The Battle in Journey to the West
Chapter 190 - 186: Daoist Equal to Heaven Enters the Peach Garden

Chapter 190: Chapter 186: Daoist Equal to Heaven Enters the Peach Garden

The conversation had Huang Tuqiu deploying his Magical Treasure, which promptly trapped Tao Yao, leaving her unable to escape.

In her panic, Tao Yao exclaimed, "Why are you capturing me?"

Huang Tuqiu’s face remained calm as he said, "This is the Flat Peach Garden, a vital location of the Heavenly Court—how can outsiders just enter as they please? Which Immortal Ranks do you belong to?"

Tao Yao shouted, "I’m from the Doulu Palace, you better be careful in capturing me!"

Upon utilizing his Divine Skills to scrutinize her, Huang Tuqiu couldn’t help but inwardly exclaim, "Good heavens, she’s actually a Seven-Colored Flat Peach; this is even better than the peaches grown on the Mother Peach Tree! If I refine her into True Qi, my cultivation might just soar directly to the level of a Mixed Yuan Golden Immortal! I’ve really hit the jackpot this time; fortune truly favors me!"

Tao Yao was created by the mysterious individual inside the coffin, crafted from a segment of the main trunk of the Mother Peach Tree and combined with the first strand of Seven-Color Divine Light between heaven and earth. Such a peach, upon consumption, would enable one to ascend immediately, freeing them from tens of thousands of years of cultivation! Seeing that she still had nine Seven-Colored Flat Peaches on her, Huang Tuqiu wondered just how far his mana would progress if he ate all nine. This made him feel like he had truly encountered a stroke of great luck.

"From the Doulu Palace? I’m from the Jade Void Palace!" Huang Tuqiu couldn’t help but burst into laughter. A peach tree spirit claiming she’s from the Doulu Palace—how could that be believable?

Huang Tuqiu then let the vast scroll drop down, capturing Tao Yao inside. As he chanted a spell, he prepared to refine her.

Tao Yao found herself in this scroll amidst pitch-black darkness—as if she was in a time before heaven and earth had formed. Flames of True Fire began to burn around her, threatening to refine her into True Qi.

Suddenly, the Jade Talisman hanging around Tao Yao’s neck lit up, keeping the True Fire at bay and preventing it from burning her. This talisman was a self-defense gift left to Tao Yao by the coffin.

"Hmm, what’s going on? Why can’t she be refined?" Huang Tuqiu was surprised to find that the True Fire within the scroll couldn’t refine her into True Qi.

"No rush, let’s take it slow. I have all the time in the world," thought Huang Tuqiu. "I don’t believe I can’t refine her with a decade or so."

Immortals have plenty of time indeed, with endless lifespans. Spending a decade or two on refining a treasure was not unusual; some even spend centuries in closed-door cultivation to master Divine Skills.

At this moment, Tao Yao was engulfed in the burning True Fire, but thanks to the Jade Talisman emitting a halo of light, the flames could not touch her, thus saving her life.

"I’ve been captured inside a Magical Treasure. What am I to do? How do I get out? What if my father returns and can’t find me?" Tao Yao became increasingly anxious as she pondered in the darkness of the scroll, which resembled the chaos before the cosmos was formed, hardly a crevice in sight.

Then Tao Yao suddenly remembered that Wukong had given her three monkey hairs. Should she release the monkey hairs in a time of crisis and call out thrice, he would naturally hear her.

Tao Yao promptly reached into her ear, pulled out a monkey hair, twirled one between her fingers, and called out, "Sun Wukong, Sun Wukong, Sun Wukong! Can you hear me?"

"I’ve been captured by a guardian of the Flat Peach Garden. He’s trapped me inside a Magical Treasure and I can’t get out; he’s trying to refine me with True Fire. But I have a Jade Talisman from my father, so he can’t harm me just yet. Where are you? Can you come help me so I can get out? Otherwise, my father will return and not find me!"

At that moment, Wukong was beneath the Five Elements Mountain, perusing Subhuti’s hand-scroll, when he suddenly heard Tao Yao’s call for help. Alarmed, he attempted to rise by exerting his mana, but the Five Elements Mountain pressed heavily upon him, preventing his escape despite causing the earth to quake and mountains to shake.

