The Monkey King

The night wind blew slowly by, and the flames from the bonfire drifted in the same direction.

Xuanzang stared forward with a lonely expression, sitting motionless and silent.

In the distance, the monsters were all quietly watching the two people beside the bonfire.

After a long time, the monkey sighed softly: "It failed, right?"

"You haven't failed yet." Xuanzang lowered his gaze slightly and said, "As long as we haven't reached Lingshan Mountain, we haven't failed yet."

When he said this, Xuanzang gently stroked the Buddhist beads in his hand.

"We haven't failed before we reach Lingshan?" Monkey couldn't help laughing: "Do you mean that we have to stay on this road forever? Oh, no, it can't be forever. Because you have almost no intention of stopping. .”

As he spoke, the monkey picked up a stone, gritted his teeth, and threw it away into the distance with all his strength.

The stone cut through the night sky like a meteor and quickly disappeared into the endless darkness.

Xiao Bailong, who was not far away, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and whispered: "Did the talks collapse?"

"I don't know." Tianpeng shook his head and said, "It's just not a good thing."

Hearing this, Xiao Bailong glanced at Tianpeng meaningfully: "I see why you are not in a hurry. We are all in the same boat. If it capsizes, it will not be good for anyone."

"Is there any use in being anxious?" Tianpeng asked.

Xiao Bailong was immediately overwhelmed by this question. He had no choice but to purse his lips and continue to look at the two people from a distance and said: "I am still waiting for my westward journey to be successful. I will ask the Great Sage to help me find a wife in the world."

Canopy smiled silently.

Behind that, a demon general who rushed over was talking to Lu Liuguai in detail, which made both Niu Demon King and Lu Liuguai open their eyes in shock.

"What's the difference between this and failure? It's just lingering on. Make up a lie to deceive the three worlds. In the end, everyone will become a joke." The monkey reached out and rubbed his eyes, closed his eyes, and said impatiently: "According to your current speed, it will take you three months to get to Lingshan. Do you have any other tricks? Tell me and listen. I want something practical, and I don't want to hear those unreliable ones. Something.”

Faced with these questioning words, Xuanzang clasped his hands together and sighed: "As long as you are sincere, I believe that one day, I will be able to achieve enlightenment and universal salvation."

"Do you believe..." The monkey bared his teeth and continued: "One day, which day will it be?"

Xuanzang didn't answer any more, he just closed his eyes and sat quietly. Like a Buddha statue.

"One day...hehehe, what you say is so beautiful. It sounds like you are begging for mercy." Raising his head, the monkey looked at the stars dimly and chuckled: "I have rebelled against heaven and earth all my life, you now Talk to me about asking for mercy. Fun, fun! So damn fun!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he punched the stone next to him, and the huge stone was smashed into pieces.

Under the loud noise, all the demon generals in the distance were so frightened that they shrank their necks.

"Falled out?"

"No way. We will protect Master Xuanzang all the way. Even if it is true... there is no need to take action."

For a moment, the monsters looked at me and I looked at you. The original irritability suddenly disappeared, replaced by a little bit of worry.

Standing up slowly on his knees, the monkey walked away without looking back.

…

In the Sanxing Cave under the setting moon, the six-eared macaque glanced at Qingxin, who looked solemn beside him, intentionally or unintentionally, and said: "Master, you just let them go. You really let the tiger return to the mountain."

When he said this, Qingxin kept staring at him.

Being stared at by Qing Xin, the six-eared macaque felt uncomfortable all over, and his kneeling feet couldn't help but move again and again. Subhuti, who was sitting on the other side, seemed to be lost in thought and didn't say a word for a long time.

"Master, master." The six-eared macaque stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Subhuti's eyes.

Subhuti suddenly woke up, took a deep breath and said, "You... you go back first."

"Should I go back first? Master, are you just going to leave them alone?" The six-eared macaque stretched out his hand to scratch his cheeks and chuckled, "There's no telling what they will do if they leave. Just leave them alone. If we don't care, the great cause of traveling westward may be completely ruined."

Subhuti lowered his head and blinked his eyes blankly. For a short period of time, his mind seemed to wander to nowhere.

"master……"

The six-eared macaque wanted to reach out again. Qing Xin, who was on the side, quickly grabbed his wrist and scolded: "If the master asks you to go back, just go back. Why are you talking so much?"

"What? Are you angry?"

"Why am I angry?"

"You are angry with me." The six-eared macaque shook his head and said, "Isn't it because I didn't listen to you and forced my way into the Taoist temple?"

Qingxin didn't answer, but still stared at the six-eared macaque.

The six-eared macaque glanced lazily at Subhuti, stood up helplessly on his knees, and sighed: "Okay, in this case, I will go back first. Say hello if you need anything."

As he spoke, he walked towards the door step by step, holding his iron pole. By chance, a demon general arrived and whispered a few words into his ear.

Hearing this, a look of joy suddenly appeared on the six-eared macaque's face, and he was stunned for a moment.

