The Battle in Journey to the West-Chapter 66 - 0 The Heavenly Masters Taoism Cleaves a

Leizhenzi lifted his hammer, and with a whooshing sound, his Wind-Thunder Wings vibrated rapidly behind him. With a roar from his mouth, he struck down fiercely. With a thunderous roar, the entire space between heaven and earth was filled with golden light. For a moment, everyone was startled and then saw a giant golden thunderbolt descending from the sky!

The thunder was like a divine dragon, terrifyingly formidable, making people’s faces pale with horror. Leizhenzi’s thunder strike utilized all of his True Qi and mana, as well as the Wind-Thunder Wings on his back. These wings, attached by his master, were like a magical treasure, and over the years, they had fully integrated with his body, making them as easy to use as his own limbs.

With a “boom!”, Heavenly Thunder struck, and behind Hanshan, the Great Buddha lifted a Magical Treasure above, blocking the Divine Thunder. The impact caused the golden light to dim and plumes of blue smoke to rise, emitting a scorched smell. Hanshan’s whole beard had turned into a charred color. It was fortunate that he was bald; otherwise, even his hair might have caught fire.

The ferocity of the thunder was truly terrifying. The people of Luoyang City witnessed thunderbolts continually descending from the sky and striking the Imperial City.

The citizens of Luoyang City thought that the Son of Heaven had provoked the wrath of the heavens, for disasters sent by heaven were believed to stem from misdeeds of the Son of Heaven. At such times, the Son of Heaven was expected to write a sacrificial document, appealing to the heavens for forgiveness and admitting his wrongdoing. However, Liu Zhuang was astute and capable, regarded as an enlightened monarch; thus, the citizens of Luoyang City knelt down in prayer, begging the heavens not to punish the Son of Heaven anymore.

Leizhenzi cursed, “That bald donkey can really take a beating!”

Hanshan’s Golden Body was also extremely firm and yang in nature. The Golden Bodies of the Buddhist Sect were inherently designed to have such an effect, so the impact of the Heavenly Thunder was not significant.

However, even so, it was still immensely uncomfortable. Although the Golden Body could withstand a beating, how much could it truly endure? With thunderbolt after thunderbolt striking down, no one could withstand it.

The Howling Celestial Dog and the Silver-eyed Golden-winged Eagle both kept their distance, for the thunder was too fearsome to approach and did not pause for a moment; thunderbolt followed thunderbolt in rapid succession.

All that could be seen between heaven and earth were the flashes of thunderbolts, and everyone was shocked by such terrifying divine capabilities.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

Leizhenzi vibrated his Wind-Thunder Wings atop the clouds, his hammer repeatedly striking down, creating waves of thunder as if a mortal had disturbed the slumber of an Ancient Thunder God.

Yang Jian saw that Monk She De was about to intervene but was stopped by Ancestor Chen Tuan. He couldn’t help but say, “Brother, put in more effort! That old monk wants to come and stop this.”

The Five Directions Kaide exchanged glances, then formed Dharma Seals with their hands before their Primordial Spirits left their bodies and ascended to the sky.

Leizhenzi, seeing the Five Directions Kaide’s Primordial Spirits leaving their bodies to join the fray, cursed, “These old monks think they can bully us with numbers! Watch my Divine Skill! Thunder Overwhelming the Heavens!”

A roar of anger, the hammer fell, and the light of thunder grew even brighter, nearly blinding anyone who looked at it. A sea of thunder pressed down, and the Primordial Spirit of the Five Directions Kaide was struck, immediately becoming dizzy and disoriented. However, the mana of the five was mighty, and as Leizhenzi’s display of Divine Skills struck a wide area rather than focusing power, it hit the Primordial Spirits dead-on yet could not kill the five in one fell swoop.

“Daoist friend, you just slay him! I’ll hold off these five,” suddenly came a Daoist of peculiar appearance, riding on a paper tiger, who dashed past the two and headed towards the Five Directions Kaide.

Leizhenzi’s mind steadied, and he quickly realigned his aim towards Monk Hanshan. This slight delay saw the Howling Celestial Dog and the Silver-eyed Golden-winged Eagle tangled up again, but they still couldn’t force Monk Hanshan down from the meditation cushion. Thinking that he had the assistance of a high-ranking expert from his Buddhist Sect, Monk Hanshan felt considerably assured, but before this feeling could settle, the damned Heavenly Thunder struck down once more, bolt after bolt, even more ferocious than before.

“That is the Heavenly Master from the Maoshan Sect lineage of Taoism of the Heavenly Masters, the Unibrow Taoist,” Yang Jian didn’t recognize this Daoist, but as soon as he saw that peculiar unibrow, he immediately knew who it was.

