Journey to the West: Beginning with the Apprenticeship of Bodhi Patriarch

Chapter 266: Pardon and Banquet
In front of the White Bone City, Zhu Bajie heard what Sun Wukong and Bull Demon King said, and he gathered his courage, picked up his nine-toothed rake, and walked towards the city gate, shouting, "Great Sage Shuangpo! Marshal Tianpeng Zhu Bajie is here, show up at once!"

Not long after Zhu Bajie finished speaking, he suddenly saw an evil wind accompanied by a north wind.

The Great Sage Frost Soul's eyes flashed red as he cursed, "What are you doing here again?"

Zhu Bajie said, "I came to find you and save you from disaster."

The Great Sage Shuangpo said, "What disaster can I save? Even if I have a disaster, it has nothing to do with you, and you are not Marshal Tianpeng."

Zhu Bajie was a little indignant and said, "Of course I am not Marshal Tianpeng, but I have never concealed anything. I am indeed Marshal Tianpeng."

Upon hearing what happened, Great Sage Shuangpo wanted to step forward to capture Zhu Bajie, but he saw Sun Wukong and Bull Demon King standing behind him, staring at him fiercely. One of them was the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, the Fighting and Victory Buddha of Buddhism, and the other was the Bull King of Cuiyun Mountain, the guardian of the Immortal Master, and they had their own aura, so those who saw them dared not move.

The Great Sage Shuangpo saw that the two men were behind Zhu Bajie and looked like they would capture him if he made any move. He did not dare to go forward and turned around to leave.

Zhu Bajie shouted anxiously, "Wait a minute. Here is your pardon edict. You must take a look at it."

Upon hearing this, the Great Sage Shuangpo stopped and asked, "Who can forgive me?"

Zhu Bajie said: "It is the Jade Emperor who has forgiven your sins."

Say it.

Zhu Bajie presented the jade edict to the Great Sage Yu Shuangpo with both hands.

The Great Sage Shuangpo took the jade edict, opened it, and saw golden words written inside.

'In the Lingxiao Palace of the Golden Palace, the Jade Emperor, the Great Heavenly Venerable, the Mysterious Sky High God, issued an edict, saying:

I rule over the heavens, and have a clear view of the three realms. I think that all the immortals are under the will of heaven, but there is a balance between merit and demerit, and rewards and punishments are clear. Here is a spiritual officer holding the flag, who used to guard the Xuanyuan Palace, commanding 5,000 naval forces from the Milky Way, and guarding the majesty of the imperial carriage. However, when the demon monkeys were making trouble in the heavenly palace and misleading the people with their illusions, you held the flags and banners but were slow to detect the opportunity, and guarded the emperor's chariot but were slow to respond, causing the demon monkeys to cause chaos in heaven. I follow the laws of heaven and demote you to the lower world.

Today is the time when God’s grace is spreading widely. I am grateful that you have suffered a lot. Your soul has disappeared, but your resentment still remains. Therefore, I will pardon your crimes. You should remember your past sins. I hereby order you to do so!

Announce it to the heavens, and let all know.'

When Great Sage Shuangpo saw the Jade Edict, he was in a trance for a moment. He stood there, at a loss. His crimes were forgiven, and his resentment seemed to be gone. He felt as if he could not hold on any longer.

Seeing this, Zhu Bajie said, "Don't say that the Jade Emperor doesn't forgive you. I went to heaven earlier and told him that the Jade Emperor had already beaten me a hundred times. I was punished, but he knew I was wrong. Everyone in heaven and on earth knows it. You can rest assured and don't harbor any more resentment."

The Great Sage Shuangpo asked in a trance, "Does the heaven and earth really know that it was not my fault in the past?"

Zhu Bajie said: "We all know, we all know!

The Great Sage Shuangpo stood in place, the resentment in his eyes weakened, but after an unknown amount of time, there was no resentment in his eyes anymore. Although the appearance of the Zombie King on his face had not changed, his intelligence was no longer there. He suddenly roared and pounced towards Zhu Bajie.

