Chapter 417: The Tragic Hero Yellow Wind Great Sage

When the time comes, what should I teach this monkey?

Or should I give him an infusion of evil energy? Or life force? Or order power? Or simply let him comprehend the microcosm—it seems the microcosm is quite suited to this monkey, the kind that greatly boosts combat ability.

After helping the monkey settle the affairs of Yellow Wind Ridge, I'll head to Flame Mountain; the Great Strength Bull Demon King is also a master, and I'll take him as well.

"Hold on, Heavenless Great God, hold on, Heavenless Great God—this yellow-haired ferret may have taken part in the siege against me back then, but he is still a heroic fellow; if possible, Great God, you had best take him into your service." Sun Wukong said.

What this great divine-ability person wants to do is nothing more than target Spirit Mountain and the Heavenly Court for his own benefit; although that yellow-haired ferret once besieged me, his hatred for Spirit Mountain is no less than mine.

As long as this great divine-ability person shows a bit of his powers, subduing him should pose no problem.

"Oh! This yellow wasp wind monster still has a story—tell me about it." Luode said with interest.

"So that the Heavenless Great God will know, this place used not to be as it is now; the Flowing Sand Country lies in the far west where the sun sets, and whenever the sun sinks into the West Sea, a sound of blazing boiling seawater erupts, loud enough to shake and kill the women and children in the city.

Finally, the Buddha arranged for Lingji Bodhisattva to bestow a great drum; whenever the people beat the drum, the disturbance of the yellow sand sinking into the West Sea at sunset would no longer affect the city's inhabitants.

This made the people deeply grateful to the Buddhist faith, so they built Buddha statues everywhere and gilded them, and thus the place came to be called the Golden Buddha Country.

As the Buddhist faction grew stronger, the king's prestige here declined day by day, so he issued another ban on Buddhism, destroyed the temples, smashed the Buddha images, made the whole populace stop believing in Buddhism, and changed the country's name to Sihali Guo.

After this happened, a huge worm descended from heaven, carrying a gigantic meat Buddha head on its back, and it continued to harm the city's people.

Coincidentally, the yellow-haired ferret happened to pass by, and he helped the city's people subdue the great sand worm bearing the Buddha head, protecting the country.

The king, to thank the yellow-haired ferret, specially issued the Rat Veneration Edict, and the head on the imperial edict of the Bodhisattva was changed to that of a rat spirit; this indeed caused rat spirits from all directions to hear the news and come to live in this country.

When humans and demons live together, incidents always arise; the crown prince and the third prince of this country were dissatisfied with this.

The crown prince was locked up, while this Little Zhang Third Prince ran away from home, wanting to learn the skill of slaying demons; on the journey to obtain the scriptures, when I, Old Sun, dealt with the Yellow-Browed Old Buddha, this Little Zhang Prince also had a brief encounter with Old Sun.

After a few years passed, for some unknown reason, one day suddenly all the people of this country turned into the appearance of rats.

The yellow-haired ferret thought it was his own fault that had harmed the entire country's people, so he led all the demon kings under his command out of Sihali Guo, to live elsewhere, hoping those above would spare these people.

Afterward, the yellow wasp wind monster instead arrived at Yellow Wasp Ridge, where among these mountains many meat Buddha heads grew.

The Buddha head previously in the sand sea and the ones here are exactly alike; these Buddha heads parasitize the stone monsters, then possess them and begin to devour one another.

Again, this rat monster took action, ending the Buddha-head monsters here, and he gouged out all the eyes of the fiercest Stone Guardian, then sealed it on the mountain peak.

The stone father and stone mother in this mountain, together with all the great and small stone monsters, greatly admired this yellow-haired ferret, and thus they bowed to him as their king.

Afterward, the yellow-haired rat and Old Sun met a similar fate—they also took a Buddhist master as teacher, originally thinking they could achieve fruition, but in the end they still wound up like this." Sun Wukong said with feeling.

How similar this yellow cat rat's experience is to my own! In the end he also took Lingji Bodhisattva as teacher, and that was done out of necessity.

But even after taking a teacher, the people of Sihali Guo could not revert to being human; this yellow-haired ferret's ordeal is something I, Sun Wukong, can understand best.

