Chapter 97: Slain with a Single Blow

The old monk’s shout of “honored guest” struck Sun Wukong as almost laughable.

They were nothing but fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

So this was what they called an “honored guest.”

“Bah! You band of thieves. Do you really think I know nothing? Let me tell you this: I was right above your heads when you were plotting in that side room. Ha! I know everything now.”

“What? So you mean to say this monkey has already learned everything?”

The old monk’s face changed at once, and he shot a glance toward the disciples at his side.

Immediately, one of them went to shut the main gate.

So this was the famous move of sealing the door and beating the dog.

How amusing.

Sun Wukong nearly laughed himself off the table.

Xuanzang, however, only shook his head, unable to bear the sight of the monkey’s ridiculous rolling bout.

In his heart, he thought coldly, as expected, a monkey is still a beast. It can never escape a beast’s nature and will always run wild wherever it goes.

“Benefactor Sun, this…”

Xuanzang had barely begun to speak when Sun Wukong cut him off. “Monk, I know exactly what you’re about to say, so save your breath. Don’t you feel your head getting heavy? Getting drowsy?”

At Sun Wukong’s words, Xuanzang truly did feel his head grow faint and heavy, and sleep came on him all the more easily.

He looked at Sun Wukong in shock. “This poor monk really does feel as you said. Wh-what is this…”

“Oh, monk, you really are dull. When you’re out and about, shouldn’t you keep a few more eyes open? Didn’t I already warn you in secret? I told you to be careful. See? Heh!”

After a cold laugh, Sun Wukong sprang down from the table and asked the old monk, “What exactly is going on here? Why not ask these rotten monks and find out?”

The old monk suddenly said viciously, “That’s right. We drugged the food in the vegetarian feast.”

Xuanzang only now realized belatedly. “Ah… why would you do that?”

“To rob you!”

The old monk answered bluntly. “You honored guests came from the Eastern Tang, so you must be carrying something valuable, no? For instance… that silk monk’s robe. I quite fancy it.”

“Amitabha. The world is full of wicked hearts. It was my own carelessness.”

The moment Xuanzang said this, his body pitched straight to the ground.

The vegetarian feast had been laced with a heavy dose of sleeping powder, and Xuanzang was only flesh and blood; naturally he could not withstand the drug taking hold of him.

“Ha! Good that he’s out cold. Saves us the trouble of dealing with this monk later—he’d only get in the way.”

Sun Wukong was not the least bit worried by Xuanzang’s sudden collapse; in fact, he was nearly laughing aloud.

A fool of a monk like that deserved to remember this painful lesson well.

“Hmph. Monkey, your companion has fainted. You won’t escape either. Surrender at once and spare yourself some flesh and blood.”

The old monk shouted at Sun Wukong in triumph.

Sun Wukong scratched his ear and nose, looking wildly excited. “Run? Why would I run? Ha! That has to be the best joke I’ve heard since I came down from the mountain. No doubt about it. Ha ha ha…”

“Master, let this disciple go and pull the fur off that damned monkey.”

One disciple volunteered himself and suddenly lunged at Sun Wukong.

“Go to hell, you sausage-legged brat! Scram!”

With a sharp thud, the disciple named Da was kicked flying by Sun Wukong in a single blow. He rolled across the floor and ended up unconscious in a most miserable state.

It could be seen from that one kick just how terrifying the force behind Sun Wukong’s strike truly was.

“Ah… you monkey, you…”

Damn it.

They had thought the monkey nothing more than a soft persimmon, a crude and lowly beast that could be taken apart at will.

Yet to their shock they discovered the monkey’s abilities were far greater than they had imagined, and all of them were left dumbfounded.

This monkey could not be allowed to live.

After their shock passed, the old monk and the others quickly recovered.

The old monk, having just come to his senses, immediately ordered the other disciples, “Third, Fifth, hurry and fetch your weapons. Beat this damned monkey to death with clubs.”

With a rustle and bustle, the monks scattered. Before long, each one held a wooden staff as they surrounded Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong burst out laughing. “Ha ha… A pack of chickens and mongrels like you will never amount to anything. Heh, you’re all after that Tang monk’s silk robe, aren’t you? Good. I happen to have a treasure here, unrivaled under heaven. Tell me, do you want to see it?”

As he spoke, Sun Wukong reached into his ear and drew out the golden staff, tiny as a sewing needle.

Seeing such a miraculous object for the first time, all the monks crowded forward at once.

They had forgotten entirely that they were a band of robbers who stole and killed for profit.

“Here, now, look carefully. Don’t blink. I’m about to show you a trick.”

Suddenly, with a thunderous boom, at Sun Wukong’s single word of command, the golden staff transformed at once into a pillar that held up the heavens.

That colossal staff came crashing down and pressed the monks beneath it all at once.

Blood splashed everywhere. Cries of agony rang out across the ground.

“Why… why…?”

The old monk’s eyes bulged wide in fury as he spewed mouthfuls of blood, struggling in his final moments.

It had been no more than a little needle-thin rod—how had it suddenly become a monstrous pillar reaching to the heavens?

It crushed them all beneath its weight, shattering organs and viscera. There was no way any of them could survive.

“Why? Heh, because you are thieves. If you rob and murder, then you deserve to die.”

Seeing that the time was about right, Sun Wukong withdrew the golden staff.

With that one blow, he finished off every fake monk in the Temple of Mercy without even breaking a sweat.

“M-monkey… you will die a horrible…”

The old monk spat out his last mouthful of blood. He did not even finish the sentence before he was dead.

Given the monkey’s wild and untamed nature, he felt no pity at all for these men, who wore the guise of monks while specializing in murder and arson.

Filthy creatures. Even in death, they had only themselves to blame.

“Ah… murder! Someone help!”

To everyone’s utter surprise, there was still one fish that had slipped the net.

A monk who had somehow survived made a desperate run for the gate.

Having witnessed Sun Wukong slaughter their companions in a single stroke, the lucky survivor was already terrified beyond reason.

All he could do was run for his life.

But how could Sun Wukong possibly let such a fish escape the net?

He whipped the golden staff out once more, and with a whoosh, brought it smashing down...