Su Qing’s actions were naturally not without reason; she wasn’t simply trying to tease Guanyin Bodhisattva...
She merely wanted to use the opportunity to obscure a few things.
Firstly, there was the matter of her own knowledge of future events. Secondly, she wanted to further confirm that she was indeed not the pilgrim destined to endure the Eighty-One Tribulations.
Upon hearing Su Qing's words, Guanyin Bodhisattva smiled slightly and replied via telepathy as well.
"Because this is... destiny. Furthermore, your objectives differ. Xuanqing seeks the scriptures for the inheritance of the Buddhist sect, while the other pilgrim seeks them for the prosperity of Shanbuzhou Jambudvipa."
Guanyin Bodhisattva’s answer caused Su Qing to daze for a moment...
Su Qing barely registered the latter half of the explanation, focusing instead on the initial words.
"Destiny?" Su Qing hadn't expected Senior Guanyin to tell her so directly that this was destiny.
While it wasn't entirely unexpected, such directness from Guanyin Bodhisattva was rare.
"Indeed... it is destiny. Just as Wukong was destined to be suppressed beneath this Five Elements Mountain! No matter how the process changes, the result will not. This is destiny..." Guanyin Bodhisattva replied calmly through telepathy.
Su Qing said nothing more and simply nodded.
Their telepathic exchange ended in an instant...
In Wukong’s eyes, Su Qing had only locked eyes with Guanyin Bodhisattva for a brief moment.
Currently suppressed beneath the Five Elements Mountain, Wukong was unable to use any of his abilities and naturally could not detect the telepathic conversation between Su Qing and Guanyin Bodhisattva.
Su Qing said, "It looks like Wukong still has to be suppressed for a while longer?"
"That is the case, though it will only be a few more years." Guanyin Bodhisattva smiled faintly and said, "I presume the Great Sage can wait that long?"
Suppressed beneath the mountain, Wukong chuckled and said, "I can wait, I can wait. Naturally, I can wait."
Facing Guanyin Bodhisattva, Wukong remained exceptionally polite.
Guanyin Bodhisattva then said, "Very well, my message has been delivered. I shall take my leave now. Little friend, if you have business with the Great Sage, please feel free to stay."
Seeing this, Su Qing nodded slightly and said, "Take care, Senior."
Guanyin Bodhisattva smiled, then transformed into a streak of Buddhist light and vanished.
Great beings moved with incredible speed; such coming and going without a trace was hardly surprising.
After Guanyin Bodhisattva left, Su Qing sat on the ground, looked at Wukong, and asked, "You're finally about to leave this cage. How do you feel?"
Wukong couldn't help but chuckle and said, "I'm happy, of course! I truly must thank you, Big Sister."
"I didn't do much. There's no need to thank me."
"By the way, Big Sister, where are you headed that you happened to pass by this place?"
"To the West. I'm accompanying a friend to the West," Su Qing said calmly.
"Big Sister, you're also going to the West to seek scriptures?"
Su Qing shook her head and didn't explain. She simply asked, "I have wine. Do you want to drink?"
"I'll drink! I'll drink! Big Sister hasn't visited in so many years, I've been craving it!"
Su Qing smiled and took a jar of fine wine from her Sleeve Universe, placing it before Wukong.
She then asked, "Once you get out, you mustn't cause trouble again."
"I know, I know. After being suppressed by that old bald donkey for five hundred years, I've learned my lesson," Wukong chuckled, taking a large gulp of wine.
Su Qing shook her head. She didn't truly believe this monkey would be well-behaved once he was free.
However, she didn't feel like saying more...
In any case, the future Tang Sanzang would be able to handle this monkey.
There was no need for her to worry.
She simply chatted with Wukong about trivial matters for a while.
When she felt they had talked enough, she prepared to leave.
"Take care, Big Sister!" Wukong wiped his mouth and waved goodbye to Su Qing. "By the way, Big Sister, once you reach Spirit Mountain, you must be careful of that old bald donkey. He's very good at tricking people; don't let yourself be fooled."
The corner of Su Qing's mouth twitched. She didn't bother responding and simply waved her hand as she departed.
After Su Qing left, Wukong continued drinking his wine.
In his heart, he was thinking about how he would enjoy his freedom once he got out.
