Chapter 167: Immortal follows the laws of heaven and earth, and the traveler reaches Lion Camel Mountain

The story goes that the Water Ape Great Sage was defeated six times by the Immortal, and he used all his strength to twist his body and reveal his true form, which was a monkey, a thousand feet tall, with white hair and green body, flaming eyes, fangs and sharp blades, and eyes like flashing lights. Standing in the Huai River, he was truly a huge monster rarely seen in the world.

The Great Ape Sage shouted to Jiang Yuan, “Master, if you can defeat me, I will submit to you.”

Jiang Yuan smiled and said, “Just wait and see my magical power.”

Say it.

The immortal chanted a mantra and said “chang”. His body grew taller against the wind. In a short while, he was ten thousand feet tall. His head was like Mount Tai, his eyes were like the sun and the moon, and his back was hung with a Dharma light. When the divine light shone, it was like a pardon from heaven, and the whole world was filled with light.

The immortal’s magic act shocked the heavens and the earth, and the celestial realm was shaken. The clairvoyant and the wise heard hurriedly investigated the whole world and saw that it was the immortal who was subduing the demon. They reported to the Lingxiao Palace, and the Jade Emperor, who was sitting in the palace, heard the news. He immediately sent the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King and the Third Prince and all the gods to the lower world to help the immortal subdue the demon.

It didn’t take long before the gods descended to the mortal world and besieged the Water Ape Great Sage.

When the Water Ape Sage saw the gods and also saw the Immortal Man who controlled the heavens and the earth, he became afraid and feared that he would have to fight with the Immortal Man, so he asked the gods to capture him.

Jiang Yuan said in a voice as loud as a bell, “Don’t worry, the heavenly soldiers and generals have never captured you. If you fight with me, I will make you convinced. My Lords, I have subdued the Great Sage the Ape and have no intention of disturbing the heavens. Please don’t take action. It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose.”

Everyone bowed and said, “We will follow the Master’s wishes.”

The gods put away their nets, stepped onto the clouds and mist, and watched the real person subdue the demon. They marveled at the real person’s magical powers, and could shock the three realms with just one spell.

Jiang Yuan said loudly: “Great Sage of the Water Ape, please use your magical powers.”

When the Water Ape Great Sage saw this, he stepped on the water and rushed over, swinging his fist at the Immortal, but Jiang Yuan was ten thousand feet tall and he just stretched out his hand and pushed the Water Ape Great Sage to the ground. But the whisk worked as he wished and hit the Water Ape Great Sage, who was in great pain and had to be held down by the Immortal, unable to move.

How can the true nature be compared with the laws of heaven and earth?

The Aquatic Monkey King cried out in surprise, “Master, please spare me! Master, please spare me!”

Jiang Yuan asked, “Are you convinced?”

The Great Ape Sage shouted, “I accept. I accept. Please forgive me, Master.”

Jiang Yuan loosened his hand, and the water ape turned back into its original form, kneeling on the ground, trembling with fear, not daring to make trouble again.

Jiang Yuan also retracted his Dharma image and landed on the ground again. He looked at the Water Ape Great Sage and said, “You have taught me to defeat you seven times, are you really convinced?”

The Great Ape Sage bowed and said, “I accept. I accept!”

Jiang Yuan said: “Since you are convinced, what will you do?”

The Great Water Ape Sage bowed his head. Seeing the True Man’s magical power and the gods in the sky, he dared not have any evil thoughts anymore. He bowed and said, “True Man’s magical power, I have received the True Man’s mercy. I have been defeated seven times. I will sincerely surrender, just as I have said to the True Man. I will never do evil again. I will protect this place and ensure peace. After me, the Huai River will no longer cause trouble. If there is a flood in the world, I will be the first to rush there to save the flood.”

Jiang Yuan said: “Are you really keeping your promise?”

The Great Water Ape said, “Master, although I am an evildoer, I am also a trustworthy person. I have received your kindness. I must keep my promise and never do it again. If I dare to break my promise, the gods and the people will punish me together.”

