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

Chapter 434 The Mountain-Splitting Axe is Missing, Chenxiang and Bajie Descend the Mountain

Meanwhile, inside the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars, the True Man was in the Patriarch's meditation room, discussing profound teachings with the Patriarch, occasionally placing pieces on the chessboard, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Suddenly, the master felt something, stopped placing his piece, and looked towards the human world.

The patriarch smiled and asked, "Child, why are you so lost in thought?"

The Master smiled and said, "Master, it was Junior Brother Wukong and Zhengyuan who obtained the Jingzhou Cauldron. I was quite surprised, I never expected that Junior Brother could obtain the Nine Cauldrons so quickly."

The Patriarch said, "Wukong is indeed capable. With you teaching him the location of the Nine Cauldrons and Zheng Yuan assisting him, it would be a problem if he couldn't quickly obtain them."

The Master said, “What Master said makes sense, but Junior Brother took my joke seriously and went to retrieve the remaining three cauldrons. I’m afraid it will be a futile effort.”

The Patriarch smiled and said, "Perhaps this is not a futile effort? What Wukong said, that things depend on human effort, is indeed reasonable."

Just as the master was about to answer something, he suddenly sensed something and looked towards Yangzhou. He turned his head and said, "Master's magic power is profound, and I am inferior to him. This makes me admire you."

The patriarch said, "Changes are inevitable; this is part of the natural order of things. Therefore, one should always be mindful of the possibility of change in all matters."

The master bowed and said, "This disciple will remember."

The Patriarch laughed and said, "Child, you can observe that scene yourself. Do you think Wukong might be able to retrieve the Yangding Cauldron?"

The Master pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid there will be some difficulties. The demon guarding Yangding is quite powerful, and its origins are extraordinary. Moreover, it was born in the Southern Continent. It will be difficult for Wukong to deal with it. Master, my junior brother is ultimately acting for my sake, and I intend to help him."

The patriarch smiled and nodded, saying, "Since you are willing to help, then go ahead and don't say anything more to me."

The True Man bowed deeply to the Patriarch and then rose to leave.

The immortal left the quiet room and went to the Jade Terrace, where he summoned Pigsy to come.

Having received the immortal's instructions, Pigsy dared not disobey and immediately went to the Jade Terrace to pay his respects to the immortal.

Pigsy bowed deeply and said, "Greetings, Master! It has been some time since I last saw you. You seem to have even greater magical powers than before. Congratulations!"

The real man was both amused and exasperated, and said, "You pig, why are you trying to flatter me right away?"

Pigsy chuckled and said, "I'm not flattering you, but I'm just telling the truth. Now that I've seen you, Master, I know that your magical powers are even greater than before."

The master waved his hand and said, "Don't say such things. I have come to you today because I have an important matter to discuss with you and ask for your assistance. Are you willing to help?"

Upon hearing this, Pigsy bowed and said, "I am willing to help you, sir. Please give me your instructions. However, I am not very capable. If I fail in any way, please forgive me and do not blame me."

The immortal smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not sending you to do anything difficult, but to go to the mortal world to help Wukong with his work."

Pigsy was taken aback and said, "Brother Monkey is in trouble? I've been looking for Brother Monkey for a long time, but I don't know where he is. Now I hear you say that Brother Monkey has gone to do something for you, but is he having some trouble?"

The Master said, “There is indeed a difficulty. I originally instructed Wukong to go to the mortal realm to obtain the Jing Cauldron. Wukong and Zhengyuan went together, and their abilities are superb, so they can certainly obtain the Jing Cauldron. However, after obtaining the Jing Cauldron, they still want to go to obtain the Yang Cauldron. But there has been a change at the location of the Yang Cauldron. There is a powerful demon there, and I fear that Wukong may not be aware of it and will not be able to defeat it. Therefore, I am sending you to assist him.”

Upon hearing this, Pigsy panicked and said, "Master, even Brother Monkey is no match for that demon. Sending me there would be pointless. How can you do this? Wouldn't you be sending me to be eaten by that demon?"

As he spoke, he suddenly seemed to think of something and said, “Master, do you have a magic weapon for me? If you do, I can go and fight it. I have heard that you have magic weapons, such as the Nine Cauldrons, the whisk, and the True Martial Sword. Each of them is a powerful magic weapon. Which one do you want to give me, Master?”

The Master smiled and said, "No magic weapon is needed, but I will teach you how to take it to help. There is a reason for this. However, this help is not to help Wukong in the true sense, but to protect someone and go to meet Wukong."

Pigsy, not understanding, asked, "Master, who are you protecting?"

The master said, "It is agarwood."

