Put it on

"I... I..."

The Black Bear Spirit's eyes were bloodshot, sweat pouring down like rain.

In that instant, his shame reached its peak, then erupted into unbridled rage.

"Enough!!!"

The Black Bear Spirit suddenly let out a deafening roar. In that instant, all his supposed refinement, devotion to Buddha, and cultured manners were flung beyond the highest heavens.

"I'm not wearing it anymore! Take it back!!"

He summoned every ounce of his demonic power and wrenched himself free.

He roughly tore the Brocade Kasaya he had treasured from his body and hurled it to the ground.

With neither the kasaya weighing upon him nor the Buddhist radiance scrutinizing him, the Black Bear Spirit gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently. His eyes were red as blood as he fixed them on Xuanzang.

"You monk... what a venomous heart you have!"

The Black Bear Spirit ground his teeth, forcing the words through them:

"I kindly invited you to my gathering and treated you with courtesy, yet you spread bewitching lies, ruin my resolve, and disrupt my cultivation!"

"You say I'm unworthy? You call me a thief? Fine! Fine! Fine!"

The Black Bear Spirit turned his palm over. Black light flashed, and an ominously cold, black-tasseled spear appeared in his hand.

Its tip quivered, and killing intent instantly filled the entire stone chamber.

"If I can't become a Buddha, then I'll damn well keep being a demon king!"

"You refuse the wine of courtesy, only to drink the wine of punishment! I showed you respect, and you threw it in my face! Since you've come here today, none of you will leave alive!"

"Minions! Seal the doors!"

Rumble-

With a dull crash, the two immensely heavy stone doors slammed shut, cutting off all daylight from outside. Seeing their Great King unleash his might, the lesser demons in the cave drew their weapons and surrounded them, baring their fangs.

Faced with this deadly trap, Xuanzang showed no alarm.

He merely looked at the Black Bear Spirit, wild with fury, gently shook his head, and let out an almost inaudible sigh.

"Great King, your Buddha-nature runs deep, yet you have still failed to tame the Mind Ape and Mind Horse."

Xuanzang remained unruffled, though a trace of regret entered his eyes.

Before Xuanzang could give an order, a streak of golden light, already unable to restrain himself, leaped directly in front of him.

"Hey! You lump of charcoal, you really don't know what's good for you!"

Sun Wukong drew the Golden Cudgel from his ear and waved it into the wind. It instantly lengthened, and he held it across his chest.

Shielding Xuanzang completely behind him, he grinned at the Black Bear Spirit, his eyes blazing with eagerness for battle. "My master was being merciful, trying to deliver a fool like you. But you take a kind heart for a donkey's liver and lungs, and now you dare draw weapons?"

"Since you can't understand human speech, let the cudgel in Old Sun's hands teach you some reason!"

"Little White Dragon! Protect Master!"

With a mighty shout, Sun Wukong sprang forward, bringing the Golden Cudgel down upon the Black Bear Spirit's head with the force of wind and thunder.

"Just what I wanted!"

Now intent only on killing to vent his fury, the Black Bear Spirit thrust his spear forward to meet him.

Clang-!!!

A tremendous crash sent waves of force rolling outward. The luminous pearls inside the cave flickered from the shock, and the incense burner on the table was blasted away, scattering ash across the floor.

Neither side held anything back in that strike.

Ignoring the chaos around him, Xuanzang bent down and gently picked up the kasaya the Black Bear Spirit had thrown to the ground.

His movements were tender.

He folded it neatly and patted Ao Lie beside him.

"Benefactor Ao, sorry for the trouble, but please intervene and stop those two."

Ao Lie froze for a moment, then cupped his fist. "As you command!"

Before his words had faded, Ao Lie shifted, becoming a streak of silver light that shot into the fray.

Roaaar-!

A dragon's cry shook all around them. Ao Lie did not transform into a dragon, instead wielding his draconic strength in human form. Spreading his hands, he braced the Golden Cudgel with his left and seized the black-tasseled spear with his right.

"You two! Stop!"

"Little White Dragon, what are you doing?!" Sun Wukong had been getting into the fight and was irritated at being stopped.

The Black Bear Spirit was also panting, his eyes bloodshot. "Have you come to die too?!"