…

Next to the dry stream, Xuanzang was still sitting quietly by the campfire. Those monsters were still left alone.

Without a word, the monkey pulled the canopy to the other side of the stream.

Seeing that the monkey's expression was extremely bad, Tianpeng asked in a low voice: "I heard that you and the six-eared macaque had a fight in Xianyue Sanxing Cave?"

"Yes, not only did he do it, but my master...that old man actually helped the six-eared macaque and even wanted to replace me with a six-eared macaque." When he said this, the monkey's teeth made a "clack" sound. .

Hearing this, Tianpeng glanced at the monkey intentionally or unintentionally, his expression was as usual.

"It seems you have already guessed it." Monkey snorted helplessly.

Tianpeng nodded silently and said: "It's an expected thing. If...if the one who has memory now is the six-eared macaque, he will also choose to help you."

"What do you mean?"

"As long as he has memory, he will fight to the death with Tathagata. Because it is a deep hatred that cannot be resolved. It is difficult to tell if he has no memory... He will naturally find a way to hold the person without memory to prevent him from leaning towards Tathagata. "

"So, our master-disciple relationship is in name only, right? All he has in mind is traveling westward to attain enlightenment."

"You should... you can say that. Didn't all your nine senior brothers die like this? This is something that everyone in the three worlds knows."

Staring at the dark river that had long since dried up, the monkey grinned slowly, but did not make the slightest sound. Under the moonlight, the bloodshot eyes reflected a faint fluorescent light.

The two of them just stood quietly.

After a while, the monkey reached out and patted Tianpeng's shoulder gently, and said: "To be honest, I have always wanted you to die before, I mean, hundreds of years ago. You and the evil dragon are the ones I want most. Killing people.”

"Oh?" Tianpeng glanced at the monkey expressionlessly.

"After traveling westward, I knew that you had the jade slip from Nantianmen on you, but I didn't tell you because I didn't want to show off."

Tianpeng lowered his head and took out the jade slip hidden in his waist, rubbed it twice with his thumb, and then put it back.

"However, that is all in the past." Holding the golden hoop, the monkey sighed unsteadily: "Who would have thought? At the critical moment, you are the only one I can come to discuss with. It seems that I He is really not a very good person. He doesn’t even have a friend with whom he can talk.”

"Why do you say that?" Tianpeng smiled lightly and said, "Isn't Lu Liuguai?"

Glancing at Lu Liuguai from afar, the monkey laughed and said, "I just realized that he concealed the contact between Qingxin and the six-eared macaque. He actually dared to hide such a thing. Did you know about it a long time ago? "

Canopy lowered his eyes slightly and did not answer.

In fact, Tianpeng also knew that Qingxin was trapped in the Lion and Camel Kingdom. Hiding the monkey was a decision jointly made by him, Lu Liuguai and the Bull Demon King.

After a long silence, the monkey continued: "You are a bystander. I want you to analyze something for me."

"What's up?"

"Lao Jun's 'inaction' seems to have a chance to recover. If he can recover his cultivation, it obviously sounds more reliable than Pudu. I want to lean towards him. Of course, don't worry, I promise you something. It will definitely be done. Even if Purdue does not succeed. But... Laojun said there is a price. And it is a price I have to pay. You are forced to tell me this, and you can expect that the price is not small. I want to know... What will it be?"

Looking at the monsters on the other side, Tianpeng asked softly: "What do you care about most?"

The monkey half-squinted his eyes and said: "I want Tathagata to die, completely dead."

"anything else?"

"Qing Xin, Yang Chan, they can't get involved."

"anything else?"

The monkey raised his neck slightly, looked at the monsters on the other side and said, "There are them, my brothers, I don't want anyone to die anymore."

"What more?"

"What else can there be?" The monkey laughed and said: "The Tathagata is dead, Qingxin and Yang Chan are fine, and they are fine too. Isn't this enough? If this is the case, I will live my happy life, what else do I need?"

Canopy said hesitantly: "I think...the 'price' is this."

The monkey was stunned for a moment and turned back to look at the canopy. Gradually, the surprise in his eyes turned into astonishment.

"You mean..."

"Freedom, your freedom." Tianpeng said lightly: "You are a soul from outside the world. Because of you, the Tiandao Stone was destroyed and Laojun's cultivation was broken. The six-eared macaque has no memory, so he does not pose a threat. He poses no threat. The only thing that is threatening is you, or...your freedom. I think the price should be this. At least, it includes this."

For a moment, three words suddenly flashed in the monkey's mind: "tightening".

It has been more than eight hundred years, and that "Journey to the West" has been like a curse. No matter how he struggled, how he evaded, how he changed the world beyond recognition, he still had to return to the starting point.

Perhaps, this is the root cause of Pudu’s inability to make any progress. He gathered everyone who was traveling to the west, but only one key item was missing...

Under the moonlight, the monkey gritted his teeth, tightened his grip on the golden cudgel, and smiled helplessly until he burst into tears. (To be continued ~^~)