Chapter 613
Old Pig is Free!
Tang Sanzang sat cross-legged in front of the couch, his monk's robe was snow-white, his eyebrows were lowered, and he was turning the prayer beads in his hand one by one, but he didn't know how many times he had turned them.
Three days ago, he took the abortion pill.
Three days later, her lower abdomen remained flat as before, without the slightest pain.
He raised his hand and gently placed it on his abdomen, his fingertips trembling slightly.
The Queen sat three feet to his side, dressed in a bright red phoenix robe, her black hair piled high, her golden hair ornaments swaying gently, and she looked at him with a smile.
"Why should the holy monk be worried?"
The Queen's voice was as gentle as water, "The time it takes for this medicine to take effect varies depending on the individual's constitution. For some, it takes three to five days, for others more than ten days, but at the latest, it will take no more than a month. It will definitely be effective."
Tang Sanzang lowered his eyes, his fingertips tightening on the prayer beads, but his voice remained gentle: "Thank you for your trouble, Your Majesty."
This humble monk... is only afraid of delaying the great undertaking of obtaining the scriptures.
The queen chuckled, rose, and her skirt swept across the ground, slowly burning towards him like a ball of fire.
She leaned down and gently lifted Tang Sanzang's chin with her fingertips, forcing him to look into her eyes.
"Holy Monk, do you know how happy I have been these past three days?"
Tang Sanzang's eyelashes trembled. He dared not look at her, staring only at the robe on his knees: "Your Majesty..."
"I am pleased because you have finally agreed to stay in my palace for three more days."
The Queen's voice lowered, tinged with an unspoken tenderness, "If this medicine takes a little longer... then please stay a few more days, okay?"
Tang Sanzang's Adam's apple bobbed, and after a long while, he whispered, "Amitabha."
He wanted to say that this humble monk's heart is set on Buddhism and he dares not be tempted by worldly desires.
But the words just wouldn't come out.
Because he suddenly remembered what Sun Wukong, disguised as a bee, had said to him during the day—
“Master, if you really can’t resist, you can just give in to the Queen.”
In my opinion, this queen is incredibly beautiful and gentle. It would be wonderful if she could marry my master.
Anyway, that little thing in your belly is going to come out sooner or later, so what's wrong with having some fun before it does?
He angrily rebuked Wukong for talking nonsense and slapped him.
But now, in the dead of night, those words echoed in his ears like a demonic chant.
"...What's wrong with having fun?"
Tang Sanzang suddenly closed his eyes, and the small Buddhist beads in his hand creaked as he squeezed them.
Seeing his unusual expression, the Queen asked softly, "Holy Monk, what's wrong?"
Tang Sanzang shook his head, his voice low and hoarse: "It's alright."
But... it's late, Your Majesty, please return."
But the Queen did not move.
She gazed at him quietly for a long time, then suddenly chuckled softly, turned and walked to the edge of the bed, slowly lying down, her red robes spread out like a blooming peony.
“Since the holy monk says it is late, then I will not return.”
She turned to the side, propped her chin on her hand, and looked at him, her voice as soft as a feather brushing against his heart: "This couch is big enough for two people to sleep on."
"If the holy monk does not wish to share a bed with me, he may sit to the side and chant scriptures; I... will not disturb you."
Tang Sanzang stood frozen in place, his breathing erratic.
He dared not turn around.
Because if he turned around, he would see that incomparably beautiful face, those affectionate eyes, and that red dress spread out on the couch, as if waiting for him to embrace her.
He suddenly realized that he hadn't even said "Excuse me, this humble monk."
I can't even utter a single word.
He could only utter a low Buddhist chant, his voice hoarse and unlike his own.
The Queen chuckled softly, her voice carrying a hint of triumphant sweetness.
Outside the window, the moonlight was as clear as water.
Inside the room, all was silent except for the soft clinking of prayer beads and the rhythmic beating of two hearts.
