Interesting Journey to the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom (XII)

Meanwhile, Wukong was struck by the Patriarch Styx and sent to Flower-Fruit Mountain. He slept for a night, and when he woke up, he was dizzy, his body ached and numb, and he didn't even recognize his own Flower-Fruit Mountain.

The little monkey said, "Old monkey, this is Flower-Fruit Mountain. My Great King is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong. Do you recognize him?"

Upon hearing this, Wukong stood up and looked around before recognizing Flower-Fruit Mountain. He wondered how he had ended up back home. After thinking for a moment, he remembered that he had fought with Hua Yunlong and taken a blow from him, which caused him to lose his balance and end up all the way from the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom to Flower-Fruit Mountain.

Who exactly was that Bandits, and how could he possess such abilities?

Wukong was about to return home when his back started to ache, making it difficult to fly. Thinking that he was already home, he decided to go inside and sit for a while before continuing his journey. So he said to the little monkey:

"Come on! Come on! Take me to the Water Curtain Cave!"

The little monkey said, "That's strange. You don't even recognize Flower-Fruit Mountain, so how do you know about the Water Curtain Cave?"

Wukong said, "You have no idea! When I was a child, I often Somersault Cloud. Back then, I would leap into the waterfall, which is now the Water Curtain Cave!"

Upon hearing this, the little monkey laughed and said, "That's a story from my great-grandfather, the Great Sage. If you know this, you must be someone important!" So he led Wukong over there.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, an old white ape was telling stories to many little monkeys, naturally recounting Wukong's exploits such as "obtaining treasure from the Dragon Palace," "making a Netherworld the Underworld," and "disrupting the Peach Banquet."

Upon hearing this, Wukong couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia; so many years had passed, and he had become an old monkey.

Just then, the little monkey said to the old white ape, "Someone's coming!"

The old white ape turned around and recognized the Handsome Monkey King. Overjoyed, he exclaimed:

"Great Sage, you've returned with the True Scriptures!"

Wukong felt somewhat ashamed and didn't want to tell the truth, so he said, "It'll be soon! It'll be soon! I reckon it'll only be a few years! I had some free time, so I came back to check on things!"

Upon hearing this, the old white ape immediately shouted:

"Great Sage Monkey is back! Great Sage Monkey is back!"

Upon hearing this, Monkey and their offspring on the mountain leaped over. When they saw Wukong, they were overjoyed and offered him fruit, wine, flowers, and treasures. Wukong was surrounded and carried to the throne in the Water Curtain Cave to sit down.

Wukong was overjoyed, but his back ached, so he just rubbed it.

A monkey saw this and asked, "Is Your Great King injured?"

Wukong was embarrassed to admit it and said:

"It wasn't exactly an injury. There was a powerful man on the journey to Journey to the West, and I, Old Sun, challenged him to a duel. We stood still and each exchanged three moves. For the first two moves, I, Old Sun, treated them like mere tickles. But on the third move, seeing that the man was about to lose, he used a hidden weapon. Old Sun, dodged it with a Somersault Cloud, but I twisted my waist in the rush of the Somersault Cloud, and it's a bit sore now."

Upon hearing this, the monkeys offered to give Wukong a massage.

Wukong was actually somewhat injured, and if he asked them to massage him, it would probably only make it hurt more. Even so, Wukong didn't tell the truth and only said that he should let the monkeys massage him.

A group of Monkey came over to massage his legs and back, pinch his neck, and rub his waist and abdomen. Although Wukong was in pain, he never stopped smiling. He played around for most of the day before reluctantly leaving.

In a short while, they returned to the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom.

Bajie Sha Wujing are arguing with each other.

Tang Sanzang sat alone to one side, deeply distressed.

Sha Wujing said, "It's all your fault! You lost our Elder Brother!"

Bajie asked, "How could I have lost it?"

Sha Wujing said, "Two people went out, but only you came back. You didn't lose him. Where is our Elder Brother?"

Bajie said, "How would I know? At that time, our Elder Brother was fighting with the Bandits and disappeared in the blink of an eye. If it weren't for my Old Pig, fighting those Bandits for two or three hundred rounds and driving them away, you would all be in trouble! Maybe our Elder Brother is tired of the Journey to the West and has already returned to Flower-Fruit Mountain!"

