Volume 3: A Long Journey – Chapters 234: Disrespecting Guests

Wukong landed and said, “Master, this mountain is full of vitality and divine energy. There are no monsters here; it seems like the residence of immortals.”
Tang Seng was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, “Amitabha! Nothing could be better than this. I haven’t had a moment’s peace in days; we can finally rest properly.” What Tang Seng said was true. The plump monk who had left the Tang Dynasty had become much thinner by now. With his mortal body, how could he endure such hardships?
The four of them and the horse searched for a path through the mountains, moving slowly and enjoying the scenery along the way. Before they knew it, they saw a few rooftops emerging among the pines and bamboos. Zhu Bajie, eager to reach their destination, exclaimed, “Isn’t that the residence of immortals?”
Although the buildings seemed close, there was no direct path, and they had to take several detours before arriving.
When they reached the entrance, they saw a graceful pine slope and a serene bamboo path. Indeed, it was a magnificent immortal residence, embodying the highest ideals of virtue.
Tang Seng dismounted from his horse. To his left, there stood a stone stele with ten large characters inscribed: “A Blessed Land of Mount Longevity, a Celestial Realm of Wuzhuang Temple.”
Wukong thought to himself, “My Flower-Fruit Mountain is also a blessed celestial realm. Given its rich spiritual energy, this place is hardly inferior. I wonder if it’s related to the ginseng fruits.”
Tang Seng said, “This place doesn’t seem like a temple but rather a Taoist temple.” Zhu Bajie, worried about food, urged, “Master, monks and Taoists are one. Whether it’s a temple or a Taoist temple, let’s knock on the door first.” Tang Seng replied, “Let me do it.”
Tang Seng stepped forward and knocked three times. Immediately, two Taoist boys opened the temple doors. They were handsome and said right away, “Are you the eminent monk from the Tang Dynasty who is on his way to the West to worship Buddha?”
Tang Seng was delighted and said, “My disciples, these are truly little immortals—they know our background!” Wukong laughed and said, “It’s not surprising.” Seeing that Tang Seng confirmed it, one of the boys urged the other, “Hurry and go inform our master.” They then said to Tang Seng, “Our master knew that the holy monk from the Tang Dynasty would pass by here, so he informed us in advance.”
The Taoist boy led Tang Seng and his disciples inside and continued talking, “My name is Qingfeng. That one was my junior brother, Mingyue. Our master has forty-eight disciples, and we two are the youngest.”
Wukong thought to himself, “So it’s still those two.” At that time, Zhenyuanzi hadn’t gone to the Supreme Lord to listen to the teachings on the Primordial Dao as described in Journey to the West. Wukong clearly remembered that he had always had a question while reading—the book mentioned that “Zhenyuan the Great Immortal received an invitation from the Supreme Lord to go to the Mirogong Palace in the Upper Pure Heaven to listen to the teachings on the Primordial Dao.” Although these few sentences were brief, they contained many doubts.

It is well known that the Primordial Lord is the foremost among the Three Pure Ones, also known as the Jade Pure Primordial Lord, who naturally resides in the Jade Pure Heaven, also called the Clear and Subtle Heaven. It is the Spirit Treasure Lord who belongs to the Upper Pure Heaven and should reside there. It is understandable that the Primordial Lord invited Zhenyuanzi to the Spirit Treasure Lord’s place without any reason to “listen to the teachings of the Hunyuan Dao Fruit.” Since the Three Pure Ones are indistinguishable from one another, this makes sense. However, the fact that an ordinary person like Zhenyuanzi requires the involvement of two of the Three Pure Ones to deal with suggests a somewhat uneven power balance.

Although Zhenyuanzi’s cultivation level is superior to that of the first-class Taiyi Golden Immortal like Wukong, the Primordial Lord naturally looks down on him. To put it bluntly, even a disciple summoned by the Primordial Lord might surpass him. Though the Three Pure Ones are sages, they are not purely good people. Their decision to send Zhenyuanzi to the Upper Pure Heaven likely stems from a minimal belief that he could be taught.

