Conferred Gods: Start with a Phoenix clone

Chapter 1695 The Golden Cudgel is Gone
The Tang Monk and his disciples were not just poor, they were destitute, their pockets were emptier than their faces.

Sun Wukong was imprisoned for over five hundred years. It's already a miracle that he's retained his title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven. He doesn't receive any salary. The Jade Emperor might not care about those meager sums, but the Phoenix does. Don't even think about finding a loophole! If you don't work for me, I won't give you a single penny.

Old Pig led the villagers of Gao Lao Zhuang to prosperity through hard work. After they became wealthy, they resented him for eating too much, so they drove him away under the pretext of exorcising demons.

What money could a pet like the Jade Rabbit possibly have? He lost a small portion of his remaining assets playing mahjong to the three Gao sisters, and the rest went to pay off Tang Sanzang's loans.

The biggest debtor in the group is Tang Sanzang, whose debts are enormous and whose assets are completely negative.

Sun Wukong changed his mind and led the group towards a bustling area, also because this fellow was too annoying.

"Wukong, look at that mountain. Isn't that the legendary copper mine? Can we dig some up to pay off our debts?"

"Wukong, look at the glitter in the riverbed. Isn't there gold dust there? Can we take some to pay back our debt?"

The journey to the West is frustrating enough; the monkey doesn't want to bend over and dig for minerals and sand. I'll lead you to a crowded place, and then you can go beg for alms (scam money) on your own.

The three Bodhisattvas and Nezha are all rich, so they are afraid of the God of Poverty. But we, the four of us, are just pure poor ghosts, so we are not afraid of the God of Poverty. This theory seems to make sense at first glance.

Old Pig's sarcastic laughter was quite loud, and the abbot of Baolin Temple, who was called "Abbot Master" by the monks and Taoists, also came over to complain when he heard the noise.

"My lords, you have no idea how terrible that God of Poverty has been to our Wuji Kingdom! The royal palace is in ruins, His Majesty can only attend court in coarse cloth, and all the civil and military officials, local gentry..."

Sun Wukong found this intriguing and pressed for details, asking, "How did it all go?"

The abbot replied with a bitter face, "They've all come to my Baolin Temple to become monks."

"Huh?!" Sun Wukong quickly switched his vision to the state of Fiery Eyes and carefully examined Baolin Temple and the surrounding area.

Looking at it this way, we can indeed see a difference.

Baolin Temple is protected by the Buddhist power of Manjushri Bodhisattva, which can also resist the God of Poverty. Outside the temple, wisps of gray mist are floating around. These mists are inconspicuous and cannot be seen unless you look carefully, but they are objectively present. This is the power of the God of Poverty.

Even the monkeys couldn't see through the essence of this power; they could only perceive its extraordinary decay and rot.

Seemingly believing that these monks who had come from the distant Tang Dynasty in the East were very capable, several monks from Baolin Temple came over to complain.

The man said, “I used to be a rice merchant in the south of the city. My family had been running the business for three generations. But when the God of Poverty came, the warehouse caught fire and the rice shop was infested with rats. All the hard work of three generations was wiped out. I could only take some gold and silver and valuables to Baolin Temple to become a monk.”

The man said, “I have a thousand acres of fertile land in the east of the city, but now there is no harvest and the land is all barren.”

Tang Sanzang roughly understood that the wealthy households in Wuji Kingdom were nowhere near as wealthy as those in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, these guys would at most be county-level tycoons, but on this journey to the west, they were already powerful figures in their own right.

The powerful and wealthy are now coming to Baolin Temple to become monks with their last remaining fortunes. This is a choice made out of desperation. If they were outside, they wouldn't be able to keep their last bit of gold and silver.

With two hundred rooms, the abbot recruited more than five hundred monks, partly out of greed, and partly because more people meant more incense offerings.

Manjushri Bodhisattva can protect you with his power, but he can't do it for free. There's no such rule in Buddhism. If I do something for you, you have to give me one or even two times the reward. Baolin Temple never dares to run out of incense offerings.

Those Taoist priests wanted to curry favor with the Three Pure Ones, but the Three Pure Ones ignored them completely. Left with no other choice, they came to Baolin Temple for protection.

Taoist priests certainly couldn't provide incense offerings to Manjushri Bodhisattva, so the abbot had them do odd jobs.

In general, the God of Poverty has been in Wuji Kingdom for several years, and Baolin Temple has managed to maintain a basic level of dignity. The abbot has had a tough time.

Tang Sanzang was easily swayed. Even though he knew that Baolin Temple intended to use him as a pawn, and seeing hundreds of monks coming to beg him with tears streaming down their faces, he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

He accepted the task of dealing with the God of Poverty, but he couldn't do it himself, so he subcontracted it to Sun Wukong.

To be honest, this was the first time the monkey had ever seen a guy like the God of Poverty who used such strange supernatural powers and divine authority, and he was quite curious about him.

He asked, "Where is that God of Poverty you've been talking about? Let me, Old Sun, go and meet him!"

The abbot quickly pointed in a direction: "Master Sun, go north. That fellow has recently taken up residence in the former palace."

"The royal palace? And where is your king?"

"Alas!" The abbot sighed heavily. "His Highness the King and his officials are traveling west, which will take about half a month. To the west of the country, there is a high mountain called Flaming Mountain. Legend has it that a ball of fire fell from the sky and became Flaming Mountain when it reached the mortal world. It is extremely hot there all year round, making it difficult for people and animals to travel. The God of Poverty hates that place, and many people from Wuji Kingdom have gone there to seek refuge."

Many people fear dying from poverty more than dying from heat. The pain of heat is only physical, while the pain of poverty affects both the body and the mind. Tang Sanzang, who carried the burden of Amitabha Buddha's debt, deeply understood this.

Wu Neng and Wu Fan were tasked with protecting Tang Sanzang, while Sun Wukong, carrying his golden cudgel, went to the palace of Wuji Kingdom to meet this god of poverty.

The God of Poverty was hunched over, his face sallow and thin. If this were a human being, he probably wouldn't weigh more than forty pounds; he was far too thin.

When Sun Wukong arrived, the God of Poverty was sitting on the rather dilapidated carpet of the royal palace, eating leftovers.

The once-luxurious carpet was now filthy and the magnificent building looked like it hadn't been lived in for over a decade. The beams had collapsed, cobwebs hung in the corners, and the tables and chairs were covered in dust.

Sun Wukong roared, "Hey! You scoundrel, you've caused countless people to leave their homes, and you still don't know you're wrong? Leave Wuji Kingdom at once, or your maternal grandfather will make you regret it!"

The God of Poverty seemed not to hear and continued to eat the leftovers with his hands.

"Take this from my old Sun!" Sun Wukong was still testing the waters, and he used only three-tenths of his strength in his blow.

To his utter surprise, the God of Poverty was powerless to resist. When the golden cudgel fell, the God of Poverty was struck so hard that his brains splattered out. He lost his breath without even uttering a sound.

Is he dead? Is it that easy? Nezha couldn't even defeat this kind of enemy?

Sun Wukong looked surprised. Just as he was pondering this, he felt his hand become lighter. He looked down and saw that the golden cudgel that he had been holding tightly had suddenly disappeared!
(End of this chapter)