In the past, Laozi sought to spread Taoist Teachings and transformed into Li Dan in the mortal world, making the “Tao Te Ching” known throughout, and even enlightened Confucius, the Saint of Confucianism, who looked like he was seventy or eighty years old at birth. The Unibrow Taoist was the Head of the Teaching, the Heavenly Master of the Maoshan Sect; he was born with a peculiar appearance, and mostly those born this way have extraordinary gifts. Born with white hair as if an old child, and his eyebrows merged into one, he perfectly embodied the adage “Tao Gives Birth to One,” and was taken into the Sect by Heavenly Master Zhang Daoling. After Zhang Daoling ascended to Heaven to take office, the Unibrow Taoist had no desire to be governed by the Heavenly Court and thus always remained in the mortal world.

Within the Taoism of the Heavenly Masters, there are Orthodox Unity, Maoshan, and so on, all following the Way of Dao that Zhang Daoling passed down. This lineage of Taoism of the Heavenly Masters is quite powerful in the mortal world as well.

Laughing loudly, the Unibrow Taoist said, “What audacity you have, daring to let your Soul Leave the Body—you must be tired of living!”

He reached the Five Directions Kaide, spoke an Incantation, and tossed a handful of Talismans into the air. The Talismans fluttered through the sky and then transformed into Golden-Armored Divine Soldiers. Although made from Talisman Paper, their strength was remarkably formidable, and not even divine weapons forged from ordinary iron could slice through them—only techniques from the Immortal Abode could destroy them. Naturally, there were some disciples in the Maoshan Sect with lower mana whose Talismans were easier to deal with, dissolving immediately upon being doused with water.

The Five Directions Kaide never expected a strange Daoist to intercept them out of nowhere and hastily used their Divine Skills to fend off the Golden-Armored Divine Soldiers approaching them.

Clearly prepared, the Unibrow Taoist cast out hundreds of Talismans at once. Seeing the powerful mana of the Five Directions Kaide, he threw another handful of Talismans. This time, the papers transformed into ferocious tigers, great snakes, mighty eagles, steeds, Divine Dragons, Phoenixes, and such, joining the attack with the Golden-Armored Divine Soldiers.

Jinguang-jiedi thought anxiously, “These are Talismans, and this Daoist is the Maoshan Heavenly Master, the Unibrow Taoist!”

Yintou-jiedi was also inwardly lamenting, “Fellow brothers, we must make a quick escape. If that Leizhenzi strikes down again, we will lose.”

Paramartha-satya said, “I fear these Talismans are made of golden paper. The Daoist Priests of the Maoshan Sect lineage are particularly skilled in this craft, and it’s not easy for us, who’ve only come in Primordial Spirit form, to break out!”

Talismans come in different colors, with gold as the most formidable, followed by silver, then purple, next blue, with yellow a little less potent, and white being the weakest. Most disciples of the Maoshan Sect in the mortal world can only use yellow Talismans, but for the Head of the Teaching, the Heavenly Master, using gold Talismans was of course no problem at all. By scattering handfuls of gold Talismans, the Five Directions Kaide felt like crying out in despair.

“This old Daoist came prepared; such an abundance of Talismans, it’s as if they cost him nothing!”

The Unibrow Taoist blocked off the Primordial Spirits of the Five Directions Kaide with his extravagant use of Talismans—one toss scattered hundreds of gold Talismans.

Finally, under the relentless assault of the thunder, Monk Hanshan could no longer withstand it. The Great Buddha with the Golden Body let out a roar of rage before shattering. Hanshan himself could no longer hold on, tumbling down from the meditation cushion and vomiting blood profusely, evidently severely injured.

But almost simultaneously, a huge Hand Seal descended from the sky, striking upon a pillar of magical power under Yang Jian’s physical form, snapping it instantly and knocking Yang Jian from the meditation cushion.

Shemoteng and Zhufalan turned their worries into joy upon seeing this, their eyes gleaming gold as they looked up to see an old Monk standing above.

Ancestor Chen Tuan saw that a result had been achieved and returned his Primordial Spirit to his body to avoid being struck by a sneak attack.

Monk Shide also returned his Primordial Spirit within his body.

This sudden turn of events was unexpected to all; what was thought to be another victory for the Daoist path turned on its head as Yang Jian too was struck down at the same moment.

Yang Jian exclaimed, “Ouch! Junior brother, I’m going down. You go about your business; I’m all right.”

As to who won or lost, please listen to the following breakdown.