Chapter 2: Burning The Zen Temple
However, after Ao Tu left Spirit Mountain, he followed the route of the Journey for Sutras and arrived at the Guanyin Monastery Area.
Below, two figures, one man and one monkey, came into view; they were Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong.
At this moment, the System’s voice sounded.
【Entering Journey to the West Great Tribulation】
【Main Quest: Roadblocker in Journey to the West (Activated）】
【Content: Obstruct the Pilgrim, prevent the great prosperity of Buddhism.】
【Current Side Quest: Trouble Arises at Guanyin Monastery】
【Mission Requirement: Obstruct the Pilgrim in the Guanyin Monastery Area; settlement rewards based on obstruction time.】
【Mission Reward: Three days/Art of Moving Mountains, Seven days/Six-Revolving Golden Elixir, Half a Month/True Dragon Pearl, One month/Acquired Spiritual Treasure·Five-Fire Divine Flame Fan, One Season/Supernatural Power·Five-Colored Divine Light, Half a Year/Ancestral Dragon Essence Blood, One year/Innate Spiritual Treasure·Soul Scattering Gourd, Three years/Innate Spiritual Treasure·River Diagram and Luo Book, Twelve years/Chaos Bell, Sixty years…】
【Current Progress: Zero days】
【Note: If the obstruction time is insufficient to obtain the next stage reward, the extra days will count toward the next Side Quest.】
A look of surprise appeared on Ao Tu’s face; he hadn’t expected the System’s rewards to be so generous!
Leaving aside the various supreme treasures listed later, even the more easily obtainable rewards at the front were all extraordinary.
The Art of Moving Mountains is extremely practical.
The Six-Revolving Golden Elixir can greatly increase cultivation.
The True Dragon Pearl is an utmost treasure that is extremely useful to the Dragon Clan.
In the Dragon Clan, one must at least have Golden Immortal cultivation to be called a True Dragon; and the Dragon Pearl is the essence of a dragon’s entire cultivation.
If Ao Tu could obtain this True Dragon Pearl, not only could his combat power greatly increase, but he could also quickly advance to the Golden Immortal realm, giving him some ability to protect himself at that time.
As for the Five-Fire Divine Flame Fan later on, it is even more powerful.
This treasure, also known as the Five-Fire Seven-Bird Fan, is made from the seven bird feathers of Phoenix Feather, Green Luan Feather, Great Roc Feather, Peacock Feather, White Crane Feather, Swan Feather, and Owl Feather, as well as the five fires of Fire from the Air, Fire from Stone, Fire from Wood, Samadhi Fire, and Mortal Fire.
Although it is an Acquired Spiritual Treasure, its power is not weaker than some Innate Spiritual Treasures. During the Investiture period, it burned to death countless disciples of the Chanah School; even Sun Wukong with his Indestructible Vajra Body could not withstand the might of this divine fan!
The only drawback is that obtaining this treasure requires obstructing Tang Sanzang and his disciples for a month, which is somewhat difficult for Ao Tu’s current cultivation; it will probably be hard to achieve in a short time.
However, although obtaining the Five-Fire Divine Flame Fan is relatively difficult, acquiring the True Dragon Pearl would be much simpler.
Obstructing Tang Sanzang and his disciples in the Guanyin Monastery Area for half a month, with careful planning, should not be difficult.
Dragons can be large or small, rise or hide; Ao Tu hid in the clouds, watching the situation below and pondering a plan.
Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang and his disciples entered the Guanyin Monastery, seeking to borrow lodging for one night. Abbot Jinchi Elder of the Guanyin Monastery saw that Tang Sanzang was no ordinary man, chatted with him, inquired about treasures from the Eastern Land, and Tang Sanzang declined, saying the journey was long and he had not brought any treasures.
Sun Wukong could not stand Jinchi Elder showing off, so he took out Tang Sanzang’s Brocade Monk’s Robe to flaunt it to Jinchi Elder.
Upon seeing the Brocade Monk’s Robe, Jinchi Elder immediately loved it and could not bear to part with it, giving rise to greed. He shed tears and begged Tang Sanzang to let him view the Kassaya for one night; Tang Sanzang could not refuse and handed the Kassaya to Jinchi Elder to view, repeatedly instructing him to return it the next day.
That night, Jinchi Elder held the Kassaya and wept bitterly, unwilling to return it, wanting to keep the Kassaya as a family heirloom.