As for escorting that pilgrim to the West...
He would naturally do it.
After all, it was only a matter of a single Somersault Cloud.
Su Qing left the Five Elements Mountain and soon returned to their previous location.
However, when she arrived, she saw only the white horse and not the two girls.
For a moment, Su Qing was puzzled.
She had only been gone for a short while. Where had those two girls run off to?
She wasn't worried about them getting hurt.
With their strength, as long as they didn't hurt others, everything would be fine.
As she pondered, Su Qing performed a quick divination.
She immediately determined their location.
Su Qing raised an eyebrow and turned to find them.
They hadn't gone far. After a short while, Su Qing found the two of them.
"What are you two doing?" When Su Qing found them, she saw them crouching on the ground, surrounding something.
Hearing Su Qing's voice and knowing she had found them, they instinctively stood up and called out, "Godmother (Mother)! Look at this..."
Su Qing looked down.
She discovered it was a newborn tiger cub, looking as if it were on its last breath, with several small wounds on its body.
"How did you find this little guy?" Su Qing looked at the tiger and raised an eyebrow.
"While we were waiting for you and got bored, Chaoyan and I decided to walk around... then we happened to see this little guy being carried off by jackals, so we saved it," Yudie explained.
"I see. Since you saved it, why didn't you treat it? Why are you just standing here watching?"
At this question, Chaoyan said troubledly, "I... I only know how to heal people, not animals..."
Yudie scratched her head and said, "I only know how to cut people down... I don't know anything about healing."
The corner of Su Qing's mouth twitched.
And here she was wondering why!
It turned out to be such a simple reason.
Su Qing sighed helplessly, then walked over to the tiger cub, fed it a pill, and said, "This will do. It will get better soon. Besides, I imagine the little guy's mother will find it soon enough."
Watching this, Chaoyan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, Godmother... if you hadn't come, I wouldn't have known what to do. After all, having saved it only to watch it die would have been..."
Su Qing rolled her eyes and reached out to pat the girl's head. "Alright, enough. More importantly, I haven't settled the score with you two for running off without permission!"
Hearing this, Chaoyan covered her bottom and quickly ran back toward the white horse.
Yudie followed closely behind, afraid of being caught by Su Qing.
Su Qing sighed helplessly, then waved her hand to cast a spell, saying:
"Consider yourself lucky to have met them... and me. Well, there's no use telling a little guy like you this, but I hope you don't harm people in the future. Otherwise, be careful not to have your hide turned into a coat."
Shaking her head, Su Qing turned and left.
She still had to lecture two disobedient girls!
Su Qing and the other two left the Five Elements Mountain and continued westward.
The journey was exceptionally smooth...
Before long, the sky began to darken.
Su Qing and the others had no choice but to find a household to stay for the night.
Finding a place to stay was easy for them... they succeeded quite easily.
Being beautiful naturally made finding lodging less difficult.
It was a simple farmhouse where only an old man and a young girl lived. There were spare rooms, though they were a bit cluttered.
However, they were livable after a quick tidying up.
It was much better than sleeping in the wilderness.
Since they were staying at someone's home, Su Qing naturally helped with the cooking and had Yudie go out to catch some game.
Su Qing was not a monk, so she didn't follow those complicated rules, nor did she restrict herself to a vegetarian diet.
While Chaoyan certainly couldn't break her vows, Su Qing couldn't stand not eating meat.
"Elder, thank you truly for letting us stay. Otherwise, the three of us would have had to sleep in the wild," Su Qing said with a smile.
The old man shook his head and said, "It's no trouble, no trouble... I just didn't expect that you weren't a Buddhist practitioner, young lady..."
"I am not. I am simply accompanying her to the West," Su Qing said, shaking her head.
The dinner table was quite abundant, with both vegetables and meat.
As for the meat dishes...
Chaoyan naturally wasn't surprised and didn't complain. Just because she was a vegetarian didn't mean those eating with her had to be.
The old man realized this, nodded, said "Amitabha," and remarked:
"Amitabha, so that's how it is..."
Once the old man understood, he stopped asking questions and simply placed a piece of meat in his granddaughter's bowl.
Living in such a place, while not exactly impoverished, eating meat was a rare occurrence, so he naturally wouldn't say much.
