Chapter 20

Senior Brother lowered his voice. "This is the Mountain God of Lingtai, our master's close friend. Remember, do not offend him."

Sun Wukong committed it to memory and copied the others in forming hand seals and meditating, looking somewhat like a true cultivator.

[Time flew by. Sun Wukong devoted himself to cultivation on Mount Fangcun, unaware of the passing seasons amid morning bells and evening drums.

One day, he learned that Senior Brother Zhuo Yingfan would be leaving the mountain to return home. Recalling his usual kindness in teaching him—especially the black iron staff custom-made for him—Wukong went to see the Patriarch off.

Patriarch Bodhi instructed him, "Seeing someone off is only natural. But your appearance is unusual, so you must avoid being seen by mortals. Return once you reach the mountain boundary. Do not delay."

"I will remember." Sun Wukong respectfully agreed.

After bidding farewell to the Patriarch, he carried Senior Brother Zhuo's luggage, and the two set off down the mountain path. Upon crossing the borders of Spirit Platform Mountain, Zhuo Yingfan stopped. "This is far enough."

Wukong asked where his senior brother was headed. Hearing that he was returning to Baoling Prefecture, he immediately offered to accompany him as far as Guangci Prefecture. Senior Brother Zhuo laughed. "The journey will likely take over a month. You have only just learned the method of breathing cultivation and have only begun your training. You should not neglect it."

"I'll head back once the provisions run out," Wukong insisted.

For the next ten-odd days, whenever Senior Brother Zhuo asked, Wukong always said there was still fruit left from the mountain. Until one day, Zhuo Yingfan noticed that his bundle seemed strangely heavy and reached out to inspect it.

Unable to dodge in time, Wukong could only grin sheepishly. "They're just some wild fruits..."

"They are clearly rocks." Senior Brother Zhuo's expression turned stern. "Open it and let me see."

Sun Wukong shook his head repeatedly. Zhuo Yingfan said gently, "Wukong, do not be so willful. Untie the bundle."

Only then did Sun Wukong slowly take down the bundle. When it was spread open, it was filled with smooth river stones.

"You ate all the fruit long ago and used these useless rocks to make up the weight?" Zhuo Yingfan said with a stern face.

The Monkey King squatted on the ground, scratching his ears and cheeks. "Old Sun just wanted to walk a little farther with Senior Brother."

Zhuo Yingfan sighed softly at that. "Even after seeing someone off for a thousand miles, parting must come in the end. Once you and I have completed our cultivation, we will meet again."

As he spoke, he stepped forward and gently patted Sun Wukong's shoulder. "Go back and cultivate well under Master. When you attain the Great Dao, we will speak joyfully again."

Sun Wukong nodded heavily. "Senior Brother, when you have the chance, you must return to Spirit Platform Mountain to see me."

"Of course." Smiling, Zhuo Yingfan removed the luggage hanging from the Golden Cudgel. "Go on."

Sun Wukong cupped his fists in salute and watched Zhuo Yingfan's figure recede into the distance. Only after he vanished into the vast mountain scenery did Wukong turn back.

To avoid the eyes of mortals, Sun Wukong traveled exclusively through remote mountains and dense forests. One day, while passing through a range of verdant peaks, he found strange fruits fragrant across the mountains and could not contain his delight.

He leaped high and low, climbed branches, and plucked fruit until his bundle gradually bulged. His cheerful ape cries startled flocks of birds throughout the mountains. Just as he was playing—

Boom! A deafening blast shook the forest!

Sun Wukong immediately became alert. He tied up his laden bundle and was about to flee when black clouds suddenly pressed down from the horizon. A chilling cold swept over him. Looking up, he saw two blood-red lanterns suspended in the clouds.

A demonic wind surged up. Sun Wukong clung desperately to a tree trunk, but he and the branch were swept into the clouds together. With a startled cry, the black clouds wrapped around him, becoming a streak of red light that plunged into a mountain cave.

The damp cave reeked of blood and rot. Sun Wukong flipped to his feet and saw a young girl in red standing in the shadows. The iron staff his senior brother had given him was nowhere in sight, and he shouted sharply, "What kind of demon are you?"

The woman stepped forward slowly, revealing icy vertical pupils. As her scarlet tongue hissed, her true form emerged amid the demonic mist: a Red-Scaled Giant Python. Sun Wukong's fur stood on end, and he turned to flee.

The Red-Scaled Giant Python suddenly lashed out with her tail, sending Sun Wukong flying into the rock wall.

Amid a thunderous crash, Sun Wukong was left dizzy and disoriented. He had been born a Stone Monkey from a spiritual stone, possessing an Indestructible Vajra Body from birth. Though the pain was unbearable, he was not injured.

