Soul Ferry: My master is Uncle Jiu

Chapter 471 Red Boy's Grilled Fish
After walking along the river for a while and crossing the beach, we saw a village, but it is a bit inappropriate to call it a village.

Looking up, there are probably only four or five hundred houses, comparable to a small county.

This big village is located in a great location, surrounded by mountains and rivers. No wonder so many people can gather here.

Xiongbi, who was usually on good terms with Zhu Bajie, said with a smile, "Old Pig, it looks like you can eat as much as you want tonight."

Seeing that everyone in the village has a courtyard, which is neatly maintained, it seems to be a wealthy place, so food is certainly available.

"Ahem, old bear, you'll make people misunderstand if you say that." Zhu Bajie wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, pinched a little with his fingers and said, "I can only eat a little more than you."

An Yan looked at Zhu Bajie strangely after hearing this, "Bajie, would you laugh if you heard this?"

Hearing An Yan's teasing of Bajie, Tang Sanzang couldn't help but laugh, "Bajie, monks don't tell lies. Being able to eat is a blessing, why do you want to deceive yourself?"

Zhu Bajie laughed shamelessly upon hearing this: "Master, I'm not lying, I'm just a little bit better at eating than you guys!"

This time, An Yan, Tang Sanzang and others finally understood.

"You idiot, when did you learn to be so picky about words?" Sun Wukong also joked.

The fun on the journey to the West is to appreciate the flowers, the moon and amuse Bajie.

"Brother Monkey, why do you look down on people? Although I am a pig, I am not stupid." Zhu Bajie snorted when he heard this. He always felt that this monkey was scolding him in a roundabout way.

"Here is the place."

Sha Seng, who was carrying the load quietly all the way, looked at the people in front of him and said.

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the door of a house at the entrance of the village where a vegetarian feast was being held.

There was a banner erected outside the door, and lights and candles flickering inside the door, with the unique aroma of burning incense and worshiping gods filling the air.

An Yan ignored the two people who were fighting and said to Ao Lie, "Ao Lie, go knock on the door and ask the owner of this house if he can let us stay for one night."

Ever since Ao Lie regained his personal freedom, he was asked to go when things like knocking on the door happened. His fair-skinned scholarly appearance made people feel safe at first sight.

Wukong was a little reluctant before, but after he almost scared an old man into having a heart attack, he gave up the idea.

"Okay, Master."

Ao Lie came to the door with familiarity. The door was open. He did not go in without permission, but shouted to the people inside.

Hearing someone shouting at the door, an old man wearing Buddhist beads on his chest quickly walked out. Seeing Ao Lie standing at the door, who looked like a white scholar, An Xin stepped forward and asked, "Young man, is there anything I can do for you?"

"It's like this. My master, fellow apprentice and I had just arrived in this precious place and wanted to find a place to stay for the night. We happened to hear the sound of gongs here, so we followed the sound and came here."

"Since you have a master and fellow apprentices, why don't they come together?" Upon hearing that there were companions, the old man naturally couldn't invite a group of strangers into his home with just a few words, so he asked in detail.

What if it is a bad guy? Wouldn't that be like inviting a wolf into the house?
"My master and his men are just outside the door. I'll call them over right away." Ao Lie didn't want to make things difficult for the old man, so he turned sideways and called out, "Master, come here."

As Ao Lie's figure moved away, the old man saw a group of people standing outside the door. It was dark and he couldn't see their faces clearly. He could only see their general appearance: some were tall, some were short, some were fat, and some were thin.

Hearing Ao Lie's call, Zhu Bajie, who couldn't wait to eat the vegetarian meal, took the lead. The impatient Wukong also walked in front, and a gust of wind rushed over.

The old man was frightened when he saw the man who looked like Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, and shouted "monster" and almost fell down. Fortunately, Ao Lie reacted quickly and caught him.

The old man grabbed Ao Lie's clothes tightly, his face full of fear and stammering: "The monster is coming! The monster is coming!"

When Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie rushed over, they realized that they were in trouble again. Facing Ao Lie's helpless expression, they also looked innocent.

Zhu Bajie even muttered quietly: "This old man is too timid."

The old man heard this. If he wasn't afraid of the ugly Zhu Bajie carrying the nine-toothed rake, he really wanted to jump up and point at Zhu Bajie and ask, "Have you ever looked in the mirror? You suddenly showed up in the middle of the night, and you say you're not scared?"

The old man, unable to speak his true feelings, had to pull Ao Lie aside and said, "Young man, are they your masters?"

Where is this?

Ao Lie knew that the old man had misunderstood, "Old man, you have misunderstood. The one riding the cow in the back is my master. The two ugly but kind-hearted people are the eldest and second disciples of the horse-riding Master Sanzang."

Ugly person with a kind heart?!
Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie's faces turned dark.

Hey you little white dragon!

When the old man heard this, he plucked up his courage, looked through the two people, and saw a young Taoist with an immortal look riding a cow and a young monk with a kind face riding a horse.

