Chapter 371: Chapter 371

Hearing Sand Monk’s words, Zhu Bajie said with disdain, "Come on! Back when you were in the Celestial Court lifting curtains for the Jade Emperor, you followed him around every day."

"If anyone could compete with you in the art of flattery, who could surpass you!"

Sand Monk shook his head and replied, "Second Senior Brother, your words are not right. If I really had the knack for flattery, I wouldn’t have been punished to suffer at Liusha River."

"Alright, alright," said Zhu Bajie, conceding he was at a disadvantage in the argument, he thankfully said no more.

"Let’s hurry up and prepare the vegetarian meal, so as not to let Master go hungry."

The two of them then busied themselves, while Sun Wukong stood outside waiting for Xuanzang to finish the Universal Salvation rites.

At that moment, the entire world was ablaze with light, the Buddha’s light dazzling, and the words of Amitabha Buddha emerged spontaneously.

"This monk is incredible; perhaps he can truly vie with Buddhism," Wukong muttered to himself.

A moment later, as Xuanzang finished the Universal Salvation, many little demons began reciting Buddhist scriptures and studying the Buddhist Law, repenting their past wrongs.

Xuanzang walked over.

"Master has worked hard; the vegetarian meal is ready," Wukong said, but before he could step forward, Zhu Bajie cheerfully called out, "Master, come and eat before it gets cold."

Wukong turned to look at Zhu Bajie and couldn’t help expressing his surprise, "You blockhead, weren’t you reluctant? But you’re quite eager with preparing the vegetarian meal!"

Zhu Bajie made a light sound of surprise and said, "How could I be reluctant, Old Pig? Let’s not talk so much now, Master, let’s go and eat."

Xuanzang also nodded and said, "Originally, your teacher wasn’t very hungry, but after hearing Wuneng’s words, I do feel somewhat famished."

"Wukong, let’s go eat."

Afterward, the Master and disciples went to have their vegetarian meal together.

After finishing their meal, they each took their rest.

Early the next day, the four disciples prepared to set out on the road together.

"Master, every time we pass through a country, we have to exchange our travel documents. What about this Lion Camel Kingdom?"

Zhu Bajie, blurry with sleep, awoke with some confusion and asked Xuanzang.

Upon hearing this, Wukong laughed and said, "The top and bottom ranks of this Lion Camel Kingdom have all been eaten by that big bird, what travel documents do we need to exchange? Let’s hit the road!"

Sun Wukong didn’t care in the least, but Xuanzang seemed concerned, "Wuneng is right; this is indeed a problem."

After all, he had persisted for so long, it would be hard to justify if it were to end here.

Sand Monk’s eyes twinkled as he said with a smile, "This is easy, just go to the Emperor’s treasure palace, maybe the Jade Seal is there, and we can just stamp one ourselves!"

"Junior Brother Sand is right!" Sun Wukong thought this was a good idea.

"Nonsense, we can’t do such things," Xuanzang frowned.

As monks, they couldn’t possibly undertake such matters themselves.

"You blockhead, this situation is because of you, so you handle it!" said Sun Wukong, smiling bitterly at Xuanzang’s intransigence.

Zhu Bajie snorted, muttering, "How was I to know that Master would be so stubborn."

Just then, the sound of footsteps approached.

Sun Wukong and the others turned to look.

They saw that those who had undergone Universal Salvation were indeed the demons; each now radiated with Buddha’s light, completely rid of their former monster energy.

"Amitabha Buddha, we heard the Holy Monks were departing, and we have come to see you off," said the leader.

The leading demon was a Tiger Demon with the air of a Great Demon. Originally a general under the Golden-Winged Roc, with the Roc taken away by the Tathagata, he took it upon himself to step in.

The rest of the demons also brought their hands together in a salute.

"Thank you for coming to bid us farewell," said Xuanzang, temporarily setting aside the issue of the travel documents.

"What’s this about leaving? We can’t go yet," Zhu Bajie said irritably.

"What’s the matter?" asked the Tiger Demon, puzzled by Zhu Bajie’s comment.

"Our Master wishes to exchange travel documents, but how can we do so when the country has no King?" explained Sand Monk.

Hearing this, the Tiger Demon gave a wry smile and said, "Is that a problem?"

He then commanded, "Someone, fetch the Jade Seal of the Lion Camel Kingdom so we can prepare the travel documents for the Holy Monks!"

"What are you doing?" Xuanzang asked the Tiger Demon, evidently taken aback by his behavior.

"Master, it seems this Tiger Demon plans to crown himself King here and return to his old ways!"

Zhu Bajie couldn’t help but start speaking out of curiosity when he heard this!

"Don’t talk nonsense!"

Xuanzang shook his head at Zhu Bajie.

"What the Holy Monk Pig here said isn’t completely incorrect. We have already decided, since we are demons, it’s unlikely that the temples would readily accept us. Rather than go somewhere else, we would prefer to stay here."

"From now on, this place shall be known as Buddha’s Land, and we shall live in peace with the mortals who pass by!"

As he spoke, the Tiger Demon once again brought his hands together in prayer.

Upon hearing the Tiger Demon speak thus, Xuanzang’s face showed a look of relief, and he nodded.

Xuanzang brought his hands together in prayer.

