Chapter 311: The Foster Daughter of the Pagoda Seat, the Golden-Nosed White-Haired Rat

The matter of the Demon Pill has finally been settled.

Tang An and her three disciples found Jiuyue and Xiaotian Quan, then continued their journey westward together.

"Let me see how many tribulations we have passed."

Tang An took the Journey to the West Calamity Book and recorded the Battle of Dharma against Wuliang Xianweng in the Demon Pill World as one tribulation.

Then, she looked through it from the beginning to calculate their total number of tribulations.

"Sixty-one tribulations."

"There are twenty tribulations left before our eighty-one tribulations end."

It can be said that the journey to the west is now nearing its end.

"Let me think about what monster tribulations are left."

"The golden-nosed white-haired rat, Miefa Kingdom, the leopard spirit, the rainmaking in Fengxian Prefecture, the yellow lion spirit, the three monsters of avoiding cold, heat, and dust, the jade rabbit, and the resurrection of Kou Yuanwai."

"Finally, there is the shedding of the mortal body at Lingyun Ferry, and the tribulation of the old turtle at Tongtian River."

"Oh right, and the Lion Camel Ridge at the foot of Lingshan, which had its order swapped."

"Tsk, the monsters aren't enough. And as for the Tongtian River tribulation, that old turtle was already dealt with by me in advance, so I'm afraid that one is gone too."

"We must find a way to count a few more tribulations among the monsters."

Tang An bit the end of her pen, pondering exactly where she could reasonably add a few more tribulations.

One hundred miles outside of Xiankong Mountain.

Tang An and her group arrived here, walking leisurely through the mountain forest.

With the shade of the trees, the summer heat did not seem so intense.

"Master, after the journey west ends, can we still borrow that Lie Kong Claw to return to your world?" Sun Wukong had recently often heard Tang An muttering about going back, which made him feel itchy to go and see that world himself.

Tang An shook her head, "The Lie Kong Claw seems to only be useful in the Journey to the West World and the Demon Pill World."

"I have tried; I cannot return to the future."

"Oh?" Sun Wukong was puzzled, "Could it be that Master's hope of returning is about to be shattered again?"

But looking at Tang An, Sun Wukong did not think she looked like someone who had lost hope.

"Sigh, after obtaining that Ancestral Dragon Blood, there is no longer any need to use the Lie Kong Claw."

"The ability of the Concept-Version River God is equally effective even on the River of Time."

In other words, the Ancestral Dragon of the past was one of the great beings who controlled the Time Law.

That ability, which originally sounded incredible, suddenly seemed reasonable once matched with that identity.

"Master." Yang Jian also stopped his steps, waiting for Jiuyue to catch up.

"It seems that ever since you last experienced the Heart Demon tribulation, you have not mentioned that thing called the system again."

In the past, whenever Tang An brought out those strange and Guguai items, she would say they were exchanged from the system.

But since then, Tang An had never mentioned it again.

Tang An smiled mysteriously, "Where would there be any system? They were just things originally stored in my dharma treasure. And, Master borrowed that dharma treasure to provide me with assistance."

"Otherwise, how could that Qingping Sword be something that could be exchanged for one hundred Merit?"

"Even the name 'system' was just the dharma treasure connecting with my original power, knowing my inner desires—the 'golden finger,' or the idea of 'cheating'—and it learned the script of the systems in the novels I had read."

"As for those modern things, they were all things Master knew I needed by looking through that dharma treasure, and then he crossed the River of Time to bring them to me from the modern era."

Speaking of this, Tang An sighed.

"My Master really went to great lengths in the early stages to hide my identity and prevent the Heavenly Dao from noticing."

"It's fine now; even if the Heavenly Dao knows, there's nothing to fear. My, Tang An's, Causality with this world, and the weight of my involvement in pushing each Great Tribulation, have already made me an existence that the Heavenly Dao cannot erase."

Yang Jian suddenly realized, "So... Master, your dharma treasure is..."

Thinking of this, Tang An couldn't help but laugh, laughing until Yang Jian was a bit bewildered.

"What is it, Master?"

Tang An propped up her head, leaning on Jiuyue's fox tail. "When you were young, I even hit you with it."

"Ah?"

"I used that dharma treasure to hit you."

"Ah?"

Tang An's smile deepened, "But that was all things she did in the past; what does that have to do with me, Tang An?"

Anyway, if it wasn't something she did with her own hands, it had nothing to do with her.

If it was something she did herself but she didn't admit it, then it also had nothing to do with her.

Yang Jian really couldn't figure out Tang An's former identity for a moment. "When will Master's identity be revealed?"

Tang An looked toward the direction of the Western Heaven, "Soon."

"The moment the journey west ends will be the time I use the Merit gathered along the way to exchange for the unification of my two-life destiny."

"And only then will I have the strength and confidence to truly sit at the table and play against the world and the Saints."

After all, everything she possesses now is obtained by relying on others.

If one day, the Heavenly Dao were to suddenly restrict Tongtian Jiaozhu and the others from helping her, then with her mortal body, she would have no way to struggle and survive in the torrent of this world.

The counterattack from the West would be even more than she could withstand.

Rather than gambling on an uncertainty and placing her own safety in the hands of others, it is better to rely on oneself in all things to be secure.

After all, Tang An has known since she was young that no matter when, the only thing a person can truly count on is their own Dao.

Only one's own hard strength is the foundation for dealing with all variables.

She does not like to use a fluke mentality to gamble on uncertainty, or to gamble on how the Heavenly Dao might act.

She likes to seek victory in stability; even if she takes a risky move, she must ensure the safety of those around her.

Nezha kept watching Tang An without a word, a feeling vaguely stirring in his heart—a desire to look directly at the sun, yet a fear of touching it.

If she were too dazzling, then would he...

Sun Wukong was different; he listened to what Tang An said and slapped his thigh with a chuckle.

"Master is truly worthy of being Master; it seems that I, Old Sun, will still have to rely heavily on Master in the future."

His tone was more like he was teasing Tang An, joking around.

Because no matter who Tang An was, to Sun Wukong, she only held the two identities of Master and Sanmei.

"Click."

Tang An clicked her tongue smugly, "Just watch, Master will have you covered from now on."

The master and disciples looked at each other and smiled, their reactions all different.

Just as Yang Jian was about to say something else, they all heard a faint cry for help.

"Help~"

"Is anyone there? Help~"

Tang An signaled for Jiuyue to stop, then looked at Nezha.

"Oh, the adopted daughter of the Pagoda owner is here."

"Adopted daughter?" Nezha looked toward the source of the cries, "Just kill her."

"Hey, hey, hey..." Tang An hurriedly jumped down to hold Nezha back, "If you kill her just like that, how are we supposed to gather our tribulations?"

"There aren't many monsters left to begin with; even if we don't have any difficulties, we have to create some small difficulties for ourselves before we move on."

Tang An practically treated the monsters as an endangered species; if they were all killed off, who would they go to for tribulations, right?

"Let's go, let's head over and take a look at this Golden-Nosed White-Haired Rat."