Volume 3: A Long Journey, Chapter 377: For Whom?

It turned out that Wu Hui was entangled in spider silk. At first, he was caught off guard, and once he regained his senses, he could no longer break free. The spider silk was extremely resilient, tightly wrapping him up with no way to gain leverage, leaving him nothing but to watch helplessly.
After being hung from the beam, all seven women left the house. Feeling trapped and in pain, Wu Hui unleashed his magic. He possessed fire-based spells; at their peak, flames would emerge from every pore of his body. Fire was the natural enemy of spider silk, and with just a slight effort, he burned the silk to ashes.
Once on the ground, Wu Hui decided to go all out and set several fires throughout the estate. These were not ordinary fires but purple-flame flames that would ignite nearby plants and grass as soon as they touched them.
Those seven women were obviously spider spirits. Seeing the fire break out in the estate, they came to find the arsonist and saw Wu Hui wielding a fire spear, setting the fire. The woman in red snapped, “You little brat! If you wanted to escape, just do it—why destroy my estate?”
Wu Hui shouted, “Evil demons and monsters must be eradicated by everyone! Hand over your lives!”
A few of them drew their weapons to fight Wu Hui. Their cultivation was already weak, and after just a few rounds, they were beaten into sweating profusely and looking pale. If not for their numbers, their lives would have been in danger.
So they retreated, formed a circle, and lifted their robes, ready to use their ultimate skills.
Knowing that the spider silk was troublesome, Wu Hui took the initiative and spat out a blast of flame, forcing the seven back. Seeing that Wu Hui’s cultivation far surpassed theirs, the woman in red shouted, “Let’s go!”
The seven rose together and flew westward. Wu Hui did not chase after them but burned the entire courtyard to the ground. Many insects—bees, ants, toads, grasshoppers, moths, and dragonflies—had no chance to escape and perished in the flames.
After completing this task, Wu Hui returned to Tang Seng and said, “Master, there were indeed some demons in that estate. I burned their lair to ashes and drove them away, but now we have no more vegetarian food.”
Tang Seng said, “Well done.”
Wu Kong knew that if he didn’t eradicate them completely, those seven female demons would go after the centipede demon.
Speaking of the centipede demon, he was truly an anomaly. In “Journey to the West,” he didn’t seem to have any strong foundation, yet his abilities were extraordinary. Even Wu Kong’s powers were defeated by his golden light, and it took the intervention of Bodhisattva Vimalaprabha to subdue him.

“Huh, Bodhisattva Pilapa— isn’t that Xuan Nu? How could such an ordinary centipede disturb her? It seems I really need to be more careful. There must be some hidden mystery behind these centipede spirits.”

Then Tang Seng sighed, “Since there’s no food or drink, let’s just go with the flow and not force anything.”

Wukong laughed, “To go with the flow means to be like water or clouds— with an open mind and an empty heart. Only then can one enter my path.”

Tang Seng scolded, “Are you mocking me, Wukong?”

Wukong replied, “It’s not mockery; it’s the truth.”

Wukong helped Tang Seng onto the fine horse, and together with Wuhui and Wuping, they headed straight along the road.

Wuhui suddenly transmitted a message, “Senior brother, why have you started talking so much again?”

Wukong was surprised and replied, “I’ve always been like this. What do you mean?”

Wuhui said, “When we met those three Taoists, you didn’t talk so much.”

Wukong suddenly remembered the time when he had exchanged places with the clever divine ape. He didn’t know what had happened back then. Fortunately, Honghaier reminded him, so he said, “That’s a secret. Tell me what happened during that time.”

Wuhui laughed, “What secret? Go ahead and tell me.”

Wukong said, “I can tell you, but don’t mention it to others.”

Wuhui replied, “Of course not!”

Wukong continued, “I had important matters to attend to at that time, so I found someone to take my place for a while. Since it wasn’t me, I naturally didn’t talk much.”

Wuhui suddenly understood. “I see. I almost blurted it out a few times.” Then Wuhui recounted in detail how the three Taoists tried to hinder Tang Seng from obtaining the scriptures. Wukong secretly noted down this incident.

Those three Taoists appeared out of nowhere, clearly intent on causing trouble for Tang Seng. Yet they captured him and then released him— what exactly were they trying to achieve?

After walking for a while, they saw a pavilion and temple on a mountain platform ahead.

Tang Seng stopped the horse and asked, “Wukong, what do you think that is?”

Wukong looked up and immediately realized it must be Huanghua Temple. He observed it carefully and thought to himself, “This temple is really impressive!”

The temple was built around the mountain, covering the entire summit. Streams wound around the pavilions, and flowers bloomed beside the buildings. Clouds drifted lazily in the air, and birds and animals moved through the forest. Just looking at this place, it seemed even better than Zhenyuanzi’s Wuzhuang Temple. However, with such a strong aura of evil, it lacked a sense of divinity.

Wukong said, “Master, it seems to be a Taoist temple. Let’s go and take a look at the entrance.”

Tang Seng urged the horse up the slope. After a short while, they reached the temple’s entrance. Indeed, there was a stone slab embedded in the door, with the words “Huanghua Temple” written on it.

Tang Seng said happily, “Since they’re people of cultivation, they should know how to receive guests. Shall we go in and take a look?”

