Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

Chapter 151 Exploring the Heavenly Ear

"I am Erlang God Yang Jian, here by the order of the Jade Emperor to vanquish the disloyal demon. Will you not come out and meet your end swiftly?"

Early the next morning, Erlang God Yang Jian, along with the Six Saints of Meishan and twelve hundred lesser deities, arranged themselves at the gate of Flower-Fruit Mountain and loudly challenged the enemy to battle.

Upon hearing the call to battle, the Demon Clan of Flower-Fruit Mountain opened the gate, and the high-ranking members of the Demon Cult rode the clouds and appeared before the gate. Leng Xuan himself stepped forward to the gate, sizing up Erlang God Yang Jian with one glance, his eyes immediately sharpening. The distinctive vertical third Eye on Yang Jian's forehead was too prominent to ignore.

With just one look, Leng Xuan recognized him as the War God Yang Jian who had slain the Seven Monsters of Meishan during the Divine Enthronement War!

"This is bad! The Heavenly Court has actually sent this God of Slaughter!"

Leng Xuan's expression darkened. Among the hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals previously sent by Heavenly Court, although the Twenty-Eight Constellations were strong, the Bull Demon King was more than capable of holding them off; none of the others posed any real threat. Leng Xuan was not worried, but Erlang God Yang Jian was different. Since his debut, he rarely tasted defeat.

During the war of Divine Enthronement, he often turned the tides single-handedly. He had only ever been at a disadvantage under the Mixed Element Gold Cauldron of the Three Pure Ones. Observing his cultivation, it had even reached the Da Luo Golden Immortal Realm.

With him entering the fray, it was difficult to find anyone within Flower-Fruit Mountain who could match him, not even the Bull Demon King could be sure to withstand him!

"Is this man that formidable?"

Erlang God Yang Jian had rarely taken action since the war of Divine Enthronement. Apart from the gods in Heavenly Court, not many knew of his prowess. Even the Bull Demon King and the other Six Great Demon Kings did not recognize him. Hearing Leng Xuan's words, they were quite surprised.

"Indeed, he is formidable!"

Leng Xuan nodded. "This Yang Jian is the closed-door disciple of Jade Cauldron Real Man, one of the Kunlun Twelve Golden Immortals, yet his abilities are no less than his master's. He has perfected the Eight-Nine Profound Skill, achieved Physical Body Sanctification, mastered The Way of Transformation, and his combat techniques are highly advanced. He's a true War God of the Heavenly Court!

However, Yang Jian has always had a rocky relationship with the Jade Emperor, acting independently and usually reclusing himself at the Guankou True Lord Temple. Why has he joined this battle now?" Your next chapter is on empire

"With this Yang Jian participating, it's greatly disadvantageous for us!"

"Is this guy really that powerful? I will go and meet him!"

Upon hearing Leng Xuan, everyone showed a look of wariness, except for Six-Eared Macaque, whose eyes gleamed brightly with excitement and fighting spirit. He left these words behind and soared into the clouds toward Yang Jian.

"Hold, rash god! Face your doom against the staff of Six-Eared Grandpa!"

"Six-Eared, don't be rash... Oh well, let Six-Eared test the capabilities of Yang Jian; it's good to see how mighty this Heavenly Court War God truly is, helping our Brother Bull to be on guard."

Before Leng Xuan could voice his persuasion, Six-Eared Macaque had already rushed up to Erlang God Yang Jian launching a fierce attack, forcing Leng Xuan to swallow his remaining words. He shook his head, sighed, and cast a knowing glance at the Bull Demon King.

Understanding the hint, the Bull Demon King pulled together his focus and attentively watched the fierce battle between Erlang God Yang Jian and Six-Eared Macaque. There was a ninety percent chance that Six-Eared Macaque could not overcome Erlang God Yang Jian. It might eventually require the assistance of the Bull Demon King. Watching the battle to gauge Yang Jian's combat power was essential.

Six-Eared Macaque's style and approach in combat were almost identical to Sun Wukong's, except he did not possess Great Sun True Fire or the Power of Reincarnation. The Primordial Force flowing within him was no different from others. However, like Sun Wukong, his prowess in staff martial arts was profound, and his combat instincts were no weaker than Sun Wukong's.

After witnessing the clash between Sun Wukong and the Golden Buddha Hand of Tathagata Buddha, he relied on his exceptional talent to develop the Crazed Demon Staff Technique.

Once this Crazed Demon Staff Technique was executed, it was like falling into madness; his entire aura escalated with the unfolding of his staff technique, enhancing his capabilities. The only downside was it made him less calm, turning fearlessly fierce. Six-Eared Macaque was now in such a state.

He attacked Erlang God Yang Jian relentlessly, barely defending against Yang Jian's strikes, only narrowly dodging at the last moment by a hair's breadth, his own attacks never ceasing, continuing to strike at Erlang God Yang Jian.

"This demon monkey, could he predict others' attack patterns?"

After exchanging blows for a while, while Erlang God Yang Jian was amazed at Six-Eared Macaque's formidable combat power, he could not help but harbor a trace of suspicion. Throughout their lengthy fight, his Tri-point Double-edged Sword had almost hit Six-Eared Macaque several times, yet each was narrowly dodged at the last minute. It was explainable once or twice, but every time?