An Yan saw the old man who was frightened by Wukong and Bajie and said gently: "Old man, you don't have to be afraid. Although Wukong and Bajie are monsters, they are good monsters."

After listening to the young Taoist's words, the old man felt that the fear in his heart disappeared instantly, and he immediately realized that he had met a master.

So, after a conversation, the old man invited An Yan and the others in.

The servants were very scared when they saw Zhu Bajie at first, but with the old man around, the chaos was quickly calmed down.

Following the old man's instructions, everyone went to prepare the meal.

However, since it was a funeral, all the meals were vegetarian.

An Yan and the others didn't care, as long as they had something to eat.

After the vegetarian meal, Tang Sanzang looked at the funeral arrangements in the room and the monks chanting scriptures. He knew that the scriptures were meant to help the deceased to be reborn, and he wanted to help.

"Old donor, it just so happens that I can recite a few volumes of scriptures. Please let me recite a few volumes as well."

When the old man heard this, he waved his hands and said, "This is a 'preparatory fast for the dead', so I won't bother you, Master."

Preliminary practice of death fast?

This really confused Tang Sanzang, and he asked in confusion: "Old donor, I have only heard of preparatory fasts for the treasury and preparatory fasts for returning the dead, but this is the first time I have heard of preparatory fasts for the dead?"

"There is a strange thing happening at home. I guess your family is not peaceful, old man." An Yan, who knew that it was the King of Inspiration in Tongtian River who was causing trouble, said mysteriously.

In that way, he is somewhat similar to the fortune tellers on the street.

Hearing An Yan's words, the old man looked distressed and sighed: "The Taoist priest is indeed not an ordinary person. Do you know what the big river outside the village is called?"

An Yan replied: "I just saw a stone tablet with the words Tongtian River written on it."

Tang Sanzang also asked: "Is it related to Tongtian River?"

Sun Wukong didn't even need to think about it and said with certainty: "It must be the monster in the river causing trouble."

Seeing that Sun Wukong, despite his scary appearance, was able to speak the truth, the old man sighed and said, "That's right!"

"If you walk a little upstream from the stone tablet, you will see a temple there. It is called the Temple of the Great King of Inspiration."

Hearing that it was indeed a demon, Sun Wukong suddenly became interested, "Old donor, what is the origin of this Inspirational King Temple?"

The old man burst into tears when he heard this, and it was obvious that he had been suffering for a long time.

"Our place is called Chenjiazhuang. This King of Inspiration is a monster in the river, but he calls himself the river god. He requires us to offer sacrifices once a year, and each time we offer him a boy and a girl, as well as pigs, sheep, livestock, wine and food."

"They say this will bless us with good weather and good harvests."

"If you don't offer sacrifices, disaster will come." "At first, we asked the Taoist priest to come and subdue the monster, but they were all eaten by the monster. It also dragged dozens of people from our village into the Tongtian River, saying it was a punishment for us."

"Since then, the villagers no longer dared to resist, and those who wanted to escape would be swept back by a strange wind, unable to escape."

"And this year it happened to be my family's turn."

"I, Chen Qing, have done good deeds all my life and have a son in my old age, but I am expected to send him off when he is young."

"There is also a virgin, my brother's daughter, whose situation is the same as mine."

The old man's grief and powerlessness made Tang Sanzang feel heavy in his heart, and he looked at An Yan.

An Yan sneered, "This monster is quite ambitious, even virgin boys and girls, I told him to spit out whatever he ate."

"Don't worry, old man. Since you have taken us in out of kindness, we will not sit idly by."

The old man was very moved when he heard this, but he was afraid of bringing trouble to An Yan and the others.

After all, he had witnessed the horror of that monster. When it got angry, it seemed as if the entire Tongtian River was about to collapse. It was too scary.

Seeing the old man's worry, An Yan said confidently: "Old man, do you think we are the kind of people who would volunteer to die? Since we dare to agree to it, we are naturally not afraid of the monster."

"And speaking of river gods, our eldest disciple Ao Lie is the third prince of the Dragon King of the West Sea."

Ao Lie straightened his chest and revealed his dragon horns when he heard this, "Old man, just rest assured, leave the rest to us."

The old man had seen the appearance of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, and when he looked at Ao Lie with dragon horns on his head, he thought he was really handsome.

After hearing that this was actually the third prince of Dragon King, the old man was so panicked that he wanted to kneel down and kowtow, but fortunately he was stopped by Ao Lie.

At this point, the old man finally felt relieved. He looked at An Yan and the others excitedly and said, "You are the great benefactors of my Chen Family Village!"

An Yan and the others felt at ease with this bow.

"Let's lure the King of Inspiration out of his hole." After convincing the old man, An Yan looked towards the direction of Tongtian River and smiled playfully.

"Old man, please bring your son and niece out for us to see."

Hearing An Yan's words, the old man nodded repeatedly and walked out quickly.

