Volume 2: The Path That Can Be Told Chapter 98: Meeting an Old Acquaintance

On the road, Wukong was still pondering what had happened earlier. Indeed, it was true that people here were deceitful—even children started deceiving others from a young age. Yet that old man surnamed Meng was an outlier among them. He handled matters fairly; when the child revealed the truth, the old man showed clear disgust, clearly feeling disgusted by people’s heartlessness and filled with anger.

Wukong found something suspicious about this. If everyone here was deceitful and evil, the old man should have had a hard time. But earlier, he had seen that the old man enjoyed high prestige. What was the reason for that?

After much thought, Wukong transformed into a scholar in white and returned to the town, determined to find the old man. He resolved that he would use some magic if necessary to uncover the truth. Perhaps these minor details were closely related to the world he was in, and if he wanted to escape this world, he needed to be even more careful.

Upon entering the town, more and more people appeared on the road, all heading in one direction. Not knowing what had happened, Wukong followed them. There were no sun, moon, or stars in the sky, so there was no day or night, and it was impossible to tell east from west, south from north. The crowd gathered at one corner of the town, where a high platform had been built with earth. On the platform stood three chairs.

When everyone gathered below the platform, it became completely silent, as if they were waiting for someone.

After a while, a white light flashed on the platform, revealing three men dressed as Taoists. Wukong was shocked. He could tell that these three men possessed great spiritual power—more precisely, they were actually gods. He never expected that gods still existed in this world.

Upon closer inspection, Wukong gasped. The one sitting in the center had a broad face, sharp teeth, deep wrinkles on his forehead, a massive body, and pointed ears—clearly a tiger transformed into human form. The one on the left had a long neck and protruding mouth, with two small horns on his head that couldn’t be hidden even by his hair—undoubtedly a spirit deer. The one on the right had narrow eyes and a long beard, with long limbs—upon closer look, it was an antelope.

Wukong couldn’t hide his astonishment. Could these three be the immortals Tiger Strength, Deer Strength, and Sheep Strength? But this was a world created by someone else. Logically, these three should be in the country of Chuci on the journey to obtain the scriptures. Yet, it seemed that only in this place could such different beasts as tigers, deer, and sheep gather together.

Upon further reflection, it wasn’t impossible. He had already caused chaos in the Heavenly Palace hundreds of years ago and had been imprisoned under the Flower-Fruit Mountain for over 500 years. That meant he was still far from the time when these three would display their powers in Chuci. Perhaps, like him, they too had been captured by the creator of this world and thrown in here.

While Wukong was lost in his thoughts, he saw the crowd around him bowing in panic as three Taoist priests emerged. They cried out loudly, “The immortal has arrived! Have mercy, immortal!”
Yangli the Immortal narrowed his eyes with a smug expression. Noticing that there was still a man in white standing among the crowd, standing out sharply among those who knelt in worship, he frowned.
Wukong, of course, had no intention of bowing to these three lowly demons. He already had plans in mind—perhaps he could use them to learn more about the secrets of this world.
Yangli the Immortal stood up and said, “That scholar, why don’t you kneel? Hurry up and kneel!” Wukong laughed. So Yangli the Immortal was stuttering!
He imitated him, saying, “Why should I kneel? I just won’t kneel!”
Yangli looked around, finding the situation very strange. His three brothers were well-known in the area and respected everywhere they went. Who would have thought they’d encounter a death-defying scholar who not only refused to kneel but also dared to mock them?
Yangli pointed at Wukong, wanting to scold him further, but he stammered and couldn’t speak, only repeating “You… you…” for a while. Seeing his brother’s embarrassment, Huli the Immortal quickly stood up.
Huli the Immortal was hot-tempered. Without saying a word, he leaped down from the platform to capture Wukong. But Wukong wouldn’t let him. With one kick, he sent Huli back onto the platform, then jumped up himself.
Huli felt as if the kick carried immense force. He had always prided himself on his strength, yet he couldn’t resist at all. Seeing that the man in white seemed unharmed, he realized he had encountered a superior. He reacted quickly, knelt on the platform, and, through gritted teeth, said, “I was about to go down to invite the immortal, but he came here on his own.”
Wukong smiled and said to Luli and Yangli, “You two, why don’t you kneel? Hurry up and kneel!” Huli, kneeling on the ground, quickly signaled the other two not to suffer a loss here.
But Yangli misunderstood, thinking they were about to attack Wukong. The two of them pounced from either side. Wukong grabbed one with each hand and threw them onto the platform, this time with more force. The two lay there, too hurt to even groan.
Wukong sat down in the chair in the middle and said, “You three demons, you’ve come here to deceive the common people. What’s your scheme? Tell me quickly!” Although he didn’t know their intentions, he guessed there must be a reason; otherwise, why would they deal with ordinary people? And it seemed they hadn’t come just once.

