A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1378 - 930: The Ghost King of Wujia Country Seeks Help, Duanmu Huai Harshly Criticizes the Western Buddha

Chapter 1378: Chapter 930: The Ghost King of Wujia Country Seeks Help, Duanmu Huai Harshly Criticizes the Western Buddha

Let’s start with Sun Wukong, who left the ghost temple that night to chat with the Dragon King and share some drinks, wreaking havoc the whole night, and still remembering Duanmu Huai’s words, he returned riding the clouds at the crack of dawn. And then Sun Wukong saw—————the temple was left in complete ruins, flattened to the ground, with only Duanmu Huai sitting forlornly on a stone, gazing up at the sky, while the Pegasus silently munched on grass behind him without a word.

"Master, your old Sun is back."

At this, Sun Wukong took a spin and landed in front of Duanmu Huai.

"Master, what kind of mighty demon did you come across to have fought so fiercely?"

Looking at the fully collapsed temple before him, Sun Wukong was also surprised inwardly, because all along their journey to retrieve the scriptures, nearly all the demons and ghosts barely lasted a single move before they were killed by Duanmu Huai. How strong must a demon be to fight his master to this extent.....?

"Ah.........."

Duanmu Huai quietly sighed and looked towards Sun Wukong.

"Where did you go?"

"Disciple went to visit the East Sea Dragon King, where I caught up with his older brother, oh, and there was good wine and delicious food. Master, if you don’t disdain it..."

"I’ll pass on the seafood, not interested."

Duanmu Huai silently waved his hand.

"Alright, let’s move on."

After saying that, he mounted the horse and silently proceeded towards the bottom of the mountain. Sun Wukong watched Duanmu Huai’s retreating figure, feeling puzzled for a moment before scratching his head and silently following——it seemed that Master was not in a very good mood, could he have been soured by some demon?

Just as Sun Wukong guessed, Duanmu Huai was indeed feeling quite gloomy. He had thought it wouldn’t be much trouble to visit this legendary Heavenly Life and score a free technician package, only to have the technician fail to show up, yet the Madam did come. She insulted him over and over again and even turned into a Little Novice Monk....... Duanmu Huai at that moment grabbed his fists and hammered away, pulverizing the Old Ghost Lady’s soul to pieces. Seeing this, the other female ghosts scattered in a panic, all escaping.

Leaving Duanmu Huai all alone, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got, so he simply smashed the shabby temple, demolished those broken statues, and felt at least somewhat vindicated.

The result was that even Monkey Sun had been out enjoying wine and women all night, yet he himself ended up with nothing.....

Damn it, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became!

You should know, female ghosts, fox spirits and such are all a man’s romance.

In this way, the master and disciple travelled for another day and found a cave to rest in. Duanmu Huai ate and drank to his heart’s content, somewhat easing his mind, and then dozed off heavily.

However, he had just laid down for a short while when there came a sound of torrential rain from outside the cave along with a voice calling "elder" "elder". Duanmu Huai looked up and saw a drenched man standing in the rain with tears in his eyes.....

"I wanted a female ghost, not a male ghost!"

Duanmu Huai was tempted to throw the Tin Rod in his hand at him.

Damn you, Heaven, are you messing with me? I just wanted to get cozy with a female ghost, but you wouldn’t let me, and that was fine. But what the hell does it mean to send me a male ghost? If you can’t explain this clearly, I swear I’ll smash your Heavenly Court into a massive hole, believe it or not!

"Elder, please calm your anger! Elder, please calm your anger! I have been wronged!!"

Seeing Duanmu Huai’s explosive anger, the man was so frightened that he knelt down and kept bowing, begging for mercy.

"What injustice, what grudge?"

Duanmu Huai was glaring at him with fury as he asked, and then the man stood up and began to speak.

"Hiding nothing from you, I was originally the King of this Wujia Country. Hiding nothing from you, there has been a continuous drought for the past five years, with no crops growing, and the people starved to death, a most heartbreaking situation. The granaries in my country were empty and the finances entirely depleted. Civil and military officials had their salaries stopped, and even I was without meat in my meals. Sharing the bitterness with all the citizens, I bathed and fasted, praying day and night with incense. After three years of such strife which only worsened with dried up rivers and wells, at the moment of crisis, a Taoist from Zhongnanshan came who could summon wind and rain, turn stone into gold, and he resolved this drought disaster for me."

"Hmm......"

Duanmu Huai’s feelings were stirred upon hearing this, yet he kept his expression unchanged.

"And then what happened?"

"When I saw his righteous act, I swore brotherhood to him after eight bows. Two years ago, during a spring outing, I went to the Imperial Garden Octagon Luili Well with the Taoist. We saw a brilliant golden light emanating from inside the well, and the Taoist coaxed me to look closer. Then he pushed me into the well and sealed the entrance with a stone slab after transforming into my likeness. It’s heartbreaking, I have been dead for three years, yet that Demon Daoist now bears my appearance, having seized my kingdom. My consorts and officials all belong to him now! What an injustice!"

"Oh......"

Listening to this, Duanmu Huai narrowed his eyes, a fierce glint flashing within. Now he remembered, this place was right near Wujia Country.

In truth, Duanmu Huai had heard this story before. The one who drowned the King and took his place was actually the mount of Manjushri Bodhisattva. According to Manjushri’s account, the King faced this plight because he once generously provided alms to monks, and Tathagata sent Manjushri to convert him to Buddhism, to achieve early enlightenment as an Arhat. Then Manjushri transformed into an ordinary monk, asked for alms, and then confronted the King with difficult questions. Enraged, the King ordered him to be tied up and soaked in the Royal River for three days and nights.

Manjushri was later rescued and reported to Tathagata, who then ordered the creature to push the King into the well as revenge for the three-day aquatic ordeal.

