Journey to the West: From Stealing the Teachings of Patriarch Bodhi to Becoming a Saint Through a Hu

"My method of seeking good fortune and eliminating misfortune is indeed a good technique. Although it cannot grant immortality, as long as I kill the ominous hexagram in the divination, which is the rhinoceros demon, I can gather a trace of innate energy within my body. However, I will have to wait two days. My divination should be quite accurate."

Yuan Li stayed alone in the Great Strength Cave, lost in thought.

He summoned Ge Lang. This white wolf demon hadn't made much progress in the Great Strength Cave and looked no different from seven years ago.

The lowest-ranking monsters, without any background, naturally have little chance of rising to prominence.

Yuan Li asked Ge Lang:

"Ge Lang, do you remember seven years ago? I came here and stole the horn of an antelope demon that your king had captured in the cave. What happened after that? Tell me."

Ge Lang replied respectfully:

"Our king was originally a wolf demon with nearly a hundred years of cultivation. We don't know why he provoked you, King Black Wind. Now, King Black Wind, you have come to our Mighty Cave and even killed our king. King Black Wind, you should rightfully be our new king. Speaking of seven years ago, after you, King Black Wind, took the antelope demon's horns, you originally intended to hand the antelope demon over to the Azure Wolf Spirit, but the Azure Wolf Spirit didn't get the horns. Our Mighty Cave offended the Azure Wolf Spirit, and we can only say that it was you, King Black Wind, who came here the day before and took the horns."

Ge Lang chuckled ingratiatingly. Yuan Li roughly understood and stopped arguing with Ge Lang about these trivial matters.

He began casting the spell again, silently reciting the method to bring good fortune and ward off evil. He slightly adjusted the resulting celestial hexagram and looked at the hexagram more than three hundred miles away. More than three hundred miles away was extremely close to White Bone Ridge.

He wanted to see what the divination results were for the area around White Bone Ridge. Was there any ritual to ward off misfortune and bring good fortune? Was it auspicious or inauspicious? He only needed to decide in a moment.

Having seen through the illusion, his divination at Black Wind Mountain was an ominous sign of good fortune, meaning it was a favorable omen for him.

The method of operating to bring good fortune and ward off misfortune.

Yuan Li closed his eyes and concentrated, muttering to himself:

"A poor strategy. If I go to find the catfish demon at White Bone Ridge today, I will covet her beauty and bring about my own demise."

As Yuan Li read this, his brow twitched as he closed his eyes to regulate his breathing. If it weren't for his dark, charcoal-black face, he would surely have blushed with embarrassment.

Suddenly, I felt that the hexagram I had generated in my mind described me as extremely unworthy.

He suddenly opened his eyes and said with dissatisfaction:

"I would never normally say such a thing. How could I possibly covet the beauty of a catfish demon? Since it would bring me death, I won't go to White Bone Ridge, and I won't seek out that catfish demon. Hahahaha!"

He couldn't help but burst into laughter, quite pleased with himself.

When he secretly learned the method of seeking good fortune and warding off misfortune, he felt that this method was extremely contrary to the will of Heaven.

Being able to foresee future events would make it exceptionally easy for him to achieve immortality.

However, when I read out the mediocre strategy, I realized that it felt a little awkward to say the words from the divination myself.

After using the method of seeking good fortune and eliminating misfortune for the first time, Yuan Li had mastered the technique, but he still lacked the ability to apply it and needed to familiarize himself with it more before he could fully control it.

Realizing this, Yuan Li calmed down and carefully considered what was wrong, comparing it with what he had said last time.

The biggest difference lies in the distinction between a less-than-ideal strategy and a superior one. Furthermore, this divination did not reveal the appropriate course of action to Yuan Li, indicating that it is not as simple as it seems. There is neither a desire for good fortune nor a plan to eliminate misfortune. Eliminating misfortune means destroying the malevolent spirit, killing the rhinoceros demon of Black Wind Mountain.

