"I wonder what the Bodhisattva intends to do with this carp spirit?"
Guanyin Bodhisattva started, and after a moment's awkward pause, said, a little embarrassed, "Naturally, I shall take him back to confess his sins…"
"Just 'confess his sins'? How many children has this monster eaten in the Tongtian River? Every one of them carried to term for ten months. Tell me—this compassion you speak of, is it real or false?"
At those words,
it wasn't only Guanyin whose face changed.
Everyone's expression shifted—but the Monkey King laughed.
Delighted.
Truly delighted.
Guanyin Bodhisattva sighed and murmured, "Yang Jian, you're drunk…"
Drunk?
He was drunk indeed—so drunk he could no longer tell whether the world was black or white.
Drunk enough to see the hypocrisy of this world.
Buddhism preached compassion yet kept a kennel of demons.
This was only a small example.
But Yang Jian could see through the hypocrisy of Buddhism.
Judicial God?
He did not deserve that title.
Guanyin looked at Erlang Shen—silent, lips pressed tight—turned to leave, and did not expect the surge of spiritual power behind her.
Erlang Shen was breaking through in front of everyone!
"Stop. You would walk away without giving me any explanation? Do you use my office as Judicial Deity as a fig leaf for your actions?"
"Yang Jian!"
"Silence!"
Yang Jian turned his gaze toward Tang Sanzang among the people below. Jin Chanzi, wasn't he?
This era's flourishing of Buddhism—
relied on that man.
"Bodhisattva, I call you 'Bodhisattva' out of respect for your supposed compassion! In front of my disciples, speak plainly—what do you intend to do with this carp spirit?
Do you suppose that because he is a disciple of the Buddha, he can act with impunity?
You have a saying in Buddhism: only by cultivating boundless merit can one attain Buddhahood. Yet these children never lived to a future life at all; they became food for a fish demon.
Does that not contradict your own teachings?
With a single sentence—'Wicked beast, come back with me'—you act as though nothing has happened. Tell me, you Bodhisattvas who look upon this world, is that what the people ought to worship?"
"You… Yang Jian… you know…"
Guanyin Bodhisattva's fingers trembled. For a moment she couldn't find any words.
She had not imagined
a god of Heaven would bar her way like this.
Yang Jian said with bitter satire, "What? Am I mistaken? Or is it that you think the people below bear some sin from their past lives?
Even if they did—does that mean they must suffer in this one?
I recall people call you Guanyin Who Sends Children. Do you mean you send other people's children into a fish demon's belly?"
That was no longer a mere question.
It was a dagger to the heart.
Yang Jian was a man who weighed his words, and a man whose spine was straight.
That was why he had come.
Had he not, the fish demon that ravaged Chen Family Village would already have been spirited away.
And what of the other monsters?
They ate and drank their fill and harmed the world for decades—yet nothing truly happened to them.
A Judicial God? What a blindfold.
What a fool, duped by Heaven.
Such a god—
he would not be!
It was precisely because of all the fish spirit had done that Yang Jian had, just now, employed the Eternal Meditation Intent; without that, he would not have had the confidence to be harsh with Guanyin Bodhisattva.
But now it was different.
With the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art under the blessing of that meditation intent,
he had gone straight to Great Perfection,
breaking through to the same realm as Guanyin.
If it truly came to a fight, it would be a contest of whose methods were superior.
At this moment, the monk Tang below could sit still no longer; he was, in truth, a man of compassion,
and also a man chosen to welcome the kalpa.
He had not even been willing to eat ginseng fruit.
Now, as the Heavenly Court's Judicial Deity questioned him until he reached his original heart,
if he could not resolve the present situation perfectly,
his Buddha-heart would not be complete,
and even showed signs of cracking.
"Bodhisattva, please hand this fish spirit over to the Judicial Deity. Otherwise, you will have no way to answer the souls of those dead children!"
The words drifted down, cool and indifferent.
Zhu Bajie sprawled on the ground and paid it no mind.
A flicker of mockery flashed in the White Dragon Horse's eyes.
They had walked westward for a long time now; all the monsters that harmed the people—those without any patron—were slain.
Only the monsters who submitted to Buddhism or Heaven were spared.
Well then—
with Erlang Shen throwing a fit, let's see how Buddhism handles this!
Although Heaven and Spirit Mountain were in a honeymoon period,
do not forget—they were also rivals.
No one could deny that.
Guanyin Bodhisattva looked at the aggressive Yang Jian and at Tang Sanzang awaiting her reply, and at last made her decision.
"Carp spirit, your sins are grievous. Today I will hand you to the Judicial Deity. What consequences you face will depend on the crimes you have committed!"
As she spoke,
she flung out her flower basket.
It fell upon the three-pointed, two-edged blade.
The carp spirit stared, stunned, pleading to the white-robed Bodhisattva with tearful eyes.
But her gaze was cold.
There was none of the indulgence or wrath she had once shown him.
That look made it plain: he had been wholly abandoned.
The flower basket had lost its sealing power.
The carp spirit twisted his body and leapt, trying to use the fish-scale escape to flee into the sky.
