A Wrong Turn into Pansi Cave (Part Thirty-One)

Meanwhile, Ao Tu sat upon the Black Lotus, preaching and expounding the Dharma.

Tang Sanzang sat at the lower end of the table, listening attentively.

Several Spider Demon hid behind them, peeking out to watch.

The Little Spider Demon said, "When the Great King preaches, he really does resemble Buddha Bodhisattva!"

The Second Sister laughed and said, "If Your Great King were to become Buddha or Bodhisattva, wouldn't your desires be thwarted?"

The Little Spider Demon said, "Your Great King can act as the Buddha during the day, and I'll serve Great King at night!"

Third Sister laughed and said, "Do you really dare to go? Haven't you been afraid of the Great King's dislike of you ever since the last attempt failed, and dared not go again?"

Sixth Sister laughed and said, "She secretly told me she wanted to go, but every time she didn't dare to go inside. She would circle around the Great King's gate and then sneak back!"

The Little Spider Demon said, quite embarrassed and annoyed, "Sixth Sister! You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

On the other side, the six Heavenly Lords of the Thunder Department were discussing and debating formations with each other.

When they asked Ao Tu what kind of Formation he planned to set up, Ao Tu didn't say for sure, only revealing a few formation patterns.

The array patterns were extremely mysterious, seemingly created by the Heavenly Dao itself, unlike any ordinary Formation. This made the six people even more curious and itchy-hearted, guessing at each other what kind of Formation it was.

Meanwhile, Bajie was fiddling with his newly acquired treasure.

Although the Mani Pearl wasn't considered a treasure in Ao Tu, it was far from ordinary in the outside world. It possessed various effects: bringing light, regulating temperature, curing diseases, warding off evil, fulfilling wishes, purifying water, and could even be used for self-defense by throwing it at people. It was truly a wonderful treasure, far superior to Wukong's broken alms bowl.

Bajie loved it dearly and often showed it off to Wukong and Sha Wujing.

Sha Wujing, on the other hand, disdained associating with the Demon Dragon and simply served Tang Sanzang every day. He would not listen when Ao Tu was lecturing on the scriptures, but would stand outside the door with his eyes closed to show that he was drawing a line between himself and the Demon Dragon.

In fact, although he closed his eyes, he did not close his ears; he intended not to listen to the Demon Dragon's Scripture, but the Demon Dragon's Scripture fell into his ears on their own, and he had no way to stop them.

Nezha was fine, just wandering around the Daoist temple, keeping a close watch on Heavenly King Li. If Heavenly King Li tried to escape, Heavenly King Li would go down and beat him up.

Heavenly King Li's Pagoda was taken away, and he was no match for Nezha, so he could only curse his unfilial son.

At this point, the Heavenly Lords of the Thunder Department would come out laughing and speak up for Nezha, saying that Nezha was being controlled by Demon Dragon and did not recognize his blood relatives, and begging the Heavenly King to calm down, and so on.

In short, everyone has something to do.

Autumn and winter arrived in the blink of an eye.

Nezha sat on the eaves, his hands supporting his chin, kicking his little feet, looking utterly bored.

He looked towards the palace ahead; Heavenly King Li hadn't fled for almost a month.

At first, Heavenly King Li lived in that palace and often tried to escape when the defenses were lax; after being beaten by Nezha five or six times, he learned his lesson and stopped trying to escape.

So Nezha deliberately sent the guards away. When Heavenly King Li saw that there were fewer guards, he had the idea of escaping again, and was beaten by Nezha more than ten times.

After that, Nezha directly ordered Ao Tu to stop assigning anyone to guard Heavenly King Li.

Then Heavenly King Li was beaten up about ten more times.

Now, even without anyone watching him, Heavenly King Li would never run away.

Nezha then became bored.

At this moment, Ao Tu finished his sermon and came out.

Upon seeing this, Nezha asked, "When can we set up the formation?"

Ao Tu asked, "What's wrong?"

Nezha said, "It's boring to be idle all day without being able to fight."

Ao Tu laughed and said, "Then let's call the Monkey over and play a Cuju) together."

Nezha jumped down curiously and asked, "What is Cuju?"

