Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 172 Maitreya Buddha Knows the Location of Chaos Residence
"What?" Sun Wukong was utterly confused, having forgotten everything.
All he did every day was cook and not think about anything else.
"It’s the thing I mentioned before, going to cook for our Buddhism banquet and being the chef for once!"
Oh, that!
Sun Wukong suddenly realized, "The Jade Emperor agreed?"
With responsibility at his job and loyalty to guard, not to mention it being the career he loved, he must give it his all!
"Of course!" Maitreya let out a long belch and patted his belly.
"We’ve already discussed it with the Jade Emperor."
Turning his head, he took a sip of water to moisten his throat.
"What do you say? Wukong, do you want to come and help? Let them see your cooking skills?"
Sun Wukong did not speak but thought seriously. The first part of the offer didn’t matter much, but what Maitreya said next hit right at what Sun Wukong desired.
What he wanted most now was others to recognize his cooking.
"Alright! I’ll go!" Sun Wukong finally agreed.
Great!
Seeing Sun Wukong agree, Maitreya could hardly contain his excitement, nearly jumping for joy.
"Then make sure to prepare plenty of meat dishes!" Maitreya smacked his lips, savoring the taste of meat, looking forward with anticipation; he loved it.
"Aren’t you Buddhists supposed to only eat vegetarian? And you, do you even count as a Buddhist?" Sun Wukong asked, his voice laced with a ghost of a question.
He really didn’t understand how Maitreya could be so peculiar. He had heard from the Kitchen God that Buddhists were supposed to refrain from meat.
Maitreya’s eyes widened, his indignation flaring.
"Am I eating meat? No, I am liberating and guiding the spirits of these meats, it’s a deed that benefits heaven and earth, and the hardships involved are well known to me."
Sun Wukong: "..."
Hardships indeed.
Sun Wukong was speechless. If it weren’t for knowing how his cooking tasted, he might have believed it.
If eating meat is suffering, well, he might as well do it.
"Prepare more meat dishes, that’s settled then!" Maitreya hurriedly finalized the plan, as if afraid Sun Wukong would change his mind.
Without bringing it up again, Maitreya glanced at the Kitchen God, nodded with a smile, and said, "The esteemed Chef Wukong and I have important matters to discuss, please leave us for a moment."
"Yes! Yes!" The Kitchen God nodded repeatedly.
With a wave of his hand, he also motioned for the Immortal Attendants in the Imperial Kitchen to leave with him.
Maitreya paused, then asked in a hushed, excited voice, "Wukong, how did you make the hot pot at the banquet the other day awaken my divine skills?"
"You had an awakening?" Sun Wukong looked somewhat astonished.
Didn’t Master say hot pot was the hardest to have an awakening with?
You could eat it ten times in a row and still not likely awaken divine skills; could Maitreya have had an awakening?
But Sun Wukong had no idea how much Maitreya had eaten.
Though hot pot was difficult for awakening divine skills, Maitreya had devoured ten servings at once, and with a bit of luck, awakening divine skills was more than possible.
Maitreya chuckled and patted his belly proudly, boasting, "See?"
His belly could now indeed be considered a magical treasure, incredibly strong.
Lucky guy, Sun Wukong shrugged and said, "The last dish wasn’t made by me, was it?"
"Then who?" Maitreya was startled.
Wasn’t Sun Wukong supposed to be the main chef at the Flat Peach Banquet?
Respect and admiration filled Sun Wukong’s eyes, "The hot pot was passed down to me by my master, and awakening the divine way is also my master’s unique ability."
Sun Wukong’s master?
Maitreya’s expression turned to surprise, wasn’t this what Buddhism wanted to know? Taking Sun Wukong away for ten years had directly caused chaos within their order.
"Wukong, who exactly is your master?" Maitreya couldn’t help but ask, with some disbelief in his heart.
Could it be possible for a man to awaken divine powers, or was he dreaming?
"My master is Shopkeeper Chen from the Chaos Residence at Mountain of Mind and Heart," Sun Wukong replied.
Mountain of Mind and Heart, Maitreya was shocked in his heart, wasn’t this the place where the Saint Shan Shi Bodhi Patriarch made his arrangements?
How could there be a Chaos Residence at that place?
He had visited it himself, and there was only one Three Star Cave at that location. Moreover, Patriarch Bodhi had since moved out, and the entire Mountain of Mind and Heart should have been deserted by now.
When did something else appear there?
"Chaos Residence? But how come I’ve never heard of it? There’s only a Three Star Cave at that place," Maitreya said, probing.
Sun Wukong had no intentions to hide anything about Chaos Residence.
"There indeed is a Three Star Cave, I, old Sun, even considered asking to be apprenticed there, but they wouldn’t open the door for me. I thought of waiting a bit longer, then I smelled a fragrant aroma of food."
"Starved and unable to resist, I followed the scent, and just like that, I found my master’s Chaos Residence in the mountains.
Sun Wukong’s eyes shone with fortune as he spoke; if his master hadn’t made that golden fried rice at that time, perhaps he would have never had the chance to apprentice at Chaos Residence, let alone achieve what he had today.
Maitreya’s mouth twitched slightly; the monkey’s reason for not joining the Three Star Cave was surprisingly flimsy.
Just because he was hungry and ate a meal, he was taken away just like that?
If Tathagata and the others knew that the chance to take in the monkey was lost because they were late in opening the door, who knows whether they would regret it to the point of turning green with envy.
However, the dust had already settled, and discussing this matter now was meaningless.
Maitreya wasn’t someone superficial; what he wanted to understand were deeper topics.
Shifting his position to be closer to the monkey, Maitreya, with a beaming, curious face, asked, "Wukong, this Chaos Residence run by your master, how’s the food there?"
Wukong smiled knowingly, "The taste, it’s beyond words."
"How beyond?"
"Let me put it this way! If the dishes I make are just plain ordinary, then what my master cooks is like the lofty dome above us, boundless and supreme."
Sun Wukong said, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.
Despite Sun Wukong’s modesty, the dishes made by Chen Nuo truly qualified as the peak of culinary arts; even after ten years of hard practice, Sun Wukong still needed to look up to them.
"Holy moly! That exaggerated?" Maitreya couldn’t help but swear.
The decorum of Buddhism had long been forgotten somewhere.
"Why would old Sun lie to you?" Sun Wukong rolled his eyes. Maitreya, hearing this, involuntarily held his breath.
In his opinion, the dishes Sun Wukong made were already the pinnacle of the world, unrivaled by anyone.
But it turned out, there was always someone better.
If even the dishes made by Sun Wukong are considered ordinary, then what kind of supreme taste could his master’s cooking possess?
Just by imagining it, Maitreya’s mind and spirit were already stirred, wishing he could rush to the Chaos Residence Sun Wukong spoke of and feast to his heart’s content.
"Is that awakening of divine powers also true?" Maitreya asked eagerly.
"Of course it’s true!" Sun Wukong nodded.
He knew how shocking this common-worldly affair was, having felt the same when he awoke.
Maitreya gasped, cooking that could awaken divine powers, just who was this Shopkeeper Chen Sun Wukong talked about?
Even his own mentor did not possess such ability, right?
As a disciple of a saint, he had never experienced anything like this. Just hearing about this tip of the iceberg capability, Maitreya felt that this so-called Shopkeeper Chen couldn’t be weaker than his own mentor, it was simply too heaven-defying!
Only those who had personally experienced it could understand its wondrous nature. No wonder being in the same Mountain of Mind and Heart, they never discovered him; this was true power!
Their Buddhist plans were not wronged in their defeat.