Tang Sanzang closed his eyes, but the same sentence kept echoing in his mind—
My true feelings... are in turmoil.
That night, the palace lanterns of the Women's Kingdom remained lit.
Deep within the chaos, Hongjun gazed at his empty palm, remained silent for a long time, and finally sighed softly.
“Jiang Wang…”
He murmured the name, as if chewing it, or perhaps as a curse.
The next instant, his figure faded away and disappeared into the boundless chaos.
Deeper still, the thirty-third grade blue lotus swayed gently, and the green gourd in the lotus heart let out a burp. The vines wrapped around Jiang Wang's wrist like a spoiled child.
Jiang Wang chuckled softly, his voice carried away by the wind.
"Not urgent."
"Let's take our time."
This game has a larger chessboard and more pieces.
He was never in a hurry to make a move.
He preferred to see the chess players lose their composure.
Sun Wukong kicked open the door of the inn, his monkey fur still damp with the coolness of the night breeze. His golden cudgel swayed on his shoulder, emitting a low hum.
The room was dimly lit. Pigsy was gulping down lotus seed soup from a huge porcelain bowl when he heard the voice. He almost dropped the bowl, his fat face twitching as he hurriedly came over: "Master, how is it? Did the abortion medicine work?"
Sun Wukong slammed his staff on the ground, leaned against the door frame, and chuckled, "Not showing off yet."
The holy monk said that drinking it was almost like drinking a bowl of water; there was no upset stomach at all.
Pigsy's ears snapped.
The ground collapsed, and the voice suddenly rose: "I knew it! The Queen of Western Liang must have given us fake medicine! She'd love for Master to be pregnant so she could keep us, master and disciple, in the Women's Kingdom forever! Monkey King, do you think she deliberately used hawthorn and dried tangerine peel to fool people?"
Sun Wukong narrowed his fiery eyes, his tail swaying slowly behind him like a pondering snake: "Perhaps it's real medicine, perhaps it's fake medicine, or perhaps... the effects are very slow."
Master said to wait a little longer.
"Still waiting?!"
Pigsy clutched his round belly, his voice trembling with tears, "Old Pig can't wait! I drank that well water too, and now I'm probably carrying some kind of demon baby! With my build, if I'm pregnant for ten months, won't they crush my bones during childbirth? It'll be a difficult birth, brother, a difficult birth can kill you!"
The more he talked, the more frightened he became. Cold sweat poured down his fat face, and his two large hands groped wildly on his stomach, as if he wanted to strangle the unseen fetus prematurely.
The candlelight flickered wildly from his panting, casting flickering light on his pig-like face, making him look like a hanged ghost.
Sun Wukong found it amusing and slapped him on the back of the head: "What's the panic? Do immortals fear difficult childbirth? Even if she's really pregnant, I'll just whack her with my staff and make sure she dies in the womb, leaving not even ashes." Bajie staggered from the slap, his eyes brimming with tears: "Re-really?"
"More real than real gold."
Sun Wukong flipped himself onto the table, crossed his legs, grabbed the lotus seed soup that Bajie hadn't finished drinking, and scooped it up in a few mouthfuls. "But that abortion medicine might really take a little longer to take effect."
The holy monk said that the prescription given by the Queen said it would be effective in one month, so we should wait another month.
If you haven't started labor after a month, then it's not too late to talk about difficult labor.
Bajie was skeptical, his nose twitching for a long time before he finally hardened his heart and nodded: "Alright! I'll listen to you, Big Brother! Starting tomorrow, I'll only eat thirty steamed buns per meal. Eat less, and let that little brat go hungry!"
Sun Wukong almost burst out laughing, then flicked his tail to cover the smile on his face: "Alright, as long as you're full."
For the next month, Pigsy truly kept his word.
Every day, I eat ten steamed buns for breakfast, ten for lunch, and ten for dinner, accompanied by a dish of green vegetables and a bowl of clear soup. I dare not eat another bite.
