The Buddha then summoned the two Venerables Ananda and Kasyapa to accompany him. Leaving Leiyin Temple, they went straight to the Lingxiao Gate. Suddenly, they heard a deafening shout. It turned out that the thirty-six Thunder Generals had surrounded the Great Sage. The Buddha issued a decree: "Tell the Thunder Generals to cease their fighting, open their camp, and let the Great Sage come out so that I may ask him what magical powers he possesses."

The generals retreated, and the Great Sage also withdrew his magical form, revealing his true form as he approached, his anger blazing, and shouted in a fierce voice: "Where did this toad come from, covered in bumps, daring to stop the fighting and question me?"

Upon hearing this, all the celestial beings and generals were stunned. They wanted to burst out laughing, but because Buddha was standing by, they dared not laugh and were all extremely embarrassed.

The Buddha was not angry, but smiled and said, "I am the Venerable Shakyamuni of the Western Paradise, Namo Amitabha Buddha. I have heard that you are rampant in the countryside and have repeatedly rebelled against the Heavenly Palace. I do not know where you were born, when you attained enlightenment, or why you are so violent."

The Great Sage said: I am—a spirit born of heaven and earth, an old ape in Flower Fruit Mountain. I make my home in the Water Curtain Cave, and seek out friends and masters to comprehend the profound mysteries.

I have mastered countless methods to achieve immortality, and learned boundless transformations. Finding the mortal realm too cramped, I resolve to dwell in the Jade Heaven.

The Lingxiao Palace is not his long-standing residence; its throne has been passed down through generations of kings. The strong shall be respected, and I shall be the only hero daring to contend for the top.

Upon hearing this, Buddha chuckled coldly, "You are but a monkey spirit, how dare you harbor such deceitful thoughts, desiring to usurp the Jade Emperor's throne? He has cultivated since childhood, enduring 1,750 kalpas of arduous practice. Each kalpa lasts 129,600 years. Calculate how many years it would take him to attain this boundless Dao! You, a mere beast newly born as a human, how dare you utter such arrogant words! You are unworthy of being human! You have shortened your lifespan! Repent and convert now, and stop spouting nonsense! Otherwise, you may suffer a terrible fate, your life ending in an instant, what a pity for your original form!"

The Great Sage cried out, “Though he has lived for many years, he should not occupy this place for long. As the saying goes, emperors take turns ruling, and next year it will be my turn. Just tell him to move out and give me the Heavenly Palace, and that will be the end of it; if he refuses, he will surely cause chaos and there will never be peace!”

The Buddha said, "Besides the methods of immortality and transformation, what other abilities do you have that allow you to dare occupy the magnificent heavenly palace?"

The Great Sage said, “I have many abilities! I possess seventy-two transformations, and I am immortal for countless eons. I can ride the somersault cloud, covering 108,000 li in a single leap. How could I not sit on the throne of Heaven?”

Buddha said, “I’ll make a bet with you: if you have the ability to somersault out of my right palm, you win, and we won’t have to fight anymore. I’ll invite the Jade Emperor to live in the West and give you the Heavenly Palace; if you can’t escape my palm, you will be reborn as a demon in the mortal realm and cultivate for several more kalpas before coming back to fight.”

Upon hearing this, the Great Sage chuckled to himself, "This Buddha is incredibly foolish! I, Old Sun, can somersault 108,000 li in a single leap. His palm is less than a foot in diameter; how could he not leap over it?" He quickly asked, "If that's the case, can you make the decision?"

Buddha sneered, "Yes, yes, I'll do it!"

Then, he stretched out his right hand, which was the size of a lotus leaf. The Great Sage put away his Ruyi Jingu Bang, unleashed his divine power, leaped forward, and stood in the Buddha's palm, saying, "I'm leaving!" And so he vanished without a trace, disappearing into the clouds.

The Buddha, with his all-seeing eye, saw the Monkey King spinning like a windmill, relentlessly moving forward. As the Great Sage traveled, he suddenly saw five fleshy red pillars supporting a wisp of green mist. He said, "This is the end of the road. When I return, with the Buddha as my witness, the Heavenly Palace will surely be mine." Then he thought, "Wait! Let me leave some marks so I can speak with the Buddha." He plucked a hair, blew on it with a breath of immortal air, and shouted, "Transform!" It transformed into a thick ink brush with two bristles. On the middle pillar, he wrote in large characters: "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was here." After writing, he put away the hair. Then, without any decorum, he urinated at the base of one of the pillars. He somersaulted back to his original place, stood in the Buddha's palm, and said, "I have gone, and now I am back. Tell the Jade Emperor to grant me the Heavenly Palace."

The Buddha cursed, "You little piss-wielding monkey! You've never left my grasp!"

The Great Sage laughed and said, "You don't know. I went to the ends of the earth and saw five fleshy red pillars supporting a wisp of green mist. I left a mark there. Do you dare to come with me to see it?"

The Buddha laughed, "No need to go. Just look down." The Great Sage opened his fiery eyes wide and looked down. He saw that the Buddha's right middle finger had the words "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven was here" written on it. There was even a faint smell of monkey urine between the thumb and forefinger. The Great Sage exclaimed in surprise, "Such a thing! Such a thing! I wrote this on the pillar supporting the sky, how did it end up on his finger? Could it be some kind of precognitive magic? I absolutely don't believe it! I'll go back again!"

The Great Sage, in a haste to leap out again, was shoved aside by the Buddha with a flick of his palm, pushing the Monkey King out of the Western Heavenly Gate. The Buddha then transformed his five fingers into five linked mountains of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, named the "Five Elements Mountains," and gently pressed him down. The thunder gods, Ananda, and Kasyapa all clasped their hands in praise, saying: "Excellent! Excellent!"

In the past, the egg transformed into a human, determined to cultivate the true path. For countless eons, it remained in a sublime realm, but one day, change occurred, and its spirit dissipated.

He deceived Heaven and aspired to high office; he stole elixirs from the sages and disrupted the natural order. His wickedness has reached its limit, and now he faces retribution; who knows when he will be able to turn his life around?

Little did he know that the Buddha possessed the great supernatural power of "Buddha-land in the palm of his hand," transforming a Buddha-land into his own world within his palm. This supernatural power originated from the Buddhist concept of "a world in a grain of sand." Normally, capturing someone within such a space is not easy; others are not fools and know how to resist and evade. The Buddha, knowing the monkey's short cultivation period and ignorance of worldly affairs, tricked him into entering the Buddha-land in his palm, thus suppressing the monkey. Otherwise, given the monkey's cultivation level, even if the Buddha could suppress him, he could still easily escape. After all, the Buddha was not a saint; with the monkey's "somersault cloud," he could travel 108,000 li in a single leap, which even the Buddha could not catch.

After the Buddha annihilated the monkey demon, he summoned Ananda and Kasyapa to travel together to the Western Paradise. At that moment, Tianpeng and Tianyou rushed out of the Lingxiao Palace and said, "Please wait a moment, Buddha, our lord is coming."

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!