Chapter 124

"But the Almsgiving Monk only has two left." Maitreya Buddha pointed at the peaches on the table, speaking somewhat awkwardly: "Your dishes, the Almsgiving Monk sees them as quite good, the Almsgiving Monk also doesn't know who to choose to avoid offending anyone, so it's still better for you to decide the distribution yourselves."

Maitreya Buddha shamelessly pushed the problem onto the assembled immortals.

The immortals also found it difficult; everyone wanted to monopolize that peach, but whoever dared to bring it up would definitely be ganged up on by all.

"We are eight people in total, why not do it this way: we let all our dishes go to Maitreya Buddha's ancestor, and each of us takes a small half of peaches of equal size—how about that?"

One immortal furrowed his brows and came up with a mutually beneficial solution.

"Good."

"Reasonable."

The remaining immortals quickly agreed; one was divided into four shares, and even though each could only get a small half, it was already a tremendous opportunity.

This effect far surpasses that of a six-thousand-year peach.

After the plan was settled, the immortal who proposed it came again before Maitreya Buddha, his face bearing a few parts of a flattering expression, and said: "Buddha Ancestor, we are willing to use all our dishes in exchange for your two peaches—what do you think?"

Maitreya Buddha slightly restrained his smile, feigning concern as he said: "With so many people sharing, won't you all suffer a loss?"

"No, no!" The proposing immortal shook his head repeatedly.

"It's just an ordinary dish—how could it compare to a peach?"

Moreover, after these several Peach Banquets, they had long grown tired of eating peaches.

Maitreya Buddha, meanwhile, was overjoyed in his heart, then with a blank expression handed both peaches to the proposer, saying: "Then the Almsgiving Monk happens to have no excuse to refuse."

His words were full of concern for these immortals, as if he were terribly worried about their interests.

Holding the two peaches, the proposing immortal was immediately surrounded.

Everyone stared intently at the nine-thousand-year peach before them, not wanting to look away for a moment.

"Cut it quick, cut it quick!" The crowd urged.

The proposing immortal nodded, took out a knife-shaped spiritual treasure, examined it with delight for a good while, then finally focused and brought down the blade.

"Ah, you're off, you're off!" Some immortals' faces changed; clearly, they had made the same effort, but they didn't want to be even a hair's breadth less than others.

"A bit to the left, yes, a bit more to the left."

"Left, you old man—where did you go? Are you blind? Go further left—then the left side is yours, move a bit to the right."

The proposing immortal had a face full of black lines, stopped the knife, and said: "You guys do it yourselves up there—being pointed at and commented on here."

"Is my eyesight really that bad? I don't know how to do it?"

"You do it!" The immortals beamed broadly, then said nothing more.

They merely observed even more carefully.

Watching this group of immortals in their frenzy, the immortal who first exchanged a table of dishes for the nine-thousand-year peach felt immensely fortunate.

Good thing the Buddha Ancestor chose him first; otherwise, he'd probably have joined them too.

Looking left and right, his heart felt somewhat flustered; he always felt he was being watched, and besides this nine-thousand-year peach, what else did he have worth others' attention?

The more he thought, the more anxious his heart became; originally intending to save it and slowly savor it back in his cave dwelling to digest the medicinal power, that thought completely vanished.

He still understood the principle that possessing a jade brings guilt to the innocent.

He fundamentally lacked the strength to rival a nine-thousand-year peach; he could never keep it, so it's better to seize this opportunity now.

With so many great gods present, and the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother above, these petty ones certainly wouldn't dare act recklessly.

Thinking this far, he no longer cared whether he could fully digest the medicinal power in a short time; making a decisive move, he went up and took a big bite.

Eating now would just waste the medicinal power; if he ate it back home, perhaps he wouldn't even get to eat it, and might even lose his life and Dao.

And Maitreya Buddha paid no attention to how these immortals were thinking,

rose to his feet, cheerfully pushing all the immortals' tables over to surround himself with them.

Looking at the abundant, varied, and numerous dishes before him, Maitreya Buddha's face showed excitement—his plan had indeed succeeded.

Although he lost three peaches, he still made a killing!

At least, that's how it seemed to him.

Now, Maitreya Buddha truly could be called a Great Chef of Plated Dry Rice.

Mouth full of oil, red light filling his face, utterly delighted, those who had eaten once wanted to eat again, and those who hadn't couldn't praise it enough.

Fortunately, this monkey wasn't taught by their Buddhist Sect.

Maitreya Buddha thought blissfully.

Although he didn't know how the monkey had disappeared before, it didn't hinder him from eating vegetables now.

Regarding the Western Journey, he was simply too lazy to inquire.

As for the Tathagata and others, they only gave him half the merit out of deference to him being their Master's disciple.

As for realm advancement, it was merely a drop in the bucket, so he didn't bother to ask about later developments.

Originally, whether the monkey joined the Buddhist Sect or not was of no concern to him, but now it's different—such supreme culinary skill naturally means joining his Buddhist Sect would bring limitless future prospects.

The Buddhist Sect's Great Chef Position must not be shaken.

By then, he'll be able to eat delicious dishes every day.

Having already reached the cultivation level of a Prepared Saint, this is all he seeks.

He finds it utterly puzzling—what's the use of scheming and fighting all day? Even strength can't surpass a Holy Person; it's all illusory bubbles.

Better to be like him—leisurely and refined, not overthinking anything, living comfortably every day, eating fine food—isn't that good?

He must become close friends with Sun Wukong; once the relationship is good, fine food will surely follow.

If there's any trouble he can help with, he'll do his best to assist.

Thinking this, the speed of his hands and mouth never slowed in the slightest.

Seeing this, the Jade Pool above felt inexplicably gloomy, joy mixed with annoyance.

The joy came from: merely by seeing Maitreya Buddha's performance with this dish, he knew this Peach Banquet's dishes were absolutely successful.

Haven't you seen that even Maitreya Buddha has started breaking precepts and eating meat?

If this matter gets out, it will definitely become a laughingstock, and the prestige of the Buddhist Sect will also be affected.

Although Yaochi is merely a woman, she still clearly understands the importance of the Buddhist-Daoist conflict, and she will certainly not go easy on anything that can trap the Buddha.

Her annoyance stems from the fact that this dish seems a little too successful—Maitreya Buddha actually used three nine-thousand-year-old flat peaches to replace a dish that was delicious but otherwise useless.

These are nine-thousand-year-old flat peaches, not some cabbage, and you exchanged them so readily!

If it weren't for Maitreya Buddha being a pretentious Preparatory Saint, and if the Buddhist Sect hadn't sent only him, she wouldn't have given him three all at once.

But Maitreya Buddha, on the contrary, doesn't even care!

Yaochi now even suspects she's becoming an immortal; in a daze, she recalls what Dao Ancestor Lord Ye said to her before he united with the Dao.

"Yaochi, this is the seed of one of the Ten Great Innate Spiritual Roots—the flat peach tree. Today, it is yours. Such treasures are precious beyond compare."

Precious beyond compare...

Yaochi glanced at the gluttonous Maitreya Buddha stuffing his face, but she didn't notice anything amiss.

She then looked at the several immortals gathered together cutting flat peaches, nodded silently to herself, and thought this was the right way to criticize.

Although it greatly devalued things, fortunately it also greatly improved Yaochi's mood.