When Zhu Bajie came out to investigate, a quick glance revealed Ao Tu standing among the crowd like a crane among chickens.
Ao Tu wore the Brocade Kasaya and held the Nine-Ringed Monk's Staff. His features were handsome and dignified, his expression compassionate, and a Buddhist radiance seemed to surround him. He truly looked like a living son of the Buddha.
Zhu Bajie was already fairly certain that this was the Pilgrim Guanyin Bodhisattva had told him to await here. Still, to avoid any mistake, he decided to make sure. Offering a respectful greeting, he asked:
"May I ask who you are, Elder? Where have you come from, where are you going, and how do you know Old Pig's Dharma name?"
Ao Tu said:
"This humble monk has come from the Great Tang in the Eastern Land and is bound for the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha and seek the scriptures. Passing through here, I received guidance from Guanyin Bodhisattva. She told me that Marshal Tianpeng had descended to this place, taken the Dharma name Wuneng, and wished to become my disciple, joining me on the Journey to the West to attain enlightenment. Pig spirit, do you know where Marshal Tianpeng is now?"
Hearing this, Zhu Bajie stepped forward, dropped to both knees, and kowtowed.
"Master, as the saying goes, a monk speaks no cruel words. How could you wound me so? Old Pig is none other than Marshal Tianpeng descended to earth. It was only because I entered the wrong womb that I ended up looking like this. Fortunately, Guanyin Bodhisattva urged me toward goodness. I accepted the precepts, gave up the five pungent vegetables and three forbidden meats, and waited here especially for you, Master."
"I see," Ao Tu said. "Do not blame your master for judging by appearances. Your looks truly are extraordinarily rare, far beyond the ordinary." He then told Elder Gao to bring an incense table.
Seeing the monster become Ao Tu's disciple in the blink of an eye, Elder Gao dared not refuse and ordered his servants to fetch an incense table.
Ao Tu washed his hands, burned incense, and accepted Zhu Bajie's bows before saying:
"Wuneng, since you have given up the five pungent vegetables and three forbidden meats, I shall give you another name: Bajie, Eight Precepts. It will make you easier to address."
Zhu Bajie replied joyfully, "I shall obey your instructions, Master."
Afterward, at Ao Tu's request, Zhu Bajie released Gao Cuilan, allowing Elder Gao's family to reunite.
That night, Ao Tu and Zhu Bajie stayed at Elder Gao's house. The following day, Elder Gao prepared a vegetarian feast to see them off.
After the meal, Elder Gao had someone bring out a red-lacquered tray bearing two hundred taels of loose gold and silver, offered as payment for Ao Tu's subjugation of the monster.
Ao Tu firmly refused to accept it, saying:
"Bajie is my disciple. Subduing him was my duty, so how could I accept gold, silver, or other riches? If I accepted this money, this humble monk could not attain enlightenment even after a thousand tribulations."
Hearing this, Elder Gao dared not offer it again.
Bajie muttered at the side, "Master, you're far too rigid. We'll be eating in the wind and sleeping under the dew all along this road, and who knows when we'll reach the Western Heaven? We could at least take a little money for traveling expenses."
Ao Tu raised his hand and rapped Bajie on the head.
Bajie immediately clutched his head and cried out in pain. "Master, you certainly have a heavy hand!"
"You fool," Ao Tu said. "As Buddhist disciples traveling the world, we have our own ways of earning a living. How could we take people's money for nothing?"
"Master," Bajie said, "a monk's livelihood is nothing more than performing rituals, feeding hungry ghosts, and delivering the dead. How much silver could that earn? It wouldn't even cover one meal for Old Pig!"
"Never mind any larger sums," Ao Tu said. "A few hundred or a thousand taels of silver are certainly possible!"
Bajie exclaimed:
"That much! As the saying goes, a wandering monk has 'one bowl for the meals of a thousand homes, one lone body roaming ten thousand miles.' Master, how could you get so much silver?
