Sun Wukong smashed a stick onto the tentacle on the periphery of Taishang Laojun.

After the strike, without even looking at the result, he immediately flew out of the courtyard.

The tentacles swung by the corpse of the ancient Buddha were smashed into several pieces, and two of the untouched tentacles were rolled towards Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong had already flown out of the courtyard and headed towards the Ninth Heaven.

In the blink of an eye, he did not notice me embedded in the stone wall.

While rejoicing that Sun Wukong was still alive, I anxiously looked at Taishang Laojun.

I could feel Taishang Laojun's aura gradually disappearing. Especially after these forty-nine days, his aura had become so weak that I could hardly sense it.

The tentacles around Laojun writhed for a while before falling silent again.

I felt the pressure on me lighten, and I fell out from the wall.

"Mingde," Taishang Laojun called my name.

I came to Laojun's side, standing outside the range of the tentacles' attacks.

"Laojun, what exactly is going on?"

"A struggle between Buddhism and Daoism, reaching a critical point," Laojun's voice came. "For tens of thousands of years, Buddhism has been oppressed by the Daoist sects, confined to the Western Spirit Mountain. Naturally, they were unwilling to hand over this good world and the Heavenly Court on the Nine Heavens. So, after preparing for thousands of years, they collectively fell into madness, attracting extraterrestrial demons that can erode the minds of immortals and gods from the outside world. And several hundred years ago, they launched a surprise attack on the Heavenly Court."

The corpse of the Ranting Lamp Ancient Buddha and the Maitreya Ancient Buddha beside Laojun suddenly sat up, and blue flames ignited on their bodies.

Within the blue flames, the bodies of the two Buddhas slowly melted, revealing tentacles with a single eye inside, black in color. Then the one-eyed tentacle was burned to ashes by the blue flames.

After the blue flames burned the bodies of the two Buddha corpses, they spread to other Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats, spreading to the tentacles throughout the entire courtyard.

As the flames spread, Laojun's aura began to rise.

It was only at this moment that I realized it was not the tentacles restraining Laojun, but Laojun restraining those tentacles and ancient Buddhas.

"Most of the corroded Buddhas in Ling Mountain have been left by me," Laojun continued, "But the present-day Tathagata Buddha escaped and implanted the extraterrestrial demons into the hearts of the Heavenly Court's gods. The immortals you see now are all empty shells."

All the tentacles and Buddhas in the courtyard were burned to ashes, and Laojun's aura once again became unfathomable.

"I have restricted these ancient Buddhas, but they have also restricted me, preventing me from freeing up my hands. It took hundreds of years to refine them one by one."

"The monkey in the Heavenly Court is only smashing those whose minds have long been destroyed, possessed by evil demons," Laojun continued, "But there are still many gods in the Heavenly Court who have not been corrupted, maintaining the foundation of the Heavenly Court. We cannot allow that monkey to continue his rampage."

I didn't care about the future of the Heavenly Court; I only cared about the calamity Sun Wukong was about to face.

"Why did Laojun capture my junior brother and refine him in the alchemy furnace?"

I didn't sense any malice from Taishang Laojun towards Sun Wukong. I couldn't understand why he wanted to refine Sun Wukong.

"Your junior brother's calamity is in Ling Mountain," Taishang Laojun looked in the direction where Sun Wukong had left and said, "I'm refining him into a Diamond Body, immune to the demons' influence."