Volume 3: A Long Journey, Chapter 290: The Strategy of Sacrificing Pawns

The Eastern Emperor had been in high spirits these days. A few days prior, by chance, he overheard a meeting among the high-ranking deities in heaven, where Taoism called for a counteroffensive. He thought he had grasped the essence of it. Upon returning to the Immortal Island, he immediately summoned the Eastern Mountain Emperor and ordered him to descend to reclaim the lands lost to Taoism. It would be even better if he could create obstacles on Tang Seng’s journey to the West, thus demonstrating his unwavering loyalty to Taoism. After the Eastern Mountain Emperor left, the Eastern Emperor suddenly came up with a bold idea: Since Buddha was spreading his teachings in the Eastern lands, wouldn’t this be the biggest move for Buddhism? If he could prevent the pilgrimage from happening from the start, it would be an extraordinary achievement!
After some thought, he thought of Zhu Bajie. Coincidentally, the Xuanyuan Bow was kept on the Immortal Island—everything was ready; all that was needed was one arrow! He went to find Zhu Bajie and told him about it.
To his surprise, Zhu Bajie refused outright. He knew Tang Seng was Buddha’s second disciple, and even if given ten times the courage, he wouldn’t dare shoot him. If Buddha wanted to kill him, who could protect him?
The Eastern Emperor tried to persuade him with both flattery and threats, saying that if this plan succeeded, he could regain his former position as the mighty Marshal Tianpeng. If he refused, he would be forced to leave the Immortal Island immediately, at the mercy of fate—death or survival.
Zhu Bajie was stunned. This was nothing short of forcing him to seek his own death. But how could he resist the Eastern Emperor? Helplessly, he picked up the Xuanyuan Bow.
Zhu Bajie had always loved bows, but every time he used one, he would think of his master Hou Yi. After seeing Hou Yi rise from the dead, he dared not use a bow again, fearing Hou Yi’s disapproval.
As soon as he touched the Xuanyuan Bow, the terrified Zhu Bajie seemed to transform into another person. There seemed to be some mysterious power in the bow; he felt extremely uneasy if he didn’t shoot that arrow.
Guanyin was indeed right—Zhu Bajie had indeed left a mark on Tang Seng. With the power of the Xuanyuan Bow, the arrow could follow his will, and no one, even if miles away, could escape it.
Yet Tang Seng seemed to have some prescient ability to sense danger. Whenever he felt unwell, Wukong would immediately become alert. Using the versatility of his Ruyi Tianji Stick, he managed to block the arrow.
After shooting the arrow, Zhu Bajie’s magical power vanished instantly, and he collapsed to the ground. He didn’t know whether Tang Seng was alive or dead, but he thought that even a Taiyi Golden Immortal would find it hard to resist such an arrow—Tang Seng was likely dead.
After shooting the arrow, Zhu Bajie was filled with endless regret, feeling a terrifying dread. If Buddha found out it was his doing, the consequences would be…
In the Jade Pool Palace, the Queen Mother urgently summoned the Eastern Emperor.

