Chapter 584: Dark Journey to the West?!

Kongming ran a hand over his increasingly sparse hair, entering a state of groundless anxiety.

Tang Luo and the others, meanwhile, welcomed their eighteenth mission half a month later:

Cross the Flat-Top Mountain Range.

Faced with this mission, one man, one pig, and one dragon couldn't help but fall into contemplation.

"Master, is this Flat-Top Mountain Range the Flat-Top Mountain we know?" After a moment, Ao Yulie asked.

This mission, too, involved only their squad, with no other gods or demons working together to complete it.

There had already been quite a few missions like this; Tang Luo and the others were used to it.

What truly caught their attention was the location name of this mission — Flat-Top Mountain Range.

"The mission looks simple enough, and the heaven-and-earth Qi is quite abundant," Zhu Bajie said. "Master, why don't we summon Nezha first?"

The heaven-and-earth Qi in this world was abundant, reaching a level where one could recover from injuries with peace of mind.

"Don't rush," Tang Luo said. "Let's assess the situation first; it would be awkward if we summon him and things turn out wrong."

Bringing someone over, only to discover at the end that it's a screwed-up place, wouldn't be good.

Zhu Bajie nodded.

The few of them flew up directly, soaring over the towering trees overhead, and arrived in the sky.

"Thick fog," Ao Yulie exclaimed.

As far as the eye could see, there were only continuous mountain ranges, lofty peaks and ridges, all shrouded in dense fog.

It had the appearance of a land cut off from the world, a primordial place, and one couldn't help but marvel at nature's wondrous craftsmanship.

Shaping a forbidden zone of ghosts and gods where strangers should not enter.

Scanning the surroundings, a patch of shadow projected down from the sky.

Accompanied by a bird cry, a strange bird with a wingspan of several dozen meters, the size of a medium passenger plane, dove from the heavens, its sharp claws grabbing at Tang Luo and these few little things.

"A monster."

Ao Yulie looked up at the giant strange bird; the pupils of his eyes turned into golden vertical slits, and dragon might radiated out.

The strange bird let out a terrified cry, its wings flapping repeatedly as it frantically changed direction, flying in a crooked, wobbly manner, yet its speed was not slow; it plunged headfirst into the sea of forest and vanished.

"Tch, it doesn't even count as a minor yaoguai." Ao Yulie tossed his hair in a very smug manner, but then immediately wondered, "What kind of exotic species is this? Why does it feel like a sparrow, just grown exceptionally large?"

That strange bird just now had little intelligence; it charged up upon discovering prey, and the moment the prey turned into the predator it fled in a panic, its behavior no different from a wild beast.

Yet its bearing was not weak; in terms of strength, it was already no less than ordinary jingguai or yaowu, even surpassing quite a few.

Ao Yulie saying it doesn't even count as a minor yaoguai referred to its intelligence.

This kind of jingguai that hasn't awakened spiritual intelligence yet possesses considerable strength is usually a natural-born exotic species.

Their numbers are few, like Bifang, Bashe, Kunpeng, and the like.

Ao Yulie could be considered widely knowledgeable, yet he had never seen a giant bird that looked like a sparrow.

"Wonder what it tastes like..." Tang Luo muttered, recalling that the Mountains and Seas Realm was truly vast and rich in resources.

In terms of seasonings it fell far short of the real world, but in the depth and breadth of ingredients, they weren't even on the same level.

Many ingredients needed no seasoning at all; they were naturally delicious.

"Master, shall I go catch it back?" Ao Yulie was eager to try.

"Forget it." Tang Luo shook his head; it was merely because the phrase "Flat-Top Mountain Range" made him reminisce about his glorious past years, so he simply mentioned it in passing.

If he really wanted to eat it, he would have moved to catch the bird just now.

"Master, there seem to be people over there." Zhu Bajie pointed in a direction.

"Let's go take a look." The few of them descended toward that spot.

On the winding mountain path, a group of "travelers" was advancing; walking at the very front was a strange man, his build humanoid, hairy face and thunder-god mouth, but the top of his head was bald, sporting a Mediterranean hairstyle.

A golden hoop adorned his forehead, and the brown hair beside it was messy, like steel needles.

He wore yellow robes and a tiger-skin skirt, baring his teeth in a grin from time to time — enough to scare a bunch of children to tears in the middle of the night.

Behind him was a man leading a horse, powerfully built, especially towering in contrast to that little dwarf in front.

A head of wild, chaotic hair, like a caveman, wearing a string of Buddhist beads.

He led a white horse; on the horse sat a monk, clad in a magnificent kasaya, with fair tender skin, red lips and white teeth, looking slightly plump and well-off.

Bringing up the rear was a burden-bearing "man," chest bared, the very image of Maitreya, except he had a half-human half-pig head, striking fear at first sight.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The three of Tang Luo fell into silence once again.

Watching that group of travelers swaying leisurely along the winding mountain trail.

"Master, is that us?" After a good long while, Ao Yulie finally spoke.

"Pah!" Zhu Bajie snapped, "Look closely, is that us? Was Old Pig that ugly back in the day?"

Ao Yulie said seriously: "To be honest, Second Senior Brother, you were even uglier than this back then! This is at least a domestic pig; you, back then, were an upright-walking wild boar!"

"My wild boar form is ugly? That's called majesty! You don't know shit!" Zhu Bajie retorted, unconvinced.

"But I think Eldest Senior Brother looks very alike, very quintessential." Ao Yulie pointed at the bald-headed monkey with the hairy face and thunder-god mouth at the very front.

"Exactly!"

