pertwk Chapter 6: Guanyin and Wukong's Passionate Verbal Battle; An Angry Guanyin: So Arrogant When As
Chapter 6: Guanyin and Wukong's Passionate Verbal Battle; An Angry Guanyin: So Arrogant When As
at the same time.
South China Sea, Purple Bamboo Forest.
Guanyin was flipping through the booklet showing the progress of the pilgrimage, her brow furrowing slightly.
The progress has been delayed by nearly three months.
While setbacks are common on the journey to the West, a three-month delay is indeed quite long. She's planning to send someone to urge them on—
"Buddha!"
A golden light burst through the bamboo curtain of the purple bamboo forest, and Sun Wukong landed directly in front of the lotus platform.
No formalities were performed.
They didn't say hello.
It opened its mouth the moment it landed.
"Is there something you haven't taken care of properly?"
Guanyin's hand paused.
She put down the booklet and looked at Sun Wukong.
"Wukong, what are you saying?"
"What are you saying? The absolute truth!"
Sun Wukong stepped forward and poured out all his experiences over the past three months—
There's some guy of unknown origin blocking the road. You can't beat him, you can't get around him, and you can't get rid of him. Even if three of you gang up on him, it's a 50/50 chance. He knows 72 transformations, can transform into the heavens and earth, and can create clones. He knows everything, and everything about him is exactly the same as yours.
After hearing this, Guanyin frowned even more deeply.
She opened the booklet and checked it from beginning to end.
The eighty-one tribulations are recorded in detail, including the time, place, name of the monster, and corresponding calamity for each tribulation.
"Wukong, the person you're talking about... isn't in the book."
"I know I didn't!" Sun Wukong exclaimed anxiously. "That's why I came to find you! This isn't my fault; it's just that an uninvited guest has entered your trap!"
Guanyin closed the book and looked at Sun Wukong.
Her gaze changed.
"Wukong, do you mean there's an unregistered person on the journey to the West who can fight you, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, to a draw?"
"It's not a tie! It's a 50/50 chance!"
"...Is there a difference?"
"Yes! A draw is something you only know after the game is over, but a 50/50 is 50/50 from start to finish! No matter how much force I use, the opponent uses the same amount! Even if all three of them attack together, it's still a 50/50!"
Guanyin remained silent for a while.
Then she said something that almost made Sun Wukong explode on the spot.
"Are you sure you didn't cause this yourself?"
"...What?!"
"You monkey, you've been causing trouble everywhere you go. Did you offend some reclusive master?"
Sun Wukong took a deep breath.
He tried his best to keep his voice steady.
"Bodhisattva. I have followed the path you planned for the journey to the West, and I have never deviated from it."
"For the past three months, all I've done is beat up that person and get beaten up by that person. Aside from eating and sleeping, all I do is get beaten. I haven't even stepped on an ant. Tell me, when have I ever had time to offend a reclusive master?"
Guanyin was not persuaded.
In her understanding, the monsters encountered at the beginning of the journey to the West—General Yin, the Bear Monster, and the Yellow Wind Monster—were all minor characters who had cultivated themselves in the human world and had limited strength.
Who is Sun Wukong? He was the one who wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, and even 100,000 heavenly soldiers couldn't subdue him.
You say you can't beat an unknown mortal?
She doesn't believe it.
She felt that Sun Wukong was either exaggerating or subtly demanding benefits.
After all, this monkey has too many prior offenses.
He throws tantrums and quits at the drop of a hat, and every few days he complains about wanting to go back to Flower Fruit Mountain.
Guanyin made it clear directly.
"Wukong, if you find the journey to the West arduous, Buddhism will certainly remember your contributions. But you're using a non-existent opponent to bargain—"
"You're talking nonsense!!"
The bamboo leaves in the purple bamboo grove fell in a rustling sound from the impact.
Sun Wukong's eyes widened in anger.
"When I, Old Sun, wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, did I ever bargain with anyone? When I was imprisoned under the Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years, did I ever bargain with anyone? I fought monsters, protected Tang Sanzang, and endured the tight-fitting headband all the way. When have I ever asked you for a single penny?"
"you--"
"You Buddhist sects are something else! You arranged eighty-one tribulations in such a fancy and outrageous way, each one more absurd than the last, without even offering extra pay. Now that there's this issue of being outside the established staff, I come here to report it, and you're telling me I'm the one trying to bargain?"
Guanyin's face also darkened.
"How dare you! You are a criminal—"
"A body burdened with sin?" Sun Wukong sneered. "You tricked me into wearing this ring, and now you're using it to suppress me. What a compassionate Buddhist sect! What a merciful Guanyin!"
"Sun Wukong!"
"What? You want me to recite the Tightening-Headband Mantra? Come on! Recite it!" Sun Wukong pointed to the golden headband on his head. "Anyway, even if I finish reciting it, that person will still be blocking the way. I won't be able to get past him even if I die! Go and fight him yourself!"
The bamboo grove was quiet for a moment.
Guanyin stared at Sun Wukong, her face ashen.
Sun Wukong stared at Guanyin, his chest heaving violently.
They stood facing off for three breaths.
Guanyin spoke first, her voice turning colder: "Wukong, the Buddhist sect will investigate this matter. Go back and wait patiently."
"Investigate?" Sun Wukong sneered. "Fine, investigate. I'll be waiting."
He turned and left.
Somersault cloud rises.
The golden light faded into the distance.
Guanyin stood before the lotus platform, her expression shifting between light and shadow.
The boy Sudhana, standing nearby, cautiously asked, "Bodhisattva... could what that monkey said be true?"
Guanyin did not answer.
She reopened the booklet.
-
Acquire business location.
