“So what’s the plan?” I asked. Sun Wukong and I circled on our cloud, back-to-back, weapons facing the Heavenly warriors. “Any specific formations you want to try out on Erlang Shen? Fancy techniques?”
“Destroy him! And everything else in our path!” roared the Monkey King.
Okay, that was pretty easy to understand.
We made a beeline toward Erlang Shen, who scattered spirits like they were made from paper. Five soldiers charged me from all sides. I swung the Ruyi Jingu Bang in a wide arc, pushing them back.
I hadn’t fought with the Monkey King’s weapon yet, but I’d fought many times with Fenghuang. The Ruyi Jingu Bang shouldn’t be too different. As Sun Wukong and I battled back-to-back, I soon found that I was both right and wrong about that. The magical staff was about the same size as Fenghuang, but that was where the similarities ended.
When I was the Heaven Breaker, my actions had pretty much been controlled by Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West. Wielding the Ruyi Jingu Bang was something I did completely on my own.
“Erlang Shen!” Sun Wukong yelled once we got within fighting range of the warrior god.
Erlang Shen brushed a pair of monkeys off his shoulders, as easily as though they were feathers. He sneered down at us, his eyes glowing bright with the fire of battle.
“Monkey,” he roared. “You’ve let yourself go since we last fought, I see. Eating too many peaches?”
“Eat this!” Sun Wukong opened his mouth and hurled out a column of flame. Erlang Shen dodged it and launched himself forward.
The two gods met in a clash of golden light and noise that seemed to shake the entire world. I rushed to the Monkey King’s aid, but a purple-skinned warrior leapt out of nowhere, brandishing two lethal-looking knives.
I blocked both of his attacks, first from the knife in his right hand and then his left. I delivered a finishing blow by knocking him over the head with the Ruyi Jingu Bang. The warrior fell backward and crashed into the warriors behind him, knocking them over like a roll of very angry dominoes.
The Ruyi Jingu Bang already felt more familiar to me than Jinyu’s sword. Maybe it was because of the sacrifice we—especially Ashley—had made to get it back from the Underworld. Maybe it was the magic of the Hungry Ghost Festival giving power to all the dead, including this weapon.
Every time I lifted the Ruyi Jingu Bang, I could picture Ashley’s face in my head, egging me on to keep fighting.
“C’mon! Is that the best you’ve got?” Erlang Shen blasted Sun Wukong with purple flames.
“Are you trying to roast me or tickle me with that pathetic fire?” The Monkey King rolled out of the way and unfortunately tumbled into a crowd of the Jade Emperor’s army. They surrounded him with their weapons pointed right at him.
Erlang Shen let out a deep, satisfied belly laugh. “It’s the end for you, Sun Wukong!”
“Not if I can help it!”
A streak of color shot through the sky, so fast it was almost like it had shot out of a cannon. The figure collided into Erlang Shen, sending the warrior god back with a roar.
I gasped at the sight of the familiar god who’d arrived on the scene: Nezha. He traced fiery circles with his hoop in one hand, his red spear grasped in the other.
“Erlang Shen,” he bellowed. “You traitor. Did you really think you could trap Guanyin and me in that cave for long?”
Erlang Shen circled back to Nezha on his cloud, already recovered from the boy god’s attack. “No. I didn’t need you to be trapped for that long, though. I’ve been looking forward to taking you down in battle.”
With a cry, Nezha launched himself toward Erlang Shen. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I looked up into the warm glow of Guanyin. The goddess of mercy wore a cold, almost thunderous expression on her normally kind face.
“You’ve been well, warrior?” she asked.
I nodded. “I—I have. But Erlang … he …?”
The sadness that crinkled Guanyin’s face told me all I needed to know. “Don’t fear. We may have lost one powerful ally, but many other deities might yet be swayed to join us. Now, I must help Nezha.” She patted me softly on the shoulder. “This is one battle I’m afraid he likely won’t win—not without my help.”
Guanyin soared toward where Nezha and Erlang Shen were locked in battle, taking her warmth with her. As the full realization of the warrior god’s betrayal hit me, fury bubbled up from the pit of my stomach.
Erlang Shen hadn’t just abandoned Guanyin and Nezha. He’d abandoned the warriors and humans. And if there was one thing I couldn’t stand, it was that dreadfully hopeless, lonely feeling of abandonment.
He wasn’t going to get away with it. Not if I could help it.
CHAPTER
27
Power surged through my veins as I hurtled toward the warrior god.
“No, Faryn! Go back!” shouted Guanyin. I ignored her warnings.
Erlang Shen laughed maniacally as I drew close. He turned his feverish, wicked eyes on me. The normal Faryn would have panicked. But somehow, I knew what to do.
“Zhǎng!” I commanded the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Grow. The staff became heavier in my hands, thickening and lengthening in my palm. I spun the weapon around my head the way I’d seen Sun Wukong do earlier and hurled the spinning staff at Erlang Shen. He dove out of the way. The staff instead slammed into the crowd of warriors surrounding Sun Wukong, toppling them out of the sky. The spinning Ruyi Jingu Bang followed them until it knocked every last one of the warriors down to the earth.
I turned my gaze back toward Erlang Shen, only to see that he was locked in combat with both Nezha and Guanyin. The boy god was surrounded by a blaze of fire as he rapidly wove in and out with his weapons, attacking Erlang Shen on all sides. Guanyin hung back. She’d drawn out her white vase and flung a droplet of clear liquid toward Erlang Shen. It sprouted into a huge vine that snaked over his body, rendering him temporarily immobile.
As my fury ebbed into anger, I realized the gods didn’t need my help handling Erlang Shen at all. And with Alex still engaged in battle, I had other business to take care of.
Sun Wukong floated down toward me on a cloud. He stared at me with a strange mixture of admiration and mistrust. “Where did you learn how to use my weapon, mortal?”
“I … was watching you earlier.”
He squinted. “You learn fast.”
I shrugged. Even I couldn’t explain why the Ruyi Jingu Bang felt so easy for me to wield. Maybe the magic of the Hungry Ghost Festival had extended a little bit to me, too.
“I didn’t need your help, by the way,” Sun Wukong growled. “I made those morons think they’d gotten me, but I had the upper hand the whole time.”
“Oh … right. I knew that.”
“As if I, the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, would require the aid of a mere mortal—”
“Faryn! And Monkey!”
“That’s Monkey King to you!” Sun Wukong whipped around indignantly.
Alex had broken free of the spirits. After I dropped my gaze below, it was easy to see why. Most of the dead were now fixated on backing up the monkeys and engaging the Heavenly warriors in combat. Both black dragons had fallen to the earth, and they seemed to have been knocked out cold. Ren, still in his dragon form, picked off some of the last remaining warriors, one by one.