Volume 3: A Long Journey, Chapter 259: The Trap to Capture Insects

Qin Wuxian paced back and forth in the room, pondering. “Since leaving the World of Slaughter, the people of the Yuan Daowang Sect have scattered across the world. Even finding you guys took me a great deal of effort. Where else can I look for those two boys?”
Yun Juanshu said, “Elder Master, look what this is.”
She took out a delicate storage bag from her bosom, retrieved a large piece of jade from it, and carefully placed it on the table. Upon seeing it, Qin Wuxian exclaimed, “The Five Elements Heart-Examining Jade!”
Yun Juanshu replied, “It is indeed this jade! That day coincided with the world’s migration, so I kept this jade safe for future use.”
Qin Wuxian smiled and said, “It was such a chaotic time that even I forgot about it.” In truth, he hadn’t forgotten—it was just that his focus was on cultivation techniques and spiritual herbs. He thought that once the sect dispersed, the Five Elements Heart-Examining Jade would be of little use, so he stopped paying attention to it.
Yun Juanshu asked, “Elder Master, do you know what uses this jade has?”
Qin Wuxian replied with a smile, “You still ask me? Everyone knows that the Five Elements Heart-Examining Jade can detect the distribution of the five elements within a cultivator’s body.”
Yun Juanshu said, “Elder Master, though you are devoted to self-cultivation, you seem less aware of this jade’s true powers than I am.”
Qin Wuxian thought carefully before suddenly saying, “I remember now! The Five Elements Heart-Examining Jade has one use related to the five elements, and another is for examining one’s heart. I knew about the latter since early on, but I’ve never used it—almost forgot about it too.”
Yun Juanshu said, “Elder Master is right! The Five Elements Heart-Examining Jade is not just for testing physical constitutions; its true power lies in examining one’s heart. In simple terms, it’s used to locate people. Everyone who has been tested by this jade leaves behind residual magical energy. If someone with great cultivation uses their powers, they can trace these residual energies to find the original person!”
Qin Wuxian continued, “The reason we haven’t used it for years is that our cultivation levels are not high enough.”
Yun Juanshu said, “If the Supreme Master were here, he could surely use this jade to find those two boys with the Red Fire and Black Water constitutions.”
The more Qin Wuxian listened, the more excited he became. He exclaimed, “Brother Yun, you have done a great service this time. When the Supreme Master arrives, I will surely reward you!”
Yun Juanshu bowed and said, “Thank you, Elder Master!”
Wukong heard clearly that the Five Elements Heart-Examining Jade had such remarkable uses—it was truly a miraculous artifact.
Then Yun Juanshu added, “Due to its different sizes, the power of the Five Elements Heart-Examining Jade varies accordingly. Given its size, it should be able to cover an area of tens of thousands of miles, saving a lot of effort in searching.”

