After leaving Cart Slow Kingdom, Tang Sanzang and his disciples continued westward.
But this time, Tang Sanzang was often distracted along the way. He would sometimes stare blankly in the direction of the Western Heavens, lost in thought, and he became increasingly taciturn.
Much of the time, he seemed to have become a stone, quietly walking and standing.
This situation greatly worried Sun Wukong and the others.
Their master's condition was clearly not good.
What exactly was going on?
They did not know, but Wang Yuan understood.
Tang Sanzang had suffered misfortune in his childhood. He had grown up in a temple, raised by monks, and from childhood to adulthood, the people he had encountered most were monks.
His greatest ideal had also been to become a Grandmaster deeply versed in Buddhist teachings and save all living beings.
But now, after what had happened in Cart Slow Kingdom, his state of mind had changed slightly.
The monks of Cart Slow Kingdom lived right there on West Bull Continent, beneath the Buddhist chants that blanketed Spirit Mountain's Great Thunderclap Temple, yet they still dared to treat the common people so cruelly, oppress the countryside, and bully the good and innocent.
Yet the Buddhas filling the heavens had completely failed to see the suffering of the people beneath their feet, while continuing to enjoy the incense offerings provided by those very people with perfect peace of mind.
This could not help making Tang Sanzang wonder whether the Buddha he revered was wrong after all.
Were Buddhas truly so lofty that they could not see the suffering of living beings?
In his view, it should not have been this way.
Buddhas should not have been this way, monks should not have been this way, and neither should the Buddhist School.
Cracks had already