Pigsy was even more puzzled and asked, "Why send Chenxiang? Chenxiang's skills are not even as good as mine. What use would it be to send him?"

The master said, "Do not ask any more questions. Go and summon Chenxiang to me, and we will talk then."

Pigsy obeyed the order, went out of the mansion, and went to the back mountain to find the sandalwood.

He walked into the back mountain and saw countless orange trees there. He looked around and saw the blue ox eating oranges. When it saw him, it didn't greet him, but just glanced at him and continued to lie down.

Pigsy naturally didn't go looking for trouble. Since Monkey King wasn't in the mountains, if he got into a quarrel with the green ox and the ox wanted to fight him, he would never be able to defeat it.

Pigsy bypassed the Green Ox and went to the mansion. There he saw Chenxiang. He could tell that Chenxiang was much calmer and more composed than before.

Upon seeing Zhu Bajie, Chenxiang was filled with doubt and asked, "Sir, have you come here today on important business?"

Pigsy said, “It is an important matter. The master is sending you to the mansion to pay your respects to him. He has important matters to discuss with him. You should prepare quickly and come with me.”

Upon hearing that it was a true immortal who instructed him to go there, Chenxiang dared not disobey. He quickly got up and walked towards that place.

The two went around the back mountain and arrived at the Xieyue Sanxing Cave.

Just as Pigsy was about to enter, Chenxiang stopped, bowed towards the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars, and did not go inside.

Pigsy asked, "Agarwood, why don't you go inside?"

Chenxiang shook his head and said, "Sir, I once said that I would not enter again, and now I am ashamed to enter. Please forgive me."

Pigsy was getting anxious and said, "If you don't come in, how will the master see you?"

Chenxiang said, "I am truly ashamed to face you today. I hope you will explain the situation to me, sir. Please forgive me for any rudeness."

Pigsy waved his hand and said, "Enough, enough, enough. Since you say so, I will not say anything more to you. I will go and find the master and tell him about this matter."

Say it.

Pigsy walked into the cave and, upon reaching the Jade Terrace, recounted the whole story to the Immortal.

Upon learning this, the immortal did not say much, but instead left Yaotai and went to the gate of the mansion to see Chenxiang.

Upon seeing the master at the gate, Chenxiang immediately knelt down, performed a grand salute, and said, "Disciple Chenxiang has come to teach Master Uncle. Disciple is guilty!"

The master shook his head and smiled, saying, "You are innocent. I was the one who came looking for you. What crime have you committed? Get up."

Chenxiang bowed repeatedly, grateful for the kindness of the True Man, before rising and saying, "Uncle Master, what important matter has summoned me here for?" The True Man then told Chenxiang many things, including the matter of the Nine Cauldrons and the matter of Sun Wukong needing his help.

Upon hearing this, Chenxiang remained silent for a long time, then picked up the axe beside him and said, "Uncle-Master, my skills are not very good, and I am an unskilled practitioner. However, since you say that Master is in trouble, even though I am unskilled, I should still go and go to repay Master's kindness."

The master shook his head and laughed, "I did not teach you to fight that monster. Chenxiang, bring me your axe."

Chenxiang was puzzled, but he still took the axe from his hand and presented it to the immortal.

The master asked, "Chenxiang, do you know what kind of object the axe in your hand is?"

Chenxiang bowed and said, "I know that, but the axe in my hand is one of the three treasures that Yu the Great used to control the floods. King Yu had three treasures for controlling the floods: the River Map, the Sea-Stabilizing Treasure, and this axe."

The master reached out, took the axe, examined it closely, and laughed, "Chenxiang, do you know that this axe in your hand has a flaw?"

Chenxiang asked in confusion, "Master Uncle, how can this treasure be flawed? It possesses divine power, capable of splitting mountains and severing rivers, so how can it have any defects?"

The master pointed to a corner of the axe blade and said, "Look here, this is the missing corner."

Upon closer inspection, Chenxiang said, "I originally thought that these were marks left by the Mountain-Splitting Axe during the war. It is perfectly normal for King Yu to leave mottled marks when he used the axe to split mountains and rivers. Or perhaps they were marks left by Erlang Shen during his war."

The master shook his head and said, "How could such a magical treasure easily leave a mark? It is not because it is flawed that it would be like this."

Chenxiang asked, "What does what you, Uncle Master, say about the evil spirits have to do with this mountain-splitting axe?"

The Master laughed and said, "It's all related. That evil spirit is connected to the lack of this treasure. You are now the owner of this treasure, so I'm sending you to help with the task. Along the way, you'll be protected by Pigsy. Are you willing?"

Chenxiang suddenly realized what was going on, and immediately bowed deeply, saying, "This disciple is willing. Please grant me permission, Master Uncle. I will go down the mountain now to find my master and help him achieve his goal."

