[Journey to the West] The Poor Monk Xuanzang

I opened the door and walked into the dark tree hole, but I fell down before taking two steps.

The world suddenly lights up, with meandering rivers and tall mountains underneath, the wind blows from below, and the clouds pass by.

I turned my posture in the air and looked up. We actually fell out of a wormhole with a branch facing down.

The branch was as dry as the arm of a dying man, and it stood there in black.

I fell on a large leaf, and the dark and soft leaves immediately wrapped my body, and the rotten and damp smell stimulated my fragile nerves.

I couldn't help sneezing, got up from the leaves, and slid down the grass stem. I was about to fall into a swamp, and was caught by a monkey swinging by hanging from a vine.

I hugged the monkey for joy, and was about to say something when suddenly something dark fell from the side.

Turning his head to look, he saw Xiao Si hitting the blade of grass and rolling into the mud.

I coughed lightly, asked the monkey to let me down, and used ice silk to pull out Xiao Si who was almost submerged up to his neck.

Xiao Si was lying on the ground covered in mud, and after lying on the ground for a long time, he got up unsteadily, glaring at me and the monkey.

"Brother, you are biased." He complained with a muddy face, like a mud monkey.

The monkey completely ignored him, and was about to leave with his arm, saying, "Master, slow down."

"You monkey—" I couldn't laugh or cry, this bullying was too obvious.

Xiao Si got up angrily, and muttered in his mouth: "Master and brother can spell, but I am a mortal, and I am unlucky!"

The monkey ignored him at all, and only said to me: "Master, something is wrong with this place."

Something is wrong.

As far as the eye can see, there are some dead trees and rotten grass, standing there lifelessly or lying on the ground.

The whole space was filled with a heavy dead air.

Xiaosi suddenly screamed and crawled over on both hands and feet, pulling my trouser legs and shrinking behind me.

I looked down at him strangely: "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and said nothing, pointing at the place where the grass and leaves were lush and screaming vigorously.

Seeing his appearance, I felt a little itchy in my heart, and walked towards the direction he pointed excitedly.

When I pushed aside the blades of grass and looked outside, I saw that there were pieces of skeletons soaking in the mud, as if they were taking a bath collectively.

I sighed helplessly: "Xiao Si, you are also a puppet after all, so what is there to be afraid of?"

"Master, Master..." Xiao Si tremblingly said, "There are skeletons all over the ground, no one is afraid."

Wukong flew far away, sticking to the blade of grass, and came back after a long circle: "Master, this place is full of corpses and quagmire for hundreds of miles, and there is no human habitation."

I heard this and asked, "All the plants and trees are dead?"

The monkey nodded and said, "I haven't seen any living things so far."

I rested my chin and thought hard, there is such a dead place in this world?

At this moment, a row of white Youyou elves came out from nowhere, and walked leisurely towards the distance by stepping on the swampy skeletons.

The leading elf is a woman with a graceful figure and a beautiful appearance, but she is full of blood resentment. On her translucent white body, countless ferocious skeletons are struggling and roaring.

I looked at it interestingly, raised my foot and followed it up.

The monkey jumped to my side in twos and threes.

Poor Xiao Si didn't want to leave but didn't dare to stay. After looking around for a long time, he had to resign himself to his fate and follow.

We followed those white elves into a forest, and along the way, the surrounding became more and more cold and damp.

Three treasures were so cold that they burrowed into my arms.

Xiaosi rubbed his arms and wanted to cry but said without tears: "Master, let's go back."

I thought for a while and said: "You stay here, I will go with Wukong to have a look."

Xiao Si reluctantly agreed, and he huddled under a big tree in aggrieved form, staring at me like he was staring at a heartless man.

I ignored him and continued to follow the group of ghosts.

It's getting colder and colder.

The ground began to frost, freeze, and eventually it was simply thick snow.

We followed a group of ghosts walking in the endless snow. This is a high mountain. We are walking on the mountainside, and we don't know where the destination of these ghosts will be.

Suddenly, the ghost at the end of the line looked back at us, and his face twisted instantly.

A shrill scream echoed throughout the space, and all the ghosts turned their heads to look at us in unison.

Thousands of pairs of white Yingying eyes stared at us in unison, such a cold gaze could almost drag people into hell.

The ghosts condensed in an instant, they fought and struggled, and finally became one.

I looked at the white monster with the blue sky above my head and its feet on the ground, and I clenched the ice silk in my hand.

The humanoid monster opened its hands and slapped it.

I frowned, jumped, turned over and jumped out of the monster's attack range.

Wukong rushed up with the golden cudgel, and fought the monster hard.

I stared at the land split by the monster's slap for a while, and walked over to blow the ice and snow away.

Underneath is a piece of hard-frozen fur.

