Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

"Quick, retreat!"

As soon as the Bull Demon King saw the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda lift into the sky, he sensed trouble and immediately withdrew. Although he was a Da Luo Golden Immortal, he had no desire to test whether he could successfully break through the pagoda and escape. It was better not to get sucked in.

After stabilizing themselves, the Jiao Demon King and others also quickly moved out of the suction range of the pagoda's vortex at their fastest speed.

The Twenty-Eight Constellations breathed a sigh of relief. In the earth-shattering clash with the Bull Demon King, their Constellations Destroying God Formation was broken, and they suffered backlash injuries, leaving them without the strength to fight again. Fortunately, the Bull Demon King was in the same state, resulting in a draw.

With the aid of Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing's Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda, the best move was to quickly disengage.

The Twenty-Eight Constellations and the Nine Luminaries Star Lords both retreated back into the midst of the Heavenly Court's central army. Meanwhile, in another battle ring, the fight between the Six-Eared Macaque and the Four Great Heavenly Kings had also determined a victor. Unquestionably, the winner was the Six-Eared Macaque.

Despite the fact that the four kings were attacking him simultaneously, Great Sight Heavenly King Mo Lishou had lost his Zijin Flower Ferret, greatly diminishing his combat power. Meanwhile, the Six-Eared Macaque was in full vigor. The disparity in power, which was imbalanced to begin with, had widened further, making the outcome expected.

"Capture them all for this king!"

Seeing that the outcomes of several battle rings were unfavorable, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing, irritated, simply spurred the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda to envelop the entire battlefield. The pagoda expanded further, and its fierce suction swept up toward all the demon soldiers and generals of Flower-Fruit Mountain.

With the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda suddenly unleashing its power, the lower-cultivated demons of Flower-Fruit Mountain were caught off guard and abruptly sucked into the vortex of the pagoda. Those who reacted quicker still struggled greatly; not everyone possessed the cultivation strength of the Jiao Demon King and others to withstand the pagoda's suction.

"Form up! The Minor Zhou Tian Seven Extremes Battle Formation! Jointly resist the suction and pull back!"

In Flower-Fruit Mountain, Leng Xuan, who had been observing the battle, changed complexion and issued orders to the demon soldiers. The soldiers, not daring to delay, immediately combined the Five Elements Battle Formation with the Three Talents of Heaven and Earth Formation, forming several Minor Zhou Tian Seven Extremes Battle Formations.

They pooled their collective strength and finally resisted the terrifying suction of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda. However, they didn't have extra strength to continue fighting and could only maintain the formation as they retreated into Flower-Fruit Mountain.

Fortunately, within the area of the pagoda's suction, the Heavenly Court's army also dared not carelessly step in, for they too would be indiscriminately sucked into the pagoda and killed by mistake. This allowed Flower-Fruit Mountain's demon army to retreat into the Primordial Unity Grand Formation Barrier without much danger.

"The sky is getting dark, retreat! We will fight another day!"

Seeing that the demon soldiers and generals of Flower-Fruit Mountain had all retreated back inside, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing did not order a pursuit but instead commanded a retreat. While the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda was indeed immensely powerful, such full-force activation required a massive expenditure of Immortal Force.

Li Jing's own Immortal Force was finite, and after such exertion, it had already depleted by six or seven tenths. He simply could not sustain it for long; it was better to quit while ahead.

The Heavenly Court's army retreated into the distance, and peace returned to the whole area, with only the lingering dust and the ravaged earth telling the tale of the fierce battle that had just taken place.

Inside Flower-Fruit Mountain, Water Curtain Cave Heaven.

The upper and middle echelons of Flower-Fruit Mountain were gathered in the Council Hall of Water Curtain Cave Heaven to debrief on the day's battle. This was the first time Flower-Fruit Mountain had faced such a large-scale battle against the Heavenly Court. Although the battle had ended, everyone was still visibly excited, their faces flushed with emotion.

Since the Human Heavenly Court came to control the Three Realms, no demon force had ever been heard of holding out undefeated against a full assault by the Heavenly Court's army, especially in direct combat. This was enough to fill the demons of Flower-Fruit Mountain with pride.

"Brother Bull, are you alright?"

Leng Xuan looked towards the Bull Demon King. Unlike the others, he was not visibly excited but appeared very calm. The Heavenly Court had only retreated temporarily and had not given up on besieging Flower-Fruit Mountain. The next attack would only be more fierce than today!

Moreover, the reason they had managed to withstand the Heavenly Court's siege today was primarily due to the Bull Demon King withstanding the Twenty-Eight Constellations' Destroying God Formation. Otherwise, if the constellations were given the chance to utilize the formation, it would result in a complete collapse.

"Nothing serious, just some superficial injuries, feeling a bit drained. I'll recover after a night's rest,"

The Bull Demon King laughed, shaking his head, then admiration flashed in his eyes. "The Constellations Destroying God Formation of those Twenty-Eight Constellations is indeed formidable! None of them on their own is that strong in combat, but when they form the formation, their strength increases by more than a hundredfold, even capable of conjuring a Quasi-Saint Dharma Body. It's terrifying!

If I hadn't broken through to the Da Luo Golden Immortal Realm, I would've had no chance against them."

