Chapter 100 The Silver-horned Great King [Please Bookmark]
Zhu Ganglie felt a chill in his heart as he listened from the sidelines; he didn't fear strong monsters, but he dreaded the intelligent ones.
If those two monsters were like that Yellow Robe Fiend, he would have felt safe.
But now that the two were so sly, not falling for the trap, that made things troublesome.
However, Zhu Ganglie didn't regret his decision to surrender without resistance.
His reasoning was simple: if he encountered a monster easy to beat, he'd knock it over with his rake and drag it back to claim credit.
If he encountered a tough one, if he couldn't catch it and instead scared it away, that would be bad.
Worse yet would be if he startled the snake in the grass, and the monster ran away, never to return.
After all, returning empty-handed was far more dangerous than being captured by a monster.
Now that he was captured, he was actually at ease, without having to endure the wind and rain, with someone to provide him meals. He could sleep whenever he wanted, with no one to disturb him.
So, on the way down, he was in an exceptionally good mood, unable to restrain himself from humming a tune.
Outside, the Golden Horned King said, "Brother, now that Tang Sanzang has arrived, you should go out again. Remember, your main task is to gather intelligence. If there's an opportunity, capture him, but if not, come back to report, and we'll discuss further."
The Silver Horned King nodded and said, "Rest assured, big brother, I understand."
After speaking, the Silver Horned King set out again. This time, his main purpose was to gather intelligence, so he didn't bring too many little monsters with him.
High above the clouds, the Silver Horned King looked far and wide. Before long, he suddenly cracked a smile and said, "Tang Sanzang has indeed arrived!"
After he spoke, several little monsters also looked over. Indeed, at the foot of the mountain, a few monks had just finished resting, gathered their belongings, mounted their horses, and were ready to depart.
Among them, the monk riding the white horse was especially conspicuous; even the sunlight on his bald head reflected a halo!
Seeing this, the Silver Horned King couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Could that really be Tang Sanzang, the Luminous Pearl incarnate and not the Golden Cicada? That head is just too shiny!"
As they were about to set off, but the mountain paths of Flat Top Mountain were incredibly challenging to navigate. Sun Wukong, being of an impatient nature, pulled out his Jingu Bang and without a second thought began to swing wildly ahead, the booms of explosions ringing nonstop. In the blink of an eye, he had cleared a wide path.
The little demons and fierce beasts hiding along the way were turned into mush by his indiscriminate beating...
The group of little demons in the sky trembled all over, and the Silver Horned King, watching that staff, shuddered as well, murmuring, "It's this staff... no doubt, it's him!"
"Great King, with the monkey being so fierce and aggressive, we might not be a match for him. Shouldn't we go back and report to the great king? Once we gather our forces, we can set up a formation, work together, and maybe succeed," said a small demon.
The Silver Horned King gave him a look and said, "You know nothing, fool. Even a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers setting up the Heavenly Net formation couldn't trap him, let alone the few hundreds of little demons in our lair?"
The small demon said, "Does that mean we won't be able to eat Tang Sanzang's flesh?"
The Silver Horned King shook his head, a myriad of schemes flashing through his eyes, before finally cracking a smile and saying, "Who said we can't? If we can't win by strength, we can triumph with cunning! Listen up, no matter what you see later on, don't act rashly, and even more so, don't report back to the great king. Otherwise, he might think we've encountered some serious trouble and come rushing over, disrupting my plan."
The little demons all nodded and said, "Yes, Second King."
Seeing the little demons nod, the Silver Horned King added, "Alright, wait here, and watch how I toy with Tang Sanzang before capturing him to feast on his flesh!"
Having said that, the Silver-horned King shook his body and transformed into a Taoist who looked just like an immortal, wearing a star crown and feathered robes, with cloud-walking boots and a clear, spirited gaze.
Afterward, the Silver-horned King landed on the road ahead of Tang Sanzang and his companions. Throwing himself to the ground, he purposefully broke one of his legs and started wailing, "Help, help, save me!"
Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang and his companions were leisurely making their way forward when they suddenly heard cries for help. Turning a corner, they saw the Taoist lying on the ground, crying out in pain.
In that instant, everyone paused, then collectively shook their heads, giving the Silver-horned King a look of disappointment, as if to say, "Kid, can't you come up with something new? Why is it always the same old trick?"
Made a bit nervous by their stares, the Silver-horned King shouted anyway, "Fellow Daoists, I am a Taoist from a temple on the west side of Shanxi. Just the day before yesterday, a benefactor from the south of the mountain invited us to perform blessings. Unfortunately, I and my disciple were confronted by a fierce tiger on our way back after the ceremony ran late. My disciple was taken by the tiger. With great trepidation, I fled for my life and ended up here, falling on this Chaotic Stone Slope and injuring my leg. I thought I would never make it back. But today, by a stroke of fate, I've encountered you kind Daoists. Please lend a helping hand and save me! If I can return to our temple alive, I will repay your great kindness, even if it means selling myself into servitude!"
Sun Wukong, hearing this, yawned and asked, "Master, what do we do?"
Tang Sanzang stretched out a hand and said, "Give me your Jingu Bang to use for a moment."
Sun Wukong promptly handed over the Ruyi Jingu Bang to Tang Sanzang...
Tang Sanzang casually slung the glowing staff over his shoulder and, spitting out the blade of grass from his mouth, strode toward the Silver-horned King.
Although the Silver-horned King didn't know what Tang Sanzang was planning, he felt increasingly anxious...
"Great monk, what... what are you going to do?" the Silver-horned King shouted.
In the midst of speaking, Tang Sanzang had already reached the Silver-horned King and, looking down from above, asked with bad intentions, "You're a demon, aren't you?"
The Silver-horned King shook his head and said, "Don't joke around, I'm truly a Taoist from the temple on the west side of Shanxi, not a demon."
"Ah-da!"
Without further ado, Tang Sanzang swung the staff at the Silver-horned King's head!
With a crisp 'clang', the Silver-horned King felt like his head was about to split open, vaguely seeing countless sparks bursting down from above, and cried out, "Great monk, what are you doing?"
Tang Sanzang tilted his head and said, "I've never seen an ordinary person with such a hard head before; are you still claiming you're not a demon?"
Upon hearing this, the Silver-horned King was ready to bash his head against a wall out of frustration with the sneaky baldy. In his long life, he had never seen such a crude and barbaric way to validate whether someone was a demon. Was he not worried about accidentally killing a human?
Is this really a monk?
Is this really a paragon of virtue from ten lifetimes past?
Is this really a disciple from Mount Ling?
Could this actually be a reincarnation of some great demon lord?
Yet, the Silver-horned King shouted out, "I am a cultivator, it's not strange for my head to be a bit hard, is it?"
Tang Sanzang gave an 'oh' and said, "So uncooperative. Disciples, beat him up!"
Before the Silver-horned King could even react, Sun Wukong had already rushed over, pressing one hand on the back of his neck to prevent him from getting up and winding up his fist to start punching!
Sha Wujing, being the most honest among them, didn't start hitting right away, but silently took out his demon-subduing staff. He then lined it up against the Silver-horned King's rear for quite some time before finally plunging it down!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om