After hearing this, Bajie clapped his hands. "Doesn't that tie it all together? Old Bull escaped in the chaos and took the furnace bricks down to the mortal realm. Naturally, that Daoist had to be punished."
Little White Dragon did not nod. "But what happened afterward still doesn't make sense. Old Bull escaped, the fan went missing, the mountain caught fire-and no one did anything?"
As he spoke, he looked at Wukong again.
"And where are your other sworn brothers now, eldest brother? Could they have..."
"Little White!"
Bajie called out, glanced at Wukong, then continued, "Listen to what you're saying! If Old Bull could escape, the others might have concealed their names long ago and gone off to live their own lives."
"Look at Old Bull all these years. Hasn't he just been eating his fill and waiting to die? He even married into his wife's family! Where's any trace of the Great Sage he once proclaimed himself to be?"
Little White Dragon nodded and said no more. Wukong did not respond either.
Xuanzang said, "These are all merely my conjectures, with no solid evidence behind them. Even if the past truly unfolded this way, escaping to the mortal realm cannot have been the end of this old affair."
He looked at Wukong and said gently, "Since Benefactor Bull gave us three days, he likely intended for us to uncover the truth of the past as well. What we have now untangled is whom we should ask, and what we should ask them."
Wukong nodded. "You're right, Master. I'll go to the Doushuai Palace now. Surely the old fellow can't claim he couldn't hear or see anything either?"
With that, he stood up.
"Master, eldest brother, let me ask little brother Miaole first."
A-Hu raised her head. Hearing her,