txolops Chapter 123 Lotus Cave - Wrongly Suppressing the Dragon Cave
Chapter 123 Lotus Cave - Wrongly Suppressing the Dragon Cave
Li Fa felt somewhat relieved and cupped his hands, saying, "This humble Taoist is Deng Lizi, a wandering Taoist who has traveled here."
Just now, seeing auspicious clouds and mist on this mountain from below, I thought it was a celestial abode, so I came up to pay my respects. Unexpectedly, I ran into the elder and almost lost my life.
Upon hearing this, Wukong waved his hand and said, "So you're just a wanderer. This isn't a good place. You should leave quickly and not linger here, lest you be captured by a monster."
Li Fa didn't leave, but instead stepped forward and said, "Elder, I noticed you were quite agitated just now. Did you encounter some difficulties? Although I am not very talented, I do know some magic and have some martial arts skills. If there is anything I can do to help, I am willing to lend a hand."
Wukong laughed and said, "What skills could a wandering Taoist priest like you possibly have?"
Li Fa said, "Elder, you don't know that I have been seeking immortality since I was a child, and I am quite skilled."
Wukong said, "Tell me the whole story."
Li Fa said, "Although I lack the power to move mountains and overturn seas, I possess the strength to split stone tablets and shatter rocks; though I lack an indestructible body, I have a head of bronze and a brain of iron; though I lack the ability to change size at will, I know some techniques of transformation and imitation; though I lack the skill to fly through the clouds and ride the wind, I have the means to move clouds and ride the wind; although my martial arts are not as high as the elder's, I can still take down the commander of a ten-thousand-strong army, otherwise how could I have blocked the elder's blow?"
Upon hearing this, Wukong then recounted the entire story to Li Fa.
He exclaimed with delight, "As the saying goes, good people are rewarded. I've encountered countless demons and monsters along the way, but this is the first time I've met a good person."
Li Fa said, "Elder, let's stop talking nonsense. The most urgent task is to find out the monster's cave and rescue your master."
Upon hearing this, Wukong nodded in agreement.
The two then looked down from the clouds.
But the flat-topped mountains stretched for hundreds of miles, with peaks and ridges rising and falling.
Mist rises and falls in the mountains, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing, with a faint, eerie aura swirling around it, soaring straight into the sky.
The traveler shaded his eyes with his hand, opened his fiery eyes, and observed carefully.
After looking for a while, he suddenly pointed southeast and said, "Look there!"
Li Fa followed his finger and saw that on a mountain peak in the southeast direction, black mist was billowing, thick as ink, swirling and refusing to dissipate. Looking at it from afar, one could feel a fierce and malevolent aura rushing towards them.
The traveler then pointed northwest and said, "Look there again."
Li Fa turned his head and saw that there was another mountain in the northwest direction, with demonic energy on its top, but it was much thinner and fainter, almost invisible without close inspection.
The pilgrim said, "I was just fighting with those three demons. One was wearing a golden helmet and armor, one was wearing a silver helmet and armor, and the other had a blue face and fangs."
The one in the golden helmet and silver armor was mediocre in martial arts and nothing special; but the one with the blue face and fangs was incredibly strong, fighting Old Sun for thirty or fifty rounds without losing ground. In Old Sun's opinion, the blue-faced one must be the real culprit.
He paused, then said, "Look at these two places of demonic energy, one is dense, the other is sparse. The dense one must be the lair of the main demon; the sparse one is probably just some minor demon minions."
Li Fa nodded repeatedly, finding his words reasonable, and said, "Elder, your insight is brilliant. In that case, let's head towards the place where the demonic energy is strongest."
The pilgrim laughed and said, "Exactly! I'll go first, and you follow behind!"
Having said that, he leaped up, mounted his somersault cloud, and headed straight for the southeast.
Li Fa also leaped up on a cloud of light and followed closely behind.
The two walked one after the other, and in no time they arrived at the mountain peak.
The mountain was steep and precipitous, with towering cliffs, jagged rocks, and ancient trees reaching for the sky.
