bookbashuk Chapter 98: Huanghua Temple Accepts Incense Offerings; Long-Armed Ape Makes its First Appearance
Chapter 98: Huanghua Temple Accepts Incense Offerings; Long-Armed Ape Makes its First Appearance
Chapter 98: Huanghua Temple Accepts Incense Offerings; Long-Armed Ape Makes its First Appearance
Xu Xian arranged for the fox spirit and Lady White Bone to live and cultivate at White Tiger Ridge, while also driving away the surrounding monsters.
Try to ensure that only the fox spirit and Lady White Bone exist in the mountains near White Tiger Ridge.
After all, for Xu Xian, many of Tang Sanzang's tribulations had already been predetermined.
For example, Golden Horn and Silver Horn, Green Lion and White Elephant, Yellow Eyebrows —
These monsters represent the power of the Heavenly Court and Buddhism, and Xu Xian has no way to interfere.
All he could do was control the lesser demons, like the White Bone Demon, to replace these calamities.
Every calamity he can control becomes his bargaining chip in negotiations with the gods and Buddhas.
Very precious.
Therefore, Xu Xian didn't want any unlucky little demon to mistakenly become Tang Sanzang's tribulation.
The fox spirit and Lady White Bone held Xu Xian in high esteem and naturally dared not disobey his orders.
The two set off separately to clear out the minor monsters near White Tiger Ridge.
Lady White Bone and the fox girl were quite powerful, and with the help of Ruyi and Miaozhen Brush, they quickly cleared the nearby mountains.
Only Lady White Bone and the fox spirit remain here.
"I'll focus on my spiritual practice now, I'm going out for a stroll."
Lady White Bone immediately saw her off respectfully, while the fox girl asked shyly, "Master, when will you return, Master?"
Xu Xian didn't reply. He flashed away from White Tiger Ridge and flew to Yellow Flower Temple.
To Xu Xian's surprise, Huanghua Temple had become a well-known Taoist temple.
"Grandpa, my stomach hurts, maybe we shouldn't climb the mountain?"
On the hillside, a lean old man was carrying a chubby baby on his back, slowly moving uphill.
The chubby baby's face was pale and his brows were furrowed, clearly indicating that he was ill.
Although the old man's steps were trembling, they were also unusually firm.
He took his grandson up the mountain.
The grandson felt sorry for his grandfather and kept trying to persuade him.
Grandpa wasn't in good health, and he was barely hanging on by a thread while carrying his eldest grandson, so he didn't dare to speak.
Upon reaching the Huanghua Temple at the mountaintop, the old man put down his grandson and finally breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "This Taoist temple is called Huanghua Temple, and it is inhabited by true immortals."
The little child clutched his stomach, a hopeful look in his eyes: "Grandpa, do you think a fairy can cure my stomachache?"
"Of course, of course."
The old man muttered a few words, rested for a while, and then continued walking with his grandson toward Huanghua Temple.
Huanghua Temple is built on a mountain, and the mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel, but the place is not deserted at all.
Besides the elderly and their grandchildren, there was a constant stream of pilgrims.
Clearly, the practitioners at Huanghua Temple possess genuine skills and knowledge.
The old man led his grandson into the temple and indeed met the lay Buddhists there.
The leading Taoist priest had a long beard and an air of otherworldly wisdom.
The seven female lay Buddhists were all beautiful and graceful.
Regardless of their cultivation level, just looking at their appearance, these eight cultivators could all be described as living immortals.
The old man led his grandson into the Huanghua Temple and bowed to the Taoist priests inside.
"Immortal, old immortal, please save my grandson's life!"
Seeing this, the other worshippers knew that the old man had something important to discuss, so they stopped bothering the layman with questions.
The smallest spider spirit hopped and skipped to the old man, smiling as she said, "Grandpa, don't worry, let me take a look."
She took the baby's hand and examined it carefully, murmuring, "It's poisoned. Did you eat any insects?"
The little boy thought for a moment and replied, "Yesterday I found a big scorpion under a rock at home. I heard my grandfather say that scorpions are a precious medicinal ingredient, so I roasted and ate it."
"————"
The young lay Buddhist was speechless, thinking to himself that this child was really bold, daring to eat roasted scorpions.
That being said, the spider demon was quite pleased with the child.
After all, as a demon, the spider demon looked down on the scorpion demon.
Using poison alone to subdue the enemy is completely devoid of any technical skill.
Pooh!
After cursing for a while, the young lay Buddhist went to the centipede demon and asked for a yellow talisman.
She pointed at the yellow talisman with two fingers, and with a gentle shake, the talisman burned to ashes.
"Take this incense ash, drink it with warm water, and the illness will be cured!"
The old man became excited and knelt down to kowtow repeatedly.
