Journey to the West: A clone sacrifices to the heavens, possessing boundless magical power.

Tang Sanzang looked hesitant and was about to refuse when Sun Wukong said nonchalantly, "Master, what are you afraid of! This old monk wouldn't dare eat it, would he? Lend it to him, lend it to him!"

After saying that, he stuffed the cassock into Elder Jinchi's arms.

Outside, the refugee's clone witnessed this scene clearly, and Fan Yuan felt a chill in his heart: "They've arrived."

At this crucial juncture in the plot, human greed is pushed to its extreme, and this grand drama of murder for money officially begins.

At midnight, in Elder Jinchi's meditation room.

The old monk clutched the brocade kasaya, sometimes weeping bitterly, sometimes laughing maniacally, as if he were insane. He was reluctant, a thousand times, ten thousand times reluctant to return it.

A shifty-eyed grand-disciple named Guangmou approached and whispered, "Grandmaster, why are you so heartbroken? I have a plan that will allow you to possess this treasure for a long time."

"Speak quickly!" Elder Jinchi suddenly raised his head, his eyes flashing with a greedy and fierce light.

Guangmou lowered his voice and said in a sinister tone, "As the saying goes, 'If you're going to do something, do it all the time.' There are only two of them, master and disciple, while our monastery has hundreds of monks. With just a word from the Grandmaster, we can gather all the disciples from the various branches of Dongshan, each carrying a bundle of firewood, and surround the meditation hall where they are resting. We can then set it on fire, leaving the master and servant, along with their white horse, with no way to escape, and burn them all to ashes! At that time, wouldn't this precious cassock be yours, Grandmaster?"

"Fire attack?" Elder Jinchi's eyes flashed with hesitation, but it was quickly replaced by a deeper greed. "Good! Good plan! We'll do as you say! Go and give the order!"

The conspiracy in the meditation room was already clear to Fan Yuan, who was familiar with the plot of Journey to the West.

Informing on someone? Saving someone?

The thought flashed through his mind only briefly before he completely extinguished it.

He knew better than anyone that the monkey was not afraid of fire at all. This fire would not harm him in the slightest; it would only become the fuse for his rampage at the Guanyin Temple.

If he were to jump out and betray them now, he would not only gain no benefit, but would also incur enormous karmic consequences with the master and disciple, as well as with all the gods and Buddhas in the heavens, for interfering with the pilgrimage.

In the world of Journey to the West, the concepts of cause and effect are of paramount importance.

He needed to be a calm hunter, not a fool who recklessly charged into the center of the battlefield.

"Perfect timing to fish in troubled waters!"

Without further hesitation, Fan Yuan immediately began to move around in the cellar. He moved all the dry firewood around him and used an axe to dig a simple firebreak around his hiding place.

Although the cellar was two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) deep underground, Fan Yuan reinforced the four walls of the cellar with yellow mud for safety, and covered the top with a thick layer of wet soil and bluestone, leaving only a ventilation hole the size of a fist. He also sealed it with layers of thick linen soaked in water to prevent smoke and fire from flowing back in.

……

On a dark and windy night, murder and arson are committed.

With everything arranged, Fan Yuan used the [Primordial Myriad Appearances Mirror] in his sea of ​​consciousness to transfer his consciousness to the refugee clone.

The Zen temple was bustling with people.

Under the command of the two monks, Guangmou and Guangzhi, hundreds of warrior monks carried firewood from various houses on the East and West Mountains.

"Be quiet! Don't wake that Tang Dynasty monk!"

Guangmou lowered his voice, his face, which had previously appeared somewhat shrewd, now filled with twisted excitement and murderous intent. He held a ring knife in his hand, which gleamed coldly in the night.

Guangzhi then directed several strong and sturdy monks to quietly pile bundles of oil-soaked firewood around the three meditation halls where Tang Sanzang and his disciples were resting.

In no time, the meditation hall was completely surrounded by firewood, resembling an altar about to be set ablaze.

