Chapter 473

Blue Star, Blue Star

Star: "Su Lin, Amen, when are you coming home?"

Su Lin: "This monk shall not return to the Eastern Land of Paradise until he has obtained the True Scriptures on the Western Heaven's Sacred Mountain."

Star: "Lu Mingfei, when you read the diary of Hui Liyi in the final chapter of Dragon Clan 3, how did you feel?"

Lu Mingfei: "First, I didn't provoke you. Second, Hui Liyi is the cutest in the world. (I damn well want to go home—I don't want to fetch scriptures anymore.)"

Su Lin: "I'm obsessed, give me more. (If you try to run off, I'll go harem route.)"

Song Shuhang: "1"

Yi Leina: "1"

Hui Liyi: "1"

Star: "I was surfing online and found out I might have a CP, but players are flooding comments with Hui Liyi's diary format—I don't get it. When you get home, let me know, I'll come to your place to push the plot."

Su Lin: "Really? I'm busy becoming an immortal."

Star: "Dunno, just saw a preview. Comments said it was written by some roasted chicken or roasted bird."

Su Lin: "Oh, so it's no CP then."

Star: "?"

"The word 'emotion' is hard to understand, yet deeply affecting, endlessly evocative." Su Lin closed the chat group screen and turned to his side and said:

"Wuneng, you should know our Buddhist sect is a place of purity—do not indulge in such practices as Thunder Cliff's Ox Head or Xiduo Village's Blood Hoof."

"." Shi Hao glanced at Su Lin, then at the Young Lady across from him, and chose silence.

He knew the plot of Journey to the West well enough, but wasn't this world's Journey to the West already in chaos? What was going on over there?

Snow reflects thin moonlight, frost chills the cleared sky's hue.

It was now the frost-chilled season; though they would occasionally slay demons on their western journey, their pace had brought them to Gao's Manor far sooner than expected.

They had merely come here to check in, feeling the mystical fortune had successfully landed—but they had barely arrived at Gao's Manor when trouble struck.

Several burning coals warmed the room slightly; on the wooden table sat steamed buns, meat, tea, and wine.

Gao Cuilan asked: "These are all your favorite foods—why aren't you eating today?"

"Bajie, if you're not coming, we're leaving first," Meng Qi whispered.

Shi Hao glanced at the heavy nine-toothed rake beside him, pulled once but couldn't move it, and replied: "Do you think I don't want to leave?"

They could ignore the weapon and just walk away—but he hadn't yet obtained the Heavenly Gang Thirty-Six Transformations, Water Control, or Spirit-Eating abilities inside it.

"Attachment—I suppose Marshal Tianpeng has truly fallen in love." Meng Qi shook his head, recalling the floating isles of Tianhe and the pig demon's corpse burning like a star in the Tianhe River of the true world.

Before the Immortal Realm's calamity, Marshal Tianpeng had planned to flee with Gao Cuilan and the child in her womb, preparing a carriage bound for Gao's Manor, drawn by heavenly steeds from the Tianhe Naval Corps.

Had he fled alone, he would have moved faster than the heavenly steeds—but he encountered disaster halfway.

The world knows Second Brother as slippery, cunning, lazy, and deceitful, fond of lying and framing others—but deep down, he still carries Emotionally Deep loyalty.

When battle comes, he never hesitates; when trouble arises, he advises his brothers from a practical standpoint, fearing they'll suffer losses.

He never expected this world's Old Pig to share the same nature—and the same fate. This similarity left Meng Qi momentarily moved, faintly sensing the capriciousness of fate in the unseen.

Gao Cuilan furrowed her brows, then suddenly relaxed: "Your attire today is much more handsome than before—why aren't you eating?"

"Eat!" Shi Hao helplessly picked up a steamed bun.

Meng Qi gave Su Lin a glance, signaling everyone to leave—but Su Lin acted as if he saw nothing, legs crossed, smiling smugly in the main seat, clearly eager to watch the show.

"Just like the Hua Sheng Temple situation—though restarted, because of their special status, those who knew them before still recognize them." Su Lin said: "No rush. Wait until Marshal Tianpeng has had enough, fulfilled his wish, and then he'll move."

"You said you'd speed things up," Meng Qi rubbed his forehead.

Gao Cuilan looked toward Su Lin and the others, puzzled: "Who are these people?"

"This monk comes from the Eastern Land of Tang, journeying west to pay homage to the Buddha and obtain scriptures." Su Lin clasped his hands, rose with a cheerful smile: "I also take on demon-slaying work."