Little White Dragon did not answer. Xuanzang slowly emerged from the corner, holding the Brocade Kasaya in both hands, and walked toward the Black Bear Spirit with steady steps.

He walked very slowly, yet every step seemed to land upon the Black Bear Spirit's heartbeat.

"You... what else do you want?"

Looking at the kasaya in Xuanzang's hands, the Black Bear Spirit's eyes flashed with instinctive revulsion and fear. Without thinking, he pointed his spear at Xuanzang.

"Stay back! Come any closer and I'll stab you to death!"

Sun Wukong cried out in alarm, "Master, be careful!"

But Xuanzang raised a hand to stop Wukong and kept walking. Only when the cold, gleaming spear tip pressed against his monk's robe, barely an inch from his heart, did he stop.

He looked at the Black Bear Spirit as calmly as though he were looking at a flower, rather than a demon bent on killing him.

"Great King."

Xuanzang raised both hands slightly and offered the kasaya to the Black Bear Spirit, even extending it past the spear tip.

"Do you no longer want it because you feel I mocked you for stealing it?"

Xuanzang's voice was level, yet it echoed through the silent cave dwelling:

"Then now, I give it to you."

The Black Bear Spirit froze, his spear hand trembling slightly. "You... what did you say?"

Xuanzang looked at him, his gaze blazing like a torch, pressing him at every turn. "I said, this kasaya is yours."

The muscles at the corners of the Black Bear Spirit's eyes twitched violently.

"I don't want your charity!!"

His shame turned to fury. With a roar, the Black Bear Spirit slammed the kasaya in his hands to the ground, then thrust his spear straight at Xuanzang's heart like a venomous dragon bursting from its den!

"Die!!"

"Master!" Sun Wukong hurriedly swung his cudgel to block it.

His first strike thwarted, the Black Bear Spirit was about to thrust again.

But Xuanzang had not even blinked.

Xuanzang bent down.

At the center of that murderous battlefield, his movements were slow and composed as he once again picked up the kasaya the Black Bear Spirit had thrown into the dust.

He gently smoothed its creases.

Then, once again, he offered it to the Black Bear Spirit.

"Great King."

Xuanzang's voice remained gentle, as though that lethal thrust had never happened:

"Great King, why refuse it? Did you not say you shared a destined bond with this treasure? Accept it, and it is yours."

"Take it."

The Black Bear Spirit panted, staring at the kasaya being offered to him again.

Was this monk mad?

I'm trying to kill you, and you're still giving me clothes?

"You... what exactly are you trying to do?!"

The Black Bear Spirit was beginning to break down. He held his spear but no longer dared thrust it forward.

"You're humiliating me! You're laughing at me!"

Smack!

He slapped the kasaya, knocking it from Xuanzang's hands to the ground once more.

"I won't wear it! I won't! I'll kill you, you demon monk!"

Sun Wukong could no longer stand it. He raised his cudgel to strike, only for Xuanzang to stop him with a look.

Xuanzang bent down again.

For the third time, he picked up the kasaya.

Xuanzang held the kasaya in both hands.

Then he looked at the nearly crazed Black Bear Spirit and took a step forward.

He pressed himself directly against the tip of the black-tasseled spear.

His monk's robe was pierced, and blood seeped out, staining his chest red.

"Great King, this is neither humiliation nor mockery."

Without a change in expression, Xuanzang held the kasaya in both hands and offered it to the Black Bear Spirit for the third time.

Xuanzang looked straight into the Black Bear Spirit's eyes. His gaze held not the slightest reproach, only serenity and compassion:

"You may kill me."

"If you fail to kill me, I will give you this robe."

"Take it. Put it on, and then see whether you look like a Buddha."

Clatter.

A sharp ring sounded.

The black-tasseled spear slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

The Black Bear Spirit stared at the monk before him, bleeding as he held out the robe.

He was utterly afraid.

Not of death, nor of Sun Wukong's cudgel, but of this compassion, as unfathomable as the ocean and as immovable as a mountain.

"I... I'm unworthy..."

The Black Bear Spirit's legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees in the dust with a thud.

This demon king who had ruled Black Wind Mountain for hundreds of years now lay prostrate on the ground, sobbing like a child.