The Trap
As soon as Tang Xuanzang finished speaking, he had Zhu Bajie fetch the cassock, put on the monk's hat, and slowly walked forward.
Just as Tang Xuanzang was about to walk forward, a voice suddenly came from inside the mountain gate, loudly proclaiming:
"Tang Xuanzang, how can you be so disdainful of me after coming all the way from the Eastern Lands? You should hold yourself to the highest standards of courtesy."
Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang immediately knelt down and kowtowed. Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing followed closely behind, but only Sun Wukong led the horse, packed the luggage, and followed behind. When they reached the second gate, they Tathagata the Buddha's Hall.
Below the palace gate and the treasure platform, five hundred Luo Han and numerous deities were arranged, creating a scene of birdsong, fragrant flowers, and vibrant energy.
Tang Xuanzang, along with Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing at every step until they reached the Lingtai (spiritual platform). However, Sun Wukong completely ignored them. After a short while, a voice suddenly rang out:
"Sun Wukong, why don't you worship me when you see me?"
Sun Wukong examined it carefully again, and then realized that what he was seeing was fake. He then dropped his luggage and horse, raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang), and shouted:
"You wicked beast, how dare you impersonate the Buddha and tarnish the Tathagata's virtue! Don't run, or you'll be killed!"
As soon as Sun Wukong finished speaking, he raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang) to strike forward. Suddenly, a sound rang out in mid-air. A golden bowl appeared and covered Sun Wukong, head and feet, inside it.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing panicked and hurriedly raised their weapons, but were all grabbed by the surrounding planets. Then, Tang Xuanzang was bound by a thick rope.
It turns out that the one impersonating Buddha on the lotus platform was a Demon King, and the gods around him were just a bunch of minor monsters.
When they saw that Sun Wukong, Tang Xuanzang, and the others had been captured, they revealed their true forms as demons and carried all three of them to the back door.
However, Sun Wukong was trapped inside that golden bowl forever. Seeing Sun Wukong's wretched state, the demon thought smugly to himself:
"Sun Wukong, you never expected this, did you? You'll end up like this. In a while, you'll be transformed into fresh blood."
"When the time comes, I'll put your blood, along with all your fellow disciples, into a steamer and steam them, including Tang Xuanzang, so we can eat them all."
After the group of monsters led Tang Xuanzang the back door, they hid all of his luggage. Meanwhile, Sun Wukong was in the dark golden bowl, sweating profusely with frustration.
It swayed wildly from side to side, frantically crashing against the bowl, unable to escape. In desperation, Sun Wukong raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang and banged it haphazardly from the side.
After a long time, Sun Wukong was finally exhausted, but the bowl remained unbroken.
Sun Wukong was at a loss. He simply enlarged his body, trying to break the bowl. Then he used a trick, and his body grew to be hundreds of meters tall. The golden bowl also grew along with Sun Wukong.
Then Sun Wukong thought to himself, "If it's like this, will the bowl shrink along with me when I shrink?"
After thinking about this, Sun Wukong immediately put it into practice and then used a trick to shrink his body.
The bowl shrank along with Sun Wukong, without leaving the slightest flaw.
Sun Wukong then raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang) and blew a breath of immortal energy, which transformed into a Jingu Bang that supported the golden bowl.
Then, Sun Wukong turned the hairs on his back into a drill and frantically drilled into the bowl's wall. But after half a day, there was still no crack. Finally, Sun Wukong got anxious and summoned a group of gods.
The group of immortals standing outside the bowl said to Sun Wukong:
"Great Sage Sun, we are here to protect Tang Xuanzang from being harmed by Yaomo. Why have you summoned us here again?"
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong earnestly addressed the group of immortals:
"My master never listens to me. If he dies, it's not a loss."
"But first, you need to figure out how to pry this bowl open so I can get out before we make any further plans. There's absolutely no light in here, and I'm incredibly frustrated; I feel like I'm suffocating."
Upon hearing this, the gods gathered around the bowl and examined it for a while. They then found a corner and tried to lift it with all their might, but the bowl seemed to grow out of the ground and they couldn't lift it at all.
After a short while, one of the deities said to Sun Wukong:
"Great Sage Sun, there's nothing we can do about this. We don't know what kind of treasure this is. It's composed of two parts that are then combined into one whole. There's no Feng Xi inside; we're too weak to lift it."
"Great Sage Sun, do you have any good methods inside? If so, please tell us, and we'll try our best to help you."
After hearing what the immortal said, Sun Wukong sighed and said to him:
"You think I didn't want to? I've tried every possible method, but this thing has absolutely no flaws, which is why I called you all here."
After hearing what Sun Wukong said, the gods sent several gods to protect Tang Xuanzang, while the rest watched over Sun Wukong.
One of the immortals arrived outside the Southern Heavenly Gate, and went all the way to the foot of the Hall of Numinous Treasure. After meeting the Jade Emperor, he said to Jade Emperor:
"Reporting to the Jade Emperor, we were secretly following and protecting Tang Xuanzang on his journey to the Western Heaven Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures. However, at that time, we passed by a mountain Lesser Thunderclap Monastery. Tang Xuanzang mistook it for Spirit Mountain and entered it. However, that Lesser Thunderclap Monastery was actually Yaomo in disguise."
"Later, Tang Xuanzang was captured by that Yaomo, while Sun Wukong was trapped in that golden bowl with no way out, so we rushed here to report to you."
After listening to this, the Jade Emperor pondered for a long time and then sent several more deities to Sun Wukong's side.
The Jade Emperor slowly said, "If that's the case, then summon the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions to join Sun Wukong in subduing that monster."
The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions dared not delay and hurriedly followed the immortal out of the Southern Heavenly Gate. By the time they arrived at Sun Wukong's side, it was already two in the morning.
The demons inside the cave were celebrating their capture of Tang Xuanzang. Seeing this, the star spirits remained calm and approached the golden bowl, saying to Sun Wukong:
"Great Sage Sun, we have come to rescue you on the orders of the Jade Emperor."