Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

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Wanting to inquire about the situation with the Yellow-Robed Monster from the Local Deity was clearly an impossibility; after all, the Yellow-Robed Monster had descended to the Mortal World in secret. If the Local Deity could identify him, why would he still sneak around? He would have been caught by the Great Jade Emperor long ago.

Therefore, seeing that Sun Wukong intended to summon the Local Deity to inquire about the whereabouts of the Yellow-Robed Monster, Jiang Liu immediately spoke up to stop him.

"Master, if we don't ask the Local Deity, how are we going to find the whereabouts of that evil demon!?" Sun Wukong looked somewhat puzzled as he asked Jiang Liu.

"What can we do? Just search slowly, I guess!?" Jiang Liu had an expression of helplessness and spread his hands as he spoke.

"Ah!? Just search aimlessly like that? Who knows when we'll find anything! Isn't this like looking for a needle in a haystack!?"

Zhu Bajie murmured to himself in a low voice when he heard this.

"Cough cough, it's fine, no rush, we'll take our time and search thoroughly!" However, Zhu Bajie's murmur might have been better left unsaid as after he spoke, Jiang Liu's eyes shone even brighter.

Indeed, for Jiang Liu, spending time on something never felt troublesome.

Besides, although the Yellow-Robed Monster had abducted Baihua Xiu for more than a dozen years, in Jiang Liu's view, the Yellow-Robed Monster should not be too far from the Royal City of Treasure Elephant Country. If they spent more time searching, he believed they would eventually find him.

Aimlessly searching was indeed not an easy task; they had looked for a long time without finding any trace of the Yellow-Robed Monster.

By evening, Zhu Bajie naturally complained loudly about being tired, and at the same time, he looked at Jiang Liu with hopeful eyes.

"Master, it's getting late; let's rest for the day!" Following Zhu Bajie's complaints of fatigue, Sun Wukong's eyes also lit up as he looked at Jiang Liu—the long-awaited Hot-Clear Pot had finally been made.

Sha Wujing, on the other hand, appeared to be wrestling with a dilemma.

On one hand, he felt that drinking alcohol and eating meat were very wrong for a monk and should be abstained from.

On the other hand, Sha Wujing was incredibly excited about tonight's hot pot and couldn't help but swallow hard, finding himself in a difficult situation, unable to decide.

"Alright, Wukong, we'll use the Hot-Clear Pot for dinner tonight!" Nodding his head, Jiang Liu was somewhat curious about the attributes of the two pots and wanted to try them out.

Relatively speaking, the heartwarming effect of the Hot-Clear Pot seemed more stable.

"We're going to eat with the Hot-Clear Pot!? Okay then, I, Old Sun, will make a trip to invite Fairy Zixia to join us!" Upon hearing Jiang Liu's words, Sun Wukong suddenly spoke up.

"Eh, big brother, you still say there's nothing between you and Fairy Zixia? The moment there's good food, you think of her!" Upon hearing Sun Wukong's remarks, Zhu Bajie teased him with a somewhat mocking tone.

"You blockhead, have you forgotten? When we sent Fairy Zixia back last time, Master had said that once the Hot-Clear Pot was ready, we would invite her to eat with us. Master is a man of his word. If he forgot, naturally I should remind him!" Sun Wukong gave Zhu Bajie a disdainful look.

"Hmm, Wukong's words have indeed reminded me; I had indeed forgotten. It's good that you remembered!" Jiang Liu, hearing this, nodded his head in agreement.

However, Jiang Liu looked at Sun Wukong and smiled faintly, as if the words he spoke had a deeper meaning.

"Not bad, haha, big brother, even Master himself had forgotten, but it's really something that you remembered!" Zhu Bajie clearly caught the playful undertone in Jiang Liu's words and laughed out loud as he teased Sun Wukong.

"Master, even you are making fun of I, Old Sun? Then I won't go. After all, the one who breaks his word is you!"

Hearing the back-and-forth between Jiang Liu and Zhu Bajie, Sun Wukong was somewhat embarrassed and blushed as red as his own bottom, eventually sitting aside.

"Alright, Wukong, go and come back quickly!" Seeing Sun Wukong's expression, Jiang Liu said with a laugh.

Having said that and pausing for a moment, Jiang Liu then added, "By the way, if you happen to encounter your friend from last time, also invite him over. After all, he gave us a big gift; treating him to a meal several times is also an act of courtesy!"

"Yes, Master!" Upon hearing Jiang Liu's words, instructing him to also invite Third Prince Nezha, Sun Wukong thought for a moment and then stood up.

In the midst of speaking, he leapt up and, with the deployment of his Somersault Cloud, disappeared into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Preparing the ingredients for a hot pot naturally required some effort. As someone accustomed to eating hot pot year-round, the Exquisite Immortal Mansion was of course well-equipped with the necessary tables and chairs.

Boiling the big bones for the broth and adding the chili peppers, the soup base in the Taiji Yin-Yang Pot was quickly ready.

Both were based on the big bone broth, with half used for a fresh seafood soup base and the other half for a spicy soup base. Perhaps due to the effect of the Taiji Yin-Yang Pot, even without adding the ingredients, the mere broth seemed incredibly delicious.