So-called destiny of every peck and drink—what a load of crap!

If you think that makes sense, then your brain’s already been washed by those bald donkeys!

Think about it: the King was happy to give alms, and that was his own affair. Nobody begged those Bodhisattvas and Buddhas to come to him; it was you guys who wanted to recruit him into your organization.

Besides, Manjushri claimed the King’s fury was due to being "probed with a few questions by me." Knowing the character of these bald donkeys, they were likely those infuriating questions like whether you’d save your mother or your wife if both were drowning. It’s not just the Emperor; anybody would want to smack anyone with such an annoying mouth.

As everyone knows, the favorite pastime of these bald donkeys is to conceal their true forms, transform into mortals, and stir up trouble. And after all that, they still think they’re in the right, blaming others for lacking self-restraint.

Indeed, like when Guanyin went to Chang’an to find the Scripture Seeker, Monk Tang was giving a sermon that was going fine, and then you just had to shout out that there was something wrong with the scripture.

Isn’t that just wrecking the place? It’s only because Monk Tang had a good temper, if it were Duanmu Huai instead, he would have beaten her into half-paralysis on the spot.

Looking for a beating with your sarcastic mouth, aren’t you?

You bald donkeys degrade yourselves, and then you can’t allow others to beat you up?

So, basically, these bald donkeys want to pull the king into their camp, and feeling self-righteous, they deliberately provoke the other party. Then, after getting a beating, they can’t save face and come to retaliate against Wujia Country’s King.

Look, isn’t this despicable?

Some also say, wasn’t the Lion spirit doing a good job governing the country, keeping the weather pleasant and in order?

Have you forgotten the premise?

First of all, how did the Lion spirit become close with the King? How did he get the chance to replace him?

Because the Lion spirit pretended to be a Taoist, able to summon wind and rain.

Why summon wind and rain?

Because the country had been in a drought for three years, countless people died.

So the question is, who caused those three years of drought?

Who let the Lion spirit take this opportunity to get close to Wujia Kingdom’s King?

Cut and dried, isn’t the root of all this evil that damned Tathagata? To find grounds for his own disciples, Tathagata caused successive years of drought in Wujia Country, dead bodies everywhere, innumerable casualties, then simply sent the Lion spirit disguised as a Taoist to summon wind and rain, to win the King’s trust and replace him. Just to find a grounding for his own disciples?

Who the hell still says Buddha is merciful? This is simply narrow-minded bullshit!

Not to mention that you guys brought this disaster upon yourselves.

The King was just philanthropic and kind; he wasn’t Lord Ye who pretended to like dragons, nor did he ask for Bodhisattvas and Buddhas to come to him. You guys felt too good about yourselves and had to go to his territory looking for trouble, and after getting hit, you refused to reflect and instead blamed everything on the Emperor. You pretend as if the three years of drought and the Emperor’s death were all self-inflicted.

Claiming that pecking and drinking are predestined.

If you weren’t looking for death yourselves, where would all this shit come from?

So you see, the mouths of these Monks, damn, are full of lies, not a word can be trusted.

Even conceding ten thousand steps back, if the King did wrong, shouldn’t you Monks be compassionate?

Always talking about compassion, saying the sea of suffering is boundless, turn back and there’s the shore, but when it comes to yourselves, you’re not willing to suffer any loss, huh? You bubble someone for three days, and yet you let people suffer drought for three years, God knows how many innocent spirits starved to death. Do you still have the nerve to say Monks are compassionate? Isn’t that nonsense? You’re just short of committing mass murder!

Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai’s eyes flashed with murderous intent. As a Judge, his duty is to protect Humans; so, deities like Tathagata who dare to harm humanity naturally have only one path - death. Now that he has been stupid enough to come under his nose, Duanmu Huai will start by cooking the Lion into braised Lion’s head, then behead that Manjushri Bodhisattva, who can’t tell right from wrong and is utterly evil. He’d like to see if Tathagata dares to come and seek death himself!

If he dares come seeking death, he will simply smash its dog head and let the bodies pile up in Western Paradise, blood flowing into rivers!

"King, rest assured."

With these thoughts, Duanmu Huai already had a plan in mind and gave a bow to the King.

"Evil demonic Daoists, everyone should execute them. I will avenge you, my King, and restore your lands!"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s response, the Wujia Kingdom’s King was overjoyed, thanking him profusely, and then disappeared without a trace.

After that, Duanmu Huai woke up, opened his eyes, and called for Sun Wukong.

"Monkey, I need your help with something."

"Oh? What’s up, Master?"

"I just had a dream where a ghost King came to me, saying........."

Saying all that, Duanmu Huai relayed the King’s words and his own guesses to Sun Wukong. No doubt, hearing this, Sun Wukong was also greatly shocked.

"Master, can Tathagata really do something so cruel?"

"How fresh, does he look like a good guy just because of his kind-looking eyes?"

Duanmu Huai scoffed, snorting coldly.

"If you don’t believe it, just wait and see. Anyway, I want you to go first to the Imperial Garden Octagonal Glass Well, think of a way to retrieve the King’s body, and then think of a way to bring him back to life. Afterward, we will enter the city together, confront the fake King face to face, strip off his mask, and then we’ll see if Manjushri dares to come and protect him."

"Master, what are you saying..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai speak like this, Sun Wukong was speechless.

"That King has been dead for three years, the body must have turned to bones; no matter what I can do, I can’t bring the dead back to life from mere bones."

"I don’t care, you are the Heavenly Great Sage with vast magical powers; you must be able to do this, and don’t you want to know the truth?"

"This......."

Facing Duanmu Huai’s question, Sun Wukong hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright, let the old monkey here consider how to do it."