing without a trace. Having lost two precious treasures, Tathagata stood alone in midair, not even trying to stop him.

Wukong said, “You like to create realms to trap people. I’ll create a realm to trap you too. Let’s see how you feel!” With that, Wukong stretched out his hand and conjured a realm—thin as a cicada wing and only about twenty feet square—just enough to enclose Tathagata inside.

Tathagata stood inside the realm, almost filling it completely, yet he could still see the outside world clearly. At first, he didn’t care. This realm was as fragile as a bubble—how could it trap him? But no matter how many forms he took or how many spells he used, he could only slightly change the shape of the realm; he couldn’t get out.

Fuxi, the Phoenix, and the others saw Wukong effortlessly subdue Tathagata and flew over to watch. Trapped in this realm, Tathagata’s eyes were filled with anguish—had he ever been in such a predicament before? He had always believed himself to be the most noble and supreme being in the world, a belief that had persisted for ages. The seclusion of the Great Sumera Mountain Lord had further inflated his confidence. He never imagined he would one day be easily subdued by someone, with no ability to resist. After struggling for a while, Tathagata finally had to admit the truth: he was indeed trapped by Wukong, at least for now, as he could not escape. Seeing all the saints gathered around, he calmly sat down and asked slowly, “What kind of realm is this?” Wukong replied, “This realm is the realm of trapping evil.” “Trapping evil? Are you trying to tease me?” Tathagata asked. Wukong shook his head and said, “All things in the world are part of nature’s creation; there is no distinction between good and evil. But once consciousness arises, there arises the desire to compete and oppress, and evil thoughts emerge. The wonder of good and evil lies in their ability to coexist—good contains evil, and evil contains good. Therefore, the fact that you can separate evil thoughts and throw them into the furnace is quite ingenious.” Tathagata didn’t understand what Wukong meant and simply stared at him in silence. Wukong continued, “If a person’s heart is half good and half evil, that person is already evil. I created this realm solely to trap evil. If you have good thoughts, you can escape.” Hearing this, Tathagata was secretly pleased—this method was similar to the one he had used in the past to separate evil thoughts. Lingming thought he could use this method to subdue him, but it was a futile effort. Wukong added, “However, only the thoughts of goodness can allow you to escape. Your physical body and evil thoughts will remain in this realm. Once your good thoughts leave, I will destroy this realm along with your evil thoughts.” Hearing this, Tathagata finally understood—what was the difference between what Wukong was doing and simply killing him? What mattered most to him was the thought of seizing the sacred Dao that he had been preparing for thousands of years, but in Wukong’s eyes, this was surely evil, and he could not escape this realm. After thinking for a while, Tathagata said, “I… refuse.” Wukong nodded and said, “If you refuse, then stay in this realm forever. I can afford to wait for you.” With that, Wukong gently handed the realm to Laozi and Zhuangzi, saying, “Please keep watch over this realm for me. It’s not that I’m worried it will be damaged by outsiders, but if the world sees the Supreme Ruler in such a predicament, it will harm the reputation of Buddhism.” Laozi and Zhuangzi took it with a smile, saying, “Lingming has thought of everything.”

Seeing the chief villain subdued, the saints knew that the great turmoil had subsided. They all bowed to Wukong and Laozi before returning to their respective islands. Wukong watched their retreating figures; not only did their shapes seem familiar, but their auras also felt like those of old friends. Yet these people did not share the closeness he had with them inside the Great Furnace. In their eyes, he was no different from the supreme lord of Mount Sumeru. All those who are close will eventually leave, sooner or later—that is the fate of life. Wukong focused his mind back to his dantian and softly called out, “Creation?”