Chapter 129: Encountering The Black Water River On The Road
It is said that the Fadi Kingdom ceased warfare, and the two countries returned to good relations.
Tang Sanzang used the sutras to stop the warfare between the two countries, his fame spreading far and wide, with the common people all becoming his followers.
The King of the Fadi Kingdom bestowed upon Tang Sanzang the title of Great Virtue High Monk, and personally dispatched people to escort Tang Sanzang and his disciples back to the Huoluo Kingdom.
After Tang Sanzang returned to the Huoluo Kingdom, the Huoluo Kingdom again bestowed upon Tang Sanzang the title of Great Holy Monk, treating him with national courtesy.
Facing the Huoluo Kingdom King’s retention, Tang Sanzang did not stay long, simply thanking the Huoluo Kingdom King before heading to the Black Water River.
The round trip had already taken more than two months.
On the Black Water River, the great bridge was already completed.
Giant logs a hundred feet wide spanned the river over sixty li long, with a bridge pier every twenty feet, totaling four hundred and sixty-two bridge piers built of giant stones, piled in the river, unmoved by the rushing waters, steady as Mount Tai.
The giant logs on top were incomparably wide, allowing more than ten carriages to pass side by side without issue, their roots deeply embedded in the ground, immovable even by earthquakes.
The laborers on the riverbank had settled their wages and departed, leaving only empty workers’ sheds in place, evoking a sense of things remaining but people gone.
However, on the way, Tang Sanzang and his disciples encountered nearby families, some of whom had worked on the Black Water River and recognized Tang Sanzang and his disciples, warmly hosting the four master and disciples and freely giving them dry grain and food.
Tang Sanzang found this coarse grain from the common people better than palace banquets.
The Huoluo Kingdom King had once told Tang Sanzang that he planned to allocate land here to build a city for goods circulation, and it was unknown whether those laborers could settle in the city after it was built.
However, even if they could not settle, they could surely make a living doing work like moving goods.
The four master and disciples walked onto the bridge.
There were many soldiers patrolling the bridge’s edge, all subordinates of the Imperial Envoy. Previously, during the war with the Fadi Kingdom, the Imperial Envoy feared spies would burn the great bridge, so he sealed off the riverbank and dispatched soldiers to guard day and night.
Tang Sanzang was preparing to cross the bridge when Ba Jie said: “Master, look, there’s a temple over there!”
Tang Sanzang looked and saw a temple of moderate size beside the workers’ sheds.
Earlier on the way there, the group had only noticed the workers’ sheds and not seen this temple.
Tang Sanzang went to the temple to inspect.
The temple was not large, with four halls: one main hall, one rear hall, and two side halls on the left and right.
Entering the main hall, the first sight was a majestic statue of the Black Water River Dragon King, with the Dragon King stepping on a giant turtle, the Black Water River Goddess to his left, and behind him two tiger generals and two wolf generals.
Behind the statue was a stone-carved mural depicting the Dragon God leading the gods, casting spells with divine strength to turn wood into a bridge and gather earth into stone, building the great bridge.
Tang Sanzang paid respects, then went to the right hall, where there was a row of statues: two tiger generals, two wolf generals, one giant turtle, and one goddess.
Behind them was also a mural recording the tiger generals leading people to fell trees, the wolf generals leading people to dig earth, the giant turtle piling bridge piers, and the goddess cooking meals.
Tang Sanzang also paid respects, then went to the left hall.
Arriving at the left hall, he saw a statue wearing a kassaya and a monk’s hat, with a compassionate face. Tang Sanzang looked and felt it somewhat familiar.
Ba Jie said: “Master, this is you!”
Hearing this, Tang Sanzang suddenly realized that the statue was indeed himself.
Wukong said: “Ba Jie, look, there’s you behind here too!”
Ba Jie said: “Monkey brother, you’re here too! And Junior Brother Sha as well!”
Statues of all four were fully displayed, with Tang Sanzang’s at the forefront, the other three slightly behind, and another mural behind depicting Tang Sanzang negotiating bridge-building with the Dragon King; Tang Sanzang writing letters for the laborers; foreign invaders attacking, with Tang Sanzang, Ba Jie, and Sha Seng going far to the foreign land to stop the war.