Jiang Yuan said: “If you have such sincerity, it is not in vain that I have defeated you seven times. But since you have returned to the right path and practiced cultivation and no longer do evil, you should ask your concubines in the mansion whether they are willing to stay. If they are not willing, you should compensate them with gold and silver, let them go, and deal with them properly.”

The Great Water Ape Sage sang a greeting, raised his head and asked, “Master, you are a human, why is your true form so tall? My true form cannot defeat you.”

Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, “It is not the true form, but the divine power, which is the ‘Law of Heaven and Earth’.”

The Great Water Ape Sage praised the Immortal for his mysterious supernatural powers, and was also grateful for the Immortal’s grace of not killing him.

Jiang Yuan asked the Water Ape Great Sage and the Bull Demon King to stay for a while, and he went to heaven to speak to the gods and asked them to return to heaven.

When the Water Ape Great Sage saw the Immortal Master leaving on a cloud of auspiciousness, he pointed at the Bull Demon King on the shore and said, “You old bull, I wonder what fate you have cultivated in your past life that allows you to practice with such a virtuous Immortal Master.”

The Bull Demon King yelled, “The Bull Lord has his own blessings. He is not like you who does not know the destiny and needs to be defeated seven times by the real person before he sincerely repents and turns to the right path. If the Black Emperor came, he would not say anything more to you and would teach you to kill him. How can he be so merciful?”

The Water Ape Great Sage said indignantly: “Why would the Black Emperor come to subdue me? I have heard that the Black Emperor has taken over the position of Zhenwu, and he has done a lot to intimidate the north. Although I have caused rebellion, it is only a small rebellion, not a lot of evil. Why would the Black Emperor subdue me?”

The Bull Demon King said, “Do you think the Emperor Xuan doesn’t know what you did? Your crime is not serious, but you have protected many people, and you are guilty of deceiving the heaven.”

The Ape Sage was puzzled and asked, “What do you mean?”

The Bull Demon King then recounted the previous events and told the Water Ape Great Sage about the Taoist priest in the Fu Luan Temple, and how serious the crime of arresting the land god and Thunder God was.

When the Water Ape Great Sage heard this, he cursed, “I don’t even know this Taoist. He is just taking advantage of the power of the tiger.”

The Bull Demon King said: “Fortunately, a real person came to subdue you, otherwise you would have been in trouble.”

When the Water Ape Great Sage heard this, he felt deeply grateful for the Immortal’s kindness.

The immortal spoke to the gods in heaven and taught them to convey the Jade Emperor’s gratitude and his apology for alarming the three realms.

The Immortal landed only after seeing off the gods.

The Great Sage of the Water Ape thanked him again and again and asked the True Man to stay in the Water Palace for a while. The Great Sage of the Water Ape treated him with courtesy and dared not offend him again.

Jiang Yuan readily agreed, but before he entered the water palace, he suddenly felt something in his heart and looked towards the west.

The Bull Demon King stepped forward and asked, “Master, what’s wrong?”

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, “Wukong is in some trouble.”

The Bull Demon King was puzzled and asked: “Master, isn’t my brother on the journey to the West to seek scriptures? What difficulty does he have? On the journey to the West, I forgive me, and there will be no more difficulties after me.”

After he finished speaking, he pondered for a long time and then said, “Unless there is a mountain on the road, it may be difficult for my brother.”

Jiang Yuan asked: “Which mountain are you talking about?”

The Bull Demon King replied, “It is the 800-li Lion Camel Mountain. This mountain is quite powerful. There are three demons in it, commanding 47,800 small demons. Each of them has some power and has a name tag. As for those without a name or a tag, they are even more numerous and countless. Their troops are much stronger than mine.”

Jiang Yuan said: “Perhaps this is where Wukong suffered.”

The Bull Demon King was hesitant.

Jiang Yuan smiled and said, “How about Niu’er? Would you like to go and help Wukong for a while?” The Bull Demon King bowed and said, “Master, I once became a brother to Wukong. This brother either ran away when he was in trouble, and we were brothers who shared life and death. If he was in trouble, I should go to help him. But now I am the master’s guardian, and I cannot leave my post without permission. This is a dilemma.”

