第 7 回

The Jade Emperor ordered to bind Sun Wukong on the Demon-Subduing Pillar.

The heavenly soldiers cut him with knives, chopped him with axes, struck him with lightning, and burned him with fierce fire.

But Sun Wukong was not injured, instead he laughed heartily.

Originally, he had previously stolen and eaten the Peaches of Immortality and the elixir of the Supreme Lord Lao, making his body extremely hard, and these punishments could not harm him.

The Supreme Lord Lao saw this situation and said to the Jade Emperor: "Please hand Sun Wukong over to me."

I will put him into my Eight-Trigram Elixir Furnace and refine him with the furnace fire.

This way, I can both recover the elixir and eliminate him.

The Jade Emperor agreed.

The Supreme Lord Lao ordered the furnace-tending boy to stoke the furnace fire.

They locked Sun Wukong into the furnace and refined him for forty-nine days.

Taishang Laojun thought Sun Wukong had already been burned to ashes.

He had the boy open the furnace door.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the furnace door opened, Sun Wukong shouted loudly and jumped out of the furnace.

His eyes were flashing with a dazzling golden light.

Originally, after Sun Wukong entered the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he discovered there were eight directions inside the furnace.

One of them, called Xun, only had wind and no fire.

He hid there.

The furnace fire did not burn him, but the thick smoke inside the furnace smoked his eyes, refining them into fiery golden eyes.

These eyes could recognize demons, monsters, ghosts, and evil spirits.

Sun Wukong rushed out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace, feeling very angry.

He took out the golden-hooped staff, fought off the obstructing heavenly soldiers and generals all the way, and fought all the way to the outside of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

The guarding heavenly soldiers and generals, fearing he would harm the Jade Emperor, immediately surrounded him tightly.

But Sun Wukong was not afraid at all.

He swung the golden-hooped staff very fast, and no one could get close to him.

The Jade Emperor saw that no one in the heavenly palace could defeat Sun Wukong, and had no choice in his heart, so he had to send someone to the Western Heaven's Ling Mountain to ask Buddha Tathagata for help.

After Buddha Tathagata arrived, he first advised Sun Wukong to surrender.

Sun Wukong said with a smile: People often say, "The emperor takes turns, next year it will be my turn."

You should make the Jade Emperor give the heavenly palace to me.

Otherwise, I will continue to cause trouble.

Buddha Tathagata heard this and said to Sun Wukong: I will make a bet with you.

If you can somersault out of my palm, I will ask the Jade Emperor to give you the Heavenly Palace.

If you cannot flip out, you must return to the lower world and continue being a monster.

How about it?

Sun Wukong secretly laughed in his heart, thinking this matter was very easy.

He jumped onto the outstretched right palm of Buddha Tathagata.

Sun Wukong somersaulted on a cloud, flying forward rapidly.

He flew for a long time and saw five flesh-red pillars standing ahead, supporting the sky.

He thought: This must be the end of heaven and earth.

I must leave a mark, lest Buddha Tathagata does not acknowledge it.

He plucked a hair, turned it into a writing brush, and wrote eight large characters on the middle pillar: Great Sage Equal to Heaven, visited here.

To be safer, he also urinated under the first pillar.

After doing these, Sun Wukong somersaulted again, flew back to the original place, and landed on the palm of the Buddha.

He proudly said to the Buddha: "I flew to the edge of the sky and came back."

Quickly let the Jade Emperor give the Heavenly Palace to me.

The Buddha smiled and said: "You monkey, look down at my fingers."

Sun Wukong looked down and was greatly surprised.

He saw that on the Buddha's right middle finger, the eight characters he had just left were written.

At the base of the finger, the smell of urine could still be smelled.

It turned out that the five pillars supporting the sky were the Buddha's five fingers.

Sun Wukong had not flown out of his palm at all.

Sun Wukong knew he had met a truly powerful person, and he was very scared in his heart, so he turned around and wanted to run.

Buddha Tathagata turned his right palm over and pushed it downward.

Sun Wukong immediately felt a huge force pressing down, and he had no way to resist it.

He fell straight down from the sky.

Buddha's five fingers turned into five mountain peaks.

These five mountain peaks are formed by the combination of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

They combined into a big mountain, firmly pressing Sun Wukong under it, with only his head and one arm exposed.

Buddha then had the Venerable Ananda, who was following him, take out a talisman.

On the talisman were written six golden characters.

Ananda pasted the talisman on a square stone at the mountaintop.

This mountain immediately closed together tightly.

Although Sun Wukong could use his exposed hand to shake, he could no longer break free and come out.