Hidden halfway up the mountain is a cave, with vines hanging upside down and moss growing on the cave entrance.
The two descended from the clouds and landed in front of the cave entrance.
The traveler looked up and saw three large characters carved above the cave entrance: "Yalong Cave".
The traveler laughed, "The Dragon-Suppressing Cave? These monsters have quite the nerve!"
Upon seeing these three words, Li Fa's heart skipped a beat, and he knew something was wrong!
He then remembered that in the original story, the Lotus Cave of Golden Horn and Silver Horn and the Dragon-Suppressing Cave of the old fox spirit were not on the same mountain.
Lotus Cave is located on Pingdingshan Mountain, while Yalong Cave is located on Yalong Mountain; they are two different mountains.
However, he had been traveling for so long that many details had become blurred. Just now, he was so focused on observing the intensity of the demonic aura on the cloud that he had forgotten about this matter.
It turns out that the demons in this Lotus Cave were two of Laozi's attendants and one of the Western Arhats, so their demonic aura was not very strong.
The group from Yalong Cave, however, were genuine demons, hence their demonic aura was stronger.
Just as Li Fa was about to say something, he heard Wukong shout, "Taoist, step back and let me knock on the door!"
Before he finished speaking, he drew his golden cudgel, took a few steps forward, and swung it at the cave entrance.
"boom!"
With that strike, the mountain shook and the earth trembled, and stones fell from the cave entrance.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted inside the cave, and the little demons cried out in alarm, "Oh no! Someone's knocking on the door!"
Before long, the cave entrance swung open, and a hundred or so lesser demons poured out. Leading them was an old fox spirit, who was:
Her face was like a full moon, her hair like silver threads; she wore a jade flower in her hair and a brocade jacket. Leaning on a dragon-headed cane, she stood shakily before the cave entrance.
Although she was an old fox, she dressed up in a seductive manner, showing that she was still trying to be charming at her age.
Upon seeing the traveler, the old fox spirit shouted angrily, "Where did this hairy monk come from, daring to cause trouble in front of my Dragon-Suppressing Cave!"
The Monkey King slammed his golden cudgel on the ground and laughed, "Old hag, listen up! I am Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, the eldest disciple of Tang Sanzang, who was sent by the Great Tang Dynasty to the Western Paradise to retrieve the scriptures! If you know what's good for you, quickly open the cave door and let me in to search it."
The old fox said, "So you're Tang Sanzang's eldest disciple! My two sons were just about to capture your master, but their disciple has delivered himself to my doorstep!"
The traveler asked, "What son?"
Upon hearing this, the old fox spirit sneered and said, "So you'll know! The golden horn and silver horn on the Lotus Cave are my sons!"
"I am their mother! How dare you come here and cause trouble? Are you tired of living?"
Wukong laughed loudly: "So you're an old hag! Very well, since you're the mother of those two wicked demons, I'll kill you along with them today, to save myself the trouble later!"
The old fox spirit flew into a rage, turned around and shouted, "Men, attack!"
The fox spirits swarmed forward, each wielding a weapon, and surrounded Wukong.
Wukong didn't take them seriously at all.
With a single sweep of his golden cudgel, he knocked down five or six people.
Seeing his ferocity, the demons retreated in fear.
Seeing this, the old fox spirit took out a golden rope from her bosom and threw it into the air.
The rope transformed into a golden light and headed straight for Wukong.
Li Fa, who was already prepared, thought to himself, "The Golden Rope! I need to help this monkey!"
Without hesitation, he made a hand seal and flicked a rope out of his sleeve. It was the Dragon Skin Seven Star Whip that he had transformed into, and it shot straight at the Golden Rope.
Although the Golden Rope was also a treasure, the old fox's magic power was not as great as Li Fa's. The Golden Rope spun in the air and was then whipped to the ground by the Seven Star Whip.
The old fox spirit was greatly alarmed. She hurriedly ordered her minions to snatch back the rope, retreated to her cave, and locked the gate tightly.
Li Fa quickly put away the Seven Star Whip and came to Wukong's side.