Tang Sanzang emerged from the thorns and came to a village.
At a glance, the village looked like a peach-blossom paradise beyond the mortal world. Little did he know that everything before his eyes was Ao Tu's transformation.
Neither Tang Sanzang nor Bajie could see the truth, and both fell into it.
The Apricot Immortal went to prepare a meal.
Seeing that Tang Sanzang was truly hungry and thirsty, Ao Tu first brought him a few fruits.
Tang Sanzang ate the fruits and found them incomparably sweet and fragrant. With some of his strength restored, he thanked Ao Tu and asked where this place was.
Ao Tu said, "This region is called Thorn Ridge, and this is Thorn Village. As the verse goes: 'Thorns and brambles tangle for eight hundred li; a road has stood since ancient times, yet no one travels it.'"
Tang Sanzang said, "Old Benefactor, surely that is something of an exaggeration."
"How is it an exaggeration?" Ao Tu asked.
Tang Sanzang said, "You even have a village here. How can you say there is no one?"
Ao Tu smiled. "Elder, these old words of mine are no exaggeration. The people of our village have lived and raised generation after generation here, without venturing out for who knows how many centuries. In all those centuries, you and your disciple are the only two people to have made it through the thorns."
Tang Sanzang could not help being startled at this.
Bajie asked, "Old sir, if you haven't gone out for centuries, what do you eat and drink?"
Ao Tu said, "We clear fields and farm, grow grain, rear poultry and livestock, and plant fruit trees. The men fire stone and clay to make bricks and tiles, while the women gather mulberry leaves and tend silk to weave