Bajie pitched his voice even higher.
"Has this Great King Linggan overslept?"
Wukong did not laugh. He still sat on the red-lacquered tray, his sleeves drawn around him and his two little hands resting on his knees.
Great King Linggan had not come.
The temple was terribly quiet.
So quiet they could hear water seeping up through the cracks between the bricks.
Little by little.
Without a sound.
Bajie looked down.
At some point, a layer of water had collected on the floor.
It was shallow, barely covering the seams between the blue bricks.
But it did not flow toward the door or seek lower ground.
It circled the offering table, the red cloth and the green cloth, slowly swirling.
The smile gradually faded from Bajie's face.
"Brother Monkey."
Wukong kept his eyes lowered.
"Mm."
Bajie's heart lurched. With a shake of his body, he returned to his true form.
The Nine-Toothed Rake was already in his hands.
"What's going on?"
Wukong finally smiled.
"You fool. Just as I expected, there's something very strange about this Chen Family Village."
Bajie's expression darkened.
"What do you mean?"
A ring of fine ripples suddenly rose in the water on the floor.
The ripples spread outward, turning into whirlpools.
Countless cold, wet hands reached out of the whirlpools and grabbed at them both.
Bajie swung his rake and struck.
He smashed a swath of watery hands, only for them to grow back beside him.
"A Binding Formation?"
His expression changed.
"This is bad! Brother Monkey, we've fallen for his trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. We won't break this Binding Formation anytime soon!"
Wukong said:
"Binding whom?"
Bajie froze.
"Brother Monkey?"
One watery hand had already seized the child Wukong had become, dragging him down into the water.
The child