Journey to the West: Black Six Ears

However, even though the Great Sage was driven away by Tang Sanzang, he still missed him and sighed with emotion.

He had long ago seen the Eastern Ocean and said:

"I haven't taken this path for five hundred years!"

Reflecting on these past five hundred years, they have been trapped under that Five Finger Mountain, unable to move.

For over five hundred years, there hasn't been a single acquaintance.

If Xuanzang hadn't arrived, he didn't know how long he would have been imprisoned.

For this clever monkey who sprang from the stone, what he feared most was losing his freedom.

"Now that the old monk has driven me away, it might not be such a bad thing."

Sun Wukong pondered for a moment, then twisted his foot and stepped onto the somersault cloud.

At the speed of this cloud, Flower Fruit Mountain is just a stone's throw away.

In just a few breaths, they had already crossed the Eastern Ocean and arrived at Flower Fruit Mountain.

I looked down from the clouds and opened my eyes to see that there were no flowers or grasses on the mountain, and all the mist and haze had disappeared; the peaks and rocks had collapsed, and the trees and forests were scorched and withered.

Why is this happening? It's because he caused trouble in the Heavenly Palace and was taken to the mortal realm. This mountain was then burned down by Erlang Shen, who, along with his seven brothers from Meishan, set it ablaze.

Previously, this land of spiritual energy in the Eastern Continent of Divine Victory was a place of beautiful mountains with mythical beasts like Qilin, but now it has been turned into scorched earth.

Sun Wukong's eyes welled up with tears, and he looked at the mountain with a sorrowful expression.

Fortunately, not everything is left in these mountains.

Suddenly, a sound rang out from the grassy slope and the bramble hollow, and seven or eight little monkeys leaped out, rushed forward, surrounded them, kowtowed, and shouted:

"Grandpa Monkey King! You've come to our house today?"

Sun Wukong reached out and grabbed the two little monkeys.

These monkeys are much smaller and thinner than the original batch.

"Why are you all hiding and concealing yourselves instead of playing around? I've been here for quite some time, and I haven't seen a trace of you. Why is that?"

Upon hearing this, the monkeys immediately burst into tears.

Several old monkeys stepped forward and said to Sun Wukong:

"Ever since the Great Sage captured the Upper Realm, we have suffered under the hunters' torment, which has been truly unbearable!"

How could they withstand the powerful crossbows and bows, the hawks and hounds, the nets and hooks? Therefore, they cherished their lives and dared not show themselves to play around. They simply hid deep in their caves and avoided their nests. When hungry, they would steal grass from the hillside, and when thirsty, they would drink from the clear spring water in the ravine.

"Just now I heard the voice of the Great Sage, who has come to greet me and humbly hopes for my support."

Back when Sun Wukong called himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, there were 47,000 demons in Flower Fruit Mountain. Now, a rough count shows that only about a thousand remain.

He quickly realized what was going on with Flower Fruit Mountain.

They were set on fire by Erlang Shen, and most of them were burned to death.

The remaining monkeys squatted in the well, crawled into the ravine, and hid under the iron bridge, thus surviving.

When the fire was extinguished and the smoke cleared, they emerged without flowers and fruits to nourish them, making it difficult for them to survive. Half of them perished elsewhere.

The last half endured hardship living in the mountains.

In the last two years, half of it has been taken away by hunters.

Upon hearing that the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain had met such an end, Sun Wukong was instantly enraged, his hair standing on end.

He slammed his fist on the stone wall in a harsh voice:

"Who is in charge of things in the cave?"

The monkeys said:

"Marshal Ma Liu and General Beng Ba are in charge."

These are the Mandarin monkeys and the red-bottomed macaques.

Sun Wukong led the group of monkeys into the cave. The four monkeys were greatly surprised when they saw him and quickly came forward:

"Great Sage, I recently heard that you have survived and are protecting Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West to obtain the scriptures. Why don't you head west but instead return to your home mountain?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong simply waved his hand.

He didn't care how the monkeys knew about his recent situation, and just blurted out:

"You little ones, you don't know, that Tang Sanzang doesn't know the difference between the wise and the foolish."

I fought monsters and demons for him all the way, using every skill I had in my life, and fought and killed demons several times. He said I had committed evil deeds, refused to accept me as his disciple, banished me back, and wrote a letter of formal dismissal, declaring that I would never be employed by him again.

All the monkeys except the four monkeys clapped and laughed when they heard him say this.

"What a stroke of luck! What a stroke of luck! Why be a monk? Come home and take us out to play for a few years."

Sun Wukong, however, was in no hurry to play with the monkeys and instead turned to face outwards.

He pricked up his ears and heard the sound of drums and gongs coming from the south.

With a glance, the distant, faintly visible crowd suddenly revealed over a thousand men, all armed with hawks and hounds, and wielding swords and spears.

The Monkey King carefully observed the group of people; their arrival appeared dangerous.

What a fine man! Truly valiant!

But behold: fox fur draped over shoulders and head, brocade wrapped around waist and chest. Wolf-tooth arrows tucked into sacks, a precious carved bow slung at the hip. The man resembled a tiger searching the mountains, the horse a dragon leaping across ravines.

When the Monkey King saw that they were coming in a hurry, he knew that they had come to capture monkeys again, and he was furious.

But unlike these little monkeys, Sun Wukong's strength was far beyond what these mortals could match.

It was just a breath taken into the southeast direction, and a gust of wind blew in.