Jinchi Elder had two disciples, one named Guangzhi and one named Guangmou; both were greatly favored by Jinchi Elder. Hearing the crying, they came to offer advice to Jinchi Elder.
One said, call a few people, take knives, and kill Tang Sanzang.
The other said, that hairy-faced monk looks troublesome, not good to act directly; better to set a fire and burn him and his disciples, along with the horse, all together.
Jinchi Elder was delighted upon hearing this and immediately gathered the monks, carried firewood, and set the fire.
Tang Sanzang had already gone to sleep at this time and was completely unaware of the outside situation.
Although Sun Wukong had lain down, he was only cultivating Qi and Preserving Spirit. Hearing the noise outside and seeing these monks trying to harm them, he wanted to take the Golden Cudgel and strike, but upon second thought, he feared Tang Sanzang would chant the spell; so he did a somersault to the South Heaven Gate, found King Virupaksha, borrowed the fire-avoiding cover, and covered Tang Sanzang with it.
Sun Wukong stood on the eaves, pinched a formula and chanted a spell; whoosh, a gale swept through, reversing the fire, wind aiding the fire’s might, fire riding the wind’s momentum; in an instant, the entire Guanyin Monastery was ablaze red.
Ao Tu hid in the clouds, observing the fire below.
Suddenly, a black wind blew from a nearby mountain, taking advantage of the fire to quietly sweep away the Kassaya.
Ao Tu guessed that this must be the Black Bear Spirit.
This monster also had some skills; without any magic treasures, he fought the monkey several times with just brute strength and was not defeated. Later, Guanyin Bodhisattva took a liking to this Black Bear’s abilities and subdued him with a fillet given by Tathagata, making him the Mountain Guardian Great God.
Could he join forces with this Black Bear Spirit?
Ao Tu thought for a moment and shook his head.
Although the Black Bear Spirit was strong, he was no match for Guanyin Bodhisattva.
In the original story, after this Black Bear Spirit stole the Kassaya, it wasn’t many days before Sun Wukong invited Guanyin Bodhisattva to subdue him; even if he joined forces with the Black Bear Spirit, the two of them wouldn’t last long.
His current strength was low; to obstruct Tang Sanzang and his disciples’ westward journey, he could not attack forcefully, only outsmart them.
As Ao Tu pondered, suddenly he saw the burning Guanyin Monastery below and the many crying monks, and an idea came to him.
This time, without needing to fight Sun Wukong, he only needed to secretly employ a scheme to block Tang Sanzang and his disciples’ Journey for Sutras, which could at least obstruct them for half a month.
However, to fully implement this scheme, he had to wait until Sun Wukong dealt with that Black Bear Spirit before it could achieve maximum effect; otherwise, it might be affected.
The next day, Tang Sanzang got up, opened the door and came out; where were there any pavilions or halls, only charred ruined walls everywhere.
Sun Wukong then told Tang Sanzang about yesterday’s events.
Upon hearing this, Tang Sanzang immediately blamed Sun Wukong for acting that way, nagging endlessly, and worried that the Kassaya had also been burned, ordering Sun Wukong to quickly find the Kassaya.
Sun Wukong then went to find Jinchi Elder.
Jinchi Elder, having lost the Kassaya and burned down the monastery, was extremely annoyed and crashed into the wall, dying on the spot.
With Jinchi Elder dead, Sun Wukong searched three feet into the ground but still could not find the Kassaya; he rounded up all the monks of the monastery, big and small, and searched them one by one, but still no trace of the Kassaya.
Seeing the Kassaya lost, Tang Sanzang secretly hated Sun Wukong greatly and thus chanted the Golden Fillet Spell.
Sun Wukong fell to the ground with a thud, clutching his head in agony, calling out repeatedly: “Master, stop chanting! Master, stop chanting! Old Sun will definitely find the Kassaya!”
The monks, seeing this and fearing implication, trembled one by one, knelt and begged for mercy; only then did Tang Sanzang stop the spell.
Sun Wukong interrogated them further, and the monks recounted the whole story in detail, sparing no details.
Sun Wukong asked again if there were any monsters nearby.
The monks confessed that twenty miles away there was a Black Wind Great King.
Sun Wukong thus guessed that the Kassaya had been stolen by that Black Wind Great King, so he hurriedly somersaulted on his Somersault Cloud and headed to Black Wind Mountain.
