Bajie rubbed his chin without speaking right away. He simply stared at the two bowls of water, his brow furrowing more and more deeply.
After a long while, Wukong grew impatient and tapped the table twice with his fingers.
"Idiot, why all the suspense?"
"What did you find? Spit it out!"
Bajie pondered for a long time before finally sitting up straight.
He first glanced at Wukong, then turned to Little White Dragon.
Rubbing his nose, he said, "I didn't spot anything special either."
The room fell silent.
Little White Dragon's temple twitched twice.
"You didn't spot anything?"
Growing angrier as he spoke, he snapped, "If you couldn't tell anything, why didn't you say so sooner? Why waste our time?"
"All that frowning and drawing in breath-what kind of performance were you putting on?"
Bajie gave an embarrassed smile. "I wasn't putting on a performance. The water just felt a little familiar, so I spent longer looking at it."
Wukong asked, "Familiar how?"
Bajie leaned closer and sniffed again.
"I can't put my finger on it."
Wukong raised his hand, making as if to rap him on the forehead.
Bajie hastily ducked his head and covered it with both hands.
"Wait!"
"I remember now!"
Wukong's hand stopped in midair.
"Speak."
Bajie extended a finger and tapped the wooden bowl holding water from the Abortion Spring.
"The feeling this water gives me is a little like the Ren Water Daoist Brother Miaole gave me."
Wukong raised an eyebrow.
"Ren Water?"
He looked down at the bowl, then turned back to Bajie.
"How could this spring water be a treasure like that?"
"That Ren Water inside you is only a wisp of qi. It's hardly ordinary water you can scoop into a bowl."
"How could Ren Water qi turn into a spring