The python opened her gaping bloody maw and swallowed Sun Wukong whole. Her scarlet tongue curled around him and pushed him between her sharp teeth. Her serrated fangs gnawed at him without cease. They could not pierce his body, but the pain made him wish he were dead.

Finding the monkey as tough and difficult to chew as old cowhide, the python simply constricted her throat and swallowed him directly into her stomach. Sun Wukong plunged into a pool of foul-smelling acid, his entire body feeling as if it were being scorched by blazing fire.

This is bad. That beast swallowed me whole. Sun Wukong sensed that he could barely breathe. He lunged at the stomach wall and began punching and kicking.

The young girl in red, who had just returned to human form and was about to rest, suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her belly. She screamed and curled up on the ground, revealing her true form once more. The giant python writhed painfully within the cave, making the entire mountain tremble.

After a long while, the python suddenly opened her mouth and spat out Sun Wukong, who was covered in slime. As he gasped for breath, the young girl formed hand seals and chanted an incantation, creating black ropes to bind him.

"I am a cultivator of Spirit Platform Mountain. I entered this place by mistake and meant no offense. Miss, could you show mercy and let me go?" Sun Wukong pleaded between gasps. The young girl ignored him and imprisoned him in the cave.

Suddenly, movement sounded outside the cave, and a huge wild boar barged in. A sharp gleam flashed in the young girl's eyes. She transformed into the giant python again and chewed the boar alive before swallowing it. Blood dripped from her fangs, making for a horrifying sight.

Sun Wukong watched in terror. Before I have attained immortality, am I going to die in a snake's jaws today?

For three days, Sun Wukong suffered relentless torment. Every day, the snake demon would put him in her mouth and chew him until she confirmed that she could not crush him before finally stopping. His Daoist robe had long been shredded into strips, exposing his body of golden fur.

The snake demon refused to give up. After biting him each day, she would wrap herself tightly around him, trying to squeeze out his internal organs and devour them.

But Sun Wukong possessed an Indestructible Vajra Body, and the snake demon failed day after day. Still unwilling to release him, she merely kept him imprisoned in the cave and tortured him endlessly.

After enduring such devastation, Sun Wukong was utterly exhausted. Fortunately, his will was firm, and his mind remained clear.

Twilight deepened outside the cave, while darkness filled its interior. Wukong, tortured all day, lay sprawled on the ground. Each breath stirred wisps of dust.

In the darkness, his eyes darted rapidly as he continually searched for a way to escape.

Yet after counting through all his abilities, he found that none could help him flee. Sun Wukong could not help feeling dejected. With a long sigh, he blew up a cloud of dust.

Looking at the swirling dust, Sun Wukong suddenly woke to an idea. How could I have forgotten that technique?

Patriarch Bodhi had once taught him the Spell to Summon Earth God. Was this not precisely the right moment to use it?

Sun Wukong immediately focused his mind, calmed his breathing, and silently recited the incantation.

When he finished, white smoke abruptly rose through the cave, and a minor deity dressed in the robes of a Ninth-Rank Immortal Official appeared from within it.

"Old Earth God! I am a disciple of Patriarch Bodhi and have been captured by a snake demon. Hurry and save me!" Sun Wukong cried urgently.

The moment the words left his mouth, he silently cursed himself—the snake demon on the stone bed had awakened.

Upon seeing the Earth God appear, the snake demon's expression changed drastically. She instantly transformed into a giant python and lunged at him.

"Ah!" the Earth God cried, stomping his foot and fleeing through the earth.

Sun Wukong was filled with regret. Seeing the Earth God escape, the giant python turned her scarlet eyes upon him and swallowed him once more with her gaping maw.

"How miserable!" Sun Wukong's vision went black as he once again endured the crushing of her teeth.

While Sun Wukong suffered, the fleeing Xieshan Earth God had already reached the Mountain God Temple on Danchi Ridge of Spirit Platform Mountain.

Seeing the Fire Spirit True Immortal trimming peach trees, the Earth God quickly cupped his fists. "Mountain Guard General, is the Mountain God here?"

The Fire Spirit True Immortal turned and asked, "The Mountain Lord is cultivating in the pavilion. What urgent matter brings you here?"

"Please report that someone from the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars has been captured by a demon below the mountain."

The Fire Spirit True Immortal's expression sharpened. "Who is it? Where is the demon?"

"I do not know his name. I only saw a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks, with golden fur all over his body. He did not look human."

"It must be Sun Wukong." The Fire Spirit True Immortal understood at once—among the Patriarch's disciples, only Sun Wukong had such an unusual appearance.

The Fire Spirit True Immortal leaped into the Eight Immortals Pavilion. Before long, Zhuang Yan descended on a cloud with him.