His once round belly was showing signs of shrinking. Every day, he would look at himself in the water vat with self-pity, rubbing his belly and muttering, "Little brat, little brat, don't argue with the old pig. If you don't fall down soon, I'm going to starve you to death."
During the day, he would force himself to work, carrying water and chopping wood, but at night he would secretly hide under the covers and shed tears, afraid of a difficult childbirth, afraid of dying, afraid that some kind of monster would be born from his pig body.
Seeing his pitiful state, Sha Wujing brought him a bowl of hot soup in the middle of the night, but he only dared to drink three sips, throwing the rest away. With a mournful face, he said, "Sha Wujing, you don't know, I've been afraid of pain my whole life..."
The month-long period is almost over.
Early that morning, in the backyard of the inn, Pigsy stood shirtless in front of the water vat, his palms pressed against his belly, holding his breath and concentrating, his pig face turning red.
After a long while, he suddenly slapped his thigh and burst into tears: "Still no movement! Brother Monkey! That Empress was indeed a fraud! She didn't give me the real medicine at all!"
Sun Wukong was squatting on the roof ridge eating a peach when he heard the crying. He somersaulted down and landed in front of Bajie: "What are you crying about? I'll go to the palace right away and see what's going on."
He transformed into a gentle breeze, skimming along the glazed tiles as he headed straight for the palace.
Deep within the palace, behind layers of gauze curtains, Tang Sanzang sat upright on an embroidered stool, his face pale yet dignified and jade-like. Opposite him, the Empress wore a crimson palace dress, her eyes filled with tenderness.
On the table sat the empty medicine bowl, with a few withered hawthorn leaves remaining at the bottom.
"His Majesty,"
Tang Sanzang's voice was low and steady, but it couldn't hide a trace of fatigue. "This humble monk has been taking the medicine according to the prescription for a month, but... there is still no movement in my stomach."
May I ask, is this medicine truly effective in causing abortion?
The Empress sighed softly, picked up a dried flower petal with her fingertips, and said slowly, "Holy Monk, you may not know this, but eight hundred years ago, this place could indeed abort fetuses. However, in the past eight hundred years, mountains and rivers have shifted, and plants and trees have changed their names."
The placenta is now called "purple-backed angelica", and the "black ugly" has been renamed "black lotus". When the herbalists harvested it, they mistakenly used the wrong name and passed it off as the real thing, so the medicinal effect was naturally greatly reduced.
"It is not that I intentionally deceived you."
She spoke with such sincerity that tears welled up in her eyes, as if she were even more heartbroken than Tang Sanzang.
Tang Sanzang lowered his eyes, his fingertips tightening slightly on his knees, and finally uttered only one sentence: "In that case...Does Your Majesty have a new prescription?"
"Have."
The Empress rose and personally took his arm, her voice so soft it was as if she were afraid of disturbing something, "I have ordered the most renowned physicians in the land to revise the prescription these past few days, and the new medicine will be presented to you in three days."
"Holy Monk, please grant me three more days, okay?"
Tang Sanzang remained silent for a long time before finally nodding gently: "Good."
Outside the gauze curtain, a wisp of wind swept by silently. Sun Wukong's golden eyes saw it clearly: the empress's fingertip brushed across Tang Sanzang's arm, lingering for a fleeting moment as if it were nothing.
Tang Sanzang's body stiffened slightly, but he did not dodge.
Further away, in the Imperial Garden, beneath a crabapple tree, the true form of Tang Sanzang sat cross-legged, softly reciting the Diamond Sutra: "...one should abide nowhere, and thus give rise to the mind..."
The sound was serene, as if it were spotless.
The one facing the Empress was merely a clone created by his great supernatural powers.
Sun Wukong hid in the clouds, his tail twitching, secretly praising Tang Sanzang: "What a shrewd monk!" Knowing this was his weakness, knowing the Queen was delaying, his mind was in turmoil, yet he still gritted his teeth and used his clone to deal with her, preferring to suffer humiliation rather than let his true self fall into the trap of love.