The avatar of the refugee controlled by Fan Yuan was currently hiding in the shadows of the corridor.

He had already smeared a layer of stove ash on his face, and his tattered short clothes were so dirty that their original color was unrecognizable, making him blend into the darkness.

Looking at the tense yet expectant expressions on the faces of those martial monks, Fan Yuan felt it was all absurd.

They had no idea what they were facing.

Sleeping in the meditation hall were two figures: one was Jin Chanzi, who had cultivated for ten lifetimes and carried the great fortune of Buddhism; the other was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who had caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago and had his fiery eyes refined in the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

This mere fire couldn't even burn a single hair on their heads.

"Fine, if you hadn't been so reckless, how would I have had the chance to snatch chestnuts from the fire?"

With a thought, Fan Yuan's avatar, taking advantage of the moment when the two patrolling monks turned around, darted out like a cat, hugging the wall, and stealthily made its way towards the abbot's room deep inside the monastery.

The closer they got to the abbot's room, the more relaxed the guards became.

Because all the fighting force was concentrated in the meditation hall in the front courtyard tonight, in the eyes of Elder Jinchi and the group of monks, as long as Tang Sanzang and his disciples were burned to death, this monastery would be their domain, and there was no need to guard against outsiders.

Just as Fan Yuan's clone reached the old locust tree in the backyard of the abbot's room, a sudden change occurred.

He subconsciously manipulated his clone to look up at the night sky.

Suddenly, a crack appeared in the clouds above the pitch-black sky, and a golden light, imperceptible to the naked eye, descended from the heavens at an incredible speed, instantly disappearing into the three meditation halls in the front courtyard.

That is……

Fan Yuan's pupils contracted sharply; through the clone, he could only see a fleeting afterimage.

The Heavenly Court has taken action!

The plot from the original story flashed through his mind. Sun Wukong had already sensed the conspiracy, and his primordial spirit left his body to go to the Heavenly Court, where he borrowed the Fire-Repelling Cover from the Heavenly King Guangmu.

That golden light must be the fire-repelling shield!

At this moment, an invisible barrier has been erected above the meditation hall, isolating it from all heat and smoke from the outside world. No matter how fierce the fire is outside, it remains cool as water and as stable as a mountain inside.

"That's the difference between having connections and not having connections."

Fan Yuan sighed inwardly. With his disciples protecting him and the Heavenly Court helping him, Tang Sanzang could rest easy. But all the monks in the courtyard, including the self-righteous Elder Jinchi, had been sentenced to death by the Heavenly Dao at this moment.

Immediately afterwards, Fan Yuan saw a monkey squatting on the roof of the front yard.

The monkey wasn't asleep; instead, it was sitting beside the beast's mouth on the roof ridge, playing with something in its hand, a mocking smile on its face.

That was Sun Wukong's primordial spirit, or rather, his avatar.

He did not stop the monks from setting the fire, nor did he make a sound; he simply watched the farce unfold with cold indifference.

Fan Yuan knew that the monkey was going to teach these greedy monks a lesson they would never forget. Since you want to set fire, then I, Sun Wukong, will help you and make the fire burn even brighter!

They only protect the master, not the monastery.

This is the guiding principle of the Monkey King: to be clear about gratitude and resentment, and to seek revenge for even the smallest wrong.

"The time has come."

Fan Yuan withdrew his gaze and stopped paying attention to the front yard.

Now that the fire-repelling shield has been lowered, a great fire is bound to start. Once the fire starts, Sun Wukong will fan the flames, and the entire Zen temple will be turned into a sea of ​​fire. Everyone's attention will be drawn to the fire to put it out.

That will be the moment when the abbot's quarters are most vulnerable in terms of defense.

Without further hesitation, the evasive clone used the night wind to conceal his footsteps and silently made his way to the back window of the abbot's room.

This was Elder Jinchi's living quarters, and also where he hid his personal belongings.