Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 88 Exorcising Demons in Wuji Kingdom (Part 1)
Meanwhile, Ao Tu rescued the corpse of the King of Wuji Kingdom from the well, but because the body was already dead, it could not be brought back to life.

Upon seeing this, the King of Wuji Kingdom bowed again and said, "I beg the Buddha for help."

Ao Tu took out a seven-leaf Ganoderma lucidum and said:

"This is the Seven-Leaf Lingzhi Grass, which has the effect of bringing the dead back to life! It was given to me by Venerable Ananda during the Ullambana Festival when we made a bet on whether he was afraid of fire."

The King of Wuji Kingdom hurriedly kowtowed and said, "I beg the Buddha for mercy and to bestow upon me the immortal herb."

Ao Tu shook his head and said, "No. The Buddha once said that the Dharma should not be transmitted in vain, and the Buddha's treasures should not be given lightly. If I give you the immortal herb, what benefit will you give me?"

The King of Black Chicken asked in surprise, "Benefits?"

Ao Tu asked, "What?"

King Wuji said, "It's nothing, I just didn't expect that the Buddha would also want benefits."

Ao Tu said, "Don't say such things. Even before the Buddha, there must be something of value before anything can be done."

The King of Wuji Kingdom said, "Since that's the case, please, Buddha, just say the word, and I will do as you say."

Ao Tu shook his head and said, "You are nothing but a wronged ghost. Your empty promises are not convincing."

The King of Wuji Kingdom asked, "What should we do then?"

Ao Tu asked, "Do you have any children?"

The King of Wuji Kingdom said, "I have a crown prince, who is my own biological heir."

Ao Tu asked, "Are you an adult now?"

The King of Wuji Kingdom said, "He has come of age."

Ao Tu said, "Alright, go and tell him in a dream that he should bring paper and pen to Baolin Temple tomorrow to sign and seal a loan agreement on your behalf, so that I can bestow the immortal herb upon you."

Upon hearing this, the King of Wuji Kingdom had no choice but to comply.

At that moment, Ao Tu took the body and returned to Baolin Temple.

The King of Wuji Kingdom appeared in the Crown Prince's dream, recounting past events.

The prince awoke in the middle of the night, filled with doubt and uncertainty. The next day, he took his soldiers and attendants, left the prince's residence, and headed straight for Baolin Temple.

Upon arriving at the temple, all the monks, young and old, came to greet His Highness the Crown Prince upon hearing of his arrival.

The prince asked the abbot, "Is there a Buddha residing in your temple?"

The abbot exclaimed in surprise, "How did the Crown Prince know?"

The prince said, "Take me there quickly!"

The abbot dared not delay and hurriedly led the prince over.

Upon reaching the main hall, the young prince, still quite young, felt a bit nervous about matters of gods and ghosts. He told the abbot, "Go and knock on the door."

The abbot stepped forward and gently knocked on the door, saying, "Buddha, the prince requests an audience."

Ao Tu said, "Let the Crown Prince in."

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince stepped forward, pushed open the palace door, and went inside.

Upon entering, the prince saw Ao Tu's appearance and exclaimed in surprise, "He truly is the Buddha!"

Not daring to be negligent, they immediately paid their respects.

Ao Tu said, "Get up."

Ao Tu raised his hand and released the corpse of the King of Wuji Kingdom, saying:

"Look at this, isn't this your father?"

When the crown prince saw him, he stepped forward to identify him, and indeed it was his father.

He then embraced the body and wept bitterly, pleading, "Buddha, please save my father's life."

Ao Tu said, "It's fine. You sign this document on behalf of your father, and I will save him."

Ao Tu delivered a document to the Crown Prince, who found it concise with only one condition: to build a ninety-nine-story Buddhist pagoda outside the capital of Wuji Kingdom to spread Buddhism.

The prince dared not sign, put down his pen, knelt down and said, "I beg Buddha to change the terms."

Ao Tu asked, "Why are you unwilling to save your father?"

The prince said, "I am deeply grateful for the kindness of my parents in raising me; there is no greater kindness than this. How could I not save them?"

Ao Tu asked, "Then why are you hesitating?"

