Volume 3: A Long Journey Chapter 332: The Deception Plan Tang Seng did not turn around and was unaware that Wu Kong was following behind. Suddenly, he saw a fake Wu Kong coming from the west. When Liu Er approached, he exclaimed in surprise, “Wu Kong, why did you go ahead of me?” Seeing Tang Seng, Liu Er’s expression became very strange. He said, “Master, it is said that Qi Tian Ling is ahead. I’ll go explore it first.” Tang Seng asked, “Qi Tian Ling? What place is that?” Liu Er replied, “Ten out of ten demons in the world gather there—at least seven out of ten. The demons there possess powers that reach heaven and earth, so even the Heavenly Court and the Western Paradise dare not act rashly.” Hearing this, Tang Seng felt terrified and said urgently, “What should we do then? Do we have to go around it?” Liu Er said, “This mountain stretches over six thousand li from north to south, surrounded by dangerous peaks. Even if we go around, we can’t escape the demons’ attacks. It might take two or three years to get through.” Tang Seng asked, “Then… what should we do? How far is it still to Qi Tian Ling?” Liu Er replied, “There are still two or three thousand li left.” Seeing Liu Er appear in his own guise, dressed exactly the same, even with the identical golden ring on his head, Wu Kong thought to himself that if others saw this, it would cause chaos. Noticing that Liu Er had readily accepted the role, Wu Kong guessed his intentions and quietly disappeared, sending a message: “What are you doing here?” Liu Er replied, “It’s a reunion of the divine apes!” Hearing this, Wu Kong was deeply moved, feeling a warm emotion—turns out Liu Er also knew of his identity as a wise divine ape. Wu Kong sent another message, “Why did you disguise yourself as me?” Liu Er replied, “Feng Tong sent me. Go ask him yourself.” Without hesitation, Wu Kong flew toward Qi Tian Ling with the help of the breeze. Upon arriving at Qi Tian Ling, Wu Kong openly took on the appearance of Zhuanxu and headed toward Feng Tong’s cave. As he walked, he suddenly heard someone calling him—it was the Goddess of Earth. Though eager to see Feng Tong, Wu Kong had no choice but to go to the Goddess of Earth’s cave. He asked, “Sister, why did you call me?” The Goddess of Earth replied, “I saved that little Zhang.” Wu Kong felt ashamed inwardly; he had forgotten about this matter and should have come to inquire himself. He asked, “Does he still remember anything?” The Goddess of Earth said, “He’s a bit delirious, but he can still speak a few words.”
Hou Tu led Wu Kong to another cave, where Prince Xiao Zhang sat pale and dazed on a stone bench. Wu Kong glanced at Hou Tu, who said, “He sits there all day long. Sometimes he doesn’t respond when spoken to, and other times he talks a few words even when not asked. I don’t know what kind of hidden injury he has—this is beyond my ability to cure.” Wu Kong replied, “If sister can’t cure him, no one else can.” Hou Tu shook her head. “I’ve examined his body thoroughly; everything from the inside out seems fine, but I still sense something is off, though I can’t pinpoint it.” Wu Kong said, “If you can’t see it, then let me take a look.” Hou Tu nodded. Though she was powerful, she was not a being of natural destiny, so she might not be able to discern such things—perhaps Wu Kong could indeed figure something out. After examining him carefully, Wu Kong confirmed Hou Tu’s words—there was indeed something wrong with Prince Xiao Zhang, though his natural destiny was not lacking, and he himself couldn’t see anything amiss. Judging from Prince Xiao Zhang’s current state, in later times he could have been considered mentally retarded. But Prince Xiao Zhang was clearly intelligent—what mystery lay in the various punishments in the Buddhist hell that could turn him into such a foolish person? Wu Kong thought of the netherworld, where those who committed evil in life also suffered many punishments, but after enduring those, they could still be reborn—so there was no reason for them to become fools. Was Prince Xiao Zhang, like his master, the Great Sage National Advisor King Bodhisattva, having his memories destroyed by the Buddhists? King Bodhisattva had forgotten everything from nearly a thousand years ago—could Prince Xiao Zhang be the same? With a thought, Wu Kong instantly reverted to his monkey form, walked up to Prince Xiao Zhang, and waved his finger in front of his eyes. Prince Xiao Zhang slowly raised his gaze to look at Wu Kong, his eyes dull and lifeless. Wu Kong asked, “Do you remember me? I’m the Stone Monkey.” Prince Xiao Zhang continued to stare at Wu Kong without any reaction. Wu Kong added, “You once captured me and tried to kill me! The Great Sage Zen Temple! The back mountain, the deep cave—do you remember?” Prince Xiao Zhang blinked but remained silent. Wu Kong shouted again, “Wu Zhiqi! Wu Zhiqi! Have you forgotten everything?” Prince Xiao Zhang simply turned his head to look at Hou Tu. Wu Kong scratched his head and remembered a phrase, then shouted, “Kill me! The evil star of the canopy will ruin your life!” Hearing this, Prince Xiao Zhang raised his eyebrows slightly, turned his head, pointed at Wu Kong, and said, “Monkey… monkey…” Wu Kong was overjoyed. “That’s right, it’s me! Me! What else can you remember?” Prince Xiao Zhang showed a deeply painful expression; his mind was in chaos, as if he had many things to say but simply couldn’t recall them.
Wukong asked a few more questions. The more Xiao Zhang listened, the sadder he became. He covered his ears with his hands and buried his head between his legs, refusing to listen. Wukong sighed and stopped pressing him further; if he kept asking, he might drive Xiao Zhang crazy.
Hou Tu pointed into the air, and Xiao Zhang’s body went limp as he collapsed to the ground. Hou Tu said, “Let him rest for now.”