But this time, Yuan Li seemed to have the ability to foresee the future, having foreseen today's events. Soon, Yuan Li remembered that when he secretly learned from Bodhi Patriarch the method of seeking good fortune and eliminating misfortune from the Nine Spirits Primordial Saint in the Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave, he had been warned that future events were irreversible.

Yuan Li, however, was determined to reverse what would happen in the future.

He would rather suffer the backlash than go to White Bone Ridge to seek out the catfish demon and become infatuated with her beauty, which would only bring him death.

Yuan Li then stayed in the Great Strength Cave for a day. Just after midnight, a wisp of innate energy within Yuan Li's body began to backfire. Yuan Li spat out a mouthful of blood as sharp as a sword; he had indeed suffered the consequences.

Lying on his side on the stone bed in the Great Cave, he groaned incessantly.

"That wretched catfish spirit! I don't understand why I would seek out that catfish spirit? What kind of divination is this?"

As of now, he still doesn't know what exactly is threatening his life at White Bone Ridge. He can only start recuperating first.

He was severely affected by that trace of innate energy, but fortunately it was only a trace of innate energy that was barely perceptible to the naked eye.

His life was not in danger. He was to go to Black Wind Mountain the next day to take over the position of the Black Bear Spirit.

Yuan Li was extremely weak at this moment, his body seemingly hollowed out and listless, so he fell into a deep sleep in the cave. If anything happened, Ge Lang would naturally wake him up. Yuan Li instructed several wolf demons to take turns keeping an eye on the movements of Guanyin Temple from a distance. It would be good if Elder Jinchi burned down his temple; he had been waiting for this day.

With the help of the art of nourishing the spirit and cultivating qi, his health improved considerably. On a huge boulder, a black bear spirit sat comfortably, munching on fruit. A short while later, Ge Lang, accompanied by a wolf demon, approached the boulder. The wolf demon beside Ge Lang had been keeping watch outside.

The wolf demon flattered excitedly:

"Your Majesty! The Guanyin Temple you asked us to keep an eye on caught fire last night! Your Majesty, my name is Mighty Demon, hahahaha! Your Majesty, look, I was the first to rush into the temple and brought back a precious cassock!"

The powerful demon, dressed only in a cloth armor, snorted and glared smugly as he pulled a brocade cassock from his robes. He spread his legs and draped the radiant, precious cassock over his body. His judgment was indeed sharp; the other wolf demons had only stolen some tofu ground in the temple.

He only took the brocade cassock, truly taking advantage of the chaos. Yuan Li turned his head to look.

My heart skipped a beat, and my eyes almost popped out.

I never expected this.

He only ordered his men to keep watch, not to steal the cassock. Yuan Li immediately stood up, not blaming the sly little wolf demon for ruining his plans.

He stepped forward and grabbed the brocade cassock from the powerful demon's body.

Without daring to delay for even a moment, a black wind arose, and they flew anxiously and swiftly towards Black Wind Mountain.

"That bastard! I'll skin him alive when I get back! I need to hurry to Black Wind Mountain and give this precious cassock to the black bear demon there, lest Tang Sanzang and his disciples find me here."

Yuan Li said.

He was also very fast.

Sun Wukong may have already gone to Black Wind Mountain to find the Black Bear Spirit.

He arrived at Black Wind Mountain.

Sure enough, they saw Sun Wukong fighting the Black Bear Demon, and the fight was evenly matched.

A gust of black wind swept by.

Although they were quite far away, they still caught the attention of Sun Wukong and the Black Bear Spirit.

Yuan Li took advantage of the fact that the two were outside.

They arrived at Black Wind Cave first.

Without saying a word, he threw the precious cassock into the black bear demon's cave.

He then took off running.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, he finally managed to pass this hot potato back to the Black Bear Spirit. After his unsuccessful fight with Sun Wukong, the Black Bear Spirit returned to his cave and, upon seeing the brocade cassock within, his eyes lit up.

He soon convened a Buddhist robe gathering today, inviting his sworn brothers, the Azure Wolf Spirit and the Flower Snake Demon.