Yang Jian couldn't help but suspect that Six-Eared Macaque knew his attack trajectories and positions—otherwise, he couldn't possibly dodge them all so precisely every time.

"He's guessed it! So fast!"

Six-Eared Macaque's ears twitched, and his pupils suddenly contracted, confirming Yang Jian's suspicions. Indeed, he could anticipate the thoughts of others in advance. Yang Jian's every move was known to him beforehand, making dodging a simple task. This allowed him to focus all his energies on attacking without needing to defend, as Yang Jian simply couldn't hit him.

However, what the Six-Eared Macaque had not expected was that Erlang God Yang Jian would guess the reason so quickly. His combat talent was indeed one of the highest the Six-Eared Macaque had ever seen; perhaps only Sun Wukong could slightly surpass him, and even the Bull Demon King might be somewhat inferior.

But, what of that? Even if you know my ability, it doesn't mean you have the skill to counter it!

The Six-Eared Macaque sneered in his heart, just like the Void-Breaking Divine Eye was an innate divine ability of Sun Wukong, he too possessed an innate divine ability called the Heavenly Ear. With it, he could discern anything happening in the myriad realms, provided they were not far beyond his strength!

Especially during combat, he could clearly hear everything his opponent thought, no matter how minor. So what if Erlang God Yang Jian guessed his ability? Unless he could attack without thinking at all, no matter how the moves changed, the Six-Eared Macaque could foresee them and easily evade.

After a fierce collision, Erlang God Yang Jian and the Six-Eared Macaque each stepped back and stood facing each other. Erlang God Yang Jian sized up the Six-Eared Macaque again, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, and said, "So you are the Six-Eared Macaque? Indeed, you have also practiced the Eight-Nine Profound Skill! Who is your master?"

"You are very strong, but not much stronger than me!"

The Six-Eared Macaque snorted coldly, "I have no master; the Eight-Nine Profound Skill was taught to me by my elder brother. You are far from matching up to my elder brother!"

"Your elder brother? Could it be that Demon Monkey Sun Wukong?"

Erlang God Yang Jian's eyes narrowed slightly. His main purpose for coming here was to avenge his good brother Nezha, but he had heard that Sun Wukong was currently not in Flower-Fruit Mountain?

"You are not worthy to mention my elder brother's name! If you want to know, beat me first! Crazed Demon Staff Technique!"

The Six-Eared Macaque snorted coldly. With a swing of his iron staff, he charged at Erlang God Yang Jian again, who also swung his Tri-point Double-edged Sword to meet him.

He feinted an attack toward the Six-Eared Macaque's left side, exactly as he was thinking, but then the sword took a sudden change in direction, shifting from a horizontal slice to a diagonal thrust, drawing an arc towards the lower body of the Six-Eared Macaque.

"What?"

The Six-Eared Macaque was taken aback. He had already heard Erlang God Yang Jian's attack coming and was about to step aside when, unexpectedly, Yang Jian changed his move without warning – and more importantly, he hadn't heard it!

It was too late to dodge; the Six-Eared Macaque could only hurriedly block with his iron staff downward, meeting the Tri-point Double-edged Sword. A clang of metal rang out. Although he blocked the sword, the Six-Eared Macaque was hastily changing his move and lacked strength, directly getting knocked sideways by this slice from Erlang God Yang Jian.

"So you really can foresee the thoughts of others in advance, and this is what you rely upon?"

Erlang God Yang Jian's smile grew smug. He had done it deliberately, first thinking of the attack pattern in his mind and then midway, emptying his mind completely, thinking of nothing, and just changing the move based on his combat instincts.

Since he thought of nothing, the Six-Eared Macaque's Heavenly Ear could hear nothing, catching him entirely off guard and confirming the Six-Eared Macaque's ability once and for all.

Since the Six-Eared Macaque could hear others' thoughts, from now on, he would think of nothing, relying solely on his combat instincts to fight. Without thoughts, there would be nothing for the Six-Eared Macaque to detect; removing his one advantage would leave him in no position to defeat his opponent with his combat talent!

"Damned Yang Jian is too cunning!"

Seeing Erlang God Yang Jian charging at him again, swinging his sword, the Six-Eared Macaque could hear nothing. Clearly, Yang Jian was no longer considering any set of moves, just battling based on his combat instincts. Consequently, the Six-Eared Macaque's Heavenly Ear was almost rendered useless, and he grew anxious internally.

In terms of combat instincts, the Six-Eared Macaque was not inferior to Erlang God Yang Jian, but since Yang Jian had reached the Da Luo Golden Immortal Realm – a whole realm higher – and had a deeper understanding of the Heavenly Dao Laws, the Six-Eared Macaque could no longer easily dodge Yang Jian's attacks now that the advantage of the Heavenly Ear was gone, and his disadvantage began to show clearly.

After fighting for over a hundred passes, the Six-Eared Macaque's arms were somewhat numb from the mana contained in Erlang God Yang Jian's Tri-point Double-edged Sword, and his chest was nearly split open by a strike. He began to panic internally.

"Yang Jian's cultivation is higher than mine, and his combat instincts are no less than mine. It looks like I cannot hold out anymore, damn it!"

Feinting with a staff strike, the Six-Eared Macaque thought of retreating.