Journey to the West: Black Six Ears

048.2 The Pilgrimage to the West

Meanwhile, the pilgrimage team continued their journey.

This White Tiger Ridge stretches for about a hundred miles, and it is not lacking in ferocious tigers and wolves.

However, we hardly saw any of them along the way.

"This White Tiger Ridge is quite strange. It's called White Tiger Ridge, but there's no white tiger to be seen."

Pigsy ate a peach and muttered something under his breath.

Upon hearing him speak, Sun Wukong immediately shouted and cursed:

"You idiot, you don't know what's good for you! White Tiger Ridge without a white tiger is like a wife cake without a wife!"

As he spoke, Sun Wukong grabbed Zhu Bajie's ear and twisted it hard.

Pigsy let out a miserable cry, but dared not resist. He could only nod weakly, calling him "brother" repeatedly.

Seeing that he had given in, Sun Wukong finally let go of his ears and turned to look at Xuanzang.

At this moment, he dared not provoke the old monk, but he showed no mercy to Zhu Bajie.

"Idiot, go forward and lead the way!"

Sun Wukong kicked Zhu Bajie in the lower back, sending him flying.

Pigsy got up from the ground, not daring to say a word, and just carried his nine-toothed rake, huffing and puffing as he cleared the way.

Before long, Pigsy, who had led the way, came running back in a panic, shouting as he ran:

"Master! Something terrible has happened! Mother is here looking for someone!"

Xuanzang was stunned by his words.

Whom are you looking for in this desolate wilderness?

"Whom are you looking for?"

Xuanzang did not ride a horse, as the mountain path was not suitable for riding.

He walked in the middle of the group, with two followers behind him and Wukong and the Yellow Wind King on his sides.

Seeing the monkey's hostile gaze, Pigsy stumbled and fell to the ground, muttering to himself:

"The one my senior brother killed must be his daughter. This must be his mother coming to find him."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong's eyes darted around, and he immediately activated his Fiery Eyes of Truth.

Upon seeing the old woman clearly, he immediately sneered:

"Fool, don't talk nonsense! That woman is eighteen years old, and this old woman is eighty. How could she give birth at over sixty? It's definitely a lie. Let me go and see for myself."

Having said that, he took a step forward.

The corpse demon had disguised itself as an old woman, her temples as white as snow, her gait slow and hesitant. She was frail and thin, her face like withered vegetable leaves. Her cheekbones were upturned, and her lips turned down. She was no longer the young woman she once was; her face was covered in wrinkles.

Sun Wukong looked at her and immediately let out a cold laugh.

This monster can fool others, but it can't fool him.

With his discerning eyes, he immediately recognized the old woman as a demon, and without further ado, raised his stick and struck her on the head.

"You weirdo, what are you trying to do!"

When the stick rose, the monster still trembled, but let out a miserable scream.

The cry was so loud that even Xuanzang, who was behind, could hear it clearly.

Seeing that Xuanzang reacted, the Corpse Demon immediately raised its voice:

"I came to find my daughter, why do you want to kill me!"

Before he could finish speaking, Sun Wukong decisively brought his staff down, smashing it heavily onto the old woman's forehead.

With a soft "plop," the old woman collapsed to the ground, as limp as a lump of dough.

It turned out that the Corpse Demon had transformed its primordial spirit and left the real body, killing the fake corpse at the foot of the mountain road.

"Wukong!"

Upon seeing this, Tang Sanzang was so startled that he dismounted and lay down by the roadside without saying another word. He simply recited the Tightening-Headband Mantra in reverse order twenty times.

The poor traveler's head was constricted, making it look like a gourd with its waist bent, causing him great pain. He rolled over and cried out:

"Master, stop chanting! What do you want to say?"

Xuanzang was filled with resentment; this time he was truly enraged.

It was one thing for the monkey to be disobedient before, since there was no way to control him then, but now that the headband is in place, this monkey still dares to be so unscrupulous!

Enraged, Xuanzang let out a sharp shout:

"What are you saying! A monk who listens to good advice will not fall into hell. I've been trying to persuade you like this, yet all you do is commit murder? You beat one ordinary person to death, then another. What kind of nonsense is this?"

Sun Wukong was now in excruciating pain.

This is not just about squeezing the head; the oppressed soul suffers from a mix of soreness and pain, numbness and tingling, and even more poisonous numbness.

In short, once the headband was put on, Sun Wukong dared not say another word, only managing to squeeze out four words:

"She's a fairy."

Upon hearing this, Xuanzang gritted his teeth in anger.

He heard it clearly just now; the old woman was pleading and had no power to resist at all. How could she be a demon?

"That monkey is talking nonsense! There are indeed many monsters! You are a heartless person who intends to do evil, so get out of here!"

Now Xuanzang is chasing Wukong again.

This time, Wukong dared not say anything more, but only pleaded with Xuanzang:

"Since I was exorcised from my sins and became a proper monk, I have become your disciple. You have put this golden headband on my head. If I go back, I will hardly see my fellow villagers."

