Master and disciples walked on for half the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
The sound of the Tongtian River gradually faded out of earshot.
Only footprints remained in the snow.
Some deep, some shallow, they stretched westward.
Bajie carried the Rake on his shoulder and glanced back the way they had come.
The river was already hidden behind the mountains.
It was nowhere to be seen.
He glanced back once more, then finally spoke:
"Master, I have a question."
Xuanzang smiled and nodded.
"Go ahead, Bajie."
Bajie asked, "Do you think that Old Tortoise will come ashore?"
Xuanzang shook his head.
"I do not know."
Bajie scratched his ear.
"I just don't understand."
"You said he'd cultivated for more than thirteen hundred years."
"I saw clear qi flowing around him, without a trace of demonic taint."
"The Tongtian River is a blessed place, too, and I imagine his Water Tortoise Manor is no shabby home."
"Besides, this time he got to see the Bodhisattva and ferry us across the river."
"And he received your guidance."
"What tremendous fortune and blessings must that take?"
"So he certainly isn't someone without blessings."
Bajie hefted the Rake onto his shoulder.
"So why?"
"With his cultivation and fortune, never mind anything else-could taking human form really be so hard?"
"Why is he still trapped inside that shell?"
He paused, then added:
"What you said earlier meant he should be able to undergo Transformation as soon as he comes ashore, right?"
"But could hearing your words have actually made him even more afraid to come ashore?"
"Then... haven't we harmed him?"
Wukong carried the Golden Cudgel on his shoulder and chuckled as he walked.
"You blockhead."
"Didn't Master make it clear enough?"
"How have we harmed him?"
Bajie looked at