Chapter 30: Senior Brother's Abacus

Old Gao's Manor.

This place is a rarely wealthy spot in the mortal world; even in years of war and chaos, the Gao family manor still wafts the scent of meat.

In the pavilion behind the courtyard, a large round table made of golden-thread fragrant wood is set.

The table is laden with delicacies, from braised pork knuckle to steamed bear paws—everything one could wish for.

A fat‑headed, big‑eared monk sits at the table's edge, his arms still wrapped around two pretty young maidservants.

That is Zhu Bajie.

Or rather, he is the Pure Altar Envoy of Ling Shan.

He long ago shed the appearance of a monk, his monk's robe hanging open,

revealing a belly covered in black hair, a pig's hand restless­ly wandering over the left maid's waist.

The maidservant's face turned deathly pale from fright, but she dared not dodge; she could only suppress her nausea and slip the peeled grapes into that oily‑slicked big mouth.

"Hehe, little lady, your hands are so tender."

Zhu Bajie grunted twice, spat the grape seeds onto the floor, and then, taking the opportunity, rubbed the back of the maid's hand.

In those mung‑bean eyes lay nothing but greed and lechery.

Where is there any trace of the honest simplicity he had on the pilgrimage?

"Envoy…"

Elder Gao stood to the side, his back bent like a shrimp, a fawning smile on his face, his forehead slick with cold sweat.

"This… this vegetarian feast, are you satisfied with it?"

"Vegetarian feast? What a load of crap!"

Zhu Bajie snatched up a roasted chicken, crunching bone and meat with a loud crackle.

"Wine and meat pass through the intestines, the Buddha Patriarch keeps them in his heart—do you understand?"

"This old pig is cultivating his mind!"

He took another gulp of aged flower-carved wine, then let out a belch reeking of alcohol.

This kind of life is damn comfortable.

No need to shoulder a pole, no need to beg for alms, and no need to listen to that dead monkey's nagging in my ear.

As long as I eat and drink, occasionally popping back to Ling Shan to check in, I can enjoy this worldly wealth and honor.

That original choice was indeed correct.

Just as he was about to thrust that oily‑slicked big hand into the right maid's collar,

A hand.

A furry, dry hand like an iron clamp.

It appeared out of nowhere.

With no warning, and no fluctuation of magical power.

That hand seized Zhu Bajie's fan‑sized ear with uncanny precision.

"Ow! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"

Zhu Bajie howled like a slaughtered pig, the roasted chicken fell from his grasp, and the maidservant in his arms screamed and fled in terror.

"Who the hell dares to pull this old pig's ear? You're tired of living?"

He cursed while trying to mobilize his magic to blast the attacker away.

The moment he stirred his power, it vanished like a mud‑cow sinking into the sea—gone without a trace.

That familiar feeling.

That suppressive force springing from the depths of the soul.

Zhu Bajie's whole body of fat shuddered violently.

The wine had mostly worn off.

He strained to turn his head, following the arm that gripped his ear upward.

He saw a face.

A face with a thunder‑god's mouth, covered in golden fur, eyes like twin balls of blazing golden flame.

That was the deepest nightmare that haunted him in his midnight dreams.

"Mon… Monkey Brother?!"

Zhu Bajie's legs went limp in an instant, his knees buckled, and he thumped down onto his knees.

On that fat‑slicked face, his expression was a riot of emotions.

From anger to fear, then disbelief, finally turning into a ridiculous fawning.

"Ghost… ghost!!"

"Senior Brother! Don't come after me! It wasn't me who killed you—it was the Six‑Ears, that impostor!"

He lay on the ground, his head thudding repeatedly, even cracking a few floor tiles.

"I've burned paper money for you every Qingming! Even when I'm busy, I get someone else to do it for me!"

"Don't eat me! This old pig's skin is thick and his meat tough—he's not tasty!"

Sun Wukong said nothing.

He simply kept hold of Zhu Bajie's ear and lifted him up like a dead pig.

Until his golden eyes locked fast onto Zhu Bajie's dodging mung‑bean eyes.

"Idiot."

Sun Wukong's voice was soft, yet cold as ten‑thousand‑year‑old black ice.

"Look carefully."

"Am I, old Sun, human or ghost?"

A warm breath sprayed onto Zhu Bajie's face.

It was the breath of a living person.

