Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 167 A Perilous Crossing of the Tongtian River (Part 7)
Meanwhile, Pigsy leaped into the water and dived to the bottom.

Under the water, there was a mansion with four large characters on it: "Residence of the Water Turtle".

Upon seeing this, Pigsy thought to himself, "This must be the monster's cave!"

Pigsy cried out, "Monster, come out! Come out now!"

Inside the Water Palace, the Blood Sea King reclined on his throne.

The White Bone Demon was serving him.

There is a white-shelled old turtle at my feet, also known as a white softshell turtle.

There was a fish tank on the white turtle shell, and a goldfish was in the fish tank.

Ao Tu held the Soul-Scattering Gourd in the air, manipulating the soul-scattering and soul-gathering energy within the gourd to continuously strike the goldfish; at the same time, Ao Tu carefully controlled the force to prevent the goldfish from dying.

This goldfish is naturally the king of inspiration.

Wukong was right about one thing: he did not eat the Great King of Inspiration, but left him behind.

For him, this "King of Inspiration" still had some other uses.

At this moment, Ao Tu was using the Soul-Scattering Gourd to collect the soul that had been refined within the body of the Great King Linggan.

The Great King of Inspiration eats young boys and girls and enjoys their offerings in order to refine them for his own cultivation. The souls of those young boys and girls do not enter the cycle of reincarnation, but are instead swallowed and refined by the Great King of Inspiration.

What Ao Tu needs to do now is to separate these souls that have been refined by the Great King of Inspiration from the Great King of Inspiration's body.

This step wasn't actually too difficult, because the Great King of Inspiration was not skilled enough and only refined the soul, but there were still many remnants of the true spirit, far less thoroughly than when he refined the monk back then.

The only difficulty lies in the fact that the Great King of Inspiration still has some use for Ao Tu, so he cannot be killed. Therefore, one must hold back when making a move, which is why it is so troublesome.

Ao Tu carefully extracted the true spirit of the dead child from the body of the Great King of Inspiration.

During the process, the King of Inspiration struggled painfully.

Essentially, the true spirits of these children had already been refined by him and integrated into his soul, becoming a part of his soul, only the integration was not complete.

Ao Tu's current actions are like cutting away at his soul bit by bit, extracting his true spirit.

The pain in one's soul is a hundred times more intense than the pain in one's body.

How could King Linggan not be in pain by Ao Tu's actions?
However, a black lotus hung above the head of the Great King of Inspiration, suppressing him and preventing him from using any magic power. He could only keep hitting the glass fish tank like an ordinary goldfish.

Suddenly, Ao Tu exclaimed with delight, "It's done!"

He successfully extracted a complete piece of true spirit without any damage.

The rest is much easier. As long as we use this true spirit as a foundation, we can slowly nurture the soul and refine the physical body to revive the person.

Of course, this is only easy for Ao Tu.

For others, the difficulty of resurrecting a person with just a piece of true spirit is absolutely extraordinary.

Ao Tu only took a piece of the true spirit, which is enough to revive a child.

As for the other children, they are still inside the King of Inspiration's belly.

However, we don't need to worry about those scoundrels.

If he resurrects one of them, the rest will naturally be resurrected by someone else.

After all, it's true that when you call on heaven, heaven responds; when you call on earth, earth responds.

Just then, Tiger Vanguard came to report: "Your Majesty, Pigsy is challenging us outside the gate!"

Ao Tu said, "Go and lead the troops to fight him, but remember not to leave the water. Be careful, there is Sun Wukong on the shore."

Tiger Vanguard replied, "Yes, Your subordinate obeys!"

Tiger Vanguard then led three hundred aquatic soldiers, opened the gate, stepped out of the water palace, and saw Pigsy cursing. Tiger Vanguard said:
"You audacious pig demon, how dare you disturb my Tongtian River Water Palace!"

Bajie looked up and saw what a demon king he was.

The demon was seen:

It has a single horn on its head and reddish hair on its forehead. It has huge teeth and fangs, a high nose, and sturdy shoulders.