Huli the Immortal still dared not rise and bowed his head, saying, “Elder Immortal, my three brothers and I came here to deliver food to the people of this town. Though the land here is fertile with lush grass and tall trees, the harvest of grains is extremely poor. If you don’t believe it, you may ask anyone around.”
“Hm? There really is such a thing.” Wukong glanced down and saw that the townspeople were respectful but not fearful. Noticing that the old man surnamed Meng was among them, he called him onto the platform.
Wukong treated the old man politely and asked, “Old man, please don’t be alarmed. I have a few questions and would appreciate it if you could answer them.” The old man surnamed Meng quickly bowed in return, saying he dared not.
Wukong asked, “May I know your full name?”
“I am Meng Ke, styled Ziyu…”
Wukong suddenly felt dizzy and could no longer hear what he said next. Meng Ke! He had actually met Mencius, the master of Confucianism, here. Good heavens! If meeting the three Huli Immortals was a coincidence, then meeting Mencius was truly astonishing.
Wukong politely invited Meng Ke to sit down. At first, Meng Ke dared not, but seeing Wukong’s sincerity, he sat down properly.
Wukong calmed himself down and decided to deal with the immediate matter first. He asked, “Is what that man said true?” Meng Ke nodded. “Indeed. It’s difficult to grow grains here. Fortunately, these three immortals… provide food every year. Otherwise, there would probably not be so many people living here.”
Wukong was puzzled. These three immortals seemed not very clever, yet they had done some good deeds. As the saying goes, saving one life is better than building seven stupas. There were at least a thousand or eight hundred people in this town, and these three immortals had accumulated merits through their actions. Just as he was about to say, “You three, get up,” Meng Ke added, “But the food these three immortals give is not free.”
Wukong retracted his words, thinking that there were indeed conditions. Meng Ke continued, “These three immortals ordered us to place statues and paintings of them in the main hall of the house and read scriptures in their praise every day. If any family reads too little, they will receive less food next year.”
At that moment, Huli the Immortal on the ground had recovered and shouted, “You old man! Where in the world is there such a thing as free food? They give you so much rice for just making you read a few lines of scriptures, and you still complain!”
Wukong wanted to understand the whole situation and did not stop Huli the Immortal from speaking.
Meng Ke stood up and said, “Do you realize that by reading the scriptures you give us, the people of this country have no time to read the writings I’ve composed!” He spoke with indignation, as if someone had torn down the roof of his house.

The Deer Strength Immortal wore a baffled expression and asked, “You can also write texts. What’s so special about your writings that they could compare to my sacred scriptures?”
Meng Ke gave him a disdainful look and said, “How could those half-baked, worthless books of yours compare to mine?”
The Sheep Strength Immortal sneered, “Well, can your so-called ‘goodness’ even be used as food?”
Hearing this, Meng Ke’s expression grew somber, and he slowly said, “Changing people’s customs through education is the greatest achievement in the world—it cannot be accomplished overnight. If it weren’t to deceive the people of Qi Xin Country, I would rather starve than accept food given out out of pity by you lot.”
At this point, Wukong roughly understood that the Tiger Strength Immortal and the other two had indeed distributed food to them, at the cost of reciting scriptures daily. Their purpose was obvious—they wanted to use the people’s faith to help them accumulate spiritual power. Though this method seemed inferior to Buddha’s way of spreading teachings through brainwashing, it was still a path to cultivation. In that case, these three were not entirely evil, and their merits and demerits could be considered balanced.
As for Meng Ke, the great scholar, he was indeed stubborn enough to try to change the hearts of everyone in Qi Xin Country alone. If anyone else had said such things, Wukong would have thought it madness, but this man was none other than the great Mengzi.
After some thought, Wukong made up his mind and shouted, “You three, leave behind all the food you brought this time.”
The Tiger Strength Immortal dared not disobey. He took out a small cosmic bag from his bosom, recited a spell, and white rice poured out of the bag. Everyone present had cloth bags ready to collect the food. They took turns going up to fill their bags, overjoyed that this time there was several times more food than before.
What they didn’t know was that Wukong was watching from the side. The Tiger Strength Immortal wouldn’t even say “stop” and just let the white rice flow out, which made Wukong feel pity.
After everyone had enough rice, Wukong said, “Go back and burn all those painted scrolls and statues. I will ensure that you all have enough food and clothing.” Hearing this, Meng Ke looked shocked, but seeing Wukong’s confident demeanor, he added, “Everyone, hear this! The immortal has promised to provide us with enough food and clothing. Go back and discard all these things that deceive people!”
The simple folk below, seeing Wukong effortlessly subdue these three powerful “immortals” and having Meng Ke, who was kind-hearted and highly respected, vouch for them, naturally obeyed without hesitation and left happily.
After mastering the “Mystical Void Secret Technique,” Wukong saw that there was still plenty of food in the Tiger Strength Immortal’s cosmic bag, so he reached out to take it. The Tiger Strength Immortal instinctively pulled back his hand but, remembering he was in a weaker position, quickly handed it over again.

Wukong also did not avoid Meng Ke and asked directly, “Where did you three come from?”