Several people were chatting at the foot of the mountain when they saw an old woman walking along the road in the distance.
The old woman carried an axe in her hand and a rope on her back. She was likely here to gather firewood at the foot of the mountain.
Smiling, the old woman walked up to Xuanzang and the others. Xuanzang returned her smile with a slight one of his own.
"Masters, where have you come from? You look unfamiliar to me," the old woman asked.
"Madam, we have come from the Tang Dynasty in the Eastern Lands, traveling to the Western Heaven to worship Buddha and seek the scriptures," Xuanzang replied with a smile.
The old woman smiled and nodded. "So you are holy monks from the Eastern Lands. My respects, my respects."
"You flatter us."
"Are you planning to enter Flat-Top Mountain and continue west?"
"Yes."
But the old woman shook her head. "I advise you masters not to do that. Powerful demons reside within Flat-Top Mountain. One is a golden demon, and the other is a silver demon. They are terrifying—both immensely powerful, and both possess formidable treasures. If you enter those mountains, you could easily come to harm."
Xuanzang and the others were all slightly taken aback by this.
"How powerful are those two demons, and what treasures do they have?" Goku stepped forward and asked with a grin.
"I do not know exactly how powerful they are. I only know that they are extremely strong, and their treasures are equally formidable: the Purple-Gold Treasure Gourd, the Mutton-Fat Jade Pure Vase, the Bashosen, the Seven-Star Sword, and the Immortal-Binding Rope. They are also closely acquainted with a ten-thousand-year fox demon. Even a Great Luo Golden Immortal would suffer a loss upon entering that mountain."