Chapter 62: Two Monkeys Climb the Mountain, Temple Spirits Stir

  "You're right!" Sun Yuan blocked the way, and Monkey King stopped in his tracks. After a moment of contemplation, he couldn't help but scratch his head. He had been chased to death countless times in the past three months, and he also realized that rushing in like this might not be the best idea. "Then what should we do? I think there must be immortals on this mountain. If we miss this opportunity, wouldn't it be a pity?"

  "Why don't you and I take the small path first to explore, if there really are immortals here, we can still go in from the main road to pay our respects later!" Sun Yuan's eyes turned, and he had an idea. No matter what, this mountain must be climbed, but it couldn't be done as before, swaggering up from the main road.

  "Alright, let's do it! I'm sure the old immortal won't blame us either." Sun Wukong thought for a moment, nodded in agreement, and then looked up to gaze at the mountain path.

  "Let's go!" Sun Yuan had already discovered a small path overgrown with weeds, and now that the Monkey King had agreed, he immediately proceeded, pushing aside the thorny woods and revealing the narrow path. "I'll lead the way," he said, "you follow closely behind me. The sky is about to darken, and before it does, we must enter the mountain. Otherwise, this small road will be even more difficult to walk after dark."

  "I know, you go ahead and I'll follow!" The beautiful monkey king jumped over with three or two jumps, closely following Sun Yuan's footsteps.

  This small path is indeed a desolate place, where no one has come for centuries and few people have passed through since ancient times. The thorns and weeds are all over the place, with tall grasses reaching above the shoulders. If it weren't for the faintly visible sequence of trees lining both sides, it would be really hard to tell that this was once a mountain road.

  "What a terrible road! It's so hard to walk! I don't know who opened it up!" Sun Wukong was having a tough time walking in the back, as snakes and insects kept popping out, and he had to throw them back where they came from. At this moment, he was holding a thick, striped snake with a brown triangular head, "What kind of snake is this? I've never seen it before even on Mount Huaguo."

  "We need to speed up, the road ahead is getting blurrier and we can't see it clearly soon. Come on and help me!" Sun Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and pushed aside the thick vines of the big tree, "Throw away those snakes, in this strange place, it's better for us not to stir up trouble."

  "You're right!" Sun Wukong thought for a moment, then threw the poisonous snake far away. He picked up a bag beside him, swung it in a circle in mid-air, and fiercely threw it towards the distance. Inside were all the snakes and insects that the Monkey King had caught along the way.

  Half an hour later, a dense thorny forest shook, and two dark shadows emerged from it. They were the two monkeys who had finally crossed the mountain path with great difficulty and arrived at the waist of the mountain.

  "Ah!" Sun Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, "Finally made it out! This mountain road is really tough to walk."

  "That's it, after searching through so many big mountains, this is still my first time being so miserable." Sun Wukong pulled out the little devils stuck in his hair one by one, tidied up his messy fur, and sat down on the ground with a thud.

  He didn't have Sun Yuan's magical cultivation, and all the way here he had been relying solely on his four powerful and agile physical bodies, which were now somewhat unbearable.

  "You rest for a while, I'll go take a look!" A gust of wind blew by, Sun Yuan's expression suddenly tightened, and he pulled back the words that were about to spill out. His body leaned forward abruptly, and with a swift motion, he grasped something from the tail of the wind and put it under his nose for a sniff. His face changed color instantly as he gazed at the mountain top in a low voice.

  "What's wrong?" Sun Wukong immediately stood up, and from Sun Yuan's expression, he inferred that something bad might have happened, which made Sun Yuan change color like this. The only possibility was that they had entered the monster's den again!

  "You stay here and watch the path, I'll go up the mountain to take a look. This place doesn't seem like a good place, if there are any monsters passing by, you first hide on that small road, I'll be back soon!" Sun Yuan adjusted his collar, "The breath in the wind is not right, although it's filled with sandalwood fragrance, but the smell of gore can't be hidden no matter what!"

  "Isn't there any immortal in this place?" Sun Wukong furrowed his brow, and this was certainly not good news.

  "Hmm, hard to say! But I reckon there may not be any gods, but there are a lot of monsters!" Sun Yuan chuckled and suddenly disappeared from the spot. By the time Sun Wukong looked up again, he had already vanished into the mountain path.

  Without Sun Wukong, the drag, Sun Yuan was able to show off his fastest speed. As he sprinted forward with all his might, under the faint moonlight, a black figure shot towards the mountain peak at an extremely fast speed, and this was Sun Yuan exerting his full strength.

  After a while, Sun Yuan arrived at the top of the mountain. Before his eyes was an ancient temple with a huge bronze gate on its front, painted with two arhats. However, for some reason, the faces of these arhats were somewhat blurred and damaged!

  In front of the grand hall is a spacious square, on which are placed many incense burners. Wafts of sandalwood incense are rising from the burners, and some joss sticks that have not yet burned out are still emitting their final glow. Behind the incense burners is a semicircular high wall, arched over from the temple walls, as if it were the temple's embracing arms.

  On the high wall were pasted many white paper slips, and when the wind blew, these paper slips rustled in the rising mist, looking like a paradise on earth. Sun Yuan couldn't help but be curious, and he leaned into the square, seeing that there was no one around to guard it. Sun Yuan immediately took a closer look, and saw that every single slip had written on it wishes for good fortune, prosperity, and disaster avoidance. After reading several of them, Sun Yuan gradually came to understand that these were actually the prayers of the local residents seeking wealth and avoiding disaster.

  "Could it be that I've made a mistake?" After looking for a long time, Sun Yuan shook his head and decided to investigate further. Sun Yuan turned around and walked along the small path paved with cobblestones, climbing up step by step, gradually approaching the magnificent temple.

  At this moment, Sun Yuan's whole body hair stood on end, his ears moved, and he suddenly pounced forward, grabbing the gap in the outer wall of the temple with both arms. With a sudden pull, his entire monkey body leaped up and hid inside the gatehouse of the temple's outer wall, concealing his tracks.

  Just as Sun Yuan had just hidden his figure, the temple's gate suddenly opened, and two demonized creatures walked out from inside. One of them was a wolf-headed man, and upon seeing this, Sun Yuan involuntarily lowered his head even further. If he wasn't mistaken, these two demons had already fully transformed into human form; all they needed to do now was to transcend the lightning tribulation and become Golden Core demons. This kind of demon would be considered a top-notch figure anywhere.