Zhu Bajie was trembling with fear and raised his nine-toothed rake to block the Great Sage Shuangpo, but the Great Sage was so powerful that he knocked Zhu Bajie to the ground.

Zhu Bajie shouted, "Brother, come and help me quickly. This guy's resentment has been eliminated. He is now an ownerless body. Subdue him and there will be no more demons here."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong and Bull Demon King, without saying a word, each drew their weapons and attacked the Great Sage Frost Soul, intending to kill him.

The Great Sage Shuangpo was indeed as Zhu Bajie had said, without any intelligence, just an empty shell. The two men attacked him without any hesitation.

But Sun Wukong drew out his golden cudgel and hit the man in the face. The Great Sage Shuangpo forced him to retreat again and again, without any ability to defend himself.

Then the Bull Demon King was seen swinging the Black Dragon Pi Yue Spear, which weighed 18,000 pounds. He swept across the Great Sage Frost Soul and hit the Great Sage Frost Soul's chest directly. One of the spears hit the Great Sage Frost Soul's chest so hard that it was dented.

In the hands of the two men, the body of the Great Sage Frost Soul had no power to resist. In less than three rounds, the Great Sage Frost Soul was killed and ceased to exist.

Sun Wukong said, "Brother, Bajie, we have already ordered the Great Sage Shuangpo to kill them, but there are bound to be some monsters left in the city. Let's go and get rid of the soldiers in the city."

The Bull Demon King said, "That's the truth."

Zhu Bajie said, "Should I go? I don't have much ability. Why don't I go and talk to the immortal about what's going on here? There are only a few monsters in there. Brother Monkey, you and the Bull King will be more than capable of going."

Sun Wukong wanted to grab Zhu Bajie's palm-leaf fan and ask him to go with him, but he remembered that the immortal was in front and the Great Sage Shuangpo had ordered him to kill, so he should go and talk to the immortal, otherwise it would be disrespectful.

He then said, "Since this is the case, Bajie, go and inform my senior brother and tell him everything that has happened here."

Zhu Bajie smiled happily and said, "Let's go now, let's go now."

Say it.

Zhu Bajie bid farewell to Sun Wukong and Bull Demon King and went towards where Jiang Yuan was.

When Sun Wukong and Bull Demon King saw Zhu Bajie leaving, they looked at each other in surprise.

The Bull Demon King said: "Although this Zhu Bajie was beaten with a hundred sticks, Mu Mu retreated a little and dared not to do it again, but his practice has declined. His courage is gone. He is afraid to move forward after being taught such a thing."

Sun Wukong said: "It is enough that he has the heart to practice now. In the past, he rarely had the heart to practice, and even if I tried to dissuade him, it was useless. But now it is different. Now he has the heart to practice, and he hopes that the heaven will solve this matter. Now he can practice with my senior brother, and he will definitely be able to resume his practice in the future."

The Bull Demon King said: "I hope he can persevere and follow me in cultivation. It is the most lonely and the two gods are most likely to show up and interfere. But if he can persevere, his cultivation will surely recover."

Sun Wukong smiled and said, "We have done our best to help wherever we can."

The Bull Demon King said, "Brother, let's not talk about this for now. Let's go in and see if there are any little demons."

Sun Wukong said: "That's exactly the truth."

While the two were talking, they rode on the clouds and went inside.

……

The story begins outside the White Bone City, in front of the Immortal White Deer. Zhu Bajie rides a cloud to this place and tells the Immortal about the situation ahead.

Upon hearing that the Great Sage Frost Soul's grudge had been resolved and that he had been subdued, and that there was no more trouble here, Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King went to investigate the little monsters in the city.

The Immortal looked up and around, but saw that the black mist was still lingering here, and it had not diminished. He looked at the Blue Ox and said, "King Si, do you know how many demons there are in Beijuluzhou?"

