Everyone looked at one another. They were all soldiers, not from wealthy or noble families. Three hundred taels was no small sum!
But Xuanzang had spoken. Even if they did not have it, they had to come up with it!
Thus, everyone pooled their money together. After much difficulty, they finally gathered three hundred taels of silver and handed it to Xuanzang. Carrying the silver, Xuanzang prepared to head up the mountain. Before setting off, he suddenly stopped and looked down at Sun Huo Wang. After thinking for a moment, he said to him.
"Monkey!"
"You'd better remember to pay this money back."
"Huh?"
Sun Huo Wang froze.
But Xuanzang had already set off for the mountaintop. Once there, he placed the bag of money on the ground.
"If the Immortal has a spirit, the money is here. Please release this Monkey!"
Xuanzang murmured, then bowed to the seal.
The instant he bowed, the seal strip fell away and drifted off on the wind. Yet the three hundred taels of silver before him had not diminished in the slightest, which surprised Xuanzang.
"Hmm?"
"You don't want it?"
He waited, but the money remained where it was, without the slightest movement.
Xuanzang paused, then understood.
"Truly, an Immortal!"
So it had merely been a test. He had known that Immortals were compassionate—how could one haggle over a few hundred taels of silver?
After descending the mountain, Xuanzang returned the silver to everyone and thanked them.
After taking back their silver, everyone suddenly felt a strange, almost revelatory sensation, as though the silver had become somehow different!
But they could not say exactly what was different about it.
In truth, by contributing that silver, regardless of their reasons, they had already become entangled in Karma!
Verdant Green Maiden had a kind heart.