"You haven't stolen or robbed it from somewhere, have you? If that's the case, we'll have to leave no traces! We can't let Guanyin Bodhisattva find out, or we'll never get the scriptures!"
Hearing this, Ao Tu raised his hand and rapped Bajie again.
"You blockhead! How could a Buddhist disciple commit theft or robbery?"
Clutching his head, Bajie asked, "Then where does it come from?"
"Your master has no need to steal or rob for this silver," Ao Tu said. "Every household will scramble to bring it to us. What's more, we'll earn merit too!"
"There's something that good?" Bajie asked. "Master, hurry and teach me!"
"Simple," Ao Tu said. "Go tell Elder Gao to invite all the villagers of Gao Village to the open ground west of the village."
"That's wild, barren country," Bajie said. "What would we go there for?"
Ao Tu raised his hand and rapped him again. "You fool! If I tell you to go, then hurry up and go. You'll understand when the time comes!"
Bajie had no choice but to find Elder Gao and relay Ao Tu's instructions.
Although Elder Gao was puzzled, he feared Bajie would linger and refuse to leave, so he dared not disobey.
Before long, Elder Gao had gathered all the villagers of Gao Village and led them to the place Ao Tu had named.
It was a stretch of wasteland, overrun with weeds and thick with bushes, its soil full of stones.
Ao Tu asked Bajie:
"Bajie, how long would it take you to turn over one mu of land here?"
Bajie thumped his chest and said:
"Master, this ground is full of roots and stones. An ordinary person could work himself to death and still fail to turn over a single mu, but Old Pig is Marshal Tianpeng descended to earth. With one casual move, I could turn it into a mu of fine farmland!"
Suddenly, something occurred to Bajie, and he asked:
"Master, you aren't asking me to turn their soil and do hard labor, are you?"
Ao Tu waved his hand. "No, no. How could your master bear to make you do hard labor? I only want you to turn over one mu. Use a little magic and turn the soil in an instant, just to show your master your abilities. Once we earn the money, I'll give you an extra twenty percent."
Bajie considered the offer, decided it was worthwhile, and said, "All right, Master! Watch me!"
With that, Bajie reached out and conjured the Supreme Treasure Gold-Banded Rake. He shook it, and the rake grew over twenty zhang long, its head more than ten zhang wide. With one turn through the earth, weeds, roots, and stones alike were ground to dust. In an instant, he had turned over a stretch of fine farmland.
Every villager watching marveled at the sight.
"Excellent disciple, excellent skills!" Ao Tu praised him.
As he spoke, he beckoned Bajie over and said quietly, "Bajie, whatever you hear your master say in a moment, don't speak. Just nod. I'll explain everything afterward. Do you understand?"
"Master, Old Pig understands," Bajie said.
Ao Tu called out to the villagers:
"Good people, what do you think of this humble monk's disciple's abilities?"
The villagers all replied:
"Wonderful skills, truly wonderful!"
"Congratulations on gaining such a fine disciple, holy monk!"
"Goodness, at this rate, he could produce a thousand mu of fertile fields in a single day!"
"Yes, indeed!"
"This humble monk is a wandering monk," Ao Tu said. "It would not be convenient for me to acquire property, and I have no use for this land. Seeing today how honest your village's customs are and how kindly every household behaves, I would like to perform a meritorious deed and sell this land to you cheaply. Would that suit you?"
Hearing this, the villagers said:
"It is certainly a blessing that you have such a bodhisattva's heart, holy monk. But farming households like ours have little money. What price would you ask for this land?"
"This humble monk seeks only to do good, not to gain wealth," Ao Tu said. "Let us set the price at one-tenth of a tael of silver per mu!"
The villagers were all overjoyed to hear it.
Elsewhere, one mu of good farmland was worth at least ten taels of silver, and even a mu of poor land was worth several taels. Now he was asking only one-tenth of a tael. How was that any different from giving it away?
He truly was a holy monk of perfect virtue!
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