Speaking of this, and considering the phrase “listen to the teachings of the Hunyuan Dao Fruit,” the word “listen” holds great significance. Ancient people used words in a standardized manner, forming phrases from single characters, so “listen” should imply two meanings: “to listen” and “to speak.” What to listen to? Unknown. What to speak about? Naturally, the Hunyuan Dao Fruit!

What ability does Zhenyuanzi have to teach about the Hunyuan Dao Fruit? In terms of cultivation and spiritual power, he is far inferior to the two lords. The only possibility lies in the mysteries of the Ginseng Fruit!

An innocent person becomes guilty merely by possessing something precious. Since the Ginseng Fruit is a divine essence of heaven and earth, it might be related to the Hunyuan Dao Fruit. The Primordial Lord and the Spirit Treasure Lord likely agreed that one would provide the venue while the other invited Zhenyuanzi, and together they tricked this humble and eager-to-learn man into going.

The Three Pure Ones are the top figures in Taoism, so Zhenyuanzi naturally did not dare neglect their invitation. Thus, he took 46 of his 48 disciples to heaven, leaving only the youngest, Qingfeng Mingyue, to guard the temple. He clearly knew that Tang Sanzang’s pilgrimage group would pass by the Wuzhuang Temple on Mount Wanshou, and he knew there was a Monkey King who specialized in stealing peaches. Upon reflection, such an action indeed seems like inviting thieves in.

Could it be that the Three Pure Ones forced Zhenyuanzi to go to heaven so that the monkey would have time to steal the Ginseng Fruit? Perhaps their move served two purposes; these three are highly cunning, and Wukong cannot figure it out.

What concerns him more is why Zhenyuanzi is still in the temple at this moment. Which part of the story has he changed to create this divergence?

Wukong suddenly remembered that the last time he mentioned the King of the Five Categories to Laojun, Laojun’s expression had changed drastically, as if something extraordinary had happened. Well, it’s very likely that the Three Pure Ones were distracted by this matter and had no time to deal with the quest for the scriptures. If that’s the case, stealing the ginseng fruits seems extremely difficult—Zhenyuanzi values those fruits more than his own life. Stealing them would be like pulling a tooth out of a tiger’s mouth!

At this moment, they arrived at the inner gate. There was a couplet hanging on it, reading: “The abode of immortals who live forever; the home of those who share the same longevity as heaven.”

Bajie glanced at it and laughed, “What bold claims! Even the Three Pure Ones and the Six Imperial Gods wouldn’t dare say they share the same longevity as heaven. How can he?” Wuhui asked, “How do you know the Three Pure Ones and the Six Imperial Gods wouldn’t dare say it?”

Bajie replied, “Back in the day, I was also the mighty Marshal Tianpeng—what kind of tactics haven’t I seen?” His voice was loud. Qingfeng turned to look at Bajie; his imposing appearance was truly unpleasant to behold, so he turned back and stuck out his tongue.

Wukong happened to see this and thought the young Taoist was quite mischievous. So he asked, “Young Taoist, do you have gout?” Qingfeng didn’t expect to be seen by Wukong. His little face immediately tensed up, and he hurriedly led the four of them into the inner hall.

There were five people in the inner hall. Four middle-aged Taoists stood on either side, while in the middle sat a dignified Taoist with tied-back hair, three long beards, and flowing sleeves—none other than Zhenyuanzi, the ancestor of earthly immortals.

When Zhenyuanzi saw Tang Seng and the others enter, he calmly stood up and said, “It’s an oversight on my part not to welcome you personally.” He gave Wukong a brief glance before acting as if he hadn’t seen him. From this, Wukong concluded that Zhenyuanzi already knew he had become the one tasked with obtaining the scriptures; otherwise, no matter how composed he was, he would have shown some reaction.

Back then, he and the Bull Demon King had been mistaken by Zhenyuanzi for villains who stole the ginseng fruits. Later, he even helped the Bull Demon King defeat the Buddha’s mounts like the green lion and white elephant—so he wasn’t really in debt to Zhenyuanzi.

Sangza replied with modesty, “The abbot is too kind. I’ve come all the way from the Great Tang in the East. I wonder which of these disciples is your old friend?”

