Journey to the West: Signing in for 500 Years-Chapter 445 - 439: Pushing into the Fire Pit [Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets]_1
The Six-Eared Macaque looked at Sha Chen, his eyes filled with hesitation and pleading.
He was still kneeling on the ground, stubbornly refusing to get up.
Naturally, Sha Chen knew what the Six-Eared Macaque was thinking, but he pretended not to understand.
He smiled and said, "Alright, get up. Haven’t I given you an opportunity? Now you can repay your Master. This is your good fortune and honor. You should be happy about it."
Then pretending to be angry, he said, "What’s the matter, don’t you want to repay your Master?"
Liuer was on the verge of tears.
How could he dare to say a single word of refusal?
If he did, he feared his life would be in immediate danger.
It was no longer just a matter of being expelled from his Master’s tutelage, but rather that his cultivation could be crippled, or he might even be killed on the spot.
The Six-Eared Macaque hurriedly kowtowed and said, "Disciple is overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity Master has given me to repay him, hence my endless gratitude, causing me to forget myself."
Sha Chen nodded with a smile, "You don’t need to be so moved. There is some danger involved in this repayment."
"But it’s only a little dangerous, and there is no risk to your life. You don’t need to worry about not being able to come back to continue serving your Master."
Although he coerced and tempted the Six-Eared Macaque into agreeing, Sha Chen wouldn’t really send him to his death.
And he certainly wouldn’t tell him that his mission was undoubtedly a death sentence.
That would just lead to discord between master and disciple.
Besides, Sha Chen actually didn’t think the mission would be too dangerous; it was a strategy he had carefully considered for three days and nights.
However, the Six-Eared Macaque didn’t think so. Although Sha Chen hadn’t mentioned the method yet, he felt it must surely involve him raiding the Heavenly Prison, a task guaranteed to be fraught with extreme peril.
Sha Chen asked Liuer to rise and sit with him. He also poured him a cup of tea and said, "The Spider Spirits are my sworn sisters, the Black Bear Spirit is my follower, Red Boy is my nephew, and Lady Di Yong is my maidservant. Tell me, if they are in danger, shouldn’t I rescue them?"
Liuer initially wanted to say it wasn’t necessary but dared not speak plainly.
Instead, he forced a smile and said, "They must be rescued, of course. They are all so important to Master."
Sha Chen laughed, "You are understanding indeed. They do need to be rescued. Just like if you were in danger, I would also do everything in my power to save you."
Liuer wanted to cry, thinking resentfully, "If you didn’t want me to encounter danger, then don’t send me on such a risky mission!"
But he didn’t dare speak those words.
He even had to express teary gratitude, "Thank you, Master. If Disciple encounters danger, please let me fend for myself; I wouldn’t dare ask you to take any risks for me."
Sha Chen patted his shoulder, very satisfied. He intended to agree but instead coughed when the words reached his lips.
He couldn’t agree to that statement; doing so would dishearten others, which just wouldn’t do.
So he said, "How could I just watch you in danger and not rescue you?"
He smiled and reassured, "Don’t worry. If there really is danger, I’d be the first one charging to the forefront."
Then, without caring what the Six-Eared Macaque was thinking, he continued, "The Black Bear Spirit and the others are partners who are extremely important and indispensable to me; I can’t just ignore their plight. What Zhao Gongming said was probably true. They really have been locked away in the Heavenly Prison."
"I can’t go there myself, so I will have to trouble you. But you won’t be fighting alone; some people will cooperate with you in this operation."
Liuer’s heart went cold; he really was being sent to raid the Heavenly Prison.
He was on the brink of tears, "Master, I truly wish to share your worries and solve your troubles, but about this matter of raiding the Heavenly Prison, could we perhaps reconsider?"
Crying, he said, "I’m merely a Daluo Golden Immortal. If I go to raid the Heavenly Prison, I’m sure I’d be dead before I even got close."
Sha Chen said, "Who told you to raid the Heavenly Prison?"
With a look of astonishment and skepticism, he said, "Such a foolish idea, how could you even think of it? Absolutely not, you must never entertain such a perilous thought."
Liuer was stunned. It wasn’t a raid on the Heavenly Prison!?
In shock he said, "Master, if it’s not a raid on the Heavenly Prison, what then do you want Disciple to do?"
Sha Chen said as if it were obvious, "I’m sending you to get captured by Zhao Gongming and be locked in the Heavenly Prison. After that, you rescue our people."
THUMP.
THUD.
The Six-Eared Macaque was on his knees again, his heart plummeting, eyes bulging in disbelief.
Was Sha Chen sending him to certain death!?
Crying, Liuer said, "Master, that would be even worse than letting Disciple raid the Heavenly Prison! Being captured directly means there’s absolutely no chance of survival!"
Sha Chen, however, comforted him, "Don’t worry. Listen as your Master slowly boasts—AHEM, explains it to you."
"I’ll have people cooperate with you, coordinating from both inside and out for you to be ’captured.’ This will make it easy for you to escape later. But you can’t entirely rely on them, because I will give you something that will make your escape even easier."
As he spoke, he took out the Void Gate.
With a casual gesture, the Void Gate flew in from outside the cave dwelling.
The Six-Eared Macaque was utterly dumbfounded. Could it be that if Master wanted a Magical Tool, he could simply beckon, and the Magical Tool would fly in from outside?
He was stunned.
Sha Chen, however, didn’t explain further. Instead, he planted the Void Gate on the ground and calmly said, "This is the Void Gate, a Space Magical Treasure capable of traversing space with unimpeded access."
