Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

Samantabhadra Monastery was located about four to five hundred miles north of Fuling Mountain, a temple renowned because Master Huiwu had spent many years subduing demons and pacifying all beings, attaining great prestige. Therefore, the monastery's incense was never extinguished, with countless faithful and pious men and women coming to worship.

The entire monastery's monastic community possibly numbered in the hundreds, even more grand than the Guanyin Zen Temple of the past.

A streak of escape light came from the south, unseen by the common folk, and directly entered Samantabhadra Monastery.

Inside a Buddha hall, Master Huiwu knelt respectfully on the ground, as if he had committed a grave error, hanging his head and daring not to speak, while the Dharma aspect of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva floated before him.

"Bodhisattva, your disciple knows his mistakes, causing the Bodhisattva to descend to the mortal world. Please do punish me!"

Lowering his head, Master Huiwu appeared ready to accept his punishment, his tone also filled with a sense of guilt.

"Huiwu, do you know who that party in Yunzhai Cave is?"

Not forgiving him yet, nor discussing punishment, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva calmly looked at the Huiwu before him and asked.

"Reporting back to the Bodhisattva, your disciple did not know at first, but having heard what the Bodhisattva said on Fuling Mountain, I am now aware. The young monk is none other than Holy Monk Xuanzang, on his way to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha and seek scriptures!" With his head bowed, Huiwu answered truthfully.

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva nodded slightly, "Correct, that Xuanzang is actually the reincarnation of Tathagata's second disciple. His journey to the Western Heaven to worship Buddha and seek scriptures is of great merit. Once he completes his meritorious deeds, he will be able to demonstrate the Dharma and become a Buddha. Today you have offended him..."

Boom boom boom!

Hearing these words, Master Huiwu's complexion changed dramatically, and he quickly kowtowed, "Bodhisattva, your disciple truly did not know. Had I known it was Holy Monk Xuanzang and his party, I would have never dared to offend them. Please discern the truth, Bodhisattva."

"Hmm, although that pig demon has a demon body, in its past life it was Marshal Tianpeng of the Heavenly Court, in charge of eighty thousand soldiers of the Heavenly River; that monkey, although unimpressive in appearance, was Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, who caused Havoc in Heaven five hundred years ago.

Even that white horse is transformed from the third son of the Western Sea Dragon King..."

Such words, better left unsaid, only increased Master Huiwu's anxiety once spoken.

Indeed, the individuals accompanying Holy Monk Xuanzang were all persons of significant background, terrifyingly so. Marshal Tianpeng? Great Sage Equalling Heaven? Just hearing these titles, one could tell that in the Heavenly Court, they were figures of importance.

"However, as I have said, this matter indeed is just a misunderstanding!" Seeing Master Huiwu prostrate on the ground, ready to accept punishment, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva shifted the conversation.

As Samantabhadra Bodhisattva pondered briefly, he then said, "If that monkey were obstinate, perhaps for the sake of my reputation I would indeed have to punish you. But since I've already taken you away, we shall use this as a minor punishment to serve as a major admonition. For the next ten years, meditate on your errors within the monastery walls."

"Many thanks for the Bodhisattva's great kindness, thank you, Bodhisattva!"

Hearing Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's punishment for him, Huiwu was all too aware that the Bodhisattva had let him off lightly. Overcome with both shock and joy, he kowtowed vigorously.

After expressing his gratitude verbally for some time and not hearing any more from the Bodhisattva, Master Huiwu secretly raised his head. Within the Buddha hall, there was no trace of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva to be found; he had already departed.

This caused Master Huiwu to rise from the ground, his heart filled with some gratitude.

Indeed, from an ordinary standpoint, he had caused a great disaster, even resulting in the Bodhisattva owing a favor to the Great Sage Equalling Heaven. But the Bodhisattva merely administered a minor punishment, which indeed made one feel grateful.

"That Second Sister Luan, it seems I should not lay hands on her anymore. Fortunately, over these many years, she has not committed any grave offenses. Amitabha, all is well."

…n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Leaving aside the situation of Samantabhadra Monastery for now, with the departure of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, the mission was completed, and Jiang Liu felt joy in his heart.

What was the purpose of the Black Bear Demon entrusting the task to him? Naturally, Jiang Liu understood. It was actually to make use of his identity to ensure Second Sister Luan's safety.

Now that Master Huiwu had come today to subdue demons and eliminate evil, Jiang Liu had made his stance clear, and even Samantabhadra Bodhisattva had paid a visit. He believed that no one would come after Second Sister Luan using the pretense of subduing demons and eliminating evil anymore.

The task entrusted to him by the Black Bear Demon was thus perfectly completed.

150,000 Experience Points was not a small amount, equivalent to about a week's worth of cultivation for himself. Of course, the mission reward – the Dragon Soul Bracelet – was something Jiang Liu looked forward to even more.

Dragon Soul Bracelet (?? Level): Requires Level 20, Special Effect: Can imprison a dragon soul within, with specific attribute information determined by the quality of the dragon soul. Durability 25/25.

The quality of this Dragon Soul Bracelet stunned Jiang Liu; this was his first time acquiring equipment with no specified quality level, and it seemed that the quality of the equipment was up to him to decide?

That meant he needed to find a way to put the soul of a dragon into it, right?

If a flood dragon's soul was casually put into it, would it then be Common Level?

And what if he managed to kill the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas and placed their souls into it?

