Chapter Twenty-Two: Osmanthus Tree

  When Sun Wukong's figure reappeared, he had transformed into an ordinary Arhat. He secretly looked around and headed towards the Peach Garden. Although Sun Wukong was unwilling to admit it, the anxiety and unease in his heart were indeed hard to conceal. From the moment he woke up until now, the weight of his worries had been growing heavier and heavier.

  After carefully making way through all the guards, the Peach Garden finally appeared before their eyes. At a glance, the entire Peach Garden seemed to be without any unusual signs. The only difference was that the heavenly soldiers guarding it had been replaced by bald-headed Buddhist monks. However, Sun Wukong knew that this was just what it looked like on the surface, and with Erlang's character, it was impossible for him to have only sent a few ambush troops to guard the Peach Garden's important place.

  In the past, Tathagata had a strong craving for Queen Mother's peaches. Now that he has occupied Heaven, he has finally achieved his wish, how can he not be in a poetic mood? Sun Wukong did not dare to be careless, although his strength had greatly increased at this moment, but he was still not the opponent of these millions of Buddhist soldiers. If he was slightly careless and discovered by the Buddha's soldiers, it would likely be another bloody battle. Sun Wukong was not afraid of fighting, what he feared was being discovered by Tathagata for his purpose in coming here.

  With his right hand forming a sword finger, he lightly wiped it in front of his eyes. Instantly, golden light shot out from both eyes. Looking towards the underground river in the air above the Peach Garden, after a moment, Sun Wukong's eyes added a hint of solemnity. This Tathagata, what a big brush stroke! He actually set up the Nine Heavens Nine Turns Void Great Array for this Peach Garden.

  This great array is the Tathagata's use of supreme Dharma power, and together with the Buddha's gate treasure, the Buddha's bone relics are refined into a world. Then, these nine worlds are hidden in the void around the Peaches Garden according to the nine palaces' positions. To the naked eye, this Peaches Garden is within arm's reach, but once you walk past it, no matter which direction you enter from, you will fall into one of the worlds.

  In this nine-square world, it's easy to enter but difficult to exit, harder than ascending to heaven. Once you enter one of the squares in this nine-square world, you'll find yourself transformed into an ordinary mortal. The various hardships and sufferings of the mortal world will come one after another: birth, aging, illness, and death. After finally enduring all these things, you'll discover that you've entered the six paths of reincarnation in the underworld, where life and death repeat endlessly. From then on, you'll be trapped in an endless cycle.

  Even if you have the willpower to penetrate heaven and earth, and the great magical power to break through reincarnation and find yourself back, don't be too happy yet, there are still eight worlds behind.

  The most important thing is that these nine worlds are completely different, each world is unique with one kind of human suffering or emotion as the main theme, and other emotions and sufferings as secondary. For example, if you fall into the extremely cold world, this world will be extremely cold, but it won't freeze you to death. It just makes you feel the pain of extreme cold all the time, occasionally mixed with some negative emotions such as sadness, despair, fear, loneliness, etc.

  It can be said that this is the first defensive formation of Buddhism, and it's not an exaggeration at all. This terrifying array has trapped the Peach Garden tightly. Outsiders have absolutely no chance of entering. Therefore, even Sun Wukong furrowed his brow deeply. Without entering the Peach Garden, he couldn't know the situation inside, nor could he find out about her safety. However, facing such a large array, Sun Wukong also didn't have the confidence to forcibly charge in.

  Just as Sun Wukong was at a loss and considering whether to force his way in, a very faint voice sounded from the top of his head: "Wukong, is that you? Have you come to find me?"

  Sun Wukong was taken aback for a moment, and in an instant he was overjoyed, but soon suppressed the feeling in his heart. He looked around and found that no one had noticed him, so he walked slowly while thinking to himself: "Is it you, Fan Xing?"

  "Ah, it's me, Wukong. I'm doing great now. I know you led the demon tribe and the heavenly court to war, but the Buddha sect took advantage of the situation. Now the entire heavenly court has become the territory of the Buddha sect. But I'm fine, and I've already taken control of the entire Peach Garden. I believe it won't be long before I can transform into a human shape."

  "Fan Xiang, I..."

  "Wukong, don't say any more, I know you still have your mission. Don't worry, I'm safe here and nothing will happen to me. I'll wait for you here until you rise again, until you return in triumph, until you come back and take me back to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits. Sun Wukong, remember, you are invincible, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven."

