Journey to the West: Starting with the Hunting of the Three Demons of Twin Fork Ridge

Chapter 77, Five Villages Temple: The Pilgrim Steals the Treasure

Meanwhile, the two boys, Qingfeng and Mingyue, brought ginseng fruit to Tang Sanzang. The old monk repeatedly refused, but the two had no choice but to give the ginseng fruit to Li Fa instead.

Actually, their room was right next to the kitchen, and Bajie was cooking in the kitchen. He overheard everything and felt a little itchy inside.

Hearing that the boy was going to deliver the ginseng fruit to Jihuazi, he peeked out and indeed saw two boys carrying plates heading towards the back room.

Pigsy felt increasingly depressed.

It turns out that back in Gaojiazhuang, it was this old Taoist priest Jihuazi and Sun Wukong who cleverly tricked him.

Furthermore, Ji Huazi of Fuling Mountain had once captured him, so he still harbored some resentment.

But he knew he was no match for Jihua Zi, so he waited for Sun Wukong to come and settle things with him.

He stood in front of the pot, no longer interested in starting a fire, and kept peeking out to watch.

Before long, Wukong led the horse over, tied it to the locust tree, and walked straight to the back.

The fool waved his hands wildly, shouting, "Come here! Come here!"

Wukong turned around and came to the kitchen doorway, saying, "Fool, what are you yelling about? Is there not enough food? Let the old monk eat his fill, and we'll go beg for more food at the master's house up ahead."

Pigsy said, "It's not that there isn't enough food, it's that I have something to tell you."

Wukong said, "Speak your mind, why are you hesitating?"

Bajie blinked and asked first, "Did you see that old Taoist priest, Jihuazi?"

Wukong laughed and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Isn't that old Taoist priest an old acquaintance of yours? Why didn't you speak to him in the hall just now?"

Pigsy said, "That ox-nose-nosed girl, who turned into Miss Gao, tricked me and then tied me up with ropes. What do I have to say to her?"

Wukong said, "You're quite vengeful, aren't you? Are you perhaps planning something?"

Bajie said, "I called you here not because of this old Taoist priest. Although he captured me, he also sent me to Master to be converted. There is something else."

Wukong asked: "What is it?"

Pigsy said, "Come in, let me tell you something. There's a treasure in this temple, do you know about it?"

Wukong asked, "What treasure?"

Pigsy laughed and said, "If I tell you, you've never seen it; if I give it to you, you won't recognize it."

Wukong said, "This fool is making fun of me, Old Sun. Five hundred years ago, when I was seeking immortality, I also traveled to the ends of the earth. Didn't I see anything like that then?"

Pigsy asked, "Brother, have you ever seen a ginseng fruit?"

Wukong exclaimed in surprise, "I've never seen this before! I've only ever heard people say that ginseng fruit is a kind of herbal elixir that can prolong life. Where can I find it now?"

Bajie said, "He has some here. The boy took two to give to the master to eat, but the old monk didn't recognize them and thought they were babies who were not yet three days old, so he didn't dare to eat them."

That boy was extremely lazy. Since our master wouldn't eat, we should have eaten. So he kept it from us and secretly discussed it in the next room. In the end, he sent it directly to the room of that old Taoist priest, Jihuazi.

My mouth is watering with anticipation. —How can I get one to try? I think you're a bit sneaky; how about you go to his garden and steal a few to try?

Wukong said, "That's easy. I'll go, it'll be a piece of cake."

He quickly turned and walked forward.

Bajie grabbed him and said, "Brother, I heard him talking in this room about using some kind of golden mallet to strike something. We must make sure it's done properly and not let the news get out."

Wukong said, "I know, I know."

So Sun Wukong used an invisibility spell and went directly into the Taoist room to take a look.

Just then, the two boys, having finished delivering the ginseng fruit to Li Fa, realized they couldn't neglect Tang Sanzang, so they served him tea and went to the hall to talk to him, since they weren't in their room.

