The Battle in Journey to the West

Wukong had sought the assistance of Lingji Bodhisattva, who, naturally, was no match for Princess Iron Fan wielding her Banana Leaf Fan; in an instant, he was reduced to ashes.

Hurriedly, Wukong went to Mount Meru in search of Tathagata, as Tathagata naturally could not sit by idly in this matter, otherwise, where would he put his face?

Those of the Immortal Path value face highly; disciples being beaten, struck by surprise, or having their Magical Treasures taken—all could provoke slaughter and killing. The Wind-Calming Pearl had been constantly cultivated by Lingji Bodhisattva since his practice began. It was a pity that it was turned into powder by Princess Iron Fan with a single wave of her fan, otherwise, it would have saved his life.

Causality is easy to create but immensely difficult to resolve. Once untangled, one side is almost always reduced to ashes, ending up with empty promises.

Wukong entered the Great Hall of Mount Meru, bowed to Tathagata, and said, "Buddha Ancestor, I went to borrow Lingji Bodhisattva’s Wind-Calming Pearl, but unexpectedly the Banana Leaf Fan was extremely powerful. With one wave, it shattered the pearl, and I was thrown down to the Eastern Sea. When I reported this matter to Lingji Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva, furious, went to find Princess Iron Fan to settle the score."

Tathagata was startled and exclaimed, "What happened then?"

Wukong replied, "Then the Bodhisattva was turned into calamity ashes by a wave of Princess Iron Fan’s fan, dying with his spirit regressing, all his Bodhisattva Rank completely lost."

Upon hearing this, Tathagata became furious and said, "How dare Iron Fan do this? To have killed Lingji Bodhisattva and even caused his spirit to regress."

Reaching the Eighth Ground Bodhisattva is to become Immovable Ground, reputed for an eternally unregressing spirit. But now, Tathagata was deeply embarrassed as Lingji Bodhisattva, this Eighth Ground Bodhisattva, had his spirit regress upon death, causing all the Buddha statues in the temple to collapse, ruining the Way of the Dao completely. Princess Iron Fan killing Lingji Bodhisattva was one thing, but scaring him into spirit regression upon his death was quite another—it was striking Tathagata in the face.

Upon Wukong’s words, Tathagata was utterly furious, seeing that a Bodhisattva of Immovable Ground had his spirit forced into regression, where would the Buddhist sect put its face now?

"Could it be that Princess Iron Fan has obtained Laojun’s positive Yang Fan, both combining into one? Otherwise, with her fan alone, she would definitely not be able to kill Lingji Bodhisattva, let alone force his spirit into regression," Tathagata mused. Calming down and thinking it over, he soon guessed that this was likely another scheme of the Three Pure Ones.