How did a monster with a strong sense of justice, even one who liked to right wrongs and act on heaven's behalf, become like this? Isn't it all the fault of the Buddhist faction?

They divide all things in heaven and earth into three-six-nine grades, placing immortals and buddhas at the top, yet this bunch of monks prattle on about all beings being equal, Amitabha Buddha—truly laughable! Laughable!

"This is really bizarre; I feel that the way Spirit Mountain conducts affairs is somewhat similar to that of an evil ancient god.

"In the days of the Dark Empire, they did the same—those who believed in me could gain benefits, the unfortunate would suffer punishment, and they also used a dark shadow power to corrupt ordinary life into void monsters." Azeroth said in Luode's ear.

Turning living people into rat-people—what difference does this practice have from those ancient evil gods of the Dark Empire?

"Haha, the gods and buddhas filling this world are indeed quite dark, you lot are indeed quite bizarre! You're right—I really ought to meet this Yellow Wind Great Sage; if he's willing, I'll take him as my subordinate." Luode said.

"There are still many monster chieftains here—what should we do?" Azeroth asked.

"First subdue their leader; the rest are just small fry. Once we've dealt with their chief, we can leave these little lackeys to be managed by the leader." Luode said.

It is said that Yellow Phoenix Ridge also has a famous Tiger Vanguard! I don't know what relation this Tiger Vanguard bears to the Tiger Vanguard in Journey to the West. Everyone agreed at once; the monkey picked up his staff and led the way ahead, the old horse followed cautiously at his side, and together they pressed on, soon arriving at a fork in the road.

Here there are two rat monsters, one large and one small. The small one looks to be just over a meter tall, while the other stands over two meters tall, wearing a full suit of black armor and wielding a black iron hammer.

"Son, you speak of those sufferings—how could I, as your father, not know? But as long as our king does not leave the valley for a day, we must endure another day; only by enduring do we have a chance to live." The small rat spirit said with a sigh.

His burly companion beside him indeed looks somewhat simple-minded, holding a great iron hammer and shouting loudly at his side.

"That damned hairball, eating my kin everywhere—once the king leaves the valley and finishes his training, he will surely make it look bad.

"These two have human souls, but their forms are those of demons." Luode said.

In his eyes, these rat monster father and son may wear inferior bodies, but their inner souls are human in appearance.

"Who, who are you? How did you come here?" The two rat monsters also noticed this, and Luode immediately exclaimed in astonishment.

"You old man, could you not be the former king of Sihali Guo? Now you've turned into this ghostly appearance—how sad, how sad!" Sun Monkey stepped forward, examined the father and son before him, set his staff upright on the ground, shook his head, and sighed.

"You, you are the Mandated One—no, wait, you're not the Mandated One; a Mandated One wouldn't speak.

What's going on? The Mandated One is said to be a mute monkey who can't utter a word, yet this fellow's tone of voice is just like that of the one who caused havoc in Heaven! "You old fool, don't you even recognize your ancestors from five hundred years ago? I am your grandfather Sun—come over quickly and call me grandfather." The monkey hoisted his staff onto his shoulder, gave a hehe laugh, and said.

"You scoundrel, you've got gall—let the son teach him a lesson, we'll teach him a lesson!" "Ahh!" The rat monster in armor roared, brandishing his iron hammer and charging at Sun Walker.

However, the monkey now is no longer the Mandated One, but the true Great Sage Equal to Heaven; although his magic power has not yet recovered, his wealth of combat experience is no joke.

Facing the father and son's attack, the monkey was utterly unflustered, strolling leisurely as he dodged both of their blows.

Even standing still he could leave a faint afterimage, then he swung his staff and struck the large rat monster's nose directly, causing blood to pour forth.

After a few staff blows, the father and son were howling in pain, and within a moment they knelt on the ground begging for mercy.

"Grandfather, spare my life! Grandfather, spare my life!

"It hurts, don't hit me, don't hit me.

"Now you know how formidable Old Sun is! Well then, I'll spare your two lives for the time being—but! Kneel before Old Sun and speak, and do not rise." Sun Monkey pointed his staff at the father and son and said.

My own strength has regressed too severely; if it were my former self, two staff blows would have finished off the father and son, but now after a dozen or so blows I have merely wounded them.

"You used to be human, but then that Bodhisattva turned you into rat monsters, right?" Luode stepped forward and asked.