The little child's eyes also welled up with tears, and he said in a childish voice, "Thank you, fairy sister, thank you, fairy sister."
After the old man finished his kneeling and worship, he picked up the gourd he carried with him, stuffed the talisman ash into the gourd, shook it, and handed it to his grandson.
"Drink it, you'll feel better after you drink it."
The child took the gourd, drank it all in one gulp, then touched his stomach with both hands, quietly waiting for the medicine to take effect.
A short while later, the baby's complexion returned to normal, and the cramps in her stomach disappeared.
The baby was jumping and skipping around, overjoyed.
The old man knelt down and kowtowed again, expressing his deepest gratitude.
Seeing this, other pilgrims naturally trusted Huanghua Temple even more.
Pilgrims offered money and prayed for a peaceful and successful marriage, creating a lively atmosphere.
The centipede demon and the seven spider demons collected the money and used their magic to fulfill everyone's wishes, beaming with joy.
The lively atmosphere lasted for a while.
At one point, the worshippers noticed that the old Taoist priest, who had a dignified and otherworldly air, suddenly trembled, and seven beautiful lay Buddhists also stood on the spot.
The worshippers were puzzled and were about to ask a question.
The centipede demon spoke solemnly, "Gentlemen, that's enough for today. Please leave."
Everyone was puzzled, but dared not ask, and could only disperse and go down the mountain.
Only after the place was empty did the seven spider demons close the gate and then join the centipede demon in bowing to the central statue.
A moment later, a man who looked exactly like a god appeared before them.
It was Xu Xian!
Xu Xian looked at the centipede demon and the seven spider demons and nodded in satisfaction: "You did a very good job, even better than I expected."
The centipede demon and the seven spider demons, having received praise from Xu Xian, knelt down and wept, saying, "Thank you, Master, for guiding us onto the path of cultivation!"
Xu Xian casually picked up some fruit from the incense table and tasted it, while asking, "Are you wondering why I made you do this?"
"I wouldn't dare!"
"Master's words are the laws of Heaven, and we dare not disobey them in the slightest."
Xu Xian listened to the eight demons' flattering words and shook his head with a smile: "What heavenly laws are there? You must remember, my dedication to collecting offerings from all living beings is only for your own good."
"yes!"
Xu Xian was very satisfied with the cultivation of the eight demons, but the incense they absorbed was not perfect enough.
Because most of the incense offerings absorbed by the eight demons had already entered Xu Xian's golden statue, only a small amount of incense offerings were distributed among the eight demons.
This goes against Xu Xian's plan.
Xu Xian did not need to rely on incense to become a great supernatural being, but the centipede demon needed to use incense to shape its body in order to defend against the supernatural powers of the Pleiades Star Lord.
Xu Xian pointed to the statue behind him and said, "From this day forward, you eight demons will completely absorb the incense offerings here and will no longer need to pour them into the statue."
Upon hearing this, the eight demons were quite puzzled: "Master, why is that?"
Xu Xian looked at the centipede demon, imagining his future fate, and asked, "Your true form is a centipede, so you should have something that naturally counters you."
The centipede spirit nodded and said, "Reporting to my master, we snakes and insects are naturally enemies of celestial birds—or rather, celestial birds completely suppress us snakes and insects. My true form is a centipede, naturally restrained by roosters. Even a rooster in the mortal realm can make me feel uneasy."
Xu Xian nodded and said, "That's the problem. The rooster is an extremely yang creature, which naturally restrains you evil spirits. Therefore, you need to use incense to strengthen your bodies in order to resist the rooster's restraint."
The eight fairies' eyes lit up: "Master is indeed farsighted! Thank you, Master!"
"Alright, you may continue your cultivation."
After visiting Huanghua Temple, Xu Xian continued westward.
He calculated the time and headed towards a temple in Jambudvipa.
This temple was erected by the Heavenly Court and is dedicated to the Great Monkey General!
The true form of the Great Monkey General is the Long-Armed Ape, one of the Four Mischievous Monkeys along with the Spiritual Stone Monkey, the Red-Bottomed Macaque, and the Six-Eared Macaque.
They possess the ability to "grasp the sun and moon, shrink a thousand mountains, discern good and bad fortune, and manipulate the universe."
A thousand years ago, the Monkey King General roamed the human world, clad in armor, slaying demons and monsters.
He protected the people and ensured their peaceful and prosperous lives, earning the deep respect of all.
The people kowtowed to Heaven and built a temple for the Great Monkey King.
The Heavenly Court was well aware of the merits of the Long-Armed Ape, and indeed built a magnificent temple for him, where incense offerings flourished for many years.
Until the gibbon with long arms achieves perfect merit and ascends to become an immortal.
He was not only the Great Monkey General of Heaven, but also a disciple of Maitreya Buddha.
Not only did he become a half-immortal, half-Buddha, he also learned countless supernatural powers and spells.