When they looked again, they saw that the more than a thousand men had all been killed on the spot, their heads smashed to pieces by stones, their bodies injured by flying sand and seahorses.

Sun Wukong laughed heartily, leaped up, and stood on a cloud, looking down at the ground.

But unexpectedly, a voice suddenly came to his ear:

"The Monkey King is in high spirits."

The sound came abruptly, yet it was also very familiar.

Sun Wukong immediately turned his head and saw a young man standing on the clouds not far away.

"Who goes there?"

The young man simply smiled and countered with a question:

"Sun Wukong, do you know who I am?"

"How would I, Old Sun, know who you are?"

Sun Wukong was, after all, a monkey who had experienced the Buddha's suppression of Xuanzang. Although he still had a bad temper, he didn't just pick up his iron cudgel and start beating him.

The young man nodded, his expression remaining calm.

"My name is Sun Qiong. I was enlightened by the Buddha. If you want to know my true form, Great Sage, you can use your fiery eyes to see."

Sun Wukong didn't hold back when he heard what he said.

When I closed my eyes and opened them again, everything was golden.

When that gaze fell upon her, Sun Qiong felt a sudden clarity wash over her, as if something had seen through her very essence.

"You! You're also a stone monkey?"

Sun Wukong glanced at it and immediately asked with a look of surprise.

In his eyes, the young man before him looked exactly like a stone monkey.

"I'm not just a stone monkey."

Sun Qiong gently shook her head and continued:

"I am a stone monkey born on Flower Fruit Mountain five hundred years ago. I once crossed the sea to become a disciple of the Bodhi Patriarch, fought against the gods of Heaven, and was suppressed under the Five Fingers Mountain by the Buddha for five hundred years. In the end, I was rescued by an old monk and accompanied him on his journey to the West to obtain the scriptures..."

Before he finished speaking, Sun Wukong's pupils shrank suddenly, and his face flushed with anger.

If Sun Qiong hadn't mentioned "Buddha's enlightenment" earlier, Sun Wukong probably would have already swung his iron cudgel.

"Hey! Where did this filthy devil come from, daring to impersonate Old Sun!"

Sun Wukong shouted loudly.

However, Sun Qiong remained completely unaffected, continuing to stare into Sun Wukong's eyes, which seemed to hold flames. With the golden light spreading, it was clear that Wukong's emotions were fluctuating violently.

After a long while, Sun Wukong finally calmed down.

He stared intently at Sun Qiong, gritting his teeth:

"What exactly are you?"

"I am you, the inner demon that has been by your side since birth."

This answer made Wukong squint.

Sun Wukong wanted to refute, but the familiarity and warmth emanating from the young man made him unable to help but trust him.

But at the same time, there were also aspects of this inner demon that felt strangely unfamiliar to him.

"Since you are my inner demon, how dare you appear before me? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"

Sun Wukong stared at the inner demon before him, speaking each word carefully.

Inner demons are something that must be eliminated for any cultivator.

Only by killing one's inner demons can one avoid being affected by them.

However, since this inner demon was related to Buddha, Sun Wukong did not rush to attack.

Sun Qiong could tell that Sun Wukong was waiting for his explanation.

A demon in one's heart doesn't appear out of nowhere.

Sun Qiong smiled gently:

"There will be a tribulation in the future, called the True and False Monkey Kings. It is a tribulation arranged by the Buddha. All the gods in heaven and earth will see the two monkeys fighting."

If I kill you, I can join the pilgrimage team and attain immortality; if you kill me, I can enter Mount Ling and attain enlightenment.

"For the Bodhisattva and the Buddha, it doesn't matter whether either of us lives or dies, as long as the journey to the West can proceed."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong's heart tightened.

This ordeal sounds anything but simple.

Fighting against your inner demons is fighting against another version of yourself, a battle where one wrong move can lead to total defeat.

"Now that you've appeared here, does this calamity mean it's beginning?"

Sun Wukong was unaware of the heavenly plot, nor did he know when this calamity would begin.

When Sun Qiong appeared before him, he assumed it was time to start, picked his ear, and took out an embroidery needle.

Sun Qiong waved his hand, stopping Sun Wukong's actions, and instead spoke up:

"I'd like to ask you for help."

"help?"

Sun Wukong frowned, unable to figure out what the inner demon in front of him was thinking.

The two are sworn enemies, so who knows if they have ulterior motives for offering help at this time?

However, Sun Qiong's next move made him pause:

"I think, if I take this off, I want to live too."

Sun Qiong pointed to the golden headband she was wearing.

This thing made even Sun Wukong gasp.

He knew very well what this golden headband was, and now it seemed that what the inner demon had said was true.

But Sun Wukong still asked:

How can I trust you?

"If you don't believe me, then try this thing."

After saying that, Sun Qiong silently recited the Tightening-Headband Mantra, and a sharp pain struck her.

At the same time, Sun Wukong covered his head, lost his balance, and almost fell off his somersault cloud.

"With this, you can't do anything to me."

Sun Qiong only read a short passage, but it was enough to overwhelm Sun Wukong.

Faced with Sun Qiong, who had mastered this trump card, Sun Wukong had no choice but to abandon his plan to kill him.

"A golden headband? Why do you have one?"

Sun Wukong covered his head, utterly horrified.

"I'm willing to teach you this spell, as long as you're willing to help me find a way to survive."

Sun Qiong looked at Sun Wukong and spoke slowly and deliberately.