And it was the breath of a strong one.

Zhu Bajie shivered, mustering courage to lift his head and reach out to touch Sun Wukong's leg.

Hot.

Hard.

It's really alive!

"Senior Brother? You're not dead?!"

Zhu Bajie's pupils flickered, and the terror instantly turned into delight.

Even though the act was very fake.

He lunged and clutched Sun Wukong's thigh, smearing snot and tears onto the Golden Armor.

"Monkey Brother! You scared old Zhu to death!"

"These five hundred years! I've thought of you day and night! I thought you truly met a poisonous fate, my heart was shattered!"

"Get lost."

Sun Wukong kicked away the lump of fat.

He found it filthy.

Zhu Bajie rolled on the ground twice, toppling the table of wine and dishes, soaking himself in broth, looking even more disheveled.

But he dared not utter a complaint, got up and tried to climb up again.

"Kneel properly."

Sun Wukong planted the Golden Cudgel into the ground.

A muffled thud.

The whole Gao Lao Village shook three times.

Zhu Bajie immediately behaved, obediently kneeling, hands on his knees, like a well‑trained elementary student.

"I ask you."

Sun Wukong crouched, staring at the pig.

"Back then, True and False Monkey King, you also went along with me all the way."

"My abilities, you know best."

"Six-Ears that fellow may look alike, but he has certain habits, certain little gestures; he can deceive others, but not you."

"At the great hall of Ling Shan."

"Why didn't you speak?"

"Why did you insist that that impostor was real?"

"Why were you so eager to split the luggage?"

Each question was like a heavy hammer, striking Zhu Bajie's chest.

He tried to dodge.

But those Fiery Golden Eyes were like two knives, cutting cleanly through the filthy thoughts in his heart.

"This… this…"

Sweat poured down Zhu Bajie's forehead like rain, his gaze flickering.

"At that time… the scene was too chaotic… old Zhu was slow‑witted…"

"Nonsense!"

Sun Wukong suddenly raised his hand.

Zhu Bajie shrank his neck in fright, his two big ears covering his face.

"Don't hit! Don't hit! I speak! I tell the truth!"

He knew he couldn't hide it any longer.

Since this monkey could return alive, and since he could turn the Heavenly Court and Ling Shan upside down (though he hadn't received any news, he could feel the murderous aura), he must surely know everything.

"It… it's Buddha Patriarch…"

Zhu Bajie's voice lowered, sounding like a whirring mosquito.

"Which Buddha Patriarch?"

"R…Rulai…"

Zhu Bajie swallowed saliva and simply smashed the pot, giving up.

"The night before we reached the foot of Ling Shan, Guanyin Bodhisattva came to me."

"She said this calamity was a Fixed Number, and Six-Eared Macaque was the true master of the pilgrimage."

"As long as old Zhu keeps quiet, as long as I cooperate and act in this play…"

He lifted his head, glanced at Sun Wukong, then quickly lowered it again.

"When the matter is settled, appoint me as Pure Altar Envoy, to enjoy mortal worship."

"And also…"

"And what?" Sun Wukong's gaze grew colder.

"And Buddha Patriarch promised, after the pilgrimage ends, to use the Great Merit Pool's water to wash away this pig womb, reshaping the Golden Body of Marshal Tianpeng…"

The air solidified.

Sun Wukong said nothing.

He just quietly stared at the junior brother who had once called him senior brother all along.

For this?

For a mere skin?

For that so‑called righteous result?

And you can just watch senior brother being beaten to death, falsely accused, his corpse chilled to the bone, and still step on him?

"Brother Monkey! You also know I'm old pig, lecherous… no, I love Beauty!"

Zhu Bajie, seeing Sun Wukong silent, thought his heart had softened and hurried to explain.

"This piggy look, I've had enough!"

"Cui Lan despised me, Chang'e ignored me, and even those female demons who captured us ate you first, saying my meat was tough…"

"I also want to be a human!"

"Be a human?"

Sun Wukong smiled.

He smiled coldly, bitterly.

"Bajie, oh Bajie."

"You wear this pigskin, yet your heart longs for human wealth."

"But do you know."

"Some people wear human skin, yet their deeds are worse than beasts."

"And you."

Sun Wukong rose, looking down at him from above.

"Even beasts are unworthy."