Shaking his head, Jiang Liu temporarily suppressed this tempting thought. Going out of his way, with no cause, to slaughter the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas and place their souls into it – that wouldn't be justifiable, would it?

That Dragon Soul Bracelet, with 25 points of durability, when was the last time he had equipment with full durability? Indeed, it was no easy feat.

His mind a buzz of jumbled thoughts, alternating between pondering the quality of the equipment and its durability, suddenly, a spark of inspiration flashed in his mind, as he thought of the Dragon King of Jing River…

"Wait a second? This equipment only needs a dragon's soul to be installed? If the Dragon King of Jing River's soul is still in the Underworld and has not reincarnated, then installing it into this…"

At this thought, Jiang Liu felt it was particularly important.

Although a high-quality dragon soul would indeed improve the quality of his bracelet, the Dragon King of Jing River was even more important to him.

This could be the key to whether Little White Dragon would stand on his side in the future or not.

"Holy Monk? Holy Monk, what's wrong with you?"

As Jiang Liu immersed himself in his thoughts, Second Sister Luan called out to him in a low voice, noticing his preoccupied appearance.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just thought of something and got distracted!" Regaining his focus, Jiang Liu put the thoughts on hold for the moment and shook his head in response.

"Could it be because of me that, in the future, it might affect the Holy Monk's reputation?" Seeing Jiang Liu pondering alone, Second Sister Luan thought he was troubled by the fact that, despite being a holy monk, he was keeping company with demons.

"No, my coming to Fuling Mountain was not by mere chance, but specifically to find you!" Hearing Second Sister Luan's words, Jiang Liu shook his head.

He then recounted to Second Sister Luan the incident of how he had managed to evade the Black Bear Demon.

"So the Holy Monk was entrusted by my big brother to come find me; that's great. A hundred years ago, he was gravely injured by a heavenly tribulation, and Master Huiwu ambushed him, forcing him to flee far away. So he's still safe? That's great!" Upon hearing the news about the Black Bear Demon, Second Sister Luan was greatly pleased and nodded in agreement.

"No wonder she's called Second Sister Luan; it turns out she took the Black Bear Demon as a sworn sibling, with the Black Bear Demon as the elder brother and her as the second sister. So, the Black Bear Demon was injured during the heavenly tribulation and encountered someone who wanted to subdue demons and eliminate evil. And it was Master Huiwu!"

Hearing Second Sister Luan's words, an epiphany struck Jiang Liu.

Regardless, the commotion Master Huiwu made this time in coming to subdue demons and eliminate evil, even bringing Samantabhadra Bodhisattva over, was indeed great. But, luckily for Yunzhai Cave, there was a lot of bluster but no real danger.

After this incident, it seemed unlikely anyone else would come to subdue demons and eliminate evil there again, and the demon folk of Yunzhai Cave were very happy.

After returning to the cave, Second Sister Luan insisted that Jiang Liu stay in the cave for a few more days to show her gratitude. Enjoy new adventures from empire

Jiang Liu naturally did not refuse such an invitation.

One day passed uneventfully, save for Zhu Bajie constantly pestering him to take him as a disciple and teach him how to chase girls, which was a bit bothersome. Other than that, staying in Yunzhai Cave was quite pleasant.

Late into the night, Zhu Bajie seemed to have an urge and left the stone cave to relieve himself.

"Wukong, wake up, I have something I need your help with," said Jiang Liu as Zhu Bajie left, pausing his cultivation of the Heavenly Dragon Zen Sound to speak to Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong jumped up and stood in front of Jiang Liu, saying, "Master, what do you need my help with? I should tell you that whether I'll help or not is up to me."

Sun Wukong's words caused a slight pause in Jiang Liu.

After some thought, he said, "With your abilities, you can reach the heavens and dive into the earth, right? You even easily barged into the Underworld and erased names from the Book of Life and Death, making Lord Yama and the Black and White Impermanence unable to deal with you!"

"Hehehe, those are all things from a long time ago, so much time has passed, even I, Old Sun, hardly remember them now; Master, you actually still remember them!"

Sun Wukong squinted his eyes with delight at Jiang Liu's words, his tail swishing behind him.

However, Sun Wukong paused momentarily before continuing, "Master, those things happened so long ago, I, Old Sun, hardly remember them now. Since you remember them, could you talk about them more? Perhaps it could jog some memories for me."

Jiang Liu: "..."

"Ah, I've only heard about it. It is said that back then, Lord Yama fetched your soul, and then you caused havoc in the Underworld, destroyed the Book of Life and Death, and even erased the names of your Monkey Clan from Flower Fruit Mountain from the book. The Yama and Black and White Impermanence couldn't handle you, right?"

Giddy with pride, Sun Wukong did two flips and scratched his ear, laughing, "Hahaha, Master, you're right, I remember some of it now. Tell me, what do you need my help with?"

By the end, Sun Wukong had a very agreeable look about him.

"I recall that Little White Dragon's uncle was killed, and if it has been less than half a year, his dragon soul might still be in the Underworld. Could you make a trip there?"

"If you can find him, use this bracelet to collect him and bring him back."

After some sweet talk, Jiang Liu managed to persuade Sun Wukong and took out the Dragon Soul Bracelet.

"That's easy!"

Taking the Dragon Soul Bracelet from Jiang Liu's hand, Sun Wukong patted his chest confidently, ready to set off.

"Hold on, this matter should be carried out quietly; don't let anyone realize it was you who did it."

(PS: I need monthly tickets...)