The prince said, “Buddha, if you need gold and silver as gifts, all the gold and silver in the national treasury can be given; if you wish to spread the Dharma, we are willing to give up the imperial palace and ask you to move there to spread the Dharma. However, this act of building a pagoda is really too harmful to the people. I beg you, Buddha, to have mercy and understand the feelings of the people of Wuji Kingdom.”

Ao Tu laughed and said, "Your prince is indeed wise. Don't worry, my construction of this pagoda will not harm the people of your Wuji Kingdom."

The prince wept and said, “A ninety-nine-story pagoda is unprecedented. How can it not harm the people? I fear that when the pagoda is completed, it will not be built with bricks, stones and wood, but with the corpses of thousands of people.”

Ao Tu said, “No! No! My pagoda doesn’t require the people’s labor. You only need to keep the Taoist priests in your country under the pagoda, and I will use magic to make them work day and night without harming their bodies, so that they can build the pagoda and I can use it to spread my teachings.”

The prince said, "This... why are the Taoist priests being detained and forced to work for no reason?"

Ao Tu said, "How could it be without reason? That evil Taoist priest seized the throne and ruled as emperor for five years. Your father had nowhere to turn for help and wandered as a lonely ghost for five years, not even daring to enter his own city gate. Do you know why?"

The prince asked, "Why?"

Ao Tu said, "It is only because that evil Taoist has a powerful background that he is related to the Ten Kings of Hell, is a brother of Mount Tai, often meets with the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, and is a guest of all the stars in the heavens. Therefore, he is allowed to commit such evil deeds. Shouldn't the Taoist sect be punished for producing such a wicked person?"

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince gritted his teeth and said hatefully:
"Our country has always revered Buddhism and Taoism, yet we have never imagined we would suffer such mistreatment! They should be punished! They should be punished! Those Taoist priests should be made to do hard labor!"

Ao Tu laughed and said, "That's right, sign it."

The crown prince picked up a brush, signed his name on behalf of his father, and affixed his seal. Ao Tu accepted the document, took out the Seven-Leaf Lingzhi Grass, and used magic to send it into the body of the King of Wuji Kingdom. In an instant, the King of Wuji Kingdom was resurrected and awoke.

For a moment, the father and son embraced and wept, revealing their deep bond as blood relatives.

After the two finished their conversation, they went to pay their respects to Ao Tu to express their gratitude for his rescue.

Ao Tu laughed and said, "There's no need to bow to me. I'm only doing this for a bribe, so there's no need for you to pay your respects."

The King of Wuji Kingdom had overheard everything while he was standing nearby and knew that Ao Tu's so-called benefits would not harm the foundation of the kingdom, so he was even more grateful to Ao Tu.

The prince asked, "Buddha, now that my father has been rescued, how should we subdue that evil Taoist?"

Ao Tu said, "Tomorrow, you will tell your mother what happened, and together with your father, you will lead troops to the palace to confront that sorcerer in court. Then, your mother will come out to identify him, and the sorcerer's transformation will be exposed. I will then take action to subdue him!"

The King and Crown Prince of Wuji Kingdom were overjoyed and readily agreed.

The next morning at court, the Crown Prince entered the hall and said:
"Father, I met a remarkable person today. Please take a look."

The blue-haired lion demon, unaware that his scheme had been exposed, asked, "What extraordinary person is he?"

The Crown Prince said, "Father will know at a glance."

The blue-haired lion then said, "Bring it up for a look!"

The crown prince ordered his guards to bring his biological father, the king, to the palace.

The King of Wuji Kingdom, escorted by a group of guards, ascended the palace. The entire court was astonished to see that there were two kings.
The crown prince cried out, "Mother, which of these two men is my biological father?"

Upon hearing the sound, the Queen of Wuji came out, walked to the True King, and knelt down, saying:

"I deserve to die a thousand deaths for failing to welcome Your Majesty back to the palace!"

The true king helped the queen up, tears streaming down his face, and said, "Zitong!"

The prince drew his sword and pointed it at the fake king on the throne, saying, "You sorcerer, you have usurped my father's throne. Aren't you going to expose yourself now?!"

Seeing that he could no longer hide the truth, the blue-maned lion transformed back into the Taoist priest's appearance and said:
"King of Wuji Kingdom, your calamity is not yet over, how did you escape!"