"Brother Monkey… you forgive me this once… we're brothers in the sect…"

Zhu Bajie reached out to grab Sun Wukong's sleeve.

"Get lost!"

A roar.

Sun Wukong lifted his foot and hammered it into Zhu Bajie's plump belly.

Bang!

A deafening crash.

Zhu Bajie's several‑hundred‑jin body shot out like a cannonball.

It smashed the pavilion's pillars, knocked down the Gao family courtyard wall, and broke several big willow trees outside the manor.

It kept flying until it landed heavily on a barren mountain three thousand li away, crashing into the earth.

Dust billowed.

Zhu Bajie coughed up blood, struggling to get up.

He felt his five organs and six viscera displaced.

But he couldn't mind the pain; he only wanted to run.

This monkey is getting serious!

Just as he prepared to ride the clouds and flee.

A golden ray descended.

Sun Wukong stepped on his chest.

The Golden Cudgel pressed against his brow.

"Don't… don't kill me…"

Zhu Bajie hopelessly closed his eyes.

"Kill you?"

Sun Wukong shook his head.

"Killing you would be too cheap."

"Do you even deserve to die under my old Sun's staff?"

A hazy gray light glowed on Sun Wukong's fingertip.

It was Chaos Realm Source Power.

Since the laws of Heaven and Earth cannot uphold justice, we'll rewrite the rules with Chaos.

"Don't you despise this pigskin?"

"Don't you want to become Marshal Tianpeng again?"

"Don't you think, for this little desire, you sold out my old Sun?"

Sun Wukong's finger struck hard at Zhu Bajie's dantian.

Puff.

Like a balloon being punctured.

The Fómén golden light and Daoist true qi inside Zhu Bajie shattered in an instant.

The Pure Altar Messenger's fruit position was broken.

The 36 Transformations divine skill was Fèi le.

Ah——!!!

Zhu Bajie let out a heart‑rending Cànjiào.

He could feel his Xiūwéi wildly draining away.

It's not just cultivation.

There is also spiritual intellect, and also that bit belonging to the immortals' primordial source.

"From today onward."

Sun Wukong withdrew his hand, looking at the big fat pig on the ground that was slowly degenerating.

"You have no magic power, no supernatural abilities, you cannot transform, you cannot speak."

"You will just be a pig."

"A truly genuine, pure pig that knows only eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating."

"This is what you should be like."

Zhu Bajie wanted to beg for mercy, wanted to curse.

But he opened his mouth.

But all that came out was a loud 'Heng chi!'

His body lay prone on the ground, limbs touching the earth.

Those eyes, which originally still had some spirit, now became cloudy and dull, retaining only an instinctual craving for food.

He pushed at the soil on the ground, found a grass root, and began to chew it with relish.

Even though that was the spot where he had been coughing up blood just a minute ago.

Sun Wukong watched this scene.

He felt no satisfaction of revenge.

Only a deep sense of desolation.

This is the so-called pilgrim.

This is the so-called fruition of cultivation.

It's all just a joke.

"Master."

Sun Wukong turned around, looking at the Bodhi Patriarch who had appeared at some point on the big tree behind him.

"Let's go."

"This place, the flirtatious aura is too strong."

The Bodhi Patriarch did not move.

He held in his hand the uneaten peach-tree root, but his gaze swept past Sun Wukong and toward the azure firmament above the Nine Heavens.

There.

The originally azure sky.

Suddenly changed color.

Not dark clouds.

But a expanse of purple qi.

Vast and boundless, stretching thirty thousand li.

Purple qi came from the east.

That is the supreme nobility, and also a weight heavy enough to crush the whole world.

All living beings in the mortal world, at this moment, felt a trembling from the depths of their souls.

Whether human, demon, or even Zhu Bajie who had just turned into a real pig.

All lay on the ground, unable to move.

Even the wind ceased.

"Having beaten the junior, the senior arrives."

The Bodhi Patriarch threw away the root in his hand.

He brushed off the dust on his hands.

A playful smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Finally willing to crawl out of that turtle shell?"

Sun Wukong gripped the Golden Cudgel tightly.

He also felt it.

That aura.

Greater than the Tathagata, greater than the Jade Emperor, and even greater than the Zhunti Saint I had seen before.

All are stronger by countless folds.

That is…… Heaven.

True Heaven.