第 24 回

The master and his three disciples followed the sound and found Zhu Bajie tightly tied to a tree, constantly shouting in pain.

Tang Seng quickly asked Sha Seng to come forward and untie the rope.

Sun Wukong smiled and handed the note left by the Bodhisattva to Bajie to read.

After reading it, Bajie realized he had been tested by the Bodhisattva and felt very embarrassed.

He knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and begged the master for forgiveness.

Sha Seng smiled beside him and said: "Second brother, you really have good luck, you can actually marry four Bodhisattvas."

Bajie blushed with shame and repeatedly said: "Good brother, please stop talking."

From now on, I will wholeheartedly protect the master to go to the Western Heaven and fetch the scriptures.

Tang Seng saw that he had admitted his mistake and forgave him.

The master and his four disciples packed their luggage and continued walking westward.

After walking for a long time, a tall and beautiful mountain appeared ahead.

This mountain is called Longevity Mountain, and there is a Taoist temple in the mountain, named Wuzhuang Temple.

The temple master is the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, Zhenyuan Daxian, and he was good friends with Tang Monk's previous life, Golden Cicada, in the past.

On this day, Zhenyuan Daxian happened to receive an invitation from the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, inviting him to the Miluo Palace in the Shangqing Heaven to listen to lectures on Taoist methods.

Before leaving, he specifically instructed his two youngest disciples—Qingfeng and Mingyue, saying: "Soon, there will be a high monk from the Eastern Land of Great Tang passing by here; he is my old friend."

You must treat him well and pick two ginseng fruits for him to eat, as a token of friendship from an old friend.

The ginseng fruit is the most precious treasure of Wuzhuang Temple.

Its appearance resembles a little baby who hasn't reached one month old; smelling it can extend life by three hundred and sixty years, and eating one can extend life by forty-seven thousand years.

This tree only bears thirty fruits every ten thousand years, making it extremely precious.

Not long after Zhenyuan Daxian left, Tang Monk and his disciples indeed arrived at the gate of Wuzhuang Temple.

Qingfeng and Mingyue saw that what their master said had really happened, so they respectfully invited the master and his three disciples into the temple to rest.

Tang Seng told Sun Wukong to walk the horse in the back garden, told Sha Seng to guard the luggage, told Zhu Bajie to prepare vegetarian food in the kitchen, while he himself sat quietly on the meditation cushion in the main hall.

Qingfeng and Mingyue saw that Tang Seng's three disciples were not around, so they went to the alchemy room to take out the golden mallet, then used an alchemy tray to hold two ginseng fruits, and brought them to Tang Seng to invite him to eat.

Tang Seng looked at the fruits in the tray resembling two little children, was so frightened that his soul almost flew away, repeatedly chanted Buddha's name, and firmly refused to eat.

The two Taoist boys repeatedly explained that these were treasures of the immortals, but Tang Seng just did not believe it, instead blaming them for doing something absurd.

Qingfeng and Mingyue had no choice, so they had to take the ginseng fruits back to their own room.

Qingfeng said to Mingyue: "These fruits are produced from the spiritual root of heaven and earth, that monk is an ordinary person and does not recognize the treasure."

"Leaving them unused is pointless, it's better for the two of us to share and eat them."

Mingyue nodded in agreement.

The two of them then, one each in the room, ate the ginseng fruits.

Unexpectedly, all these words they said were heard by Zhu Bajie, who was burning fire in the kitchen next door.

Bajie heard about such a magical immortal fruit and his mouth watered.

He hurriedly ran to the backyard and quietly told Sun Wukong about this matter.

As soon as Wukong heard about such a good thing, he was very happy in his heart, so he used an invisibility technique and slipped into the room of the Taoist boy.

He saw the golden striker used for hitting the fruit placed on the table, so he casually took it out.

Sun Wukong took the golden striker to the backyard garden and indeed saw a very tall big tree in the garden, with fruits hanging among the leaves one by one, resembling children, and smelling very fragrant.

He jumped onto the tree and used the golden striker to tap one fruit.

That fruit immediately fell down, but as soon as it touched the ground, it disappeared.

Wukong felt strange, recited an incantation to summon the local earth god to ask the reason.

The earth god told the Great Sage that this ginseng fruit conflicts with the five elements; if it touches metal, it will fall down; if it touches wood, it will wither; if it touches water, it will dissolve; if it touches fire, it will burn; if it touches earth, it will burrow into the ground.

Just now, the fruit fell into the soil and was absorbed by the earth.

It is necessary to use something like silk to catch it underneath.

Wukong understood the method and climbed the tree again.

He asked Bajie to find his clothes to hold them, and he himself knocked three fruits from the tree with a golden striker, all caught steadily in the clothes.

The three returned to their dwelling; Bajie, being impatient, picked up a fruit and swallowed it whole, not even tasting what flavor it had.

Wukong and Sha Seng, on the other hand, ate slowly, and indeed it was sweet and delicious.

After finishing his own, Bajie watched Wukong and Sha Seng eating so deliciously, drooling, and pestered Wukong to steal a few more.

Wukong said with a smile: "You fool, being able to eat one such immortal fruit is already a great fortune, how can you be greedy and want more?"

Bajie did not agree, only pleading with him as "good brother," and even started making a fuss.

The commotion from their side, however, was faintly heard by the neighbors, Qingfeng and Mingyue.

Two young Taoist boys became suspicious in their hearts, and hurriedly ran to the back garden to count the ginseng fruits.

Upon counting, they discovered that there were indeed four fewer fruits on the tree.

The two were both shocked and angry, firmly believing that Tang Seng's disciples had stolen the treasure, and immediately ran angrily to the front hall to find Tang Seng and argue.

Tang Seng was asked in such a way that he was completely unclear and had no knowledge of the matter, so he had to call out all three disciples to ask them face-to-face for clarification.