第 22 回

The master and disciples walked for three or four months, safe along the way.

On this day, they arrived at a big river.

The river surface is very wide, about eight hundred li, the water flow is very fast, and the waves are very big.

On the bank, there is a stone tablet, with the three big characters "Liusha River" carved on it.

The three were worrying about how to cross the river, when suddenly a monster jumped out from the river.

This monster looks very fierce, with nine skulls hanging around its neck.

Sun Wukong immediately picked up his master and retreated to a high ground in the distance.

Zhu Bajie put down the luggage, raised his rake, and struck at the monster.

The two fought by the river for a long time, unable to determine who was winning or losing.

Sun Wukong watched from the side, very excited, and couldn't help but fly over to help.

The monster couldn't withstand the two of them fighting together, turned around, jumped into the river, and fled.

Zhu Bajie was happily fighting when Sun Wukong interrupted him, feeling very uncomfortable in his heart, and kept complaining.

Sun Wukong smiled and apologized, saying he wasn't good at fighting in the water.

He told Zhu Bajie to go into the river and lure the monster to the shore.

Zhu Bajie jumped into the river and indeed saw that monster resting.

The two fought in the water for a while longer, and Zhu Bajie pretended he couldn't win, fleeing toward the shore.

The monster closely followed behind, chasing.

Sun Wukong on the shore saw the monster emerge from the water surface and hurriedly raised his golden-hooped staff to strike.

The monster was very cautious, and as soon as it saw the golden-hooped staff, it immediately shrank back into the water and never came out again.

Zhu Bajie went ashore and angrily scolded Sun Wukong, saying it was hard enough to trick the monster out, and then he scared it back with one swing of his staff.

Sun Wukong smiled and comforted him, saying that this monster had suffered losses and would definitely not easily come ashore again.

He told Zhu Bajie to protect their master well, and he himself rode the somersault cloud directly to the South Sea to seek help from Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Guanyin Bodhisattva listened to Sun Wukong's words, smiled slightly, and told him that the monster in the Liusha River was originally the Curtain-Rolling General from heaven, who had been punished to the mortal world because he violated heavenly laws.

The Bodhisattva had long ago enlightened him, making him believe in Buddhism, and he waited in the Liusha River for the scripture seeker.

Sun Wukong was very happy to hear this and asked the Bodhisattva to send someone to explain the situation.

The Bodhisattva then sent Huian, the attendant by her side, to go to the Liusha River with Sun Wukong.

The two arrived at the riverbank, and Huian the attendant shouted loudly towards the river water: "Wujing."

The monster heard the shout and quickly emerged from the water, coming forward to bow to Huian.

Huian the attendant told him that the one who had come ashore was exactly the holy monk going from the Great Tang in the East to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures, and he should quickly bow to him as his master.

Upon hearing this, the monster immediately went ashore, knelt down and kowtowed to Tang Monk, begging to be taken in.

Tang Seng saw that he was very sincere and was very happy.

The monster also paid respects to the two senior brothers, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie.

Tang Seng took out a razor, shaved the hair of this new disciple, and gave him a name, called Sha Heshang.

Hui'an Xingzhe had Sha Heshang take off the nine skulls from his neck, tie them with a rope in the pattern of the Nine Palaces, and then placed the gourd given by the Bodhisattva in the middle.

That gourd carried the master and his three disciples, steadily crossing the eight hundred li of the Flowing Sands River.

After reaching the opposite bank, Hui'an Xingzhe put away the gourd and returned to the South Sea to report.

Tang Seng accepted Sha Heshang, and the master and his three disciples were finally complete; he was very happy in his heart and continued to walk westward.