"This mountain is mine, this tree is mine, if you want to pass, leave your money… Hey, young man, hurry up and pay, so we can buy steamed buns to eat. We’ve been waiting here for months.”
“Exactly! It’s all because that future Tang Sanzang, who knows where he drifted off to, has made us, who possess earth-shattering cultivation, act like bandits here.”
“This is such a waste of talent! After waiting so long, you’re the only one coming. If you don’t pay, do you want us to starve?”
This group of foolish bandits were not ordinary bandits.
They were actually some low-level demons, at the Qi Refinement and Soul Transformation stages!
The kind that were “earth-shattering.”
The kind that were “terrifying.”
“A mere handful of Qi Refinement and Soul Transformation juniors dare to call themselves earth-shattering, and dare to make this humble monk feel terrified? How absurd! Ignorant!”
“If I were to truly make a move, even with just ten percent of my power, I could rival a perfected Grand Unity Golden Immortal and annihilate a million of you.”
“Forget it, forget it. In the spirit of my Buddhist teachings of compassion, I shall not quibble with you.”
Hearing their words, Jin Chanzi felt no anger, only amusement, pity, and sorrow.
However, his forbearance was interpreted as contempt by the demons.
The demons became even more enraged, surrounding him and clamoring to make him suffer.
They even insulted Jin Chanzi’s deepest sensitivity!
“You brat, how dare you ignore us?”
“Big brother, kill him! Damn it, if Tang Sanzang isn’t here, can’t we still eat meat? Even if eating these lowlifes won’t grant immortality, it can still fill our stomachs.”
“Right! Don’t you dare think that with the legendary Great Sage Equal to Heaven protecting Tang Sanzang, you can deal with us. Tang Sanzang isn’t here, what use is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?”
The demons would have been better off saying nothing.
Their words, especially when they insulted Sun Kong, immediately put Jin Chanzi in a terrible mood. He could endure being bullied himself, but he could not stand by while his benefactor, Sun Kong, was wronged.
Before these people could spout any more nonsense,
Jin Chanzi recited a Buddhist chant.
His presence, imposing without anger, commanded respect.
His clothes fluttered without wind!
“Amitabha!”
The first utterance was like a great bell, shaking the very weak demons so severely that they couldn’t stand steadily. They screamed in agony and were sent flying hundreds of feet away.
Only then did the leader, a demon at the early stage of Void Returning, realize he had provoked someone he shouldn’t have. He was about to feign an apology while simultaneously preparing to fire a signal flare for help.
However, he saw that.
None of their actions could escape Jin Chanzi’s perception.
Jin Chanzi, instead of being angry, laughed.
The second utterance boomed.
It was even more earth-shattering than the first, carrying a hint of the Lesser Vehicle Buddhist technique, the Lion’s Roar!
“Since Benefactors have reinforcements, why not call more? The more, the merrier. This humble monk is indeed the Tang Sanzang you seek to capture.”
“Whether my flesh is delicious or not, I myself do not know.”
“But if the reinforcements you call can take a bite for me and tell me the exact taste, this humble monk will not be angry, but rather grateful!”
As he spoke, Jin Chanzi, to prove his identity, shot a beam of golden light, retrieving a wooden basin from the river and presenting it for them to see clearly.
With his other hand, he immediately unleashed another Lesser Vehicle Buddhist technique, the Flower-Picking Finger, clearing an area of a hundred-mile radius centered on them.
Then,
Jin Chanzi himself sat on the only intact large tree, quietly waiting, intending to deliver a single, decisive, and brutal lesson to this group.
However,
Due to his terrifying display, these demons, let alone finding reinforcements, couldn’t even figure out how to escape. They were so frightened that they trembled, their hearts shattered, unable to react. They were all frozen!
The only place they could move was in their minds.
One by one, they looked at Jin Chanzi with fearful eyes!
“This Tang Sanzang is not to be trifled with!”
“Exactly, exactly, he is truly not to be trifled with.”
“With just those two moves he just made, his power is at least a hundred times ours. We really shouldn’t have come this time.”
“Exactly, exactly, we really shouldn’t have come.”
“Also, we shouldn’t have notified our reinforcements. Although those people are more powerful than us, they are at most Earth Immortals and Heavenly Immortals. They would just be coming to their deaths.”
“But, if we can attract his attention, and let the reinforcements sneak attack, perhaps there’s still a chance.”
“Exactly, exactly, we really shouldn’t have notified them.”
“…Why do you few keep repeating what this King is saying? Do you have no opinions of your own? Are you all driven mad just because of one Tang Sanzang?”
The bear demon, unable to tolerate his subordinates’ idiotic responses, was about to display some courage when, at that very moment.
He caught a glimpse of something behind the crowd. Their so-called reinforcements, not only had they truly arrived, but they had already been stunned by Jin Chanzi’s two Buddhist chants.
He was instantly filled with boundless dread.
“Good heavens!”
“How can this Tang Sanzang be so powerful, so terrifying? This is nothing like the weak boy described by the Ox Demon from Erniu Mountain and the Snake Demon from Sanshe Mountain!”
“Did they lie to me, or were they themselves deceived?”
“This fellow, with just two shouts, he killed thousands of demons, including Earth and Heavenly Immortals. Such cultivation, he must have been a Golden Immortal or above long ago, right?”
“Then aren’t we walking into a trap by coming here? Wuwu, if I had known, I truly wouldn’t have come to die for a taste of Tang Monk’s flesh that I couldn’t even eat.”
Thinking this, the bear demon also felt a chill of fear. He could no longer maintain his usual demeanor as a leader and immediately knelt down, kowtowing and begging for mercy.
“Please, Great Tang Brother, no, Venerable Monk Tang, spare us!”
“We were all misled. It was the Ox Demon, the Snake Demon, and others. They heard that eating your flesh could lead to ascension, to becoming an immortal among immortals.”
Hearing this, and seeing for himself that the bear demon’s reinforcements had already fallen, Jin Chanzi felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.
He had intended to engage in a grand battle after his reincarnation to limber up his muscles.
Now, it seemed he had overestimated the demons of the Immortal Realm. Who had spread such rumors, claiming that eating him would grant longevity?
Moreover, the demons sent were so weak, not even a single Golden Immortal among them. Were they looking down on him?
“It’s just as Great Sage Sun predicted.”
“This generation of demons is difficult to manage. They can’t even seize an opportunity when it’s presented. What’s this talk of blocking the road and robbing?”
“Fine, be gone with you. Tell the others, this humble monk is Tang Sanzang, and also Jin Chanzi. Those below Golden Immortal realm, don’t come seeking death, I can’t be bothered to kill you.”
“Even if you truly want to eat my flesh, please find some reliable experts, alright?”
Jin Chanzi said these words in exasperation, then instantly floated tens of thousands of miles away, his mind solely focused on finding Wuchao Mountain further north!
…
Not long after he left.
The bear demon and the others welcomed another special reinforcement.
Upon hearing the explanation, the newcomer’s face changed drastically.
Then, he turned around and slaughtered them all!