Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Meeting in Advance, Tianpeng and Juanlian【Seeking Collection and Recommendation Tickets】_1
The seven spider sisters were smitten upon hearing Sha Chen’s words; their eyes lit up, and their faces flushed.
Seventh Mother, who once persuaded Sha Chen to spare her life, was particularly overwhelmed with joy.
He’s so thoughtful. Is he concerned about me? He even knows that I like bathing.
The sisters exchanged glances and then said, "Thank you for your concern, General. Is there anything else we can do for you?"
Sha Chen really wanted to say, Just leave, I need to Cultivate.
But he couldn’t say that. It would be too offensive.
Seventh Mother sighed and said, "However, we are but weak women. Apart from helping the General with some trivial collection of Immortal Elixirs, there’s nothing much we can do."
However, Sha Chen was overjoyed, his eyes shining brightly.
He hastily replied, "As long as the Seven Immortal Maidens help me gather the resources needed for Cultivation, I would be extremely grateful."
The seven spider spirits were surprised at first, then felt valued and nodded emphatically.
After listening to some of Sha Chen’s requests, they left reluctantly.
Sha Chen let out a sigh of relief and was secretly thrilled.
This is great! Their willingness to help me gather Cultivation resources is like having several extra hands for my Cultivation. However, given their strength and capabilities, the Cultivation resources they can gather are likely to be limited. If I had more and stronger individuals helping me collect resources without expecting anything in return, that would be fantastic.
After pondering for a while, Sha Chen opened seven Qiankun Bags and stared at the resources inside, his eyes gleaming.
He laughed, I can Cultivate for several more years now.
Once again, Sha Chen plunged into frenzied Cultivation, advancing even faster with the new resources.
It was enough for him to make further progress.
Just as he planned to use the upcoming Cultivation resources to break through to a higher level of Golden Immortal in the next three to five years, someone else arrived outside the Flowing Sand River.
To be precise, a pig came to the outskirts of the Flowing Sand River.
It was a fat pig that roamed the riverbank; had it not jumped into the river and started swimming, Sha Chen wouldn’t have noticed it.
The Flowing Sand River would not even allow goose feathers to float, yet the pig was bobbing on the surface of the water.
This sight was rather eerie.
The key was that the pig was muttering to itself, "Wasn’t it said that Old Sha was banished here? After years of cutting through thorns and brambles, I finally made it."
"But this place is so vast, it’s almost as big as the Milky Way. With a river that stretches for thousands of miles, where am I supposed to find Old Sha?"
The pig swam here and there on the river surface, quickly growing tired, so exhausted that it even fell asleep.
It spent several days and nights searching the river surface. It slept when tired, drank water from the Flowing Sand River when hungry, or went ashore to eat grass.
Sha Chen watched, surprised. This pig was quite resilient.
Clearly unable to find Sha Chen on the surface, the pig decided to dive down; a few hours later, it reached the bottom of the river.
But the riverbed was even vaster. It searched everywhere, swimming around, even shouting Sha Chen’s name loudly, finally colliding with Sha Chen’s Formation barrier and coming to a halt.
The pig was taken aback but quickly realized what had happened.
Elated, it began pounding on the Formation, shouting, "Old Sha, Old Sha, it’s Tianpeng! Hurry up and come out; I’ve come to see you."
"I was drunk when I molested Fairy Chang E; it wasn’t intentional. After being demoted to the human world, I was mistakenly born into a pig’s body. It took me a long time to find you, my friend in adversity. Do you have any food? Share some with me."
Sha Chen didn’t make a sound.
He had already recognized that the pig was Marshal Tianpeng, Zhu Bajie.
Zhu Bajie had come looking for him just because they were former officials of the Heavenly Court who had both erred and were comrades in misfortune; he merely wanted to check on him.
At this moment, the voice of his system rang out.
"Lucky Person Marshal Tianpeng wishes to meet the host. You have the following choices."
"Choice One: Ignore him and let him leave, as if this former colleague from the Heavenly Court never existed. Reward: [Fire Dates]. Fire Dates: Dates eaten by Nezha, which can grant the eater three heads and six arms."
"Choice Two: Meet with Marshal Tianpeng and help him out of his current predicament; reward: [Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe]. Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe: Magical Tool of Chi Jingzi, a purple ribbon that can be coiled around the shoulders, impervious to blade and spear."