Zhenyuanzi laughed heartily and said, “Although I belong to the Taiyi Mysterious Sect, I also have old acquaintances among the Buddha in the West. Since you plan to go to the Buddha to obtain the scriptures, aren’t you also an old friend?” Hearing Zhenyuanzi’s evasive answers and his failure to mention that Tang Seng was the reincarnation of Jinchanzi, Wukong suddenly had an idea. Almost everyone who knew about Tang Sangza knew his background—could it be that Zhenyuanzi himself didn’t know? Or was he pretending not to?

Zang Sanzang smiled and said, “All things arise from cause and effect. If that’s the case, we can barely consider each other old acquaintances.” Unintentionally, he gave Zhenyuanzi a way out. Wukong faintly felt that Tang Seng wasn’t as simple as he seemed. Having read tens of thousands of scriptures, he was quick to adapt when it came to Zen principles. Such a clever man, even with just what he had heard and seen, would likely be able to guess what was going on.

Zhenyuanzi laughed loudly again and said, “Elder Tang, you’ve read many excellent scriptures. Knowing you were coming, I prepared a vegetarian meal just for you. Please, have some.”

Tang Seng readily agreed and went ahead, while Wukong couldn’t help but sneer. What game was Zhenyuanzi playing? It was already near the end of the morning hour—who would eat a meal at such a time? By proper etiquette, one should first arrange seating, then serve tea, and have a brief conversation. Zhenyuanzi’s actions already seemed rude.

The group moved to the back hall, passing through corridors and pillars until they reached the dining hall, where indeed a table of vegetarian dishes was laid out. Though called a “meal,” it wasn’t particularly lavish—just plain.

After a few more polite words, Zhenyuanzi took his disciples away, leaving only the pilgrims to eat. Wukong and Wuhui, who never ate meat, watched as only Tang Seng and Zhu Bajie picked up their bowls.

Zhu Bajie scooped up two bowls of brown rice before picking up the first dish. After chewing it a couple of times, he spat it back on the table and shouted, “The cook must have killed someone who sold salt—this food is so salty it’ll kill you, you pig!”

Tang Seng tasted it and frowned too, but still scolded, “Don’t talk nonsense. It disrespects our status as monks.” Zhu Bajie tried another dish, with the same result, and couldn’t help but curse again. Tang Seng tasted each of the six vegetarian dishes, and five of them were unbearably salty.

In the last dish of vegetable leaves, Zhu Bajie used his chopsticks to pick out something—a green worm about an inch long, still wriggling. Zhu Bajie laughed, “At last, some meat—though it’s alive.” In anger, he crushed the worm with his chopsticks.

Tang Seng kept saying, “What a sin!” After scolding Zhu Bajie a bit, he put down his chopsticks, unable to eat any more.

Wukong, watching from the side, found it amusing and said, “I thought the monks in the temple were all fair and plump because of their good food.” Zhu Bajie grumbled, “That old monk is so annoying. He said he prepared a vegetarian meal, but it’s just left me in disappointment.”

Wukong said, “Weren’t you saying monks and Taoists are one family? How can a family be so heartless?” Zhu Bajie replied, “Friendship is all about exploiting those you know well.”

Wuhui took out some dry food from his pack, fetched some hot water for Tang Seng, and they made do with a meal.

Wukong was puzzled upon seeing this scene. Zhenyuanzi had said that Tang Seng was an old acquaintance of his, so why still try to create difficulties? If he didn’t want to see them, he could simply close the door and refuse to meet them. But now that he had met them, he still gave them a cold reception, which was unreasonable.

Zhenyuanzi had always been a reclusive person, and it seemed he didn’t have any deep ties with that family. Seeing him invite everyone into the temple, Wukong didn’t expect him to treat them as guests. Could it be that someone wanted to set a trap here?

Alas, it seems trouble was coming again. Zhenyuanzi’s cultivation was truly formidable; Wukong feared he wouldn’t be able to defeat him. Even if defeat wasn’t the main issue, given the situation, it was obvious he wouldn’t willingly give away the ginseng fruits.