Volume 3: A Long Journey Chapter 301: Unforeseen Disaster

These people came and went as they pleased. In an instant, only Wukong was left. He looked up at the sky, wondering how the four were doing. He truly worried about Zhenwu and the Qilin, but since he couldn’t help them, what could he do?
He glanced at the Tongtian River and was shocked. Xiangliu’s poison was indeed deadly—even the riverbanks had turned green, with all the grass and trees along them withered and dead.
Wukong shook his head. If this poison wasn’t eliminated, the Tongtian River would suffer greatly. Tang Seng, being mortal, would likely be destroyed even with just a trace of it.
Wukong returned to Chenjiazhuang and sat in solitude, lost in thought. When he met Houtu earlier, he forgot to ask one thing: where had Tongbi gone? If he could help him, he would surely do so without hesitation.
Tang Seng now also understood that the Tongtian River was a major obstacle. Seeing Wukong worried, he stopped pressing him. Wu Ping approached and asked, “Great Sage, it was quite lively in the sky just now. Which great deity came?”
Wukong replied, “Several powerful figures came. I only recognized Zhenwu; I don’t know the others.”
Wu Ping took a deep breath and said, “Tsk tsk, the Xuantian Emperor—what a fierce opponent.”
Wukong was surprised and asked, “You know him?”
Wu Ping replied, “I wouldn’t dare to know him.”
Wukong asked, “What makes him so fierce? Tell me.”
Wu Ping said, “I’ve only heard rumors. It is said that in the past, the Xuantian Emperor guarded the north and wiped out all the demons in Beiju Luzhou, leaving not a single creature alive.”
Hearing this, Wukong was shocked. No survivors? All the demons in that region—good heavens, how many could that be? It wasn’t that Zhenwu was cruel; it seemed he had been struck by the strange mark planted by Xiangliu and the Phoenix, filling him with extreme frustration, so he slaughtered birds and insects in anger.
Zhenwu… you really went too far. Though the Phoenix and Xiangliu were kings of their kinds, since they were enemies of yours, what did it have to do with the lesser beings?
As Wukong was pondering, he suddenly heard fighting sounds outside. He rushed out to check and saw that the four had returned to fighting. Zhenwu’s opponent was the Phoenix. The two, as Dragon and Phoenix, were already extremely beautiful. As they fought, they unleashed various spells, creating a dazzling display. It wasn’t really a fight—it resembled a fireworks show. Zhenwu and the Phoenix’s moves were graceful yet practical, targeting vital points at every turn. Their scales and feathers flew through the air, and the blend of magic and physical combat was utterly mesmerizing.

Looking at the Qilin and Xiangliu again, they were vastly different. Xiangliu was covered in poison, while the Qilin simply kept a distance and cast spells, making it difficult for Xiangliu to get close. At first, Wukong thought the Qilin had a rough appearance and an irritable temper, so force should be used first. But he didn’t expect the Qilin to also possess extraordinary magical skills, mastering all five elements and even many unknown, unique techniques. From a distance, it still managed to throw Xiangliu into chaos, with green liquid constantly dripping from it—unknown how the Qilin had injured it.

Seeing this, Wukong felt relieved. Zhenwu and the Phoenix were also just average, but Xiangliu was no match for the Qilin at all. The Qilin and Zhenwu had been pursued by these two for many years, and today they finally regained some advantage.

At that moment, Xiangliu let out strange cries and somehow produced a golden ring that shone brightly. The Qilin’s expression changed upon seeing it, turning wary. Wukong noticed that the ring resembled greatly the one worn on the Black Bear Spirit’s head. He thought to himself: Could this ring be of the same origin as the three collars of the Tathagata?

Xiangliu laughed eerily as the ring flew through the air toward the Qilin. The Qilin focused intently. The ring moved very slowly, suddenly changing direction, leaving a faint trail in the air. When it reappeared, it was flying swiftly toward Zhenwu.

The Qilin was shocked—Xiangliu was truly cunning. Zhenwu was in the midst of a fierce battle with the Phoenix; how could he dodge it?

Just then, Wukong, seemingly possessed by some impulse, used his Cloud Jump. He was only a few miles away from Zhenwu. With one Cloud Jump covering 108,000 miles, he arrived behind Zhenwu in an instant. The golden ring landed perfectly on Wukong’s head!

This sudden turn of events stopped all four of them in their tracks, their eyes fixed on Wukong.

The most surprised was Wukong himself. What was going on? He had clearly been watching from the side—how did he suddenly rush toward that golden ring? Wukong was utterly helpless. He had sworn never to wear any hat to avoid the pain of the tight collar. Yet today, as if possessed, he couldn’t help but go after it—this was truly bizarre.

Xiangliu thought the golden ring would surely capture Zhenwu, but unexpectedly, someone intervened. Filled with shock and anger, he shouted, “You wretched beast! Where did you come from?”

Wukong, extremely frustrated, cursed loudly, “You ugly thing, neither human nor ghost—living like this yet still trying to scare people! I was just passing by; why are you throwing things at me?”

