Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 24, Reward Settlement

Now, Ao Tu left the Western Sea and rode the clouds and mist all the way, arriving at the Blackwater River in no time.

The Lord of the Blackwater River was his ninth brother, Little Crocodile Dragon.

His father, the Jinghe Dragon King, had nine sons. The first eight sons, including himself, all had positions arranged by their uncle, the West Sea Dragon King Ao Run. Only the young alligator dragon was too young to let go of his father's hatred, so he was sent to the Blackwater River.

Ao Tu entered the river and arrived at the Water Palace.

When the little alligator dragon heard that Ao Tu had arrived, it reluctantly came out to greet him.

The little dragon thought that Ao Tu and his seven brothers were too weak, willing to give up their father's revenge and become dogs for those gods, so he didn't like them very much.

However, after learning from Ao Tu that he had rebelled against Lingshan, the little crocodile dragon was overjoyed and immediately ordered his men to prepare a feast to entertain him. He even specially ordered them to catch a few monks on the shore and cook them for him.

Ao Tu waved his hand and said:

“I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t trouble you with the banquet. There will be a time for us brothers to reunite in the future. I’ve come today to ask Ninth Brother for help in settling these two tiger cubs.”

Ao Tu handed the two tiger cubs to the little alligator dragon.

The little alligator dragon agreed.

Ao Tu patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave.

Next stop, Liusha River!
After soaring through the clouds and mist, we arrived at the Flowing Sand River, but the system tasks had not yet been updated.

The progress at Huangfeng Ridge is still increasing; it has been forty-one days already, which means that Tang Sanzang and his disciples have not yet left the area of ​​Huangfeng Ridge.

Ao Tu stopped the clouds and looked down.

It really is a great river.

It stretches east to the desert, west to various barbarian lands; south to the Ugo, north to the Tatars. The route is eight hundred li long, and the distance is tens of millions of li. The water flows like the earth turning over, the waves roll like mountains rising from the ground. Vast and boundless, boundless and immeasurable, the sound of a ten-thousand-foot torrent can be heard from ten li away.

Ao Tu watched for a long time but did not see Sha Wujing come out, so he said to Tiger Vanguard, "Go down and find out what's going on."

Tiger Vanguard received the order, leaped down from the clouds, and plunged into the water.

Although tigers are creatures of the mountains, they are also good swimmers.

Falling into the water, Tiger Vanguard searched downwards, only to find that there were few fish and shrimp in the river, only some sunken remains. Further in, a demon suddenly emerged from the riverbed, holding a magic staff, and was extremely ugly.

Neither green nor black, his face was gloomy; neither long nor short, his body barefoot and sinewy. His eyes gleamed like two lamps under a stove; his mouth was forked, like a butcher's brazier. His fangs were like sword blades, his red hair was disheveled. A shout was like a thunderous roar, and his feet moved like a whirlwind.

Tiger Vanguard exclaimed in surprise, "What kind of demon are you, lurking here like this?!"

Sha Wujing said, "You're the demon! I'm the Curtain-Raising General who descended to earth and was demoted to this place. You tiger demon have some weight to your name. Today I'll make you into mincemeat!"

Tiger Vanguard said, "How dare you spout such nonsense! Take my blade!"

Tiger Vanguard swung his sword at Sandy.

Sha Monk came to greet him holding a treasure stick.

The two fought back and forth for seven or eight rounds, but Tiger Vanguard was no match for him. He was hit on the shoulder with a staff and turned to run away.

Outside, Ao Tu stared down below, and soon, Tiger Vanguard suddenly emerged from the water.

Sha Wujing followed closely behind.

Upon seeing this, Ao Tu took out his precious fan and fanned himself with it.

Fire suddenly erupted and landed on Sha Wujing, who screamed and fled back into the water.

The fire did not dissipate in the water; it continued to burn on Sha Wujing's body, charring his skin and flesh and burning away his red hair.

Sha Wujing's screams came from the bottom of the river. A short while later, he emerged from the water, his body ablaze, and knelt down, begging for mercy:
"Ah! Immortal, spare my life! Please, Immortal, put away the divine fire!"

Ao Tu extinguished the flames, and Sha Wujing was finally saved.

Ao Tu descended from the clouds and said, "You demon, how dare you act so violently here! Do you know who I am?"

Sha Wujing asked, "May I ask your name, Immortal?"

Ao Tu pointed at Tiger Vanguard and said:

"He and I are the two generals under Venerable Ananda of Mount Ling in the Western Paradise. We are here on the Venerable's orders to find a Buddhist disciple named Sha Wujing. You demon, quickly tell me the truth: where is Sha Wujing? Did you eat him?"

