Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 124 Invaluable...

"But I only have two left," Maitreya Buddha pointed at the flat peaches on the table and said somewhat troubled, "Your dishes all look good to me, I really don’t know whose to choose without offending anyone, so it’s better if you decide how to divide them."

Maitreya Buddha cunningly pushed the problem onto the crowd of immortals.

The immortals also found it a difficult dilemma, as everyone wanted to gobble up the flat peach by themselves, but whoever dared to suggest it would surely be attacked by the group.

"There are eight of us in total, so why don’t we do it this way, we give all our dishes to Maitreya Buddha, and each of us takes a small and equally sized portion of the flat peach, how about that?"

An immortal frowned, coming up with a solution that seemed to satisfy everyone.

"Good."

"Reasonable."

The rest of the immortals quickly agreed, each one dividing into four parts, even if they could each only have a small half, it was already a huge opportunity.

This effect was far beyond the flat peaches of six thousand years.

After the plan was set, the immortal who had proposed it approached Maitreya Buddha with a flattering look and said, "Buddha Ancestor, we are willing to exchange all our dishes for your two flat peaches, what do you think?"

Maitreya Buddha slightly restrained his smile and pretended to be concerned as he said, "So many of you sharing, won’t you be at a loss?"

"Not at all!" the proposing immortal shook his head repeatedly.

A mere ordinary dish, how could it compare to the flat peach?

Moreover, they had already grown tired of this dish at the Flat Peach Banquets they’d attended before.

Maitreya Buddha was secretly overjoyed inside. He then expressionlessly handed over both flat peaches to the proposer, saying, "Then I would be most impolite to refuse."

His words were filled with care for the immortals, as if he was deeply concerned about their interests.

Holding the two flat peaches, the proposer was immediately surrounded.

Everyone’s eyes were fiercely fixed on the nine-thousand-year flat peaches, not wanting to look away for even a moment.

"Cut it quickly!" the crowd urged.

The proposer nodded, took out a knife-shaped spiritual treasure, and observed carefully for a while before concentrating and making the cut.

"Hey, you’re cutting it unevenly!" one of the immortals’ faces changed. Everyone had made the same contribution, and they certainly didn’t want to get even a bit less than the others.

"Move it to the left a bit, yes, a little more to the left."

"To the left, your grandpa! Where are you going? Are you blind? More to the left, and you take that left piece, a bit more to the right."

The proposer, with a face full of black lines, stopped cutting and said, "If you can do it, then come do it. Quit nagging here."

"Is my vision really that bad? Don’t I know how to do it?"

"You do it!" The immortals smiled brightly and fell silent.

But their observation became even more intense.

Watching the frenzied stance of the group, the immortal who first exchanged a meal for the nine-thousand-year flat peach felt incredibly relieved.

Thank goodness Maitreya was the first to choose him, otherwise, he probably would have been among them right now.

Looking around, however, he felt somewhat panicked inside. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched, and aside from the nine-thousand-year flat peach, what else could possibly draw such attention?

The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became, and the idea of saving it to savor in his cave abode, to slowly digest its power, completely vanished.

He understood the principle that an innocent man is in trouble because of his wealth.

He simply did not have the power to protect the nine-thousand-year flat peach; he would surely not be able to keep it. It was better to take advantage of the current opportunity.

With so many great deities present and the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother above, these petty figures surely wouldn’t dare to be reckless.

With this in mind, he no longer cared whether he had the ability to fully digest its power quickly, steeled his heart, and took a big bite directly.

Eating now was just wasting its power, but if he waited until he was back home, perhaps he would not only miss out on eating it but might also perish along with his path.

Maitreya Buddha simply disregarded what the immortals were thinking, stood up cheerfully, and pushed all their tables together, surrounding himself with them.

Gazing at the plentiful and varied dishes in front of him, Maitreya Buddha’s face lit up with excitement; his plan had indeed succeeded.

Although he had lost three Flat Peaches, he was still making a killing!

At least that’s how it seemed to him.

Now, Maitreya Buddha could truly be called a master eater.

His face, glistening with grease, shone with satisfaction; those who had partaken once longed for more, while those who hadn’t could not stop praising the food.

Thank goodness this monkey was not taught by their branch of Buddhism.

Maitreya Buddha thought contentedly.

Although he didn’t know how the monkey had disappeared previously, it didn’t stop him from enjoying the dishes now.

He couldn’t care less about that Journey to the West business.

To Tathagata and the others, he was merely an inconvenience, a disciple of their teacher reluctantly rewarded with half the Merit Points.

Any advancement in realm was but a drop in the ocean to him, so he had no interest in its aftermath.

Originally, it didn’t matter to him whether the monkey joined Buddhism or not, but now things were different—the cuisine was exceptional, and naturally, joining his Buddhism with its boundless prospects was the way to go.

The position of Head Chef of Buddhism must remain uncontested.

In the future, he’d get to enjoy delicious dishes every day.

Now a Quasi-Saint, pursuit of such pleasures was all he had left.

He often wondered, what was the point of all that scheming and backstabbing, when one could never surpass a Saint? It was all an illusion, a mere shadow.

Wouldn’t it be better to live like him, carefree and unburdened, enjoying each day in comfort, savoring fine food?

He must develop a close friendship with Sun Wukong—nurture a good relationship, and delicious food would surely be in abundant supply.

If there were any troubles he could lend a hand with, he would certainly try to help.

As he thought to himself, his hands and mouth did not slow down at all.

The presence above, in Jade Pool, watched this scene with mixed feelings, joyful yet annoyed.

Joyful, because just from Maitreya Buddha’s reaction to the dishes, it was clear that this Flat Peach Banquet was a resounding success.

Hadn’t Maitreya Buddha already begun to break his vegetarian vows by eating meat?

If this incident were to spread, it would surely become a laughingstock, and Buddhism’s prestige would be affected.

Despite being a woman, Queen Mother understood the importance of the strife between Buddhism and Taoism quite well and would not be lenient in taking advantage of Buddhism.

And the irritation? It was because the dishes were perhaps too successful—Maitreya Buddha had used three nine-thousand-year-old Flat Peaches to trade for tasty but otherwise useless dishes.

These were nine-thousand-year-old Flat Peaches, not just any cabbages, and he traded them away so readily!

If it weren’t for Maitreya Buddha’s Quasi-Saint hypocrisy, and the fact that he was the only one from Buddhism in attendance, she wouldn’t have given him three so easily.

But Maitreya Buddha didn’t even seem to value them!

Now, Queen Mother was somewhat in doubt about her value assessment, recalling what the Ancestor of Taoism had said before merging with the Tao.

"Jade Pool, this is one of the ten Innate Spirit Root seeds, the seed of the Flat Peach tree, and today, it belongs to you. Such treasures are priceless."

Priceless...

Queen Mother glanced at Maitreya Buddha, consumed in gluttony, and didn’t see any signs of appreciation.

She then looked at the immortals huddled together slicing the Flat Peaches, nodding to herself, thinking that this was more fitting.

Although it was quite a markdown, it nonetheless comforted Queen Mother’s spirits considerably.