The moment the mountain gate swung open, Goten thought he'd come to the wrong place.
He'd imagined Lingtai Square Inch Mountain as a place wreathed in immortal energy, with jade palaces, celestial birds and strange beasts, and ethereal music drifting through the air.
But what stood before him was just an ordinary little mountain.
A winding path paved with bluestone slabs climbed the slope. Vegetable plots lined both sides, planted with greens, radishes, and green beans.
A young Taoist boy in coarse clothes was watering the vegetables. When he saw them enter, he merely glanced up, then lowered his head and went back to work.
"Th-this is Lingtai Square Inch Mountain?" Goten couldn't help asking.
Patriarch Bodhi walked ahead without looking back. "What did you expect?"
"I thought... there'd be immortal energy pouring out..."
"Immortal energy?" Patriarch Bodhi stopped and glanced back at him. "The earth beneath your feet, the air you breathe, that three-hundred-year-old pine tree you see—all of them contain spiritual energy. Just because you can't sense it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
Goten was stunned.
He looked down at the bluestone slabs beneath his feet, then at the greens and radishes by the path.
Just because you couldn't sense it didn't mean it didn't exist.
The words seemed to flip a switch inside him.
The Saiyan energy within him stirred faintly—not with the explosive force of battle, but like a sneeze.
It was a curious sensation, as though something were responding to this mountain.
A hint of an almost imperceptible smile flashed through Patriarch Bodhi's eyes. "Come in. Hand the girl on your back over to me."
Carrying Zixia, Goten followed him through the mountain gate.
Zhi Zun Bao followed behind him, with Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing bringing up the rear.
They passed through the vegetable plots and went by a huge old locust tree. Then Goten suddenly stopped—he'd spotted something.
A line of writing had been carved into the stone wall just inside the mountain gate.
It hadn't been carved with a knife. It looked as though someone had written it on the stone with a finger.
The strokes were deeply embedded in the wall, each character as big as a fist. The line read:
"Next time you come, bring a jug of good wine."
There was no name beneath it—only a simple drawing: a circle and three strands of hair. Goten stared at the drawing for a long time.
"Sun Wukong wrote that." Patriarch Bodhi's voice came from up ahead, as calm as if he were talking about the weather.
Goten was stunned. "He... came back?"
"No." Patriarch Bodhi's voice grew a little quieter. "He carved it the day he left."
Goten looked at the words again.
Next time you come, bring a jug of good wine.
He'd left so casually, as if he were only going away for a short trip.
But he'd never come back.
"Come on." Zhi Zun Bao patted Goten on the shoulder. Goten looked away and continued on.
But Zhi Zun Bao didn't follow right away. He stood before the writing and reached out, gently touching those three strokes—the three strands of hair.
The moment his fingertips touched the stone, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a scene.
A figure covered in golden fur sat on a rock outside the mountain gate, holding a jug of wine and speaking to the setting sun:
"Old man, Old Sun's off. Next time I come back, I'll bring you wine from Heaven."
The vision faded. Zhi Zun Bao's hand was still resting against the wall. He drew it back and looked down at his fingertips.
Strange. He hadn't tasted that wine, but he knew what it was like. Sweet. Very sweet.
"Hey—Zhi Zun Bao!" Goten's voice came from ahead. Zhi Zun Bao snapped out of it and hurried after him.
Three Star Cave was much larger inside than it looked from the outside.
From outside, it appeared to be just an ordinary little cave. The stone door was barely wide enough for two people, and moss covered the lintel. But once they stepped inside, they found a whole other world.
A spacious hall, large enough to hold hundreds of people.
The ceiling soared beyond sight. Sunlight streamed through cracks high above, forming shafts of light that lit the hall without any need for lamps.
At the center of the hall stood a stone platform about as high as a person. Its surface was covered in densely packed runes. Under the shafts of light, they glimmered faintly gold, flowing slowly like living things.
"Whoa..." Goten couldn't help exclaiming.
Zhu Bajie actually dropped to his knees—not just saying so; his knees really buckled. "Good heavens—this is even grander than Marshal Tianpeng's residence back in the day—"
Sha Wujing said nothing, but he was just as dumbfounded.
Zhi Zun Bao looked around the hall, his expression growing complicated.
He felt as if he ought to know everything here, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen it before. It was like waking from a very long dream with only a hazy feeling left, while every detail had slipped away.
"Lay her on the platform." Patriarch Bodhi pointed to the stone platform in the middle of the hall.
Goten carefully laid Zixia down on it.
Her face was as pale as paper. Goten had bound the wound on her shoulder with strips of cloth, but the blood had already soaked through several layers.
Patriarch Bodhi walked to the platform and held out two fingers. An inch above the wound on Zixia's shoulder, he gently swept them across.
A soft golden light flowed from his fingertips, like fireflies in the night or molten gold. It slowly seeped into Zixia's wound.
Zixia's brow furrowed slightly, then her whole body relaxed. The pallor of her face visibly began to fade, replaced by a healthy flush.
Her breathing steadied. Her clenched fist relaxed, too.
"Three days." Patriarch Bodhi withdrew his fingers. "She'll wake up in three days. She'll be fully recovered in seven."
Goten's jaw nearly hit the floor. Patriarch Bodhi hadn't done anything—he'd just flicked his fingers—and Zixia was healed?
Goten thought of the Senzu Beans in the Dragon Ball World. Eat one, and all your strength came back. But those were Senzu Beans; they had to be specially grown and stored. Patriarch Bodhi had just... moved his fingers.
Before you continue