Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 4, The Burning of the Zen Temple (Part 3)
Meanwhile, Guangzhi descended the mountain and arrived in the city at the foot of the mountain. He asked someone to write a petition and beat the drum to appeal for justice.

The magistrate ascended the court and asked:
"Little monk, what grievance do you have?"

Guangzhi cried out in protest:
"Your Honor, the young monk is a monk from Guanyin Temple on the mountain outside the city, with the Dharma name Guangzhi. The other day, my abbot kindly took in two traveling monks, but unexpectedly, seeing that my temple was wealthy, the two monks harbored evil intentions. They set fire to the temple at night, burning it down and robbing my temple of its wealth accumulated over a hundred years!"

The magistrate raised an eyebrow and hurriedly asked:
"Is it Elder Jinchi's Guanyin Zen Temple?"

Guanyin Temple was extremely famous within a hundred miles, and even the county magistrate had heard of it.

Guangzhi nodded vigorously, saying, "Exactly, exactly!"

The magistrate asked, "Is there a complaint?"

Guangzhi handed over the petition.

After reviewing the petition, the magistrate saw the words "wealth accumulated over a century" written on it and couldn't help but ask:

How much money is in your temple?

Guangzhi truthfully reported: "Accumulated over a century, there is countless gold and silver, but the little monk is not very clear about it. He only knows that there are more than a hundred boxes of snowflake silver, more than a dozen boxes of gold ingots, three large boxes of jade and jewelry, and a bundle each of white ivory and rhinoceros horn."

Upon hearing this, the magistrate's eyes widened, and greed immediately arose in his heart. He said, "How audacious are these two thieving monks! Men, go and arrest them immediately!"

He immediately threw down the warrant and ordered two shifts of constables to go and arrest the suspect.

However, the Guanyin Temple was some distance from the city, and the yamen runners were just ordinary people, so they were unable to reach the temple that night.

The next day, Tang Sanzang ate a vegetarian meal served by the monks, then called to Sun Wukong, wanting to continue their journey.

In order to buy time, Guangmou took out gold and silver from the temple, saying he wanted to give them to Tang Sanzang.

Tang Sanzang refused to accept it.

Just then, Guangzhi arrived with his constables during the scuffle.

Guangzhi pointed at Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong and said, "It's those two thieving monks!"

Upon hearing this, the constables shouted and surrounded the monk, yelling, "Well done, you thieving monk! We've caught you red-handed!"

First they grabbed Tang Sanzang and tied him up; then they tried to tie up Sun Wukong, but Sun Wukong refused. He took out his golden cudgel and said, "Tell me who the thief is!" He was going to teach these constables a lesson.

Seeing this, Tang Sanzang was afraid that Sun Wukong would hurt people, so he hurriedly said, "Wukong, please don't do it. These yamen runners have wrongly arrested us. When we get to court, I will explain the situation clearly. You must not hurt anyone! Otherwise, I will definitely recite the Tightening-Headband Mantra!"

Fearing that Tang Sanzang would actually recite the Tightening-Headband Mantra, Sun Wukong had no choice but to surrender.

The constables tied up Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang, and then asked Guangzhi and Guangmou to bring out the temple's treasures. Just as Guangzhi had said, there were hundreds of chests of gold and silver, not only not a small amount, but even more.

The yamen runners were overjoyed and exclaimed, "These are all filthy items!" They then prepared to carry all the silver back to the county yamen.

However, there was too much silver and not enough manpower, so they couldn't move it all at once. They were afraid that if they left first, the silver might be lost. So they had no choice but to leave it behind to guard it and send someone to the county government to notify the magistrate to send more people to transport the silver.

This back-and-forth travel takes four or five days.

By the time Tang Sanzang and his disciples were brought to the court, Ao Tu's progress in the system had reached the ninth day.

Once in court, Tang Sanzang naturally protested his innocence, explaining the whole story in detail, which was quite reasonable and well-founded.

However, the magistrate was unwilling to let Tang Sanzang and his companion go, because the stolen silver was substantial, and he also wanted a share of it. Only by making the case airtight could he easily embezzle funds. Therefore, the magistrate ordered the use of torture to extract a confession from Tang Sanzang.