The master said, “You may go. Bajie, you must protect Chenxiang well. The journey may not be peaceful.”

Pigsy chuckled and said, "How could there be any unrest? But the main road to the west is protected by the Lord's decree. The Lord is in his prime here, who would dare to offend the Lord's divine might?"

The immortal laughed and said, "There are no demons on the main road to the west, but there are plenty of monsters in other places."

Pigsy said, "But I will not take Chenxiang with me to other places."

The man smiled and nodded, without saying anything more.

Pigsy, carrying incense, bid farewell to the Immortal and headed down the mountain. He didn't even pack his bundle, just hurriedly picked up his nine-toothed rake and left.

The real man still had a smile on his face as he watched Pigsy leave.

……

Pigsy and Agarwood walked down the mountain path.

Chenxiang, carrying his axe, said with some helplessness, "Sir, why are you in such a hurry?"

Pigsy, carrying his nine-toothed rake, said, "I'm just worried about Brother Monkey. When he sees us, we haven't even packed our bags yet, and he'll rush over. He'll be incredibly grateful."

Chenxiang remained silent for a moment, then pointed to the clothes he was wearing and said, "Sir, I have no change of clothes. What should I do?"

Pigsy took out a silver ingot from his pocket and said, "Don't worry, I have some silver. I'll buy some for you on the way."

Chenxiang didn't know how to express it, so he simply remained silent, which was tantamount to agreeing to what Zhu Bajie had said.

After descending the mountain, Pigsy used the wind to travel with Chenxiang along the westward road towards Jambudvipa (the southern continent).

……

Meanwhile, on a mountain in Danyang County, Sun Wukong and Zuo Liang were there. Sun Wukong dispelled all the miasma in the mountain.

Sun Wukong was on the mountaintop, ready to show off his skills to Zuo Liang.

Sun Wukong laughed and said, "Nephew, you must watch closely, for I also have the ability to summon the local earth gods and mountain gods from all directions."

Say it.

Sun Wukong pulled the golden cudgel from his ear, and with a single word, the cudgel grew to a length of two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) and a thickness of a bowl. He swung the cudgel and slammed it into the ground, saying, "Earth God, Mountain God! Come quickly to see me! If you dare to be late, slow, or negligent, don't blame me for giving you five whacks!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the local earth gods and mountain gods, roughly numbering over a hundred, all knelt down and said, "Earth gods and mountain gods have come to see you. We pay our respects to the Great Sage!"

Upon seeing this, Sun Wukong turned his head and said, "Nephew, is my method to your liking?"

Zuo Liang said, "My master's magical power is far beyond my reach. However, the local earth gods and mountain gods are still paying their respects, so perhaps we can instruct them to proceed first."

Sun Wukong said, "Since it is your junior brother who has spoken, you may get up."

After the local earth gods and mountain gods thanked the Great Sage, they dared to stand up. They looked at Zuo Liang and recognized him. They smiled and bowed again, saying, "How is it Master Zhengyuan! We did not know that Master Zhengyuan was here and did not pay our respects. Please forgive us!"

Sun Wukong was somewhat annoyed to see that the local earth gods and mountain gods were all obsequious and fearful when they saw him, but now they were all smiles and genuinely happy when they saw Zuo Liang. However, he knew that Zuo Liang had always had a close relationship with the local earth gods and mountain gods, so he held back and did not say anything more.

Zuo Liang stepped forward and exchanged pleasantries with the local earth gods and mountain spirits, telling them that they didn't need to be so polite.

After exchanging pleasantries, he spoke with the local earth gods and mountain spirits, explaining the reason why he and Sun Wukong had summoned them.

Upon hearing this, the local earth and mountain gods looked at each other in bewilderment and said, "Master, Great Sage, we are all ghost immortals. How could we possibly find such a divine cauldron? It is impossible, it is impossible."

Sun Wukong stepped forward and said, "I know you cannot find that divine cauldron, but I ask you whether you have seen any places where divine light shines or where demons are causing trouble. If so, please tell me, and perhaps the divine cauldron is there."

The local earth gods and mountain gods listened to this and began to discuss among themselves, seemingly debating whether the place Sun Wukong had mentioned existed. After a long while, they finally spoke, saying, "As the Great Sage said, there are many places in Danyang County. However, this divine cauldron could be anywhere in Yangzhou. We cannot say for sure whether there is a divine cauldron in Danyang County."

Sun Wukong said, "Just tell me what's true and false, and I will verify it. But if you tell me everything, you will have done a good job."

Upon hearing Sun Wukong's words, the local earth gods and mountain gods dared not conceal anything and told him everything they knew.

(End of this chapter)