"Demon-slaying!" Gao Cuilan covered her mouth in surprise.

"Demon-slaying." Su Lin nodded, gripping Shi Hao's shoulder.

"Perfect—these past few days, strange things have appeared in our manor. Could the master help investigate?" Gao Cuilan's maid exclaimed happily.

Gao Cuilan urged: "Yes, Master, could you please stay a while? The snow has blocked the mountains—you can't travel easily."

"Young Lady, please speak slowly—what exactly happened?" Su Lin asked, puzzled. Wasn't this Gao's Manor home to only one demon—Pig Bajie? With their current pace, Pig Bajie hadn't even revealed his identity yet.

"Every night, strange things occur in Gao's Manor. My second aunt and elder sister recently seemed possessed. The chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep kept vanishing."

"And the southern mountains—miasma sometimes appears. Some say they've seen immortals; others, ghosts. Yesterday, just before you arrived, bloodlight filled the air!"

Gao Cuilan and her maid spoke one after another, listing each strange event that had occurred—when counted, there were dozens.

This… wasn't in the original Journey to the West.

Shi Hao took the uneaten mutton, stuffed it into a bun, and bit into it, asking: "When did this start?"

"You're being dense—I complained about this to you right here last night!" Gao Cuilan pouted, lightly tapping Shi Hao, then curiously asked: "Elders, why are you laughing?"

"Cough…." Meng Qi suppressed his smile: "I thought of something amusing. Sorry. Old Sun also wants to ask—do you remember when the first anomaly occurred?"

"About five or six days ago." Gao Cuilan said: "That night, someone claimed to have seen a corpse in robes inside the manor!"

Five or six days ago.

Su Lin and Meng Qi's gazes briefly met.

That was roughly when they arrived in this world and began their mission—meaning it was likely the Reincarnators' doing.

Of course—most demons on the western journey appear one after another after leaving Tang.

These Reincarnators replacing demons aren't NPCs—they won't stay rigidly in one place; instead, teams will actively come to them.

Gao's Manor is far better for ambush than other locations.

If they truly wanted Tang Seng's flesh, Chang'an was too dangerous—Tian Ting was inspecting the Tang territory, and Heifeng Mountain's Heifeng Cave was too close to Black Bear Spirit's territory.

Then this Gao's Manor

It should be the indisputable choice to seize the initiative.

If my guess is correct, this group has already entered the Reincarnators' trap.

I'm afraid there's more than one team.

"Sān zāi."

Su Lin's lips curled upward as he summoned a cassock out of thin air and donned it, leaving Gao Cuilan and the maid beside her utterly stunned.

He bowed again in Buddhist fashion and said to his teammates: "Disciples, we've taken the job."

This is another trial on the inevitable path to the Western Heaven's Lingshan; each trial holds its own meaning—crossing the West, enduring trials, attaining true enlightenment!

"We cannot let Lingshan fall!!!" Wei Wu roared, slashing forth a brilliant sword light nearly covering the entire universe.

Countless ten-thousand-character glyphs vanished and reappeared spontaneously, flickering on and off, radiating boundless Buddhist light.

"Protect the Book of Ages." Wei Wu's eyes flashed with resolve; he pulled a jade-green sword pellet from his storage space. The blood dripping from his lips was instantly stripped away, each drop converging into the pellet.

"Go! Find a chance to resurrect me after we return to the Reincarnation Space."

Behind him, four men and women flickered with reluctance, yet did not pause their steps, heading toward a phantom black lotus.

"Why bother?"

A sigh echoed through the void; the wave of glazed ten-thousand-character glyphs melted like snow.

A white-skinned, bearded giant stepped forward, glanced at Wei Wu, and said:

"Wei Wu, we're old teammates. Since my first mission in the Reincarnation Space, you've always helped me. In my heart, you're both teacher and father."

"You monster—you're not Cain..." Wei Wu gripped the sword pellet but did not activate it immediately; fear flashed in his eyes, quickly suppressed.

"But I am Cain." A golden-haired child stepped out from behind the giant, appearing only five or six years old: "Uncle Wu, I survived the curse of time. Don't you understand?"

"Cain died in the altered history of the Book of Ages!" Wei Wu clenched the sword pellet, pouring his essence, qi, and spirit into it, and roared:

"The previous timeline's world was a Catastrophe-level instance, more terrifying than this Journey to the West world! How could you possibly survive such a curse?!"

