Chapter 761
Your horse is gone!
This thought made Guanyin Bodhisattva feel a little better. Although it was only a little, it at least made her feel that her efforts had not been completely in vain.
Looking at Lin Zhu's still irritating face, she silently told herself: Just bear with it, let's settle the score after we succeed in our pilgrimage.
She turned and soared into the sky, flying higher and higher. After flying several meters high, she couldn't help but look back at Lin Zhu. Lin Zhu was bending over, picking up the chicken bones left over from their meal, his movements relaxed and carefree, showing absolutely no sign of any scheming or plot.
Guanyin Bodhisattva frowned, feeling that something was amiss, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She could only shake her head and quicken her pace to catch up with Tang Sanzang.
She flew above the clouds for a while, and looking down through the gaps, she quickly spotted Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong. The two had already traveled dozens of miles and were slowly making their way along a winding mountain path.
The terrain here is completely different from that of Wuxing Mountain. The mountains are steep, the cliffs are sheer, and the mountain paths are lined with jagged rocks and bottomless cliffs. Looking down, you can only see a white mist swirling around, and you can't see the bottom at all.
Tang Sanzang, mounted on his horse, swayed with the rise and fall of its back, his complexion somewhat better than before. He had temporarily put the matter of Guanyin Bodhisattva out of his mind and began to plan how to trust those he employed and not employ those he distrusted along the way.
Although he remained wary of the monkey with the hairy face and thunderous mouth, since the immortal had said that Sun Wukong could be trusted, he decided to believe him for the time being. Besides, in this desolate wilderness, who else could a weak monk like himself trust if not Sun Wukong?
Sun Wukong followed behind, his golden cudgel slung over his shoulder, his steps light and easy, his ears twitching occasionally as he alertly observed his surroundings. Although he appeared carefree and nonchalant, he would take his promise to Lin Zhu to escort Tang Sanzang seriously.
After all, this was an order from the God of Hell, and he dared not be careless. At the same time, he was also planning how to get Tang Sanzang to recite the Tightening-Headband Mantra. He had already come up with several plans and was ready to try them out when the opportunity arose.
The two walked along the mountain path for several days. It was the dead of winter in December, and the mountains were bitterly cold. The north wind was biting, and it felt like knives scraping against their faces. The mountain path was rugged and difficult to traverse, with cliffs and precipices everywhere. The horse walked cautiously, and the people also found it a difficult journey.
Fortunately, although Tang Sanzang was timid, he was physically fit enough to keep moving forward despite shivering from the cold.
On this day, the two traveled to an even more treacherous valley. The mountain walls on both sides soared into the clouds, leaving only a narrow passage in the middle, barely wide enough for a horse to pass through.
The mountainside was covered with withered vines and icicles, and the wind howled strangely as it passed through the valley, which sounded somewhat eerie.
Suddenly, the sound of rushing water came from ahead. Though not loud, it was exceptionally clear in the silent valley. Tang Sanzang, on his horse, twitched his ears and looked around, but couldn't see the water source. He turned back and called to Sun Wukong, asking, "Wukong, listen, where is that water coming from?"
Sun Wukong was kicking pebbles on the roadside out of boredom when he heard Tang Sanzang's question. He lazily raised his eyelids, glanced ahead, and casually replied, "It shouldn't be me peeing."
Tang Sanzang paused for a moment, then looked carefully at Sun Wukong's lower body, confirming that he was indeed not doing anything indecent, and nodded sincerely, saying, "Good kidneys, good kidneys."
Sun Wukong's lips twitched violently. He had just said something casually, but he hadn't expected the monk to take it seriously and even praise his good kidneys in a serious manner.
This kind of thought process is so powerful that even a seasoned veteran like Sun Wukong is having trouble dealing with it.
He coughed lightly, bringing the topic back on track, and pointed ahead, saying, "This place is called Snake Coil Mountain Eagle Sorrow Stream, so the sound must be from the water in the stream."
Upon hearing the name, Tang Sanzang's eyebrows shot up, a look of surprise on his face. He pulled on the reins, and the white horse came to a stop on the narrow mountain path. He murmured to himself, "Snake Coil Mountain... Eagle Sorrow Stream... Could it be..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but both of them could see the strange expression on his face. Sun Wukong glanced at him, said nothing, and waited for him to continue.
Tang Sanzang pondered for a moment, took a deep breath, and said to Sun Wukong in a very solemn tone, "Wukong, I think there are monsters in here. Why don't we take a detour to be on the safe side?"
