Chapter 16: Apprenticeship 2(1/2)
The thick rock walls and hollow windows. The light that penetrates from the window is like tilted transparent pillars standing in the hall.
The four walls are blue rock and the floor is made of wooden. Two bronze crane sculptures are placed on both sides of the hall. In the middle is an incense burner.
The incense in the stove burned silently, and a wisp of white smoke floated up and spread everywhere.
Further behind, there is a low table, a green lamp, and a futon. The old man sitting on the futon was the old man in the teahouse when the monkey and Bai Shuang met that day.
At this moment, he was holding up his pen and lowering his head and writing something silently, tilting his head slightly and thinking.
The door of the hall opened, and the young man who was transformed from an eagle outside walked in quickly, knelt in the middle of the hall with his knees, and said aloud: "Disciple Shaoying, pay homage to the master!"
After saying that, he bowed deeply.
"Get up."
"Thank you, Master." Another bow, Shaoying stood up.
Putting down the pen in his hand, Subhuti looked at Shaoying and said, "Why did you come back suddenly?"
"Something happened to the monsters. The situation is quite complicated. I'm afraid I can't explain it clearly with letters, so I came back directly."
"What's up?"
"Some time ago, the fourth princess of the East China Sea, Ao Tingxin, gave a tribute in a routine manner, but was detained by the Prime Minister's multi-eyed monster, trying to force the Dragon Palace to surrender and adjust the trade. After that, the struggles between all parties in the demon capital suddenly escalated, but it was just secretly. But last night, a big incident happened."
"A big deal?" Subhuti's eyes slowly narrowed into a slit.
"Yes. Nine-headed insects have entered the demon capital."
Upon hearing this, Subhuti couldn't help but laugh: "What did he do when he went to the demon?"
After hesitating for a moment, Shaoying whispered: "It seems to be to test the authenticity of the rumors. A few months ago, the demons had already been rumored that Di Jun's life was about to end, and now they are looking for an opportunity to extend their lives outside, and they are no longer in the Moyu Imperial City. The demon emperor Emperor Jun has not been in the court for a hundred years, and everything is decided by the Prime Minister Duowei Monster. Although there are imperial edicts with Di Jun's seal from time to time, all parties have been dissatisfied. As soon as this news came out, all parties were ready to move and tried to defeat Duowei Monster."
At this point, Subhuti's brow couldn't help but frown slowly, and asked with half-squinted eyes: "Di Jun is the emperor of the demon clan, like the Supreme Lord of Heaven. His life span is about to end, and the first thing that the demons think of is to overthrow the multi-eyed monster?"
"That's true." Shaoying replied firmly.
Subhuti sighed faintly and nodded, "I know, what about me?"
"Then all parties kept asking for a meeting with Di Jun. The multi-eyed monster thought it was gone, so they directly tore their faces apart, trying to suppress opponents from all aspects. The Dragon Palace Trade was one of them. Last night, the Nine-Headed Ward broke through the heavy defense and sneaked into the demon city. He used the trick of digging the tiger away from the mountain to lure away the multi-eyed monster, and clone it to Moyu Imperial City."
“What about the final result?”
"In the end, the Nine-Headed Insect entered the Moyu Imperial City. The Ten Martial Guards took action and directly cut off one of the Nine-Headed Insects. The Nine-Headed Insects escaped from the Demon City with injuries. According to the disciples, the Ten Martial Guards should know the most whether Di Jun is in the palace. Although the Ten Martial Guards cannot step out of the Moyu Imperial City, as long as Di Jun has a handwritten order, this ring can be broken at any time. It is impossible to allow the Nine-Headed Insects to enter the Moyu Imperial City. In this way, the fact that Di Jun is not in the palace is considered to be a fact."
Subhuti half-squinted his eyes and thought for a while, and asked casually: "The monster was trapped in the trap of the tiger and the mountain. The Ten Martial Guards could not step out of the imperial city before they got the order of Emperor Jun. What is the demon king stationed in the demon capital doing?"
"The Macaque King did not take action. King Yu Shi sent troops to seal all the exits of the demon capital, leaving all the residents who were originally preparing to escape in the city. So, now this matter is well known. I heard that the monster was already too busy to take care of himself, so I issued an order early in the morning to send away the detained fourth princess of the East China Sea Ao Tingxin. Hey, in fact, if it weren't for King Yu Shi who guarded the demon capital, how could the Nine-Headed Worm enter the demon capital so easily... According to my disciples, the Nine-Headed Worm is probably the Six Demon Kings who threw a stone to ask for directions."
Subhuti suddenly asked, "Are you six?"
"ah?"
"A teacher is asking, have all six of them participated?"
"This... I can't explain it clearly." As he said that, Shaoying lowered his head slightly.
While stroking his long beard, Subhuti took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I know this in my mind."
While speaking, the door opened again.
