Chapter 838

542 chapters, a treasure gourd that can hold the moon

542 chapters, a treasure gourd that can hold the moon

――――A red apricot branch sticking out of the wall

In the previous chapter, it was said that two little demons, following the order of the demon of Lianhuadong in West Mountain, took the 'Red Gourd' and the 'Jade Pure Bottle', went to capture Sun Wukong, walked down to the mountain slope, and again encountered the old Daoist that Sun Wukong had transformed into.

Seeing the little demon's happy look, Wukong took the opportunity to say: "You two, who is holding the 'Red Gourd', and who is holding the Jade Pure Bottle?" The one called the Fine Ghost little demon said: "Old Daoist, I am holding the 'Red Gourd'." Then he pointed to the little demon beside him and said: "He is holding the Jade Pure Bottle."

"You only know how to hold them, but how can you actually put Sun Wukong into these two bottles?" Wukong intentionally led the two little demons to speak.

The little demon called Fine Ghost hurriedly said: "Just now, when we were about to go down the mountain, the great demon ordered us, saying: 'When you get in front of Sun Wukong, turn the bottle upside down, point the mouth at Sun Wukong. We will then call out to Sun Wukong, 'Great Sage Sun'. As soon as the monkey replies, he will be sucked into the bottle. Then we will seal the bottle with the talisman stolen from the Supreme Elder Lord by the great demon, and recite the Supreme Elder Lord's mantra: 'No matter how great your abilities, I will put you in the bottle. I will not let you show your head; I will see how you fare. There is a thing, mixed and formed, born before heaven and earth. Silent and solitary, standing alone without change. Moving everywhere without danger, it can be the mother of heaven and earth. I do not know its name; calling it 'Dao' is just a label. Forcing a name, we call it 'Great'; 'Great' we call 'Passing'; 'Passing' we call 'Far'; 'Far' we call 'Returning'. Therefore Dao is great, heaven is great, earth is great, the king is also great; within the realm there are four greats, and the king occupies one of them. Man follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows Dao, Dao follows nature.' Once the monkey's head is put into this bottle, within a moment it will turn into pus."

After hearing the little demon's nonsense, Wukong secretly exclaimed: "What a close call! This bottle is truly formidable. If I, Old Monkey, were really put into this bottle, my own death would be trivial, but delaying my master's journey to the West to obtain the scriptures would be a major matter."

Sun Wukong always puts others before himself, thinking of his master and fellow disciples. He thought, I cannot delay here. I must find a way to take the two treasure bottles from the little demons' hands, for if such treasures fall into evil hands they will cause harm. Thinking this, Wukong said: "Brothers, you have been going on and on about how mighty those treasures are. I don't believe it—can you bring them out so this old Daoist can take a look?"

The little demon said: "Then, old Daoist, have a look." The little demon said, and taking the two bottles from his sleeve, handed them to Sun Wukong with both hands. Upon receiving the two treasures, Wukong secretly rejoiced: these two demons are truly pig-headed; with just a few words I have tricked them out of their treasures. Then he thought again: I, Old Monkey, have never deceived anyone; if I am to take something, I will do it openly and honorably. Wukong held the two treasures in his hand, looked at them for a while, thought it over, and still gave them back to the two little demons.

Wukong said: "Your treasures are no fun, not as good as mine." The two little demons, hearing that this old Daoist also had a treasure, begged Wukong: "Old Daoist, if you have any treasure, bring it out so we can broaden our horizons."

Wukong waved at the two little demons, saying: "Good, good, come, come…" Wukong, while speaking, plucked a monkey hair from his body, and said to the hair: "Change, change, change…" As soon as he said change, it changed; that monkey hair quickly turned into a very beautiful big purple-red Red Gourd.

Wukong took the big purple-red Red Gourd that he had transformed from the monkey hair in his hand, and said to the two little monsters: "Look, is my Red Gourd nice-looking?" The Red Gourd in Wukong's hand sparkled, radiant and dazzling. The little monster said: "Old Daoist, your Red Gourd is nice-looking, but it's not useful."

Wukong said: "You little demon, you're talking nonsense again; how is my Red Gourd not useful?" The little demon said: "Our cave's big demon's Red Gourd can load a thousand people all at once into the treasure gourd; can your Red Gourd do that?"

Listen, little demon, my Red Gourd can load the Yueqiu in the sky.

The two little monsters said: "Old Daoist, you're bragging; how big is the Yueqiu? Can your little Red Gourd fit it in? We don't believe it."

"Unbelieving? Unbelieving, I'll show you." Wukong said, "Look, why does the moon in the sky often lack a half? That half is what I've loaded inside. Don't you want to go back in the dark tonight? If you want to go back in the dark, I'll load tonight's moon into my Red Gourd."

"Old Daoist, don't pretend to load the moon into your bottle. We don't want to go back in the dark." The two little monsters said in unison.

Wukong saw that the two little monsters believed his words that the little monster transformed from the monkey hair in his hand could load the Yueqiu, and then he boasted to the little monsters, saying: "Little monster, my Red Gourd in hand can not only load the moon, but also load the sky."

"Loading the sky? You're bragging, how can you load it into it?" The two little monsters were doubtful. Wukong said: "Don't you believe me? If you don't believe me, I'll show you by loading you in. Once you're loaded in, don't regret it."

"Ah, load us in too, no, no… we believe, we believe…" The two little monsters said repeatedly.

The clever, quick-witted little monster said to the other little monster: "I say, buddy, let's exchange our Red Gourds in hand for the old Daoist's Red Gourd that can load the sky." The other little monster said: "I don't know if the old Daoist will exchange or not."

Wukong, upon hearing that, said: "How could I exchange it for you? My treasure gourd can load the sky; can yours?"