Jiang Yuan said: “Don’t worry, just go and help Wukong for a while, it won’t take long, I’ll be waiting for you at the Huaihe River Palace, and when you come back, we can set off again.”

The Bull Demon King kowtowed again and again before turning around to leave.

Jiang Yuan called the Bull Demon King and said, “I’m afraid the monsters have some magical powers, and you can’t do anything about it alone. Yu Ding will protect you, but if there are monsters that are difficult to defeat, Yu Ding will protect you. If you can’t defeat them again, just burn incense and pray, and recite my name sincerely. If you are three-tenths sincere, I will be seven-tenths sensitive, and then I will drive the auspicious cloud to help you eliminate the disaster.”

The Bull Demon King took the Yu Ding, bowed sincerely again, and said, “Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much, sir. Please stay in the mansion for a while, I will be back soon.”

Jiang Yuan said no more and waved his hand to let the Bull Demon King leave.

After paying his respects, Bull Demon King rode away on a cloud to Cuiyun Mountain to mobilize his troops.

Jiang Yuanze and Zuo Liang and others entered the Water Palace, so we will not mention it for now.

……

On the journey to the west, the group of pilgrims approached the ‘Eight Hundred Mile Lion Camel Mountain’. Tang Monk had suffered many disasters along the way, and now seeing such a high mountain as Lion Camel Mountain, he felt scared again.

Tang Seng stopped his horse and said, “Wukong, look at the mountain ahead, there may be evil spirits in it.”

The Monkey King laughed and said, “Master, you are like ‘once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of ropes for ten years’. As long as you are fearless in your heart, your spirit is pure, you wear a monk’s robe, hold a staff, and no monster in the world can hurt you.”

Tang Seng looked up at the sky and said, “My disciple, I don’t know how far away I am from the Middle Earth. I don’t know if there is any way in this life to return to the Middle Earth and my hometown.”

The Monkey King said, “Master, when you succeed in obtaining the scriptures, you will be free. How can you say that there is no predestined relationship? And only by devoting yourself to obtaining the scriptures can you follow the right path. When you succeed and return home, you will be rich and noble. If I ask you to return home now, how can you face others?”

Tang Seng clasped his hands and said, “Disciple, what you said makes sense.”

The traveler said, “Master, just move forward and don’t worry too much.”

Tang Seng nodded and said, “Tell me, disciple, why did you refuse to tell me when I asked you how far this place is from Lingshan recently?”

Zhu Bajie came forward with his load on his shoulders, and shouted, “Maybe he was afraid to tell Master that it was too far, so he no longer wanted to go west, so he didn’t tell Master, and Master went on with peace of mind.”

The Monkey King grabbed Bajie and said, “Don’t talk nonsense, you fool. We are very close to the West. That’s why I didn’t say anything. I knew that success would be in vain. If I had said anything, I would have become arrogant and brought disaster upon myself. Wouldn’t that mean that there would be no hope for our journey to the West?”

Zhu Bajie begged for mercy.

The group went up the mountain again, and suddenly saw an old man on the hillside in the distance, shouting from afar, “Elder who went west, you must not go into this mountain. If you go, you will never come back. There are monsters in that mountain that eat all the people in the world.”

Hearing this, Tang Seng was horrified and nearly fell off his horse. He said, “What is that old man saying? It’s really scary.”

The Monkey King said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to keep you safe.”

Tang Seng said, “Wukong, go ask him. What the old man said is true. He said there is a monster in the mountain that eats up all the people in the world.”

The Monkey King said, “You must be exaggerating. There are countless people in the world of Jambu, how can the demons eat them all? Master, please stay here for a while. I will go and ask.”

Tang Seng said, “My disciple, please go now. Leave Bajie here, and Wujing will protect me.”

Hearing this, the Monkey King leaped towards the top of the mountain. When he got close to the top, he opened his eyes wide and used his “qi-seeing” skill. The Monkey King’s skill was improving day by day, and he had mastered the skill of qi-seeing. He only needed to take a look and saw that the old man was shining with colorful clouds and golden light. He recognized his true appearance and found that he was Taibai Jinxing.