Sun Wukong used a spell to take the punishment in Tang Sanzang's place.

He has a head of bronze and a brain of iron, and an indestructible body; neither splints, sticks, nor beds of iron needles are of any use to him.

Left with no other option, the magistrate had to temporarily imprison Tang Sanzang and his disciples.

As night fell, Sun Wukong transformed into a small insect, flew away from the prison, and landed in the magistrate's house. He pretended to be a night-roaming god and fooled the magistrate, saying that Tang Sanzang was a Buddhist disciple from the Western Paradise and a holy monk from the Eastern Land. He told the magistrate to release him as soon as possible, or the gods would punish him and the whole city would be in turmoil.

After saying that, he conjured up a giant foot out of thin air and landed on the ground, stomping a three-foot-three-inch pit in the ground. When the magistrate saw this, he was so frightened that he was scared out of his wits and dared not disobey.
Sun Wukong left with a smile.

At this moment, the progress in the Ao Tu system is nine days. Even if it reaches tomorrow, it will only be ten days, which is five days away from the reward of intercepting for half a month.

But Ao Tu wasn't worried; he had his own way of dealing with it.

After Sun Wukong left, a while later, Ao Tu entered the magistrate's house and transformed into Ananda.

The magistrate, who had just been frightened by Sun Wukong, was now seeing Ao Tu arrive in this state. He hurriedly kowtowed and bowed repeatedly, saying incoherently, "Buddha, Bodhisattva, I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong. I will release the holy monk and will never dare to do it again."

Ao Tu said, "I am Venerable Ananda, a disciple of the Buddha Tathagata of the Western Paradise. The Buddha said that you, the prisoner, have wrongfully tortured the Buddhist disciple on his pilgrimage, disturbing the gods of the Three Realms. He sent me here to take you to Avici Hell to suffer the punishment of being boiled in oil and knives."

The magistrate asked tremblingly, "Your Excellency, what is this 'knife boiling in oil' punishment?"

Ao Tu said, "It means rolling a person on a knife, cutting their skin and flesh into pieces, hanging them on their body, and then frying them in oil."

Upon hearing this, the magistrate was so terrified that he wet himself and kowtowed uncontrollably, saying:

"This humble official knows his mistake, this humble official knows his mistake, and will never dare to do it again. I beg Your Excellency to have mercy, please have mercy! If Your Excellency can save this humble official's life, this humble official will mobilize the entire city to build a temple for Your Excellency, and make offerings day and night, without daring to be negligent in the slightest!"

Ao Tu chuckled inwardly. He hadn't expected the magistrate to be so cowardly. He had only planned to delay for five days, but seeing the situation, he decided to say more. Anyway, the extra days wouldn't go to waste, and if it wasn't thirty days, he could count it in the next calamity.

Ao Tu said, "Very well, seeing your sincerity, I will give you a chance to repent and start anew."

The magistrate was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately bowed his head to listen.

Ao Tu said:
"Because of your greed, you tortured the holy monk who was on his pilgrimage, committing boundless sins. You should have suffered thirty-three years of punishment in Avici Hell to atone for your sins. But seeing your sincere repentance, I, the Venerable One, will give you a method to reform yourself."

You use your own money to set up a thousand tables of banquet in the city, invite that holy monk from the Tang Dynasty to perform a thirty-three-day ritual to deliver the souls of the dead and help the common people.

Each day a holy monk performs rituals and hosts a feast, one's sins are absolved for one year. After thirty-three days, all sins are wiped away. Do you understand?

The magistrate hurriedly kowtowed and said, "I understand, I understand."

Ao Tu then said, “This Venerable One has no desires and wants, and does not need your incense offerings. If you really build a temple for me to worship, and I find out, I will definitely cast you into the boundless hell, where you will never be reborn.”

Upon hearing this, the magistrate became even more convinced of Ao Tu's identity and quickly agreed, indicating that no temple would be built.

Ao Tu concealed himself, and before leaving, he gave the following instructions:
"Remember, this matter must not be mentioned to outsiders. If the secret of heaven is revealed, it will no longer be effective."

The magistrate kowtowed again and said, "Yes, yes, I understand."

(End of this chapter)