Sha Chen saw this choice and felt a twinge of entanglement.
Marshal Tianpeng is one of the candidates for the Westward Journey. If I help him, will I get involved in the karma of the Westward Journey? If I don’t help him, the reward isn’t of much use to me. With the 72 Polymorphic Transformations and the Thirty-Six Transformations, three heads and six arms are no longer significant. The Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe is more appealing, as it could ensure my survival more securely. Invulnerability to blades and spears is the Divine Power most cherished by those who value survival above all.
After careful consideration, Sha Chen decided to help Marshal Tianpeng, not purely for the Magical Tool but also because he felt he did not wish to join the Westward Journey in the future.
By intervening to help Tianpeng, Buddhism won’t be able to assist him. With that layer of karma removed, they will surely find a way to compensate. Buddhism would certainly prefer Tianpeng to join, so they will definitely focus more on converting Tianpeng. That will leave them no time to bother with me. In other words, Tianpeng is my shield.
Sha Chen immediately appeared above the Formation, gazing at Marshal Tianpeng in his pig form, which nearly made Tianpeng turn tail and run.
Because Sha Chen’s appearance was too reminiscent of the butcher in his pigpen.
"Old Sha?" Tianpeng ventured.
Sha Chen replied, "It’s me. How have you fallen into such a state, Marshal, and what brings you here?"
But Tianpeng felt somewhat annoyed. Although he was down and out, Sha Chen should be in an even worse state.
Sha Chen broke the Liuli Lamp and was demoted to the Flowing Sand River where he suffered the Thousand Swords Piercing The Heart, which happened earlier than his own demotion.
He knew that pain. It was beyond his expectations that Sha Chen could hold on until now; he had thought Sha Chen would have gone mad. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, or he might have tried to capture him to roast as a suckling pig.
Tianpeng said, "Old Sha, there’s no point in those words. I might have fallen on hard times, but how can it compare to your struggle? We know each other well; as brothers in adversity, let’s not mock each other."
Sha Chen was rather speechless. He wasn’t mocking Zhu Bajie; he was purely trying to draw out Zhu Bajie’s story.
Because I know the original story. Zhu Bajie and Friar Sand had not encountered each other before the Westward Journey. But now, Zhu Bajie has arrived. I need to understand the reason behind it, otherwise I can’t trust him enough to let him in without knowing.
Zhu Bajie then grumbled about his hardships over the past few years and then said, "Old Sha, let me in quickly. I’ve been hungry for days. There must be some dead fish or rotten shrimp in your Formation, let me have a taste.
"After all, you suffer the Thousand Swords every day, you must have no appetite. Don’t let it go to waste; I’ll take care of it for you, brother."
Sha Chen could tell Zhu Bajie wasn’t lying, which meant he hadn’t been used by someone else to come here.
It could just be that his arrival had caused a butterfly effect, leading Zhu Bajie here.
Sha Chen opened the Formation to let Zhu Bajie in.
This was the first time he had let someone else into the Formation since he had established it.
The time with the Tongtian Hierarch didn’t count because Sha Chen hadn’t allowed it. It was simply that the Hierarch was formidable and entered on his own.
Upon entering the Formation, Zhu Bajie wore a sly smile, planning to mock Sha Chen in an attempt to compensate for his vulnerability from having turned into a pig.
But he saw the magnificent palace Sha Chen had built, with its pavilions, terraces, gardens, and artificial hills and waters.
Is this suffering? Or is it actually a vacation!?
Then he followed Sha Chen to the medicinal herb garden, watched as Sha Chen casually scattered some seeds, and in the twinkling of an eye, vegetables sprouted.
Sha Chen pulled them up and whipped up some stir-fry dishes.
He laughed and said, "Sorry, I don’t eat dead fish or rotten shrimp. If I ever crave something, I grow some vegetables and trap some game to roast and eat."
He took out a little preserved meat from his storage and cooked dishes for Zhu Bajie to taste.
He also brought out wine made from Mysterious Heavenly Water, had a drink himself, and invited Zhu Bajie to try it.
After enjoying the meal and wine, Zhu Bajie couldn’t hold back his tears.
"Old Sha, how are you suffering? You’re living in luxury!"
"I’ve been miserable these past few years."
The better Sha Chen’s life seemed, the more miserable Zhu Bajie’s own past few years felt in comparison.
Unable to hold back, he shed tears.