Chapter 948
Where is your cassock?
The white dragon horse snorted, turned its head, and lay down behind a sheltered rock by the roadside, burying its head between its front legs, leaving only its two erect ears showing.
Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie had already fallen behind.
Sun Wukong squatted on a protruding rock, held a small tuft of monkey hair between two fingers, sniffed it, and then pointed towards the mountainside.
"The cave entrance is over there, a little above the mountainside. I, Old Sun, smell the strongest demonic aura in that direction."
Chu Yang looked in the direction he was pointing. He couldn't see anything in the darkness, but he could vaguely sense a faint light flickering somewhere on the mountainside, like a half-open eye in the dark.
"Those are torches at the cave entrance," Pigsy saw them too. "Monsters usually light torches in their lairs because they're afraid of the dark."
Sun Wukong scoffed, "A monster afraid of the dark?"
Pigsy said matter-of-factly, "I'm afraid. Back in Gao Village, I had to light a lamp to go to the outhouse in the middle of the night."
"You call that being afraid of the dark? That's called being blind."
"Brother Monkey, you—"
"Alright," Chu Yang interrupted their bickering. "Brother Monkey, how should we fight? You decide."
Sun Wukong jumped down from the rock, twirling his golden cudgel twice in his hand.
"Simple. I, Old Sun, will attack from the front and lure out that Yellow Wind King. You, Fool, sneak in from the side to find Master. Brother Chu Yang—"
He glanced at Chu Yang's right arm, which was slinged across his chest, and frowned.
"You stay with that idiot and you're in charge of finding them. Don't get involved in the fighting; your arm will be ruined if you get hit again."
Chu Yang thought for a moment and nodded.
His right shoulder wasn't fully healed, and his spiritual energy had only recovered to about 40%. Fighting the monster head-on again would only cause more trouble.
However, he did not intend to remain merely an observer.
"Brother Monkey, the Yellow Wind King's Samadhi Divine Wind is his greatest reliance. The Bodhisattva gave you the Wind-Fixing Pill, which means you can't withstand that wind head-on. If you attack him with the Wind-Fixing Pill in your mouth, his wind will have no effect on you, and he'll panic. When he panics, he'll reveal his weakness."
Sun Wukong nodded.
"And—" Chu Yang paused, "Monster caves usually have treasure vaults or secret rooms for storing valuables. If Bajie and I have the energy left after finding our master, I'd like to check if there's anything good in the cave."
Sun Wukong raised an eyebrow: "You're trying to kill two birds with one stone?"
Chu Yang said seriously, "A poor family needs to be rich on the road. The four of us are on one horse, with no income but only expenses. We can't keep relying on the little supplies in my storage bag. Monster caves are ready-made supply points; why not take them?"
Pigsy's eyes lit up instantly.
"Brother Chu Yang is right! I, Old Pig, wholeheartedly agree!"
Sun Wukong rolled his eyes, too lazy to say anything more.
"Let's go."
The three began to climb along the mountain wall.
There were no paths on the mountainside, only pits and cracks formed by wind erosion, barely enough to step on. The loess was loose and crunchy underfoot, making it easy to slip and fall.
Sun Wukong walked ahead as if he were walking on flat ground, leaping up using both hands and feet, as agile as a gecko.
Although Zhu Bajie's figure was a bit clumsy, he was, after all, the reincarnation of Marshal Tianpeng, and his ability to ride the clouds was still there. He floated up with his feet touching the ground.
Chu Yang struggled the most. He couldn't use one arm, so he could only rely on his left hand to hold onto the protrusions on the rock face and use his feet to push against the cracks in the rocks, inching his way up. Fortunately, although his cultivation level in the Qi Refining stage was not high, his physique was still much stronger than that of ordinary people. After struggling for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, he had climbed to the halfway point of the mountain.
The terrain halfway up the mountain is a little flatter, with a natural stone ridge that cuts across the mountain wall. It is about three or four feet wide, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
At the end of the stone ridge is a wide open platform.
The main entrance to Huangfeng Cave is located on the platform.
The cave entrance was even larger than they had seen from afar during the day. The entrance, which was over ten feet high, had been artificially modified, with rough stones piled up on both sides to form the shape of doorposts. Above it lay a huge stone slab, on which three characters were crookedly carved: "Yellow Wind Cave".
The handwriting is rough and messy, clearly not carved by a scholar.
Two pine resin torches were stuck on either side of the cave entrance, their flames flickering in the mountain wind, illuminating a small, orange-red halo. Beyond the halo lay deep darkness.
Four little demons stood in front of the cave entrance.
