Sun Wukong stood outside the Mountain God Temple without rushing inside.
The temple was small, built with Green Brick and gray tiles. Most of the paint on the wooden plaque above the entrance had peeled away, leaving only the faint words "Mountain God Temple."
Several clumps of wild grass grew between the cracks of the stone steps before the temple. Their tips had yellowed, trembling in the wind.
The temple doors stood half open. The scent of firewood drifted out from within, mixed with the aroma of rice porridge, spreading into the chilly mountain breeze outside.
Sun Wukong stood at the entrance and glanced inside.
Tang Sanzang sat on a meditation cushion in the temple. Before him stood a battered wooden table with a bowl of porridge and two vegetable buns upon it.
He was holding the bowl, sipping the porridge mouthful by mouthful with full concentration, unaware that someone stood at the door.
Quite a bit of dust and dirt stained his cassock, and a small patch of his sleeve had worn through. Steam rose from the bowl of porridge on the table, white vapor drifting across his face and obscuring his expression.
Sun Wukong saw the monk enjoying himself.
He was somewhat speechless inside.
He had been trapped beneath Five Elements Mountain for fourteen hundred years. After getting out, what was wrong with wanting to go back and see his monkey children and grandchildren?
Those monkeys had followed him through life and death. In the end, some had died and some had scattered because of him. What was wrong with him going back to take a look?
But this monk had nearly died.
This monk truly would not listen to advice. He had told him to wait in the circle until he returned, yet he had been unable