Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 162 A Perilous Crossing of the Tongtian River (Part Two)
Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang and his companions gave the child some dry rations.

The child immediately began to eat heartily upon seeing the food.

It was still cold inside the temple, so Tang Sanzang asked Wukong to light a fire to warm them up.

The child warmed himself by the fire, ate his dry rations, and realized that Tang Sanzang and his companions were not bad people, so he lowered his guard.

Tang Sanzang asked, "Child, what's your name? Who are you from? How did you end up here?"

The child said, "My name is Shitou. I'm from the village. My parents brought me here."

Tang Sanzang asked in surprise, "Your parents sent you here? Why did they send you here?"

Little Stone said, "Because my parents said there are man-eating demons outside, so they sent me in."

Upon hearing the word "demon," Wukong perked up and asked, "What kind of demon?"

Little Stone was too young; he looked at Wukong and mumbled something he couldn't say.

Pigsy asked, "Where do you live?"

Little Stone said, "My home is in the village."

Pigsy asked, "Where is the manor?"

Little Stone said, "The village is right here in the village!"

Bajie said, "This child."

Tang Sanzang asked, "Child, do you still remember where your home is?"

Little Stone said, "I remember."

Tang Sanzang said, "Then you point the way, and we'll take you home, okay?"

Upon hearing this, Little Stone hurriedly shook his head and said, "No, we can't go out. Mother said there are man-eating demons outside. If we go out, we'll be eaten by them."

Wukong said, "With me here, what demons are there to fear!"

Little Stone shook his head, took his dry rations, and ran back to the corner.

Sha Wujing said, "Brother, this is really strange!"

Wukong asked, "What's strange about it?"

Sha Wujing said, "Brother, think about it. If there really were demons eating people, this temple is so dilapidated, and the memorial tablets are all broken. How could this child be alright?"

Wukong said, "That's right!"

Bajie said, "Now that you mention it, it makes sense! So, the demon was just a fake?"

Wukong said, "But if it's fake, why would the child's parents send him here, saying there are demons outside?"

Bajie thought for a moment and said, "Could it be that the child's parents are trying to abandon him, and that's why they're lying like this?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Sanzang said, "Amitabha, what parent in the world could be so heartless as to abandon their own child?"

The group sat together, unable to reach a conclusion. As it grew dark outside, they decided to spend the night in the dilapidated temple.

As night fell, Little Stone produced a set of bedding from somewhere and tiptoed to the offering table, intending to crawl inside and sleep. However, because Pigsy had broken one of the legs of the offering table earlier, it was leaning to one side, making it difficult for Little Stone to crawl in directly.

Seeing this, Wukong thought to himself, "This child actually has bedding with him. It seems that the child has not been abandoned. After all, if he had been abandoned, he wouldn't have needed bedding."

But no one knows the reason behind it.

In the end, Little Stone managed to squeeze in and curled up under the altar to sleep.

In the dead of night, a man braved the darkness and quietly arrived outside the dilapidated temple.

He took the food and prepared to enter the dilapidated temple, but due to carelessness, he accidentally startled the white dragon horse that was tied up outside the temple.

The White Dragon Horse's Chant.

The man was startled and quickly hid.

Inside the temple, Sha Wujing woke up with a start and exclaimed, "Oh no! Someone has stolen the horse!"

Sha Wujing hurriedly went out to check.

The man hid his body, not daring to show his face.

Little Stone woke up at some point and looked out nervously, seemingly very concerned about what was happening outside.

Wukong appeared to be asleep, but he was actually cultivating his Qi and preserving his spirit, paying close attention to these things. He noticed that the little stone's reaction was somewhat unusual, so he left his primordial spirit and flew outside.

The man was hiding outside, especially when he saw Sha Wujing come out, he didn't dare to even breathe. Sha Wujing's appearance was extremely rugged, with a dark blue face and sinewy hands and feet. At first glance, he looked no different from a monster, and upon closer inspection, he looked more like a man-eating demon. In addition, it was nighttime, and the man was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, Sha Wujing only glanced outside twice, and seeing that the white dragon horse was unharmed, he went back inside.

