Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

Others may not know the true reason why the Dragon King of Jing River was killed, but Jiang Liu was crystal clear about it. If he managed to bring out the soul of the Dragon King of Jing River from the Underworld, it would be somewhat troublesome.

Therefore, Jiang Liu specifically instructed Sun Wukong not to let anyone know it was him who did the deed.

"I, Old Sun, have to sneak around now? I, Old Sun, am not that kind of person!" Hearing Jiang Liu's order, Sun Wukong's expression turned a bit sour.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Even after being suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years, he was still the fearless Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Was it really necessary to skulk about just to take back a mere soul?

"Hehe!"

Seeing Sun Wukong's disdainful attitude towards skulking about, Jiang Liu gave him a sardonic smile.

Sun Wukong's eyebrows twitched, "Master, I always feel like your 'hehe' laugh is mocking me."

"No, not at all, you're mistaken!"

Jiang Liu shook his head, issuing a triple denial, and then said, "Monkey, I remember when you were guarding the Peach Garden, those peaches—was it you who stole them?"

"Nonsense, those were, those were eaten by I, Old Sun, in the open, right in front of the seven fairies, after I immobilized them!"

"Oh? And the feast in the Peach Garden, it was you who sneaked in and made a mess while eating and drinking a lot, right?"

"This, this was just because I, Old Sun, got there a bit early. I, I didn't sneak in."

"What about the Golden Pills from the Doushuai Palace? Was it perhaps the Supreme Elder Lord who invited you to eat them?"

"This..."

"Hehe, you call yourself 'not that kind of person'? Go on now, as your teacher I know this is your strong suit!" Seeing Sun Wukong at a loss for words, Jiang Liu chuckled unsympathetically.

"Alright, I, Old Sun, understand!"

Ever since he started travelling to the West with his master, there had been countless verbal spars, but the number of times he won seemed to be countable on one hand. Being left speechless by the rebuttal, Sun Wukong said no more and nodded.

Murmuring a mantra, his form shrank, and he disappeared directly into the ground.

Watching Sun Wukong head to the Underworld, Jiang Liu's heart settled down quite a bit, having great trust in Sun Wukong's capabilities.

Although the recent conversation was all about bantering and teasing Sun Wukong, what he said wasn't made up; with Sun Wukong's abilities and nimble tactics, sneaking into the Underworld and bringing out the soul of the Dragon King of Jing River shouldn't be difficult—it truly was his strong suit.

Some time passed, and Zhu Bajie, who had just relieved himself, returned to the stone chamber. Stumbling in a drowsy state, he walked over to a mat on the floor and collapsed onto it.

He began to snore like thunder almost immediately, obviously not even noticing Sun Wukong's departure, which left Jiang Liu's prepared explanation without an opportunity to be used.

Shaking his head in amusement, Jiang Liu calmed his mind, sat cross-legged, and continued to practice the Heavenly Dragon Zen Sound cultivation technique.

His Experience Points were slowly increasing, and his Cultivation Level was accumulating bit by bit, like accumulating sand into a pagoda...

Leaving aside the profound silence in the depths of the night at the Yunzhai Cave, the Underworld below was actually more bustling than during the day.

For Sun Wukong, who was well-versed in this, after changing his appearance, he entered the Underworld and stealthily infiltrated it. After pondering for a moment, he figured out where to find the Dragon King of Jing River.

The Underworld, being a place where lost souls are collected, is managed by the ten Yamas who each have their own duties. Lost souls who died from suicide, wrongful death, disasters, wars, and homicides all enter the City of the Wrongfully Dead, which is governed by the King of Biancheng.

"Hmm, according to what master said, the Dragon King of Jing River seems to have died wrongfully. He once protested in the Underworld and even had Emperor of Tang's soul come down to confront him. I think he should be in the City of the Wrongfully Dead."

Though Sun Wukong may not possess great wisdom, he does have plenty of craftiness. After a brief thought, he transformed into the appearance of a wandering soul and hurried toward the City of the Wrongfully Dead.

The divine skill of the Seventy-Two Transformations was not something ordinary ghost immortals and underworld messengers could see through.

As a wandering soul, Sun Wukong proceeded, and soon he saw an ancient city before him, with three large characters inscribed on its gate: City of the Wrongfully Dead.

Underworld soldiers guarded the city gates, and Sun Wukong, disguised as a wandering soul, hesitated for a moment as he contemplated ways to sneak in.

"Hey, you there, how did you escape from the City of the Wrongfully Dead?"

However, just as Sun Wukong was considering how to infiltrate, an underworld messenger suddenly appeared, swinging a huge iron chain which looped around Sun Wukong's neck, and he demanded loudly.

"Sir, I've been wronged; I've been so wronged! Please let me go!"

Seeing that the ghost messenger shackled him and headed toward the City of the Wrongfully Dead, Sun Wukong's eyes rolled around, and he immediately pretended to be a wronged soul, shouting loudly. Then, with the ghost messenger's chain wound around him, he was dragged directly into the City of the Wrongfully Dead.

