I'm Dreaming of a Journey to the West

Seeing the monkey demons suddenly disappearing before his eyes, Li Chen's face turned a little gloomy, but he soon regained his composure. After all, the fact that these monkey demons were able to escape from his attack showed that they had a certain strength and intelligence. Thinking of this, Li Chen stopped releasing Fire Demon Slash and began to look around, trying to find the disappeared monkey demons.

After some observation, Li Chen finally heard faint laughter coming from behind the lava monsters. Looking closely, he discovered several monkeys covering their mouths and laughing with a smug look on their faces. They were clearly the group of monkey monsters that had just disappeared. Seeing this scene, Li Chen's face darkened even further.

It turned out that these monkey demons possessed an extremely powerful escape technique, allowing them to quickly disappear and hide. Furthermore, they possessed a keen sense of danger. When they sensed the powerful force of Li Chen's Fire Demon Slash, they sensed the danger and promptly used their escape technique to flee. Therefore, although they could not clearly see the subtleties of Li Chen's Fire Demon Slash, they could clearly sense its terrifying power, far beyond their ability to withstand. Thus, they chose to dodge without hesitation.

However, Li Chen remained undeterred by this situation. Instead, he became even more determined to teach these cunning monkey demons a lesson. He sneered, "Hmph, if that's the case, then I'll show you what it's like to have nowhere to escape!" He cast a spell, conjuring several strange dolls from his hands and throwing them to the ground. Then, with all his might, he unleashed the Fire Demon Slash once again. This time, he struck the dolls with heavy blows.

As Li Chendao slashed at the doll again, many horrible cracks appeared on the doll's body. Then, with the last slash, it hit the doll like a falling evil star. At this time, the doll had been burned horribly.

The surrounding air seemed to be distorted by the burning, making crackling sounds. The dolls hit by Li Chen were like ignited firecrackers, emitting a series of sharp and piercing explosions and emitting intense flames.

When the little monkey demons saw Li Chen using all his strength to attack the motionless dolls, they just lay on the ground and laughed. They laughed at Li Chen's stupidity and ignorance, thinking he was simply a joke.

However, at this moment, one of the monkey demons suddenly felt a piercing pain that seemed to cut through his flesh, shatter his bones, and burn his heart! He screamed in terror, but could not escape the excruciating pain. Soon after, the remaining monkey demons also felt the pain, falling to the ground as if struck by electricity, wailing in agony.

This sudden change plunged all the monkey demons into panic. They had been mocking Li Chen, but now they found themselves victims. They didn't understand why this had happened, and could only watch their companions suffer. As time passed, the monkey demons' bodies began to grow weaker. Hideous wounds appeared on their skin, and blood gushed out, staining the ground red. These wounds were exactly the same as those on the doll, reminding people of the scene that had happened before.

In the end, the monkey demons' bodies began to burn, the flames licking their skin, causing endless pain. They tried to struggle, but they no longer had any strength. In the end, the monkey demons bled out of all their orifices and died, ending this horrific nightmare.

The remaining lava monsters watched the horrifying scene unfold before them. This person had unexpectedly killed so many little monkey monsters out of thin air. They were completely terrified and, without a care in the world, simply ran away. Li Chen had wanted to continue chasing these fleeing monsters, but he suddenly remembered his original intention in coming here—to rescue the trapped people. So he stopped and gave up the pursuit.

"Come out! I've chased them away. You can rest assured now. It's safe and you can come out!" Li Chen said softly to the elderly, women, and children hiding under the broken floorboards. At this moment, the most important thing was to get detailed information about the Fire Witch from these villagers.

Hearing Li Chen's words, the villagers carefully crawled out from under the broken floor. They looked around in horror, as if they couldn't believe what had just happened. One of the children looked at Li Chen curiously, his eyes filled with confusion and awe: "Are you a god?"

Li Chen smiled, shook his head, and replied gently, "I'm not a deity, but I'm here to save you." He knew that to these ordinary people, someone who could save them from danger might be no different from a deity. However, he didn't care about these titles; he was more concerned with how to help these innocent people escape their predicament.