The man felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly ran back.

Seeing this, Wukong followed the man, crossed the riverbank, and arrived at a village called Chenjiazhuang.

The man was from a family in Chenjiazhuang.

Wukong followed, only to see the man return home and burst into tears.

The man's wife hurriedly asked, "What happened? Did something happen to the stone?"

The man cried, "I'm so sorry to Stone. A monster came to the Linggan King Temple. I don't know if it's a Yaksha or some other kind of spirit. Stone is probably... probably already eaten by it!"

Upon hearing this, his wife burst into tears, repeatedly blaming her husband for insisting on hiding the stone in the Linggan Dawang Temple.

Wukong, who was listening in the dark, was very puzzled. He had basically figured out that the two people were the child's parents, but he didn't know why they would hide the child in the dilapidated temple.

After thinking for a moment, Wukong thought to himself, no matter what unspeakable difficulties he may have, how could he possibly be able to defeat me?

So Wukong returned to his primordial spirit.

The next day at dawn, Wukong told Tang Sanzang about the little stone's parents.

Upon hearing this, Tang Sanzang said he would take the little stone back with him.

Wukong and the others agreed.

The four of them, half-coaxing and half-forcing, led Little Stone away from the dilapidated temple and headed towards Chen Family Village.

On the way, several villagers from Chenjiazhuang saw him and recognized him, saying, "Isn't this Little Stone from Lao Si's family? Hurry up and find the village head; we can't let him get away again this time!"

In Chen Family Village, there was a manor lord who owned the most land and property. The eldest manor lord was named Chen Cheng, and the second manor lord was named Chen Qing; the two were brothers.

These two men, though wealthy, also performed good deeds, often repairing bridges and roads and doing other acts of charity.

Unfortunately, both of them are now childless.

Chen Cheng originally had a daughter named Yicheng Jin.

The saying goes that thirty catties make one cheng (a unit of weight), and Yicheng Jin (meaning "one cheng of gold") refers to the daughter born after Chen Cheng performed good deeds and accumulated enough gold to make one cheng.

Chen Qingze originally had a son named Chen Guanbao, who was born under the protection of Guan Sheng Di Jun (Lord Guan), hence the name Guanbao.

Now both the son and daughter have passed away.

It was because a few years ago, it was their family's turn to hold a ancestral worship ceremony.

According to the rules, Chen Cheng and Chen Qing offered their son and daughter as sacrifices to the Linggan King in the Tongtian River with tears in their eyes.

The Great King of Inspiration was a monster who came to the Tongtian River thirteen years ago.

It possesses great supernatural powers and requires a young boy and a young girl to be eaten each year. If the people offer sacrifices to the young boy and girl and he eats them, he will bless the village with good weather and abundant harvests for the year; otherwise, he will bring down disaster.

The people had no choice but to offer sacrifices to young boys and girls every year for thirteen years, totaling thirteen boys and thirteen girls.

However, this year, another monster came to the river, named King Pingyou.

After King Pingyou arrived, he stretched out a giant hand from the sky and, in front of everyone, grabbed King Linggan and ate him.

From then on, the Tongtian River changed hands and was taken over by King Pingyou.

This King Pingyou is much better than the previous King Linggan.

King Linggan eats two children a year, while King Pingyou eats only one a year.

This is equivalent to saving half of the children.

However, King Pingyou also had his requirements.

King Pingyou demanded that they sacrifice a number of boys and girls for thirteen years at a time.

King Pingyou was injured and needed to eat thirteen boys and girls in one go to recover.

After the sacrificial ceremony, King Pingyou will recover from his injuries and bless them with thirteen years of favorable weather.

At the same time, it will also use its great magic to revive the children who were previously eaten by the Great King of Inspiration.

Thirteen children in exchange for thirteen years of good weather and abundant harvests, plus the twenty-six children who were eaten before...

(End of this chapter)