Great Demon Sun Wukong-Chapter 683 - 625: Departure, Escorting the Medicinal Human Seed
Zhu Bajie, White Dragon, Elder Sha, Master, and even myself, all these incidents may not be coincidences. Perhaps all of this is being quietly orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. With this thought, Sun Wukong couldn't help but shudder. Regardless, everything had already happened, and Sun Wukong did not have the power to end it all yet. Thus, he chose to follow this path to the very end to see what lies behind it all. This is also why he had given the Golden Dragon Horn to White Dragon.
Meanwhile, Sun Wukong was also aware that the person or power behind the scenes had already started to make their move and that they were not overly concerned with concealing their presence. Otherwise, many of these events could have been carried out in a more secretive and flawless manner. Sun Wukong speculated that there could be two reasons for this: One might be that whoever was behind this wanted to alert Sun Wukong to their existence, making him aware of this hidden force. The other possibility was that they didn't have much time to prepare, so all these events were decided and occurred in haste, thus allowing Sun Wukong to notice the existence of this force.
However, upon further consideration, the second possibility seemed unlikely because, for one thing, the existence of the Golden Dragon Horn itself must have been known for some time, as many people had come into contact with it. Hence, it was improbable that all this was arranged in a rush. This meant that matters were getting quite interesting. Law Enforcers, the Crimson Army, aside from the Six Great Divine Nations, there was yet another hidden force at play, plotting certain things. These could be greatly related to him and his disciples, so not long ago, this force began to slowly emerge and made their presence known to Sun Wukong in such a way.
The complexity was escalating, and the most perplexing aspect for Sun Wukong was why it was specifically him, Master, and brothers. The universe is vast, with countless individuals, so why had this force chosen them? Was there a specific reason, or were they just a few among the numerous people selected? Sun Wukong also considered that his group of disciples seemed to have come together by chance.
He had been punished by Tathagata for causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace and was sent to participate in that journey to the Western Paradise. Bajie was demoted to the Lower Realm for harassing Chang'er, Elder Sha for breaking a crystal cup, and White Dragon Ao Yu for burning the Bright Pearl bestowed by the Jade Emperor, leading all of them to join the quest to the Western Paradise. Now, it seemed possible that even their assembly was orchestrated by that force. If that was true, it would be terrifying. Just how powerful was this force?
As dawn broke and he sighed and rubbed his slightly aching head, Sun Wukong packed up his belongings and opened the door. The morning sunlight shone through, clearing away the gloom and confusion of the night. Pondering was useless, better to take one step at a time. As long as he was strong enough, no conspiracy or scheme would matter, the problems could be solved with a single strike. Inhaling deeply, Sun Wukong's somber mood vanished. After warming up his limbs, he closed the door behind him and headed towards the gate of the Holy Ultimate Buddhism.
Halfway there, Sun Wukong was called out from behind by Fa Qing. "Qi Tian disciple, wait for me, wait!" Sun Wukong was momentarily stunned, but soon remembered he had told others his name was Sun Qi Tian, hence Sun disciple or Qi Tian disciple. Smiling, he stopped and waited for Fa Qing to catch up. "Elder brother Fa Qing, it seems you did not rest well last night," remarked Sun Wukong, noticing Fa Qing's eyes were bloodshot. Fa Qing, however, was brimming with excitement. "It's a Divine Weapon at the Dao Transformation Primary Grade for sure! I spent the entire night and refined only a tenth of it. I can't imagine how powerful it'll be once fully refined. What about your equipment, disciple?"
To wield such armors and weapons not forged personally as easily as if they were one's limbs required their complete refinement. Sun Wukong had been too preoccupied with his thoughts the previous night to bother with those items. Shaking his head, he replied, "I felt rather tired last night and chose to sleep early. The equipment can be refined later when there's time. No rush!" Fa Qing nodded in agreement, as this escort mission was actually devoid of any danger. It wasn't the first such mission, and the path had been well-trodden by predecessors numerous times. All the major and minor sects along the way knew that this team was delivering items for the Great Honored Buddhism, a First Rank Sect. Who would dare offend them? They were more likely to try and curry favor.
Soon, the two of them reached the gate where the twelve individuals, including Sun Wukong and Fa Qing, had already assembled. Only the leader of the guards and the six Medicinal Human Seeds were not present yet. The nine who had arrived earlier came up to greet them one by one as they noticed Sun Wukong and Fa Qing. They were all sharp and had seen how the Elder had treated Sun Wukong specially. Now that an opportunity had presented itself, they naturally took it to familiarize themselves with one another. After all, they would be traveling together for half a month, and a harmonious relationship would be beneficial for everyone. Sun Wukong, courteous as ever, introduced himself to them, though how much of those introductions was true remained uncertain. "Qi Tian disciple, you can relax on this journey. Think of it as a trip for fun; there won't be any danger!"