Wukong looked around for any golden clapper, but all he saw was a strip of red gold hanging on the window frame: it was two feet long and as thick as a finger; at the bottom was a garlic bulb-shaped head; on top were eyes, and a green velvet rope was tied to it.

He thought to himself, "This must be what's called the Golden Cudgel."

So he took it down, left the main room, went straight to the back, pushed open the two doors, looked up, and—ah!—it was a garden! There he saw:

Vermilion railings and precious balustrades, winding paths leading to mountain peaks. Exotic flowers vie in beauty, emerald bamboos compete in verdant green.

Outside the Flowing Cup Pavilion, a winding green willow trails like smoke; before the Moon Appreciation Terrace, clusters of tall pines stand like splashed indigo. Crane Manor and Deer Residence, square ponds and round pools; springs flow like shattered jade, earthen buds pile up like gold.

The north wind stirs the plum blossoms, making them white; spring arrives, illuminating the crabapple blossoms with red. Truly, this is the most beautiful scene on earth, the premier flower garden in the West.

As Wukong was watching, he suddenly saw another door. When he pushed it open, he found a vegetable garden.

Wukong chuckled to himself, realizing that the temple was still a place where people grew their own food.

After passing through the vegetable garden, I saw another door. I pushed it open and sure enough, there was a big tree in the middle. It was really lush with green branches and shady green leaves. It was more than a thousand feet tall and its roots were seven or eight feet in circumference.

Sun Wukong leaned against the tree and looked up. He saw a ginseng fruit peeking out from the south-facing branch. It really looked like a child.

Wukong was overjoyed and secretly praised, "What a treasure! Truly rare! Truly rare!"

So he leaned against the tree, and with a whoosh, leaped up and knocked a fruit down with his golden mallet.

Then he went down to search, but there wasn't a trace of him.

Undeterred, Wukong searched the grass again, but found no trace of anything.

He thought to himself, "Strange! Strange! Even if it has legs and can walk, it can't jump over the wall. It's probably because the land in the garden doesn't allow Old Sun to steal his fruit, so he took it away."

So he made a hand gesture, recited the mantra "Om", and summoned the land deity of the garden.

The local deity bowed to the pilgrim and said, "Great Sage, what are your orders, summoning me?"

The pilgrim said, "You don't know that I, Old Sun, am a notorious thief throughout the land. Back in the day, when I stole peaches of immortality, imperial wine, and elixirs, no one dared to share them with me. How come you've already taken what I stole today?"

The local deity said, "Great Sage, you have misunderstood me. This treasure belongs to an earth immortal, and I am but a ghost immortal. How could I dare to take it?"

The pilgrim said, "Since you didn't take it, how come it disappeared after you hit it?"

The local deity said, "Great Sage, you only know that this treasure prolongs life, but you don't know where it comes from."

The traveler asked, "What is the source?"

The Earth God said, "This treasure only yields thirty fruits every ten thousand years. Just smelling it grants three hundred and sixty years of life; eating one grants forty-seven thousand years. However, it is incompatible with the Five Elements."

The traveler asked, "How can I be afraid of the Five Elements?"

The local deity said, "This fruit falls when it encounters gold, withers when it encounters wood, dissolves when it encounters water, scorches when it encounters fire, and burrows into the earth. It must be knocked down with a metal tool. After knocking it down, the plate must be lined with a silk cloth. As soon as the Great Sage knocked it to the ground, it burrowed into the earth."

The pilgrim laughed and said, "So this fruit can burrow into the ground. What a coincidence, I, Old Sun, can also burrow into the ground."

So he used a spell to burrow into the ground, but he could only burrow a few hundred feet before he could go no further.

Enraged, the Great Sage jumped up and exclaimed, "What kind of soil is this? Why is it so hard?"

The Earth God said, "This soil is 47,000 years old. Even a steel drill couldn't penetrate it. Ordinary earth-遁 methods wouldn't work. Only the Five Elements Great Escape combined can penetrate it."