This segment of the story occupied about seventy to eighty percent of the mural, with another part depicting a divine monkey escorting silver taels and punishing corrupt officials.
Wukong laughed: “And old Sun is here too!”
Tang Sanzang smiled: “Wukong, you did good deeds for the common people, so naturally they will remember you.”
The four master and disciples then went to the rear hall, which had three murals. The one on the right depicted laborers collapsing under the scorching sun, the Dragon King sending the divine monkey to the sea to borrow salt, and casting spells to catch fish for the laborers, and other such stories.
Seeing it, Wukong laughed: “They’ve depicted old Sun as if he were their subordinate.”
Ba Jie said: “Bro, be content. Junior Brother Sha and I only appear once, half-blocked by Master. Not like you, with so many depictions.”
Wukong smiled and looked to the left.
The one on the left depicted the Dragon King distributing wage silver taels to the laborers. The Dragon King in the mural had transformed into his dragon body soaring in the sky, his dragon eyes gazing below, while the Imperial Envoy meticulously gave wage silver taels to every laborer without any negligence.
Tang Sanzang and the others had not witnessed this scene. When the great bridge was completed, they were still debating sutras in the Fadi Kingdom.
After viewing this mural, Tang Sanzang turned his gaze to the center. The central mural had no images, but rather a passage of text that detailed and concisely engraved the entire process of the great bridge’s construction.
After leaving the temple, the four master and disciples were in high spirits.
Of course, except for Little White Dragon.
Little White Dragon was tied at the temple entrance and had not entered the temple…
The four master and disciples stepped onto the great bridge again.
The great bridge was flat and wide, and Tang Sanzang rode forward on horseback.
Midway across, suddenly waves surged from under the bridge, and a giant turtle emerged from the water.
The giant turtle stretched its neck, looked left and right, transformed into an old man, came onto the bridge, blocked Tang Sanzang and his disciples, and knelt down.
Seeing this, Wukong said: “You are that old turtle from the river—what business do you have here?”
The Black Water River God, hearing this, shed tears streaming down his face and knelt in worship:
“Great Sage, please seek justice for this little god!”
Wukong asked puzzledly: “What grievance do you have that you seek my help?”
The Black Water River God said: “In reply to the Great Sage, this little god is truly…”
As he spoke, a beam of mystic light descended, and Ao Tu landed beside the Black Water River God.
The Black Water River God’s words abruptly stopped, and he knelt tightly on the ground in fear, not daring to raise his head.
He had clearly seen this monster leave before coming out to seek justice—why had he returned?
Seeing this, Wukong frowned slightly and said: “What exactly is going on? What are you hiding from old Sun?”
Ao Tu smiled: “Great Sage, actually I am not the Black Water River God—he is the true river god.”
Ao Tu raised his hand, took out the Black Water River God seal, tossed it to the Black Water River God, and said: “Return to original owner.”
The Black Water River God hurriedly caught it, overjoyed.
He had thought this monster would seize his god seal and not return it, so he complained to Wukong. Now that Ao Tu had returned the seal, he had no more worries and plunged back into the river.
Ao Tu said to Wukong: “I came to this river intending to accomplish something, so I borrowed his god seal for a time. He must have feared I would steal his river god position, hence his panic.”
Hearing this, Wukong could not help laughing and said:
“No wonder—I thought your style differed from those worthless gods; turns out you were impersonating.”
Ao Tu also laughed and said: “Great Sage, farewell for now—see you another day. Remember, you still owe me three moves!”
Wukong said: “Not to mention three moves, I wouldn’t fear thirty—I’m just afraid that after this parting, who knows when we shall meet again.”
Ao Tu cupped his hands and respectfully saw off Tang Sanzang and his disciples as they departed.
He did not make a move.
Actually, according to Ao Tu’s original plan, if he was still short of the one-year reward at the end, he had intended to forcibly abduct Tang Sanzang on the bridge to delay time.
But unexpectedly, the Fadi Kingdom’s war allowed him to easily delay a full year with plenty to spare, so he did not block them further.
【Current progress: three hundred ninety-two days】