Ao Tu said, "You don't even know this? Didn't you play games when you were a child?"

Nezha crossed his arms and said proudly, "I had great ambitions from a young age. When I was seven, I helped Zhou overthrow Zhou. How would I know about these tricks?"

Ao Tu chuckled and patted him on the head, saying, "Go call the Monkey, I'll teach you."

Nezha then obediently went.

Before long, they called the Monkey over, and then called Bajie, so that the four of them could easily pass the kick to each other.

Ao Tu and Nezha were together, and Wukong and Bajie were together.

Wukong laughed and said, "The last time I performed these tricks was Five Hundred Years Ago with the children of Flower-Fruit Mountain."

Bajie said, "If that's the case, we've won."

Ao Tu asked, "How did you win?"

Bajie laughed and said, "As the saying goes, 'No one can outdo Monkey in tricks.' How could you possibly compare to the skills my Elder Brother and the monkeys of Flower-Fruit Mountain have honed?"

Everyone laughed upon hearing this.

Ao Tu explained the Rules to Nezha.

Upon hearing Nezha, Nezha scoffed, "So it's that simple? I thought it was so interesting!"

Even so, the game went on until dark.

Time flies, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Tang Sanzang's learning progressed slowly; it would take more than a year or two to fully master the Scripture.

Wukong found Ao Tu and said, "Dragon Brother, it's been a year. Shouldn't you let us, master and disciple Journey Westward now?"

Ao Tu shook his head and said, "Tang Sanzang has not yet mastered the Buddhist scriptures, so we cannot let you and your disciples Journey Westward."

Wukong asked, "Then how much longer do you think we have to wait?"

Ao Tu said, "About four or five more years."

Upon hearing this, Wukong's expression changed, and he hurriedly cried out, "Four or five years! No way! No way!"

Ao Tu said, "What? You promised it yourself back then, are you going back on your word now?"

Wukong said, "It's true that I promised, but I originally thought that learning a Scripture would only take a year or two at most. Who knew it would take so long? Four or five years! Even if I promised, Buddha wouldn't allow it! If that Great Monk finds out about this and leaves Spirit Mountain to come here, not only will I be punished, but you won't escape his grasp either!"

Ao Tu said, "To be honest, I was waiting for him to come."

Wukong was startled.

Ao Tu stood up, walked outside the hall, his long robes gleaming, his steps steady, the sunlight shining on him, and he Earthly Way calmly:

"My capture of you, master and disciple, is not intended to harm you. Rather, it is to lure the Buddha Tathagata so we can contend with him, see who wins and who loses, who is right and who is wrong, and let the Three Realms see whether his Buddhist Sect doctrine is superior, or my doctrine is superior!"

Wukong said, "Just to settle a matter of principle? If he captures you, you'll end up like Old Sun, imprisoned for five hundred years. Have you thought about that?"

Before Ao Tu could answer, Wukong seemed to remember something, sighed deeply, and said, "Enough! Enough! Your temperament is just like Old Sun back in the day; you wouldn't care about these consequences."

Upon hearing this, Ao Tu laughed and took out a Small Boat, saying:

"I was prepared. This ship is Baleful Qi treasure, unbound by any laws, Rules, Emotions, Morality, or Rites in the world. If I am no match for it, I will simply board the ship and leave."

Upon hearing this, Wukong opened his mouth, but a sentence stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a word.

It's his own fault for being poor back then; otherwise, if he had possessed such a treasure, he wouldn't Tathagata been suppressed by Buddha for five hundred years and forced to wear the Tightening Fillet.

Ao Tu stood outside the hall, looking Western Heaven, and said, "If we don't have to wait for the Tathagata come, that's fine too. But I need you to do something for me."

Wukong asked, "What is it?"

Ao Tu took out the Nine-Revolution Poison Pill and handed it to Wukong.

Seeing this, Wukong was overjoyed, took the Elixir Pills, instinctively put it in his mouth, and laughed:

"Where did this precious elixir come from? Let me try it for you first!"

Ao Tu said, "This is the Nine-Revolution Poison Pill I refined, used to poison the Great Monk."