Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

After Wen Jiao arranged everything, she turned to pack her luggage. When she was almost done, she informed Jia Quan and others that she had woken up.

Jia Quan was overjoyed and invited several doctors to see her one by one. They all said that she was in good health, but she had just recovered from a long illness and needed to be nursed back to health. They also asked her to cook some porridge to nourish her stomach. Huo Linger knew that she was about to go deep into the mountains. How could there be any good food in the wilderness? She used the excuse that she was greedy and forced the Li brothers to cook many delicious dishes and bring them back to her room.

Wen Jiao didn't feel hungry after receiving the fire date. She just ate a few bites of each one out of gratitude for her thoughtfulness. After nightfall, she put on her bag, opened the window and jumped out. She landed lightly on the ground with a tiptoe. She turned around and met Huo Ling'er's eyes. The latter was lying by the window, looking at her reluctantly.

It was as if they were back to the time when they met again in Wanhua Tower, one of them was leaning against the window looking out the window, while the other was downstairs, waving his claws at the person upstairs.

Wen Jiao smiled and waved to Huo Ling'er, and also waved goodbye to herself who had just arrived in this era.

Then, she turned around decisively and quickly disappeared into the night.

The bright moon was hanging high in the sky, illuminating the endless night below. The shadows of the trees were receding rapidly as the car raced, like countless dark and long lines. The bustling voices of the day had faded, replaced by the buzzing of insects, sometimes crisp and sometimes sharp, very lively.

Wen Jiao hurried along while appreciating the night scenery, not feeling lonely. Not long after, she heard footsteps behind her. It was Huo Ling'er, carrying a package half a person's height, catching up with her.

"I've figured it out. I can't bear to part with the Ruyi Pearl, but I can't bear to part with you even more." Huo Ling'er shouted, "In the deep mountains and old forests, with tall trees and deep ravines, you never know where a few big insects might jump out and bite you. It's safer for me to follow you. If a big insect really bites someone, I can transform into my original form and crush it to death."

"But in the mountains, there are no delicacies for three meals a day, exquisite snacks that can be eaten at any time, and new clothes and jewelry that need to be changed all year round." Wen Jiao reminded her.

Huo Ling'er patted the bag behind her proudly and said, "What are you afraid of? Everything we need is here. I also brought a bunch of non-perishable cakes from the pastry shop across from the inn. It's enough for the two of us to eat for ten days to half a month."

"Did you give the money?" Wen Jiao felt very complicated.

"Of course, I put two strings of money on the counter." Huo Linger said.

"What do you do after you finish eating?" Wen Jiao asked.

"It's eaten, it's eaten. At worst, I can turn into a lion again and perform magic to feed you." Huo Linger was full of confidence.

Wen Jiao looked up at the sky and smiled. After a long while, she lowered her head and said, "Then it will be your turn to support me this time."

After being together for such a long time, Huo Linger also vaguely realized that "keeping a mistress" was not a good word, and said seriously: "If you don't know how to speak, don't talk nonsense."

Wen Jiaowei called her and said, "Let's go!"

The Jade Rabbit sank in the west and the red sun rose in the east. Jia Quan waited until noon, but Wen Jiao did not come out. Even Huo Ling'er, who never missed breakfast, did not step out of the door. He felt something was wrong. He personally took the lunch box and knocked on the door with someone else: "Miss, Miss Huo, it's time to eat."

No one answered.

Jia Quan knocked on the door several times, but still no one answered. He felt something was wrong and kicked the door open. He saw that there was no one in the room. The beds and quilts were neatly folded, with no signs of sleeping. He immediately panicked. He and the servants searched for Wen Jiao's belongings, but only a few clothes, some silver, and hairpins and jewelry were missing. Huo Ling'er's belongings were all gone.

The Mohong sword she always carried with her for self-defense was placed on the table, with two letters underneath. Jia Quan opened the envelope with "Jia Quan's personal letter" written on it, and his face darkened after reading it: "Oh no, the young lady has gone to the mountains to practice, and asked us to return to Chang'an and pass this letter to the prime minister and his wife. After reading it, they will not blame us."

The other servants were also panicking: "Young lady, you are so stupid! Even if you want to sneak away, you should bring more money. We are the ones who pay for the trip. The little money she has is not enough!"

"Fire Girl must have brought money."

"That's not enough! When we left, the Prime Minister repeatedly told us to take good care of the young lady. Now that she's gone like this, how are we going to explain to the Prime Minister?"

Everyone was in a mess. After discussing, they had to report the case to the government office and took people to search everywhere. After more than ten months, they still couldn't find any trace of the person, so they had to bite the bullet and return to Beijing. When Yin Kaishan and Mrs. Yin opened the letter, their hands were shaking. They saw that the letter read:

Fortunately, my daughter was enlightened by the God of Demon-Subduing in her dream, who taught her the Daoist book and the golden elixir instruments. She only needed to go into the mountains to practice in silence. After a long time, she would eventually achieve the Daoist fruit. Jia Quan and others were loyal and took good care of my daughter on the way. However, my daughter was not able to take them into the mountains, so she took advantage of their unpreparedness to escape. My father and mother should remember their contributions and not blame them.

My daughter has long wanted to leave the world. When Chen Guangrui threatened her, she tried to hang herself in anger. Fortunately, she was rescued and felt like she was reborn. Now that the emperor has taught her, there is an infinite and smooth road ahead. Please don't worry, father, mother, and brother. After a century, the Buddha's voice will come to the west, and that will be the time for my daughter to re-enter the world.

The moon is full someday, the lotus blossoms at its time, we will meet again at a certain time, so don't miss me.

After reading the letter, Yin Kaishan and his wife cried. When Yin Yuan came back and heard that his elder sister had finally escaped into the mountains, he also cried with his parents and wanted to bring Jia Quan and other servants who had gone out with Wen Jiao to task. Seeing the instructions in the letter, he could not lose his temper, so he had to appease the servants dejectedly and gave them heavy rewards.

Thinking of how my elder sister had entrusted Xuanzang to me, I went to Jingye Temple every few days to force Xuanzang to come to the Xiangfu to practice martial arts, under the pretext of giving lectures. They lifted stone locks, pushed stone mills, danced with swords, and pulled hard bows. Xuanzang was in great pain from the training, and it was obvious that my coming here would help ease the longing of my grandfather's family for his mother, so I had to endure it silently.

After a few years, the originally fair and tender little mage was trained to be a white-faced warrior monk with tendons all over his body. When he was dressed, he looked like a handsome man; when he threw his clothes, he showed off his eight-pack abs. Whenever the maids and wives in the prime minister's mansion saw him, their eyes would sparkle.

Xuanzang was already very popular among female pilgrims because of his handsome and fair complexion. He thought that after years of martial arts training, he would become rough and rough, which would annoy the female bodhisattvas. Unexpectedly, his popularity increased, and the threshold of Jingye Temple was almost lowered by three inches by the female pilgrims coming and going, which made Xuanzang very annoyed.