Unfortunately, after becoming a half-immortal and half-Buddha, the Monkey King General was able to see the greed in the hearts of mortals.
Therefore, only a few sincere individuals can still receive help from the Monkey King.
Even if other greedy mortals offer incense, it will be of no use.
Today, a major event occurred at the temple of the Monkey King.
The people want to tear down the statue of the Monkey King and replace it with the statue of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!
Since Sun Wukong was named the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, it has truly stirred the hearts of cultivators in the mortal realm.
Because Sun Wukong was clearly a demon monkey, and he cultivated the Taiyi Immortal Technique, he was not a true master.
But relying on his overwhelming strength, he still managed to get the Heavenly Court to reluctantly bestow upon him the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
This greatly shocked the cultivators in the lower realms.
At the same time, it also lets them know that even if they do not practice orthodox methods or have a decent lineage, as long as they are strong enough and have profound cultivation, the Heavenly Court will naturally open its doors to accept them.
The cultivators took the Monkey King as their goal and practiced even harder.
Immediately afterwards, they heard news that seemed to have created the world.
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven was dissatisfied with the Peach Banquet and caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace!
He single-handedly withstood 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals, and was only subdued after a series of battles. In the end, he was only imprisoned under the Five Elements Mountain for 500 years.
The practitioners were filled with excitement and their blood was boiling.
They take the Monkey King as their spiritual totem and aspire to become cultivators like him.
At the same time, the deeds of Sun Wukong were compiled into a book to inspire his disciples and descendants.
The story of Sun Wukong naturally spread to the mortal world.
The people chanted the name of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, marveling at Sun Wukong's extraordinary powers.
Compared to Sun Wukong, the Great Monkey King, who is also a monkey, is virtually unknown.
Over the centuries, the story of the Monkey King has been lost to time.
Despite the imposing statues of the gods enshrined in the temple, the people had never heard of any deeds of the Monkey King General.
Therefore, some dissatisfaction arose in the hearts of ordinary people.
How could such a large temple enshrine the Monkey King General?
If you're going to make offerings, you should make offerings to the Monkey King!
In addition, the temples here were not very effective, which made the people even more dissatisfied with the Monkey King.
The discontent spread and has reached its peak today.
At the temple of the Monkey King, the people gathered in one place and actually pushed the statue of the Monkey King to the ground.
Boom!
The enormous statue shattered, and countless stones crumbled.
The people cheered, as if in celebration.
The West, Mount Ling.
The gibbon immediately sensed the abnormality of the statue.
He opened his eyes, looked down at the mortal world, wanting to see what had happened to his temple.
To their astonishment, they saw the people cleaning up his stone statue while simultaneously erecting a statue of the Monkey King.
"How outrageous!"
"These mortals are so short-sighted, they actually believe in that magical stone monkey?"
"They actually don't take me, the Long-Armed Ape, seriously!"
The gibbon suddenly appeared inside the temple.
This startled the mortals in the temple.
"Hey, who are you?"
"It looks like a monkey. Could it be the Monkey King General?"
"Impossible. I have been praying here for years and have never seen the Great Monkey King appear in the world."
"Maybe it's some kind of monster?"
"Hey, you monster, get out of here right now, don't disturb the Great Sage Equal to Heaven."
The people here all have some connection with the cultivators, so they are not afraid of monsters.
This made the gibbon even angrier.
He looked at the shattered statue, suppressing his anger, and said, "Rebuild the statue, and I will forgive and forget. But if you—"
Upon hearing this, ordinary people immediately realized what was going on.
It turns out that the monkey in front of me is the Monkey King.
Far from being afraid, they angrily questioned them.
"Hey, I've been worshipping here for years, and you never came out to see me or respond to my requests. Now that the statue has fallen, you're so eager to come down. What's the reason for this?"
"Exactly! You take the offerings of the people but don't help them solve their problems. What kind of Monkey King General are you?"
"Leave now, we don't need you."
The gibbon looked at the people's appearance and it was so angry it gritted its teeth.
But he also knew that the people's ignorance was not their fault.
Fortunately, the Buddha had already set out the grand plan of obtaining the scriptures, intending to spread Mahayana Buddhism widely throughout Jambudvipa and save all sentient beings.
By then, ignorant mortals should be enlightened!
Thinking of this, the Long-Armed Ape sighed helplessly: "Since you want to worship the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, then so be it."
Having said that, the powerful divine monkey general was about to return to the Western Spirit Mountain.
Just then, a ruffian spoke up, mocking, "So, he's the Great General Monkey King? Hearing the name of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, he immediately slunk away. How can someone with such cowardice be a general?"
-
The gibbon turned around, squinting at the rogue: "What did you just say?"
The rogue was stunned, and suddenly felt a chill run through his body!