Wukong hurriedly called out to the Daoist Equal to Heaven, who was attentively listening to lectures in the Jade Void Palace. The Daoist was deeply engrossed in the mystical state of Enlightenment Dao when he heard the call and awoke, realizing that Tao Yao had been captured in the Peach Garden.

"I’ll go right away!" declared the Daoist Equal to Heaven, as he quietly got up from his seat.

"Where are you headed?" inquired Yang Jian.

"I have an urgent matter to attend to, but once it’s resolved, I’ll continue listening to the lectures in the Jade Void Palace. Yang, you just focus on the lecture," replied the Daoist Equal to Heaven before stealthily leaving the Jade Pure Sky, heading straight for the Flat Peach Garden.

With many attendees at the Jade Void Palace lecture, his absence went unnoticed. The Saint was elucidating the Primordial Dao Fruit—a tremendous opportunity. Missing it was indeed a pity.

As the Daoist Equal to Heaven descended from the Jade Pure Sky, he happened to cross paths with someone in the Upper Pure Heaven and couldn’t help but exclaim, "Oh my! Senior Sister! What brings you here?"

The person was Wusheng, who was slightly taken aback upon seeing the Daoist Equal to Heaven and said, "Oh! Yuan Shi Immortal Monarch is discussing the Primordial Dao Fruit in the Jade Void Palace. I was delayed by some business, but now I’m on my way to listen. What brought you to Upper Pure Heaven?"

The Daoist Equal to Heaven explained, "I was up at the Jade Void Palace, attending the lecture!"

Curious, Wusheng asked, "Why did you come down then?"

With a sigh, the Daoist Equal to Heaven said, "A friend of mine has been captured and is now in the Flat Peach Garden, possibly in mortal danger. I must go to save her! Otherwise, I’d still be in the Jade Void Palace listening to the lecture—after all, it’s a rare event to hear the Saint speak of the Primordial Dao Fruit."

Nodding, Wusheng responded, "Hmm, the Yuan Shi Immortal Monarch has been lecturing for years; it truly is a rare event. Taking a short trip won’t cause much delay. When your business is done, you should hurry back to the Jade Pure Sky to listen to the lecture on the Primordial Dao Fruit."

Daoist Equal to Heaven asked, "How is Master faring these days?"

Wusheng laughed and said, "You do have a sense of filial duty. Master is doing very well, as long as you don’t cause trouble for him!"

Upon hearing this, Daoist Equal to Heaven nodded repeatedly and said, "Sister, I won’t stay any longer; I must go and rescue them."

Wusheng said, "Go then."

Daoist Equal to Heaven transformed into a beam of Escaping Light and descended from the Jade Pure Sky to the Heavenly Court.

Daoist Equal to Heaven was, of course, very familiar with the layout of the Heavenly Court and went straight to the Flat Peach Garden.

At the entrance to the Peach Garden, there were guards on duty, but their mana was weak, so naturally, they could not detect Daoist Equal to Heaven’s presence. Moreover, the Heavenly Court was now extremely empty, as most of the strong ones had gone to the Jade Void Palace to listen to Yuan Shi Immortal Monarch discuss the Primordial Dao Fruit. Ever since the Ancient Times and the Divine Enthronement incident, the Saints had started cloistering themselves, and this Dao discussion was the first in many years! Even two of the Great Emperors of Heavenly Court had gone.

Once inside the Peach Garden, Daoist Equal to Heaven saw a man sitting cross-legged on a pavilion, none other than Huang Tuqiu. Upon hearing Tao Yao say she was captured with a Magical Treasure, he suspected it must have been Huang Tuqiu who caught her with a scroll! Annoyance flared within him; this wretch had spoiled things last time, and now he even dared to capture Tao Yao and even think of refining her. Anger surging within him, his Three Corpses Deity raged, and his Samadhi Fire rose to his throat.

Daoist Equal to Heaven produced the Samsara Pen in his hand, gripped it firmly, and charged toward Huang Tuqiu!