Qingniu shook his head and said, "Too many to count. This place is a place of evil spirits. How can we know how many evil spirits there are?"

The Immortal asked, "How many people like the Great Sage Shuangpo are there in Beijuluzhou?"

After hearing this, Qingniu hesitated for a moment and said, "Master, I seldom come to Beijuluzhou, and neither does Laojun. But I feel that there are many people like Shuangpo Great Sage in Beijuluzhou, but most of them like to hide, rather than build a city and show off like Shuangpo Great Sage."

The Immortal said, "Is there a Great Saint who can surpass Shuangpo?"

Qingniu nodded and said, "In my opinion, there must be quite a few." Jiang Yuan asked, "Did the Xuan Emperor exorcise demons in the past, but it was ineffective?"

Qingniu shook his head and said, "It is effective, but the demons in Beijuluzhou that were visible have all been annihilated. Now many demons are hiding, thanks to the work of Emperor Xuan. Moreover, the demons in Beijuluzhou are all frightened by Emperor Xuan, so they dare not offend Nanzhanbuzhou, let alone intrude into Nanzhanbuzhou."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan nodded, looked ahead, and said, "The north is afraid of Luzhou, where evil spirits are rising."

He looked around and saw that the dark air was gathering towards the White Bone City. Most likely, it had sensed the demise of Great Sage Frost Soul and was coming to investigate.

Jiang Yuan shook his head and made the white deer take a step forward. Golden light rose from the deer's hooves and spread in all directions. In a short while, the gathered black air was completely annihilated.

"All evils retreat."

The immortal hummed softly, and the three tripods in his body made a deafening sound that echoed through the sky, clearing up the surroundings. All the dark air retreated and disappeared.

Zuo Liang stepped forward and bowed, "Master, is there any evil spirit approaching?"

Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "There were some evil spirits, but they have gone away now."

Zuo Liang looked around and asked, "Master, why haven't I seen it?"

Jiang Yuan said: "You have not learned the full power of observing qi, so you have never seen it. When you are free at night, I will teach you this power. When you have learned it, you can observe the surroundings. However, this power of observing qi is only for auxiliary use. If you want to observe whether there are evil spirits around, you must rely on your experience to judge."

Zuo Liang bowed and said, "Thank you, Master."

Jiang Yuan said, "No need to be polite, Zhengyuan. Now you have learned the Five Thunders True Method, but King Si once said that your magic is still a little insufficient. If you can mobilize the gods of wind, rain, thunder and lightning to deal with ordinary monsters, you can still do nothing if you encounter some powerful monsters. Later, I will teach you other magic to protect you."

Zuo Liang smiled and said, "Master, my magic is enough. Now I am following you to practice, even if there are harmful monsters, how can they hurt me? But with you here, even if there are monsters, they will be completely timid in front of you and dare not act rashly."

Jiang Yuan pointed at Zuo Liang and scolded him with a smile: "You bastard, are you going to be unable to leave me in the future? If I leave without you, what will you do?"

Zuo Liang said: "If the master did not bring his disciple with him, then the disciple would be practicing in the mansion. The master is in the mansion, and no evil spirits dare to enter the mansion and make trouble."

Jiang Yuan said: "When you have achieved success in cultivation in the future, you can't stay in the mansion all the time. You must go out. Don't say such things. I will teach you some magic later."

Upon hearing this, Zuo Liang had no choice but to agree.

Qingniu came forward, broke off a piece of orange and ate it, saying, "Master, are you really not going to look for Tianpeng Zhenjun?"

Jiang Yuan looked at Qingniu and said, "Why does King Si keep telling me to go find Tianpeng Zhenjun? Could it be that Tianpeng Zhenjun has a grudge against you, and you are embarrassing him like this?"

Qingniu laughed and said, "How could I embarrass him? I am just thinking about Zhengyuan's safety. If he is protected by Tianpeng Zhenjun, Zhengyuan will be safe even if he travels to Beijuluzhou alone."

