Only When the Heart Dies First

From the moment Tang Yu and the others were about to enter White Bone Ridge, she had sensed them. What puzzled her was that they had not moved from the same spot for over a month.

They said that Tang Sanzang was a good man who had cultivated through ten lifetimes.

Eating his flesh would grant immortality, and Bai Jingjing was naturally tempted.

But Sun Wukong was by his side.

That monkey who had once wrought Havoc in Heaven was not someone to provoke.

It seemed that eating Tang Sanzang would not be so easy after all.

The lesser demons below were also pondering the matter. Then one of them brightened and leaned close to whisper something in her ear.

Bai Jingjing nodded involuntarily, the corners of her lips curving up with a trace of girlish innocence.

Several male lesser demons were instantly entranced.

Their king was extraordinarily beautiful.

She wore a long white dress, spotless and untouched by dust.

Her raven-black hair cascaded down like ink.

Her skin was snow-white, though it carried a sickly pallor.

A faint, elusive melancholy lingered between her brows, making anyone who saw her feel pity for her.

Draped over her was a piece of golden silk.

She often stroked it with her hand.

All the lesser demons knew that their king treasured this silk beyond measure.

No one dared touch it.

Some bold lesser demons had once tried asking where the silk came from.

But Bai Jingjing could not explain it either. In the end, she merely said, "I don't know. Perhaps it had been draped over me ever since I was born."

She stood poised in midair, like a celestial maiden descending from the Ninth Heaven.

In the end, she transformed into the appearance of a village girl.

After a brief pause, she waved her hand, and a basket appeared, filled with steaming buns.

She giggled, her laughter crisp and pleasant as silver bells.

Slowly, she walked into White Bone Ridge.

There was not the slightest trace of demonic aura here. Only endless purple radiance drifted through the sky.

If he had not known that the White Bone Demon was here,

even Tang Yu would have felt as though he had entered a fairyland.

Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing exchanged a furtive glance.

The two whispered to each other in the rear.

"Was that her?"

Zhu Bajie looked at the purple radiance filling the sky, a faint ripple appearing in his eyes.

"Probably not," San Lengzi said quietly. "She's already dead."

"But this radiance, this aura..." Zhu Bajie shook his head. "It probably isn't her. Everyone knows she truly died."

Sun Wukong was tumbling along at the front and had gone far ahead.

So he had not heard what the two were saying.

As for Tang Yu, with only the cultivation of a Human Immortal, he could not hear them either.

After walking deep into White Bone Ridge, Tang Yu dismounted from the donkey.

"Let's rest here for a while."

More importantly, they would wait for the White Bone Demon here.

In the distance, the village girl transformed from the White Bone Demon watched them in secret.

But with Sun Wukong present, she did not dare act rashly.

Then she suddenly saw the purple silk draped over Sun Wukong. Her mind buzzed, and in that instant—

What was that?

Why did it seem so familiar?

And that monkey.

Bai Jingjing stared blankly at Sun Wukong without even blinking.

His eyes were so clever and bright, as if she had seen them somewhere before.

A faint, convulsive pain tightened around her heart.

Logically, she had been a skeleton that cultivated into a demon, formed by absorbing the deathly aura within a hundred-mile radius.

Her true body was merely a pile of bones. She should not have had a heart.

Yet she did have one, which she found strange.

And there was a tiny hole in that heart, as though something had slowly ground its way into it.

"Heaven and earth shall bear witness, the sun and moon shall be our gift, mountains and rivers shall be my betrothal offering, and all the land shall be our matchmaker."

"Will you stand equal to me, the Great Sage Who Equals Heaven?"

Suddenly, those words thundered through her mind.

Her heart convulsed with pain, and tears involuntarily fell from her face.

What is happening to me? Why do I feel something so strange?

As Sun Wukong departed, her heart suddenly felt hollow.

In an instant, she vanished from where she stood, fleeing back to her White Bone Cave as though in utter disarray.

Tang Yu found it rather strange. Why had the White Bone Demon not appeared yet?

He had deliberately sent Sun Wukong away to fetch water.

Western Heaven.

The Buddhas kept constant watch over Tang Yu and his disciples on White Bone Ridge.

The White Bone Demon's Three Battles.

It seemed the story was progressing according to the plot.

Naturally, her appearance could not escape their notice.

Several Buddhas who knew the full story turned their gazes toward Buddha, their eyes carrying questions.

"She did not die. She truly died back then, but that heart of hers remained eternal. It fell into the lower realm and attached itself to a skeleton."

As Buddha spoke, the Buddhas gradually understood.

So that was it. That was why she had become the White Bone Demon she was now.

"Nothing in this world can destroy that heart, so she is immortal and will endure as long as heaven and earth. Yet there is one thing that can kill her."

Tathagata Buddha watched the figures of Tang Yu and his disciples in the Mystic Light Mirror and said calmly, "This time, perhaps we can settle her completely, ensuring she will never be reborn and will scatter beyond heaven and earth forever."

"May I ask, Buddha, is that person Sun Wukong?" Manjushri Bodhisattva recited a Buddhist invocation.

Tathagata smiled inscrutably. "Was the Five-Colored Stone not given sentience because of her as well? And the method of making that monkey die is the same: first let his heart die."

"Even Buddha has no way to kill that monkey?"

"No. Even a Sage cannot completely kill him. I can return him to his original form, and I can seal him away, but I cannot truly kill him. He was born from the Five-Colored Stone, whole and complete from within to without. There is only one way in this world to make him die: first let his heart die."

"Later, I will find a way to have Six-Eared Macaque replace him. Six-Eared Macaque is also a spiritual monkey beyond the Three Realms and free from the Five Elements. By then, perhaps Bai Jingjing's matter will make his heart die completely, and I can eliminate him—or seal him forever in the Abyss of Darkness."

Tathagata Buddha held a cigarette between his lips, looking utterly confident that everything in heaven and earth was within his grasp.

Cigarettes really were wonderful things.

After taking a puff, he could think of so many things.

The worshipful looks of the Buddhas below made Buddha even more pleased with himself.

At first, he had indeed wanted to use the Golden Fillet to control Sun Wukong and draw him completely into the Buddhist Sect.

But through a twist of fate, the Golden Fillet had ended up on Black Bear Spirit's head.

He had originally intended to use other methods to bring Sun Wukong into the Buddhist Sect, but Sun Wukong was too unruly and difficult to handle.

Six-Eared Macaque, however, was different.

He would strike wherever he was pointed.

"Buddha is wise."

The Buddhas below flattered him.

Smoking a cigarette and enjoying the flattery of his underlings below.

This feeling was truly amazing!