Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Advice System
Chapter 146: Journey to the West

Chapter 146: Chapter 146: Journey to the West

Sun Wukong asked another new question.

"Dare I ask how much do you seniors know about the Buddha Sect’s scripture retrieval project?"

The 99th Resurrection Armor: "Laxative, not much I’m afraid, just know that this was a successful marketing campaign organized by the Buddha Sect, with roughly the following aspects.

First, the overall planners were Buddha Tathagata and Guanyin Bodhisattva; details on other planners are unclear, with various opinions.

Second, the scripture retrieval team was directly led by Guanyin Bodhisattva, with Tang Sanzang as the project manager and Sun Wukong as the core talent; the ordinary members were Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and the White Dragon Horse, with Emperor Taizong as the sponsor.

Third, the whole project included eighty-one assessment tasks, after the completion of which the Mahayana True Scriptures could be obtained.

Fourth, the project’s goal was to spread Buddhist Law in the Eastern Lands, granting the Buddha Sect a vast faith market, eventually leading to the great prosperity of Buddhist Law."

"This senior really has a way with modesty." Sun Wukong scratched his hand. The senior had already laid out the overall situation of the scripture retrieval project and still claimed to know little.

Then, he looked at other replies.

Add budget: "There’s a missing project background, the Buddha Sect planned the Journey to the West based on the overarching premise of the Heavenly Dao’s decree to prosper Buddhism. Otherwise, why would the three teachings of the Xuanmen allow Buddhism to move beyond the Western Regions of Western Niu Hezhou?

The human race’s fate, merit, incense worship, and faith are the foundations of prosperity for these sects. Chan Teaching, Sect of Interception, and Human Teaching would definitely not want the western Buddha Sect to come over and snag their food."

"It’s that Heavenly Dao’s decree to prosper Buddhism again. Why would the Heavenly Father do such a biased thing?" Sun Wukong was very puzzled.

He had seen WisdomNet users mention the Heavenly Dao’s decree to prosper Buddhism long ago.

Some users speculated that Ran Deng, Ci Hang, and others who defected from their sect to join the west were actually assigned by Yuan Shi, the leader of Chan Teaching, aiming to later seize the fruit of prospering Buddhism.

Taishang Laojun played a hand at transforming the non-believer into a Buddha, leading Duo Bao Daoist to join the west as well, becoming Shakyamuni, and snatching the position of Buddha Lord from Ran Deng.

But what exactly is the Heavenly Dao’s decree to prosper Buddhism? No user gave a specific explanation.

Considering this, Sun Wukong asked further and quickly received a reply.

Add budget: "This has to be traced back to a very, very long time ago, the Ancient Primordial Era. The Innate Three Races - the dragons, phoenixes, and qilins - were the rulers of the Primordial, respectively controlling the oceans, the skies, and the land.

They had long-standing grudges and, with Demon Ancestor Luo Hou instigating from the shadows, a great battle eventually erupted, causing devastation to the creatures of the Primordial and countless destructions, known as the first calamity of the dragon and phoenix.

Demon Ancestor Luo Hou, who wanted to prove his way through killing, significantly increased his power during this calamity and obtained the killer dao’s supreme treasure, the Zhu Xian Sword Formation, intending to turn the Primordial into a slaughterhouse.

Therefore, Hongjun Ancestor joined forces with Yang Mei Ancestor, Yin Yang Ancestor, and Qian Kun Ancestor to battle Demon Ancestor Luo Hou at Mount Meru in the west.

Eventually, Demon Ancestor Luo Hou perished in a self-detonation, taking down both Yin Yang Ancestor and Qian Kun Ancestor with him, showing his formidable strength.

Hongjun Ancestor then became a saint with three corpses after this battle and from then on dominated the Vast Wilderness alone, becoming the Dao Ancestor.

However, because the battle at Mount Meru disrupted the spiritual veins of the west, Hongjun Ancestor, the victor, owed a karmic debt to the west. Hence, when he took control of the Heavenly Dao, there was the predestined decree to prosper Buddhism, to repay this karmic debt."

"Oh, that’s how it is." Sun Wukong suddenly realized. This was an issue set by the Dao Ancestor; naturally, no one dared to object!

But on second thought, he found something fundamentally wrong with this.

The Dao Ancestor owed the west a karmic debt; shouldn’t he repay it himself? Why should he use something from the Eastern Lands to repay it?

