Fangcun Mountain at Night

"Do you know what Sun Wukong's first words were when he came to seek a master?"

Goten shook his head.

"He said, 'Old immortal, teach Old Sun how to live forever.'" Patriarch Bodhi imitated the way Sun Wukong had spoken back then, a faint smile on his lips. "At the time, he was afraid of everything—afraid to die, afraid to lose, afraid people would look down on him."

"What happened after that?"

"After he learned the Seventy-Two Transformations and Somersault Cloud, he thought he was invincible. The day he left, he didn't look back." Patriarch Bodhi's voice was calm. "I thought then that the boy would come back. He was still young. Once he'd hit enough walls, he'd return."

"But he never came back."

"No." Patriarch Bodhi's voice dipped slightly. "Later, he wreaked havoc in Heaven, was crushed beneath Five Finger Mountain for five hundred years, went on the pilgrimage, became a Buddha, and then died. He never came back once. It wasn't that he didn't want to—it was that he thought he didn't deserve to."

Goten clenched his fists. "It wasn't that he didn't deserve to come back. He just didn't know you'd been waiting for him all this time."

Patriarch Bodhi didn't answer. Wind blew over from the waterfall, stirring the old man's white hair.

"So you..." Goten said slowly. "You waited five hundred years for me, not because you wanted to teach me, but because you wanted to spend your remaining years protecting someone, so he wouldn't end up like Sun Wukong."

The corner of Patriarch Bodhi's mouth twitched as if he wanted to deny something, but he said nothing.

"You should go," he said. "That's enough training for today."

But Goten didn't leave. He stood and looked Patriarch Bodhi in the eye, then spoke the most earnest words he'd said in this world.

"I promise you—I won't end up like him."

Patriarch Bodhi looked up at him. A thin sheen of tears glimmered in those aged eyes, eyes that had seen too many partings and deaths.

"Good," he said.

"Sir, can I start learning Immortal Arts tomorrow?"

Patriarch Bodhi didn't answer directly. His gaze passed over Goten and settled on the distant horizon.

A faint golden light was gathering there—not dawn, not auspicious clouds, but the light of Heavenly Soldiers assembling. "Tomorrow, don't rush into learning Immortal Arts."

"Why not?"

"Because tomorrow, we'll have visitors."

The news came from Sha Wujing. While he was down the mountain fetching water, he'd spotted the approaching golden light in the distance.

He set down his buckets, quietly walked back up the mountain, and said two words to Zhu Bajie: "They're here."

Zhu Bajie sprang out of his rocking chair. "Who's here?"

"The Heavenly Court."

All of Fangcun Mountain woke up.

Zixia sat on a stone stool in the courtyard, polishing her sword.

The Violet-Azure Treasure Sword glimmered faintly in the moonlight. She hadn't polished it in earnest for a long time.

Tomorrow, she'd draw it again.

Zhi Zun Bao stood in the courtyard before three bamboo poles—the ones he'd broken over the past three days.

He could now swing a pole from one end to the other without letting a single leaf fall.

He hadn't told anyone about it. He didn't even know what it meant. But he knew it might come in handy tomorrow.

Zhi Zun Bao went back to his room and shut the door, but didn't light a lamp.

He leaned against the door for a long time, then looked down at his hands. Both palms were covered in blisters from practicing with the pole.

He'd broken three bamboo poles in three days. His palms had cracked, healed, and cracked again, and now a thin layer of calluses had formed.

He didn't know what he was in such a hurry for, but he knew a tough battle awaited tomorrow. He didn't want to hide behind others. He didn't want to leave Goten to shoulder everything alone again.

He went to the window and pushed it open. Moonlight streamed in. On the stone steps at the mountain pass, Goten and Zixia sat together, talking.

Zhi Zun Bao watched them from behind. He didn't feel anything in particular—he just thought it was a nice sight.

He closed the window and lay back down.

Zhu Bajie's snores came from the room next door. Somehow, that guy could sleep even at a time like this.

The room beyond that was silent. Sha Wujing probably wasn't asleep yet. He was sharpening his carrying pole, the sound of the whetstone faint and distant, like some ancient rhythm.

These were his companions now: a boy from another world, a fairy hunted by the Heavenly Court, a pig demon, a water demon, and himself—a bandit chief who didn't know if he was human.

It sounded like the start of some lousy joke. But damn it, it was true.

Zhi Zun Bao closed his eyes. Tomorrow was coming. Whether he was ready or not, tomorrow would come.

Zhu Bajie paced around his room. "It's over, it's over, it's over. I finally found a place where I could live in peace, and now they're coming to wreck the place—"

Sha Wujing sat on the threshold, silently sharpening his carrying pole. It had been with him for years. Tomorrow, he might have to use it to fight Heavenly Soldiers.

Goten wasn't training. He sat on the stone steps at the mountain gate, gazing at the night sky. Zixia walked over and sat beside him.

"Nervous?"

"A little."

Zixia said nothing. She laid the Violet-Azure Treasure Sword across her knees, showing him the purple light flowing along its blade.

"Do you know why the Violet-Azure Treasure Sword points toward you?"

Goten shook his head.

"Because it never points toward someone who would back down."

Goten looked down at the sword. Its purple glow seemed to answer Zixia, brightening just a little.

"Tomorrow," Zixia said, "fight for the Heavenly Court to see. Fight for the Three Realms to see. Fight for yourself to see."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

Goten turned to look at her. In the moonlight, Zixia's profile was serene. He wanted to say so much, but only one thing came out: "Thank you for catching me when I came here."

Zixia didn't answer. But the corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly, and her smile was beautiful in the moonlight.

There was something Goten hadn't told Zixia. The golden light he'd just felt hadn't come from the distance. It had come from within him.

At that instant, the Saiyan energy within him had truly resonated with this world's Origin Energy.

Neither force had overpowered the other. The two power systems had made peace within him.

He closed his eyes and felt the two forces inside him flowing together like rivers converging: golden Saiyan energy on one side, silvery-white Origin Energy on the other.

Where they met, he sensed an invisible barrier. It was the final Seal the laws of the world had placed on him.

He didn't know when he'd be able to break through it. But he knew the day wasn't far off. The two forces flowed side by side through his meridians, neither interfering with the other.

He didn't know what it meant. But he knew he would need that power tomorrow.

The last quiet night on Fangcun Mountain.

Tomorrow, the Heavenly Soldiers would arrive. And he was ready.