"If Master doesn't want me, just recite the loosening spell, remove the headband, and give it to you to put on someone else's head. I'll be happy then, and it will have been a part of your time. Could it be that these people have no intention of keeping me?"

Xuanzang didn't have the "loosening headband spell," and the Bodhisattva never taught him such a thing.

Xuanzang, with only the headband, was no match for the monkey who wanted to loosen it.

He turned to look at the people behind him; he could no longer rely on the two followers.

The only ones they could rely on were King Yellow Wind and Pigsy.

The Yellow Wind King wanted to protect him, but Pigsy, being greedy and lazy, drove away Monkey King, making it really hard to get vegetarian food.

With no other recourse, Xuanzang could only sigh:

"Get up, and I will spare you this time, but you must not commit any more violence."

The traveler said, "I dare not do it again, I dare not do it again."

Then he helped his master mount his horse and cleared the way for them to advance.

Meanwhile, the Corpse Demon was in mid-air.

"Just as you predicted, with Xuanzang by my side, this monkey can't chase after me to kill me. However, you only said I could play the trick twice."

The corpse demon frowned, its expression strange.

The adult who suddenly appeared was very strange.

After arriving here, I simply gave her a good beating to show her what it means to be outmatched.

White Tiger Ridge is ultimately just a small place. Even if you become the king here, you'll be like a clay chicken or a tile dog when you encounter a powerful opponent, collapsing at the slightest touch.

The surviving corpse demon, unwilling to be torn apart and skinned again, decided to follow the master's orders.

The Corpse Demon is dead; from now on, this place will only have a newly born Mountain Goddess.

This mountain goddess governs the entire White Tiger Ridge and treats all the people living there with great favor.

Those who live here are protected by the Mountain Goddess, while those who disturb this place will be punished by the Mountain Goddess.

Those who were skinned and hung on the trees were the people who intended to disturb White Tiger Ridge.

Now, the Corpse Demon wants to go further and become the master's true confidant.

This pilgrimage team was her best pledge of allegiance.

"Since I have nothing else to do, I'll go down and play a trick on him."

Thinking this, the Corpse Demon suppressed the Yin Wind and transformed himself at the foot of the hillside into a strong young man.

The man was shirtless, with a tiger-skin skirt around his waist, and carried a steel knife in his hand. His face was fierce.

It does indeed look somewhat like a guardian deity.

At this moment, the pilgrims had already crossed the area around White Tiger Ridge and entered the side of Baoxiang Kingdom.

From here on, there were already people living there.

Many people who migrated from elsewhere have built villages here and started living their lives. It is noon now, and the people are lighting their cooking fires to prepare their lunch.

Several old women stood under a tree at the village entrance, praising the Mountain Goddess.

"Master, there are signs of human habitation ahead!"

Pigsy was the first to see it and immediately shouted back.

Upon hearing this, Xuanzang immediately craned his neck to look at the distance, a look of joy instantly spreading across his face:

"It really is a human settlement. How could there be a village in this desolate wilderness?"

Xuanzang was tired of eating and drinking wild fruits and mountain spring water every day. Finally, he arrived at a populated place and thought about asking for some vegetarian food.

Pigsy had the same thought, but he still secretly complained:

"If it weren't for my senior brother, we would have already eaten."

This refers to the girl's vegetarian meal.

After saying that, Pigsy secretly glanced at Monkey King, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Monkey King didn't react.

Xuanzang's joy was interrupted by a single sentence from Zhu Bajie, and he said calmly:

"Wukong, look at the sun setting in the west, its fiery reflection hidden in the mountains, and the moon rising in the east, its icy wheel appearing on the sea. Fortunately, there's a house by the roadside; let's stay the night and continue our journey tomorrow."

If this were the old Wukong, he would have first mocked him before taking matters into his own hands.

But right now, Wukong is only focused on Zhu Bajie:

"What a homebody."

As the group entered the village, several people immediately came to greet them, carefully observing them.

The elder in the lead asked:

"Where does the elder come from?"

"This humble monk comes from the Great Tang Dynasty in the East, on his way to the Western Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures."

Xuanzang briefly recounted his origins and then briefly mentioned his alms-begging.

The old man was very polite and led the group on their pilgrimage towards the village.

"Old man, isn't there a corpse demon in White Tiger Ridge? How can we build a village in such a place?"

Xuanzang was curious.

The words of the old soldier with the knife were still ringing in his ears, and Wukong was also taking it very seriously, so Xuanzang naturally had doubts in his heart.

The old man laughed heartily upon hearing this:

"Elder, you've misunderstood. There are no more corpse demons in our White Tiger Ridge; they were all eliminated by our Mountain Goddess."

Xuanzang simply marveled at it.

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong scoffed:

"Old man, this White Tiger Ridge is a treacherous place, clearly infested with demons and evil spirits. Where did this mountain goddess come from?"

The old man wasn't annoyed; he simply raised his wooden cane, pointed behind Sun Wukong, and said:

"Look, the Mountain Goddess of White Tiger Ridge is right there!"