Huang Tuqiu was using True Fire to refine Tao Yao, but suddenly sensed something wrong, feeling his hair stand on end. He rolled away in a donkey-roll to escape beneath the pavilion, just as Daoist Equal to Heaven struck down with his pen on the pavilion, which exploded with a thunderous boom upon impact! As his mana elevated over time, so too did the power of the Samsara Pen.

Huang Tuqiu cursed loudly, "Which bird dares ambush me!"

Daoist Equal to Heaven had already cast a spell, enveloping the surrounding area in a shield of rules, concealing any noise from the outside world; to others, Huang Tuqiu appeared to be sitting unperturbed on the pavilion.

Daoist Equal to Heaven shouted, "What did you just put into your Magical Treasure? Release it now, that is my sister!"

Huang Tuqiu stood up, sneered coldly, and said, "What are you, some Wild Daoist from who knows where, to speak to me in such a manner?"

Daoist Equal to Heaven, already furious by nature and with Tao Yao captured for refining in the Magical Treasure, felt even more urgent. Consumed by rage, his innards burning, he bellowed, "Good, good! If you will not release her, let’s see how I deal with you!"

As Daoist Equal to Heaven charged forward, the Samsara Pen undulated with myriad transformations, penning one Xia Dynasty Dragon Seal after another, crushing the void with thunderous booms, like Taiyi riding in a Nine Dragons War Chariot, vast and immense in momentum. These mysterious symbols, each possessing formidable special power, were especially potent when executed with the Samsara Pen, magnifying their strength.

"You savage Wild Daoist!" exclaimed Huang Tuqiu, taken aback by Daoist Equal to Heaven’s terrifying assault. With a few strokes, the mystical symbols crushed down like mountains, heavy as the national destiny, inspiring fear.

Huang Tuqiu spat out a Jade Talisman, which was a Bamboo Staff about three feet long, lusciously green, comprising nine segments, and even adorned with a few bamboo leaves.

"Take this!" Huang Tuqiu lifted the Bamboo Staff and struck at the Xia Dynasty Dragon Seals, immediately shattering them upon impact.

This Bamboo Staff also had its origins, being an artifact from Ancient Times belonging to a powerful being. Huang Tuqiu, who had luck that could reach the sky, had picked up the painting scroll to cultivate the Dao of Immortals and had also found this Bamboo Staff, although it was severely damaged at first and only gradually restored.

Seeing Huang Tuqiu break his Xia Dynasty Dragon Seals, Daoist Equal to Heaven rushed forward, fists and feet flying. His left hand opened in the Tai Chi Fist posture of ’Grasping Sparrow’s Tail’, and he struck with his palm!

Huang Tuqiu pressed down with his elbow to block the palm, but upon contact, he immediately felt pain like a knife cut due to a hidden power within the strike.

"What Divine Skill is this? How is it so formidable?" Huang Tuqiu was taken aback and hurriedly lifted his Bamboo Staff to strike at Daoist Equal to Heaven’s crown.

Daoist Equal to Heaven shouted lightly, shifted his stance into the Wuji Style, and with fingers plucking swiftly like those playing a Pipa, he caught the Bamboo Staff in sequence, giving Huang Tuqiu a feeling of being bogged down in a quagmire.

This was the Silk-Reeling Power of Tai Chi, emitting force like reeling silk; the threads were soft but binding, nigh impossible to break free from once entangled.

Daoist Equal to Heaven had once observed Zhang Junshi fight Bodhidharma with Tai Chi Fist, the two exchanging powerful blows that rended the earth, both showing tremendous martial prowess.

"Huh!"

Huang Tuqiu exhaled a gust of wind and thunder towards Daoist Equal to Heaven’s face, but Daoist Equal to Heaven hunkered down, coiling like a ’White Snake in the Grass’ and dodged the wind and thunder. He struck Huang Tuqiu’s abdomen with a palm thrust.

At first, Huang Tuqiu thought the palm was soft, but upon being hit, he immediately felt a pain as if being sliced with a blunt knife, agonizingly uncomfortable. He rolled on the ground, covered in dust, with blood seeping from his seven orifices, his internal organs severely shocked.

The outcome is yet unknown. Please stay tuned for the next Chapter. (Continued... If you enjoy this work, please feel welcome to vote for it with a recommendation ticket or monthly ticket at Starting Point (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)