After a while, he and another old man came back carrying a woman and a man.

"Everyone, this is my brother Chen Cheng and his daughter Yichengjin." The old man introduced.

"A scale of gold? What a strange name." said Sun Wukong.

The elder brother Chen Cheng explained, "It was because I often did good deeds when I built bridges and roads, and when my daughter was born, I used thirty catties of gold. Thirty catties is one scale, so I named her One Scale of Gold."

The old man Chen Qing also looked at his son in his arms and said, "Because our family worships Guan Sheng, we prayed for this son under the throne of Guan Sheng, so we named him Guan Bao, Chen Guan Bao."

Compared to the little girl's nouveau riche name, the little boy's name is quite normal.

However, when did Guan Erye start the business of delivering children?
An Yan was a little amused and helpless. It was the first time he heard of praying to Lord Guan for a child. Maybe he was just ignorant.

"That's easy. Red Boy, transform yourself into Chen Guanbao. Wukong, transform yourself into a scale of gold."

Red Boy looks like a child, and his way of transformation is also pretty good, so he is perfect for the role.

And Wukong is good at seventy-two transformations, and is the best person here except him in the art of transformation.

Of course, the Bull Demon King’s transformation skills may not be bad, but it is somewhat inappropriate to turn the father and son into siblings.

After a moment of hesitation, Wukong finally understood why Ang'er asked him to turn into a girl.

He couldn't call Red Boy "sister", could he? Not only would he be a generation lower than Red Boy for no reason, but he would also have to be called "brother" by Red Boy.

Won’t you be ridiculed by that naughty ghost Red Boy in the future?
Red Boy didn't think so much about it. He just thought that his master really took care of him and didn't let him turn into a girl.

So they both performed transformation magic together.

The boys and girls transformed by the two men looked exactly like real people. If they hadn't known in advance that the one they were holding was the real one, the two elders really wouldn't have been able to tell them apart.

An Yan also smiled with satisfaction, "Then I'll trouble you two elders to send someone to carry Wukong and Red Boy to the Linggan Great King Temple."

Since they didn't need to send their own flesh and blood, the two elders naturally hurried to take care of them.

Soon, the people of Chenjiazhuang brought pigs, sheep, livestock, wine, food, and Monkey King and Red Boy to the Temple of the King of Inspiration with drums and gongs, and placed the boys and girls at the top.

There were incense, flowers and candles on the altar, but no statues of gods. There was only a golden tablet with the words "God of Inspiration" written on it.

Seeing the Linggan Dawang Temple which has a certain sense of age, one can imagine how many boys and girls have been killed by fish.

An Yan immediately sent a message to Red Boy and Sun Wukong, "I only have one request, don't let the King of Inspiration die so easily."

Red Boy and Sun Wukong looked at each other and realized that their master (Ang'er) was really angry this time, and immediately expressed their understanding.

After praying, the people of Chenjiazhuang burned paper horses and left, leaving behind a boy and a girl and the offerings.

While waiting, the two bored people took a bite of the offerings and then left the gaps inside. They thought it would be a pity to give such good things to the monster, so they decided to eat what was left.

While eating, the two talked about how to make the monster die more painfully.

After about an hour, suddenly there was a whistling sound outside the temple, and an evil wind came.

The King of Inspiration came in high spirits, but when he saw the boys and girls sitting on the altar eating and drinking to their heart's content, the smile on his face disappeared immediately.

"How dare you! You dare to eat the tribute from the king?"

Sun Wukong and Red Boy looked together, and saw that the monster was wearing golden armor and a golden helmet, with a fish-like face covered with red scales, and had teeth that looked like saw teeth. When he got angry, there was a lot of murderous aura and the wind howled.

"Why don't you dare eat it? Is it yours?" The boy transformed by Red Boy was sharp-tongued, and he made the veins on the forehead of the King of Inspiration throb.

"What a sharp-tongued brat!" The King of Inspiration had never wanted to eat a person as much as he did now. He opened his bloody mouth and said, "If you eat my tribute, then I will eat you!"

Sun Wukong and Red Boy hid their aura very well, and the King of Inspiration did not detect their evil aura.

The King of Inspiration thought that the two men were just naughty kids, and grabbed the boy with his big hands without any warning.

"You, a rotten fish and shrimp, still want to eat your grandpa? Come and taste your grandpa's Samadhi True Fire!"

Red Boy smiled cunningly, suddenly jumped up, opened his mouth and spit at the King of Inspiration. In an instant, raging flames hit the King of Inspiration and directly wrapped him up.

The King of Inspiration, who took in the Samadhi Fire head-on, screamed, rolled on the ground, and set the entire Temple of the King of Inspiration on fire.

"Burn me to death!"

The King of Inspiration wailed.

The king of inspiration in the fish and meat village seemed to have turned into a flame-roasted fish on the barbecue grill, feeling extremely painful.

(End of this chapter)