Chapter 647 - 65: Little Monkey Meets Big Monkey, Bodhi Meets Lu Xuan, the Great Saint’s Backbone Is Broken

Chapter 647: Chapter 65: Little Monkey Meets Big Monkey, Bodhi Meets Lu Xuan, the Great Saint’s Backbone Is Broken

As he spoke, he pointed, and the high mountain outside the village levitated. He pointed again, and clouds and mist lifted him. One moment he was on the ground, the next in the sky, and an instant later, he was back on the ground.

"An Immortal! An Immortal!" the Little Monkey shrieked in excitement, scratching his ears and cheeks. "Immortal, make me your disciple! Please, make me your disciple!"

"What makes you think I’m an Immortal?"

The little old man was exasperated.

"Anyone can do what I can do. If you don’t believe me, just ask her!"

As he spoke, the little old man pointed to a little girl at his side, who was sniffling loudly.

The little girl, biting her finger, mimicked the old man’s gesture and pointed to the sky, piping up in a tiny voice,

"Wind, come! Clouds, come! And little rain, come fast!"

Before the Little Monkey’s excited eyes, a great wind rose, clouds roiled, a spring rain fell, and thousands of sprouts burst from the ground.

"An Immortal! An Immortal! An Immortal who calls the wind and summons the rain!"

The Little Monkey bowed to the girl, who laughed so hard a bubble of snot popped from her nose. Then, she shook her head.

"I’m not an Immortal! This is all taught in the Celestial Book. Anyone can do it!"

The Little Monkey was bewildered.

"The Celestial Book? What’s that?"

"It’s something a really, really powerful Immortal taught to the whole Human Race!"

"The Celestial Book..." The Little Monkey’s eyes lit up. "If I could just get him to be my master, that would be amazing!"

The little old man said with a smile,

"How could an Immortal of that caliber ever accept a wild monkey like you as a disciple? You can’t learn from the Celestial Book—that was passed down to people. You’re a monkey, not a person. If you really want to find an Immortal, you’d be better off heading towards the great city to the East. There’s bound to be an Immortal there."

"I’ll go! I’ll go!"

The Little Monkey nodded eagerly and, with a look of pure longing, ran off toward the East. He found his way into a great city and spent a year searching high and low, but he couldn’t find an Immortal anywhere.

Instead, he was cruelly tricked a couple of times by some mischievous children, leaving him in a wretched state.

Then he heard that Immortals lived high in the mountains, so he headed North. He spent a year searching a hundred mountains, but still found no trace of an Immortal.

The woodsmen and hunters of the wilds, surprisingly, all knew Immortal Techniques, but they too had learned them from the Celestial Book. He couldn’t learn it.

’How I envy them...’

The Little Monkey then ran south, searching the wastelands for a year. He still found no Immortal. Instead, he encountered an Evil Flood Dragon and was bitten and torn to shreds, only barely managing to escape.

"SOB... SOB... I can’t find an Immortal... I can’t find an Immortal..."

The Little Monkey wiped his tears away, heartbroken.

As he sobbed, he saw an old monkey watching him with a complicated expression.

"Who are you?"

The Little Monkey forgot his tears and asked, tilting his head.

The old monkey thought for a moment, then said,

"You’re the Little Monkey, and I’m the Big Monkey."

The Little Monkey was confused and tilted his head again.

"Big Monkey, do you need me for something?"

Instead of answering, the old monkey asked a question of his own.

"Thirty years at sea, two years in the cities, one year in the mountains, one year in the wastes... have you had a single full meal?"

Hearing this, the Little Monkey’s lip trembled. He looked aggrieved and burst out crying, "WAHHH—"

"No! I haven’t eaten! I miss Huaguo Mountain... I want to eat peaches..."

"Let me treat you."

The Big Monkey rubbed the Little Monkey’s head and brought him soft peaches, bananas, sugarcane, and more—three whole baskets full. The Little Monkey ate with glee, and his once-flat stomach swelled up.

"Big Monkey, you’re the best!"

He took a bite of a peach and spoke from the heart. Looking at the now-empty baskets, he reluctantly handed the last few peaches to the Big Monkey.

"Let’s eat together!"

The Big Monkey just smiled and shook his head.

After finishing the fruit, the Little Monkey patted his belly and asked curiously,

"Big Monkey, why did you treat me to such a feast?"

Victorious Fighting Buddha thought for a moment, then said softly,

"I had it rough like this when I was young, too. Consider it... me treating my younger self to a meal."

"Oh!"

The Little Monkey, seeming to half-understand, asked again,

"Big Monkey, do you know where I can find an Immortal? I need to become a disciple!"

Hesitation flickered across Victorious Fighting Buddha’s face. He clenched his jaw and pointed to a thatched hut in the distance.

"You... should go and ask there."

"Alright!"

The Little Monkey took a few joyful steps, then turned back, confused.

"Big Monkey, aren’t you coming with me?"

"I won’t be going. You go on ahead. Just go."

"Okay, then! Once I find an Immortal, become his disciple, and learn Immortal Skills, I’ll come find you! I’ll teach you everything I learn!"

"Deal."

