We bear people have power

In Journey to the West, almost every monster with some ability comes from a prestigious lineage, especially the Buddhist lineage. The Golden-Winged Roc is even the Buddha's uncle.

Entering the Buddhist order is still the best way for demons to redeem themselves. Murder, arson, and then being recruited by the government—this is a tactic their demon ancestors were even more adept at than Songjiang himself.

However, some demons were still somewhat resistant to joining the Buddhist order, since it came at the cost of their freedom. For Guan Bo, becoming a disciple of Guanyin was a particularly uncomfortable matter.

Unfortunately, the Black Bear Spirit had completely lost his mind upon seeing Guanyin. As soon as Guanyin spoke, the Black Bear Spirit kowtowed and became the guardian deity of the Purple Bamboo Forest.

In this situation, Guan Bo could only let it be. He had thought it was just his elder brother's long journey, but unexpectedly, even Guanyin Bodhisattva hadn't asked for his opinion. With a wave of the willow branch, Guan Bo felt dizzy and woke up to find himself in a grove of purple bamboo.

"From this day forward, you will be the guardian deities of Luojia Mountain. You must diligently cultivate yourselves and protect the peace of this region." The Bodhisattva's words still echoed in our ears, but his figure could not be seen.

The black bear spirit knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and accepted the order. Guan Bo looked at the bamboo forest covering the mountains and fields and sighed, "This time, I'm really going to be the big bear and the little bear."

However, slightly better than the two bears, the Black Bear Spirit and Guan Bo were paid, and their boss wasn't called Li the Skinflint.

Besides the vast bamboo forest becoming Guan Bo's granary, Guanyin Bodhisattva also held sermons for Guan Bo and the Black Bear Spirit every few days. The profound meaning of Buddhism, every word and phrase contained the supreme Tao.

The Black Bear Spirit listened with rapt attention, but Guan Bo could tell from the Black Bear Spirit's expression that he was more captivated by Guanyin Bodhisattva's face than by the profound teachings.

Guan Bo listened attentively. After eating the peaches of immortality, his demonic power surged, almost reaching the point of human transformation. However, having heard that the tribulation of human transformation was a matter of life and death, he hadn't managed to break through his cultivation gates in one go. Guanyin Bodhisattva's sermons greatly benefited Guan Bo, and he was no longer in the complete darkness he had been when he first transmigrated.

Seeing that Guan Bo had good comprehension, the Bodhisattva passed on a copy of the Heart Sutra for him to recite daily, which made the Black Bear Spirit very envious.

Guan Bo didn't think too much about it. Anyway, since he had come to this Journey to the West world, where endless calamities were brewing, being able to hide in the Purple Bamboo Forest to cultivate was a peaceful job.

By hypnotizing himself in this way, Guan Bo let go of that tiny bit of longing for freedom and happily ate purple bamboo and recited the Heart Sutra every day.

A few days later, Guan Bo found that his appetite was increasing. In the past, he would be full after eating two or three bamboo shoots, but now he would need to eat more than a dozen bamboo shoots and then add seven or eight more bamboo shoots before he felt full.

Looking at the bald patch of purple bamboo, Guan Bo always felt that he wasn't Xiong Er but Bald Qiang.

I thought life as a government employee would be easy, but in reality, the mountain guardian still has a lot of work to do.

As a sacred Buddhist site, Luojia Mountain naturally attracts many mortals who come to worship.

People suffer greatly because the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance have not been eradicated, and naturally, their desires are insatiable.

Therefore, countless mortals go up Luojia Mountain every day to pray for the Bodhisattva's blessing. The task of the Black Bear Spirit and Guan Bo is not to stop these people from going up the mountain, but to protect them from the wild beasts in the Purple Bamboo Forest.

There were more than just two bears in the Purple Bamboo Forest. This forest, spanning tens of thousands of acres, was actually a complete ecosystem. Guan Bo had seen sleek, glistening Siberian tigers more than once; their size was definitely several times larger than those in zoos in later generations.

When ordinary people kneel and kowtow three times to ascend the mountain and encounter a ferocious beast, Guan Bo will roar and leap from the top of the bamboo forest. Of course, he won't kill the beast, but rather slap the believers' faces with a bear paw, knocking them unconscious.