Qin Wuxian said, “Good, I’ll inform the Lord immediately and ask him to come and cast the spell in person. Haha, the Lord will surely reward us generously this time!”
The Lord? I remember that back then, the founder of the Daoist sect referred to the Nine-Headed Worm as the Lord, and it was also the Nine-Headed Worm who set up the Great Five Elements Spirit Blood Formation. The Lord mentioned by Qin Wuxian is almost certainly him. Haha, this really came effortlessly—while I was still figuring out how to capture the Nine-Headed Worm, this is the perfect opportunity!
If the Nine-Headed Worm hears this news, he will surely come here to cast the spell and search for Yan Zheng with the Red Fire constitution and Zhang Hui with the Black Water constitution. With Qilin and the others lying in wait here, how could I fail to capture him?
Wukong left right away, heading straight for Qitian Ridge. He kept his identity hidden throughout the journey. When he approached Qitian Ridge, he found a secluded place to change into Zhuanxu’s appearance before showing himself.
Upon entering Qitian Ridge, he didn’t go looking for Qilin but first sought out the Bull Demon King.
When the Bull Demon King saw Wukong, he was initially shocked, then grew embarrassed. Wukong smiled and said, “Brother, you’re quite a filial son-in-law.” The Bull Demon King snapped, “Stop talking nonsense.”
Wukong said, “There’s no one in the cave; it’s fine to talk. How long have you been with that Hu Yu?”
The Bull Demon King glared at Wukong and said, “Why should I tell you?”
Seeing that the Bull Demon King had too thin skin and that teasing him held little fun, Wukong spoke seriously, “Second brother, I’m not here for no reason. Tell me, who is Hu Yu’s mother?”
The Bull Demon King was stunned and asked back, “How do you know about this?”
Wukong replied, “Among ordinary demons, who could stand up to Guanyin without falling behind? Out of curiosity, I wanted to ask.”
The Bull Demon King said, “Since you asked, I won’t hide it from you. Hu Yu’s mother isn’t her biological mother but the wife of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox King. The Ten-Thousand-Year Fox King’s name is Qinglin, and hers is Qingqiu. The difference between them lies in their nine tails—there are only these two nine-tailed foxes in the world, no third.”
Wukong remembered that in “Journey to the West,” the land god of the Flaming Mountains once said that there were millions of treasures in the Moyun Cave of Jilei Mountain, left by the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox King for Princess Hu Yu with the fair face. So he asked, “Is the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox King dead?”
The Bull Demon King replied, “Well… he’s not dead.”
“Not dead?” Wukong was puzzled. “Then why is only Qingqiu here? Could it be that they don’t get along and live separately?”
The Bull Demon King said with a bitter smile, “Wukong, don’t guess randomly. Their love has lasted for ten thousand years—how could they not get along? Actually, Qinglin… was captured by the Buddha of the Western Heaven.”
This matter was once again related to the Tathagata. Wukong asked further, “Why did the Tathagata capture him?”

The Bull Demon King said, “I don’t know about that. Since the Tathagata has captured Qinglin, he surely wants to capture Qingqiu as well. Qingqiu, along with Hu Yu, has been hiding in the world for hundreds of years. Though the world is vast, there’s no place where they can take refuge; they dare not stay in any place for long. It wasn’t until Qitianling was built that they dared to settle in Jileishan. Although the Tathagata is powerful, after the last battle, he hasn’t dared to come near Qitianling to capture anyone.”

Wukong was confused and asked, “Then those nine-tailed foxes… Knowing that the Tathagata is after her, how did Qingqiu still dare to move alone to Pingdingshan?” The Bull Demon King replied, “She and I have ways of communicating. Whenever she sends a warning, I’ll go right away, so even though she’s somewhat far away, she’s not overly afraid.”

Hearing this, Wukong almost understood everything. Though he didn’t know why the Tathagata wanted to capture those two nine-tailed foxes, Qinglin and Qingqiu, it was clear that Qingqiu also had something the Tathagata needed. It was fitting that Qingqiu turned to the Bull Demon King as a relative—after all, in this world, aside from Qitianling, there was no other place that could protect her fully.

Wukong asked, “Can you use force to coerce Hu Yu?”

The Bull Demon King raised his eyebrows. “Nonsense! How could I, an old ox, be such a person?”

Wukong laughed and said, “You’re already upset. Could it be that she fell in love with you at first sight because of your good looks?” The Bull Demon King replied, “I have no idea. Anyway, it’s mutual affection—nothing to do with others!”

Wukong knew the Bull Demon King wouldn’t lie about this. From human standards, he might be an ugly monster—a human-shaped ox head—so even if he looked good, he’d still seem strange. But in the eyes of a fox, he might just be the most beautiful. Besides, the Bull Demon King had saved Hu Yu’s life, and likely from that time on, his tall and heroic figure left a deep impression on the little fox.

Wukong patted the Bull Demon King’s shoulder and said, “Don’t be so absorbed in the fragrance of wild flowers. It would be a sin to neglect your sister-in-law!”

The Bull Demon King grinned and said, “Of course!”