Yuan Li mingled near Black Wind Mountain. He must have gone to Heaven again to request reinforcements. Yuan Li kept his distance, afraid of being discovered by Sun Wukong.

On the nameless hill of Dali Cave, Dali Demon was tied to a tree, and two little demons kept whipping him with leather whips, making a crackling sound.

Yuan Li glanced at him up and down, then nodded in satisfaction. After all, this guy had almost made him take the blame. Yuan Li had no intention of killing his subordinates arbitrarily.

After all, what he brought back was indeed a treasure, so let's spare his life for now. The powerful demon's repeated pleas for mercy echoed far and wide.

Yuan Li scolded:

"Your name is Mighty Demon, right? Do you know what mistake you've made?"

The two little demons wielding the whips stopped.

The mighty demon pleaded pitifully:

"I don't know. I saw Your Majesty take that precious robe and leave in a hurry. All I know is that what you brought back was a rare treasure."

Yuan Li said:

"You took what you shouldn't have, and you almost caused us to attract an even more powerful monster. Alright, untie the mighty demon and let him taste the tofu you stole from Guanyin Temple. Tell the rest of the lesser demons to stay in the cave and not go anywhere."

After giving his instructions, Yuan Li returned to the Great Strength Cave.

He took out a pair of smooth, porcelain-white ram horns from his person. These were the ram horns he had taken from the head of the antelope demon, and he hadn't yet had time to refine them into a ram strength pill.

It seems he failed to save the antelope demon in this life. The antelope demon ultimately fell into the hands of the wolf spirit and probably died seven years ago.

This was Yuan Li's conjecture; as for whether the wolf spirit would kill the demoness, he had little idea.

This matter had little to do with him. Outside the cave entrance, which was about two or three zhang wide, the light of day had dimmed somewhat. Yuan Li, while staying in this dilapidated mountain forest, had learned from passing monsters that Black Wind Mountain was going to hold a Buddhist robe gathering today to show off the extraordinary treasure that the Black Wind King had recently acquired.

Yuan Li pondered that Guanyin Bodhisattva would transform into the appearance of a wolf spirit and give Sun Wukong, who could transform into an elixir through seventy-two transformations, to the Black Bear Spirit. After consuming the elixir, the Black Bear Spirit would cause quite a stir before being subdued by Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Yuan Li is now the Black Bear Spirit himself, and he wonders how he would handle the situation if he were in that position.

The one being manipulated now is the Black Bear Spirit.

Yuan Li thought that if his magical power was strong enough, he didn't believe he would be afraid of Sun Wukong causing trouble inside his stomach.

"By relying on the method of seeking good fortune and eliminating misfortune, and by refining myself with innate energy, one day my strength will be enough to directly refine the elixir that Sun Wukong transformed into."

Yuan Li thought to himself.

He had a bold idea, but it wasn't impossible. He only had five hundred years of cultivation and hadn't even experienced the first natural disaster yet, so thinking about these things was a bit premature.

He calculated that he needed to go to Black Wind Mountain today to eliminate a rhinoceros demon. He led Ge Lang, Dali Yao, and a group of lesser demons on a patrol along the mountain path. As darkness fell, Yuan Li leisurely arrived at Black Wind Mountain. His first question was: where was the rhinoceros demon? And how many years of cultivation did it possess? It seemed the Black Bear Demon had already gone to Guanyin Bodhisattva. Yuan Li looked around. Among his best plans was to seize the throne of the Black Wind King of Black Wind Mountain.

Finally, he killed a rhinoceros demon. But he seemed to naturally become the Black Wind King in the eyes of the demons, and no one stopped him.

After looking around, I realized that the most powerful monster on Black Wind Mountain right now is the number one cave master, the Yellow-haired Monster.

Compared to the other monsters, the yellow-haired monster was only wearing a black robe. When Yuan Li looked at the yellow-haired monster, the monster grinned at him with obvious delight.

