High above in the Nine Heavens, the Sun and Moon Eyes of Yang Jian suddenly erupted with stardust. These silver-blue sparks cascaded into Guixu, coalescing amidst the karmic fire into a new pair of Wind and Fire Wheels—the wheel spokes were etched with the divine legal sigils of the Judicial True Lord!
"So, you had anticipated this all along..." The moment the phantom of Nezha gripped the Wind and Fire Wheels, a roar like snapping chains echoed from the depths of Guixu. Below the Nine Netherworlds, the eighteen levels of hell simultaneously flared with blood-red light. King Qinguang’s Judge’s Brush spiraled out of control, carving deep fissures into the Book of Life and Death. Splatters of cinnabar from the brush tip fell onto the Bridge of Helplessness, corroding the stone until it formed the distinct silhouette of Sun Wukong.
The ladle in Granny Meng’s hand shattered, the boiling broth suspended in mid-air to form a mirror. The mirror reflected a scene from five hundred years ago: the hairs Sun Wukong had plucked while wreaking havoc in the underworld had been secretly collected by King Yama and tempered for a millennium in the waters of the River of Forgetfulness. At this very moment, those hairs were writhing inside the Judge’s Brush, and the faint, engraved characters "Ruyi Golden Headband" appeared upon its handle.
Nezha charged into the city of Fengdu, his feet mounted on the stardust-laden Wind and Fire Wheels, as the Red Lotus Karmic Fire transformed into ten thousand fire snakes to bind the Ten Kings of Hell. Suddenly, the Six-Path Golden Disk of the King of Equality reversed, and from it flew the remnant soul of the Six-Eared Macaque, who had been refined into a tool spirit. "Good brother, have you been well?" Amidst Nezha’s cold sneer, his Fire-Tip Spear pierced through the golden disk, and the remnant soul of the Six-Eared Macaque shrieked as it dissolved into the karmic fire.
King Qinguang brandished his brush to write the word "Suppress," but the brush tip twisted violently—Sun Wukong’s hairs, rebelling from within the shaft, forced the character to change into "Incinerate." The entire Mirror of Retribution shattered, and thousands of vengeful spirits poured forth through the cracks. Nezha manifested his three-headed, eight-armed form, using his Universal Heaven Ribbon to snare and forcibly refine all the judges' brushes. Upon the silk ribbon, the original memories preserved in those hairs emerged: when Sun Wukong had struck his name from the Book of Life and Death, he had intentionally left a wisp of his divine consciousness behind in the hairs!
"Monkey Brother, you truly did leave a contingency..." Nezha’s eyes welled with red, and the karmic fire suddenly shifted to a deep, ghostly blue. The purified brushes reassembled into a spearhead for his Fire-Tip Spear, which he drove through the vaulted ceiling of the Yama Hall. Outside, the blood moon shattered, revealing the core of the Nine Netherworlds hidden behind it—there floated a "False Samsara Disk" forged from the souls of a million ghost deputies, with Sun Wukong’s fangs, shed while he was suppressed under the Mountain of Five Elements, embedded at its center!
The Red Lotus Karmic Fire snaked through the fissures of the False Samsara Disk, burning away the horrifying truth: the so-called Six Paths of Samsara were, in reality, a furnace for the Heavenly Court to extract the soul energy of all living beings! Within the fire, Nezha witnessed his own past life—when his existence as the Spirit Pearl fell into the mortal realm, King Yama had secretly siphoned off a wisp of his primordial Qing Qi, the very energy now nourishing the East Pearl atop the Jade Emperor’s crown.
"So, I too have been an accomplice..." Nezha’s roar shattered the Bridge of Helplessness. Granny Meng tore away her disguise, revealing her true form as the Princess of the Asura. Her ladle transformed into the Blood River Banner, from which an army of the Asura clan poured forth. "I have waited five hundred years for you, little junior brother," the Princess chuckled, pointing the tip of her banner toward the center of Nezha’s brow. "Master said your Red Lotus Karmic Fire is perfect for reforging the Asura Path!"
Yang Jian’s Sun and Moon Eyes suddenly rained down blood, the droplets containing fragments of memories from when Yaoji’s soul was torn away. Seizing the moment, Nezha infused his karmic fire into the Wind and Fire Wheels; the two wheels turned into fiery dragons, entangling the Blood River Banner. As the banner burned, it cast an image of Lingshan: the interior of Rulai’s golden body was crawling with Sanskrit chains forged from Sun Wukong’s hairs!
Just as the battle reached a stalemate, the fangs of Sun Wukong at the core of the False Samsara Disk suddenly grew scorching hot. The Sea-Pacifying Divine Needle, deep within Guixu, sensed its former master’s presence, and the Yu King inscriptions upon its staff projected a phantom image of the Great Yu. The sage king of the human race stood measuring the Nine Netherworlds with his square and compass, then suddenly pointed toward the South Heavenly Gate: "The true Samsara lies hidden within a crack in the Thirty-Three Heavens!"
Nezha’s remnant soul fully solidified, and the mark of the Chaos Green Lotus appeared upon the chest of his new golden body. He took one last look at Granny Meng struggling in the blood rain, then wielded his Fire-Tip Spear to channel the karmic fire and incinerate the False Samsara Disk. Amidst the roar of the collapsing disk, a wisp of consciousness from the hairs seized the chance to slip into his ear: "Find the child on Flower-Fruit Mountain..."