Two were wolf-headed and human-bodied, two were badger-faced and fanged, both wearing tattered leather armor and carrying rusty broadswords and wooden spears. One of the wolf-headed demons was dozing against a doorpost, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth onto his leather armor. The other three were in no better shape, slumped over, listless, clearly not taking their night watch seriously.
Sun Wukong lowered his body and turned back to make a gesture to Chu Yang and Zhu Bajie.
Then he vanished in a flash.
The four little demons didn't even have a chance to react.
Bang bang bang.
Four muffled thuds sounded almost simultaneously, and the four little demons, as if they had been picked up and thrown around, all fell to the ground and fainted.
Sun Wukong clapped his hands and waved to Chu Yang and Zhu Bajie.
"It's all set up, come in."
The three stepped into the cave.
The space inside the cave was much more spacious than it appeared from the outside. The entrance was a natural stone corridor with smooth, damp walls covered in grayish-green moss. The floor of the corridor was uneven, clearly showing numerous footprints that had been repeatedly trodden upon it.
Every few feet along both sides of the stone corridor, a torch was placed, illuminating the passageway in a dim light. The firelight reflected on the damp stone walls, resembling swimming orange fish scales.
The air was filled with a stench that was so strong it was almost suffocating, a mixture of animal odor, rotting flesh, and damp earth.
"It stinks!" Pigsy wrinkled his nose. "It stinks even more than when I was raising pigs in the pigsty in Gao Village."
Sun Wukong walked at the front, his golden cudgel held horizontally in front of him, ready to fight at any moment.
After walking about a hundred paces along the stone corridor, a fork in the road appeared ahead.
The passageway on the left slopes downwards, and the faint sound of flowing water can be heard. The passageway on the right is straight ahead, brightly lit, and in the distance, one can hear the clatter of voices and the clinking of cups and plates.
"The right side leads to the main hall; the Yellow Wind King should be there. The left side…" Sun Wukong sniffed, "There's a human presence on the left. Master might be imprisoned down there."
“Alright,” Chu Yang said. “Brother Monkey, go to the right and distract King Yellow Wind. Pigsy and I will go to the left to find Master.”
Sun Wukong nodded.
He plucked a handful of fur from behind his head, put it to his mouth, and blew on it.
The monkey hair spun a few times in the air, then transformed into seven or eight small golden monkeys, which chirped and fell to the ground.
"You guys follow Brother Chu Yang and that idiot. If you encounter any minor demons on the road, take care of them."
The little monkeys nodded in unison and hopped around Chu Yang and Zhu Bajie.
Sun Wukong took out the Wind-Fixing Pill given to him by Guanyin from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and grinned.
"I, Old Sun, am going to meet that Yellow Wind King. You all be careful."
Before he finished speaking, his figure had already transformed into a golden light and shot out along the passage on the right.
Almost simultaneously, a deafening roar erupted from the depths of the passage—
"Monster! Take this from my old Sun Wukong's staff—"
Then came a deafening roar, as if a stone wall had been smashed through.
The sound of flying gravel came from the passage on the right, mixed with the terrified screams of the little demons and the sound of footsteps as they scattered and fled. Chu Yang pulled Zhu Bajie back.
"Let's go, take advantage of the chaos."
The two men, accompanied by seven or eight small monkeys, hurried down the left-hand passage.
The passage narrowed as they descended, and the air grew increasingly damp and cold. The moss on the stone walls turned into a sticky film of water, making it extremely slippery underfoot. The torches were spaced further apart, and in some places, it was pitch black for more than ten steps at a time, forcing them to move forward by feeling their way along the stone walls.
The sound of flowing water was getting closer and closer.
After turning a corner, the passage suddenly opened up, revealing an underground cave.
The cave wasn't very large, about the size of two or three rooms. The ceiling was covered with densely packed stalactites, like inverted stalagmites, their surfaces damp, dripping cool water droplets from time to time. The floor was a smooth stone slab, with shallow water stains on it.
On one side of the cave, an underground river flows out from a crack in the rock wall. The water flow is not large, but the sound is amplified in the enclosed space, making a constant gurgling noise.
On the other side of the cave—there was a cage enclosed by thick iron railings.
There is a person locked in a cage.
Tang Sanzang sat cross-legged on the ground in the center of the cage, his hands clasped together, his lips slightly moving, silently chanting scriptures.
His robe had been torn off, leaving only his white monk's robe underneath. He had a few shallow scratches on his face, and his hair was disheveled, but he seemed to be in relatively good spirits.
Two little demons guarded the cage—one with a rat's head and a human body, and the other with a snake's face and short legs. The rat-headed demon sat on a rock, yawning, while holding a long spear, and the snake-faced demon curled up in the corner, seemingly asleep.
Pigsy panicked the moment he saw Tang Sanzang, slammed his rake on the ground, and shouted, "Master—"
Chu Yang quickly covered his mouth.