Upon hearing this, Guanyin Bodhisattva on the clouds was immediately enraged.
Standing atop a cloud, she looked down at the timid monk below, trembling with rage. What did he mean by "taking a detour"? Eagle's Sorrow Gorge was an unavoidable route on the westward journey; there was no way to bypass it. Besides, you, Tang Sanzang, are the pilgrim, the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi! Can't you have some sense of responsibility? You want to detour every time you encounter a ravine? What about the eighty-one tribulations to come? When you reach the Flaming Mountains, will you detour to the North Pole? When you reach Lion Camel Ridge, will you detour to Penglai? What kind of pilgrimage is this!
Guanyin Bodhisattva was so angry that she paced back and forth on the cloud, almost wanting to go down and force Tang Sanzang onto his horse to cross Eagle's Sorrow Gorge. But she also knew that because of her relationship with Lin Zhu, she couldn't do anything too forceful to Tang Sanzang right now, and could only continue to endure it.
Fortunately, after much deliberation, Tang Sanzang came to a change of heart. He rode his white dragon horse slowly to the edge of the ravine, cautiously poking his head out from behind a large rock to furtively observe the scenery of Eagle's Sorrow Ravine.
Eagle's Sorrow Gorge is indeed precipitous—the mountain walls on both sides are as straight as if cut by a knife, and the gorge water pours down from the heights, crashing onto the rocks at the bottom of the gorge and stirring up a cloud of water mist. The bottomless pool gleams with a dark green light under the sunlight, making people's hearts tremble.
Tang Sanzang shrank his neck, crawled back behind the big rock, thought for a moment, and then looked up at Sun Wukong and said, "Wukong, with your abilities, it seems like you could just lead us across."
Sun Wukong looked at him but didn't reply.
Tang Sanzang continued his analysis: "The Buddha told us to measure the earth with our feet, but he didn't say we had to measure the water with our feet. Or you could get a long rope and we could go around the stream directly. As long as our feet are still on the ground, it's not against the rules, right?"
Sun Wukong looked helpless, thinking that this monk was quite talented at exploiting loopholes in the rules, but unfortunately he was too timid.
Just as he was about to say something, he saw Tang Sanzang crawl back behind the rock, peeking out and furtively peering into the ravine, his cautious and timid manner resembling that of a mouse peeking out and shrinking back in front of a cat.
It's not surprising that Tang Sanzang was so cautious. He thought that by becoming Guanyin Bodhisattva's disciple, he would receive some protective magic treasures, but he found that he had been manipulated from beginning to end.
What the Bodhisattva gave him wasn't a magic weapon, but a tight band, and he couldn't even explain what it was for. Now he had no decent protective gear, just a monkey he'd only known for a few days; anyone would feel uneasy in that situation.
After being targeted so many times, anyone would be scared. The instinct to protect oneself is to think about whether there is a way around it first.
Tang Sanzang peeked out again, then quickly withdrew, leaning against the large rock, his face filled with hesitation and struggle. He thought and thought, and finally shook his head, saying to Sun Wukong, "Forget it, this water looks rather scary. Let's take another route, it'll be safer."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the water in Eagle's Sorrow Gorge suddenly exploded.
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard in the ravine, and the water surface split open as if it had been exploded, with water splashing up ten feet high. A white dragon raised its head and leaped out from the bottom of the water.
The white dragon was pure white, its scales gleaming coldly in the sunlight, its claws sharp as hooks, its whiskers fluttering, and its eyes filled with impatience.
After bursting through the water, it didn't pause at all, pushing and churning the waves, causing the waters of Eagle Sorrow Stream to surge and the wind to howl, shaking the entire valley.
The White Dragon had actually been holding it in for quite some time.
He waited at the bottom of the ravine, hoping the monk above would dismount to drink water or cross the bridge to rest. But after waiting for ages, the monk just peeked out and then ducked back in, dawdling behind that rock, muttering about taking a detour or using a rope. The white dragon grew increasingly annoyed, thinking, "Are you crazy? Are you going to dismount or not? I'm waiting to eat your horse! If you keep dawdling like this, how am I ever going to finish my mission?"
He couldn't hold back any longer and took the initiative to attack. After leaping out of the ravine, he locked onto the white dragon horse on the bank and pounced on it with his mouth wide open.
Sun Wukong reacted extremely quickly; the instant the white figure appeared, he had already moved.
