paranoianovel Chapter 15: Eight Precepts Plant Flowers, Sandy Stares Blankly! The Journey to the West Men's T
Chapter 15: Eight Precepts Plant Flowers, Sandy Stares Blankly! The Journey to the West Men's T
Tang Sanzang's lips moved slightly.
He wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't.
Guanyin said no more, auspicious clouds rose, and the person left.
They left decisively.
In the campfire, several people stood still, the wind blowing across the fire, the ashes being swirled up and falling back down.
Tang Sanzang looked in the direction where Guanyin had disappeared, then looked down at Zhu Bajie squatting in the corner, and then at Sun Wukong standing under the tree.
He remained silent for a very long time.
In the end, he just sighed.
That breath was as light as a falling leaf.
But everyone in the camp heard it.
Sun Wukong leaned against a tree and slowly closed his eyes.
He looked toward the valley.
That young man should still be there now, roasting his sweet potatoes, fishing, and living in his crooked thatched hut.
They were relaxing, like they were on vacation.
Sun Wukong closed his eyes and squeezed out four words through gritted teeth.
"Damn it."
---
the next day.
The business has resumed its previous operations.
At least superficially, it has been restored.
In the morning, Sun Wukong got up, took his golden cudgel, and flew towards the valley.
At noon, Sun Wukong returned with a gloomy face and did not say a word.
It's a 50/50 split.
In the afternoon, Sun Wukong sat under a tree, lost in thought.
At night, Sun Wukong went to sleep.
Repeat the process on the second day.
Repeat on the third day.
Repeat on the fourth day.
Occasionally, try something different.
Pigsy was dragged along to make up the numbers. It was a three-on-one fight, a 50/50 split, but Pigsy took a few more hits and had to go back to recuperate.
Sha Wujing occasionally takes the field. It's a 50/50 fight between two against one, then he returns to polishing his staff.
The Five Directions Protectors hadn't left yet. They had received orders from Mount Ling to stay with the pilgrimage team and "continue to assist," but ever since Lu Chen had rebuked them last time, they dared not volunteer again. Every day, they would just squat by the camp, watching Sun Wukong go out and come back, go out and come back.
I dared not say another word.
A strange atmosphere permeated the entire pilgrimage team.
Slacking off at work.
I leave home on time every day and return on time.
Never be late or leave early.
But I don't work overtime or do extra work.
We'll call it a day after we've fought one match.
We will not give an extra blow.
Since I can't win anyway, I'll just do the bare minimum. If you, the Buddhists, force me to come by chanting the mantra, I'll come. When you're not chanting the mantra, I'll lie down.
A typical working-class person's demeanor.
Pigsy started growing flowers on the third day.
He dug up a few wild chrysanthemums from a nearby hillside, planted them near the camp, watered and fertilized them every day, and even built a bamboo fence around them.
Sha Wujing was speechless.
"Second Brother, you grow flowers?"
"What else is there to do if I don't grow flowers?" Pigsy said without looking up, pruning the branches. "I can't take them, and I can't scatter them, so I have to find something to do. You can't even see the orchid anymore, so I'll treat this flower as an orchid."
Sha Wujing fell silent.
He wanted to say, "Second Brother, your flower doesn't look like your sister-in-law at all."
He didn't say anything in the end.
Tang Sanzang chants sutras. The White Dragon Horse grazes on grass. The Five Directions Protectors face the wall in meditation.
The years are quiet.
Aside from having to play a 50/50 match every day, everything else is great.
valley.
Lu Chen also noticed this change.
Sun Wukong came with a vengeance, and every blow he struck was meant to smash him into the ground.
These past few days, Sun Wukong has been bringing his own classmate's scent with him.
Come with a blank face, hit with a blank face, leave with a blank face.
They're too lazy to even respond to verbal attacks.
Lu Chen was roasting sweet potatoes when he watched the golden light come and go, and he sighed.
"Great Sage, something's not right with you."
He looked in the direction of Mount Ling.
"Is your boss really bad at managing a team? The employees are being driven to this point."
Inside his body, that familiar feeling of flow surged up again.
[System notification from Wu Wukai: 114 days and 6 hours of continuous battle with the Monkey King Sun Wukong. Current progress: 23%.]
23%.
This is 11 percentage points higher than the previous 12%.
But Lu Chen knew that with Sun Wukong's lazy fighting style, if he only fought one symbolic match a day, it would take forever to settle 100% of the score.
"We need to find a way to make the Buddhist sect anxious." Lu Chen took a bite of sweet potato, chewed it, and said, "It's no use if I'm anxious myself; we need to make them anxious."
He looked up towards the direction of Lingshan.
A hint of a smile flashed in his eyes.
at the same time.
The spies from all sides of the Three Realms are still monitoring the situation.
The news kept getting back to all the various factions.
"The pilgrimage team has regrouped."
"Sun Wukong was brought back by Guanyin using the headband."
"Pigsy was dragged back by his ears."
"But the team is still stagnant, and every day is just a 50/50 match."
The news continues to gain traction.
The attitudes of various forces have begun to subtly change.
From initially just "watching the show".
Later, it became "unintelligible".
From what we now call "a bit strange".
A Taoist master frowned and muttered, "If that monkey was demanding a price, the Buddhist sect should have given up after half a year of this. If the Buddhist sect had given up, the procession would have moved long ago. But now the Buddhist sect is clearly also waiting for a result. This doesn't make sense."
Taibai Jinxing in Heaven was also whispering to the Jade Emperor: "Your Majesty, this matter is a bit strange. Even though the monkey was forced back by the golden headband, he still couldn't win. If he was really faking it... to the point of faking it even after being beaten by the golden headband, his acting skills are just too good."
The Jade Emperor did not respond.
He also found it a bit strange.
For the first time, a faint idea began to emerge from the various factions.
Could it be... that the monkey was telling the truth?
As soon as the idea popped into their heads, they themselves found it absurd.
How could a mortal, unclaimed in the Three Realms, possibly go toe-to-toe with the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?
impossible.
It's too ridiculous.
The thought flashed through my mind for a moment, but I quickly suppressed it.
All parties continue to observe.
Lingshan.
King Puji paced back and forth in the side hall.
A shallow groove had been worn into his foot.
More than half a year.
The pilgrimage to the West was delayed for more than half a year.
According to the original plan, the pilgrimage team should be nearing the middle of the journey by now. They should have overcome about thirty of the eighty-one tribulations. But in reality? They barely finished over the earlier tribulations and got stuck here.
If we delay any longer, the window of opportunity will pass.
The grand plan for the eastward expansion of Buddhism was completed at a specific point in time. Once this point was missed, many of the carefully laid plans would have become useless.
"No." King Puji stopped in his tracks.
He looked at the clerk beside him.
"We can't count on that monkey anymore."
The clerk raised his head.
"It's time," said King Puji, his voice carrying a hint of determination.
"Let someone with real influence go down and take a look."
"Whom should we send?" the clerk asked.
King Puji walked to the desk in the meditation room and picked up a list.
This list originally did not include anyone for this stage.
The list of eighty-one tribulations was pre-designed, and the level of opponent corresponding to each tribulation was calculated.
But this unofficial member disrupted all plans.
King Puji's pen paused on the list for a long time.
Then he wrote down a name.
A name that had never appeared on the list before.
A name that should have appeared later in the eighty-one tribulations, used to deal with a stronger opponent.
He handed the list to the clerk.
"go."
The clerk glanced at the list and gasped.
"Ming Wang... is this person really going to be moved?"
"Move." King Puji's tone was resolute.
"This time, I'm not going to the platform."
"They're going to fight."