Encountering a Monster
Seeing that they were all talking so animatedly, Tang Xuanzang had no choice but to put his mind at ease, mount the White Dragon Horse, and continue on his way.
Just as things were getting tense, the old man who had brought the message suddenly disappeared. Seeing this, Sha Wujing spoke up:
"That old man must be a monster, and he came to warn us and scare us."
Sun Wukong didn't believe what Sha Wujing said, so Sun Wukong said, "Don't be in a hurry, let me go up and take a look."
After speaking, Sun Wukong jumped to the highest peak, where he had a panoramic view. He quickly turned his head and suddenly saw colorful clouds appearing in the sky. He then summoned his Somersault Cloud to catch up with the bright light and suddenly saw that it was Taibai Jinxing.
Sun Wukong hurriedly went to Taibai Jinxing's side, tugging at his clothes and repeatedly calling him by his Taibai Jinxing nickname. Sun Wukong said:
"Li Changgeng, you are really too lazy. If you have something to say, just say it to my face. Why do you have to pretend to be an old man in the mountains and deceive me?"
Upon hearing this, Taibai Jinxing immediately bowed and said:
"Great Sage Sun, please don't blame me for being late in bringing this message. This Divine Ability is incredibly powerful. If you want to get through, you'll have to put in a lot of effort. You can't take shortcuts. If you're lazy, you can forget about getting through."
Sun Wukong quickly bowed to Taibai Jinxing and said, "Thank you, thank you. Indeed, there is a difficult situation here. I hope you can speak to the Jade Emperor and borrow some heavenly soldiers and generals to help me."
"Yes, definitely. You just need to shout at the sky, and even 100,000 heavenly soldiers will appear."
Taibai Jinxing patted his chest and assured Sun Wukong.
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong bid farewell to Taibai Jinxing and jumped down, saying to Tang Xuanzang, "Master, that old man was actually Taibai Jinxing who came to inform us."
"Wukong, hurry up and catch up with him and ask him where he is. There's another road; let's just go that way."
Tang Xuanzang was immediately very excited and quickly grabbed Sun Wukong's hand and said to Sun Wukong.
"Master, I'd like to ask you that too, but he said this mountain is very high, and we don't know what other roads are around here. How do we get there?"
After speaking, Sun Wukong felt utterly helpless.
However, Tang Xuanzang felt extremely helpless. After a while, he became increasingly saddened and couldn't help but shed tears.
"Disciple, even Taibai Jinxing has come to warn us. You can imagine how difficult it is here. How are we supposed to make our way to the Western Heaven to worship Buddha and seek scriptures?"
Sun Wukong was most annoyed by Tang Xuanzang's crying, so Sun Wukong said to Tang Xuanzang:
"Master, please don't cry. Have you forgotten that you still have some Buddhist teachings? Besides, the message from Taibai Jinxing is bound to contain some falsehoods. As long as we pay attention, we'll be able to get through this."
After saying this, Zhu Bajie immediately said, "Then why don't we sit here and discuss it before continuing?"
"What's there to discuss? You all stay here and protect Master diligently, Sha Wujing, take good care of the luggage and horses."
"Once I get up the mountain, I'll find out how many monsters there are, catch one, and interrogate him thoroughly, finding out about his entire family."
Sun Wukong was actually an impatient person. When he heard the discussion, he immediately interrupted what Zhu Bajie was saying.
Upon hearing this, Sha Wujing patted Sun Wukong on the shoulder and said to Sun Wukong:
"Senior brother, you must be careful this time. Don't be careless, or we really won't be able to get over this mountain."
"Wujing, you can rest assured about what I'm doing. I'll make a way for you even if it's the Eastern Ocean, and I'll even dig a tunnel through mountains of gold and silver."
After speaking, Sun Wukong raised his Ruyi Jingu Bang), summoned his Somersault Cloud, and leaped onto the mountaintop. He stood there quietly, observing the scene. The mountaintop was utterly silent; not a sound could be heard. After a while, Sun Wukong exclaimed in disbelief:
"It's a mistake; we shouldn't have let Taibai Jinxing go back. He was just trying to scare us; there's no such thing as a demon."
Just as Sun Wukong was about to turn and leave, he suddenly heard a series of clanging and banging sounds coming from the mountain behind him. He quickly turned around to look.
It turned out to be a little demon carrying a command flag on his back, a bell hanging from his waist, and striking a clapper as he walked from north to south.
Sun Wukong stared intently for a moment, then smiled smugly, thinking to himself, "This must be a low-ranking soldier, patrolling the mountain. Let me ask him some questions and see what he has to say."
Imagine, Sun Wukong transforms into a fly, gently flies onto the little demon's hat, and quietly listens to the little demon speak.
The little demon tapped the clapper, shook the bell, and muttered:
"When I came to patrol the mountain, everyone told me to be wary of Sun Wukong, because he could turn into a fly."
"Good heavens, did this monster see me? If he didn't see me, how would he know my name? How would he know I turned into a fly?"
After thinking it over, Sun Wukong immediately flew into the grass and quietly observed the little demon.
It turned out that the little demon hadn't actually seen Sun Wukong; the demon lord had just instructed him on these words, and the little demon, afraid of forgetting what his king had said, kept muttering them the whole way.
Sun Wukong was unaware of this and, suspecting the little demon had already seen him, was about to take out his Ruyi Jingu Bang to strike him, but suddenly stopped, thinking to himself:
"When Zhu Bajie asked Taibai Jinxing, he said there were three old demons and many lesser demons, and that it wouldn't matter if there were more lesser demons like these."
"But I don't know just how powerful those three Yaomo are. I'll ask them first before I make a move."
After thinking it over, Sun Wukong flew from the grass to a tree, let the little demon go a few steps ahead, and then quickly came behind the little demon and transformed into the little demon's appearance.
She imitated the little demon, ringing a clapper and bell, carrying a flag, and wearing the same clothes, only slightly larger than the little demon. She also mimicked the little demon, muttering as she stepped forward and said, "Wait for me, you who are walking."
The little demon turned to Sun Wukong and asked, "Where did you come from?"
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong stopped what he was doing and said with a smile:
"Don't you recognize your own family anymore? This really breaks my heart."
"You don't even exist in my family!"
After staring at Sun Wukong for a long time, the little demon slowly spoke.
"How can you not recognize me? Look at me more closely. We used to drink and eat together. If you can't recognize me now, then all the hard-won friendship we built up was just a facade."
After speaking, Sun Wukong pretended to be sad, wiping away tears as he glanced at the little demon out of the corner of his eye.