Unexpectedly, pain lanced through chest and belly.
A fiery force blasted into his body at once.
"Wicked animal, you still dare to run? Do you think Yang Jian will spare your life like those pretenders to compassion?
Hmph—listen well.
Any monster that dares to kill—I, Yang Jian, will kill!
And not only that—I will make your flesh and blood into a fish feast for these villagers to eat!"
The words were harsh,
and made Guanyin's eyelids twitch.
But in the end she did not gainsay Yang Jian; she acquiesced.
"Aaaah—"
The Inspiration King wailed.
The souls of countless children flew out from him.
These were the souls he had swallowed.
Under the rescue of divine power,
they parted from his own spirit
and, one after another, drifted free.
A while later, a huge fish demon, bereft of life, crashed to the ground.
Yang Jian gave Guanyin a faint smile, then called out, "Villagers! This is your enemy. Eat him today—and avenge your children!"
A few simple words
ignited the fury of countless people.
But they did not truly eat him. The creature had eaten countless children; would that not be the same as eating their own?
What they did do was raise every sort of farm tool and cudgel—iron picks, hoes, clubs—
anything that could be used,
and brought them all crashing down on the fish demon.
Guanyin Bodhisattva said coolly, "May the poor monk go now?"
"You may. But please, carry a message from me to Spirit Mountain."
"Yang Jian, do you know you are playing with fire? You cannot speak for Heaven. You are only yourself!"
A threat, flung at Guanyin Bodhisattva.
Yang Jian laughed.
He laughed aloud.
The sound rang for a thousand li.
"I, Yang Jian, am the Deity of Justice, a god appointed by the Jade Emperor, to protect the world and prevent grievances from arising.
Whosoever slaughters the people—immortal or mortal—one is counted as one…
If an immortal errs, then I will kill the immortal.
If a Buddha errs, then I will kill the Buddha.
All of you monsters with patrons—listen clearly. I do not care who stands behind you. So long as you do wrong, you will be punished for it!"
By the end,
Yang Jian was almost grinding his teeth.
At last Guanyin left.
She spoke no more ruthless words.
For today she had been shamed enough; or rather, the face of Buddhism had been shattered. They were forever preaching compassion—
and it had been laid bare as empty.
Even if she wished to call a deer a horse,
Yang Jian had displayed his strength.
The Heavenly Court—
it was indeed a place where dragons coiled and tigers crouched, hiding their might.
Was this, too, a piece placed on the board by the Jade Emperor?
Guanyin did not return to her own dojo, but flew to Spirit Mountain. What had happened today must be discussed face-to-face with the Buddha.
…
"You really shouldn't have come—but Erlang God, you do have some blood in you."
Sun Wukong had a slab of cooked fish in his left hand and a cup of wine in his right. Smiling, he glanced at the Deity of Justice.
Yang Jian snorted coldly. "Tch… I have no need of your praise."
"Heh. Old Sun likes men like you. Come—have a drink…"
The two clinked cups.
And drank in long, merry swallows.
As the saying goes:
men never mind strong drink.
After three cups,
the Monkey's tongue loosened.
"I've wanted to do this for a long time. Don't look at me 'returning to Heaven'—in those five hundred years under the mountain, I had time enough to think on what really happened…"
When he mentioned the greatest deed of his life,
the Monkey could not help the edge of sarcasm that curled his mouth.
"Do you regret it?"
"I have never regretted anything in my life. At least I dared to say what I dared to say. I had wanted to serve Master wholeheartedly and escort him west. Don't think that I'm always like this—I am sincere toward Master."
Speaking of the bond between Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang,
there was nothing more to be said.
The Monkey was such a being:
if you treat me with true heart, I will repay you in every way I can.
Not to mention the master who had mended his clothes and quilt with his own hands.
"It's just that the old monk is sometimes too rigid, and it makes Old Sun rack his brains. By the way… I heard some demons say you also made a ruckus in Heaven back then. Why did you stop at the South Heavenly Gate?"
"You want to know?"
"I do."
Yang Jian glanced at the cup in the Monkey's hand. Sun Wukong tipped it back at once.
Then he heard Yang Jian say,
"Because my move was unpredictable, the Guanjiang Estuary burst its banks. Ten thousand people died. After that, for a thousand li around, no one lived…"
The Monkey stared, shocked.
Then he put his thumb up.
"Admire! A true man, too…"
"Hmph… only a mortal heart. Come to the Guanjiang Estuary to find me when you have time. If you encounter such a situation, send me word."
At that, Erlang Shen's gaze flicked to the tightening fillet on the Monkey's head. A sly smile crept across his face.
He rubbed out a copy of a certain method onto a jade slip and tossed it over.
"What's this?"
"A treasure that can set you free. When, one day, you see how different Heaven and Earth truly are, and you wish to break free—use it…"
The Deity of Justice laughed and vanished into a ray of sunlight.
Even after he had gone,
the Monkey muttered, "What is it? Some high-level dharma?"
Puzzled, he peered into the incantation within.
Then began to cultivate it.