txolops Chapter 96 Baoxiang Kingdom: A Word Within a Word - Pacifying the Demon's Lair
Chapter 96 Baoxiang Kingdom: A Word Within a Word - Pacifying the Demon's Lair
Only those kneeling and begging for mercy remained, mostly ordinary women, trembling with fear, lying on the ground, too afraid to move.
Li Fa walked up to them and said, "Do you know your crime?"
The women kowtowed repeatedly, weeping, "Master, spare our lives! We were bewitched by that old monster's sorcery and had no control over ourselves! Please, Master, have mercy!"
Li Fa looked at them and sighed inwardly.
Although he had traveled from another time, he knew that among these women, some were genuinely repentant, while others were simply afraid of death.
However, it would be difficult for him to distinguish between good and evil one by one, and the merit chart does not provide any guidance.
Li Fa pondered for a moment, then said, "Since you know you have repented, I will give you a chance. From now on, you must not harm others or do evil again. If you do evil again, I will know and I will skin you alive, grind your bones to dust, and banish your souls to the deepest hell, so that you will never be able to rise again!"
The women kowtowed repeatedly, expressing their deepest gratitude.
Li Fa then asked, "How many men are still imprisoned in this town? How many infants are waiting to be slaughtered? Are they still alive?"
A woman said in a trembling voice, "Reporting to the Daoist Master, there are still more than a dozen men imprisoned in the cellar in the backyard, but the old demon ate all the babies, leaving not a single one behind..."
Li Fa said to Baili Bo, "Brother, go to the cellar and rescue the people, then let them go home."
Baili Bo responded and turned to leave.
Li Fa then addressed the women, saying, "Gather all the corpses in the town and find a proper place to bury them. From now on, never mention the name 'Yanghan Town' again. This place will be called 'Guishan Town'!"
The women nodded obediently, not daring to disobey.
Before long, Baili Bo came out with more than a dozen ragged men, all of them pale and thin, with numb expressions.
Li Fa said to them, "You are now free. Go home."
The men then seemed to wake from a dream, knelt down and kowtowed in gratitude, before stumbling and running out of town.
Baili Bo walked to Li Fa's side and whispered, "Brother, I just caught a female demon hiding in a corner of the cellar. Under interrogation, she told me some things."
Li Fa asked, "What is it?"
Baili retorted, "She said that these people were originally Kui Mulang's subordinates. Kui Mulang was the king of Boyue Cave in Wanzishan, with hundreds of demon soldiers under his command. Yanghan Town was just his peripheral force, specifically to collect blood and food for him to refine inner elixir."
Li Fa's eyes sharpened: "Is it the exquisite inner core of the relic?"
Baili Bo gritted his teeth and said, "That's right, it's my relic! That bastard stole my relic, he must have combined it with his own inner core to refine it! And yet he's harming so many people here."
Li Fa nodded, already understanding.
No wonder these monsters are so unscrupulous, no wonder they dare to say "there are people in the sky," it really is Kui Mulang's power!
Baili retorted, "Brother, what's our next step?"
Li Fa looked towards Wanzishan and said, "There are countless places like this. As long as Kui Mulang is not eliminated, they will not have a moment's peace."
Baili retorted, "Brother, are you suggesting we act now, without waiting for Sun Wukong?"
Li Fa nodded and said, "We can't wait any longer. Even if it disrupts the will of Heaven, we must fight him!"
Baili Bo was overjoyed upon hearing this and nodded in agreement.
The two patrolled the town again to make sure no one had escaped before they set off on their cloud-like flight towards Wu Family Village.
When Wu Cheng saw that they had returned safely and heard that the monsters had been defeated, he was so excited that tears streamed down his face. He knelt down and bowed, calling them "living gods".
Li Fa helped him up and said, "Sir, there's no need for such formalities. There are still some matters to be handled in the town. Please contact the surrounding villagers to help with these matters."
Wu Cheng nodded repeatedly, saying, "Rest assured, Daoist Master, I will certainly take care of it!"
That night, the Wu family held a grand banquet to entertain the two, but details are omitted here.
Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang and his companions passed through White Tiger Ridge and arrived at a forested hill.
Tang Sanzang, still on horseback, said, "Bajie, I'm hungry today. Where can I find some vegetarian food to eat?"
Pigsy said, "Master, please dismount and wait here while I go to look for him."
Tang Sanzang dismounted, and Sha Wujing put down his load and quickly took out his alms bowl and handed it to Zhu Bajie.
Pigsy took the alms bowl and said nonchalantly, "I'm off!"
Tang Sanzang quickly pressed, "Where are you going to beg for alms?"
Bajie waved his hand: "Never mind, I'm going to drill through ice to get fire and find food, and press snow to get oil to cook rice."
Having said that, he left the pine forest and headed west.
They walked for more than ten miles, but there was no one around and they didn't encounter a single household.
The fool was exhausted from walking and muttered to himself, "Back when Sun Wukong was around, Master could get vegetarian meals whenever he wanted. Now that it's my turn, I realize how difficult it is to be in charge."
As he spoke, he felt sleepy and thought, "If I go back now and say I have nowhere to beg for alms, my master will definitely not believe that I have traveled this far. I might as well sleep in this grassy area for an hour and then go back to report."
Once he made up his mind, Pigsy buried his head in the grass and fell asleep immediately.
Tang Sanzang waited in the pine forest for a long time, but Pigsy did not return. He hurriedly called to Sandy, "Wuneng has been away begging for alms for so long, why hasn't he come back yet?"
Sha Wujing said, "Master, don't you understand him? He saw that there were many families in the West that offered alms to monks, and he's greedy, so he'll only come back after he's eaten his fill."
Tang Sanzang said, "That's true, but what if he's gluttonous somewhere else? How will we know where to look for him? It's getting late, and this isn't a place to stay for long. We should find a place to stay first."
Sha Wujing said, "Master, don't worry, you wait here while I go and fetch him."
He then picked up his magic staff and went straight out of the pine forest to find Pigsy.
Tang Sanzang sat alone in the forest, feeling extremely bored and tired. He had no choice but to force himself to stay awake, gather his luggage in one place, tie his horse to a tree, straighten his black robes, and slowly stroll through the secluded forest to relieve his boredom.
Suddenly, a golden light appeared in the distance; it turned out to be a golden-topped pagoda.
Tang Sanzang was delighted: "Ever since I left the Eastern Land, I have vowed to burn incense at every temple and sweep every pagoda I encounter. Isn't that glowing pagoda a golden pagoda? There must be a temple under the pagoda, and monks inside. Let me walk around for a while."
"These luggage and the white horse are probably unused here, so it's fine. If there's a convenient place for the disciples to rest, we can stay there together."
He then quickened his pace and walked briskly to the tower.
Arriving at the foot of the pagoda gate, Tang Sanzang went inside. Suddenly, he looked up and saw a demon sleeping on his side on the stone bed. The demon had a blue face and fangs and looked extremely fierce.
Tang Sanzang trembled with fright, staggered backward, felt numb all over and weak in the legs, and turned to run away.
But the demon possessed extraordinary spiritual power; it instantly opened its golden demonic eyes and roared, "Minions, who is outside the door?!"
A little demon quickly peeked out and saw it was a bald-headed Tang Sanzang. He immediately ran inside to report, "Your Majesty, there's a monk outside, fair and handsome, clearly a good monk!"
Upon hearing this, the demon laughed loudly, "This is truly like a fly on a snake's head, food and clothing come to it of its own accord! Hurry up and bring him in, there will be a generous reward!"