"Sir, we really were human before, but we've been monsters for hundreds of years; our king is the Yellow Wind Great Sage, whose divine powers are vast—I implore you, for the sake of our king, to spare my father and son's lives." The King of Sha knelt on the ground and said.

"You look too ugly now; I'll change you." Luode chuckled and said.

Luode's divine power surged forth, acting on the two rat monsters, driving out all the faint Buddhist power from their bodies; life force flowed through them, and in a moment they returned to their original forms.

In the blink of an eye, the two rat monsters became a tall man in armor wielding a weapon, and a short old man.

"Father, father, I've changed back, I've changed back.

"My son, are we not dreaming? Oh dear!

The monkey beside him struck the old king's head with a stick, making him scream instantly.

"If you feel pain, you're not dreaming. Cut the nonsense and tell me quickly—where is your king now?" the monkey asked.

"Great Sage, my king is cultivating in the depths of Yellow Wind Valley. He has activated the Yellow Wind Grand Formation and sealed the door of his retreat; only the Tiger Vanguard and Stone Vanguard, holding the token together, can open it." said the Sha King.

Sun Wukong nodded, put away his staff, went up to Luode, smiled, and said.

"Great Sage Wutian! I, Old Sun, have already found out clearly: that Yellow Wind Monster is indeed cultivating in the valley's depths, probably refining the root implement I left behind."

"To find him, we must first open the sealed gate; we need to locate his subordinates, the Stone Vanguard and the Tiger Vanguard."

Just then, the father and son who had been kneeling on the ground suddenly spoke.

"Great Sage, O Great Sage, I am deeply grateful for your lifesaving grace, but I beg you, please save my eldest son! He was once the pillar of the state, the crown prince of the country, but after turning into a mouse demon, he has gone mad. Please save my son." said the Sha King.

If you can turn my father and me back into humans, then surely you can bring back my eldest; as long as my eldest returns, his listless illness will be cured.

"Let's discuss this after I meet your king; if he is willing to submit to me, I will restore you to human form." said Luode.

"Grandfather! I, the old man, can take you to Crouching Tiger Temple; I know where that furry ball is, and I also know the Stone Vanguard." said the old king, his eyes rolling.

"If so, then lead the way! We'll first find the Tiger Vanguard, then the Stone Vanguard, and finally the Yellow Wind Great King." said Luode.

Actually, with my strength, a mere thought can reach the place where the Yellow Wasp Monster cultivates, and I could even capture it directly.

But the monsters in these mountains don't seem to be of one mind. This king and his son clearly intend to use me to get rid of the Tiger Vanguard, and I don't know what the Tiger Vanguard has done.

I recall that in the promotional clip, the Tiger Vanguard seemed to be standing in a blood pool—what's suspicious about that?

Under the leadership of the Sha King and Sha Erlang, father and son, a group of people quickly arrived at a place called Crouching Tiger Temple.

Here, severed limbs are scattered everywhere; some mouse demon corpses are tossed carelessly on the road, and the whole temple reeks of a nauseating bloody smell.

"This blood is really strange—why does it smell human? These are clearly mouse demons!" said the horse-headed person, looking at the mouse demon corpses littering the ground, with a puzzled expression.

"Because they are all humans, transformed into mouse demons by the Bodhisattva Lingji's magic, they retain a human scent—since they were originally people." the monkey sighed.

The people here are exactly like the Sha King and his son—all transformed from humans into mice.

Speaking of demons, these Buddhist folk are even more demonic; what is the Lion-Camel Ridge at the foot of Spirit Mountain like?

Human flesh turned to mud, human skin and hair hung on trees, heads and bones scattered everywhere—within the eight-hundred-li Lion-Camel Ridge, all mortals have been devoured.

"Sirs, that damned furry ball hates the king, but the king can't do anything about it, so he takes his anger out on us!" said the Sha King.

"Wukong, go subdue that little tiger and bring it out—no problem, right?" said Luode.

Taking care of a little tiger should be no problem, right?

"Of course no problem! Great God Wutian, just watch—I, Old Sun, will go subdue that little spotted cat." After saying this, Wukong hoisted his staff onto his shoulder.

Although I have weakened, dealing with a little spotted cat is still a piece of cake. (End of chapter)