"Look at what they were holding—stone spears, bone knives, half a shovel... all crude, shabby weapons. They did not even have a proper weapon among them. Clearly, their cultivation was extremely low. They were merely a bunch of ignorant creatures who had only just gained sentience."
"Sun Wukong, you possess abilities that reach the heavens. They were only a few minor demons; you merely needed to drive them away. Why... why insist on wiping them out?"
Sun Wukong's expression darkened at once.
"Master, what are you saying? Drive them away? What if they come back next time? And the time after that?"
"And you saw it too. The first thing these demons said was, 'Eat Tang Monk's flesh.' They were not joking with you. They really wanted to eat you!"
Tang Monk shook his head. "Sun Wukong, Buddhism teaches compassion and the salvation of all living beings. All living beings possess Buddha-nature, and demons are no exception. If you can enlighten them and make them abandon evil for good, would that not be better than beating them to death?"
Hearing that, Sun Wukong nearly laughed in anger.
"Enlighten them? Master, you want Old Sun to enlighten them? They were howling that they wanted to eat you, and you want Old Sun to reason with them? Master, do you think Old Sun's Golden Staff is not hard enough, so you insist on replacing it with a ruler?"
Tang Monk frowned. "Sun Wukong, how can you speak like that? This poor monk is reasoning with you, not arguing with you."
Sun Wukong snorted and turned his head aside, unwilling to say any more.
But his lips were pressed into a thin line, and his chest rose and fell rapidly. He was clearly suppressing his anger.
Zhu Bajie stood nearby, looking from Tang