They had now returned to the woods where they had been before in the Lower Realm.
By then, Zhu Bajie had also woken up.
"Monkey Brother... are you all right?"
Sun Wukong sounded a little surprised.
"To think a fool like you would worry about me. But don't worry. I wouldn't let someone beat me into that state so easily, like you did.
You were lucky this time. They didn't finish you off. Otherwise, even ten lives wouldn't have been enough!"
Zhu Bajie gave a bitter laugh and said,
"I understand all that. Before this, I, Old Pig, always thought we were just dealing with a bunch of demons.
But who would have thought it would be these three? I brought this on myself.
Besides, I shouldn't have attacked them back then. I should have just watched.
Who would have thought they would actually try to kill me?
Luckily, they didn't let their anger get the better of them. Otherwise, I would have had to take a trip to the Underworld!"
At that, Sun Wukong looked at Zhu Bajie and said,
"Heh... sounds like you know something, don't you?"
Zhu Bajie nodded, leaned against a rock, and said,
"How could I not? You have someone backing you, Monkey Brother. You must have figured out a few things over the years, right?"
Sun Wukong nodded and said,
"That's right. There's quite a lot I know!
I've even heard about this-the Battle of the Investiture of the Gods back then.
But what happened then had nothing to do with you, did it?"
Zhu Bajie nodded. "It didn't.
But it had something to do with my master and my Ancestral Master!
And the connection wasn't a small one. It was frighteningly deep.
During the Battle of the Investiture of the Gods, the Chan