"Hehehe, I, Old Sun, am really clever!" Pretending to be bound by chains, he successfully infiltrated the City of the Wrongfully Dead, Sun Wukong chuckled to himself.

"No use yelling, with so many wronged souls recently arriving in the City of the Wrongfully Dead, even if you've been falsely accused, who knows how long it will take for your turn to come up!" This Underworld Messenger, while locking up Sun Wukong, seemed not too strict and rambled on as if they were quite chatty.

As if a chain for trapping wandering souls could restrain Sun Wukong.

The moment he entered the City of the Wrongfully Dead, Sun Wukong was ready to break free from the chains, knock out this Underworld Messenger, and search for the Dragon King of Jing River on his own.

But seeing the Underworld Messenger seemed so talkative, Sun Wukong secretly smiled to himself and didn't hurry to make his move. He said, "You're mentioning that a lot of wronged souls have come to the City of the Wrongfully Dead recently? Aside from us common wandering souls, are there also many influential figures?"

"Of course, there are. What, you're interested in these big issues too? Are you even qualified to know about them?"

Leading with the chain, the Underworld Messenger slightly turned his head, glanced at Sun Wukong and said disapprovingly.

The disdain in the Underworld Messenger's speech made Sun Wukong itch to scratch his head in frustration.

However, he didn't react; instead, after turning his eyeballs, he countered with a laugh, "I bet you don't even know, do you?"

"Hmph, you think you can look down on me?" The Underworld Messenger turned back, clearly agitated by the provocation.

After scanning Sun Wukong, he pointed to a secluded stone stool not far away and said, "Let's go, let's have a good chat today. You ask and see what you want to know, and if I can answer it."

"Alright, let's go then!" The Underworld Messenger's response was exactly what Sun Wukong was hoping for.

One loved to ramble and talk, while the other wanted to extract useful information from the speaker; so, it was a perfect match as the two of them went to an isolated place and sat down.

"Alright, ask away, what do you want to know? I tell you, I'm known as the Nosy Parker in this City of the Wrongfully Dead; there's nothing I don't know about!" After sitting down, this Underworld Messenger patted his chest, speaking with confidence.

"Well then, tell me about the wrongful death case that the King of Biancheng handled recently!" Although eager to gather information, Sun Wukong was still cautious, deliberately not asking about the Dragon King of Jing River first.

This Underworld Messenger seemed to know a lot; Sun Wukong asked him about two or three matters and he answered fluently each time.

Even though Sun Wukong didn't know if the Underworld Messenger was correct, the fact that he could answer without hesitation suggested he wasn't making it up.

"Alright, I'll ask you another thing, do you know about the Dragon King of Jing River's wrongful death?" Sun Wukong nodded and then casually followed up with another question.

"I certainly do. The matter of the Dragon King of Jing River was a big commotion. The Dragon King protested his innocence, and even Lord Yama summoned the soul of Emperor of Tang to confront him in the Underworld!" The Underworld Messenger continued, recounting the whole event of Li Shimin's soul journeying to the Underworld to Sun Wukong.

These words were no different from what Jiang Liu had said.

After nodding, Sun Wukong then inquired, "So what's the current situation of the Dragon King of Jing River? You know about that?"

"Of course, I know. Even though Lord Yama had Emperor of Tang confront him, the emperor eventually returned. The Dragon King still felt wronged and, holding a grudge, refused to reincarnate, so he is still staying at the foot of Knife Mountain!" The Underworld Messenger replied promptly, without consideration.

"At the foot of Knife Mountain, got it!" Hearing this, Sun Wukong nodded. Read latest stories on empire

He committed this information to memory and then silently blew a breath at the Underworld Messenger, using the Sleepy Bug technique he had won from the Heavenly King, quickly sending the Underworld Messenger into a deep sleep.

With a soft chuckle, Sun Wukong felt this journey to the Underworld was going unexpectedly smoothly. He immediately broke the chains and headed towards Knife Mountain.

...

Leaving aside the situation in the City of the Wrongfully Dead for the moment, elsewhere, an ethereal Ghost Immortal radiating golden Buddhist Light carried a bowl of plain rice porridge with a respectful demeanor within a quaint Stone Chamber.

Though a Ghost Immortal, there was no hint of gloom about him. Instead, the golden Buddhist Light that radiated from him was dazzling. Approaching the center of the Stone Chamber, he saw the Lotus Platform next to him empty, which made him pause slightly in surprise.

Placing the bowl of porridge on the stone table, the Ghost Immortal looked around and asked an Exotic Beast lying nearby, "Where has the Bodhisattva gone?"

But before the Exotic Beast could respond, an Old Monk with a benign smile walked into the Stone Chamber from the outside.

"Bodhisattva, where have you just been?" The Ghost Immortal curiously handed over the bowl of porridge and asked.

The Old Monk took the bowl of porridge with a slight smile and replied, "Oh, nothing much. I just went out to take a look at an interesting little monkey..."

"A little monkey?" The Ghost Immortal looked puzzled and turned his gaze questioning toward the Old Monk.

However, the Old Monk, holding the bowl of porridge, bowed his head and did not intend to explain.