"Shh-"
Too late.
The rat-headed demon jumped up from the rock, and the snake-faced demon also woke up. The two little demons hurriedly grabbed their weapons and looked towards the entrance of the passage.
"Who is it—"
Seven or eight golden monkeys rushed forward with a whoosh.
The scene was extremely chaotic yet extremely brief. The little monkeys were far more powerful than the two lowly demons, and in less than three breaths, the rat-headed demon and the snake-faced demon were pinned to the ground, unable to move.
Pigsy rushed to the front of the iron cage in three steps, grabbed the two iron bars with both hands, lowered his waist and pushed off with his legs, and with all his might, he pried them apart.
Creak—creak—crack!
He bent two thick iron bars into a single bend, creating a gap in the middle just big enough for a person to squeeze through.
Tang Sanzang opened his eyes and saw Zhu Bajie's pig face squeezed between the iron bars, grinning at him. His eyes welled up with tears.
"Wuneng..."
"Master! I've come to save you!" Pigsy reached in to help Tang Sanzang to his feet. "Are you injured? Did those monsters give you any trouble?"
Tang Sanzang shook his head: "This humble monk is fine. That demon merely imprisoned me here; it didn't harm me. It said it would invite some friends over tomorrow..."
He didn't finish speaking, but everyone understood what he meant.
Let's eat Tang Sanzang's flesh together.
Chu Yang walked over and checked Tang Seng's injuries.
They were all superficial injuries, scraped against the stone wall when they were swept away by the evil wind. There were no fractures or internal injuries.
"Master, where is your robe?"
Tang Sanzang sighed, "That demon stole it. It said the cassock was a treasure and that we should keep it."
Chu Yang nodded.
The cassock must be in the treasure trove of the Yellow Wind King.
"Bajie, you lead Master out through this passage first. I'll go find Master's robe."
Pigsy hesitated for a moment: "You're going alone? With your arm—"
Chu Yang patted the little monkeys beside him.
"They're with us. You take Master first, and make sure nothing else goes wrong with him."
Pigsy looked at Tang Sanzang, then at Chu Yang, and finally nodded.
Be careful.
"rest assured."
Pigsy helped Tang Sanzang walk out along the passage. Two little monkeys hopped and skipped ahead of them, quickly disappearing into the darkness.
Chu Yang, with the remaining five little monkeys, turned and walked deeper into the cave.
There is another passage on the back wall of the cave, which is narrower and lower than the one we walked through before, and in some places we even had to bend over to pass through.
There were no more torches on the walls of the passage. Chu Yang took out a piece of fluorite from his storage bag and held it in his hand. The fluorite emitted a pale green glow, illuminating a few feet around him in a hazy light.
The little monkeys led the way, their night vision being exceptional, allowing them to move freely in the dark.
After walking about a hundred steps, a wooden door appeared in the passage.
The door was made from a single, thick piece of oak, with brass nails nailed to the door panel, and two brass animal-face rings inlaid on either side of the door frame. A faint light shone through the cracks in the door.
Chu Yang tried pushing it—the door was bolted from the inside.
He glanced at the little monkeys beside him.
The two little monkeys understood each other perfectly and bumped into the door panel one after the other.
thump—
The door shook slightly at first.
thump—
The second time, the latch creaked.
Boom!
On the third strike, the latch broke, the wooden door sprang open, and slammed against the wall.
Chu Yang walked in, holding the fluorite.
Then he stopped.
Before them was a stone chamber, not large, about two zhang square. The four stone walls were polished quite smooth, and the floor was covered with a layer of animal skin carpet.
In the center of the stone chamber stood a long stone table, on which various objects were neatly arranged.
At the left end of the stone table was a stack of cassocks and monks' robes—Tang Sanzang's brocade cassock was on top, still radiating a soft golden Buddhist light under the green glow of the fluorite, making it easily recognizable.
There were several other garments under the robe, and their material did not appear to be ordinary.
In the middle of the stone table were seven or eight weapons. There was a short sword that was entirely black, with dark red patterns faintly visible on its blade, like solidified magma; a pair of bronze hammers, about the size of a fist, with densely engraved runes on their surfaces; and a red-tasseled spear, the shaft of which was made of some kind of dark brown wood, but the spearhead was made of gleaming steel, sharp enough to cut a hair in two.
The right end of the stone table is even more interesting—it contains several boxes and pottery jars of different sizes. The boxes are made of rosewood and are quite finely crafted; the pottery jars are much simpler, grayish, and sealed with red clay.
In the corner of the stone chamber, there were two large wooden chests with their lids ajar. Through the gaps, you could see the golden contents inside reflecting the light of the fluorite.
Chu Yang took a deep breath. (End of Chapter)