Xiangliu felt heartache—this golden ring was a rare treasure, prepared specifically for Qilin Zhenwu, yet it ended up on an unrelated monkey. It would be a waste of such a precious item. He reached out to catch Wukong, intending to beat him severely to vent his anger. Zhenwu was infinitely grateful when Wukong took the blow for him. Seeing Xiangliu about to harm Wukong, Zhenwu’s eyes burned with fury as he rushed at Xiangliu like a madman, his dragon claws like hooks, aiming to strike at Xiangliu.

Relying on the poison on his body, Xiangliu didn’t expect Zhenwu to ignore the danger and grab him by the waist with one claw, tearing off a large piece of flesh. Xiangliu screamed in pain, realizing he had suffered a great loss today, and then used magic to escape underground.

After Xiangliu left, the phoenix remained still, staring at Wukong for a while before sighing and saying, “Truly, one thing is subdued by another.” With that, it spread its wings and flew away.

Although Zhenwu had caught Xiangliu, his claws were covered in green liquid. Knowing he had been poisoned by Xiangliu, he had no time to worry about it at the moment. He turned to Wukong and asked, “Why did you do this?”

Wukong couldn’t help but smile bitterly, thinking to himself, “I didn’t do this to save you—it was clearly driven by evil thoughts. This hoop must be a magical artifact designed to control me, restraining me from afar.”

Qilin came over to look at Wukong and laughed, saying, “You monkey are too greedy. You risk your life for gold.” Wukong couldn’t hold back and spat, angrily saying, “If you want it, take it!”

Qilin laughed heartily and said to Wukong, “There’s no need for you to be angry. If someone else were poisoned, they would be helpless, but you should be fine. This ring shares a similar mechanism with the mark inside my body, just like the golden hoop on that black bear’s head. Since you were able to remove the mark from my body, this one shouldn’t be a problem for you either.”

Hearing this, Zhenwu trembled and asked, “Was it Wukong who removed the mark from your body?”

Qilin replied, “Why would I lie to you?”

Understanding Zhenwu’s concern, Wukong said, “Ancestral Dragon, don’t worry. I’ll go to the Northern Heaven Gate to find you once I have some free time.”

Zhenwu was extremely excited and said, “Good. I’ll go back first to rid myself of the poison. If you encounter any difficulties, come to me anytime.”

Wukong was speechless. His biggest problem right now was undoubtedly the golden hoop on his head. Even though Zhenwu was extremely powerful, he couldn’t help either.

Qilin said, “I’ll be leaving too. Today was satisfying—haha!” With that, he strode away.

Wukong glared resentfully at Qilin’s retreating figure. That man was always full of sarcastic remarks—really detestable. But what he said did make some sense. Qilin had seen this golden ring before and, from what he said, seemed to know quite a lot about the golden hoop on the black bear demon’s head. If the ring and the hoop originated from the same source, maybe he could indeed solve this problem.

Wukong recalled the earlier scene once more—the golden ring flew toward Zhenwu, that is, in his direction. As the ring got closer, he truly felt an urge to pounce on it. In that split second, driven by impulse, he didn’t even have time to pull back; surely there was something strange about this ring.

He remembered Guanyin using a golden hoop to capture the qilin, who escaped by relying on the Black Bear Spirit. Back then, he was far away and hadn’t felt such an urge at all. But this golden ring was similar to the one Guanyin received from the Tathagata, though those three hoops were meant for the Taiyi Golden Immortals, while this ring was used to capture Zhenwu and the qilin. It was likely designed specifically for saints, so its power naturally couldn’t be compared.

Thinking further about Journey to the West, the Monkey King putting on a hat on his head out of sheer curiosity probably wasn’t a big deal. As a monkey with great magical powers who had visited both heaven and hell, what hadn’t he seen? How could a mere flower hat be so tempting to him? Perhaps it was that golden hoop that unknowingly exerted a bewitching effect on him.

There was something on Wukong’s head, making him very uncomfortable. He knew he absolutely couldn’t remove the ring by force, so he didn’t bother trying. He sent his mental energy to probe it, only to find no obstacles. The ring itself wasn’t special—only extremely complex arrays were engraved inside, with a few strands of light black energy moving within them.

Wukong didn’t understand arrays, but those light black energies… Suddenly, he remembered something. He stretched out his fingertip, and a very thin strand of light gray energy emerged. This energy was the one he had taken from the qilin’s body back in the past. These two types of energy were identical; the one in the ring was slightly darker due to its greater quantity. Looking at the strand in his hand, Wukong thought of something. It was because of this energy in the qilin’s body that the phoenix and Xiangliu could find it. Clearly, this energy had some hidden connection to the phoenix and Xiangliu. If he had taken this energy out, wouldn’t they be able to find him anytime? Strangely, he hadn’t been disturbed by them for so long—why was that?

Wukong tried to touch the energy inside the ring, but it was always blocked by the arrays. He felt helpless but also somewhat relieved. Since he could extract energy from the qilin’s body, he should be able to deal with the energy in the ring as well. Though he didn’t understand arrays, surely someone else did. Without hesitation, Wukong transformed again and returned to Qitianling to seek Feng Tong’s help.

The moment Wukong took on the appearance of a scholar in white, he suddenly sensed something odd. Reaching up to touch his head, he found that the golden ring was gone!

It’s really strange—how could the golden ring disappear even though it was clearly on the head?