Li Miaoci slept until dusk the next day.
She felt as if she had returned to her own home, lying on a soft sofa bed. Beneath her was a soft mattress, and covering her was…
A quilt with a faint sandalwood scent.
She jolted awake from her pleasant dream, only to realize she had curled up and fallen asleep beside Yang Jian’s legs.
In the same position on Yang Jian’s right side slept Xiaotian Quan.
“Awake?” Yang Jian stood up. “If you hadn’t woken up soon, the petals of that lotus flower would have all fallen off.”
Li Miaoci rubbed her eyes and saw only a lotus in full bloom.
“Where did they fall?”
“Oh, I used magic to revive it from death again,” Yang Jian said.
“I thank you on its behalf.”
When all the lotus flowers in the lake wither, leaving only this one blooming endlessly, it’s bound to be dug up by someone.
But all things have their own fate. Perhaps meeting God Erlang was its destiny.
By the time they returned to the inn, the sky had completely darkened.
They knocked on the door. The innkeeper was an elderly man who trembled as he came to open it.
As soon as the door opened, without even daring to look up at the visitors, he knelt down and bowed his head.
“Spare me, spare me, brave ones! Please, spare my daughter!”
Li Miaoci quickly helped him up. “Old sir, please don’t panic. We’re not bad people.”
Hearing her voice, the old man realized these were the guests who had stayed at his inn the day before.
He wiped away his tears and stood up shakily.
“Forgive my embarrassment, esteemed guests. You’ve returned at this hour and haven’t had dinner yet, have you? I’ll go prepare something.”
As he spoke, he turned to leave.
Li Miaoci was about to say they didn’t need to eat.
But before she could speak, a voice came from behind.
“Old fool! Are the person and the silver ready? I’m waiting to enter the bridal chamber today!”
Several burly men barged in. The leader had a knife scar near his ear and looked fierce and menacing.
“Boss, I heard the old fool’s inn has a few out-of-towners staying, and among them is a beautiful young lady, as lovely as a fairy!!”
“Is that so?”
The man grinned foolishly, stroking his chin, his eyes gleaming with delight.
He never expected such good fortune to fall into his lap.
Originally, he had only planned to kidnap the old man’s daughter to take as a concubine, to amuse himself for a while. Once he grew tired of her, he would sell her off.
But now, there was an even more stunning beauty.
Hearing this, Li Miaoci, too angry to speak, instinctively hid behind Yang Jian.
Among this group of out-of-towners, she was the only one who could be described as a beautiful, fairy-like woman.
“What are you two doing, acting as door gods? Get out of the way!”
The man reached out to push Yang Jian and Li Miaoci aside, but before he could even touch their sleeves, he was flung into the courtyard.
“Where’s your daughter?” The man grabbed the old man by the collar and shook him.
A woman who had been hiding in the shadows let out a scream and ran out. “You… you let my father go!”
“You foolish girl, why did you come out?” The old man cried out in despair. He would rather sacrifice his own life than let his daughter suffer any harm.
“Third Brother, Fifth Brother, go and invite that beautiful lady down for me. Be careful not to hurt her,” the leader said with a lecherous grin.
“No!”
The old man tried to stop them. As an innkeeper, he couldn’t stand by and watch his guests suffer.
The man threw him heavily to the ground.
Clearly, he was only about a meter above the ground, yet the man had used all his strength and still couldn’t throw him down.
He floated in mid-air, as if a mist of water was supporting him from below.
“Forcibly abducting a woman?”
A cold, terrifying voice rang out.
At the same time, a crimson glow of fire emerged in the dim night.
Nezha appeared in the courtyard out of thin air, spear in hand.
“Big brother, it’s him! Look, isn’t he as beautiful as a celestial being?”
Before the man could finish speaking, he was pierced through by the spear.
The remaining few turned to flee, but in an instant, one, two, three, four—they were skewered in a row.
“Stop! Amitabha!”
By the time Tang Sanzang rushed out of the room, all he could do was utter these words before witnessing the bullies who had come to harm others, intending to forcibly abduct a woman and steal money, meet their end on the spot.
“Nezha, you wicked disciple! How could you recklessly take human lives?”
“Didn’t Master hear them plotting to kill and harm others?”
Nezha sneered dismissively.
Yang Jian refused to kill petty villains with his blade, and the monkey, bound by the Tightening Curse, was unwilling to easily slay Mortals again. But Nezha didn’t care.
Back in the day, he had even slaughtered sea creatures—why would he care about these?
Evil people, Malevolent Demons, and wicked immortals—all deserved to die!
“If they kill and harm others, the local authorities will punish them. Who asked you to kill so casually?” Tang Sanzang’s voice trembled with anger.
“Oh?” Nezha retracted his Fire-Tipped Spear, spread his hands, and raised an eyebrow slightly. “Then what now? They’re already dead.”
Tang Sanzang’s face flushed red, and he stammered out several “you”s in succession.
Li Miaoci sensed trouble. Based on her understanding of Tang Sanzang, he couldn’t stand his disciples killing Mortals.
He was going to drive Nezha away!
Nezha wasn’t the Handsome Monkey King—if you drove him away, he would truly leave!
“Master, Master, this isn’t Third Brother’s fault!”
“If Third Brother hadn’t acted in time, they would have killed the old man and his daughter, and even burned down the inn along with dozens of nearby houses to cover their tracks.”
“Using evil to combat evil isn’t wrong, Master. Please forgive Third Brother this once.”
She urgently and desperately signaled Yang Jian with her eyes.
He can’t leave, he can’t leave.
With the Scripture Seeker already changed to her, she felt uncertain enough. If another one were driven away, could they still journey west?
If they couldn’t journey west, she wouldn’t be able to return home. And if she couldn’t return home, she might as well be dead.
“Yes, Master. Keeping them alive would only lead to countless innocent lives being lost. Nezha isn’t wrong.”
“You, all of you… sigh!”
Tang Sanzang chanted a few Buddhist mantras toward the corpses before turning and heading back to his room.
The old man kowtowed repeatedly to Nezha. “Thank you, brave warrior, thank you for saving my daughter and me.”
“No need.”
Nezha watched the old monk’s retreating back with disappointment while also resenting Li Miaoci for meddling.
He had thought the old monk would drive him away in a fit of anger.
“We’re done for,” Li Miaoci said, staring at the corpses.
“Is that it?”
“I mean, when the authorities arrive, we’ll be done for.”
Li Miaoci agonized over how to deal with the corpses before them.
Nezha scoffed. Before anyone could see his movements, a flash of fire appeared on the ground, and the scum lying there, along with the bloodstains, instantly turned to dust, leaving not even a trace.
From inside the room, Sun Wukong watched everything through the window, gritting his teeth.
“Unfair, this is unfair!”
“Back when I killed those bandits, the old monk drove me away without a second thought. And when I returned out of the goodness of my heart, he even tricked me into wearing the Tightening Curse!”
Li Miaoci comforted him through the window, “Senior Brother, don’t get worked up. It’s quite fair.”
“Where’s the fairness in that!”
“Master has always taken advantage of you, Old Sun, being an honest scholar. He drove you away knowing you’re sentimental and righteous enough to return, but Nezha—he really left!”
“Li Miaoci! What did you say?” Nezha clenched his fists, “Are you saying I’m heartless and unrighteous?”
“Help!”
Li Miaoci took off running, with Nezha chasing him all around the courtyard.
“Third Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, I was wrong. At least spare me for sharing the same surname Li…”
“Ah!!”
Nezha chased even more fiercely, “I’ve hated people with the surname Li all my life! Prepare to die!”