Interesting Journey to the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom (17)

Meanwhile, Wukong agreed to borrow weapons for the Patriarch Styx.

Back when Wukong was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven in the Heavenly Court, he recognized the Four Imperial Sovereigns, the Five Elders of the Five Directions, and the Immortal from overseas.

Wukong leaped onto the eaves, tucked the Alms Bowl into his hand, and with a Somersault Cloud, soared away on a cloud.

Upon reaching the Heavenly Realm, he encountered the Four Imperial Sovereigns, addressed them as "Your Majesty," and asked for a piece of Immortal Gold. Ascending to Yaochi Dipper and Ox constellations, he met the Star Lords, called him "Brother," and received a piece of Divine Iron. Traveling through the clouds, he arrived at the Jade Pool, shamelessly begging for alms, and the Queen Mother bestowed upon him a Peach of Immortality wood scepter. Wandering east and Lingxiao, he reached the Heavenly Palace, shyly begging for alms, and the Jade Emperor gifted him a precious cat-shaped gem.

Wukong begged for some here and some there, wandering around for a day until he had a full Alms Bowl divine materials. He then went to the Flower Realm, hoping to ask the Western Heaven Savior Celestial Worthy and the Perfected Lord Taixi to refine them into a weapon.

However, upon arriving in the Flower Realm, they learned that Perfected Lord Taixi was not at home.

It is not appropriate to seek help from other deities, since precious materials have already been bestowed upon them.

Wukong had no choice but to the Lower Realm temporarily.

It was springtime, Bajie was raking the ground in the yard.

Upon seeing this, Wukong laughed and said, "Fool, why are you working as a farmhand?"

Upon hearing the sound, Bajie looked up and saw it was Wukong. He couldn't help but complain:

"You Monkey, you've been gone for over a year, I don't know where you've been begging for alms. My master, Sha Wujing, and I are sitting here eating, how can we be so shameless? Wouldn't we be eating up their entire fortune? We have no choice but to do some manual labor to make Flaming-Mouth Offering. I suggested performing a ritual for that old man's son. Doing that highway robbery all day long, who knows when he'll die. But my master wouldn't agree. So I had to come down to the fields and work as a farmhand."

Upon hearing this, Wukong clapped his hands and laughed wildly, saying:

"You idiot! Their son isn't even dead yet, and you're already going to Flaming-Mouth Offering for them? How could they possibly agree? Alright, no need to work anymore. I've already brought them so many treasures; enough to feed and drink us for a thousand years!"

Upon hearing this, Bajie was overjoyed. He put down his rake, leaped up, and asked, "Older Brother, what treasures have you obtained? Have you acquired any weapons?"

Wukong said, "We haven't managed to obtain any weapons, but we have plenty of treasures. However, we have no one to forge them, which is a real worry for us."

Bajie laughed and said, "What's so difficult about that? There are good Artisans everywhere in the world. The weapons of the three of us brothers are all fine treasures. We can just take any one of them, copy its design, and forge one, right? We can even pocket a little of the cost of the fire as a commission!"

Wukong was delighted upon hearing this and repeatedly said, "That makes sense."

Bajie reached into Wukong's arms and said, "Older Brother, let me see what treasures you've brought back?"

Wukong hid the Alms Bowl, not giving it to Bajie, and laughed, "Brother, I haven't kept track of these treasures yet. I'll show them to you after I've done so."

Bajie said, "We're brothers, yet you're still wary of me. What's the point of keeping accounts? I wouldn't take anything from you, would I?"

Wukong said, "Don't even mention us, even Hua Yunlong, when he was Bandits, still had to keep accounts!"

The two walked down the steps while talking, and first met Tang Sanzang and told him about the matter.

Tang Sanzang said, "That's fine too."

Let Sha Wujing keep the accounts.

Ao Tu and his wife rushed over upon hearing the noise.

Wukong recounted the story again.

Ao Tu asked, "Where will Elder Sun hire Artisans from?"

Wukong said, "Old Sun will report to the King and summon the artisans from the kingdom."

Ao Tu said worriedly, "I'm afraid that once that rebellious son gets the weapon, he'll become even more unruly."