Victorious Fighting Buddha watched the Little Monkey skip away, let out a soft sigh, and turned to bow formally.

"Greetings, Teacher."

Ancient Bodhi Buddha stood there silently, asking with cold indifference,

"Sun Wukong, why did you interfere with the course of this Journey to the West?"

Victorious Fighting Buddha hung his head, silent.

Ancient Bodhi Buddha’s expression grew even colder.

"What? Do you no longer acknowledge me as your teacher? Do you intend to change the past?"

"I do."

Victorious Fighting Buddha suddenly raised his head and spoke softly,

"It is you who no longer acknowledges me."

Ancient Bodhi Buddha stared at him and said with casual authority,

"Slap yourself."

Victorious Fighting Buddha slapped himself twice across the face.

Seeing this, Bodhi asked again,

"Why did you interfere with the Journey to the West and disrupt the past? Did that Fellow Daoist Lu put you up to this?"

"No."

Victorious Fighting Buddha answered frankly,

"To answer your question, Teacher, I just wanted to find the little fellow... a better teacher."

Ancient Bodhi Buddha’s expression instantly darkened.

"Insolent!"

A terrifying pressure crashed down, forcing Victorious Fighting Buddha to his knees. The sound of his vertebrae cracking was audible!

The Supreme Being spoke, his voice frigid.

"In your eyes, I cannot compare to Lu Xuan? I bestowed upon you the Seventy-Two Divine Techniques, enabled you to attain the rank of Buddha, granted you the title of ’Victorious Fighting,’ and gave you the right to one day achieve the full status of a Buddha. And this is how you repay me?"

"That is not it. It’s just..."

Victorious Fighting Buddha said softly,

"It’s just... I don’t think Elder Lu would have stopped me from becoming a Daluo."

He had been stuck at the Fifth Level of the Celestial Realms—the level of ’Near Daluo’—for a very, very long time. He had performed this Ascension into the past Years precisely because he sensed an opportunity to reach Daluo.

But even with the opportunity for Daluo at hand, even with a divine body born of heaven and earth and a thread of Cause and Effect from Lady Wa Huang, he was still unable to attain the state of Daluo.

It was not that he was incapable, but that Bodhi would not allow it.

Ancient Bodhi Buddha frowned, and after a moment of silence, said flatly,

"It is not that you are forbidden from attaining Daluo. If you were to become a Daluo, your past and present would become one, and the entire Journey to the West would simply vanish. Wait until the final tribulation arrives, wait until there is no longer a need for the Journey to the West. Then you can become a Daluo and take your place as a Buddha."

"I see."

Victorious Fighting Buddha remained prostrate on the ground, head bowed, but he spoke again.

"But I also think... while Elder Lu wouldn’t have given the little fellow the titles of ’Fighting’ and ’Victorious,’ he probably also wouldn’t have let Old Sun end up like this..."

"Like I am now—bearing the title of Victorious Fighting, yet forced to bow and kowtow."

"Compared to being the Victorious Fighting Buddha, I’d rather be... the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!"

He fought against the immense pressure, forced himself to straighten his back, to get to his feet, to raise his head, and to glare with his Eyes of Golden Flame!

Ancient Bodhi Buddha’s expression became glacial. Gazing at this suddenly defiant monkey, he laughed instead of growing angry.

"So bold now, are we? Feeling your oats... For the sake of our history as master and disciple, and for the Journey to the West, I will spare your life. Go to Spirit Mountain and accept your punishment. Three thousand years of blades piercing your heart, three thousand years in a mountain of daggers and a sea of fire, then another three thousand years in shackles, kowtowing to all you meet. We will grind away your spirit and sever your arrogant thoughts... Now, be gone!"

With a single slap, he shattered the spine of the Victorious Fighting Buddha whose back was so hard to bend, flinging him toward Spirit Mountain and spilling a great deal of blood.

The wretched Big Monkey landed before the assembled Buddhas of Spirit Mountain. Under the peculiar gazes of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, he fell into a kowtowing posture. He had lost his past sharpness, his recent defiance, his former spirit. Trembling, he spoke.

"I... have come to receive my punishment."

Sakyamuni Buddha opened his eyes and sighed softly.

.........

The Little Monkey skipped happily to the thatched hut. He seemed to sense something and looked back, but he didn’t see the Big Monkey.

’I suddenly feel uneasy...’

The Little Monkey muttered to himself in confusion, then, carefree as ever, promptly put it out of his mind and brazenly pushed open the door of the thatched hut.

"Is there an Immortal in here?"

Inside, a middle-aged man looked up and smiled faintly.

"You wild monkey, you should knock before entering someone’s home. Don’t you know even that?"

"Oh, really?"

The Little Monkey nodded in innocent understanding, stepped out of the hut, closed the door, and knocked firmly.

"Is there an Immortal in here?"

"Come in," Lu Xuan said, exasperated, letting out a quiet sigh.

The door was pushed open again, and the Little Monkey walked into Fangcun Mountain.

"Huh?" The Little Monkey stared at the towering mountain behind the door, completely baffled. Where did that man go??

When he looked back again, the doorway was gone.

Back at the thatched hut, Bodhi pushed the door open and walked in.