Upon hearing this, Sha Wujing wanted to cry but had no tears left, and said:

"Your Excellencies, your disciple is none other than Sha Wujing, who was advised by Guanyin Bodhisattva to wait here for the pilgrims!" Ao Tu was greatly surprised and hurriedly stepped forward, saying, "You are Sha Wujing, why do you look like a monster?"

Sha Wujing said, "I was originally the Curtain-Lifting General who served the Jade Emperor in the Lingxiao Palace. But because I accidentally broke a glass cup at the Peach Banquet, the Jade Emperor beat me eight hundred times and banished me to the mortal world, where I became like this."

Ao Tu helped Sha Wujing up and said:
"I misunderstood you. I thought you were a water monster because of your fierce appearance. I didn't expect to hurt you by mistake. How are you?"

Sha Wujing looked at the burns on his body with a bitter expression.

Ao Tu took out two bottles of elixirs and stuffed them into Sha Wujing's arms, saying, "I still have some elixirs here as a small token of my apology."

Sha Wujing immediately felt much better.

Ao Tu said, "Sha Wujing, listen to my decree."

Sha Wujing, having no doubt about Ao Tu and his companion's identities, hurriedly said:
"Disciple obeys the decree!"

Ao Tu said, "Now there is a great Tang Dynasty monk from the East who is traveling thousands of miles to the Western Paradise to obtain the scriptures. He needs to go through eighty-one tribulations along the way before he can achieve enlightenment. Now the number of tribulations is incomplete, so I have ordered the Buddhist disciple Sha Wujing to add one more tribulation to hinder the scripture seeker."

Upon hearing this, Sha Wujing was greatly surprised and said:

"Two venerable deities, didn't the Bodhisattva ask me to become the disciple of the pilgrim on his journey to the West?"

Ao Tu laughed and said, "Don't worry, it won't delay you. You can use a false name and complete this ordeal before becoming a disciple and following the pilgrim to the Western Paradise to retrieve the scriptures."

Sha Wujing was relieved and said, "I will obey your instructions, Venerable One."

Ao Tu laughed and said, "Alright, then you can change the stone tablet in the Flowing Sand River."

Sha Wujing asked, "How should we change it?"

Ao Tu said, “Change the Flowing Sand River to the Black Water River and carve the following: ‘Rolling ink across the land, surging gray for a thousand miles. No one is seen up close, and its shape is hard to find from afar.’”

Upon hearing this, Sha Wujing used his magic staff to erase the words on the stone tablet and inscribed the words Ao Tu had said.

Ao Tu then told Sha Wujing to change his name to a false one, Sha Tuolong.

Remove the nine heads of the pilgrims from Sha Wujing's neck, transform him into a fisherman, and have him fish by the river while waiting for the pilgrims.

Sha Wujing obeyed all orders without question.

This went on for almost a month.

Finally, with a ding, Tang Sanzang and his disciples walked out of the 800-mile-long Yellow Wind Ridge, and the system began to settle accounts.

[Ding, reward settlement in progress, total interception time: 64 days.]

[Ding! You have received a 3,000-year-old peach as a reward.]

[Ding! You have received the divine weapon, the Mystic Gold Iron Spear, as a reward.]

[Ding! Reward spell: Golden Light Across the Earth.]

[Ding! Reward obtained: Ten Deadly Formations - Red Sand Formation]

[Ding! Thirty-four extra days have been automatically transferred to the next side quest; the next side quest is: Crossing the Quicksand.]

Four rewards were distributed.

The three-thousand-year-old peach was much smaller than the nine-thousand-year-old peach that Ao Tu had eaten, and it no longer had purple markings, but it was still a rare celestial fruit.

The Divine Weapon, the Mysterious Gold Iron Rod Spear, is a silver-white spear that can change size at will. Its spearhead is gold and can emit golden light to kill enemies. Its power depends on the user's magical strength.

He mastered the spell "Golden Light Across the Earth," and with this spell, he could escape at any time, even if he were imprisoned.

As for the final Ten Deadly Formations - Red Sand Formation, a diagram of the formation was provided directly. Simply activate your magic power, place the diagram, and all the arrangements within the formation can be set up. Then, say "collect," and everything can be retrieved back into the diagram, which is extremely convenient.

After all four rewards were distributed, the system notification sounded again.

[Ding, entering the mission area]

[Current Side Quest: Crossing the Quicksand]

[Task Requirements: Block the pilgrims in the Flowing Sand River area. Rewards will be calculated based on the time taken to block them.]

[Task Rewards: 3 days/Three-stage Resurrection Pill, 7 days/6,000-year-old Peach of Immortality, half a month/Acquired Spiritual Treasure - Headache Chime, one month/Acquired Spiritual Treasure - Dragon Binding Rope, one season/Divine 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 Map and Luo Book, twelve years/Chaos Bell, sixty years...]

Current progress: 34 days

(End of this chapter)