However, as they ate, the old man suddenly spoke up:
"By the way, when you set out tomorrow, you must be careful. There are bandits in the nearby mountains, and they are not good people. Since you are all women, it will be troublesome if you encounter them."
Hearing this, Chaoyan paused.
If there was one type of person she hated most, it was likely bandits.
However, she was a Buddhist practitioner, and killing was not permitted...
So, while she hated them, she wouldn't directly kill them.
But... there were other ways besides killing. If they encountered them, she could simply hand them over to the local authorities!
"Thank you for your concern, Elder. We will try our best to go around them," Su Qing replied with a smile and a faint nod while Chaoyan remained silent.
Seeing this, the old man said no more, nodded, and continued eating his food.
After dinner.
Su Qing and the other two went to the guest room, planning to squeeze together for the night.
Since the three women were well-acquainted, sleeping together wasn't uncomfortable, and they soon fell asleep.
However, halfway through their sleep, a hurried knocking sounded at the door.
After a brief moment of knocking, someone kicked the courtyard gate open...
Su Qing was woken by the commotion outside, and Yudie and Chaoyan woke up as well.
"Ha~ it looks like there's more trouble." Su Qing rubbed her eyes, called Yudie, transformed into her traveling clothes, and walked out.
However, just as Su Qing stepped out of the room, she was stopped by the old man's granddaughter.
"Don't go out, miss... it's the bandits. If you go out, it will be dangerous." The little girl's eyes were filled with tears, but she was faithfully following her grandfather's instructions to stop the three from leaving the room.
After all, no one knew what would happen if they fell into the hands of those bandits.
Su Qing reached out and rubbed the little girl's head, saying, "Don't worry. Since I travel abroad, how could I not have some skills to protect myself?"
"But there are so many of them... my grandfather said that as long as we don't go out, the bandits will just take some valuables and leave. Nothing will happen..." the little girl said, sobbing.
Clearly, she didn't even believe her own words.
Hearing this, Chaoyan shook her head and said, "If only those bandits were truly so orderly... Don't worry, little girl, we will be fine. Your grandfather will be fine too..."
With that, before Su Qing could say anything, Chaoyan vanished from before their eyes.
Although the Divine Immortal Realm wasn't considered a very high level of cultivation... it was enough to perform many spells.
Perhaps Chaoyan didn't know many spells, but without a doubt... dealing with a few bandits was more than enough.
In the courtyard, the bandits were demanding to know who the white horse belonged to.
The bandits might not have been well-educated, but they had a good eye. This white horse had an excellent coat and a sturdy build; it was clearly not an ordinary horse...
It was the kind of horse only high-society people could afford to ride.
If nothing else, this horse alone was likely worth dozens or even a hundred taels of silver.
"This... this..." The old man didn't know how to lie, so he just made something up. "I found it on the road."
"Found it?" The bandits naturally didn't believe this and pressed further, "I suggest you be honest..."
Before the bandit could finish his sentence, a fair fist came flying toward him...
Unable to dodge in time, the bandit was hit squarely, and blood began to pour from his nose.
Seeing this, Chaoyan pressed her palms together and said, "Amitabha, how virtuous. Why must you commit evil, Benefactor?"
The bandit who had been hit clutched his crooked nose, his face full of resentment, and glared viciously at Chaoyan.
"And here I was wondering who it was. I didn't expect it to be a lay nun! You stinking nun, I think you're tired of living."
The bandit naturally wouldn't answer Chaoyan's question and spoke with pure malice instead.
At the same time, the other bandits nearby began to surround her.
Although none of them had seen how she had appeared, seeing that she was just a nun—and a very young one at that—they couldn't help but look down on her.
They assumed they had simply been too focused on questioning the old man and had been careless.
After all, how much capability could a woman have?
She was nothing more than fresh meat for the brothers to enjoy.
The old man on the side was both anxious and angry. Why did they come out...
Wasn't this just delivering themselves into the enemy's hands?
Just as the old man was about to speak, Chaoyan spoke first:
"Amitabha. Benefactor, it's going to hurt a bit. Please bear with it."
The bandits were all stunned... they were about to laugh, but soon... none of them could laugh anymore.
Rate on N.U.
