A stench of rust-laden wind surged forward, causing Nezha’s Wind and Fire Wheels to stall abruptly. Deep within the Hell of Knives and Saws, ten thousand massive bronze saws hung upside down, their jagged teeth matted with pale-gold monkey fur, every blade etched with soul-suppressing incantations. Silver light poured from Yang Jian’s Heavenly Eye, illuminating a shattered soul curled deep within the blades—the Six-Eared Macaque had driven its three fangs into Sun Wukong’s throat. As it gnawed, the sound of grinding metal and stone filled the air, and the creature trembled in the nether-winds. On the Mirror of Sin, a fractured piece of the Ruyi Jingu Bang lay wedged; the characters for "Qitian" were being eroded by a blood-red blight, and with every stroke consumed, the saws in the abyss grew ten feet longer.
"That monkey’s spirit is being torn to shreds!" Xiaotian Hound barked furiously toward the southeast, its teeth clamping down on a faint, shimmering Karma Thread. Blood-red light shimmered across the cloud patterns of Yang Jian’s silver armor. His third eye traced seventy-two golden lines leading directly from the fragments of the Ruyi Jingu Bang to the Hall of Miraculous Radiance in the Heavenly Court. Nezha’s Fire-Tip Spear flicked, his red silk ribbons lifting a wave of Meng Po’s soup from the River of Forgetfulness to splash the Six-Eared Macaque. Yet, in mid-air, the liquid congealed into the image of Nuwa molding clay to create humanity—the hundred-thousand-and-ei…
Chapter 52