Meanwhile, Xuanzang and the queen had parted.
Seeing that the mood was right, Zhu Bajie stepped into the great hall and cleared his throat. "Mortal woman, since you cannot dispel your obsession, why not let old Zhu serve as your guiding light and ferry you into the Buddhist Sect? I could take you back to the Great Thunderclap Monastery in the Western Heaven, where you could keep company with lamplight and ancient Buddhas. Would that not be wonderful?"
At his words, Yulin's beautiful eyes suddenly lit up.
She would cast aside royal power and riches, abandon her kingdom and throne, all for an inch of space beside the figure who haunted her heart and dreams.
For a mortal whose obsession had seeped into her bones, such an offer was sweet rain after a long drought.
"This faithful woman..." Yulin parted her red lips, ready to agree without reservation.
"Absolutely not!" Xuanzang retreated three steps, his voice urgent. "Bajie! Stop spouting nonsense! Spirit Mountain is a pure Buddhist sanctuary. How could you take a mortal there without permission? If the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Great Thunderclap Monastery learned of this, what would they think of your master? Damage to my insignificant reputation is a small matter, but ruining the queen's chastity and good name is grave indeed! Absolutely not!"
His mouth overflowed with righteousness and morality, every word apparently spoken for her sake.
In truth, he merely feared getting tangled in trouble and becoming the subject of his colleagues' gossip on Spirit Mountain.
Chen Wei saw straight through Xuanzang's thoughts. Working in the halls of power was all about steering with the current and covering one's ears while stealing a bell.
Since the person in charge could not swallow his pride, someone had to offer him a steady step down.
"Master!" Chen Wei seized his opening. "This can certainly be done. You need only play deaf and dumb. Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know. None of its karma will cling to your kasaya!"
He slipped through the gap and struck the weak spot dead on.
Xuanzang lowered his eyelids, his mind racing.
If he refused, the karma of Western Liang would remain unresolved, and his Buddhist heart would be trapped here.
Weighing the benefits against the costs took only an instant.
"Amitabha." Xuanzang closed his eyes, pressed his palms together, and loudly invoked the Buddha's name. "Excellent, excellent. This poor monk knows nothing whatsoever of this matter! This poor monk is blind and deaf and has not heard a single word!"
Before his words had faded,
everyone saw a blur flash before their eyes.
The exalted Sandalwood Merit Buddha broke through the great hall's roof without so much as a farewell and vanished in a streak of flight.
His escaping light was faster even than when he had fled pursuing demons all those years ago.
Yulin stood frozen, gazing blankly at the gaping hole in the roof, and called out in a lovestruck daze, "Royal Younger Brother!"
"Enough, enough, stop calling!" Zhu Bajie grinned broadly and chuckled. "That master of mine has always had thin skin. Leaving just now means he's given his tacit approval! Old Zhu will smooth over the dirty business that's left."
Yulin came back to herself, worry appearing on her face. "But if I truly go to Spirit Mountain and the Buddhas demand an accounting, won't I implicate both the Royal Younger Brother and you, Master?"
"An accounting? An accounting, my ass!" Zhu Bajie's face was full of disdain as he pushed the ancestral art of passing the buck to its pinnacle. "Up on Spirit Mountain, there's a living ancestor whose specialty is carrying the black pot for everyone else! When the time comes, old Zhu will insist that the Victorious Fighting Buddha, remembering old ties, forcibly abducted a mortal and took her up the mountain! Brother Monkey has too many debts to feel the weight. Which of all the gods and Buddhas in the sky would dare go looking for trouble with that monkey?"
A fine trick of diverting disaster eastward and grafting one flower onto another's stem.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven knew the scapegoat trade well enough, anyway. Why waste a perfectly good opportunity to use him?
After hearing this, Yulin's worries vanished completely.
She immediately summoned several trusted female officials waiting outside the hall, removed the phoenix crown from her head before them, and unfastened the imperial seal at her waist.
"Convey my decree. From this day forth, another wise and worthy ruler shall be chosen to inherit Western Liang's throne."
"My heart has severed its ties to the mortal world, and I wish to enter the Buddhist fold. None of you may stop me."
The female officials knelt on the ground, sobbing too hard to speak, yet they knew the queen's will could not be defied.
After settling her worldly affairs, Yulin changed into plain white garments of coarse hemp and cut away her three thousand strands of worldly cares.
A whole city's lovesick resentment finally dissolved into a wisp of breeze.
So long as she could remain beside Xuanzang, she could spare herself the longing that gnawed at her bones day and night.
With that, Western Liang's old resentment dispersed like smoke and clouds, and its lingering regret was mended.
Xuanzang's incomplete Buddhist heart had, in its own unconventional way, found fulfillment.
Wuneng wasted no time either. With a sweep of his sleeve, he swept Yulin up and transformed into a black demonic wind, howling straight west toward the Great Thunderclap Monastery.
At the end of the long stairway in Western Liang's royal city,
Chen Wei watched the departing Auspicious Cloud, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from lifting. "Good! Excellent! Lord Yang, we've killed two birds with one arrow! We've dispelled the tribulation aura and completed our assignment. Our Folk Customs and Morals Inspection Bureau has another solid achievement to its name!"
Yang Niansan's long robe stirred gently in the wind, her folding fan tapping lightly against her palm.