He threw his luggage aside, leaped over, grabbed Tang Sanzang around the waist, and pulled him off the horse. He did this so fast that Tang Sanzang didn't even realize what was happening.
The little white dragon swept across the horse's back and swallowed the white horse, saddle and bridle, whole in one gulp.
The whole process was as fast as lightning. By the time the water droplets had subsided, the white dragon had vanished without a trace, leaving only a puddle of water and a few stray hairs in its wake.
After swallowing the white horse, the little white dragon didn't linger in the fight. It turned and plunged into the ravine. With a flick of its tail, it splashed up a curtain of water, and its entire figure disappeared into the bottomless ravine in the blink of an eye, leaving only ripples to prove that what had just happened.
The whole process was smooth and seamless, as if it had been rehearsed for a long time beforehand.
Tang Sanzang was held in Sun Wukong's arms, still in a dazed state.
His gaze first fell on the puddle of water where he had stood, then on the empty rein post, then on the now calm stream, and finally down at his feet—the stirrups were still on, but the area beneath them was empty; the horse was gone.
He blinked, then rubbed his eyes hard to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The horse was really gone.
Tang Sanzang suddenly turned his head and shouted at the stream, "My horse! This monk's horse!"
The stream was silent, save for the mournful sound of the wind whistling through the valley. The white horse was gone, without a trace.
Tang Sanzang stood there with his mouth agape, his expression indescribably complex. First came shock, then heartache, then anger, then bewilderment, and finally, all his emotions mingled together into a deep sense of grievance.
He glanced at Sun Wukong, then at the bottomless Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, and his legs went weak, almost causing him to collapse to the ground.
Sun Wukong steadied Tang Sanzang, helped him sit on a rock, and then turned to look at the stream. After a while, he slowly turned back and said something to Tang Sanzang.
"Master, your horse is gone."
Tang Sanzang was still in shock, huddled behind a large rock, his back pressed against the cold stone wall, his hands gripping the hem of his monk's robe so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
His gaze fell on the unfathomable, dark green waters of Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, then he looked at the puddle of water and the few scattered white horsehair streaks on the spot. His lips trembled for a long time before he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence.
"My horse... my horse is gone..."
His voice was initially low and hoarse, then, as if suddenly realizing something, it rose several octaves in volume. He leaped up from behind the rock, looking around frantically. His expression shifted from shock to panic, then from panic to anger, before finally collapsing to the ground and shouting at the top of his lungs, "What kind of monster is that! What is that thing! A huge white snake! It ate my horse! Swallowed it whole! It swallowed the saddle and bridle! That horse was the only one I rode from Chang'an, my only means of transportation, and now it's gone!"
Sun Wukong stood to the side, arms crossed, golden cudgel resting casually on his shoulder. Watching Tang Sanzang's wailing and lamenting, he smirked, a "Are you sure you want this?" look on his face. He waited until Tang Sanzang finished wailing before calmly saying, "Making a fuss over nothing? It's just a lost horse."
Tang Sanzang suddenly turned his head, staring wide-eyed at Sun Wukong, as if he couldn't believe his ears: "So what if the horse is gone? You make it sound so easy! That was my horse! How can I walk without a horse? Are you going to carry me?"
Sun Wukong rolled his eyes, ignoring the retort. Instead, he turned around, walked to the stream, and shaded his eyes with his hand, peering into the water. As he looked, he said, "Alright, alright, let me, Old Sun, see who killed your horse."
He spoke in a rough and gruff voice, which made Tang Sanzang frown. He wondered what "kill your horse" meant. Why did it sound so awkward? But before he could think about it, Sun Wukong had already poked his head out and peered into the depths of Eagle Sorrow Gorge.
However, Eagle's Sorrow Gorge is different from other places. The mountain walls on both sides are steep and sheer, and the gorge is filled with water vapor. A white mist rises from the water and shrouds the entire gorge in a hazy veil.
Even stranger, the mist seemed to contain a mysterious power, like some kind of natural restriction, completely obscuring everything deep within the stream.
Sun Wukong widened his fiery eyes, and two golden beams shot out from his pupils, piercing through layers of mist and probing downwards. However, his vision could not penetrate more than three feet below the surface of the water. He could only see a blurry, eerie green, with something vaguely moving at the bottom of the water, but he could not make out its shape at all.
Sun Wukong frowned, looked at it from another angle for a long time, but still couldn't see anything clearly. He clicked his tongue, looked away, and a hint of impatience appeared on his face. (End of Chapter)