“I really misjudged you! I never thought you, the dignified Third Prince Nezha, would also bully the weak and oppress the defenseless?”
“Does this rabbit want to eat Master too? You insist on beating her to death!”
Li Miaoci was emotionally charged, especially when she saw the luminous pearl that had fallen from the rabbit’s embrace—her tears simply wouldn’t stop.
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Nezha was somewhat angry.
“I’m not spouting nonsense at all. Serves you right… you being trapped in the Flowing Sands River, you deserve to be stuck there for all eternity…”
She wanted to curse more harshly…
But she held back the words at the tip of her tongue.
Though her heart ached for Little White, she also cherished her own life—she still wanted to live and return home.
“Oh? So the luminous pearl you wanted was to give to a rabbit spirit.” Little White Dragon remarked.
Sun Wukong watched the group arguing around the rabbit, feeling his head was about to explode.
He stepped forward and poked the “corpse” with his staff.
Little White slowly regained consciousness. Opening her eyes, she saw Li Miaoci and immediately cried out, “Run! A great demon king has come to the mountains!”
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the demon king standing right above her, staring down.
In her panic, she fainted again.
“Uh… haha.” Li Miaoci wiped away her tears and awkwardly stood up.
Nezha crossed his arms, disdainfully saying, “Would I, your father, stoop to killing a low-cultivation rabbit demon? Ridiculous!”
She had clearly been running too fast and crashed into a tree.
“I was wrong.” Li Miaoci humbly apologized.
“Tsk!”
Nezha shot her a disdainful glance, his pristine face tinged with contempt.
He couldn’t be bothered to argue with a weak little grass demon like Li Miaoci, who had no strength and only tears.
Yang Jian formed a hand seal, and Little White immediately woke up.
“Don’t be afraid, he won’t casually kill or harm anyone.” Li Miaoci quickly reassured the nervous Little White.
Before Little White could react, Nezha’s provoking voice came from not far away, “Not necessarily~”
“Don’t be afraid.”
Little White tightly hugged her arm. “So you’re all together.”
She had thought the humans were in danger and risked her life to come and warn them.
Fortunately, everything was fine.
“You should go back quickly, find your family, and remember—next time you encounter danger, run for your life first.” Li Miaoci advised her.
She nodded, carefully stored the luminous pearl, and turned to leave.
“You sure love making friends. In just half a day, that rabbit spirit was willing to risk her life to warn you.”
Sun Wukong said.
Li Miaoci pitifully replied, “That’s because she’s kind-hearted. Demons can be good or bad. If someone kills as quickly as a certain someone, they’d definitely end up killing good people… and demons.”
“Alright, alright. Since she was willing to risk her life to warn you, Old Sun will do you a favor too.”
After saying this, Sun Wukong summoned the Mountain Deity and Earth God, instructing them to look after Little White and her family.
Li Miaoci smiled gratefully at him. “Ah, thank you, Eldest Senior Brother. I always knew you were the kindest, most righteous, sincere, brave, and protective of the weak Handsome Monkey King in the world.”
“Shut up.”
The dark clouds dispersed, and a few stars twinkled in the night sky.
Li Miaoci leaned against a large tree. Through the gaps in the canopy, she could see the vast night sky and the flowing river of stars.
Yang Jian sat on a distant hillside, the night breeze lifting the hem of his robe.
Sitting beside him was Nezha.
Nezha: “Who is she? Why is she also heading west with us?”
Yang Jian gazed into the distance, his eyes deep. “I cannot see her past or present lives, but she journeys west to find her way home.”
“Westward, always westward! It’s all because of that damned Journey to the Western Heaven.” Nezha gritted his teeth in frustration.
His voice was so loud that it startled Xiaotian Quan, who had been dozing off. The dog sprang to its feet, alert, glanced around, shook its fur, and then settled back into its dreams.
“What if Tang Sanzang were gone? Would we still have to go west?”
“Of course not.”
“But you’ve already tried, haven’t you?” Yang Jian kindly reminded him.