Wukong said, “I think Xiao Zhang hasn’t lost all his memory; his brain is just injured.”
Hou Tu replied, “If his brain were injured, how could I not notice?”
Wukong thought to himself that matters related to memory were extremely mysterious—who could explain them clearly? If a person’s brain suffered a concussion, it might cause blood clots to block certain blood vessels or damage nerves, leading to memory loss. But since Hou Tu said Xiao Zhang was unharmed inside and out, what problems could there be?
Suddenly, Wukong remembered something. That Zhu Bajie had an extra spirit of a pig, which made him greedy and lustful. If spirits could drastically change a person’s nature, then could Xiao Zhang’s and the Great Sage National Advisor Wang Bodhisattva’s amnesia be related to spirits?
Wukong asked Hou Tu, “Sister, do you know who in the world is skilled in the art of spirits?”
Hou Tu immediately understood Wukong’s intention and said, “Of course, one must go to the netherworld—each of the Ten Kings of Hell is skilled in it.”
Wukong had little experience with the Ten Kings of Hell and didn’t know what kind of hearts they had, so he asked, “What about King Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?”
Hou Tu replied, “He is certainly much stronger than the Ten Kings of Hell.”
Wukong said, “Good, then I’ll go look for him!”
Hou Tu said, “I’m quite familiar with King Ksitigarbha too. Would you like me to introduce you?”
Wukong smiled and said, “No need to trouble you, sister. I’ve already met him before. If not for his guidance, I probably wouldn’t have found Avici Hell.”
Hou Tu sighed, “It’s truly fortunate that Wukong can find his way everywhere!”
Wukong said, “King Ksitigarbha is indeed an extraordinary person. It’s also very fortunate for me to have met him!”
Wukong bid farewell to Hou Tu and reverted to his human form. Of course, he wouldn’t go look for King Ksitigarbha first—he would go find Feng Tong instead.
Feng Tong and Wang Yu had been waiting for Wukong for a long time. When they saw him enter the cave, they hurriedly called him over to sit.
Wukong smiled and said, “You shouldn’t have kept me in the dark. Liu Er left, which gave me a start.”
Feng Tong laughed and said, “His arrival also gave me a start. Who else could I ask?”
Wukong asked, “Weren’t you going to learn formation magic? Why did you return so quickly?”
Feng Tong replied, “Time moves very slowly in my master’s realm. It took me several years to memorize these formations—this is actually fast!”
Wukong was startled and said, “I truly must thank the Great Heavenly Venerable.” He remembered that Yuan Shi had spent months to understand this formation. If compared in this way, wouldn’t Yuan Shi have spent as if a hundred years?
Tongfeng replied, “My master understood it through enlightenment, while I learned it, so I was faster.”
Wukong asked, “Then… shall we break this golden ring now?”
Tongfeng said, “If not now, then when?”
Wukong asked, “If we break it now and someone notices, and asks questions, how shall I answer?”
Tongfeng laughed and said, “Have you forgotten? How many people in the world can see the mysteries within? Even the Great Heavenly Venerable cannot see anything inside the golden ring. I’ll only break the formation inside; I’ll leave the ring to you, so that no one else can see through it!”
Wukong said, “If someone recites the spell to control this golden ring, then we’ll be exposed.”
Tongfeng replied, “I’m afraid by then we’ll already turn against each other. It doesn’t matter if we’re exposed!”
After thinking, Wukong agreed that Tongfeng made sense and said, “Good! Then let’s break it.”
Tongfeng placed his hand on the golden ring and closed his eyes, concentrating. The formation inside the ring was extremely complex. Even if he remembered it, he couldn’t afford the slightest mistake.
Wang Yu saw Tongfeng was focused, so he stepped outside and stood at the entrance of the cave. At this moment, Qitianling was at peace, so Wang Yu was just being cautious. The whole process took two full hours. Finally, Tongfeng removed his hand and said, “It’s done!” Wukong used his mental power to probe, and indeed, the inside of the golden ring was empty, which put him at ease. Now, as long as Tongfeng broke the formation further, they could take off the ring.
Wukong saw a wisp of light black energy emanate from Tongfeng’s hand, so he released a similar wisp from within himself, merging it with Tongfeng’s. Indeed, there was no difference between the two.
Wang Yu came in and, seeing the wisp of energy, said, “Give it to me.”
Tongfeng was slightly puzzled but still gave the energy to Wang Yu and asked, “What do you need it for?”
Wang Yu replied, “At first, you said this energy was peculiar, but I didn’t notice anything unusual. Only when there was more did I realize its value. This energy will be extremely useful for refining my Divine Slaying Ring!”
Tongfeng laughed and asked, “Does your Divine Slaying Ring also serve to trap people?”
Wang Yu replied coldly, “It only knows how to kill, not how to trap!”
With that, Wang Yu leaped out, heading somewhere to refine his weapon.
Wukong watched Wang Yu’s back and asked Tongfeng, “Who exactly is Master Wang Yu?” Tongfeng shook his head and said, “I’ve asked him too. He only said the time isn’t right yet.”
Wukong said, “I find Master Wang Yu’s abilities peculiar. He has neither the modesty of Taoism nor the purity of Buddhism. Instead, he has a fierce and cunning nature akin to that of a woman. I really can’t imagine such a person existing in the world.”
Tongfeng nodded and said, “You observed carefully. Thinking about it now, it’s indeed the case.”
Wukong said, “Once he returns from refining the weapon, I must get to the bottom of this.”
Tongfeng asked, “Why are you so determined to ask about this? Who is his master? What does it matter to you or me?”
Wukong replied, “Wang Yu once said that his master’s status is no less than that of the Primordial Great Heavenly Lord. That’s why I suddenly remembered someone.”
Tongfeng asked, “Who is it?”