The moonlight was bright, and the night was alluring.
Xuanzang's disheveled hair blew and swayed about, and in a daze he seemed to see a woman in white finer than snow running up from behind the rocks, wearing a blank yet brilliant smile, looking at him with playful teasing.
At this moment she should have said: "See? I knew you couldn't let me go, were you thinking of me?"
Yet regrettably, she was still smiling and had not yet managed to say those words when the illusion vanished, leaving the rocks before him empty and desolate once more, with only a giant moon hanging in the sky, casting down a clear and brilliant radiance.
So what if this moon was beautiful?
Without a dancer to complement it, it was ultimately so desolate!
The voice of Sun Wukong suddenly sounded from behind, echoing slightly from within the cave and making it feel even more desolate: "Master Chen, is the moon round tonight?"
Xuanzang glanced back, dazed for a moment, before saying: "Quite round."
"That's good. The mouth of my cave has been sealed by that lotus flower, and I haven't seen the moon in who knows how long." The voice below spoke with a trace of regret, then chuckled, though that laughter sounded so desolate and helpless, so dreary.
Xuanzang was stunned, turning his head to look at that lotus flower.
With almost no hesitation, he turned around and pulled out the lotus flower.
Yet just as he rose to his feet, he heard a bang, and firelight abruptly illuminated his front, the white lotus flower he had just pulled up actually burning fiercely!
Xuanzang was startled, hurriedly tossing it into the lotus pond.
Suddenly, there was another bang.
The entire lotus pond burst into roaring flames, and in an instant,