Sha Wujing said, "Nonsense! I don't believe it! My Elder Brother isn't that kind of person! He won't leave unless he can guarantee that Master obtains the True Scriptures!"

Bajie asked, "Then tell me, how did our Elder Brother disappear?"

Sha Wujing said, "I'm staying here to protect Master, how would I know?"

Seeing this, Wukong jumped in and said, "Alright, stop arguing!"

Bajie and Sha Wujing were overjoyed to see this and exclaimed, "Elder Brother, you're back!"

Tang Sanzang quickly stood up and stepped forward, saying, "Wukong, you're back! Bajie said you were missing. Where did you go?"

Wukong said, "Don't even mention it. That Hua Yunlong is quite capable; he's not your average Bandits. I've sent someone to find out more about him!"

Tang Sanzang asked, "Have you found out any information?"

Wukong said, "Master, don't worry, let me go ask Old Man Hua!"

Wukong then walked out.

Seeing this, Tang Sanzang and his companions followed behind.

The four of them arrived at the front yard.

Ao Tu is teaching a group of children to read.

Seeing that he shouldn't disturb them, Wukong waited outside the hall.

Tang Sanzang sighed, "Old Benefactor was such a kind and benevolent teacher, Moy-er have become Bandits?"

Bajie said, "There's a saying, 'You can't eat what you do,' meaning someone who's good at teaching might not be good at raising children."

Hearing the commotion outside, the children looked out of the hall and saw Tang Sanzang and his companions, which they found quite strange.

Firstly, these children were all learning elementary education and were too young to have much self-control. Secondly, the four of them were indeed rare occurrences. There's no need to elaborate on Wukong and his two companions; even Tang Sanzang, the Tang Sanzang, was extremely rare to find in the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom.

Seeing that the children had lost interest, Ao Tu dismissed them and invited Tang Sanzang and his disciples inside. Upon seeing Wukong, he exclaimed with delight:

"So it's Elder Sun who's back! To be honest, Elder Zhu came back alone yesterday, and I couldn't sleep a wink all night. What if something had happened to Elder Sun? Wouldn't that be my fault?"

Wukong said, "You old man, what could possibly happen to me, Old Sun? I've come to you this time because I have something to ask you!"

Upon hearing this, Ao Tu invited Tang Sanzang and his disciples to sit in the hall, offered them fragrant tea, and said, "What is it, Elder Sun? Please ask, and I will answer to the best of my knowledge!"

Wukong asked, "What's the background of your son?"

Ao Tu asked in confusion, "Elder, why do you say that? That's my son, what other background could he have?"

Wukong asked, "I asked him who his master was and what martial arts and supernatural Supernatural Ability he learned?"

Ao Tu suddenly realized, "So that's how it is! Elder Sun must have suffered a loss yesterday! Alas! That unfilial son is quite the fighter; he's been roaming the streets since childhood, and no one can beat him..."

Wukong said with some annoyance, "Just tell me where he learned his martial arts!"

Ao Tu said, "Speaking of this, I don't really know either. I only know that he met a strange person when he was young and was taught superior martial arts. From then on, he became arrogant and competitive, and there was no stopping him."

Wukong asked, "Is that strange man a monk or a Daoist?"

Ao Tu said, "This... I don't know."

Wukong asked suspiciously, "You are his biological father, yet you knew nothing about it? Could it be that you are intentionally deceiving him and protecting him?"

Ao Tu hurriedly said, "I dare not! I dare not! Elder Sun, I truly do not know! I only heard him say that the person who taught him martial arts dressed strangely, neither a monk nor a Daoist, and when he preached, he spoke in unison with the other two schools of thought. I do not know his origins. If I ask him a few more questions, he gets angry. Once, when he was still young, he learned martial arts and showed off outside. I was afraid he would cause trouble, so I said a few words to him, some of them quite harsh. Who would have thought he would take it seriously, leave home, and wander the martial world. Elders, do you think I, as a father, would really kick my child out of the house? Later, I spent a lot of effort to bring him back, and since then I have never dared to discipline him again."