Crossing the River
Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang. Then, upon closer inspection, he discovered that there were people walking on the river.
Upon seeing this Tang Xuanzang quickly walked towards the riverbank. Seeing this, the others immediately stopped Tang Xuanzang and said:
"Master, it's already late. Why don't we go back and rest, and prepare to set off the next day?"
Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang had no choice but to give up. The next day, just as dawn broke, Zhu Bajie got up and said:
"It was so cold last night, the river must have frozen over long ago."
Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang hurried to the riverbank and suddenly saw a group of people continuing to walk on the river.
Seeing this, Tang Xuanzang looked bewildered and asked the old man, "Where are they going?"
Upon hearing this, the old man smiled and said to Tang Xuanzang:
"The other side of this river is the Women's Kingdom; those people go there to do business."
Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang quickly instructed the old man to prepare the horses, and they set off on their journey.
Seeing this, Zhu Bajie quickly said to Tang Xuanzang:
"Master, please don't panic. Let me test how thick this ice really is first."
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong mocked Zhu Bajie:
"You idiot, if you wanted to test the waters, you could just throw a stone in and you'd know. But how did you test the ice?"
When Zhu Bajie saw the disbelieving look on Sun Wukong's face, he chuckled self-deprecatingly and raised his Nine-Toothed Rake to smash it against the thick ice.
"Bang!"
With a loud bang, Zhu Bajie went numb from the shock. Seeing the white marks flashing on the ice, Sun Wukong finally felt relieved and said to Tang Xuanzang:
"Master, the ice is hard enough. You can go ahead without worry."
After a short while, Tang Xuanzang felt reassured and mounted his horse to walk slowly on the ice. However, the horse suddenly slipped, and Tang Xuanzang and the horse fell onto the ice.
Seeing this, Zhu Bajie quickly said to Tang Xuanzang, "Master, please wait here for me for a little while. I'll go find that old man and ask for some straw, and I'll be right back."
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong looked at Zhu Bajie with a puzzled expression and said, "What do you need that straw for? Are you afraid you'll get hungry on the road?"
After hearing what Sun Wukong said, Zhu Bajie looked at Sun Wukong disdainfully Sun Wukong said:
"You monkey don't know anything. You'll understand once I get those straws back."
After saying this, Zhu Bajie didn't go back to find the old man. He took some straw and squatted down next to Tang Xuanzang, tying some straw to the White Dragon Horse's hoof.
The White Dragon Horse then walked smoothly on the ice without slipping or falling again.
After a short while, Zhu Bajie saw that Tang Xuanzang's hands were empty, so he handed his precious staff to Tang Xuanzang Tang Xuanzang said to him:
"Master, please take your magic staff; it will come in handy later."
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong immediately mocked Zhu Bajie, "You pig, you're really too cunning! This staff was originally meant for you, how could you let Master take it back?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie immediately reprimanded Sun Wukong:
"What do you know? If Master cracks while walking on the ice, can he still use this magic staff to save his life?"
Sun Wukong watched as Tang Xuanzang took the things from Zhu Bajie's hands and continued on his way.
Sun Wukong Zhu Bajie to himself, "This pig does have some brains; it seems he's always been good at walking on ice."
After a while, a sound suddenly came from beneath the ice. Tang Xuanzang's White Dragon Horse was startled. Tang Xuanzang immediately looked at Zhu Bajie, but Zhu Bajie said to Tang Xuanzang nonchalantly:
"Master, don't worry. If you hear a sound from under the ice, it means the ice underneath is frozen solid, so you can go without worry."
A short while later, they arrived at the bottom of the ice and saw Tang Xuanzang walking on it. They then led a group of demons to break through the ice, and Tang Xuanzang immediately fell in. Upon seeing this, Sun Wukong quickly jumped into the air and looked into the water.
Anyway, the demon had already captured Tang Xuanzang and taken him back to his mansion. The ragged old man hurriedly came out to look at the demon, who was overjoyed.
The Great King of Numinous Touch hurriedly said, "Quickly, have your men sharpen all the knives and dig out all of this monk's internal organs to eat him raw."
The ragged old man was overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly said, "Your Majesty, don't eat him yet. I'm afraid that Divine Ability disciple will come knocking on our door demanding his master soon. Why don't we capture all his disciples first and then eat our fill?"
After listening to the ragged old man's words, the Great King of Numinous Touch pondered for a long time and then slowly said, "What you said makes some sense. Why don't we do as you say?"
Meanwhile, Sun Wukong, who was in the sky, looked at Zhu Bajie and asked, "Where did Master fall into?"
After pondering for a long time, Zhu Bajie slowly said to Sun Wukong, "I don't know where Master fell into either. All I know is that Master is still in this Tongtian River. How about this, let's go back now and discuss it further later."
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong became very angry and immediately grabbed Zhu Bajie 'Zhu Bajie ear, saying to him:
"If we were to take this long, Master would have already been eaten. Why don't you two hurry down into the Tongtian River and capture that monster?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie muttered softly, "I do all the dirty and hard work, and now you're saying I should go rescue Tang Xuanzang? Why don't you go?"
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong said helplessly to Zhu Bajie, "If I could swim, I could go, but I can't swim right now. How about this, you two take me there?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie chuckled smugly to himself, "Well, you, Sun Wukong, you've been playing tricks on me all this time. Now I finally know you can't swim!"
After seeing the expression on Zhu Bajie's face, Sun Wukong plucked a hair from his body and transformed it into a fake Sun Wukong. The fake Sun Wukong then climbed onto Zhu Bajie's body and went into the water with him.
After Zhu Bajie entered the water, he was suddenly struck by Sun Wukong, causing him to stumble and fall. It turned out that Sun Wukong was a hair in disguise; after floating up, he vanished without a trace.
Seeing this, Sha Wujing quickly scolded Zhu Bajie, "Second Brother, you really are something! Why don't you walk properly and insist on crawling in the mud? Now you've made our eldest brother fall!"