The yellow-haired monster never expected that the Black Bear Spirit would return after being taken away by Guanyin Bodhisattva. Judging from his aura and appearance alone, Yuan Li, who had cultivated the method of seeking good fortune and eliminating evil, gave the yellow-haired monster a similar feeling.

The blond-haired monster greeted Yuan Li, asking as he spoke:

"Your Majesty...weren't you captured by the Bodhisattva in heaven? Everyone was terrified, but thankfully Your Majesty is unharmed."

Yuan Li replied in a low voice, his eyes darting around.

"Well... it's a long story. I was really tricked by that monkey and almost didn't make it back. Yellow-haired monster, we have to be careful from now on. It was Guanyin Bodhisattva who captured me. We should go to Guanyin Temple more often to offer incense and thank her for letting me go back."

The yellow-haired monster responded:

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Yuan Li managed to fool them like that.

He sat down cross-legged in the Black Wind Cave.

"Oh dear, why isn't there a rhinoceros demon? Could my divination have been wrong?"

Yuan Li muttered to himself.

Using methods to seek good fortune and ward off misfortune greatly depletes one's mental energy, and Yuan Li is somewhat exhausted. His mental energy, which has suffered a backlash from the innate energy, has not yet fully recovered.

It's highly likely that every word in his divination was true, but the matter of the rhinoceros demon had nothing to do with his return to Black Wind Mountain to become king.

The location of the divination was Black Wind Mountain. Soon after, a rhinoceros demon arrived outside Black Wind Mountain. Having heard that the black bear demon had recently fallen into trouble, the rhinoceros demon had traveled a great distance to come here, only to take advantage of the situation.

At this moment, he was exchanging blows with the yellow-haired monster. Yuan Li had been worried about not being able to find this rhinoceros demon, but it turned out that the demon had come to him on its own. Yuan Li immediately stepped forward and, according to the divination, had to kill the rhinoceros demon to complete the divination.

The rhinoceros demon, carrying a bull-tail knife, lost his composure upon seeing Yuan Li approaching. Yuan Li seized the opportunity and slashed the rhinoceros demon's head, sending it flying dozens of feet away.

Yuan Li, gripping his bear-skin broadsword, asked casually:

"Yellow-haired monster, where did this rhinoceros demon come from?"

The blond monster then said:

"Your Majesty, this demon is a powerful demon from the Kingdom of Chechi. It came looking for trouble because Your Majesty was not here. But Your Majesty is valiant and killed this rhinoceros demon with a single stroke."

"Your Majesty is valiant!"

"Your Majesty is valiant!"

The surrounding lesser demons chimed in. Since it was a powerful demon from Chechi Kingdom, Yuan Li didn't take it to heart.

After completing the divination, the wisp of innate energy within my body stirred slightly. I need to go back and carefully study and refine it.

The rhinoceros demon's corpse was handed over to the yellow-haired monster for disposal, and Yuan Li returned home.

Then one must refine that wisp of mysterious innate energy within one's own body.

In the world of Journey to the West, the ranks of demons are divided into Lesser Demons, Greater Demons, Demon Kings, and above Demon Kings are the top Greater Demons, who can be called Demon Emperors.

They can also be called demon immortals, but Yuan Li prefers to call them demon immortals.

As for the top demon among the three great demons of Lion Camel Ridge, his senior brother Nine-Headed Lion Saint's realm is probably above that of a demon immortal.

The Nine-Headed Lion of the Nine-Headed Primordial Saint was able to capture Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing in an instant, yet this kind of strength was merely the mount of the Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun.

Yuan Li's current cultivation level can only be considered that of a Great Demon. With the Three Calamities approaching, he has no choice but to start cultivating in peace.

When he returned to Black Wind Cave, a woman suddenly emerged from the deepest part of the cave.

Clearly, she was not a mortal woman captured by the Black Bear Demon. She looked like a respectable young woman from a noble family, but she was actually a demoness with demonic aura!

The demoness was missing a pair of ram's horns; she was the antelope demon.

Yuan Li was sitting on the bed when he turned his head to look, and his heart began to pound wildly.