"You don't understand..." Cain's eyes gleamed with joy, bordering on fanaticism:

"I saw the Buddha. He governs billions of spacetimes, watching me at the end of eternal eons. At the moment the curse erupted, I remembered my past life."

"Back then, I received divine grace upon the Golden Throne, invulnerable to ten thousand calamities, eternal and indestructible—solely to spread His singular radiance!"

"Uncle Wu, you told me to share fortune and misfortune. I've come to repay your kindness—why fear it? As long as..."

Sizzzz!

Both Cain figures were split cleanly from head to toe, their bodies collapsing left and right, yet their eyeballs still turned discordantly.

Immediately following came a sword light that tore through the void, inverted heaven and earth, and even carved out a small world from nothingness.

The boy Cain and the youth Cain were swallowed, dragged into the newly opened small world; then heaven and earth merged, and one world perished.

"Uncle Wu, I won't harm you." An aged Cain appeared from another side, his face gentle and kind: "I only wish for you to experience the same divine grace—to ascend in a single step!"

"You've gone mad." Wei Wu spat blood, his body withering further, his once-mighty aura collapsing at an absurd rate: "What of your own world?"

At that moment, countless holy feathers and slimy tentacles erupted from the void like earthworms breaking ground, pulling and stitching together into two ten-thousand-character seals brimming with all colors.

In the blink of an eye, the boy Cain and youth Cain reappeared, as if a skip button had been pressed, without warning.

"How could it be? But compared to completing the Reincarnation Space's promotion mission, I prefer using my SS-class squad status and this Journey to the West world as a shield for truth's salvation."

"That's right. Now there's nothing left to fear."

The three Cain figures surrounded Wei Wu, reaching out toward the nearly hunched old man.

"Sorry, Heilbak."

"I promised you I'd hold Lingshan. I may fail."

Wei Wu closed his eyes in despair, not understanding why time-line alterations and the outbreak of the annihilation curse hadn't sent Cain into slumber—instead, he thrived, becoming this monstrous thing.

"Wretch."

A soft command echoed from the highest heavens, emotionless yet supremely majestic.

Soon, Wei Wu opened his weary eyes. Vast Buddhist light bathed all, shimmering yet illusory; Buddhist glyphs fell from the sky, binding the Cain before him.

Like a thunderclap bursting forth, blindingly radiant, Cain—infant to elder—shifted and fused endlessly, becoming skeleton one moment, reborn in nirvana the next.

Wei Wu lifted his head in sudden shock: before him stood a Buddha with deep-blue topknot, a white radiance shining between his brows, illuminating the east for eighty thousand leagues, gazing upon him with compassion, his entire life's good and evil flashing in the Buddha's eyes.

Buddha!

"No, no—"

How could the Buddha save him?

Wei Wu gritted his teeth: "Po Xun."

At these words, the Buddha's eyes lost all cycle of good and evil, replaced instead by birth, death, ears, eyes, mouth, nose, love, hate, emotion, delusion, greed—all worldly desires.

A pair of pitch-black pupils locked onto his. Merely gazing into them seemed to promise fulfillment of every regret, every unattainable longing—his entire life's pursuit and obsession included.

"Enter my empty gate," the Buddha spoke, as if to guide Wei Wu—but before he could act, the Cain trapped in the Reincarnation ceased his birth and death.

A writhing mass of luminous feathers emerged from his eyes; each feather bore a faint green mark, radiating the same sense of Reincarnation.

"False Buddha," Cain clasped his hands together, Buddhist light oozing from his nose, mouth, and ears.

His words were a beginning. White mist dispersed; boundless Buddhist energy flooded forth, illuminating the entire sealed Lingshan.

The countless Bodhisattvas and Arhats—each in different states of nirvana: sleeping, holding a flower, meditating, or glaring angrily—opened their eyes. Their true spirits were gone, leaving only residual cultivation, yet now each bore a strange mark.

"False Buddha!"

They gazed upward at the Buddha descending from the nine heavens, utterly unafraid of the myriad desires, locking eyes with him, chanting in unison:

"False Buddha!"

The Buddha, witnessing this, felt a sudden chill down his spine. He unleashed a beam of Buddhist light onto Wei Wu; the dying ember of Wei Wu's aura surged back to life.

"What happened to Lingshan?!"

"Corruption."

Wei Wu retracted the sword pellet and turned toward the bodhisattvas, arhats, and bhikshunis; suddenly, his eyelid twitched as he saw Cain walking toward the remains of Maitreya.

"Stop him!"

(End of Chapter)