By robbing Peter to pay Paul, what change would there be in the grand scheme of all the Three Realms?

Fire God’s Ah Si: "Because in the eyes of the Dao Ancestor, the whole world is his. Isn’t it normal for him to take something from his elder brother’s house and give it to his often impoverished younger brother?"

Yang Xiao haha: "Brilliant, but such behavior is unfair and shameless."

Wisdom in a Bottle: "Exactly, the world was created by Pan Gu, how did it become his?"

"Makes sense." Sun Wukong also agreed with this explanation and simultaneously gained a firm understanding of the Heavenly Dao’s decree to prosper Buddhism.

Continue reading the replies that follow.

Tsk tsk, hiss, tsk tsk tsk tsk, "Uninvited, you guys have pretty much covered the entire situation of the journey to the West. Let me chime in briefly and talk about the pilgrims themselves.

First comes Tang Sanzang, whose secular family name is Chen, dharma name Xuanzang, and also known as Sanzang, a royal brother of the Great Tang, and in his previous life, he was the second disciple of the Buddha, Golden Cicada."

Then there’s Sun Wukong, the Monkey King of Fruit Mountain, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, the revered North Pole Deity...

Next is Zhu Bajie...

After that, Sha Wujing...

Last comes the White Dragon Horse..."

This reply briefly went over the situations of the five pilgrims, and what surprised Sun Wukong the most was that Tang Sanzang’s previous incarnation was that endlessly chanting monk?

It was truly unexpected to him, but after giving it some thought, it seemed to make sense.

Considering the importance of the scripture-seeking mission, the Buddha would certainly wish to put his own disciple in charge of it.

"Interesting, very interesting," muttered Sun Wukong, scratching his face thoughtfully.

Because Golden Cicada still doesn’t know he is one of the scripture-seeking pilgrims, Wukong felt that there might be a deeper secret here.

Looking at the other replies.

Jia Ping Seventeen, "All five of the pilgrims are quite tragic really, Golden Cicada, just because he didn’t pay attention in class, was cast down by the Buddha into the mortal realm, reincarnating nine times, and devoured by Sha Wujing nine times, each time failing to get past the River of Flowing Sand."

"Ah, there surely is a secret," Sun Wukong scratched his hand.

So it seemed that Golden Cicada had never known he was designated as a scripture seeker from beginning to end.

Why would the Buddha Sect conceal this?

If the scripture-seeking mission was to glorify Buddhism, Golden Cicada should be happy to become a scripture seeker. Couldn’t they just tell him directly? Why find an excuse to cast him down into the mortal realm?

Sun Wukong continued to inquire, and other netizens provided explanations.

Lao Su Chong, "Because Golden Cicada was originally a six-winged golden cicada, a fierce creature from the Vast Wilderness; he was schemed against by the two saints of the West and thus fell to the status of a Buddha’s child,

The Buddha Sect didn’t tell him, probably because they were worried about awakening Golden Cicada’s memories of his former life."

Night’s Loss, "That reason doesn’t hold up; there must be other reasons. It depends on how the questioner will resolve this."

"Old Sun doesn’t even know what to make of this!" thought Sun Wukong.

However, that Golden Cicada was a six-winged golden cicada did surprise him; he would never have guessed.

"Hmm, now that Golden Cicada has received Old Sun’s guidance, he is determined to take on the responsibility of a Buddha’s child. Upon his return this time, he should actively inquire about the scripture-seeking matter. I wonder how the Buddha will respond?"

After reflecting for a moment, Sun Wukong continued to read the following replies.

Jia Ping Seventeen, "There’s no need to elaborate on Sun Wukong; first, he was refined by fire in the Eight Trigrams Furnace, then pressed under the Five Elements Mountain for hundreds of years, and finally, the dignified Great Sage Equalling Heaven was manipulated by Guanyin to wear the Tight-Binding Spell, reduced to leading horses and taking falls for others.

On the journey to retrieve the scriptures, he didn’t dare to strike down those demons with powerful backers, truly like a tamed enforcer, altogether missing the fearlessness and free spirit of the past.

Alas, my role as the Monkey King, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven."

Although he had already learned some of his original life’s details, seeing this more extensive reply still made Sun Wukong extremely indignant, scratching his face and baring his teeth, "Detestable, utterly detestable!"

He was subjected to the Tight-Binding Spell? Led horses and tumbled for others? Tamed?