The Mother-Child River.
At those three words, every member of the Preaching Squad stirred.
There was something indefinable about the name.
The words "mother" and "child" were ordinary, yet anything but.
They stirred unbidden associations in their minds.
Sha Wujin had already visited several households of Hunter Village People along the banks. Only now did he say gravely, "I asked the Hunter Village People along the river."
"They said drinking the water of this Mother-Child River makes you pregnant."
"Man or woman, anyone who drinks it will have a fetus form in their belly."
Everyone shuddered at his words.
The last trace of wishful thinking vanished like smoke.
Had they really drunk the water just now, all five of them would probably have had an extra bundle of flesh and blood appear out of nowhere in their bellies by now.
With their cultivation, it might not have been beyond their ability to resolve, but it would still have been an enormous problem. Worse, they would have lost a great deal of Dao power at this trial, playing right into Buddhism's hands.
With a fetus in their bellies, their Dao power hampered by the pregnancy and their cultivation greatly diminished, how would they face the trials to come?
Zhu Bajie swallowed in lingering fear. "That was close. That was close.
"If you hadn't pointed it out, Monkey Brother, one gulp and I, Old Zhu, would probably have become a father.
"I may have been a company commander back on the Celestial River, but I never imagined becoming a father this way."
Tang Sanzang said gravely, "I was already a fetus once in the past. To think I nearly went through it again now. A close call indeed."
Little White Dragon said, "This forces us to keep from touching the river water