Journey to the West: Please Call Me the White Bone Demon

The moonlight was as clear as water, and the village had long since fallen silent, with only the occasional bark of a dog and the rustling of the night wind through the woods.

The young man's name was A Niu, and he was nineteen years old. He was the most skilled hunter in the village.

He was thin, but his features were very delicate, and his eyes shone brightly in the moonlight.

At this moment, he was only wearing a thin gray cloth jacket, with a short knife at his waist. He walked hurriedly, with three parts anxiety and seven parts sweetness, towards the east side of the village.

"It's past midnight... why hasn't Bai Ling arrived yet?"

Ah Niu muttered to himself.

In his memory, he and "Bai Ling" grew up together since childhood. They were childhood sweethearts. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, she sewed him a winter coat by hand, which he still couldn't bear to wear. He kept it at the bottom of his trunk, and whenever he missed her, he would take it out to smell the faint scent of gardenias.

Tonight was the night we had arranged to meet.

A few days ago, Bai Ling and he made an appointment to meet at their usual place tonight to pour out their hearts to each other.

Ah Niu was so impatient that he slipped out of the house just after 9 PM.

But after waiting for more than half an hour, there was only the sound of the wind under the old locust tree, and not a single person in sight.

At this moment, in the clouds, the real Bai Ling was serving Yun Zhao.

Looking at the anxious mortal, he sighed, "It's rather pitiful. It's just a vague memory, yet he believed it to be true."

Yun Zhao chuckled: "This village happens to be on the route that Tang Sanzang and his disciples must take. I'll use them to set a trap for Tang Sanzang."

"Although they were just pawns, I will make it up to them after this incident."

Bai Ling nodded slightly upon hearing this. In her heart, Yun Zhao's matter was the most important thing, and everything else had to come second. She had only expressed a little emotion just now.

"My lord, this move is truly brilliant. That Tang Sanzang is called a holy monk, yet he condones his disciple's violent acts."

"People die in the wilderness, that's all. But to be discovered and confronted face to face, I really want to see if this so-called holy monk will pretend to be ignorant or dare to admit his mistakes." Bai Ling covered her mouth and chuckled.

Yun Zhao: "As the saying goes, 'The Buddha is on Mount Ling, so don't seek him far away; Mount Ling resides only in your heart.' Taking this opportunity, I'd like to see whether this Tang Sanzang is a false Buddhist disciple or a true holy monk!"

……

Ah Niu was getting anxious and worried that something might have happened to Bai Ling's family, so he mustered up his courage and went to her house.

From afar, a pungent, burnt smell wafted over.

Ah Niu's heart sank suddenly.

By the moonlight, he saw that the three thatched huts had mostly collapsed, the charred beams lay scattered on the ground, the thatched roofs were burned to ashes, and the air still smelled strongly of smoke.

"Ah Ling?! Uncle Bai?!"

He staggered forward, not even feeling the pain from the still-hot coals burning his feet, and his voice was already trembling with tears.

Pushing open the broken door frame, it was pitch black inside.

He groped his way forward a few steps, when suddenly his foot stepped on something soft and yielding. He looked down and, by the moonlight, saw...

A charred human face, still vaguely recognizable as Old Man Bai's usual smiling face, but now its mouth was wide open, as if it were shouting something before it died.

Ah Niu let out a miserable scream and collapsed to the ground, trembling all over.

"How could this be... how could this happen..."

His mind went blank. He sat there blankly for a moment, then suddenly remembered Bai Ling. He jumped up and searched everywhere.

The bed collapsed, the cabinet was burned down to its frame, the stove collapsed, and pots and pans were shattered all over the floor, but there was no sign of Bai Ling.

"Ah Ling! Where are you?!"

He shouted in a hoarse voice, and his voice carried far into the night.

No one responded.

Ah Niu stumbled out of the house and searched along the narrow path at the east end. He remembered that Bai Ling loved to wash clothes by that stream and pick wildflowers nearby.

The moon gradually rose higher, casting a pale white light on the mountain path.

He hadn't walked far when his foot suddenly slipped and he almost fell.

Looking down, I saw a pool of dark red, sticky minced meat on the ground.

A stench filled the air, and tattered pieces of clothing were scattered among the filth. Ah Niu recognized the clothes as Bai Da Niang's, and, suppressing his nausea, continued forward.