This time, a Taoist boy came in. The Taoist boy leaned over and kowtowed, "Master, there is a monkey demon coming outside the door, and I want to learn from my master."
"Monkey Demon? It should be more than that." Shaoying smiled and said, "What I just saw seems not only is the monkey demon, but also the pig demon, the bull demon, the chicken demon, and the rat demon."
"No, just a monkey demon."
"I understand, let him come in." Subhuti whispered.
...
The door opened with a bang.
The Taoist boy turned sideways and made a "please" gesture, saying, "Master, please come in and talk."
Suddenly, not only the monkeys, but even the monsters squatting in the grass in the distance couldn't help but open their eyes wide and were overjoyed.
The monkey quickly stood up and ran to the door in two steps.
"Will you be willing to accept it when you go in and talk?"
The disciple glanced at the monkey with contempt and said, "I will definitely decide whether to accept it after seeing it. Have you ever worshipped the master?"
After saying this, the monkey had to scratch his head awkwardly, but he thought it was wrong.
"You said something strange. If I had become a master and had a master, how could I still come to become a master?"
The Taoist boy ignored him and turned around and walked into the sight.
The monkey hurriedly followed.
Along the way, the monkey followed the Taoist priest through two gates, climbed up the stone steps, and walked through the long corridor.
The Taoist temple embedded in the mountain is really strange. Unlike other Taoist temples, there is an empty square or a courtyard. There is only a stone wall all over the body, but there is a window every few steps. The light penetrates the outside world shines inside, light and dark, and reflects the moss growing on the steps and the corners, which has a bit of a feeling of a demon king's cave, and it also has a different flavor.
Along the way, the monkey looked fresh and excited about everything.
This was introduced after he first became a disciple.
Although the overall number of demons is comparable to that of humans, it is divided into countless clans. In terms of truth, it is not easy to meet real similar people. Therefore, human monks like to set up sects and take in disciples, but most monsters don’t like it.
Generally, the human sects that can be found in the mortal world are human sects. However, the demon clan is still fighting with the heavenly court, so how could humans be willing to accept monsters as disciples?
This is also one of the reasons why the monkey has not been able to worship his master for more than ten years.
Soon, the two arrived at the hall.
When the door slowly opened, Subhuti, who was sitting in the hall, slowly narrowed his eyes into a slit and looked at the monkey.
The monkey grinned and walked quickly to the center of the hall, looked at Shaoying standing beside him and smiled, saying hello, and then knelt on both knees, with three sounds.
"Disciple, pay homage to the master!"
After shouting, he stood up, looked at Subhuti, and smiled.
The joy was beyond words, but Shaoying, who was standing beside him, did not smile. Subhuti, who was sitting opposite him, did not smile even more.
The hall was so quiet that the monkeys could be clearly heard.
Time passed by bit by bit, Subhuti just sat like that, looking at the monkey expressionlessly, without saying a word.
Gradually, the monkey seemed to realize something, and the smile on his face disappeared, looking at Subhuti seriously. But Subhuti still didn't speak.
Maybe it was because I was injured and over-exhausted, so I was over-exhausted. After the excitement, the monkey began to sweat coldly.
From time to time, he began to wipe the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves.
Time is still passing by bit by bit.
Subhuti still didn't speak, just looked at the monkey quietly.
Perhaps because the tense nerves suddenly relaxed all the way, in the end, the monkey began to feel dizzy and everything in front of him was a little blurred.
It was not until this time that Subhuti waved to the monkey and said, "Come here."
With these two simple words, the monkey immediately raised his spirit: "Yes, master!"
As he said that, he quickly got up and walked over, kneeling to the opposite side of the table.
"Take off your shirt."
"Ah? Why... why?"
"You can take off if the master asks you to take off."
Shaoying shouted, and then the monkey nodded quickly, took off his top in a few seconds, revealing his monkey hair.
"Turn around."
The monkey hurriedly did as he did.
Subhuti then stood up slowly with the table, reached out to pluck the hair behind the monkey, as if he was looking for something carefully.
Shaoying, who was standing beside him, also looked at it with half-closed eyes.
After a while, Subhuti sighed faintly and sat back, as if a little disappointed.
"Put your clothes up."
"Oh." The monkey quickly put his clothes on again, shrank his head, and knelt down. He lowered his head slightly, opened his eyes wide and looked at Subhuti.
When he picked up his pen, Subhuti started writing again and said casually: "You said you want to learn from a master, what aspect do you want to learn?"
When the monkey asked, he was a little panicked.
The monkey blinked his eyes and thought for a while, saying, "I want to learn to fly and escape from the earth!"
"Oh? Just fly to the sky and escape from the earth?"
"Also, stick technique, to fight the heavenly soldiers!"
"Oh? Then what?"
"And, then..." The monkey blinked his eyes and thought for a while, patted his chest and shouted, "Do something big!"
To be continued...