owlsbooks Chapter 218 The Great Sage's Journey to the West
Chapter 218 The Great Sage's Journey to the West
Inside the guest room.
Yang Silang paced back and forth in the room, frowning, like a trapped beast.
He wasn't worried at all about how he would do on the exam.
Master-level skill as a foundation.
The top scorer in the stone-lifting category was someone who could easily lift a 2,000-pound iron chain; there were over a hundred people who could do this.
Unfortunately, there was no iron lock heavier than this.
His archery skills were also top-notch; from thirty feet away, he fired ten arrows in succession, all hitting the bullseye, with some arrows even emerging from the bullseye's arrow holes.
What's even more amazing is that he shoots a rapid-fire barrage of arrows, almost ten arrows in one go, with the arrows forming a continuous line in the air.
It was rated as A-level because the highest possible rating is only A-level.
However, there are many masters in the world.
Among the candidates, there were more than a dozen who could shoot in rapid succession to this extent, and some of them shot even faster and more accurately than him.
The strongest among them was Jin Yunyi, an illegitimate son of the Jin family. Each of his arrows shattered the previous one without hitting the bullseye.
Ten arrows were fired in quick succession, yet only one arrow ended up on the bullseye. Such exquisite control of force was something even Yang Silang could not match.
However, when he heard that this person was a Grandmaster of the Golden Marrow realm, he immediately felt relieved. A Grandmaster should be this strong.
His performance in archery was also top-tier.
Because bringing one's own mount was allowed, Yang Silang rode Daqing into the arena. Although there were many people around, he did not use the Dragon Soaring and Wind-Treading Technique to combine rider and horse into one.
But Daqing is very perceptive and runs extremely steadily.
Despite the seemingly jerky movements and bouncing body, Yang Silang remained almost perfectly stable on his back.
He had only practiced archery for a little over twenty days before the exam, and even then, the training ground was too small, so he practiced with great difficulty.
His archery skills on horseback were not as good as his archery on foot, so he honestly shot arrow after arrow slowly, hitting the heads of ten straw targets along the way.
However, he still couldn't compare to Jin Yunyi, who was so freakish that he rode his horse like a gust of wind.
Three arrows were shot at the bullseye, and all of them hit the target.
In the blink of an eye, thirty arrows were shot out, as if the arrows had eight arms.
Then came the sword-wielding segment.
He also received the highest grade.
Yang Silang uses the common Five Elements Fist and Five Elements Saber techniques from the martial arts training hall.
However, he wielded the sword with the divine intent of fire, and the sword's momentum was domineering and fierce. This was only a display of his full power.
The blade's momentum was like Mount Tai pressing down, overwhelming people and seizing their souls, truly demonstrating the sword intent of a strong warrior.
After all, his fire-attribute divine intent belonged to Mu Canghu, a truly peerless martial artist skilled in wielding a sword.
It was just a small test, and he easily won a top-grade prize.
In the martial arts test, he achieved the highest score in all aspects, and then there was the policy essay test.
Yang Silang combined several model essays from his memory, recombined them, and carefully copied them down.
In any case, only the military examination is of the highest rank, and the Ministry of War will definitely not hold anyone accountable for the essay section, as long as they don't submit a blank paper.
This morning.
Fu Hongying, Wang Daniu, and Zhou Mingxuan excitedly went to see the list.
Yang Silang didn't go because he was absolutely confident that he could make the list; his ranking was not important.
Anyway, the top 150 are almost all the private domains of aristocratic families, so rankings are just a pipe dream.
His current headache is how to end the new Journey to the West.
For more than twenty days.
They practiced martial arts during the day and swordsmanship and archery at night, and also had to deal with the possibility of a sudden visit from Consort Hu.
Consort Hu is concerned about the progress of the new Journey to the West.
But Yang Silang couldn't possibly make that up.
Consort Hu did not urge him, but each time she stared at him with resentful eyes, her expression just like that of someone looking at a useless husband.
Yang Silang even suspected that the woman had used a bewitching technique.
For the past twenty-odd days, he has devoted most of his energy to the new Journey to the West.
Unfortunately, as it turns out, this thing can't be produced by hard work alone.
He racked his brains until his newly grown hair was almost bald, but he still had no clue.
Can anyone offer some advice on how to send all the demons with powerful backers to the Demon Refining Banner without attracting the attention of the big shots behind them?
Unless they no longer want to seek the true scriptures.
The sugar daddy wants to conquer everything, wanting both pleasure and the ultimate secret.