Wukong said, “Since we’re here, let’s go take a look. At least we should prepare a simple meal for our master.” The four of them entered the main gate and saw a couplet on the second gate that read, “The abode of immortals with yellow sprouts and white snow, the home of Taoists among rare herbs and beautiful flowers.” Wukong remarked, “This Taoist calls himself an immortal—much more humble than Zhenyuanzi.” Hearing this, Tang Seng quickly adjusted his hat and clothes and said, “This is clearly an immortal’s realm; we must not be disrespectful.” Moving forward, they arrived at the main hall, where they saw statues of the Three Pure Ones enshrined in the center, with a Taoist sitting below. The Taoist wore a red hat, a black Taoist robe, and green cloud-patterned shoes, looking quite strange. From afar, Tang Seng called out, “Elder immortal, I pay my respects.” When the Taoist saw Tang Seng arrive, he hurriedly got up to greet him. Wukong, upon seeing the master of Huanghua Temple, stared at him intently. Upon closer inspection, he was utterly astonished—turns out, this master was actually at the level of a Hunyuan Golden Immortal! The master of Huanghua Temple invited everyone inside and they took their seats. Tang Seng explained why they had come this way, while Wukong pondered. This Taoist was so powerful, even surpassing Zhenyuanzi in cultivation—this was truly intriguing. With such a formidable demon in the world, it was hard to believe he had no sect, no allies, or any support. A Hunyuan Golden Immortal—how could the Buddhist and Taoist traditions not send someone to win him over? In “Journey to the West,” the final appearance of Bodhisattva Pilanpo illustrated this point. If it were just an ordinary demon, why would she personally intervene to subdue it? And who sent this centipede demon? It couldn’t be the Three Pure Ones—even if they wanted to send someone to obstruct them, they would find a way to retreat. The actions of the Golden-Horned and Silver-Horned demons and the Green Ox Demon proved this. Moreover, if it were really the Three Pure Ones’ idea, Bodhisattva Pilanpo wouldn’t need to intervene at all—she could just give a signal to Ran Deng. If it wasn’t the Three Pure Ones, could it be Maitreya? Even less likely—Maitreya had protected Tang Seng at Qitianling just the year before. According to Ran Deng, he had made a deal with the Tathagata to descend and capture Zhuanxu. Given Maitreya’s rapid change in attitude, it seemed the deal was to stop obstructing the pilgrimage. If it wasn’t these two parties, then who? The Tathagata wouldn’t undermine the pilgrimage himself, fearing it might fail. The Jade Emperor! Wukong suddenly remembered—this important figure might not be entirely honest either. He then thought of the three Taoists mentioned by Wuhui. Could it be that the Jade Emperor had released eight or nine Golden Immortals? By sending these three Taoists, the heavenly court might just want to show the Tathagata, “If you can release three thousand Buddhas, I can release eight or nine Golden Immortals.” So, could this centipede demon also be the work of the Jade Emperor?

Just then, the temple master ordered his Taoist priests to bring over a tray with four cups of jujube tea. Tang Seng, already extremely hungry, picked up a cup and was about to drink when Wukong tapped his finger in the air, causing the cup to fall to the ground with a crash and shatter into pieces. The green bricks on the floor immediately turned black and charred. Tang Seng was shocked and pointed at the Taoist priests, exclaiming, “This… this is…” The Taoist priests glared at Wukong and shouted, “So you’re Sun Wukong!” Wukong smiled and said, “Since you know my name, how dare you use such schemes?” Wukong cried out, “Protect the master!” and drew his Tianji Stick, ready to fight the centipede demon. The centipede demon laughed maniacally, flew straight into the courtyard, and called back, “Monkey, come and die!” Seeing the centipede demon’s fierce fighting spirit and realizing that his poison tea plan had been uncovered, Wukong wasn’t angry nor did he try to rescue Tang Seng. Instead, he faced the challenge head-on, wondering if the centipede demon wasn’t actually after Tang Seng after all. The centipede demon wielded two iron swords and charged at Wukong angrily. Wukong, wanting to test the centipede demon’s intentions, didn’t go all out and merely fought back casually. Inside the main hall, Wu Ping stood guard beside Tang Seng, protecting him closely, while Wu Hui drew his Fire Spear and killed each of the Taoist boys with a single thrust. Their bodies fell to the ground, all transformed into monstrous forms like worms, snakes, and scorpions. Tang Seng sighed, “Why do we keep encountering monsters at every step?” Wu Hui saw the hall doors suddenly covered in fine threads and said, “Master, these two groups of monsters are connected!” He spat fire to burn through the spider silk on the doors and jumped out to see that seven spider demons were spinning silk in the sky to cover the hall. Wu Hui soared into the air, with flames emanating from his body, destroying all the spider silk in its path. He chased after one of the spider demons and pierced its abdomen with his spear. The woman screamed in pain and fell to the ground—her belly torn open, her body now shriveled like a soft sack. Wu Hui continued to hunt them down, killing each one with his spear. The remaining spider demons didn’t dare confront him and died even faster. In just a short while, the seven beautiful women turned into vile insects scattered across the ground. Wu Hui searched the temple again, eliminating all the remaining small demons, then returned to the main hall to find Tang Seng. “Master, since this place is a den of monsters, we should eradicate them completely by burning it down,” he said. Tang Seng nodded and said, “Eliminate all the demons!” Wu Ping led Tang Seng away from the hall, while Wu Hui first moved the statues of the Three Pure Ones outside before setting fire. The entire Taoist temple was reduced to ashes in no time. Wukong fought the centipede demon for dozens of rounds. When the centipede demon saw the flames on the ground, it tried to descend to take a look. But Wukong wouldn’t let it escape. He swung his iron stick, blocking its path like an impenetrable barrier.

The centipede demon screamed in frustration, ripped off his upper garment, threw away his iron sword, and shouted, “Sun Wukong, die!”