"Come on! Tell me the details of these monsters so I can help you subdue them!"

Li Chen sat on the ground, looking at the villagers in front of him, and a sense of responsibility surged in his heart. He knew that these people had suffered great pain and torture, and he had the responsibility to help them out of their predicament.

When the villagers heard that Li Chen wanted to help them exorcise demons, they were already in tears. They looked at Li Chen with tears of gratitude, as if they saw the dawn of hope.

"Living God, you don't know, this monster has caused us so much trouble!" An old man was shaking with excitement and said in a choked voice: "This was originally a quiet and peaceful village, but since those monsters came, everything has changed..."

As he spoke, the old man suddenly fell to his knees, kowtowed to Li Chen, and burst into tears. His tears flowed like a spring, as if he wanted to vent the grievances and pain that had been pent up in his heart for a long time.

Li Chen hurried forward to help him up and comforted him, "Old man, please stand up. May I know your name? Please tell us slowly about the grievances you and your fellow villagers have suffered."

Li Chen helped the old man aside. After glancing at him with gratitude, he slowly began to narrate, "My surname is Wang, and my given name is Rufeng. The village where I live is called Wangjia Village. There's a temple here that houses a statue of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, so several nearby villages are also called Samantabhadra Village. Generations of people in this village have been worshipping Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, and he blesses us with good weather and abundant harvests every year."

A smug smile appeared on the old man's face as he spoke of this. Yes, anyone would be happy to be protected by such a wise Bodhisattva, but soon the old man's face darkened.

He sighed and continued, "But not long ago, a monster suddenly appeared and shattered the peace of the village. That monster possessed immense magical powers. Not only did he have four arms, but he also possessed an immense body. His head was as tall as a mountain, his body as majestic as a peak, and his power was boundless."

Wang Rufeng seemed to recall the day when the demon came here. The demon came with desperate pressure and terrifying strength, and the whole sky seemed to be burning!

The field where he was working suddenly caught fire. If he had not cleverly jumped into the well and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva had not arrived in time, he would have been burned to charcoal along with the other villagers working in the fields!

"I saw with my own eyes that it could spew out raging fire from its mouth, and its hands also had the ability to spit out flames. Wherever it passed, it turned into ashes, and burned all the crops that we had worked so hard to grow. When Samantabhadra Bodhisattva learned about this, he started a fierce battle with the monster. However, what was unexpected was that Samantabhadra Bodhisattva was unable to defeat this powerful monster and was eventually defeated. Since then, the Bodhisattva has disappeared without a trace, and his life or death is unknown!" At this point, the old man could not help but burst into tears, and the surrounding villagers burst into tears when they saw this.

"In addition, there is a female monster among these monsters. She often captures some young and strong men from nearby villages and brings them to the mountains, but no one knows her specific purpose. My husband is one of them. His whereabouts are still unknown. I don’t know if he is still alive. My poor child! He was born without a father!" A female villager hugged her child and cried bitterly, expressing her grief.

Hearing her words, the surrounding women and children burst into tears, their faces filled with sorrow and helplessness. Their husbands, sons, or brothers had all been taken away by the mysterious witch, and their whereabouts were still unknown. They didn't know if those men were still alive, or if they had suffered pain and torture.

"My husband disappeared in the same way. He went to work in the fields and never came back..." another woman said, crying.

"My brother, too. He disappeared after he went out to chop wood. We looked everywhere but couldn't find him..." a young woman cried.

"Our village has lost too many men, which makes our life extremely difficult. Who will take care of us?" An old man, leaning on a cane, said tremblingly. He clenched the few teeth in his mouth, wishing he could tear these demons into pieces!

The entire village was filled with the cries of the elderly, women, and children. Their cries were heartbreaking, rising and falling. Their houses were gone, their loved ones were gone, and even the very foundation of their lives had been completely burned to ashes by the demons!