They didn't beg and kneel all the way to obtain the true scriptures; they obtained them standing up.
What should I do?
As he hesitated, he suddenly heard the crackling sound of firecrackers outside the courtyard.
Then a chorus of footsteps rushed into the courtyard.
Before he even arrived, Wang Daniu's loud voice rang out.
"Fourth Brother...Fourth Brother...You made the list!"
"Ranked 155th in high school!"
"Brother Zhou also passed, ranking 450th."
thump……
The door was kicked open.
Looking at everyone's smiling faces, Yang Silang felt a little relieved.
Zhou Mingxuan came up to offer his congratulations and thanked Yang Silang for beating him so badly during his sparring session, which allowed him to make rapid progress in his kung fu over the next month. Otherwise, he would have definitely failed the exam.
Fu Hongying also came over and said some flattering things, and insisted on learning the "observing the mountain" archery as a supplementary course. I don't know what's wrong with this girl all of a sudden.
The group took their seats.
Wang Daniu chattered on about the funny things that happened when he was looking at the list, mentioning how the crowd surged forward and a few unlucky guys were pierced by iron spears and turned into meat skewers.
It is also said that a third-rank military officer, who was a Grandmaster, roared and repelled the crowd, thus preventing further tragedy from occurring.
"The more people there are, the more chaotic things become. There has to be someone to keep things in check, otherwise chaos will just keep spreading and there will never be an end to it," Wang Daniu lamented.
Upon hearing these words, a sudden flash of light illuminated Yang Silang's mind, dispelling all the confusion and bewilderment he had experienced over the past twenty days.
"Hahaha..." Yang Silang suddenly hugged Wang Daniu and slapped him hard on the shoulder. "Daniu, you're truly my lucky charm!"
"Yes, we're lacking someone to keep things in order on our journey to the West. I've figured out how to change it!"
The crowd looked at each other, unsure of what Yang Silang was saying.
night.
Yang Silang walked on the ground with his hands behind his back. He had been thinking all afternoon and had figured out all the details. He was no longer confused.
at this time.
His arms were burning hot.
The nine-tailed fox tattoo lit up, and a surge of demonic energy emerged, finally coalescing on the chair into a beautiful woman in palace attire—it was Hu Jiaoniang.
Seeing that Yang Silang had changed from his usual melancholy appearance to a beaming smile, she asked curiously.
"No way, it's just 155th place, and he's this happy?"
"Should I speak to Emperor Yongchang and ask him to make you the top scholar in the imperial examination?"
Yang Silang immediately shook his head upon hearing this.
"Your Majesty, please don't do this."
"My ambition is not to become an official. If I were to become the top martial arts champion, how could I possibly refuse an official position offered by the imperial court?"
"I am happy today because I have figured out all the key points of the new Journey to the West."
"Would you like me to tell you the story tonight?"
Hu Jiaoniang became interested.
"Alright, tell me then, I want to hear how you plan to change it..."
Yang Silang coughed.
The previous text remains unchanged, starting from when Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong met at the foot of the Five Fingers Mountain.
Meanwhile, Sun Wukong was suppressed under the mountain and punished day and night. He was still unwilling to accept this and believed that Buddha had tricked him.
If you're a real man, then fight fair and square. If you lose, accept the punishment yourself. Why bother with this charade?
That bald thief is cunning!
The stone monkey was originally a clever and resourceful person; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to great lengths to find the Fangcun Cave and receive the true teachings in the middle of the night.
Faced with Guanyin's admonition, he outwardly appeared submissive, claiming that he had repented and vowing to protect Tang Sanzang on his journey to the Western Paradise to obtain the true scriptures.
When Guanyin saw the Great Sage Equaling Heaven bowing his head and swearing an oath, she believed him and told Tang Sanzang that the person under the Five Fingers Mountain was her eldest disciple, the former Great Sage Equaling Heaven, but she gave him the golden headband and related incantations.
We must both give them important positions and keep them under close guard.
Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong met at the foot of the Five Fingers Mountain. The monkey spoke softly and addressed Tang Sanzang as his master.
So the monk believed it to be true and revealed the six-character mantra on the mountain.
Boom!
With a loud bang, the Great Sage was freed.
The monkey was clever and called the monk its master, deciding to accompany him for a while to see what kind of person he was.
Tang Sanzang presented the monkey with a gold-embroidered hat and a brocade cassock, which concealed a headband. The monkey, being clever, simply said that he had been exposed to the elements at the foot of the mountain for hundreds of years and was used to being naked, so he didn't like wearing a hat.