Then Guan Bo would release his demonic energy at the beast, scaring away the small prey.

Over time, Guan Bo discovered that he had mastered a palm technique that descended from the sky.

Because he learned this move in a sacred Buddhist site, he proudly named it the Tathagata Bear Paw!

It was just the right amount of force, enough to knock these people unconscious without causing serious injury or death.

The younger ones were dizzy for a day, the older ones for three days, and then they were all neatly hung outside the bamboo grove, looking from a distance like a cult-like mass suicide.

As for why the believers were knocked unconscious?

That's because the Bodhisattva decreed that mountain gods and monsters should not easily appear before people, so as to avoid getting involved in the cycle of cause and effect, and to prevent mortals from spreading rumors and causing unnecessary trouble.

This seems to be a consensus among the extraordinary beings in Journey to the West: except for a few who are courting death, monsters live in deep mountains and forests and rarely come into contact with mortals.

To save people, one must not reveal one's true form. If it were a black bear demon, it wouldn't be a problem; a demonic wind could simply be used to blow them away.

Guan Bo probably doesn't have much talent for magic. He's been learning the simplest wind manipulation for a long time and can barely lift his limbs off the ground. It will probably take him several more years to actually ride the wind. Not to mention blowing a gust of wind to safely send someone away, that might take a hundred years to learn.

Left with no other option, Guan Bo had to resort to the Buddha's paw to solve the problem.

Soon after, a story began to circulate among the mountain people near Luojia Mountain. The Bodhisattva was hard to find; the undevout would be swept away from the Purple Bamboo Forest by a hurricane, while those who blasphemed the Bodhisattva would be punished by the guardian Arhats and hung on the Purple Bamboo.

Over time, any villager who was knocked unconscious and hung from a tree by Guan Bo had no way to defend themselves and had to leave for distant lands. Some highly perceptive individuals learned a palm technique from Guan Bo's Tathagata Bear Paw, and because it came from a sacred Buddhist site, they gilded their own name and named it Tathagata Divine Palm, making a great name for themselves in the martial arts world.

That's a story for later, so let's leave it at that for now.

It is said that Guan Bo ate his fill every day, devouring almost half of the purple bamboo forest, and his size grew increasingly enormous. Even lying on the ground, he was a meter tall, and when standing, he was probably two or three meters tall. With such a posture, even a herbivorous panda would seem unapproachable.

But one little girl, without any fear, climbed onto Guan Bo, pinched his ears and nose, not even afraid that Guan Bo would roll over and crush her to death.

Guan Bo was also helpless, looking at the little girl bouncing around on his belly, there was nothing he could do.

"No wonder the Bodhisattva said not to appear before people, as it would easily incur karmic consequences. It makes perfect sense," Guan Bo remarked.

The story of this little girl begins ten days ago. Guan Bo had mastered the art of using the "Rulai Bear Paw" technique with complete control, capable of leaving you dizzy for three days straight without ever making you dizzy for two and a half. However, he never expected that this time he would encounter a little girl of seven or eight years old.

Her thin body, tattered clothes, and wary yet timid eyes practically screamed "pitiful." Guan Bo descended from the sky, and seeing the little girl's large eyes looking at him, his bear paw hesitated for a moment.

It was this one point that saved the little girl from being knocked unconscious.

Perhaps due to prolonged loneliness, Guan Bo, seeing that he had already exposed himself, decided to tease the little girl, saying, "Awoo! I'm going to eat you."

Unexpectedly, the little girl giggled and replied, "Liar! Pandas eat bamboo."

After saying that, the little girl took a bamboo shoot from her bosom and handed it to Guan Bo, saying, "Here, have some, sweetie."

Having been a panda for so long, this was the first time Guan Bo had ever been fed. Seeing the little girl's thin appearance, Guan Bo said, "You look hungrier than I am."

"It's okay, I can dig bamboo shoots," the little girl said innocently.

The implication is that they despise Guan Bo's intelligence as a panda.

But Guan Bo wasn't angry, and continued to ask, "You went up the mountain to pray to the Bodhisattva."

"Yes, I want to pray to Buddha to save my grandfather."

"he is sick?"

"he died."