My face sank, and I used my hands and feet to brush off another piece of ice and snow, which was still fur.

Here too.

Here too.

Here, here, and here...

After brushing away more than a dozen pieces of ice and snow, I stood there almost in a panic, unable to recover for a long time.

Suddenly, a huge shadow appeared above my head.

I was slightly taken aback, but before I had time to react, the shadow slammed down hard.

I was stuck in the ice and snow, with frozen fur underneath, bitingly cold ice and snow all around, and on top of my head—on top of my head was a stinky foot.

After realizing this, I feel bad all over.

With a cold face, I opened and closed my hands, and cut the stinky foot that was stepping on my head into thousands of pieces.

The shrill cry continued to resound in the valley.

I sliced ​​the monster with a cold face, some elves struggled to escape from the whole body, and some were cut into white translucent shadows by me, falling on the ground and writhing non-stop.

Those translucent shadows twisted for a while without struggling anymore, and gradually dissipated on the ground.

"Oh? Oh? Oh?" ​​The monkey gloated at the elf who kept getting out of the main body from time to time. "This big guy looks majestic, but he is so vulnerable."

Slowly, I sliced ​​the monster into pieces.

The shrill cries of these elves when they were dying shook the whole mountain, and the snow and ice fell.

I stood there motionless with a sullen face.

The monkey seemed to realize something, stood beside me and stopped talking.

After the avalanche stopped, we got a clear view of the mountain.

It was a monkey carcass that was too big.

I touched the monkey's snow-covered fur with shaking hands, and a surge of anger surged in my chest.

"Jinghong, you're here." The man sat cross-legged on the corpse's arm, holding a prayer bead in his hand, smiling gently.

I sneered and cut the ice silk in my hand towards him.

Jin Chanzi backed away with a smile: "Jinghong, I have guarded the tomb for you for many years, and you treat me like this?"

"How did Sambo die?" I asked coldly.

"Of course I didn't do it," said the bald donkey, "Why should I have trouble with a monkey."

I folded my arms and looked at him coldly.

The bald donkey smiled and waved his hands: "I'm afraid of you too."

"Look for a place where we can sit down and chat slowly?" He smiled at me.

Sanbao suddenly got out of my arms and jumped down to the ground in a hurry.

I was startled and wanted to chase after him, but then thought that Jin Chanzi was here, so I didn't know what to do for a while.

The big monk smiled slightly, took the lead to catch up, looked back at me and said, "Let's talk as we walk."

I showed a stiff smile, and chased Sanbao into the interior of the corpse.

"Jinghong, do you know the origin of Sun Wukong?" the monk said suddenly.

I didn't have time to listen to what he talked about, so I just replied: "It jumped out of the rock."

"How could this monkey that jumped out of nowhere have such great abilities?" the monk asked again.

I frowned and stopped walking, wondering what kind of medicine this monk sold in his gourd.

"The fairy stone on the Huaguo Mountain in Aolai Country can be shaped, and has always been coveted by countless people," the monk laughed, "Jinghong, I helped you, you have to thank me."

I was horrified to hear: "You—"

"Hundred years ago, that monkey sensed your divine consciousness, split itself in half, and escaped the Buddha's pressure to find you." The monk shook his head and smiled, "The corpse under your feet and mine is just an empty shell."

"...What about my body?" I just asked, when I saw a skeleton in front of me.

The skeleton is missing a left hand and a head, but the rest is still intact.

"You have the blood of the witch clan, and even the belt and bones are the most precious treasures in the world," the monk said, "This monkey can't protect you, so it has to swallow you in its mouth, and come here alone to wait for death."

I knelt down and stroked Sanbao's head, feeling mixed feelings for a moment.

"Master," Wukong walked in carrying a golden cudgel, "this place is really weird. Old Sun just looked around, and there is indeed no living thing."

I smiled with difficulty, I didn't know how to face this terrible situation for a while: "It's okay, we'll leave later."

Sanbaowo cried loudly in my arms, it suddenly twitched, and then stopped moving.

I was a little flustered for a moment, seeing a wisp of cyan spirit floating out of it, and entering Wukong's body, I didn't know what to do.

The monkey shook for a while, covered his head and shook: "Well, this place is not good in Fengshui. After staying for so long, the old grandson has a headache! Headache!" He pulled me away, muttering in his mouth: "I'm afraid it's a headache. It's windy."

Sambo gradually became cold in my arms.

I froze in place, let the monkey pull me and refused to move, and I always felt like I had lost something important.

"Jinghong, you can't even see through this." Jin Chanzi chanted a Buddhist name, took the three treasures from my arms, and placed them next to my previous bones.

"If the primordial spirit is not destroyed, you and I will have eternal life. Why are you clinging to the body?"