Guests at Wuzhuang Temple (8)

Now, Bajie had interfered with Ao Tu's efforts to heal the tree.

Hearing him, Ao Tu smiled and said to Great Immortal Zhenyuan, "Great Immortal, your temple is quite self-sufficient."

"How so?" asked Great Immortal Zhenyuan.

"I saw fruit and vegetables growing in the Rear Garden, and you even keep pigs in the front hall! Isn't that self-sufficient? Since the Ginseng Fruit is gone, why not cut me some pork as my reward?"

Great Immortal Zhenyuan laughed. "Very good. Which cut would you like, fellow Daoist?"

"I've heard the meat around a pig's waist and belly is best, with seven alternating layers. Nothing tastes better."

Hearing this, Bajie wailed, "Master! Old Pig has run into a Daoist who loves pork! He wants to eat me!"

Alarmed, Tang Sanzang hurriedly pleaded for Bajie.

Ao Tu and Great Immortal Zhenyuan shared a laugh and walked into the hall.

Great Immortal Zhenyuan ordered Qingfeng to serve tea, then said to Ao Tu:

"Thank you for traveling so far to tend to my treasured tree, fellow Daoist. But I already agreed to a wager with Sun Wukong, and I cannot break my word. Please stay here a few days. Whichever of you saves the spiritual root, I shall offer you Ginseng Fruit in thanks."

"Your faithfulness to your word commands my admiration, Great Immortal," Ao Tu said.

And so Ao Tu stayed at Wuzhuang Temple, waiting for Sun Wukong to return with a remedy.

This was precisely what Ao Tu had hoped to see.

During his stay, Ao Tu sat with Great Immortal Zhenyuan and discussed the Dao.

Though called a discussion, it mostly consisted of Great Immortal Zhenyuan expounding the Dao for Ao Tu.

Only when they touched on the Dao of the Five Elements could Ao Tu contribute anything, thanks to his comprehension of the Five-Colored Divine Light.

The cultivation method Ao Tu currently practiced was an inherited art of the Dragon Race.

It had originated when heaven and earth first opened, when dragons and phoenixes were born.

It belonged neither to Daoism nor to Buddhism, but the principles of the Great Dao reached the same destination by different paths. Under Great Immortal Zhenyuan's guidance, the medicinal power of the Immortal Elixir and Peach of Immortality within Ao Tu was refined, and his cultivation broke through naturally, like water flowing into a channel, to the middle stage of Golden Immortal, with considerable further gains.

Ao Tu bowed in thanks. "Thank you for imparting the Dao, senior!"

Great Immortal Zhenyuan smiled. "None of this 'senior' talk. If you were Old Mother Lishan's son-in-law, you could call me that. But now you are the Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable. We should associate as equals and call each other fellow Daoists."

Smiling, Ao Tu offered a respectful salute.

Great Immortal Zhenyuan continued, "If treasures of the Five Elements complemented your divine light, its supernatural ability would become greater still."

Ao Tu pondered this. "What treasures of the Five Elements would be best?"

"The finest would naturally be the Twelfth-Grade Creation Azure Lotus, the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus, the Twelfth-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus, the Twelfth-Grade World-Purifying White Lotus, and the Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus," Great Immortal Zhenyuan said.

Ao Tu smiled ruefully. "Difficult! Difficult! Difficult! Are there any other treasures of the Five Elements?"

"The next best would be the Central Wuji Apricot-Yellow Banner, the Eastern Azure Lotus Precious Radiance Banner, the Southern Flame-Light Banner, the Western Plain Cloud-Realm Banner, and the Northern Mystic Water-Controlling Banner."

Ao Tu shook his head. "Difficult! Difficult! Even obtaining a single banner would be hard. Are there any others?"

Great Immortal Zhenyuan considered. "With middling or inferior treasures, even if you gathered them all, they would never amount to a worthy whole, and attaining the Great Dao would be difficult. This spiritual root of mine is the essence of primordial yang earth. If you do not disdain it, I would gladly break off a branch for you, as a token of our affinity."

Delighted, Ao Tu bowed in thanks.

Meanwhile, Wukong had gone to the Eastern Ocean and hurried to the Penglai Immortal Realm.

A poem told of it:

On earth's immortal grounds, the ranks of sages stood; Penglai, divided and united, held the waves in check.

The Jade Terrace's reflection steeped the cold heart of heaven; towering palace gates cast their light upon the sea.

Five-colored mists and rosy clouds held music clear as jade; stars and moon from the nine heavens shone upon golden turtles.

The Queen Mother of the Western Pool often came here, offering peaches time and again to honor the Three Immortals.

Wukong entered Penglai directly. Outside White Cloud Cave, beneath the shade of pines, three old men were gathered around a game of go: the Longevity Star watched, while the Fortune Star and Prosperity Star played.

Wukong approached. "My younger brothers, greetings."

Seeing him, the three stars pushed aside the board and returned his salute. "What brings you here, Great Sage?"