He wore golden armor and yellow boots, and held a lotus hammer in his hand.

Its five tails were tangled and its body resembled floating fire.

Bajie looked closely and felt that it was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't recognize it. He asked, "What kind of monster are you?"

Tiger Vanguard said, "You don't recognize me, but I recognize you!"

Pigsy asked, "You recognize me?"

Tiger Vanguard said, "I recognize you. Aren't you the old pig spirit from the mountains?"

Upon hearing this, Pigsy flew into a rage and shouted, "You audacious monster! Don't you know your grandpa Pig? Take this!"

Tiger Vanguard swung his lotus hammer, clashing it with the rake. Flames shot out and the water element vibrated. The two exerted their strength, and for a time they were evenly matched.

Tiger Vanguard, not forgetting to show off his verbal prowess, said, "Pig Demon, whose vegetable garden did you steal that broken rake from!"

Pigsy said, "Monster, how do you recognize my treasure? I bet you stole that broken hammer from some blacksmith shop!"

The two sides clashed and fought for thirty or forty rounds without a clear victor.

Tiger Vanguard then ordered the little demons to surround Pigsy, with some wielding spears and others spears, and they attacked together.

Seeing this, Pigsy panicked a little. This blockhead, when he's not panicking, only uses seven-tenths of his strength, but when he panics, he uses twelve-tenths.

Pigsy raised his rake and began to smash the group of lesser demons in all directions. Tiger Vanguard was also struggling to hold on and was forced to retreat.

Bajie, relying on his power, wanted to achieve great things.

Unexpectedly, Tiger Vanguard took two steps back, placed the lotus hammer on the single horn on his forehead, rubbed it, and produced a clanging sound, like metal striking stone, which traveled along the water ripples.

Upon hearing that sound, Pigsy felt a sharp pain in his head, and his hands and feet went weak, making it impossible for him to hold onto his rake.

Tiger Vanguard wielded an iron hammer and struck, and Pigsy, seeing this, hurriedly fled upwards.

Tiger Vanguard followed closely behind.

Pigsy emerged from the water, and Tiger Vanguard also emerged from the water.

Pigsy jumped out of the water, trying to lure Tiger Vanguard out.

Tiger Vanguard did not go out, but remained on the water.

Pigsy had no choice but to return and resume the fight. The two fought on the water, their upper bodies outside and their lower bodies inside, still locked in combat.

Pigsy's limbs were weak, and after a dozen or so rounds, he was no match for Tiger Vanguard.

Seeing this, Wukong panicked, jumped down, and struck down with his staff.

Tiger Vanguard was prepared and raised his hammer.

With a loud bang, Tiger Vanguard was knocked into the water, his hands were cracked, and he hurriedly fled back to the Water Palace.

Pigsy said, "Brother, you attacked too early. The monster hadn't even come out yet, and you attacked. How dare he come out now?"

Wukong said, "Brother, I think you can't hold on much longer."

Pigsy patted his chest and said, "I'm tough as nails, so what if I get hit twice? I'll lure him ashore so I can do my job."

Wukong laughed and said, "Bajie, I don't know what kind of monster that was, I didn't recognize it; I noticed that your methods were weak just now, not as swift as usual, what is the reason for that?"

Bajie said, "I don't know what kind of monster it was. It was no match for me at first, but because the single horn on its head was quite powerful, it could make a metallic sound that made my ears ring, my head spin, and my head ache. That's why I was powerless and defeated."

Wukong said, "How strange! How strange! Back when I was at Flower Fruit Mountain, I had tens of thousands of lesser demons under my command, including tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves, but I've never seen a monster like this before!"

At this moment, a few strands of hair floated on the water. They were long, reddish hairs left by Tiger Vanguard, about a foot long, and as hard as thorns.

Wukong picked up the hair and argued with Bajie on the water for a long time, but Tiger Vanguard did not come out, so the two had no choice but to return.

(End of this chapter)