Scouting Out the Situation

"Excuse me, sir, I'd like to ask you something. Please wait a moment and don't leave yet."

After Sun Wukong returned, the old man struggled to leave, leaning on his cane. As he was about to depart tremblingly, he suddenly saw Zhu Bajie and felt even more frightened. He quickly said:

"Oh my god, I'm definitely going to have nightmares tonight because I met this group of wicked people. The first one, the monk, was the ugliest, but he still looked human."

"But now, this monk in front of me has ears like fans, a flat, round face, and is all hairy, completely devoid of any human warmth."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie was momentarily angered, but then, remembering what Tang Xuanzang had said, he could only put on a kind smile and say to the old man:

"When you're unhappy, you start looking down on people. How can you think I'm ugly? Just look at me a little longer, and I'll become handsome."

Hearing that Zhu Bajie spoke human language, the old man calmed himself down and, after a long while, asked Zhu Bajie, "Where did you come from?"

Zhu Bajie laughed and said upon hearing this:

"I am Tang Xuanzang's second disciple, named Zhu Bajie. The one who came to ask your name is Sun Wukong, my senior brother. Master was angry that he offended you and couldn't get any information from you, so he specially sent me to ask."

Upon hearing this, the old man felt relieved and said, "So what exactly do you want to ask? Why did you send two people here to ask me?"

"What kind of mountain is this? What kind of cave is this? What kind of monster lives inside? Which road leads west? We hope you can give us directions, sir."

After speaking, Zhu Bajie bowed to the old man.

Seeing this, the old man said to Zhu Bajie, "Are you being honest?"

After speaking, Zhu Bajie asked with a puzzled look, "Old man, why do you ask about this? Besides, I have never committed a single false act in my life."

"Don't be like that monk who just came by, showing off his talents and arguing with me, spouting nonsense."

The old man pointed with his cane, and Sun Wukong, who was not far away, spoke earnestly.

"How could that be? I'm nothing like my senior brother. Just tell me the truth."

Zhu Bajie immediately patted his belly and assured the old man.

"This mountain is called Lion Camel Ridge, and in the middle there is a Lion Camel Cave, inside which live three demons."

The old man, holding his cane, spoke to Zhu Bajie.

"You old man, you're really overthinking things. What's there to be afraid of? My senior brother, junior brother, and I will each take one of those three Yaomo."

Zhu Bajie his hands together, eager to try, as if he hoped the three Yaomo would appear before him at any moment.

Aren't you afraid?

The old man saw that Zhu Bajie was very excited, so he asked with a puzzled look.

"To be honest, my senior brother killed one with a single blow, and then I struck with my Nine-Toothed Rake and killed another. He could also kill one of my junior brothers in one go. After killing all three of them, my master was gone. What's so difficult about that?"

Zhu Bajie held up his Nine-Toothed Rake and showed it off to the old man.

"You monk, you have no idea what's going on! Those three Divine Ability are incredibly powerful. They have over ten thousand monsters under their command, and they all have names and identities. They specialize in eating people here."

The old man sighed after speaking and looked at Zhu Bajie. Zhu Bajie immediately grabbed his Nine-Toothed Rake, ran back tremblingly, and sat down, panting heavily.

Seeing this, Sun Wukong grabbed Zhu Bajie's ear and said, "You idiot, you're back now, why aren't you saying anything? Why are you just sitting here?"

Upon hearing this Zhu Bajie rolled his eyes at Sun Wukong and said, "What the old man said almost scared the shit out of me. Forget it, let's not say anything more now and just run for our lives."

"You idiot, I wasn't scared at all, why are you so panicked? What happened? Tell your master everything, and we'll have a plan."

Sun Wukong released Zhu Bajie's ears and patted Zhu Bajie on the head.

"Bajie, why are you so scared out of the blue?"

Tang Xuanzang asked Zhu Bajie with a concerned expression.

"I just heard the old man say that this mountain is called Lion Camel, and there's a Lion Camel Cave in the middle of the mountain where three old demons live, and they have many minions who wait here to eat people."

"If we go to his side, we'll just be food delivered to his mouth; we can forget about going to the Western Heaven Paradise to retrieve the scriptures."

Zhu Bajie scratched his head and said earnestly to Tang Xuanzang.

Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang was immediately filled with trepidation and fear, and said to Sun Wukong:

"What should Wukong do now?"

"Master, don't worry, it's nothing serious. There are probably just a few monsters here. The people there are timid, so they scared themselves by saying there were many monsters. Don't worry, I'm here."

After speaking, Sun Wukong took out his Ruyi Jingu Bang from his ear and showed it to Tang Xuanzang.

"Brother Monkey, what are you saying? I'm not like you. I'm asking about the truth, there's not a single falsehood in my mind. These mountains and valleys are teeming with Yaomo, how are we supposed to move forward?"

Zhu Bajie clutched his stomach, lying on the ground, his belly feeling extremely empty, and said to Sun Wukong.

"You pig, you're really lazy and gluttonous. Don't panic. Even if the whole mountain is full of monsters, all I need is my Old Sun Ruyi Jingu Bang) to wipe them all out in one night."

Sun Wukong pointed his Ruyi Jingu Bang at Zhu Bajie and lightly tapped Zhu Bajie's stomach. Zhu Bajie immediately stood up and scolded Sun Wukong:

"You're really shameless! Don't make such boastful claims. It would take at least seven or eight days to clear out these demons. How can you say you can finish them off in one night?"

"Then tell me, how do you take them all out at once?"

Sun Wukong asked Zhu Bajie with a puzzled look, wanting to learn from Zhu Bajie's experience.

"No matter how you grab and tie him up, or use Immobilization Method, it won't be this fast."

Zhu Bajie pondered seriously and slowly spoke.

"Have you forgotten, you idiot? There's no need to capture them all. I just need to lengthen my Ruyi Jingu Bang so I can roll down the mountain in one go, and all those monsters will be wiped out."

Seeing that Zhu Bajie's ears were constantly fidgeting, Sun Wukong grabbed Zhu Bajie's ears and muttered to Zhu Bajie.

Meanwhile, Sha Wujing, who had been silent for a while, laughed and said, "With Senior Brother's Divine Ability, Master, how could we be afraid of those monsters? Hurry up and get on the horse, let's go now."