  After finishing speaking, the voice disappeared. No matter how Sun Wukong shouted in his heart, there was no echo at all. Sun Wukong knew that it was likely that Tathagata had become aware of it, so she had to disappear. He looked up at the Lingxiao Treasure Hall of the past and Sun Wukong's fist clenched even tighter.

  He took one last look at the Peach Garden, then Sun Wukong transformed into a faint streak of light and headed towards the Guanghan Palace of his past. This time, Sun Wukong's adventure back to Heaven was most important for obtaining the Osmanthus branch from the Guanghan Palace. The Osmanthus tree on the Moon Palace was actually transformed from Pangu's eyelashes, containing the Supreme Tao, but nobody knew how to open up the Osmanthus branch and absorb the Tao.

  At first, the heavenly court was full of talents, and various methods emerged one after another. Some people crushed it into powder to make tea, some made it into a weapon and nurtured it day and night, and some even merged the branches of the osmanthus tree into their own body. However, as a result, none of them achieved anything. Therefore, the Jade Emperor ordered that all osmanthus trees be sealed in the Guanghan Palace, and no one was allowed to approach or take them.

  But later, after Chang'e ascended to the Moon Palace, this cassia forest was left under her management. After a long time, Chang'e discovered another wonderful use of the cassia tree, that is, the cassia tree can seal and store magical memories and even souls. However, Chang'e did not report this to the Jade Emperor, but instead secretly told Tian Peng Yuanshuai later on.

  And Tian Peng later discovered another wonderful use of the Osmanthus tree, that is, if the branches of the Osmanthus tree are burned with fierce fire, the fragrance emitted has the magical effect of solidifying the soul and nourishing the body. Later on the way to retrieve the scriptures, Zhu Bajie inadvertently revealed this secret. At this time, Sun Wukong wanted to take a branch of Osmanthus tree to increase Zhu Bajie's chances of survival. Although it is not known whether it has any effect, in the end, he cannot bear to see his younger brother suffer.

  Also, I want to see how Chang'e is doing. Sun Wukong knew that Chang'e was the one who gave Zhu Bajie the courage to keep going. After narrowly escaping from the Buddha several times, Sun Wukong finally arrived at the Guanghan Palace.

  After arriving at this place, Sun Wukong hurriedly hid his body shape and looked around, finding that there were no powerful Buddha soldiers. So he shot out a million golden lights from his eyes again. When the light faded away, Sun Wukong frowned deeply again. This time it wasn't because of the strong barrier in this place, but on the contrary, the Guanghan Palace was empty except for a few guarding Buddha soldiers.

  After a moment's thought, Sun Wukong opened his fiery eyes and searched again with great care. But the result was still that there was no one around. Although he couldn't understand it at all, Sun Wukong didn't have any better way to do it either. After a few flips, they had already arrived at the cassia tree forest.

  Monkey King Sun Wukong carefully walked to the largest Osmanthus tree, took out his golden hoop rod from his ear, and gently tapped a branch. The branch immediately broke off. Monkey King stretched out his hand and the Osmanthus branch fell into it.

  Sun Wukong pulled out a hair, placed it in the folds of the Osmanthus tree bark, and this time nodded slightly, disappearing at a speed faster than before. However, Sun Wukong did not return to the Panxi Cave immediately, but instead flew towards the Lingxiao Treasure Hall after putting away the Osmanthus branch, which is now known as the Dayuan Treasure Hall.

  But when Sun Wukong arrived at the outside of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Then he quickly hid his body and quietly approached the entrance of the Daxiong Treasure Hall. Because Sun Wukong, who had rushed over hastily, suddenly discovered the aura of Niu Mo Wang and others inside the Lingxiao Treasure Hall. Besides Niu Mo Wang, all the big and small heads of the demon tribe were inside. This made Sun Wukong's heart excited. But in an instant, it was a feeling of fear afterwards. If he had just hidden his body for a moment at night, it would be hard to avoid being discovered by the Buddhas in the Lingxiao Treasure Hall. Even if those Buddhas couldn't discover him, what if Niu Mo Wang and others sensed his arrival and showed a hint of abnormality, with the heart of Tathagata, they might guess that he was nearby immediately.

  Why Cow Demon King and others might have discovered themselves earlier than Buddha, is because of the bowl of blood wine they drank when the seven brothers made a pact. Since then, the seven brothers had a kind of intuition from their bloodline. That's why Sun Wukong broke out in cold sweat. Fortunately, his strength had increased greatly and he detected it early, otherwise the consequences would be unpredictable.