Tang Sanzang messed up the first test. He couldn't hide his feelings, and his expression changed, arousing the monkey's suspicion.
After the monkey killed the six thieves, he saw Tang Sanzang nagging at him and immediately became furious, pushing Tang Sanzang to the ground.
"As expected, you bald thieves are hypocrites. You talk about benevolence and righteousness, but you're actually incredibly pedantic. If he wants to kill you, are you just going to stick your head out and let him kill you?"
"How can someone like you be qualified to go on the journey to the West to retrieve the scriptures?"
Tang Sanzang, though outwardly fierce, was inwardly weak and immediately panicked.
"You swore you would become my disciple and help me on my journey to retrieve the scriptures."
The monkey laughed and waved its hand.
"Wrong, wrong, wrong. I only swore that I would help you go on your pilgrimage to the West, and I keep that promise."
"I never swore an oath to be your apprentice."
"We were born with a mentor, whose name I cannot reveal, but who is a prominent figure."
"You're nothing but a gimmick with ten reincarnations; you have no real skill or supernatural abilities, and you're just a stubborn old man who's become stupid from chanting scriptures. What makes you think you can be my master?"
The monkey then grabbed the flower hat and cassock, rubbed them together with both hands, and immediately the inner band turned into twisted scrap iron.
He raised his hand and laughed.
"Look, even monks lie!"
Tang Sanzang lowered his head in shame, speechless.
Sun Wukong raised his hand.
"Old Sun doesn't have time to play the master-disciple role with you."
"From now on, we're partners."
"You're in charge of obtaining the scriptures, and I'll be in charge of taking you to the Western Paradise."
"Of course, if you disobey, I won't hesitate to send you to your death!"
"I'll tell you to go east, you can't go west; I'll tell you to shut up, you can't chant scriptures."
"We keep our word and will definitely let you obtain the true knowledge."
"But on this journey to the West, we're the ones in charge; you're just a living advertisement, understand?"
Tang Sanzang was deeply saddened and cried for half the night.
Meanwhile, the six Jia and six Ding who had been monitoring them all along saw this and hurriedly reported it to Guanyin Bodhisattva.
Guanyin Bodhisattva rushed over, and Sun Wukong immediately took out his staff and swung it at her.
"You're the worst one with the bottle; it's full of scheming and bad intentions."
Having been imprisoned under the mountain for five hundred years, the Great Sage was filled with resentment. He never neglected his cultivation, and this strike was even more powerful than when he wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago.
Guanyin was knocked down by several blows, clutching her foot and throwing away her jade bottle as she fled.
Sun Wukong took the broken headband and cassock, both of which were excellent materials for magical artifacts.
He exhaled the elixir fire from his heart, and in just half a night, he used the tight band as the banner pole and the cassock as the banner surface. He also drew water from the clean bottle and set up a great array of nine bends and eighteen turns inside the banner. That very night, he had refined the Soul Refining Banner.
Tang Sanzang was so frightened that he asked him why.
Sun Wukong answered decisively.
"Those six people got off easy today."
"Evil people like them should go through the banner and suffer all the punishments in order to atone for their sins."
"If you encounter a monster again, handle it this way..."
Thus, the two of them rode forward on horseback and stayed overnight at Guanyin Temple.
Sun Wukong thought to himself, "You Guanyin keep talking about benevolence, but look at the abbot of this monastery. You deliberately flaunt your precious cassock. As a result, the abbot, driven by greed, set fire to the temple and ended up burning himself. His soul was captured by the Soul Refining Banner, making him the first villain."
The Black Bear Demon came to put out the fire. Sun Wukong thought the bear demon was of decent character, so he captured him with two blows. He then revealed his identity as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, which frightened the bear demon into saying that he surrendered.
Sun Wukong pointed at Tang Sanzang and said, "From now on, this will be your master." The Black Bear Spirit nodded obsequiously and immediately called him "Master."
Tang Sanzang was completely dumbfounded.
Sun Wukong laughed.
"I won't be your apprentice, but I, Old Sun, have always been kind and honest."
"Look at this black bear, it's tall and mighty, and its martial arts skills are quite good too."
"How about I make him your first disciple to fill the gap in your numbers?"
Tang Sanzang secretly shed tears. "You, this strong-willed disciple, who will he listen to, you or me?"
Sure enough, on the rest of the journey, the Black Bear Spirit only knew Sun Wukong, and while he called his master "Master" enthusiastically, he was not close to him at all.