Simultaneous traversal: All Abyss difficulty.

Chapter 568 My precious cassock!
By the river, Fang Yu squatted on the bluestone slab, scooping up water to wash his face, the icy water droplets dripping down his chin.

Suddenly, he twitched his nose twice and abruptly turned his head.

Three zhang upstream, Sun Wukong was urinating on the river with his legs spread apart. The golden water column drew an arc in the morning light, startling several silver carp who floated to the surface belly up.

"You monkey!" Fang Yu picked up a pebble and threw it. "I was washing up downstream, and you were peeing upstream, huh!"

Sun Wukong nimbly twisted his waist to dodge, his urine trail tracing an S-shape in the air: "Hehe! My five-hundred-year-old vintage is cheap for these fish."

Before he could finish speaking, Fang Yu turned around.

Tang Sanzang stood by the reeds, holding two monk's hats, his robe soaked with dew, looking like a quail drenched in rain.

"Good morning, Lao Tang~" Fang Yu shook the water droplets off his hands and suddenly noticed the brim of the hat with gold thread embroidery peeking out from under Lao Tang's clothes. His eyes narrowed slightly.

Tang Sanzang awkwardly rubbed the mud off his feet: "This humble monk sees you all exposed to the sun all day long."

He shakily presented a monk's hat, saying, "It was specially sewn to shield me from the sun."

Fang Yu did not answer.

He blinked slowly, his eyes seeming to say: With your terrible acting skills, who can you fool?
Tang Sanzang was rooted to the spot by that gaze.

He clearly saw mockery, pity, and knowing knowingness flash in the other person's eyes.

The scariest thing is that Fang Yu didn't even bother to expose him, just like a teacher watching a student lie about not bringing their homework.

Sun Wukong snatched the monk's hat from Tang Sanzang's hand, his hairy fingers already gripping the brim: "Hehe, this hat is quite exquisite. I, Old Sun, haven't worn a new one in five hundred years."

Before he could finish speaking, Tang Sanzang suddenly lunged forward as if struck by lightning to snatch back the hat.

Human rights, monkey rights
自由
Tang Sanzang's movements were so swift that even Fang Yu, who was squatting on the rock, raised an eyebrow.

"Bald monk, what's wrong with you!" Sun Wukong was so startled by this sudden turn of events that his monkey fur stood on end, and he leaped back three zhang away.

Tang Sanzang's chest heaved violently as he gripped the two golden headbands tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"I...I can't." His voice trembled, but his gaze was unusually firm.

Sun Wukong scratched the back of his head, his fiery eyes filled with confusion: "Could this monk have been driven mad by the smell of my urine?"

"Pfft!"

Two monks' hats embroidered with gold thread were smashed into the river, and the splashing water soaked Tang Sanzang's monk shoes.

Ripples spread across the river's surface, and the golden headband spun and sank in the water, its Sanskrit embroidery gleaming eerily in the sunlight.

"Oh dear!" Sun Wukong scratched his head in frustration. "You bald monk! There's still my precious nectar in the river!"

Tang Sanzang was panting heavily when suddenly his legs gave way and he knelt down by the river.

He stared at the hat, which was gradually blurring, and murmured, "I...I actually..."

"You actually defied the Bodhisattva's decree?" Fang Yu squatted down to look him in the eye, a playful smile on his lips. "Congratulations, Holy Monk, you've finally learned to think with this." He tapped Tang Sanzang's bald head.

Sun Wukong suddenly leaned close to Tang Sanzang, his monkey nose almost touching the other's face, and asked, "Are you possessed?"

Tang Sanzang looked at the hairy face in front of him and suddenly laughed.

That smile stunned even Sun Wukong.

For five hundred years, it had never seen such a vivid expression on the face of any monk.

"Wukong." Tang Sanzang's voice was soft, but every word was clear. "From now on, we will address each other as master and disciple, but you don't need to wear this rubbish. I...I trust you."

The monkey scratched its head. "What does that mean?"

Fang Yu stretched and turned to walk west: "Let's go, it'll get dark again if we dawdle any longer."

As the sun sets and twilight descends, the sky gradually darkens.

The three of them walked to a mountain hollow and suddenly saw a corner of a flying eaves peeking out from among the pine and cypress trees ahead.