"Brother, you're too modest! They are strong, no doubt, but you're not weak either! You just reached the Da Luo Golden Immortal level not long ago, and yet you could withstand the Quasi-Saint Dharmakaya formed by their Constellations Destroying God Formation. You probably aren't far behind the boss, right?"

The Macaque King joked, heaping praise on the Bull Demon King. Their strengths as the Six Great Demon Kings were not much different before, but with the Bull Demon King breaking through to the Da Luo Golden Immortal, his strength soared manifold, leaving them far behind.

Especially his destructive power in the Dharma Aspect Heaven and Earth form today was insanely strong, evoking admiration and envy from them!

Compared to Sun Wukong?

The Bull Demon King's mind flashed back to the scene where Sun Wukong withstood the golden hand of Tathagata Buddha. If he were in Sun Wukong's situation, could he have held out?

Fearing he likely couldn't match that strength…

A wry smile appeared, and the Bull Demon King shook his head. The slight pride that had just arisen instantly vanished without a trace. The gap between him and Sun Wukong was still quite obvious!

"Once I reach the Da Luo Golden Immortal Realm, I will surely be stronger than him!"

On the other side, the Six-Eared Macaque watched the Bull Demon King with envy, feeling somewhat unconvinced in his heart. True, the Bull Demon King was very strong and his combat power defied the heavens, but the Six-Eared Macaque believed his talent was not inferior to the Bull Demon King's. Given the same realm, he was confident that he could beat the Bull Demon King!

Within the entire Flower-Fruit Mountain, the only one the Six-Eared Macaque was willing to admire wholeheartedly was Sun Wukong!

"Everybody quiet down and listen to me for a moment!"

Leng Xuan glanced over the demons and gently cleared his throat. Once the murmuring had subsided, he began, "Today's battle has established the might of our Flower-Fruit Mountain and made the Heavenly Court aware of our strength. This is certainly worth celebrating, but we must not let our guard down!"

"To not mention that today's victory owes much to Brother Niu blocking the Twenty-Eight Constellations, just considering our effort today, we practically gave it our all. Except for not ultimately forming the Great Zhou Tian Ten Directions Rotation Formation, we Flower-Fruit Mountain can be said to have brought out our elite forces.

We barely held off the Heavenly Court's attack, resulting in a stalemate. However, the true strength of the Heavenly Court is definitely not limited to what we have seen today!"

The words of Leng Xuan caused the smiles on the demons' faces to freeze, with brows furrowed together in concern. Indeed, although the sound of a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals was intimidating, for cultivators within the Three Realms, the number of troops was not the key to deciding the outcome of a major battle.

The real key laid in the outcome of the core combat power, especially the top combat power!

Today, the Bull Demon King fought to a draw with the Twenty-Eight Constellations, but it was feared that there are not a few Immortals and Gods whose strength surpassed the Twenty-Eight Constellations within the Heavenly Court. In this campaign, the alliance of the Heavenly Court did not even include a single Da Luo Golden Immortal.

This indicated that the Heavenly Court had not truly taken the Flower-Fruit Mountain Demon Race seriously, sending only ordinary Divine Generals, with the real experts not yet making a move!

Seeing the morale of the demons dip, Leng Xuan couldn't help but smile again and waved his hand, "Alright, alright, there is no need to be so pessimistic. The Heavenly Court has ruled the Three Realms for many years, and how long has our Flower-Fruit Mountain been developing? It is normal for there to be a gap in strength.

I reckon the Heavenly Court won't be focusing all its attention on our Flower-Fruit Mountain. We just need to hold on until the Boss returns."

"Big brother Leng, where exactly did the Boss go, and when will he be back?"

Through-Arm Ape Monkey Sun Wushuang asked. Before leaving, Sun Wukong only spoke to Leng Xuan, and all the matters he had instructed were relayed to the demons through Leng Xuan. The demons had always been curious about where Sun Wukong had gone. With the news of the Heavenly Court's army besieging Flower-Fruit Mountain having long since spread through the Three Realms, had he not heard?

"I'm not sure about that myself, as the Boss didn't say when he left,"

Leng Xuan shrugged and shook his head. "But I guess he might be searching for some treasure, possibly in some secret realm right now, which is why he doesn't know about the Heavenly Court's army coming to besiege us. Otherwise, knowing the Boss's personality, he would've rushed back here long ago!"

"Anyway, with the Boss not around, it's up to us to protect Flower-Fruit Mountain, and we absolutely can't allow the Heavenly Court to set foot on our territory!"

Seeing the demons' spirits somewhat dampened, Leng Xuan immediately rallied them. A spark of determination rekindled in the eyes of the demons, and they nodded vehemently.

"That's right, we cannot let them step half a foot into Flower-Fruit Mountain!"

"What of the Heavenly Court? We were victorious today, and we will not fear them in the future!"

After summarizing the situation, the demons dispersed to rest. Today's great battle had taken a toll on the demon forces, and they needed to recover quickly. Nobody could tell when the Heavenly Court's next offensive might come; it could be in a few days, or perhaps as soon as the next morning. It was crucial to maintain peak condition.

In the military camp of the Heavenly Court's army, within the central tent, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing was also discussing the earlier battle with a host of Immortals and Gods. Your journey continues on empire

"Marshal, we were incompetent, failing to capture the Bull Demon King and even causing Marshal to come to our rescue. Please punish us, Marshal!"