Journey to the West: Beginning with the Apprenticeship of Bodhi Patriarch

Chapter 189: Weapons stolen, the traveler asks the real person
However, the prince of Yuhua County asked Monkey King and his two disciples to become his disciples. Tang Monk did not dare to make the decision, so he asked the three disciples.

Upon hearing this, the three travelers were delighted and responded.

This traveler thought about his nephew Chongyang from his family. The eldest brother had already accepted a disciple, so perhaps he could also accept a disciple and pass on his skills. Then he could also keep nephew Chongyang company.

Zhu Bajie was just feeling bored, so he just thought of teaching him a trick to cheer him up.

Another monk named Sha Monk suddenly had an idea and was about to try to teach a disciple.

All three of them responded and expressed their willingness to teach the three sons of the prince of Yuhua County.

The prince was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately called his three sons to come.

When the three sons entered the hall, they saw that the eldest prince was holding a stick as high as his eyebrows, the second prince was swinging a nine-toothed rake, and the third prince was using a black stick.

The three entered the palace and asked about the old king, saying, "I heard that father and I have found a good teacher. Please point out the good teacher to us and let us see him. If he does not have the ability, he will not be a good teacher."

The old king pointed to three of the travelers and said, "These three are good teachers. They are divine monks from the Tang Dynasty in the East. They have protected the elder for fourteen years while he was traveling west. No demons or ghosts were their match."

The three men said, "Let's have these three fight with us, so that we can know their abilities."

Zhu Bajie stood up, took out a nine-toothed rake from the side, and said with a smile: "You want to fight me?"

The second prince stepped forward and said, "Show me your skills."

Zhu Bajie laughed and said, "Then you better watch out."

Say it.

Zhu Bajie shook the nine-toothed rake, and golden light and auspicious aura appeared. The nine-toothed rake shone brightly. Zhu Bajie threw out his tricks, which were really powerful. He waved the rake lightly, and the ground shook and the mountains almost collapsed.

The three princes and the old king were so frightened that they trembled with fear, their hands and muscles became limp, and they dared not speak.

When Sha Seng saw Zhu Bajie showing off, he was delighted and swung up his demon-subduing staff. With a flick of the staff, a divine light appeared. When he waved the staff, the ground in the main hall shook.

The Monkey King did not step forward, but pulled out the golden hoop stick from his ear and said "long". The golden hoop stick became as he wished and was several feet high. He stuck it into the ground and supported the main hall to prevent it from collapsing.

The golden hoop stood there, also exuding a sharp aura and misty golden light.

The Monkey King leaped forward to protect Tang Seng and said, "Master, don't be afraid. I'm here, and I can't hurt you."

Tang Seng said: "My dear disciple, please don't let Bajie and Sha Seng lose their temper. Just control them."

The Monkey King said, "Master, please sit here. I will go and teach them to stop."

He then stepped forward and shouted, "Fool, Junior Brother Sha! Stop being violent and learn the answer. Don't disturb the master."

The traveler roared like thunder, ordering the two men to stop, understand the situation, and not to act recklessly anymore.

The three princes trembled, bowed down and said, "We are willing to be your disciples. Please show your great mercy and pass on the teachings to us."

The three travelers responded of their own accord.

Seeing this, Old Wang was overjoyed. He thought that the young man in the city had inherited the skills, and one day he would be able to protect Yuhua County from harm, and no evil would dare to invade again. He was so happy that he entertained the group of people who were seeking the scriptures.

In this way, the three princes became disciples of the three monks and practiced martial arts every day. After many days, the monk saw that the three princes' martial arts were decent but their strength was insufficient. So he asked the three princes to sincerely worship heaven and earth, and he passed on some of his divine power to the three princes.

This traveler was a man who had a deep understanding of the Dharma. He used a side-door method, borrowing the power of the Big Dipper, and passed on the mantra, granting everyone immense physical strength. He said that if one recited the mantra every day and did good deeds sincerely, then one would have magical powers. However, if one lost confidence and lost all the energy, then one would no longer have any magical powers.

The three princes were overjoyed and practiced their martial arts, which made them even more powerful.

One day, the three princes were suffering from having no weapons, so they wanted to borrow the weapons of the three travelers and give them to the craftsmen in the city, so that they could teach them to imitate the same weapons.

The three Monkeys responded of their own accord. They placed their weapons, the Ruyi Golden Cudgel, the Nine-toothed Rake, and the Demon-Subduing Staff, between the tents and instructed the craftsmen to make the same, working day and night.

However, these three weapons are extraordinary treasures. If they are not hidden in the owner's body, how can their brilliance be hidden? There are thousands of rays of light rising into the sky, and auspicious aura covering the earth, attracting all the people in the city to come and watch and praise the immortals.

As the saying goes, "Don't show off your wealth." The three travelers put their weapons here, so how could they not attract the attention of thieves? Seventy miles away from the city, there is a mountain called Leopard Head Mountain and a cave called Tiger Mouth Cave. A demon passed by on a cloud and saw the auspicious clouds. After taking a closer look, he saw that they were the three treasures. He was overjoyed and said, "I don't know who put these three treasures here. Now that I see them, it is my destiny and I should use them."

The demon blew up its evil wind and swept away all three kinds of weapons.

At dawn the next day, the three travelers found that their weapons were missing. After repeated inquiries, they finally learned that the weapons had been stolen. The thief was most likely the demon from Leopard Head Mountain, because this was the only place in the city where the demon was causing trouble.

Monkey, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing were at a loss as to what to do. Their weapons had been stolen by a monster and now they were unarmed, so how could they defeat the monster and get their weapons back?

The traveler stood on the top of the city wall and said, "Fool, Junior Brother Sha, we shouldn't have left our magic weapons behind. Now that we have no weapons in our hands, our power has been lost and it is difficult to move forward."