At first, Wukong found it hard to speak and fended them off with idle chatter. Only later did he recount everything that had happened.

The three stars listened, then exclaimed in alarm:

"Great Immortal Zhenyuan is the Ancestor of Earth Immortals! How could you dare knock down his treasured tree? That Ginseng Fruit Tree is the root of all immortal trees. How could our millet-sized elixirs heal it? There is no remedy! No remedy!"

Hearing this, Wukong's brows locked together, and a thousand creases furrowed his forehead.

The Fortune Star said, "Great Sage, if there is no remedy here, simply seek elsewhere. Why trouble yourself so?"

"Seeking is easy," Wukong said. "Even if I had to roam to the ends of the earth and scour the Thirty-Six Heavens, I could do it. But Elder Tang is strict and narrow in his tolerance. He gave me only three days. If I'm not back within three days, he'll recite the Golden Fillet Tightening Spell."

All three stars laughed.

After a moment, the Longevity Star said, "Rest easy, Great Sage. There is no need to worry. Though Great Immortal Zhenyuan is our senior, we know him. First, it has been a long time since we last visited him; second, we can do you a favor. The three of us will go see him now and explain your circumstances, asking Tang Sanzang not to recite the Golden Fillet Tightening Spell. We shall stay until you return with a remedy."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Wukong said. "Then I'll leave it to you three younger brothers to plead my case. I'm off!"

Leaving aside Wukong's farewell to the three stars-

They mounted auspicious light and headed straight for Wuzhuang Temple.

Everyone in the temple heard cranes calling high in the heavens: the three elders had arrived.

Qingfeng and Mingyue saw them and hurried to inform Great Immortal Zhenyuan.

Great Immortal Zhenyuan came out to welcome them.

The three stars greeted Great Immortal Zhenyuan with the courtesy due from juniors before sitting down to converse.

Once seated, the Prosperity Star explained Wukong's search for a remedy and asked Tang Sanzang not to recite the Golden Fillet Tightening Spell.

How could Tang Sanzang refuse? He repeatedly answered, "I wouldn't dare recite it. I wouldn't dare."

The three stars also met Ao Tu.

Zhen Yuanzi introduced him. "This is the Vozhu Zhenshi Heavenly Venerable of the West. He came expressly to heal my treasured tree. But because I had already made a wager with Sun Wukong, the matter has been delayed."

Seeing that Ao Tu dared claim such a Daoist title, the three stars were even more astonished. They dared not slight him and treated him with great respect.

Meanwhile, Wukong left Penglai and reached Fangzhang Immortal Mountain.

This mountain was truly a splendid place. A poem bore witness:

Fangzhang towered majestically, a heaven apart; at Taiyuan Palace, immortals gathered.

The purple terraces lit the path of the Three Pure Ones; the fragrance of flowers and trees drifted through five-colored mist.

Golden phoenixes abounded in palaces of coiling blossoms; who urged jade balm to irrigate the fields of sacred fungi?

Jade peaches and purple plums had newly ripened, marking another ten thousand years for the immortals.

This was the Donghua Emperor's place of cultivation. Wukong paid his respects to the emperor and recounted all that had happened.

"You monkey, you stir up trouble everywhere," the Donghua Emperor said. "Zhen Yuanzi of Wuzhuang Temple bears the sacred title Peer of the Ages and is the Ancestor of Earth Immortals. How could you offend him? Though I have a Nine-Turn Taiyi Reversion Elixir that can heal living creatures in this world, it cannot heal a spiritual root born when heaven and earth first opened. There is no remedy! No remedy!"

Wukong then went on to the island of Yingzhou.

Lustrous pearl trees shone through purple mist; Yingzhou's palaces reached the heavenly

deities.

Green hills, clear waters, and wondrous flowers blazed with color; jade nectar and treasured steel, iron and stone stood firm.

Five-colored jade-green birds cried to the sun above the sea; thousand-year crimson phoenixes drew in scarlet mist.

Mortals never fathomed the world within the gourd; beyond all forms, spring's radiance endured for countless ages.

Wukong reached Yingzhou, met the Nine Elders of Yingzhou, and recounted everything, seeking an immortal remedy to heal the tree.

When the nine elders heard that Wukong had toppled Great Immortal Zhenyuan's fruit tree, they all exclaimed in alarm:

"You truly are a troublemaker! We have no remedy! No remedy!"

Wukong could only bid them farewell. He searched throughout the four continents and roamed all the heavens, but nowhere found a remedy.

He turned directly toward the Eastern Ocean, reached Mount Luojia, and descended from his cloud.

There he saw Guanyin Bodhisattva in the Purple Bamboo Forest, joining the great gods of the heavens, Mucha, and Dragon Girl in casting a spell. The Bodhisattva led, while the others assisted. He could not tell what they were refining.

In the air, the three lights of sun, moon, and stars converged and condensed in one place, vaguely forming a drop of Divine Water. Yet it was incomplete-not even half a drop.