True Form

Upon hearing this, the old woman immediately stepped aside.

Upon sensing this, Zhu Bajie began to walk towards the four women, but they frantically dodged, preventing Zhu Bajie from touching a single piece of their clothing.

After a long time, Zhu Bajie, panting heavily, plopped down on the ground and said to the old woman:

"Mom, your daughter runs too fast! I can't touch any of them! This is exhausting!"

Upon hearing this, the old woman smiled and said to Zhu Bajie:

"Bajie's not that my daughters run too fast, it's that they all know how to be considerate, so they don't want to agree to your request."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie immediately gave up hope. After a short while, Zhu Bajie shamelessly said to the old woman:

"Mother, if none of your daughters want me, then why don't you take me in? How about I become your family's son-in-law?"

Upon hearing this, the old woman immediately launched into a tirade against Zhu Bajie:

"You're such a good son-in-law! My daughters don't want you, but you've set your sights on me. How about this: my three daughters are all very skillful; they each made a dress. If you can wear one, you can choose that daughter, okay?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie thought to himself:

"That's a good idea. If I could wear all three of them, would they all want me?"

After thinking it over, Zhu Bajie said to the old woman:

"Since you've said so, Mother, then hurry up and take out those clothes."

Upon hearing this, the old woman went into the room and retrieved a garment. Seeing this, Zhu Bajie took off his own blue robe, put the garment on, and before he could even tie his tie, he tripped and fell.

It turned out that several ropes had tightly bound Zhu Bajie, causing him unbearable pain, while the old woman and her three daughters had long since disappeared.

However, when Tang Xuanzang, Sun Wukong, and Sha Wujing woke up, the eastern sky was already gradually turning white.

When Tang Xuanzang looked up, he saw no magnificent buildings, but rather groves filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.

Upon seeing this, Sha Wujing quickly called out to Sun Wukong:

"Senior Brother, something terrible has happened! We think we just encountered a monster!"

Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang immediately felt terrified and said to Sun Wukong, "Wukong, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong calmly said to Tang Xuanzang:

"Master, don't be alarmed. The old woman and her three daughters you saw last night were arranged by several Bodhisattvas. Their stay here is just to test our character."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang suddenly understood, and after a while, he looked around and said:

"But where is Bajie now?"

"Hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong burst into laughter. "I wonder where that fool is suffering now?"

As soon as Sun Wukong finished speaking, Zhu Bajie's voice rang out from the distant forest.

"Master, please come and save me! I promise I won't do it again!"

Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang looked at Sun Wukong with a puzzled expression and asked, "Wukong, was it Zhu Bajie who said this?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong scratched the fur on the back of his hand and said to Tang Xuanzang with a smile:

"Master, don't worry about him. Let's keep going. He'll be out in a little while."

After Sun Wukong finished speaking, he took the lead of the White Dragon Horse beside Tang Xuanzang, while Sha Wujing took up the load that Zhu Bajie usually carried.

The group then walked into the woods.

After a while, Sun Wukong plucked a monkey hair and blew on it. The hair floated to Zhu Bajie's place on the wind.

The monkey hair stuck to Zhu Bajie's rope.

"You idiot, didn't you say you were going to become that old man's son-in-law? How did you end up tied up here?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie quickly apologized to Monkey Sun Wukong for the stray hair:

"Brother Monkey, I was careless this time. I will never think such things again. I will definitely accompany Master on his journey to the Western Heaven to retrieve the scriptures safely."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong had a sudden inspiration and transformed one of his monkey hairs into a sharp sword, cutting the ropes binding Zhu Bajie.

"Thump!"

Zhu Bajie immediately fell down from the tree and then caught up with the crowd.

Upon arriving at the Five Terraces Manor, Sun Wukong was detained by Zhenyuanzi because Sun Wukong stole Zhenyuanzi's Ginseng Fruit.

Then, because Zhenyuanzi spoke rudely, Sun Wukong, in a fit of anger, knocked down the Ginseng Fruit Tree with a single blow of his staff.

Enraged by this, Zhenyuanzi left Tang Xuanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Zhu Bajie Friar Sha at the Five Terraces Manor.

"If you don't restore my Ginseng Fruit Tree today, I will not release your master and fellow disciples."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong scratched the fur on the back of his hand in anger and gritted his teeth as he said to Zhenyuanzi:

"Then you'd better keep a close eye on my master and fellow disciples, or I won't let you off the hook."

After speaking, Sun Wukong rode his Somersault Cloud and flew towards the South Sea.

A moment later, Sun Wukong landed on the cloud and roared:

"The Bodhisattva has arrived, everyone hurry out to greet him!"

Upon hearing this, Zhenyuanzi left the palace together. Seeing this, the Bodhisattva spoke with Zhenyuanzi a while before following him to the Ginseng Fruit Tree that Sun Wukong had destroyed.

Seeing this, the Bodhisattva sprinkled out the clear water from the bottle and carefully inserted the willow branch from the bottle. After a short while, the Ginseng Fruit Tree slowly came back to life on its own.

Everyone was very surprised to see this. To thank the Bodhisattva for his help, Zhenyuanzi took the fruit from the Ginseng Fruit Tree and shared it with everyone.

Sun Wukong then escorted Bodhisattva Guanyin and the three elders back. When Sun Wukong returned, Zhenyuanzi greeted Sun Wukong with a smile.

Zhenyuanzi said to Sun Wukong:

"I always keep my word. From today onwards, we are brothers. Our friendship began as a fight."

After Zhenyuanzi finished speaking, the four of them, master and disciples, happily stayed up until night before finally resting.

The next day, the four of them prepared to set off. However, Zhenyuanzi and Sun Wukong became sworn brothers and got along very well. They were so happy with each other that they refused to let go. They had no choice but to stay for a while longer. Zhenyuanzi took out a pill and gave it to Tang Xuanzang.

Then Tang Xuanzang thought to himself:

"This elixir has made me feel reborn, and the Buddhist teachings I've learned before seem to have become even stronger. But now that I've been here for so long, when will I be able to reach the Western Pure Land?"

After thinking for a moment, Tang Xuanzang immediately spoke:

"Wukong, we've been here for so long already. I wonder if Buddha is getting impatient. Why don't we set off now?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong farewell to Zhenyuanzi, and then the four of them continued their journey.