Yang Jian pressed two fingers together like a blade and thrust them into his petrified Heavenly Eye; the cracked pupil erupted in a blinding silver radiance. Sensing its master was in danger, the God-Slaying Spear reversed in mid-air, piercing his left shoulder. A jet of blood struck the axis of the Samsara wheel with pinpoint accuracy. The bronze surface ground to a halt with a harsh "clack," and a fissure split the gate to the Animal Path. The mark of the Othershore Flower on the brow of Wukong’s lingering spirit suddenly bloomed, its stamens entwining the severed tail of the Xiaotian Hound, siphoning the soul-fire from the beast’s burning body into the well of Samsara.
"Woof!" The Xiaotian Hound’s mangled primordial spirit let out a final bark. The silver fire surged along the flower stems, burning through the reliefs of the Hungry Ghost Path. Nezha stepped onto his Wind and Fire Wheels and charged into the crack, his Fire-Tip Spear shattering three Rebirth Mantras. Yet, he saw that Wukong’s lingering spirit had eyes of burning red, and the God-Locking Chain in its hands had pierced the spines of three dragon corpses—the inner walls of those chain links were engraved with Yang Jian’s own birth date and time!
Meng Po tapped her ladle against her clay pot, and the murky broth coalesced into a phantom image of the Stone of Three Lives. The surface of the stone reflected one hundred thousand lifetimes of reincarnation: in every single one, Wukong had been pierced through the…
Chapter 44