In truth, I already had a guess in my heart, but I dared not believe it until the very last moment.

After walking a while longer, she saw a pretty figure lying on the ground. Who else could it be but her beloved "Ah Ling"?

Ah Niu's vision went black, his knees buckled, and he knelt before the corpse.

He reached out to touch it, but then abruptly pulled his hand back, his fingertips trembling.

"No...it wasn't her...it wasn't..."

He muttered to himself, his voice growing softer and softer until it turned into a sob.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot and red.

"Who did this?!"

He roared, his voice hoarse from shouting.

Suddenly, the image of that strange group of monks from earlier that day flashed through my mind—

They said they came from the Great Tang Dynasty in the East.

The Great Tang Dynasty of the East...

This road is the only way to travel from east to west!

A-Niu suddenly stood up and staggered towards the village.

He didn't care that his shoes had disappeared, that something had cut his soles and they were bleeding profusely, or that it was late at night; he just wanted to shout out all the fear, anger, and sorrow in his heart.

"Help! Murder!!"

"Bai Ling is dead! Uncle Bai is dead! They've both been murdered—!"

He ran wildly back to the village, his voice as shrill as a night owl, instantly shattering the silence of the night.

Dogs in every household began barking wildly.

The first to be awakened were Old Man Li's family.

Tang Sanzang hadn't slept soundly to begin with, tossing and turning as he thought about the day's events. Hearing the howling outside, he suddenly sat up.

"What happened?"

Pigsy, who was sleeping the soundest, was woken up and mumbled in a daze, "Which damned bastard is howling in the middle of the night, disturbing my peaceful sleep!"

Sha Wujing had already put on his robe and gotten off the ground, and went to the door to check.

Sun Wukong had already flashed to the courtyard wall. He glanced outside with his fiery eyes and saw that it was just a mortal, so he didn't take it too seriously.

At this moment, Ah Niu stumbled into the yard, his hair disheveled, barefoot, his legs covered in blood, and his face and body covered in black ash and bloodstains, looking as if he had just crawled out of hell.

He spotted Tang Sanzang standing in the courtyard, and his eyes instantly turned blood red.

"It was you! Did you do it?!"

He roared and lunged forward, but Sun Wukong grabbed him by the collar and lifted him into the air.

"Kid, what's wrong with you in the middle of the night?"

Ah Niu struggled desperately, kicking wildly, but only one repetitive phrase remained in his mouth:

"Bai Ling is dead... Bai Ling is dead... Her house burned down, her body was burned to a crisp, and there was a pile of minced meat on the road... Her clothes... Gardenias... She embroidered them herself..."

By the end, his voice choked with emotion, and he could barely speak.

Tang Sanzang's face turned deathly pale. He staggered forward and asked in a trembling voice:

"Benefactor...please...say it again, what was that woman's name?"

Ah Niu suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Tang Sanzang:

"Her name was Bai Ling! We grew up together! She promised to marry me! She was perfectly fine yesterday, and she asked me to meet her under the old locust tree last night... But I waited for almost an hour, and she didn't come! I went to look for her, but her house was gone, and she was gone too! All that was left was charred remains and a pile of minced meat!"

He became increasingly agitated as he spoke, and suddenly pointed at Sun Wukong:

"Is it you who, from east to west, only have that one road, and so far, are the only ones who have come here!"

Sun Wukong's face turned ashen. He slowly released his grip, wanting to say something, but looking at the villager's appearance, he didn't know how to begin.

Ah Niu collapsed to the ground, covered his face with his hands, and cried like a child.

"You are monks... How could you kill people... How could you set fires..."

The courtyard was deathly silent.

Pigsy opened his mouth, but Sandy poked him and forced him to swallow it back.

Tang Sanzang's lips trembled as he murmured:

"Impossible... That was clearly a monster... Wukong saw it with his own eyes..."

Ah Niu suddenly looked up, his eyes brimming with tears, yet filled with a deep-seated hatred:

"monster?"

He ran home suddenly, carrying something in his hand.

It slapped across Tang Sanzang's face.

"Look what this is! This is the winter coat that Ah Ling embroidered for me. You guys say it's a monster?"

"So what if it is?"

"Did she harm you? Eat you? Or did she do something wicked? Tell me!"

Ah Niu stepped forward, while Tang Seng stepped back, his face as pale as paper, unable to utter a single word.