The Emperor of Donghua entered the Jade Pool and saw only the Queen Mother in the hall, her expression gloomy. Upon seeing him enter, she even refused to offer him a seat and asked directly, “Was it you who gave the Xuanyuan Bow to Tianpeng?”
The Emperor of Donghua was stunned. How did the Queen Mother know about this so quickly? Ah, surely Tang Seng was dead!
“Your Majesty, the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism actually stems from Tang Seng—”
“Just tell me if it was you or not!” Seeing that the Emperor of Donghua still intended to talk nonsense, the Queen Mother stood up immediately and stopped him.
The Emperor of Donghua was shocked. The Queen Mother had never shown such an expression before. He began to feel uneasy—had he caused a grave mistake? Instead of flattery, it had backfired.
The more the Queen Mother looked at him, the angrier she became. The so-called expansion of Taoism was merely due to circumstances; it wasn’t really to the point of an irreconcilable conflict with Buddhism in the Western Heaven.
The Emperor of Donghua asked cautiously, “Is Tang Seng… really dead?”
Hearing such a foolish question, the Queen Mother replied coldly, “If Tang Seng were dead, would you still be standing here talking?”
Even if he was stupid, the Emperor of Donghua knew he was indeed at fault. He quickly bowed his head and said, “I have done wrong. Please punish me, Your Majesty!”
At that moment, the Queen Mother really wanted to dismiss the Emperor of Donghua and appoint someone else as the ruler of the Ten Continents and Three Islands. But after thinking carefully, she realized that the Emperor of Donghua had unparalleled prestige among the immortal islands of the Ten Continents and was utterly loyal to the Heavenly Court—making him irreplaceable. So she said, “If Buddha and Laozi find out about this, they will be furious. I can’t get involved either. I’ll give you four words: sacrifice a pawn to save the whole game!”
After saying that, she ignored the Emperor of Donghua and turned to return to the back hall.
The Emperor of Donghua stood there in shock, taking some time to understand what she meant—sacrifice a pawn to save the whole game… So that’s how it is.
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Wukong left Laozi’s gourd and returned to the world. He noticed that the sun’s shadow hadn’t moved at all—Laozi’s gourd truly had the power to freeze time. The powers of the sages were indeed extraordinary.
This entire conversation felt like a dream, revealing many secrets about the gathering. It turned out that the Three Pure Ones had a master, that Chang’e and the Nine Heavens’ Mysterious Lady had such a hidden relationship, that the Queen Mother of the Jade Emperor had such origins, and that the true mystery of the Creation Furnace wasn’t about gathering fate…
The more Wukong learned, the more mysterious Buddhism in the Western Heaven seemed. Since the Three Pure Ones were part of this group, they naturally spared no effort to promote Taoism to fulfill their promises. From what Laozi said, Buddhism appeared much later, meaning it grew under the watchful eye of Taoism’s vast influence.

The cultivation level of the Tathagata was clearly far inferior to that of the Three Pure Ones, yet what he did was no less than that of the Taoists. In terms of presence and demeanor, he was in no way inferior to the Heavenly Court; in some aspects, he was even far more powerful. Could it be that “that person” was related to the Tathagata? Then why did he secretly foster Buddhism? Wouldn’t it be better if only Taoism dominated? If not, it could only be explained as the Tathagata being a naturally gifted individual—able to replicate the Creation Furnace, unite the three thousand Buddhas, and suppress great Buddhas like Ratnasambhava and Maitreya… How could such things be done by an ordinary person? Suddenly, Wukong thought of a phrase—four characters engraved on the back of the stele in the Boundless Gorge by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva: “Buddha is originally Tao!” Then an idea arose that even he couldn’t believe—could it be that the second Creation Furnace was created by the Jade Emperor himself? Was the Heavenly Court and the Western Heaven originally one family, with all conflicts merely to deceive others? Did “Buddha is originally Tao” refer to this? Unaware of time, Wukong had arrived in the Country of Chachi and entered the Zhishen Temple. When Tang Seng saw Wukong, he asked, “You’re back so quickly?” Wukong replied, “Indeed. The Bodhisattva has given me a clever plan to retrieve the documents.” In truth, Guanyin hadn’t given him any specific strategy; she only told him to think of one on his own. But after hearing Guanyin speak of the wonders of the Golden Rope, Wukong wanted to try this treasure. First, Wukong sent Wuhui and Wuping out, then told Tang Seng to take off his clothes. Not understanding why, Tang Seng asked, “What’s the purpose of this?” Wukong said, “The Bodhisattva said there are spells on you; I need to check.” Tang Seng laughed, “I’ve been with you day and night—how could there be any spells?” But Guanyin’s words couldn’t be disobeyed, so Tang Seng took off his Pilu hat and unfastened his robe. After a thorough inspection, Wukong indeed found a strange hair in the seam of Tang Seng’s hat. Tang Seng’s head was as smooth as a mirror—how could there be hair? After identifying it, Wukong cursed, “Damn this pest!” It turned out to be a pig’s bristle—who else but Zhu Bajie could have left it? Wukong then asked Tang Seng to carefully check his undergarments, but nothing else was found amiss. Holding the pig’s bristle, Wukong had a mischievous thought: “Silly fool! You didn’t even realize you had such cunning. I’ll teach you a lesson!” After seeing Tang Seng dressed again, Wukong called Wuhui and Wuping back in. He claimed he was going to ask the Eastern Mountain Emperor for the documents and left the room alone.