Wukong said, "You old man! I see that your son isn't a bad person by nature; he's an honest gentleman who will never go back on his word. From now on, he should abandon evil and do good, and settle down to build a good life."

Guanyin Bodhisattva watched Wukong say this, suppressing her laughter. She then invited the four of them to dinner, boiled water, and had the elderly couple wash their feet, undress, and blow out the lamp. Only then did Guanyin Bodhisattva finally laugh out loud.

Ao Tu tugged at the blanket and said, "You Old Woman, you can't even sleep properly, how can this be allowed to continue?"

Guanyin Bodhisattva pulled Ao Tu over, poked his forehead with her Ao Tu finger, and laughed:

"What Karmic Consequences did Wukong create in his past life that he had to encounter a Demon Dragon like you, and come up with such a scheme for him!"

Ao Tu laughed and said, "How could I have devised a plan? I didn't force him; Wukong agreed to it himself."

Guanyin Bodhisattva listened, but did not believe it at all, and laughed:

"Do I not know you? Wukong may be a bit mischievous, but he's good too. You came up with this scheme for no reason; he must have offended you somehow!"

When Ao Tu realized he had been guessed correctly, he refused to admit it and gave some irrelevant answers.

Guanyin Bodhisattva asked several times, but Ao Tu still wouldn't tell the truth, so she had no choice but to give up.

The following day, Tang Sanzang and his disciples met with the King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom, explained the situation, and requested the King to mobilize Artisans to forge Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom Divine Weapon.

The King of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom was troubled for a long time by Hua Yunlong's mischief. He issued several Imperial Proclamation edicts, and the city was plastered with imperial notices. Many heroes and knights answered the questions, but they still could not capture Hua Yunlong.

Although Hua Yunlong only cared about money and did not harm people, he still had a wide influence. Merchants who came and went were terrified and dared not take the official road, but only the side roads, which greatly damaged the prestige of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom.

Now that Tang Sanzang and his disciples say they can teach Hua Yunlong to reform his ways, although they don't directly capture him, it can still be considered as eliminating this great scourge. Naturally, the King the Kingdom of the Dharma-Extinguishing Kingdom has no reason not to agree.

He immediately issued an imperial edict, summoning craftsmen from across the country to forge Divine Weapon.

Wukong, Bajie, and Sha Wujing were in charge of supervising the construction.

Wukong put his Golden Cudgel, Bajie's Nine-Toothed Rake, and Sha Wujing's Precious Staff together and discussed which one to make in which style.

Bajie looked at it, pondered for a moment, and said, "Brother! In my opinion, it would be best to forge it according to your Golden Cudgel!"

Wukong asked, "Why is it made according to my specifications?"

Bajie said, "Your Golden Cudgel is made of a single stick, so it doesn't require much material and is quick to forge. This saves us precious materials, which we three brothers can divide equally!"

Upon hearing this, Wukong grabbed Bajie's ear and said, "You idiot, all you ever think about is that!"

While begging for mercy, Bajie said, "Even if we don't divide the treasure equally, if we hurry up, we can get on our way, right?"

Wukong said, "That's true. Well then, let's fight mine first!"

So Wukong used his own Golden Cudgel as a model and taught the Artisans to forge it accordingly.

Wukong summoned the Six Ding and Six Jia, the Five Directional Guardians, the Four Duty Gods, the Eighteen Buddhist Guardian Garan, as well as the local Mountain God, Earth God, and City God to help Tang Sanzang. He used Divine Fire and magic to work together to forge the statue.

After forging for eighty-one days, they finally created a staff that looked exactly like the Golden Cudgel. It weighed a full 100 kilograms and could be considered Divine Weapon, but it could not be transformed at Ruyi.

Wukong took the item and went to the Bandit Mountain. He found Hua Yunlong and said, "What do you think of this Divine Weapon?" He slammed it into the ground, and it made a loud boom.

The bandits exclaimed in surprise, "What kind of weapon is this?"

The Patriarch Styx glanced at it, knowing it was junk, picked it up, tossed it in his hand, creating a whooshing sound. The thieves were so frightened that they scattered and hid, not daring to approach.

The Patriarch Styx said, "Light! Light! Light! It's not handy at all. This thing might be okay as a walking stick for my father, but it's really useless as a weapon. Please get me something else."