Just at that moment, a little demon had already brought over a Jade Seal.

Then, he handed it to the Tiger Demon.

The Tiger Demon, looking at Xuanzang, said, "Holy Monk, let me adjust your travel documents for you as a way to repay your grace of Universal Salvation!"

"Very well, Sand Monk."

Xuanzang nodded repeatedly, then turned to look at Sand Monk.

Sand Monk hurriedly searched through their luggage and found the travel documents.

After the adjustments to the Jade Seal were made, they could hit the road again.

With the respectful send-off from the Tiger Demon and his cohorts, they left the Lion Camel City.

The group continued on their way, enduring the elements and sleeping outdoors. Several days passed and as they were traveling, a city suddenly appeared in front of them. Xuanzang pointed at the city ahead and said, "Disciples, look, there lies a city ahead, though I do not know what place it is."

Sun Wukong glanced at the city but didn’t see any name on it, and he replied, "We’ll know what place it is once we enter. If it’s a capital city in the Western Direction, we’ll need to adjust our travel documents. If it’s just a county city, we can go straight through."

The group continued forward, and soon they came to the city gates. They saw an old soldier leaning on a large rock by the roadside, basking in the sun and napping. Sun Wukong leapt over to him and respectfully called out, "Officer!"

The old soldier heard the voice, opened his eyes and the moment he caught sight of Sun Wukong’s face, he was scared out of his wits and nearly wet himself, shouting hastily, "Oh, Grandpa!"

Sun Wukong couldn’t help but laugh and said, "You needn’t blurt out nonsense, I am not an evil god. Why are you calling me grandpa?"

"You are Thunder Duke, Grandpa!" The old soldier exclaimed in fright.

"Nonsense!" Sun Wukong said with a cold smile, "That Thunder Duke is a junior to me! We are monks from the Great Tang of the Eastern Land, on our way to the Western Heaven to seek scriptures and are just passing through this place, unaware of its name, hence we came to ask you."

Upon hearing this, the old soldier’s heart settled a bit. Although he had no idea what the Great Tang of the Eastern Land was, the fact that they were monks and not evil gods alleviated his fear, and he hurriedly replied, "Elder, please forgive my ignorance. Our place is called Bhikkhu Country, but now it has been renamed Little Children City."

Sun Wukong’s eyes swiveled and he quickly asked, "Is there an emperor in this city?"

"Yes, yes, there absolutely is," the old soldier hurriedly replied.

Sun Wukong nodded, then returned to Xuanzang to report, "Master, this place was originally called Bhikkhu Country, but it is now named Little Children City?"

Xuanzang frowned and asked, "If it was called Bhikkhu Country, why has it been renamed Little Children City?"

At this point, Zhu Bajie interjected, "It must be that their king has passed away, and a new king has ascended the throne, a young child. Hence, it’s been renamed Little Children City."

Xuanzang shook his head and said, "There’s no sense in that, we should enter the city and ask around for clarity!"

Sand Monk said with a smile, "I think that old fellow was intimidated by Brother Monkey, so he might have been talking nonsense. It’s better that we see for ourselves."

Xuanzang nodded, leading his disciples into the city.

Upon entering the city, the group saw a bustling scene, with busy streets full of carriages and horses. Concerned that his three disciples might cause trouble, Xuanzang asked them to keep their heads down as they walked so as not to frighten the passers-by.

Xuanzang, walking in front, leisurely enjoyed the sights of this foreign land. However, a peculiar sight caught his eye: in front of each household stood a goose cage.

Xuanzang couldn’t help but frown and asked with curiosity, "Why does each household here have a goose cage at their door? I wonder what the reason is."

Zhu Bajie, hearing this, raised his head to look around and indeed saw that many households had goose cages at their doors, covered with various colored cloths, and it wasn’t clear what they held inside.

Zhu Bajie chuckled and said, "Perhaps it’s an auspicious day for weddings and friend meetings, and the people here are busy with their celebrations!"

Sun Wukong glanced at Zhu Bajie and said, "You blockhead, always spouting nonsense. Even if it’s an auspicious day, not every household would be celebrating matrimony, would they? They say whenever something unusual happens there’s a demon at work. There must be a reason for this."

"Brother Monkey, if you think there’s a reason, then why don’t you just go and look to find out?" retorted Zhu Bajie with a snort.

With a twinkle in his eye, Sun Wukong bounded forward and, while no one was watching, he lifted the cloth from one of the goose cages.

But what he found inside shocked him greatly.

It wasn’t anything else but a small child squatting inside.

As the child suddenly saw Sun Wukong’s face, he immediately burst into tears, crying and shouting for his mother.

Alarmed by such wailing, Sun Wukong hastily put the cloth back down.

"Could it be that all these goose cages contain children?"

Sun Wukong muttered to himself.

Then, Sun Wukong checked a few more goose cages and, sure enough, each one contained a small child.

Full of confusion, Sun Wukong quickly returned to Xuanzang and said, "Master, all these goose cages contain children, the oldest no more than seven years old, the youngest only three or four."

"What? Why would that be?" Xuanzang exclaimed, his expression drastically changing.

Zhu Bajie laughed and said, "Perhaps the customs are different here, and these people like to raise their children in goose cages."