Wukong arrived at the palace. Instead of going to the main hall, he first hid in the stables. He used a magic spell to mix feces and urine with mud, shaping it into a human form and wrapping a pig bristle inside. Then, holding his breath, he used straw to draw several talismans on the mud figure before throwing it onto the roof.

Wukong didn’t want Bajie’s life, so he didn’t use his most powerful spell, the Seven Arrows with Nail-Headed Shafts. But this spell wasn’t just about piercing paper figures with arrows; it was all-encompassing, combining all forms of witchcraft and curses, allowing him to find any method to doom Bajie to death.

After finishing this, Wukong strode boldly toward the palace’s council hall. He had always held a poor opinion of the Eastern Mountain God, so there was no need for courtesy this time.

Indeed, the council meetings in the main hall had already stopped. Below, palace concubines played music and danced, while the three Tiger Strength Immortals on the stage raised their cups to welcome the King of Chacha and the Eastern Mountain God, drinking and enjoying themselves.

From afar, Wukong called out, “Old Eastern Mountain Man, give me back my passage permit!”

His voice was so loud that everyone in the hall was shocked. Realizing Wukong had exposed his identity, the Eastern Mountain God stepped down from the steps with a dark expression and said, “What an insolent monkey! How dare you call out my name?”

Wukong laughed heartily and said, “When I caused chaos in heaven, you were probably hiding somewhere, trembling in fear!” He had already planned to provoke the Eastern Mountain God with words, making him proud of his status so as not to reveal the document.

The Eastern Mountain God said, “You truly know nothing about hierarchy. We only treated you like a monkey for fun, yet you took it seriously!”

Wukong replied, “I didn’t see you, the Eastern Mountain God, at that time. Only today do I realize that Mount Tai by the ocean holds deeper meaning!”

The Eastern Mountain God frowned and said, “What nonsense is that?”

Wukong laughed and said, “It’s a great place to raise turtles that hide their heads!”

The Eastern Mountain God couldn’t match Wukong in verbal sparring. Spitting out, he said, “Stop being so clever. Your wish to take back the document is nothing but delusion!”

Wukong said, “What use do you have for that document? It’s just to stop us from obtaining the scriptures. As the supreme among the Five Great Mountains, using such lowly tactics—wouldn’t people laugh at you if they found out?”

Hearing that their newly recognized master was the Eastern Mountain God, the Tiger Strength Immortals and the others were terrified. Heaven! He was one of the greatest deities in heaven, likely dozens or hundreds of ranks above them. They broke into cold sweats.

The King of Chacha, not knowing who the Eastern Mountain God was, secretly asked the Tiger Strength Immortal. At that moment, the Tiger Strength Immortal didn’t dare make a sound; he merely glared fiercely at the king, thinking, “These two can reduce you to ashes with just a finger gesture—how dare you still speak!”

Dongyue Emperor said, “Sun Wukong, I’ve long heard that you have some skills. Today, I’ll fight you in a duel. If you win, I’ll return the documents to you. If you lose, stop mentioning this matter and never go westward again. Do you dare?”
Wukong thought to himself, “This is exactly what I wanted.” He replied, “I’m not afraid of you no matter what we bet on. But there’s no guarantor—what can I do if you play tricks?”