Chapter 113: This Script Is Definitely Being Opened the Wrong Way!

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“Tiger demon... take this rake from your grandfather!”

With Zhu Bajie’s furious roar, his rake came crashing down with a howl of wind.

The tiger demon could endure no more. Unable to withstand Zhu Bajie’s savage assault, it tucked its tail between its legs and fled at once.

“Wretched beast! Where do you think you’re running? Stop!”

Zhu Bajie pursued it relentlessly.

Yet the tiger demon fled in the opposite direction, charging straight toward Xuanzang. Suddenly, a strange gale sprang up, swept Xuanzang into its path, and rushed toward him.

“Monkey Brother, this is bad... That tiger demon is going to kidnap Master!”

Zhu Bajie shouted in panic.

“He’s your master, not mine.”

Sun Wukong drifted lightly down beside Zhu Bajie, looking as though he were waiting to enjoy the spectacle.

“Ah... Monkey Brother, that’s not what I meant. How can you put it that way? Even though you weren’t formally accepted as Master’s disciple, you two are still in an employer-and-employee relationship, aren’t you? Master is the employer, and you are...”

“Pighead! Shut your mouth! Before you say another word, take a good, careful look at me. Who am I?”

The monkey put on a bizarre expression, leaving Zhu Bajie utterly bewildered.

After staring at him from every angle for quite some time, Zhu Bajie remained completely confused.

“Er... Monkey Brother, I still can’t make head or tail of it. What exactly are you trying to say...?”

Ah!

A scream suddenly rang out ahead.

As the tiger demon was about to attack Xuanzang, another “Sun Wukong” suddenly sprang out of nowhere. Without saying a word, he swung his staff and killed the beast with a single blow.

“W-wait... How can there be two monkeys?” Zhu Bajie continued staring in bewilderment.

Clang!

The other monkey unceremoniously brought his staff down on the pig’s head and said, “Pighead, open those pig eyes of yours and look carefully. I am the real monkey. That other one is merely an illusion transformed from one of my hairs.”

“Withdraw!”

At once, the other monkey turned back into a single strand of monkey hair.

“Wow! Monkey Brother, you’re incredible!” Zhu Bajie said with undisguised admiration. “But there’s one thing I don’t understand.”

“What is it? Go on.”

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“That tiger demon just now—how did you know in advance that it would be beaten into fleeing by me, and then try to kidnap Master?”

The monkey had laid a trap beforehand. Did that not mean he possessed some terrifying art of foreknowledge?

“Heh heh, about that... We’d have to begin with my admirable and beloved Grandmaster. But this isn’t the time to discuss it. There’s an extremely overbearing and powerful monster living in Yellow Wind Cave.”

Sun Wukong was caught in a dilemma. Should he simply snatch that detestable weasel into his Universe Pouch?

The Immortal Venerable had said that this was merely one of the eighty-one tribulations. The monkey was destined to suffer a little.

Of course, the Immortal Venerable had also said that he need not follow the script. He could strike first and seize the initiative.

Yes!

That was exactly what he had to do!

The tiger demon that had been slain by a single blow was now being converted through scripture by Xuanzang.

Looking at the monk’s expression of boundless compassion, Sun Wukong shook his head and said to Zhu Bajie, “Pighead, stay here and guard your master properly. I’m going somewhere.”

“Ah... Monkey Brother, where are you going?”

Sun Wukong immediately mounted a somersault cloud and flew swiftly southward.

The Immortal Venerable had already given him instructions. If Sun Wukong did not wish to use his own Universe Pouch, he was to hurry south. There stood a mountain, and at its foot was a temple.

The Bodhisattva Lingji was preaching there. He had also received instructions from the Great-Eared Tathagata and was deliberately waiting at that place.

For what purpose?

There was only one reason: to subdue the weasel.

Finally, the Immortal Venerable had warned him that the weasel possessed a magical treasure. Without Lingji’s assistance in suppressing it, Sun Wukong would certainly be the one to suffer if he insisted on fighting it head-on.

Sun Wukong loved a good fight, but he was no fool. Since he could avoid a battle that might end in defeat, he might as well take the shortcut.

Heh heh!

If the weasel had the Tathagata backing it and a brilliant stratagem at its disposal, then Sun Wukong had Immortal Venerable Chu Xiaoyu’s advance spoilers and a shortcut over the wall.

Bah!

This old monkey had no intention of arguing with monsters and spirits who had powerful backers.

A single somersault cloud could carry him one hundred and eight thousand miles. In the blink of an eye, Sun Wukong arrived at his destination.

In a valley stood a Chan temple, entwined in white clouds and so ethereal that it resembled a paradise on earth.

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Sun Wukong barged straight in, only to be stopped face-to-face by a young novice monk.

“Ah... Benefactor, please wait. What are you doing? This is a sacred Buddhist temple. Strangers may not enter at will...”

“Young monk, move aside. This old grandson is here to see the Bodhisattva Lingji.”

Sun Wukong’s words left the novice monk utterly astonished.

“You—you... Who exactly are you? How do you know that the Bodhisattva Lingji is in our temple? He only arrived today, and outsiders are not...”

“Ah, as the Buddha says, heavenly secrets must not be revealed. Otherwise, this old grandson might suffer Heaven’s punishment. You’re awfully long-winded. Move aside...”

“Amitabha. Benefactor Sun, you have finally arrived?”

As they spoke, an old man appeared in a leisurely manner. With an immortal’s bearing and an otherworldly air, he looked every inch a venerable celestial.

Sun Wukong gazed at him in surprise.

“Er... You know this old grandson? In that case, you must be the Bodhisattva Lingji?”

The old man nodded.

“That is indeed this seat. Yet I have a question. Whose guidance led you here?”

It was, of course, his own Immortal Venerable!

But that was something destined to remain buried in his stomach.

Sun Wukong’s eyes darted slyly, and he said directly, “Bodhisattva Lingji, don’t ask so many questions. Since you came here, I presume you too received enlightenment from the Great-Eared Tathagata and were specially waiting for this old grandson to arrive, weren’t you?”

The Bodhisattva Lingji smiled faintly.

“Very well. I never imagined Benefactor Sun would be so sharp and crafty. I shall ask no further questions. Now, shall I accompany you to Yellow Wind Cave and subdue that monster?”

Weasel: What the hell?! There is definitely something poisonous about the way this script has been opened! And not merely poisonous—deadly poisonous! The poison of a crane’s crown!

The battle had not even begun, yet disaster had descended from the heavens while he sat safely at home.

The weasel, born at the foot of Spirit Mountain, could never have imagined that, through a fortuitous accident, it would steal and consume the lamp oil beneath a colored-glass lantern, transforming from a crude little weasel into a tall and powerfully built monster.

It seized Yellow Wind Cave and proclaimed itself king of the territory.

But it had enjoyed only a few days of peace before that damned, detestable stinking monkey refused to follow the rules and directly invited the weasel’s natural nemesis, the Bodhisattva Lingji.

In the end, there was no need to describe how miserable the weasel’s fate became. It had barely managed to nibble at a few tender young women before being subdued outright.

From that day onward, it returned to being the weasel it truly was.

How tragic!

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