Zhu Bajie said anxiously, "Brother, please don't say such things. It has already happened. It is useless to say a thousand or ten thousand things."

Sha Wujing said: "It is indeed our fault."

The Monkey King said, "Don't worry, fool. I will think of a way to get the weapon back."

Zhu Bajie said, "Think about it quickly."

The traveler pondered for a while but could not find a way. He was thinking about going to Leopard Head Mountain to take a look when he suddenly saw auspicious clouds rolling in the sky and golden light going from the east to the west. The traveler opened his eyes and looked carefully. He saw that the person coming was his senior brother Guangxin, who was leading the Bull Demon King to protect him and was riding the auspicious clouds to Lingshan.

The traveler smiled and said, "Two brothers, there is a way to save us now."

Zhu Bajie asked: "Brother, now that you have lost all your weapons, how can you save the way?"

The traveler said, "The auspicious clouds ahead are my elder brother, Master Guangxin."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie trembled and dared not say a word.

Sha Wujing said happily: "Since you are Master Guangxin, you must be my eldest brother's family, so you should invite me."

The traveler said, "That's right. If we ask my senior brother to help us, even if there are evil spirits on Leopard Head Mountain, they won't be in trouble. My two brothers, please stay here for a while. I will go and ask my senior brother to help."

Zhu Bajie and the other two responded naturally.

The traveler shouted "Let's go", jumped up, and rode the cloud to that place. Not long after, he saw Jiang Yuan riding the auspicious cloud going forward.

The traveler stopped the road and shouted, "Big Brother! Brother! Please stay!"

The two men on the clouds tried to stop them. The Bull Demon King was about to swing his iron rod, but when he saw that it was Monkey, he stepped forward and said happily, "My dear brother, why is it you?"

The traveler said, "I am in trouble now, and I saw my elder brother and elder brother passing by here, so I stepped forward to stop them."

Jiang Yuan rode up on a cloud and said with a smile, "Monkey, I haven't heard from you for a long time. I thought you couldn't let go of your face, so I didn't come to invite you. Now I have some tricks, and you know you're here to stop me. Come closer."

Upon hearing this, the traveler stepped forward, bowed deeply before Jiang Yuan, and said, "Greetings, Senior Brother!"

Jiang Yuan was delighted to see that the monkey had some spiritual qualities, so he said, "Your practice will be successful."

The Monkey King said, "Thanks to my Master Brother's teachings, I have never dared to slack off before I have achieved success. Therefore, I dare not say that I will achieve success now that I have not achieved success."

Jiang Yuan agreed and said, "Wukong, you have really made progress. I am very pleased. You are in trouble now. Tell me how difficult it is. I will definitely help you. This place is not far from Lingshan Mountain. Don't let yourself be stuck here. That would be wrong."

The traveler then recounted the previous events, telling the story of Yuhua County and the theft of weapons.

Hearing this, the Bull Demon King laughed and said, "My dear brother, how could you be so careless that your weapons were stolen?"

The traveler said, "Brother, please don't make fun of me."

The Bull Demon King patted the Monkey King on the shoulder and said, "I shouldn't have made fun of you."

The Monkey King said, "Brother, I know that this was indeed wrong. I just saw that there were no evil spirits in the city and was careless for a moment."

Jiang Yuan said, "You monkey, don't be distracted while practicing. Tell me where the weapon is, and I'll go get it from you."

The traveler pointed to the north of Yuhua County and said, "Big Brother, there is a mountain over there, it is Leopard Head Mountain, and in the mountain there is a cave, which is the Tiger's Mouth Cave. It is most likely that he stole my treasure."

Jiang Yuan said: "In this case, you come with me to get the weapons back."

The traveler smiled happily and thanked the immortal again and again. He then led the way and went to Leopard Head Mountain together.

They were all experts at riding clouds and mist, and soon they reached Leopard Head Mountain, where they saw a cave.

Jiang Yuan had a discerning eye and knew that there was an evil spirit in the cave. He said, "Niu'er, go and challenge the evil spirit in the cave to come out. I will defeat it myself."

The Bull Demon King took the order, swung his iron rod, pressed down the clouds, and said, "All the big and small demons in the cave, show up quickly."

The demon guarding the gate saw that the Bull Demon King was so aggressive that he didn't dare to stop him. He was frightened and hurried inside to report.

After a while, a yellow lion demon came out holding a four-pointed shovel and cursed, "Where did you come from, demon? Why are you making a fuss in front of my Tiger's Mouth Cave?"

The Bull Demon King pointed at the Yellow Lion Demon and said, "You bastard, you don't even recognize me?"

The yellow lion took a closer look and said, "I don't recognize you. Are you a famous demon?"

The Bull Demon King said, "I am the Bull Demon King of Cuiyun Mountain. Do you really not recognize me?"

The Yellow Lion Demon did not understand what he meant and said, "What is Cuiyun Mountain? I have never heard of it. Are you calling me out to tell me this?"

The Bull Demon King asked: "Can you steal three treasures recently?"

The Yellow Lion said, "Three treasures? Of course I have them. They are obtained by fate. They are a golden hoop stick, a nail rake, and a magic staff. How can you accuse me of stealing them?"

The Bull Demon King said, "Do you know where those three treasures came from? The golden hoop is the treasure of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven Sun Wukong, the nail rake is the treasure of a pig demon, and the magic staff is the treasure of the heavenly curtain-rolling general. They were placed in the city to teach the craftsmen to make similar weapons, but you never stole them."

The Yellow Lion said, "I have already obtained the weapon, so it is mine. No matter how much you say, it will be useless."

The traveler in the air got angry when he heard this, and jumped down to the ground.

(End of this chapter)