Little Journey to the West 021

I rarely saw the Monk look like that.

The Great Sage just muttered a few words but didn't say much, and that night we slept out in the wild.

Luckily, none of us were picky—as long as we could sleep, it was fine.

After that came more endless traveling.

Until that night, when I was startled awake by the sound of a commotion. When I opened my eyes, I saw a figure in a yellow robe fighting the Great Sage. I wanted to help, but the Monk, who was watching from the side, held me back.

He said that if I stepped in, it would be a disrespect to the Great Sage.

Sure enough, the Great Sage swiftly and cleanly beat the Yellow Robe Demon away.

But the Monk wouldn't let it go. He told me to lead the horse and follow him into the mountains.

"They came right up and slapped us in the face, and we just let them run? That's not how things work around here," the Monk said.

I felt a bit sorry for the Yellow Robe Demon.

As usual, I stood by the entrance holding the horse, and the Great Sage handed me a peach. I said thanks, took it, and started chewing. Then, with the sound of stone cracking, the door of that cave dwelling burst open with a hole.

The Monk, bare-chested, crawled through the hole and went inside.

And then, I heard a horrible wailing coming from within.

Even without seeing it, I could imagine the carnage inside.

At one point, the Yellow Robe Demon seemed to try crawling out through the hole in the door to escape, but it got yanked back in.

Through the door, I heard the resounding recitation of Buddhist verses mixed with the thud of fists landing on flesh. I was confused.

"Great Sage, do you need to use force when spreading the scriptures?"

The Great Sage squatted on a rock nearby, happily munching on a peach. He patted my head. "Spreading the scriptures is about reasoning with people. Reasoning only works on those who can understand it. For those who can't, you need a bit of auxiliary measures."

"So, after using auxiliary measures, they can understand?"

"They can't understand. But they'll know to be afraid."

I nodded.

Good thing the Monk never tried to reason with me back then—otherwise, I'd probably have been beaten to death.

The Monk came out cursing, saying he hadn't found any princess. I was a little curious—why would there be a princess in a demon's cave?

But the Monk mulled it over for a bit, then slapped his forehead.

"Right, forgot—that's something for later."

I still didn't understand, but I knew that the Yellow Robe Demon had probably truly understood. In fact, it respectfully invited us to a meal.

I thought the rest of the journey would be all fighting and killing, and I'd even prepared myself for it. But those two demons who called themselves Golden Horn and Silver Horn treated the Monk and the Great Sage with extreme respect, even sending their underlings to wait for us twenty li away.

To be honest, the best meals we'd had in a while were right there at Mount Pingding.

The journey after that got a little weird. Some demons were extremely respectful toward us, even calling the Great Sage and the Monk brothers. And others acted like we were their mortal enemies, wanting to kill us all.

Thanks to the Monk, those demons treated me with great respect too, even secretly slipping me all sorts of treasures.

But all I wanted was food.

"Brother Sha, please, when you get the chance, put in a good word for us with Master Tripitaka."

I always nodded, but I'd forget the moment I turned away.

Actually, it wasn't that I forgot. It was that I stuttered badly when I spoke, and I was afraid of upsetting the Monk.

So instead, I took all those things and handed them to the Monk. He laughed loudly and had the Great Sage transform, take the treasures to town, sell them for money, and then buy a bunch of good food for me.

I was very satisfied.

Later, the Monk started having me run errands. He told me not to say anything—just go to the river, throw the demon's head onto the table, and that was it.

I was a little nervous, but I did as he said. When the Dragon King saw me, he looked utterly scornful. After all, he was a Dragon King, and I was just a carp spirit.

But when he saw the head I tossed onto the table, along with the wooden plaque engraved with the words "Tripitaka," his expression changed.

He had his servant girls bring me food and drink, then personally led his men out. They quickly captured some unlucky fool.

I recognized him—it was a demon who'd escaped before. He'd had nine heads originally, and now he only had eight left.

When he was dragged in, he was still cursing loudly, yelling that the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints had sold out his own people. That earned him several hard slaps from the Dragon King, who then personally took the Nine-Headed Monster ashore to apologize.

The Monk seemed rather unimpressed.

"What a pity. If it had attacked you, I'd have had an excuse to take care of him too."

I grinned stupidly as I watched him tear off the Nine-Headed Monster's heads one by one, stringing them onto a sharpened wooden stake. The Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints was trembling all over. Well, any demon would be scared seeing something like that.

Even a Dragon King.

Imagine—you're a demon lord of your territory, and one day a monk covered in muscle, with tattoos of flowers on that muscle, kicks down your front door, holding the heads of your finest generals, and asks if you want to die.

I don't know what other demons would think, but the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints was terrified. He returned the stolen relic and chopped off one of his own claws as penance.

The name "Tripitaka" became famous throughout the Western Regions. Though I didn't like how they called us a "gang." It sounded weird.

But even so, those demons who couldn't stand us didn't let up.

That day, I thought we'd finally reached our destination. I couldn't read, but the golden-glimting temple was a clear landmark.

But when we went inside, only I, being the fool, knelt down to pay respects to the Buddha. The Monk didn't kneel. The Great Sage didn't kneel either.

In an instant, those bodhisattvas with kindly faces turned hostile and attacked them. I watched as the Great Sage got trapped by some bizarre golden weapon, and the Yellow Brow Demon, back in his true form, danced with glee.

But it probably didn't know that the strongest fighter in our pilgrimage team wasn't the Great Sage.

The bare-chested Monk fought his way from one end of the hall to the other, not even blinking.

The Yellow Brow Demon finally panicked. It had probably never seen a monk with such devastating fighting prowess.

His magic weapon was nearly useless against the Monk. The Monk kept reciting Buddhist verses while slapping Yellow Brow Demon across the face with open palms, each slap heavier than the last.

On the thirteenth slap, I clearly saw the Yellow Brow Demon's head spin a full circle on its neck.

And this time, I witnessed a Big Belly Buddha appear out of thin air. It seemed he had some connection to the Yellow Brow Demon, but it was too late. The Monk, now in a killing frenzy, had already torn out the Yellow Brow Demon's head along with its spine.

"Sin, sin... You... your obsession runs too deep." The Big Belly Buddha's usual smile vanished. He just frowned, muttered two lines, and disappeared again.

But the Monk didn't care. He was just breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down, the red in his eyes gradually fading.

"For the sake of some so-called tribulation, you let your disciples take innocent lives—who exactly is the one at fault?"

The Monk demanded loudly, but no one answered him.