Wukong left the Bull Demon King’s cave and headed to look for the Qilin.

Coincidentally, Dayu was in the Qilin’s cave, discussing how to capture the Nine-Headed Worm. The world is vast, and finding someone is extremely difficult. Since they had never met the Nine-Headed Worm, they could only rely on Wukong’s description to make guesses. Fortunately, no one else with the cultivation level of a Taiyi Golden Immortal resembled the Nine-Headed Worm, and its distinctive face and the tenth head around its waist made it easy to identify.

When they saw Wukong enter, the Qilin said cheerfully, “Wukong, I’ve come up with a plan to capture the Nine-Headed Worm. Take a look and see if it works.”

Wukong replied, “Uncle, go ahead and explain.”

The Qilin smiled and said, “Although it says it’s my plan, it’s actually thanks to Dayu’s significant efforts. It’s quite simple—called ‘luring the snake out of its hole’.”

Dayu continued, “That’s right. After you left last time, you said the Nine-Headed Worm would be in the Wei River in the netherworld or in the South Sea. I led people there to search thoroughly, but we didn’t find any trace of it.”
Wukong exclaimed, “You went to the South Sea. Did you visit Luojia Mountain? Did you see Guanyin?”
Dayu replied, “The day I went there, Guanyin happened to be absent. Otherwise, a fierce battle would have been inevitable.”
Wukong said, “Even so, it would still have been like startling a snake by stirring up grass.”
Dayu said, “Not necessarily. Hou Yi taught me a stealth technique, which is quite useful.” Wukong was stunned. Didn’t he teach that technique to Hou Yi? With their extraordinary cultivation levels, they would likely be even more skilled in using it than he was. If Guanyin wasn’t in the South Sea, surely no one could detect them.
Dayu said, “It’s unknown where the Nine-Headed Worm has hidden. Searching for it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Since it has lost its two-headed fish, it will surely try hard to retrieve it. What if we spread word about where the fish is? The Nine-Headed Worm will definitely go looking for it. What do you think?”
Wukong nodded and said, “That’s also a good plan. But if you say the fish is at Qitian Ridge, even if he’s determined, he might not dare to come.”
Dayu said, “What if we just lie and say the fish is elsewhere?”
Wukong replied, “The Nine-Headed Worm might not even show up. If it sends others to investigate and finds that the strange fish isn’t there, it will just be a waste of time.”
Qilin said, “Neither option works. The Nine-Headed Worm is like a turtle that hides its head—what should we do?”
Wukong said, “I have a plan, which I learned by chance as well.”
Wukong briefly recounted his journey to Wuji Country and the matter of the Great Five Elements Spirit Blood Formation. If his assumptions were correct, the Nine-Headed Worm would surely go to Wuji Country to use magic to find Yan Zheng, who had a red-fire constitution, and Zhang Hui, who had a black-water constitution. If they lay in wait in Wuji Country, they would most likely encounter the Nine-Headed Worm.
Qilin said, “That’s a brilliant plan! Why hesitate? Let’s go right away!”
Dayu waved his hand and said, “There’s no rush!” Then he turned to Wukong and said, “Wukong, you’re on a journey to obtain the scriptures, and every move of yours is likely to attract attention. If the Nine-Headed Worm is captured in Wuji Country, it would be too coincidental. Even if you act secretly and it’s uncertain whether it’s related to you, people might still suspect you.”
Wukong thought about it and agreed—it was true. If he went to each place on his journey to obtain the scriptures and people from Qitian Ridge appeared there every time, people would eventually suspect him. But good opportunities were hard to come by. If he didn’t do this, what else could he do?
Dayu smiled and said, “This is also a stroke of luck. You don’t have to take such a risk to lure the Nine-Headed Worm here.”
Hearing that Dayu had another solution, Wukong asked, “Please explain!”
Dayu said, “Zhu Rong took in a disciple before the New Year. That disciple also has a red-fire constitution and is named Yan Zheng. I wonder if it’s the same person you mentioned.”