The crown prince remained silent, but immediately issued an order, commanding the palace guards to kill the evil Taoist.

The guards raised their swords, and the prince also drew his sword, together they slashed at the evil Taoist, vowing to avenge their father.

Seeing this, the blue-maned lion stretched out its paws, unleashing five sharp claws. With a swift motion, it shattered the swords and weapons of the prince and his guards into several pieces.

The blue-maned lion sneered, "I didn't want to hurt anyone, you forced me to!"

The palace guards and civil and military officials in the court were so frightened by this powerful sorcery that they all retreated.

Seeing this, the King of Wuji Kingdom quickly pulled the Queen to kneel down and said:
"We beg the Buddha to intervene and subdue this evil sorcerer."

As soon as he finished speaking, a golden light descended from outside the palace, illuminating all directions.

Upon seeing this, the green-haired lion leaped out of the palace gate and roared, "Who has ruined my grand plan!"

Ao Tu sat on the golden lotus and said:
"You beast, show yourself!"

Seeing Ao Tu sitting on a golden lotus, surrounded by Buddhist light, the green-haired lion asked uncertainly, "Who are you?"

Ao Tu said, "I am the Buddha King of Mount Ling!"

Upon hearing this, the green-haired lion roared, "What kind of Buddha is this! What kind of demon are you, daring to impersonate the Buddha!"

Ao Tu said, "You wicked beast, you usurped the throne, killed the true king, and are stubborn and unrepentant. Now you still dare to act violently. Don't blame me for being ruthless."

After speaking, Ao Tu revealed his sixteen-foot-tall golden body, with eight arms, holding eight treasures: a gourd, a precious fan, a rope, a battle formation diagram, a wooden staff, a bowl, a chime, and a seal.

Upon seeing this, the blue-maned lion looked terrified and exclaimed, "No, Buddha, you're wrong! You're wrong!"

Ao Tu ignored what he was saying and slammed all eight arms down at once. The Green Lion Demon couldn't withstand it and was immediately forced back into its original form, a green-maned lion.

The crown prince was coming to kill him, and Ao Tu said:
"Don't do anything. Keep him as a witness so that those Taoist priests will be convinced."

Upon hearing this, the crown prince stopped wielding his blade.

Ao Tu then transformed the green-maned lion back into the appearance of a Taoist priest, and ordered his men to pierce the lion's collarbone, preventing it from escaping.

The prince led his men to interrogate the man with the green-haired lion spirit, asking where it came from and who its background was.

How dare the green-haired lion spirit say that?
He endured excruciating torture but remained silent.

The crown prince had no choice but to parade him through the streets to publicly announce his crimes.

The king issued a decree ordering the arrest of all Taoist priests throughout the country for the grave crime of deceiving the monarch and seizing the country. All Taoist priests residing in Taoist temples of all sizes and in all mountains and rivers were to be arrested.

The older Taoist priests worked as cooks, the younger ones tended the fire, and the older ones did the hard labor. Together, they built a ninety-nine-story pagoda ten miles outside the city.

The Taoist priests cried out their grievances and appealed their cases, but all to no avail.

For those who have been wronged, the Green-haired Lion Demon is brought out, and it is said: "It is this evil Taoist who deceived the emperor and occupied the country, implicating you all. If this evil Taoist does not reveal his origins, you will be forced to do hard labor every day."

There was no other way but for the Taoist priests to work day and night to build the pagoda.

Ao Tu cast another spell to protect them, keeping them from injury or death, but their willpower was hard to endure.

After three months, some of the Taoist priests could no longer hold on, and many of them attempted suicide.

Ao Tu then transformed himself into a Taoist priest. Standing in the sky, he asked them, "Why are you Taoist priests here seeking death?"

Seeing that Ao Tu was extraordinary, the Taoist priests quickly told him their grievances and begged him to seek justice for them.

Ao Tu calculated with his fingers, then shook his head and said:
"Then the demonic cultivators who implicated you have powerful backgrounds, which I cannot help you with. Here's what I'll do: I will teach you a cultivation technique. You can cultivate it day and night to increase your cultivation level, and just wait for the Great Sage Equal to Heaven to come. He can help you get rid of your suffering."

(End of this chapter)