Tang Sanzang sat up, still unaware of what was happening outside. But soon, he caught the smell of thick smoke drifting in from beyond the room.
"What is this? Where's all this smoke coming from? Has the temple caught fire?" Tang Sanzang looked at Sun Wukong and Ye Chen beside him, but neither answered.
Ye Chen knew what was behind it, but Sun Wukong didn't. Still, he listened closely to the sounds outside and heard people saying things like, "Burn the three inside to death!" He understood at once.
"That old abbot got his hands on a treasure and still wants to take our lives? He deserves to die!" Sun Wukong made to charge outside and fight the monks, but Tang Sanzang stopped him.
Tang Sanzang was already struggling to speak. The smoke had left him coughing nonstop, yet he still clutched Sun Wukong's clothes, trying to keep him from clashing with the monks outside.
Sun Wukong shook his head helplessly. "Master, your kindness is going to get you killed one day." As he spoke, his spirit left his body. Ye Chen watched it fly up into the sky.
"Wukong, listen to your master. This fire can't kill us. Just take Ye Chen and me outside. There's no need to come to blows with the monks in this temple."
Tang Sanzang kept talking on and on through the smoke, but Ye Chen saw that Sun Wukong's spirit had already flown high into the sky, so he quickly pulled Sun Wukong's body back.
"Monkey, don't act on impulse. A little fire like this is nothing to us. We'll be fine." He pulled Sun Wukong's body over beside him and had him "sit" down.
Tang Sanzang didn't notice anything amiss. He thought Ye Chen had talked Sun Wukong out of it. Though