She smiled without speaking, her cool eyes narrowing slightly, as though she were privately weighing something important.
The offices of the Heavenly Court had their own strict rules for evaluating performance.
All that scrambling and struggling came down to two words: karmic merit. Once an assignment from a superior immortal was completed, the Bright Hall would record a reward of merit.
Without merit to one's name, cultivation could hardly advance an inch.
In the Heavenly Court, even taking a step would be difficult, let alone earning a promotion.
On this trip to the mortal realm, the Buddhist Sect emissary had done most of the work, but the seals naming the officials responsible for the investigation rested firmly in the Folk Customs and Morals Inspection Bureau's hands.
That generous sum of merit was destined to land in their own pockets.
Suddenly,
Yang Niansan's movements paused, as though some crucial piece had clicked into place.
She turned her wrist and produced a lustrous, translucent Jade Pendant. Intricate water patterns were carved into its surface, and an immortal aura faintly flowed within. It was certainly no ordinary object.
"Sir."
"Back at the office, you gave this subordinate a Jade Pendant as a welcoming gift. As they say, it is discourteous not to return a courtesy. How could I accept a colleague's kindness without preparing a gift in return?"
Chen Wei took a closer look.
The Jade Pendant radiated spiritual energy fit to overwhelm an immortal. At the very least, it had to be a Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
The one he had given her was merely an ordinary piece fashioned from spirit stones. How could it compare with the treasure before him?
Unbidden kindness,
surely concealed a deep pit.
"I couldn't possibly!" Chen Wei's expression turned solemn, and he immediately stepped half a pace back. "Looking out for one's colleagues is only one's duty. How could I accept something so precious? Lord Yang, please take it back at once!"
However,
when the powerful of the immortal world gave gifts, refusal was never an option.
Yang Niansan could not be bothered to waste words. She seized Chen Wei's wrist and said imperiously, "I told you to take it, so take it! No refusals!"
With that, she pushed off on her toes and transformed into a long rainbow without looking back, shooting into the clouds and returning to the Heavenly Court.
Only a gentle breeze remained on the long stairway.
Chen Wei stood where he was, staring at the empty sky and muttering incessantly. "Oh dear! I couldn't possibly! Truly, I couldn't! Am I the sort of official who covets a bargain?"
His words rang loud enough to shake the heavens.
His hand, however, was slicker than a loach. In the blink of an eye, he slipped the Jade Pendant into his sleeve.
When something good delivered itself to his door,
what reason was there to push it away?
This trip to Western Liang had earned him a wealth of merit, forged ties with the Buddhist Sect, and handed him a precious treasure for free. It truly was a sweeping victory.
If the sky fell, someone taller would hold it up.
For now, the sensible thing was to return to the Bright Hall and collect his merit.
With the Jade Pendant safely stowed away, his spirits soared.
Chen Wei dusted off his sleeves and was about to return to the Heavenly Court when, suddenly, he caught sight of a spot beside the long stairway out of the corner of his eye.
"True Immortal,"
"Had your fill of the show? Come out and let me see you."
As soon as his words fell,
True Immortal Ruyi edged half a step out from behind a stone lion. His bovine eyes stared in the direction Yang Niansan had departed, full of disbelief. "That was clearly..."
Unless his eyes had deceived him, that was the unique immortal pressure of Mount Hua's Third Holy Mother.
The Third Holy Mother had given a Jade Pendant?
To a mere Heavenly Immortal?
True Immortal Ruyi turned and gave Chen Wei a long, searching look. "Sir! This humble demon has dismantled every formation nexus in the Mother-Child River outside the city. The waterways are flowing freely. In less than half a day, sweet water will surely return to the dried-up riverbed!"
"With the assignment complete,"
"this humble demon shall return to the Fetus-Dropping Spring to cultivate quietly in seclusion. Your methods reach the heavens, sir. Today, I truly concede defeat in heart and word!"
He never breathed a word of such nonsense as contributing to the Heavenly Court or seeking an official entitlement to incense offerings.
The wind had shifted so quickly that even Chen Wei was surprised.
Before leaving,
Chen Wei reconsidered. Forging another favorable tie could hardly hurt. This old demon's methods might be vile, but Accumulating Thunder Mountain did stand behind him. Since he had cowed him today, he might as well plant a seed while he was at it.
"True Immortal..." Chen Wei drew out his words, half offering guidance and half delivering a warning. "If you truly wish to draw closer to the Heavenly Court and find your chance to rise, you must start with your own public face."
True Immortal Ruyi pricked up his two large, protruding ears and listened with great care.
"Your Daoist title, for instance." Wearing an ambiguous smile, Chen Wei pointed at the old demon's bovine head. "True Immortal Ruyi sounds like an itinerant physician. It has no grandeur at all. Why not choose something more resounding, a name that tells everyone at first hearing that your heart belongs to the Heavenly Court?"
Having said that, he wasted no more breath.
He pushed off lightly on his toes and soared straight into the highest heavens, heading to the Bright Hall to report the completion of his assignment.
True Immortal Ruyi blinked his bovine eyes and muttered, "Love the Heavenly Court... a resounding name..."
Suddenly,
the old demon slapped his thigh, enlightenment dawning across his face. "I've got it! Since I need the higher-ups to see my wholehearted loyalty, why don't I simply change my name to Niu Aitian from now on?"
Before you continue