The Great Bandit of Journey to the West

Chapter 174 Seeking Advice from the Master

On Leopard Head Mountain, two wolf demons swaggered along the mountain path.

One of the wolf demons said, "How cunning! The king gave us twenty taels of silver to buy livestock for a rake feast. How many taels do you think we should keep?"

He said slyly, "We'll keep eighteen taels, nine taels each, and use the rest for shopping!"

The strange and cunning one gasped, "This—isn't that too much? What if the livestock we just bought isn't enough, and the King blames us?"

With a sly smile, he said, "Let's buy on credit first. We'll say we didn't bring enough silver, and the seller will come back with us. The king will pay for whatever silver we're short."

Deeply impressed by his eccentric and unconventional thinking, he exclaimed, "As expected of you, you're truly eccentric and unconventional! I could never have come up with such a brilliant idea!"

'

These two wolf demons were purchasing minions under the lion demon's command, responsible for procuring daily necessities.

Last night, the lion spirit saw countless rays of light and auspicious colors in Yuhua County, and sensed that a treasure was about to be born.

Upon arriving in the county, he immediately spotted the weapons of Wukong and his companions, recognizing them as three treasures. Without hesitation, he stole them back to his cave.

Today, as he was preparing to hold a banquet to celebrate, he suddenly discovered that there wasn't enough meat in the cave, so he sent the two wolf demons down the mountain to buy livestock, which led to the conversation above.

Behind a large rock, Jiang Feng overheard the entire conversation between the two wolf demons. With an appreciative expression, he whispered, "What clever little demons! I see they possess the wisdom of Buddhism; I almost feel reluctant to kill them."

Bai Suzhen said helplessly, "If this is what Buddhist wisdom is like, then we shouldn't go to the Western Paradise. We can just find a county clerk who makes fake accounts to go on our pilgrimage."

Wukong jumped out and killed the two wolf demons, saying, "Bajie, let's transform into their appearances and go to the Tiger's Mouth Cave to steal our weapons back!"

As Jiang Feng collected the money from the two wolf demons into his pouch, he said, "Just stealing it isn't enough. Wukong, come closer, I'll teach you a brilliant plan!"

Wukong leaned closer, listening to Jiang Feng's explanation, then burst into laughter with shining eyes: "Haha, I, Old Sun, understand! Master, just you wait and see!"

After saying this, he flew away on a cloud. When he returned, he brought five or six sheep with him. He and Pigsy transformed into two wolf demons, and Sandy disguised himself as a shepherd. Together they headed towards Tiger's Mouth Cave.

Upon meeting the lion demon, Wukong, following the explanation given by the two wolf demons, told the lion demon about the debt.

The lion demon put on an understanding act, gave Sha Wujing another ten taels of silver, and agreed to let him stay in the cave for a meal.

Then the little demons lit a fire and cooked a meal to celebrate the lion demon's acquisition of three treasures. The lion demon looked at the rake studded with jewels and laughed heartily. Under Wukong's flattery, he unknowingly drank too much.

Looking at the lion demon, who was completely drunk and unconscious, Wukong muttered a curse: "This demon is completely blind! He clearly stole my Golden Cudgel, yet he wants to throw some kind of 'Rake Feast'! He has absolutely no sense of right and wrong!"

Bajie laughed and said, "Brother Monkey, mortals see your golden cudgel and think it's just a broken stick."

Old Sha's Thoreau staff looks even uglier, like a fire poker, nowhere near as nice as my old pig's rake!

As he spoke, he rubbed the gemstones embedded in the rake a few times and even breathed on it with a smug look on his face.

Wukong said, "That's true. It's just that these monsters don't know its value and treat this treasure like junk."

After saying that, he spat at the lion demon, stole back the rake and the Solo Staff, and then came out to meet up with Jiang Feng and the others.

Seeing the three of them emerge, Bai Suzhen looked them over and asked curiously, "Great Sage, where's your golden cudgel? Why did you only bring back your rake and staff?"

Wukong smiled slyly: "You'll find out soon enough!"

After saying that, he turned around and shouted loudly towards the cave entrance, "Listen up, you monsters inside! Return my golden cudgel right now, or you'll be sorry!"

The sound that echoed through the mountains and forests immediately startled the sleeping lion spirit awake.

He had a bad feeling in his heart, knowing that the owner of the lost item had come looking for him. He picked up the copper hammer and led a dozen or so little demons out of the cave to greet them.

Seeing Wukong's pointed mouth, monkey-like face, and thin body, he immediately felt more confident and said sternly, "Where did this wild monkey come from? If you lost something, go look for it. How dare you come to my door to make a scene?"

Get out of here right now, or I'll smash you to death with this hammer!

Wukong sneered, "So you've decided not to return my Golden Cudgel, haven't you?"

The lion demon's eyes gleamed with ferocity as he raised his hammer, threatening, "Never seen it before? I won't return it!"

Wukong laughed: "Then don't blame me—big!"

As Wukong uttered the word "big," a loud boom resounded, and the golden cudgel in the cave instantly grew larger, filling the entire cave with its massive size.

The monsters left inside the cave were instantly crushed into a pulp!

The lion demon standing at the cave entrance was hit hard on the back by the enlarged golden cudgel, and stumbled and fell to the ground.

Bai Suzhen stared wide-eyed in astonishment at the long golden cudgel protruding from the cave, muttering, "It can actually do that?"

Looking at the lion demon who had been knocked to the ground, Wukong gleefully retracted his golden cudgel and laughed loudly, "Demon, what do you have to say now?"

The lion demon scrambled to his feet, gritting his teeth, and said, "You impudent monkey! How dare you play tricks on this great king! I'll beat you to death!"

After saying that, he raised his hammer and smashed it at Wukong. Wukong flicked it with his golden cudgel, knocking the bronze hammer out of his hand. He then leaped high into the air and smashed the hammer into Wukong's head, causing his brains to splatter.

Seeing this, the other monsters were terrified and fled in all directions, only to be caught and captured by Jiang Feng and his companions who were lying in wait.

Meanwhile, in a cave, a nine-headed lion demon who was dozing off suddenly woke up.

"The Yellow Lion Demon is dead. Bai Ze, go to Leopard Head Mountain and find out who killed him!"

Bai Ze immediately accepted the order and left. He returned shortly afterward and reported, "Your Majesty, the one who killed the Yellow Lion Spirit was a monkey demon."

There was also a pig demon, a long-haired monk in black, and five or six others in total. They killed all the other demons on Leopard Head Mountain as well!

Nine-Headed Lion took a breath: "So it's Jiang Feng and Sun Wukong who have arrived."

Unexpectedly, they actually killed the entire Huang Shi family, young and old. They were truly ruthless and showed no mercy whatsoever.

They're quite capable; we can't fight them head-on. Tomorrow I'll go to the gates of Yuhua County to challenge them and keep Sun Wukong occupied.

Bai Ze, you and your grandsons, Naoshi, Xueshi, Junni, Fuli, and Tuanxiang, should seize the opportunity to kidnap Jiang Feng and Yuhua Wang, so that they will be hesitant to act rashly.

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