The Monkey King stepped forward and said, “Star Lord, how dare you transform yourself into a human and come here to scare my master to death?”

When the old man saw that Monkey had revealed his true form, he revealed his true form, pulled Monkey up to the clouds, and then he bowed and said, “Great Sage, I have come to tell you the news. I am afraid I may disturb you, so I have changed a little. Please don’t be surprised, don’t be surprised.”

The traveler replied, “The Star Lord came to tell you the news, so how can I blame you?”

Taibai Jinxing said, “Great Sage, why are you so polite now? If you don’t call me old man, I will feel uncomfortable.”

The traveler laughed and said, “Xingjun, I was a bit arrogant in the past. How can you make fun of me?”

Taibai Jinxing apologized, “I dare not, I dare not.”

The traveler said, “Speak to me now, Star Lord. If you have any news for us, you must come here in person.”

Taibai Jinxing bowed and said, “Great Sage, listen to me. There are some obstacles ahead. You must be careful. The road ahead is called ‘800 Li Lion Camel Mountain’. There are many monsters in the mountain. Great Sage, you can see that mountain. There are 5,000 monsters in the South Ridge, 5,000 monsters in the North Ridge, 10,000 monsters at the East Crossing, and 10,000 monsters at the West Crossing. There are 14,500 gatekeepers and patrollers, all of whom have official names and badges, and there are 47,800 monsters. There are also countless other monsters.”

The traveler said, “If this is the case, why do you need to come in person to report the news? Not to mention 40,000 or 50,000, even if there are 140,000 or 150,000, how can you stop me?”

Taibai Jinxing said with a smile, “You know that the Great Sage has infinite magical powers. In the past, the 100,000 heavenly soldiers could not do anything to you, let alone these 40,000 or 50,000 demon soldiers. You only need to use your magical powers to sneak into the demons, and in less than two or three days, you will kill them all. But Tang Monk is just an ordinary man, and Tianpeng and Juanlian do not have the magical powers of the Great Sage, so you must be on guard.”

The traveler said, “What the Star Lord said makes sense. I know about this matter. Thank you. I will go back and talk to him now.”

Taibai Jinxing grabbed Monkey and said, “Great Sage, don’t leave.”

The traveler asked, “What else has Star Lord failed to accomplish?”

Taibai Jinxing said, “Great Sage, in addition to the more than 40,000 monsters in that mountain, there are also three demon heads. You must be careful. Those three demon heads are all quite powerful.”

The traveler asked, “What abilities do they have? Tell me about them.”

Taibai Jinxing said: “The first of the three demons was transformed from a blue lion, the second was transformed from a white elephant, and the third was transformed from a big roc. All three demons have extraordinary abilities. Great Sage must be careful.”

The Monkey King agreed to all the requests and said, “If there were only three demons, I would have no problem conquering them. But now there are three demons and more than 40,000 little demons. It’s a ‘strong alliance’ and I’m afraid it’s a bit too much. If that happens, I will go to the heavens to ask for troops. I’ll ask the Star Lord to tell the Jade Emperor to lend me some heavenly soldiers then.”

Taibai Jinxing agreed and said, “Yes, yes, yes. As long as the Great Sage speaks, we can get a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers.”

The Monkey King thanked Taibai Jinxing and said goodbye to him. Taibai Jinxing returned to heaven. The Monkey King watched him leave and only after he landed did he tell Tang Seng and his companions what had happened.

After hearing this, Tang Seng was frightened and asked, “Disciple, is there any other way to go?”

The traveler shook his head and said, “This mountain is eight hundred miles long, and there is no other road. If you go west, you must take this road. If you don’t go west, you can take other roads. Master, you must know that suffering has its own destiny. Even if there are small roads and paths, how can you get through? If you take shortcuts when you are experiencing suffering, how can you obtain the true scriptures at that time? How can the true scriptures be complete?”

Upon hearing this, Tang Seng could not help but shed tears and didn’t know how to get across the mountain.

(End of this chapter)