Nezha raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I tried, but just because I couldn’t kill him doesn’t mean others can’t. There are so many demons and monsters on the journey to the west. If Tang Sanzang were to accidentally perish, wouldn’t we be free?”
“Sun Wukong might not agree,” Yang Jian said.
“Once the old monk recites the Tightening Curse a few more times, he’ll come around.”
As dawn broke, the group continued westward.
Li Miaoci yawned repeatedly, having spent the entire night fleeing for her life in her dreams.
In her nightmare, Nezha had been chasing her with his Fire-Tipped Spear. She ran until her legs felt like they would give out, yet she couldn’t escape the horror of being killed.
As a result, she felt even more exhausted than if she hadn’t slept at all.
After crossing another mountain, they looked out over a vast, flat countryside.
In the distance stood a manor with vermilion gates, high walls, and deep courtyards—clearly the home of a wealthy family.
“Wukong, there’s a household ahead. Let’s go and rest for a while,” Tang Sanzang suggested.
Sun Wukong glanced at the distant house. Above it, mist hung heavy, and auspicious clouds swirled.
“We’ve only been walking for half a day, Master. How can a monk fear hardship and fatigue? It’s still early. Let’s keep moving,” Nezha said, stepping forward to take hold of the horse’s reins, showing no intention of allowing a break.
With Nezha speaking like this, Tang Sanzang couldn’t bring himself to insist on resting.
Li Miaoci pointed at the distant manor, stammering as she tried to say something, but before she could utter a word, Nezha had already led the horse and Tang Sanzang far ahead.
Wasn’t this the place where the Bodhisattva transformed into a mortal woman?
Had they just avoided the “Test of the Four Saints”?
Fine, fine.
Covering her ears, she trudged forward with her head down.
They traveled for several more days.
Li Miaoci was exhausted and drowsy. She felt that she wouldn’t need to reach the Western Heaven—she was about to ascend directly to it.
…
On an unnamed mountain lived a group of formidable demons.
Their leader was a great demon who had cultivated for several hundred years.
One day, one of his underlings rushed in to report, “Great King! Something terrible has happened! While I was out gathering firewood with the others on the mountain, we saw Tang Sanzang!”
“Tang Sanzang?” The great demon’s eyes lit up. “The good man cultivated over ten lifetimes, traveling from the Great Tang to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha and retrieve scriptures? The reincarnation of Golden Cicada?”
The underling stammered in reply, “Y-yes, with such a great reputation, no one else would share his name.”
The great demon slammed the table and stood up. “What’s so terrible about that? This is wonderful news!”
“I’ve heard that eating a piece of Tang Monk’s flesh grants immortality! In the past, when I fought other demons for territory, the lands teeming with birds and beasts were all taken by others. Today, it’s finally my turn for good fortune!”
He laughed heartily.
Once he ate Tang Monk’s flesh and achieved immortality, he could cultivate day after day. When his power soared, he would beat up all those demons who had bullied him in the past!
“Hahahahahahaha!”
“But Great King, Tang Sanzang’s three disciples are not to be trifled with.”
The great demon fell silent. “Oh?”
The underling continued, “Especially his eldest disciple, Sun Wukong—the Great Sage Equalling Heaven who caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago…”
“His second disciple, Yang Jian, is the Divine Lord of Clear Origin and Wondrous Path, who cleaved open Peach Mountain to save his mother and slew the Golden Crow with his axe seventeen hundred years ago…”
“His third disciple, Nezha, is the Great God of the Three Altars and Oceanic Assembly, who two thousand years ago wreaked havoc in the Eastern Sea, flaying and deboning the Third Prince of the Dragon King…”
The great demon’s face twisted into a savage grimace. “Hurry.”
“Does Your Majesty still intend to capture Tang Sanzang?” The underling rubbed his hands eagerly, deeply convinced that his king possessed the bearing of a dragon and phoenix, with extraordinary courage, daring to oppose such three divine beings.
The great demon nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood. “Capture your head! Quickly pass the order—tell the old and lesser demons to flee first!”