Jiang Yuan looked at Qingniu and smiled without saying anything. How could he not see what Qingniu was thinking? Most likely, Qingniu wanted to teach him how to go and ask Tianpeng Zhenjun for help and learn some spell that could command Tianpeng Zhenjun. At that time, Zuo Liang often ordered Tianpeng Zhenjun around, which made Tianpeng Zhenjun very busy.

These are the only thoughts Qingniu has.

……

In the City of Bones, Sun Wukong and Bull Demon King went in to search, and indeed they saw many zombie monsters inside. Some of the monsters were even cooking human flesh, but when the two saw the monsters, they killed them.

Sun Wukong swung his golden cudgel and said "long", and the golden cudgel became ten feet long and swept in all directions, hitting the lesser demons in the city and making them scatter like clouds. Those who were hit died, those who were held died, those who were stabbed suffered broken bones, and those who were scraped suffered skin injuries.

The Bull Demon King held the Pi Yue Spear and sighed, "My dear brother, when it comes to dealing with this kind of thing, you are much better than me. Your treasure can be big or small, but mine cannot."

Sun Wukong smiled and said, "Brother, this treasure of mine is the Dingzi that Dayu used to control floods in the past. It has the ability to do whatever you want, so it can be big or small. But your weapon is different. It can hold water."

The Bull Demon King said: "But your baby is very convenient."

As he spoke, the Bull King looked around and said, "We should rescue all the monsters here. It is rare for so many of these evil zombies to gather together."

Sun Wukong said: "Speaking of which, when I was traveling west in the past, I also encountered such evil zombies, which caused me trouble."

The Bull Demon King was puzzled and said, "Even if there were thousands of such monsters, they would not be your opponent, my dear brother. Why should I let you suffer?"

Sun Wukong said: "It is a White Bone Demon, but it is no match for me. I can defeat it in one blow. However, Tang Seng did not believe me at that time, so he made me suffer."

The Bull Demon King laughed and said, "That Tang Monk was really stupid in the past. I don't believe you."

As the two talked, they walked towards the main hall in the city.

Before long, the two men walked into the main hall and subdued the little demon hiding in the main hall. Just as they were about to leave.

The Bull Demon King suddenly took out an invitation from the side and said, "My dear brother, please take a look at this."

Sun Wukong took the invitation and looked at it. It said that the Xuanming Mother would organize a "Ding Banquet" and invited the Great Sage Shuangpo from the White Bone City to participate.

He said, "A feast for the tripod? Take it away and show it to the eldest brother."

The Bull Demon King responded.

The two men held the invitation and rode on a cloud toward the outside of the city. When they arrived in front of the immortal, they pressed down the cloud and bowed down.

Jiang Yuan asked, "Have any of the little demons in the city escaped?"

Sun Wukong bowed and said, "Big Brother, no little demon in the city can escape."

Jiang Yuan asked, "Is there anyone still alive in the city?"

Sun Wukong shook his head and said, "There is no one alive in the city, but there is an invitation in the city. I will take it and show it to my eldest brother."

Say it.

Sun Wukong took out the invitation and handed it to the immortal.

The Immortal took the invitation, flipped through it, and saw that it was for the "Ding Shang Banquet" and also saw the name of the Xuanming Mother.

He asked, "Earth God, do you know the name of the Xuanming Mother?"

The land god came forward to pay his respects and said, "I have known the name of Xuanming Old Mother. She is a great monster in Beijuluzhou. But 50 to 60 percent of the monsters in Beijuluzhou obey her orders. She lives in the west of Beijuluzhou. She is very powerful. Once, 300 Arhats surrendered to her and were beaten to death by her. It is said that all the Arhat relics are still displayed in her mansion."

When everyone heard this, they were all shocked.

Sun Wukong asked: "What is the origin of this Xuanming Old Mother?"

(End of this chapter)