Zhu Bajie immediately burst out laughing; the two instantly reached consensus that this monkey looked very much like Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong of course doesn't look like this; whether full monkey, half monkey, or full human, he's not this appearance — at least Sun Wukong isn't bald.

Back when Tang Luo journeyed west, there were only two baldies: one was himself, and two was the honest, newly-built Sha Wujing; incidentally, Sha Wujing's head was smooth and bare, but his chin beard was extremely thick.

"This should count as a parallel-world version of us, right?" After laughing together at Sun Wukong, gaining immense psychological and physiological satisfaction, Ao Yulie said.

Similar mission worlds, similar characters — this kind of situation has happened before.

As far as Tang Luo and the others knew, there were at least three different Three Kingdoms mission worlds.

Each world had famous figures like Zhuge Liang, each distinct.

Kongming's fate pattern back then was obtained from a certain Three Kingdoms world.

The Three Kingdoms world he experienced had a Zhuge Kongming dressed as a strategist, who then picked up a sword and charged seven times in and seven times out of ten thousand armies like a fierce warrior.

Fully interpreting what is called a melee strategist.

Walking by the river often, one carelessly falls in; after his death he "dropped" fate pattern fragments, which Kongming obtained.

Not respecting the original work or history at all.

Speaking from this angle, the Shan Hai Realm Tang Luo transmigrated to also owes an apology — double blossoms.

"Make contact? Master." Zhu Bajie asked.

"Go." Tang Luo nodded, and the few of them approached the other world's scripture-fetching group.

"Demons..."

The monkey at the very front yawned, speaking lazily, "Come out and meet your deaths, your Grandpa Sun spotted you long ago."

"This monkey is so arrogant!"

"Even more arrogant than Eldest Senior Brother! Unacceptable, how can I bear this?" Ao Yulie said, "Master, let me go teach this monkey a lesson!"

"Sure." Tang Luo said with a smile.

Ao Yulie took a deep breath, darted out pointing at that Sun Wukong and began mocking: "Bimawen!"

Haha, happy!

Sun Wukong froze for a moment, then laughed, revealing two rows of incomparably sharp teeth: "Where did this little bug come from, looks like you truly don't want to live."

"Wukong, a monk shouldn't always shout about killing." Tang Sanzang on horseback persuaded.

"Shut up, stinking monk, believe it or not I'll twist your head off and kick it like a ball!" Sun Wukong twisted his head one hundred eighty degrees, glaring at Tang Sanzang, as if the two had some deep blood feud.

"You wretched monkey, disobedient disciple! Demon!"

Tang Sanzang started, about to urge the horse beneath him away from the ferocious Sun Wukong.

However the Sha Monk leading the horse before him gripped the hemp rope tight, not letting the White Dragon Horse retreat; its hooves dug a small pit in the ground yet it could not leave, continuously neighing.

"Right, I am a demon, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!" Sun Wukong seemed happy from scaring Tang Sanzang, laughing wildly.

The Zhu Bajie at the very back wore a smile, eyes flickering, as if he wished they would fight right then and there.

Ao Yulie, left hanging to the side, looked toward Tang Luo and the others who hadn't come out, mouthing: "The legendary Dark Journey to the West?"

"These guys have a terrible relationship." Zhu Bajie also mouthed back, no need for the Gray Mist group chat.

"You demon! Do you believe this poor monk will chant the Tight-Fillet Spell!" Tang Sanzang's face paled, forcing himself to say.

"Come, chant it! Let's see if you chant faster, or I twist your head off and kick it like a ball faster!" Sun Wukong pointed at his own head, revealing a savage grin.

"Master, Eldest Senior Brother, stop arguing, we still have to go to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures."

The Zhu Wuneng at the back walked over, persuading, "If a real ruckus starts, no one ends up well, people will die."

"... Plague pig, what business is it of yours here?" Sun Wukong's eyes burned with flames.

"Eldest Senior Brother, saying that is meaningless, I'm doing it for everyone's good." Zhu Wuneng blocked in front of him.

A hand stretched out behind, waving slightly.

Tang Sanzang understood instantly, palms together, and began chanting the Tight-Fillet Spell.

Sun Wukong's face changed, he let out a roar, his body involuntarily soaring up, tumbling in midair.

"Does it hurt that much, Master?" Zhu Bajie asked quietly.

Tang Luo shook his head: "How would I know? Next time you see Wukong ask him yourself."

He's the one chanting the spell, not the one being cursed.

"I reckon Eldest Senior Brother might not remember either." Zhu Bajie said.

Tang Luo had of course chanted the Tight-Fillet Spell before, but not to punish Sun Wukong — to distinguish the real from the fake Handsome Monkey King.

At the time Tang Luo chanted the Tight-Fillet Spell, two monkeys scrambled up to heaven and down to earth in chaos.

A true Heaven-Scrambling Monkey.

Then Tang Luo sneakily started chanting nonsense, and soon only one monkey remained scrambling in the sky.

Six-Ear's acting was extremely convincing; after he stopped the scene was also extremely awkward.

Fortunately everyone quickly joined in beating Six-Ear who was spewing abuse at Tang Luo, resolving the awkwardness in time.

Soon, with the sound of the Tight-Fillet Spell, Sun Wukong in midair fell to the ground, rolling powerlessly.

"Disobedient disciple! Do you know your error!" Tang Sanzang pointed at Sun Wukong and questioned, full of vigor.

"This monk is so annoying Master, I want to hit him." Zhu Bajie said.

"What are these guys doing! Completely ignoring me!" Ao Yulie also muttered, "I want to hit him too, how about this Sun Wukong goes to Second Senior Brother you then."

Persimmons must be picked soft.