The Six-Eared Macaque’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
He approached and touched the Void Gate, sucking in a breath of cold air when he confirmed it was real.
"Master, Disciple has heard that the Void Gate is the Magical Tool of the Space God Di Jiang. How did it end up in your hands?"
"It is said that this Void Gate can traverse any object, come and go without obstruction. It is truly magical, and even Saints speak highly of it."
Sha Chen smiled and said, "You are correct; it is that very Void Gate. After the great battle between Di Jiang and Donghuang Taiyi, the Void Gate disappeared. Later on, it encountered me. As luck, or fate, would have it, I had an affinity with it, and it chose to follow me. Only today was it summoned here."
He then refined the Void Gate on the spot, leaving his mark on it, and said, "Now, I want to lend it to you. With it, you will enter the Heavenly Prison, find the Black Bear Spirit and the others, take them all with you, and leave the Heavenly Prison together."
Liuer was stunned for a moment before he finally realized.
So, Sha Chen really wasn’t sending him to his death; instead, he had thought of a perfect solution!
If it weren’t for the Void Gate, the Six-Eared Macaque would genuinely believe Sha Chen was sending him to his death.
But with the Void Gate, he believed Sha Chen was truly trying to solve the problem.
And it was also true that Sha Chen genuinely intended for him to rescue people, not just to be cannon fodder.
The Six-Eared Macaque quickly said, "Master, does the Void Gate truly have such effects? Can I test it?" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Sha Chen nodded and answered, "Of course you can. Whenever you like, you can test it anywhere. And, I won’t force you; only when you are proficient will I let you set out."
The Six-Eared Macaque nodded eagerly, full of gratitude.
Seeing the Six-Eared Macaque’s expression, Sha Chen worried this fellow might misunderstand, thinking the Magical Tool was being given to him. He quickly emphasized, "It’s *lent* to you. You must master it well."
The Six-Eared Macaque was startled for a moment, then seemed to realize it was only being lent to him.
Although he felt somewhat disappointed, it was still better than having no preparation at all and being rushed off to rescue people.
Moreover, Sha Chen was planning for him to get captured and then escape from the inside.
That was a prison jointly established by Saints, after all. Even with the Void Gate, could he really escape safely!?
The Six-Eared Macaque was very worried, his heart filled with nervousness.
To put his mind at ease, Sha Chen said, "Don’t be afraid; the Void Gate is reliable. Moreover, I have also arranged for people to coordinate with you from both inside and out. I won’t fail to rescue the others and end up sacrificing you in the process."
The Six-Eared Macaque felt like crying.
Such reassurance from Sha Chen was hardly comforting; in fact, it was worse than no comfort at all.
With this kind of "comfort," he pitied himself even more, feeling that he truly might be on a one-way trip.
Sha Chen paid no mind to what the Six-Eared Macaque might think. The arrangements were made, and he had to send the Six-Eared Macaque.
In truth, there was no one else to use, and the Six-Eared Macaque had recently appeared, having the most secretive relationship with him.
Others might risk exposure, including the Ao Lie siblings, as well as anyone else who had already appeared; they could all be discovered.
But Liuer would not.
No one knew about his arrival.
Even previously, when Kassapa and Ananda saw a beast passing by, they didn’t think much of it.
Even if they did, they wouldn’t know it was the Six-Eared Macaque.
Before coming to apprentice under Sha Chen, the Six-Eared Macaque had already mastered the extremely powerful 72 Polymorphic Transformations, a highly accomplished Divine Power.
During the Journey to the West, there were few who could recognize his true identity, not even Kassapa or Ananda.
Now, due to Sha Chen’s arrival, the Six-Eared Macaque had changed, becoming even stronger than during that journey, with even greater transformation skills.
It was quite normal for Kassapa and Ananda not to know his identity.
Next, Sha Chen had the Six-Eared Macaque quickly master the Void Gate, while also starting to provide him with more tonics to enhance his strength significantly.
He paid special attention to the improvement of the Six-Eared Macaque’s Primordial Spirit.
If Liuer were captured, his actual strength would surely be probed by Zhao Gongming, but the Primordial Spirit could be concealed.
If Sha Chen wanted Liuer to play the wolf in sheep’s clothing, enhancing Liuer’s Primordial Spirit power was the best course of action.
Secondly, Sha Chen also had the Six-Eared Macaque strengthen his physical body, raising it to the Da Luo Dharmakaya realm, and also had him completely master the Heavenly Splitting Palm.
His physical body and Primordial Spirit would be the Six-Eared Macaque’s trump cards, definitely able to greatly surprise Zhao Gongming.
The Six-Eared Macaque was filled with a mix of surprise and joy. He hadn’t expected that a trip to the Heavenly Prison would allow him to learn so many extra things!
However, he still felt it was very dangerous. Fortunately, Sha Chen was unreserved in teaching him Divine Powers and Dao Techniques, and this brought the Six-Eared Macaque some comfort.
For the first time, he felt there was some hope for this mission.
However, thinking of being captured, sent to the Heavenly Prison, and having to face Zhao Gongming, he couldn’t feel happy at all.
Learning these things came at a price; if he wasn’t careful, he might even lose his life.
With a heavy heart, the Six-Eared Macaque began to cultivate earnestly. He had to become stronger before being captured.
Otherwise, when the time came, even fleeing for his life would be a luxury.
While the Six-Eared Macaque was enhancing his abilities, Sha Chen was also busy. He took out the Nine Nether Purple Orchid.
This was an Elixir, and one that could enhance the power of the Primordial Spirit. It was the only Elixir that Sha Chen had and was incredibly precious.