The Xieshan Earth God stepped forward. "Greetings, Mountain Lord."

Zhuang Yan nodded. "The demon's lair has been identified. I will capture it at once. You may withdraw."

"Yes, sir." The Earth God turned into white smoke and escaped through the earth.

Zhuang Yan said to the Fire Spirit True Immortal, "Call Vanguard Hu. He will accompany me to subdue the demon."

The Fire Spirit True Immortal immediately shouted, "Vanguard Hu!"

"Here." A deep, powerful voice rang out. Zhuang Yan turned to see a large cat with a tiger's head and tail and a nimble body crouching beneath a peach tree, trimming branches. It was Vanguard Hu.

These peach trees had all been cultivated by the Fire Spirit True Immortal from the pits of Longevity Immortal Peaches, surrounding the Mountain God Temple. Yet, just as Zhuang Yan had said, they bore only ordinary peaches, though they tasted more delicious than common mountain peaches.

Vanguard Hu strode forward and respectfully saluted Zhuang Yan. Then Zhuang Yan raised a cloud, carrying the Fire Spirit True Immortal and Vanguard Hu away from Spirit Platform Mountain before descending directly into the green mountains.

The night was deep, the wind fierce, and the moon hidden. Zhuang Yan brought the two of them down before the snake demon's cave. As the chief deity of Guangci Prefecture's mountains, rivers, and Earth Veins, no demon's cave mansion could escape his senses. He needed only consult the jade register to know everything clearly.

Zhuang Yan pointed at the cave entrance and said to the Fire Spirit True Immortal, "Use fire to force her out. Do not burn her to death."

"Yes, sir." The Fire Spirit True Immortal formed hand seals and pointed toward the cave. Flames immediately surged within.

A hiss suddenly erupted from the cave, followed by a rising demonic wind that shook the forest. Zhuang Yan rose into the air and ordered, "Vanguard Hu, capture the demon. Fire Spirit, enter the cave and save the person."

"Yes!" the two answered in unison. Vanguard Hu drew his Great Ring Saber behind his back, while the Fire Spirit True Immortal transformed into a streak of fire and swept into the cave.

Rumble—

Earth and stone exploded at the cave entrance as a massive red-scaled python burst out. Zhuang Yan shouted from the air, "Vanguard Hu, capture it alive!"

"Huh?" Vanguard Hu froze, then immediately threw down his Great Ring Saber and charged forward barehanded.

Zhuang Yan pressed a hand to his forehead, speechless. That foolish tiger. Capturing it alive does not mean discarding your weapon.

Sure enough, unarmed, Vanguard Hu was suppressed in both size and strength. After wrestling with the python for over ten exchanges, he was tightly constricted by her coils. The python opened her bloody maw and struck at Vanguard Hu's head.

At that critical moment, Zhuang Yan flicked a finger, and golden light flashed. The Heavenly King Golden Halberd crashed down from the sky, striking the python squarely on the head.

Blood burst from the red-scaled python's head as she crashed to the ground unconscious. Vanguard Hu fell to the ground, then climbed to his feet, gasping as he apologized. "Mountain Lord, this subordinate was incompetent..."

Zhuang Yan waved him off. "Pick up your saber. Capturing it alive does not mean disarming yourself."

Vanguard Hu scratched his head with an embarrassed grin. "This subordinate... was afraid of accidentally cutting it to death."

Zhuang Yan shook his head and recalled the golden halberd, studying the unconscious python. Though he did not know whether she was connected to the tribulations of Journey to the West, this demon possessed extraordinary innate potential. Taming her might prove useful.

He took out a clay jar and sealed the Great Red Scale Python within it, then turned his gaze aside.

The Fire Spirit True Immortal led Sun Wukong before Zhuang Yan. Having witnessed Zhuang Yan subdue the Great Red Scale Python with his own eyes, Sun Wukong immediately bowed respectfully. "This junior, Sun Wukong, thanks the Mountain Lord for saving my life."

Seeing him covered in filth, Zhuang Yan waved out a beam of immortal light to cleanse him, then took a fresh set of clothes from his sleeve and handed them over. Sun Wukong thanked him and quickly changed.

After the Fire Spirit True Immortal and Vanguard Hu returned to the Mountain God Temple on Zhuang Yan's orders, Zhuang Yan rode a green cloud and brought Sun Wukong with him to Mount Fangcun.

Zhuang Yan personally returned Sun Wukong to the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Patriarch Bodhi, he returned to the Mountain God Temple.

The moment he returned to the temple, he took out the clay jar from his sleeve and lifted its seal. With the sound of shattering, the Great Red Scale Python crashed to the ground. Though the demon had awakened, her severe head wound allowed her only to wriggle slowly.