Sun Wukong fell from the sky.
Pigsy was the first to step forward: "Brother Monkey! How did it go? What did the Bodhisattva say?"
"Not very good."
Sun Wukong sat down on the ground, stuck his golden cudgel in front of him, and remained expressionless.
"I, Old Sun, am not fighting anymore. Do whatever you want."
There was a two-second silence.
Pigsy slapped his thigh.
"good!"
He jumped up, his face beaming with relief.
"How about we call it quits now? I'm going back to Gao Village! Cuilan is waiting for me!"
He got more and more excited as he spoke: "Anyway, this isn't our problem! The extra person who wasn't on the register is the Buddhist sect's fault! What do we call this? Force majeure! A legitimate reason to disband!"
Sha Wujing: "...Second Brother, can't you be a little more dignified?"
"Can being successful put food on the table?" Pigsy retorted confidently. "Can being successful defeat any monster?"
Lingshan, side hall of Daleiyin Temple.
In a small meditation room, several mid-level bodhisattvas and the duty officer sat together, with a progress book of the pilgrimage in front of them.
The booklet was turned to the latest page, where the record stopped four months ago.
Four months, and not a single step forward.
"Gentlemen, the matter of the delay in the journey to the West must be discussed."
The speaker was a wrathful deity under the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, whose Dharma name was Puji, and who was in charge of the daily supervision of the pilgrimage to the West at Mount Ling.
He flipped through the booklet, frowning.
"According to the original plan, the pilgrims should have already passed Huangfeng Ridge. But in reality, they are still stuck at the previous station and haven't moved for four months."
A clerk on duty chimed in, "Could it be that the monkey is throwing a tantrum again? Didn't he just quit last time?"
"That happened later, it hasn't happened yet," another official corrected.
"Who cares about the order, that's just how that monkey is."
King Puji waved his hand, signaling for silence.
"Guanyin Bodhisattva has already reported this matter."
He relayed Guanyin's report—
Sun Wukong personally went to the South Sea to find Guanyin, saying that there was an unregistered person on the journey to the West, and that he couldn't defeat him.
Guanyin checked the register and confirmed that this calamity was not among them.
"The Bodhisattva Guanyin's judgment is—" Puji Mingwang paused, "that the monkey is exaggerating and trying to gain an advantage."
A few soft laughs echoed from the meditation room.
"This stable boy has always been like this, capricious and unpredictable," a bodhisattva's attendant said, his tone clearly disdainful. "The first few of the eighty-one tribulations were all minor demons. He probably found them too easy and was just bored."
"He's probably trying to get some benefits," another official chimed in. "Last time, when Heaven appointed him as the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, he complained that the position was too low and made a scene. Everyone knows what kind of person this monkey is. If he gets too little, he complains; if he gets too much, he complains that it's too little; if he gets nothing, he'll flip the table."
"But four months is indeed too long." King Puji tapped the table. "Even if the monkeys are throwing a tantrum, it shouldn't take four months. The pilgrimage to the West is crucial to the eastward expansion of Buddhism, and we cannot afford to delay it."
"Then send someone to urge them on."
"Who are you urging? The monkey?"
"Try up on the monkey. Give him a talking-to, and tell him not to treat the pilgrimage to the West as a joke."
Everyone nodded.
King Puji thought for a moment: "Whom should I send?"
"Send someone with a decent identity," the clerk next to him suggested. "Don't send a nobody. That monkey is arrogant and won't pay attention to you if you're not of a high rank."
The final choice was made – Huian Xingzhe Muzha.
He was Guanyin's chief disciple, a man of high status, and had interacted with Sun Wukong, so they could talk to each other.
"Send Muzha over there and see what's going on. If the monkey is really just throwing a tantrum, calm him down. If it's for some other reason..."
Before he could finish speaking, King Puji chuckled to himself.
There can't be any other reason.
The people in the meditation room laughed along with them.
Yes, what other reason could there be?
Of the demon kings in the early stages of the eighty-one tribulations, the strongest was only at the level of the Yellow Wind Demon. Sun Wukong had even fought against 100,000 heavenly soldiers; how could he possibly be unable to handle a random, unorthodox fighter who appeared out of nowhere?
Who would believe that if I told them?
"By the way—" Before the meeting adjourned, a young official suddenly said, "I checked the register of demons and immortals in the Three Realms, and there are indeed no registered demons or cultivators at that location on the journey to the West."
King Puji glanced at him.
"That further proves it's the monkey's own problem. There were no monsters, no cultivators, and the road was spotless. Who was he hitting? The air?"
Another burst of laughter followed.
The young clerk opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately kept it closed.
He always felt that something was wrong.
It's not in the booklet, nor in the archives of the Three Realms.
If there really is nothing, then why would the monkey make up such an absurd reason?
Saying that the opponent is evenly matched with oneself? What benefit would such a lie bring to a monkey?
But he didn't say anything more.
After all, everyone present felt that the answer was already quite clear.
The meeting adjourned.
at the same time
A corner of Lingshan.
Several minor deities guarding the side hall huddled together and whispered amongst themselves.
"Have you heard? The Monkey King has been stuck on the road for four months, saying he can't beat a mortal."
"Huh? The Monkey King, who wreaked havoc in Heaven, can't defeat a mortal?"
"It's definitely made up. He's just trying to get something out of it. Think about it, if you give him the lowly position of Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, he complains it's too small; if you give him the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven, he causes trouble. When has this monkey ever been quiet?"
"Indeed. Giving someone who started out as a stable boy to the task of fetching scriptures is already an immense favor, and he's still not satisfied."
"That's right, that's right."
The little fairies dispersed, laughing.