That composure is something even I, Old Sun, have to admire!
He looked away without another glance and somersaulted back to the inn.
Pigsy was sitting on the doorstep biting his nails when he saw him return, and he knelt down with a thud: "Brother Monkey! How was it?"
Sun Wukong spat the peach pit far away and said calmly, "I was just kidding."
The empress didn't have the real medicine; she just wanted to stall for time, day after day, year after year.
Bajie was stunned for a long time, then suddenly gritted his teeth, his fat face contorted into a grimace: "No! Old Pig can't wait any longer! I've thought of a place where I can get rid of this fetus right away!"
"where?"
"The Abyss of Darkness! The extremely yin waters there, even a touch will turn any mortal fetus into nothing! I'll jump in and soak for a while, and I guarantee the baby in my belly won't even leave a trace!"
Sun Wukong raised an eyebrow: "The Weak Water? That stuff can't even float a feather. If you, with your hundreds of pounds of fat, were to fall into it, wouldn't you just turn into a puddle of lard?"
Pigsy's eyes reddened: "So be it! It's better than dying in childbirth! Sandy! Sandy!"
Upon hearing the commotion, Sha Wujing rushed over. After listening to what Zhu Bajie said, he nodded and said, "If you're determined, brother, I'll go with you."
Seeing that he couldn't persuade them, Sun Wukong sighed and said, "Very well, I will protect you from the outside."
Go ahead, go ahead, and come back soon.
The Abyss of Darkness is located in the far west of Xiniuhe Continent. It is perpetually shrouded in darkness, with billowing black mist and ink-black waters.
Bajie stripped down to only his shorts and stood by the abyss, his fat jiggling in the cold wind like waves.
He glanced back at Sha Wujing, then at Sun Wukong, whose golden light was faintly visible in the distance. He hardened his heart, closed his eyes, and jumped down with a thud.
The sound of the water was so soft it was like a feather falling.
Two hours later, when Pigsy climbed up, he was soaking wet with black water, and his belly was flat as before.
He slumped to the ground, grinning widely and laughing loudly: "It's done! It's done! Old Pig is free!"
Sha Wujing handed him his clothes and wiped the Weak Water dry for him, but he couldn't smile.
Sun Wukong landed in front of the two, scratched his cheek, and sighed: "Bajie, you're all better now, but Master... he can't stand this Weak Water."
Bajie's laughter stopped abruptly, and the color drained from his fat face little by little.
He recalled Tang Sanzang's thin frame and the slight trembling of his lips as he chanted sutras, and suddenly exclaimed, "Wow!"
She collapsed to the ground with a sob: "Master...how could I have only thought of myself..."
The night wind blew, and the lights of the inn flickered, casting long shadows of the three people.
Meanwhile, in the extremely distant Lu Ya Realm, in a fragmented little world at the dawn of creation, Daoist Hongjun sat cross-legged in the void, with three thousand Dao patterns slowly rotating behind him.
The Heavenly Dao Imprint, the Earthly Dao Imprint, and the Demonic Dao Imprint—three ancient and obscure marks—finally became one in his palm.
He opened his eyes, his gaze reflecting the primordial chaos of ages past. With a flick of his long sleeves, he tore through the void and stepped back into the primordial chaos where the Purple Cloud Palace was located.
However, there was nothing there.
The three thousand purple clouds dissipated, the palace vanished without a trace, the lotus platform disappeared without a trace, and even the whisk was nowhere to be found.
Hongjun Daoist stood in the void, his robes fluttering without wind. After a long, long time, he finally managed to squeeze out a very soft, extremely soft word from between his teeth:
"...Who stole Zixiao Palace?"
Hongjun sat cross-legged amidst a deathly still expanse of chaotic energy, the three thousand Dao patterns on his body subtly flowing, seemingly resonating with the endless void. (End of Chapter)