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All nine of these individuals were disciples with names starting with the character "fa," putting them in the same generation as Fa Qing and therefore naturally making them elder brothers to Sun Wukong. In reality, all newly initiated disciples would be given a Dharma name by the elders of the sect. It was only that Sun Wukong had been sent on this mission shortly after joining the sect and had not yet received his Dharma name. Once the mission was completed, he was naturally going to be given one. While everyone was exchanging pleasantries, Di Zhan had already rushed over with six medicinal human seeds in tow. Di Zhan led the way, followed by the six medicinal human seeds, looking like walking corpses.
The others all paid their respects to Di Zhan. From his name, it was clear that Di Zhan's seniority was even higher than that of Fa Qing and the others, being from the "Di" generation. Since the act was to be done thoroughly, Sun Wukong also paid his respects to Di Zhan along with everyone else. Di Zhan nodded, then checked the equipment and supplies of the group, and once he found that nothing was missing, clapped his hands and announced, "Now that everyone is ready, let's arrange the formation and set off. Although this escort mission is simple, I hope no one takes it lightly and remains attentive!" With that, he directed everyone to form a defensive formation around the six medicinal human seeds at the center, spreading out in all directions to tightly encircle them without leaving any blind spots.
Then, the group set off. None of them had had breakfast, because their first meal was already waiting for them below the mountain, where a lavish vegetarian feast had been prepared. This surprised Sun Wukong—a majority of the members of the Holy Ultimate Buddhism practiced body cultivation, yet everyone in the sect, from top to bottom, only ate vegetarian food and abstained from alcohol. Sun Wukong found this curious, having thought that Buddhism in Buddha's Pure Land had already abandoned such monastic disciplines and precepts. After a sumptuous vegetarian breakfast, the party of twelve, along with the six medicinal human seeds, set off under the watchful eyes of many disciples at the foot of the mountain.
They neither flew nor ran at full speed but walked step by step. This made Sun Wukong curious again. "Brother Fa Qing, why are we walking so slowly? Surely we don't plan to walk the whole way?" Fa Qing, who belonged to the same group as Sun Wukong and was at the very end of the procession, seemed quite relaxed with his hands behind his head, replied, "Yes, we will walk the whole way. The half-month I mentioned before was the time it would take if we were flying. In fact, this trip will take about a month. Of course, we will speed up in many places. But for now, we have to walk!"
Seeing Sun Wukong still puzzled, Fa Qing continued, "Actually, this can't be helped. These six medicinal human seeds are very special, neither fully dead nor alive, not considered human nor object, and thus cannot be placed in any storage space, nor can they be carried by some magic artifacts that can hold people; we can only walk step by step. Moreover, at the beginning, their joints are stiff and they can't move quickly. Only after walking more will their joints limber up and our pace will increase. Don't worry; take it easy. Isn't it a rare opportunity to take it this leisurely?"
It seemed Fa Qing had already treated this trip entirely as an outing, and his words stirred a great interest in Sun Wukong regarding these medicinal human seeds. Neither human nor object—weren't they just like the zombies from the Pangu Realm? And the stiffness in their joints was very similar to that of zombies as well. What, exactly, was the purpose of these medicinal human seeds?
While Fa Qing was not paying attention, Sun Wukong used his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes to look at the six medicinal human seeds. When his gaze focused on the last of the medicinal human seeds, Sun Wukong suddenly stood still in shock, but quickly regained his composure. However, tumultuous waves arose in his heart. Closing his eyes tightly, Sun Wukong continued walking, but his body was rapidly adjusting itself. After calming down somewhat, Sun Wukong reopened his eyes and looked at them again with the Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes.
This time, having braced himself, Sun Wukong took a deep breath. At first, he hadn't paid much attention to these six individuals because he had already checked them before, and apart from having some special cultivation techniques, there was nothing unusual. But now, seeing something gradually taking shape inside the bodies of the six, Sun Wukong was truly astounded.
Indeed, no great power came without complexity. Even Buddha's Pure Land, a seemingly minor force, had someone who knew about such things and, it seemed, was attempting to create them! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to support the author by voting for it with recommendation tickets or Monthly Passes at Starting Point (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can visit m.qidian.com to read.)