"It's a temple!" Tang Sanzang's eyes lit up. Without waiting for Fang Yu's reminder, he quickly stepped forward and knocked on the vermilion mountain gate.

"Squeak-"

A young novice monk's bald head peeked out from under the door: "Amitabha, three benefactors."

"This humble monk comes from the Great Tang Dynasty in the East, on his way to the Western Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures. I am passing by your temple and would like to ask for lodging for the night. I beg you, young master, to grant me this favor." Tang Sanzang put his palms together in a gesture of respect, and his tone was surprisingly more down-to-earth than before.

The young novice monk sized up the three men. One was a fair-skinned monk, another had a hairy face and a thunderous mouth, and the third was a handsome young man.

He hesitated for a moment, then stepped aside to make way: "Please follow me, all three of you."

As you pass through the three courtyards, the scent of sandalwood grows stronger.

In front of the main hall, an old monk wearing a golden robe stood with his hands behind his back, his long, snow-white eyebrows hanging down to his chest, looking just like a gilded Arhat statue.

"I am Jinchi, the abbot of this temple." The old monk's gaze lingered on Tang Sanzang's cassock for a moment, then he suddenly shook his glittering golden sleeves. "I wonder if the holy monk, coming from the Great Tang, has ever seen such an exquisite cassock?"

Sun Wukong burst out laughing: "Old man, you dare to show off this tattered piece of cloth? My master's cassock is a thousand times more beautiful than this!"

Elder Jinchi's face darkened: "Stop your nonsense! This monk's robe is woven from celestial silkworm threads and inlaid with one hundred and eight pearls from the South Sea."

"Come on!" Sun Wukong snatched Tang Sanzang's bundle and shook out the brocade cassock given to him by Guanyin.

"Wow—"

In an instant, golden light shone brightly inside the hall!

The Sanskrit embroidered on the robe flowed like a living thing, and the faint sound of chanting echoed through the air.

Elder Jinchi's robe instantly became as dull as a rag under this light.

The old monk's withered fingers trembled slightly: "This...this..."

Fang Yu watched coldly as Jin Chi's Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes practically overflowing with greed.

He nudged Sun Wukong quietly: "Brother Monkey, this old bald monk is up to no good."

Sun Wukong grinned, his fiery eyes gleaming with cunning: "I haven't tricked a monk in five hundred years."

That night, inside the meditation room.

Tang Sanzang was sitting cross-legged reciting scriptures when he suddenly heard a rustling sound outside the window.

He had just opened his eyes when Fang Yu climbed in through the window: "Old Tang, get ready to watch the show."

"Watch a play? What play? A play so late at night?"

"That old man Jinchi was plotting in the side hall just now to set fire to us and burn us to death so he could seize your cassock!"

Sun Wukong laughed, "They have a good idea. I'll add some firewood for them then!"

As he spoke, Sun Wukong disappeared.

Suddenly, it was as bright as day outside the window!

"The fire is coming!"

Screams cut through the night.

Tang Sanzang rushed to the window and saw flames spitting out all around the temple. In the black smoke, he could vaguely see monks carrying oil drums and running around.

"Are they really here to harm us?"

Fang Yu shrugged. "What else?"

Tang Sanzang felt his worldview had collapsed!

"They're all Buddhists! How could they, how could they do this?"

"Why not?" Fang Yu rolled his eyes at Tang Seng. "There are many reasons for doing something. Does a fisherman really need fish for every meal? Does being a monk necessarily mean being virtuous? Does going to a temple to worship Buddha necessarily mean being a good person?"

"Let me tell you, there are plenty of people who use Buddhism as a pretext to make money and do bad things!"

“You’re always by Emperor Taizong of Tang’s side, you’re never short of money, you have all the riches and honors you could ever have, so of course you don’t care.”

Tang Sanzang immediately blushed, "This! Isn't this an insult to this humble monk!"

"Hehe, when you start to realize that your reason for going west is not to be admired by thousands, but to genuinely want to help the poor, then I will have the utmost respect for you, instead of continuing to humiliate you."

Just as Tang Sanzang was about to retort, he suddenly recalled the looks cast upon him by the believers when he preached, and how secretly pleased he had felt at that time.
Is it
Am I really a person with extremely strong selfish desires?

"Brother Monkey has put on his fire-resistant cover. I'm going to sleep now. This fire... it won't be out until dawn at least!"

(End of this chapter)