Chapter 18: Ahead is Gao Laozhuang

Tang Sanzang pressed his hands together and said, "Amitabha, this poor monk prepared himself to endure suffering on his journey westward. This monk fears not this..."

Upon hearing this, the spirits of Six Ding and Six Jia, together with the Five Directional deities, nodded with smiles, thinking to themselves, "Indeed, he is a truly devout monk!"

The party walked for a long time and finally arrived at the location of Eagle Grief Stream.

Listening to the babbling sound of the water and moving along, they eventually walked right out of Eagle Grief Stream without encountering the Third Prince of the Dragon Palace.

The group looked at each other and, unwilling to give up, turned back and shouted, "Where is the Third Prince of the Dragon Palace?"

"Where is the Little White Dragon?"

"Third Prince?"

"Wake up, stop sleeping!"

...

The group almost lost their voices from shouting, but still, there was no sign of the Third Prince appearing.

Instead, a drowsy local deity emerged and waved, saying, "Everyone, stop shouting. Earlier, a monk with a monkey took the Third Prince away."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell into a silent stupor...

The local deity slapped his forehead, "Right, they also left something for you."

"What is it?" someone asked.

The local deity produced half a dragon bone and said, "This is what they left behind after eating...uh...half of the Third Prince. Do you want it?"

Everyone: "@￥...#￥%..."

Meanwhile, on the borders of Us-Zang, at Gao Village,

At that very moment, the streets of Gao Village were filled with people, among them a big wild boar spirit, with fat cheeks, a long snout, and a tuft of black hair on the back of his neck, holding an old monk, shouting, "Old man, how I manage with my wife is none of your business! Why meddle in others' affairs?"

While talking, he slapped the old monk across the face!

Smack!

The old monk's face was instantly swollen.

The wild boar spirit turned around, pointing at the monks and Taoists lying scattered around, baring his fangs in a sinister smile, "Listen up, everyone. Gao Cuilan and I are husband and wife by our parents' arrangement. How we handle our affairs is our business, not yours to interfere with! If you keep messing around, don't blame me for being merciless and endangering your lives!"

After speaking, the wild boar spirit relentlessly beat the monk, causing teeth to fly and blood to splatter, eliciting startled cries from the onlookers.

After slapping the old monk ten times, the monk was barely breathing.

He then stopped, casually threw the old monk on the ground, and said coldly, "From today forward, any monk or Taoist who steps into Gao Family Village will end up just like this!"

Hearing this, all the monks and Taoists on the ground got up and scrambled away in disgrace.

Seeing this, the wild boar spirit laughed heartily, "A bunch of useless trash. That's the best you can do, and you call yourselves demon hunters? Pah!"

After saying this, the wild boar spirit turned to a young man nearby, who was sweating profusely in fear.

The wild boar spirit grunted, "Gao Cai, go back and tell my father-in-law to take a break from his needless demon-slaying obsessions and attempts to drive me away. If he truly provokes me, well..."

Gao Cai backed away in fright...

The wild boar spirit slowly walked towards him, his oppressive aura causing Gao Cai's sweat to flow like a stream.

Facing the domineering wild boar spirit, Gao Cai retorted bravely, "Zhu Ganglie, don't be too arrogant! I refuse to believe there's no one in this world who can subdue you!"

Zhu Ganglie laughed loudly, "Subdue me? Hahaha... Find me another monk or Taoist in the whole of Gao Village, within a hundred miles, and I, Zhu Ganglie, will take your surname!"

No sooner had he spoken than a sound of gongs was heard from afar!

Zhu Ganglie didn't see anything else but noticed a brightly shining, smooth and gleaming bald head moving in the distance...

At that moment, Zhu Ganglie's face turned black.

Minutes earlier, a monk draped in a white tiger skin and riding a white horse had entered the village.

Behind him followed a monkey about 1.3 meters tall, standing upright and dressed in Big White Rabbit underwear.

The monkey carried a pole with what seemed to be some bedding stuffed with unidentified animal fur...

If it weren't for the Kasaya that occasionally showed on the monk's body, one might not even have realized he was a monk.

"Master, why are so many people watching us?" Sun Wukong asked in puzzlement.

Tang Sanzang replied, "I guess they've never seen a monk as handsome as me, huh?"

Having said this, Tang Sanzang lifted his tiger skin to reveal the dazzling, golden Kasaya underneath, along with a shiny bald head.

From all around...

"Huh?"

"Wow!"

"Whoa!"

A chorus of exclamations!

Indistinctly, it seemed like everyone was quietly discussing something...

"A monk dares to come here!"

"This monk is so arrogant, showing his Kasaya even at Gao Village."

"But that Kasaya is really beautiful, absolutely priceless."

"Just not sure how many days he can wear it..."

Sun Wukong said, "Master, I think they mean something else."

Grumbling...

Tang Sanzang touched his stomach and said, "Wukong, I'm hungry."

Sun Wukong asked, "Shall I go beg for some vegetarian alms for you?"

Tang Sanzang curiously asked, "What do you mean by 'beg for alms'?"

Sun Wukong replied, "You don't know what 'begging for alms' means?"

Tang Sanzang shook his head.

Sun Wukong patiently explained, "It means, using our identity as monks, we go to people's homes to ask for some food."

Upon hearing this, Tang Sanzang, deep in thought, said, "Isn't that just begging in a different hairstyle? You monks have a name for this, 'begging for alms'?"

Sun Wukong was speechless...

Coughing twice, Sun Wukong somewhat confusedly asked, "Master, don't you know this is a tradition in Buddhism?"

Tang Sanzang rolled his eyes and replied, "Where I live, there's no Buddhism, only beggars.

Could it be that these beggars shaved their heads and formed a group?"

Sun Wukong also didn't know much about Buddhism, and thus was momentarily left speechless by Tang Sanzang's question.

Tang Sanzang said, "Forget it, no matter what it is, I'm not going to beg. It's too embarrassing.

Moreover, I don't eat vegetarian food.

I want to eat meat, lots of it!

We've been roughing it without ever going to a restaurant on this journey. Now that we've finally made it to a village, we need to eat and drink well.

You think of a solution!"

Sun Wukong felt a bit troubled, stroking his chin as he tentatively asked, "Master, what about eating without paying?"

Tang Sanzang rolled his eyes, "Isn't that a bit too shameless?"

Sun Wukong asked, "Do you have any money then?"

Tang Sanzang's eyes widened... He suddenly realized he didn't have a single copper coin.

Sun Wukong spread his hands and said, "If you don't want to eat without paying, and we don't have any money, how are we going to eat? We could ask for some simple vegetarian dishes by relying on our monk identities, but good fish and meat, fine wine and dishes, that's going to be difficult."

Touching his chin, Tang Sanzang muttered, "This really is a problem."

At this, Tang Sanzang glanced sideways at the White Dragon Horse beneath him.