Zhu Bajie busied himself while drooling over that pot of broth, wishing he could drink it all up first.

Indeed, this newly-forged pot, like a Dharma Treasure, combined with Master's culinary skills, was truly the number one delicacy in the world.

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Let us not discuss Jiang Liu and others in the Mortal World, preparing delicious food. After using his Somersault Cloud, Sun Wukong quickly crossed the South Heavenly Gate and went directly to find Third Prince Nezha.

Upon arriving at the residence of Third Prince Nezha, the Heavenly Soldiers guarding the entrance naturally hurried forward to pay their respects.

"Where's the Third Prince? Is he here!?" Sun Wukong had no time for small talk and directly asked.

"Reporting to Great Sage, the Third Prince has gone out with Lord of Heavenly King to exorcise demons, and he's not at home!" Hearing this, the Heavenly Soldier guarding the door quickly responded.

"He went out to subdue demons?" Hearing this, Sun Wukong nodded and said nothing more; he turned to leave the residence and headed towards the Glycyrrhiza Garden.

In the Glycyrrhiza Garden, Sun Wukong had personally brought Zixia here earlier and had mentioned the friendship between himself and Zixia, requesting the nearby Heavenly Soldiers to lend her some assistance.

Therefore, Zixia has not been ostracized these days in Glycyrrhiza Garden. In fact, even the Immortal Maiden in charge of the garden has taken extra care of Zixia.

"Ah, the Immortal Realm is just like this..." Zixia could sense the change in attitude among the fairies and Immortal Maidens towards her recently, and let out a inward sigh.

She once thought the Immortal Realm was incredibly beautiful and longed for it with all her heart. But now, Zixia felt that the so-called Immortal Realm didn't seem all that different from the Mortal World.

It's merely because people in the Immortal Realm live longer and have greater strength, right?

"Hey, Zixia!" Just at this moment, a familiar voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Zixia's thoughts.

Zixia looked towards the voice and saw a skinny monkey squatting on the wall of the Glycyrrhiza Garden, waving at her.

"Ah, Monkey!" Zixia's eyes brightened with surprise as she looked at Sun Wukong squatting on the wall and exclaimed.

But as soon as she spoke, she realized it wasn't quite right and became somewhat restrained, saying, "Sun, Great Sage Sun..."

"Sun what Great Sage, just call me Old Sun the Monkey; I quite like it!" Leaping forward, Sun Wukong jumped to Zixia's side and naturally grabbed her hand, saying, "Come on, I'm taking you to have hot pot!"

"Great Sage!"

"We have seen the Great Sage!"

As Sun Wukong leaped into the Glycyrrhiza Garden, all the surrounding fairies, even the Immortal Maidens, hurriedly greeted him.

The respect they showed was so profound, they were almost ready to kneel and kowtow.

"Alright, everyone go back to your own tasks. Otherwise, if your work isn't done well, the Empress with her stingy nature might punish you. Old Sun will take Zixia to eat now!" Sun Wukong waved his hand at the greeting fairies.

"Great Sage, please go ahead!" Since it was Sun Wukong who wanted to take Zixia away, the Immortal Maiden of Glycyrrhiza Garden naturally did not dare to stop him and quickly spoke up.

However, the words from Sun Wukong about the Empress being stingy made all the fairies and Immortal Maidens promptly lower their heads.

They all pretended not to hear what he said about the Empress. The Great Sage could speak so openly because of his own ability, but these others dared not say the same.

Waving his hand, Sun Wukong said nothing more and, pulling Fairy Zixia along, leapt into the air and turned into a streak of Escape Light, quickly disappearing into the horizon.

"The Great Sage seems to really like Zixia! He's personally come to take her for a meal again!" Once Sun Wukong had left, the fairies of Glycyrrhiza Garden finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from their hearts, and they resumed their lively chatter in low voices.

"A Divine Power Warrior once wanted to pursue me and was always inviting me out to eat, ah, how lucky Zixia is! Being captured by an Evil Demon, and yet it turned out she could connect with the Great Sage. Is this what they mean by a blessing in disguise?" Some envious fairies commented.

"I'm really curious though, with someone like the Great Sage personally taking Zixia to eat, I wonder what delectable things they will have? Dragon liver and phoenix marrow? Jadescent Nectar? Exquisite spirit fruits of the heavens and earth?" Some fairies swallowed hard, their faces filled with longing as they spoke.

"Alright, alright, stop letting your imaginations run wild, you young maidens, and get back to work!" An Immortal Maiden, listening to these fairies dreamily speculating, interrupted them impatiently and scolded.

Meanwhile, Sun Wukong pulled Zixia along and rode his Somersault Cloud down to Mortal World.

Halfway through the sky, Bodhisattva Guanyin moved on her Lotus Platform and happened to witness this scene.

"Bodhisattva, that is Fairy Zixia from the Empress' Glycyrrhiza Garden. Her relationship with Great Sage Sun is extraordinarily close!" Muzha, who was accompanying Bodhisattva Guanyin, seemed to notice her curiosity and spoke up.

Bodhisattva Guanyin nodded slightly, and suddenly remembered that she still had a strand of Red Thread from the Matchmaker God in her possession.