The Monkey King

"Monkey, run!" came a familiar voice.

"What?" The monkey looked around sleepily.

Late at night, this was a wilderness, with cracked ground and withered woods. My feet were stepping on soft piles of dead leaves.

"Run! He's coming!"

Turning his head suddenly, the monkey saw a thin man arranging a bow in the distance.

It was a thin face with no eyes.

Boundless fear spread in the monkey's heart.

He ran away, using trees to avoid the incoming bows and arrows in a hurry.

The man behind him missed three arrows, put away his long bow, drew his dagger and followed quickly.

"Run! Monkey! Run!"

Running wildly all the way, the monkey's heart almost burst out of his chest.

The wind flowed behind him, and he stumbled through the entire forest. He hid behind a rock until he could no longer hear the footsteps behind him.

The stone monkey smiled tiredly: "Ha...he...hahahaha...Quer, you escaped, and I saved another life. Hahaha. Que'er - Que'er, where are you?" He looked around in panic. , but did not see the expected small figure.

Suddenly, my palms became wet.

Looking down, he saw Que'er, who had a long cut in front of him and was dying!

Warm blood flowed from her body and stained the monkey's palms red.

"Que'er... Que'er! Don't die! We want to cultivate immortality together! Don't die!"

The monkey desperately covered the wound with his hands, but everything was in vain.

The gushing blood penetrated the stone monkey's fingers and dripped to the ground, causing ripples out of thin air, and the entire earth turned red.

A harsh sound rang in my ears.

The rock next to it turned into a ferocious face, and the forest laughed wildly in the wind, as if the whole world was mocking.

Pairs of hands stretched out from the mud, from the rocks, and from the tree trunks, like evil spirits that had escaped. They stretched out towards the bird protected by the monkey!

"What are you going to do? What are you going to do! No!"

The monkey panicked and ran away.

In the palm of his hand, Que'er said something intermittently, but he didn't even have the time to listen. He hid everywhere, but there was nowhere to hide.

A pair of hands stretched out from the tree roots tripped him down. In panic, Que'er rolled out a few meters away, leaving a long trail of blood.

The originally empty branches above the head suddenly seemed to explode and sprouted countless red leaves, which were the color of blood.

The monkey wanted to stand up, but his body was tightly grasped by the hands stretching out from all directions, and he could not break free no matter what.

Those leaves gathered into a human face, a face without eyes, with its mouth wide open and roaring towards the bird!

"Don't-don't-ahhhhhhh-!" The monkey opened his eyes suddenly and stared as big as a bell.

Xidu, who was half asleep outside the house, was so frightened that he took out the "Lian Shou".

The moonlight filtered in from the window, and the dark room was so quiet that it was disturbing, leaving only the dilapidated windows chirping in the wind.

The monkey looked at his empty hands in horror, big beads of sweat falling from his forehead.

"I have another nightmare... Ahem..." Monkey pinched his throat with his hands, lowered his head and touched the scar left on his abdomen, then looked up outside the house, where there were few stars in the sky.

After a long time, when his breathing gradually calmed down, he lay on the couch again and quietly thought about something.

"The 'Seventy-two Transformations' are the path of the practitioner, but they asked me to practice the path of the enlightened person... three are not accepted... The path of the practitioner can be achieved in a few years, but the path of the enlightened person takes hundreds of years..." He muttered, as if he was talking in his sleep. Usually, only he knows that he is more awake now than ever.

"Quieer..." He took out the orange feather and placed it in his hand. Under the moonlight, the wings that had been baptized by time had gradually lost their luster.

"I don't want to wait any longer."

The next day, he went to invite Subhuti as usual, but unlike usual, he didn't say any unnecessary words.

Before leaving, Subhuti stood up and looked at him. The two looked at each other in silence.

Looking at each other for a long time, the monkey suddenly bowed down again and said: "Master, I have let you down."

Subhuti just smiled and said, "Go ahead."

After slowly exiting the door, Monkey went to the back mountain to meditate as usual.

Feng Ling only felt that he seemed to be talking less and eating more, but everything else was the same as usual. Maybe he had made some progress in cultivating his mind.

At night, the monkey turned off the lights early and lay on the bed, but did not fall asleep, seeming to be listening to something.

Outside the house, Xu Jin, who was "on duty", was already sleepy and yawning.

In the middle of the night, Xu Jin, who was squatting behind the Qingyan outside the house, had already fallen asleep. Then the monkey crept up from the bed, took off his generous Taoist robe, and quietly climbed out of the window.

After leaving the house, he looked at Feiyun Pavilion from a distance. There was no corridor, but he was running towards the rock wall on the side.

The moon spreads its cool white color down onto the earth and onto the dark golden fur of the monkey, just like that night ten years ago.

He gritted his teeth and pulled the vines hanging down the rock wall with his hands, veins bursting out in his arms.

Climbing step by step, he left scratch marks on the hard stone wall.

Climbing up stone walls, jumping over cliffs, and sneaking through gardens, he ran quickly, bypassed Feiyun Pavilion, and went straight to his destination - Sutra Pavilion!

Ten years of traveling have already deeply engraved the wild nature into his heart. This is training, but also his nature.

These midnight sneak and anti-tracking tricks are already mastered by monkeys.

Escaped from the guarding disciples, the monkey climbed directly from the stone pillar to the second floor.

Subhuti, who was meditating with his eyes closed in the inner room, suddenly opened his eyes and turned his head to look in the direction of the Sutra Pavilion.

For a long time, the inner room was silent, with only the candlelight swaying in the wind.

After a long sigh, Subhuti slowly closed his eyes and continued practicing as if nothing had happened.

Through the moonlight pouring in from the window, the monkey can clearly see the stacks of bookshelves, which display rolls of bamboo slips, leather scrolls, and paper books.

He grabbed a roll of bamboo slips and opened it under the moonlight. It was covered with dense writing.

"Bird seal?!"

He grabbed another scroll and pulled it open.

"Chong...worm book..."

Holding the bamboo slip, his hands were trembling, and he couldn't understand any of the words!

"If you don't teach me! I will learn by myself!" In the cold night, the monkey gritted his teeth and clenched the bamboo slips in his hands and growled.

There were faint footsteps on the stairs. In a hurry, the monkey picked up a few rolls and stuffed them into his clothes, jumped out of the second floor window, and carefully returned the same way.

The next day, the monkey pretended to be calm and followed the wind chime to give Subhuti an early invitation. However, he saw that the door of Subhuti's room was closed and a young Taoist disciple was standing outside the door.

The disciple saluted and said: "Master told me that if Master Sun comes, he will inform him: 'If there is nothing else to do in the future, there is no need to come here to invite him in advance. Everything should be done with cultivation, and vulgar etiquette can be dispensed with.'"

As soon as these words came out, Feng Ling was confused, but Monkey's heart was as clear as a mirror.