And so the master and his three disciples entered the Wuzhuang Temple!
Qingfeng and Mingyue opened the gate for them. Since Zhenyuanzi had given prior instructions, Qingfeng and Mingyue did not make things difficult for the four travelers and ushered them into the guest quarters.
"Elder, please rest for a moment!" Qingfeng said to Tang Sanzang.
After all, Tang Sanzang looked like a virtuous eminent monk. As for the few monsters beside him, well, Qingfeng and Mingyue had seen plenty of such demons. These three were not impressive at all – look, a monkey spirit, a pig spirit, and a river fish demon!
After seeing Qingfeng and Mingyue leave, Zhu Bajie stared expectantly, perhaps they would offer some ginseng fruit to him and the others.
After waiting for a long while, indeed, Qingfeng and Mingyue returned, carrying a tray with two ginseng fruits on it, placed on a red cloth.
"Elder, before our master left, he instructed that if any eminent monks visit, we should offer a ginseng fruit to entertain distinguished guests," Qingfeng said with a smile, placing the ginseng fruits before Tang Sanzang. He knew that these were two, a privilege not granted to ordinary people. In Qingfeng's view, no one could refuse ginseng fruit; absolutely no one!
However, Tang Sanzang looked at the fruits and was greatly shocked. These fruits resembled children, how could he bear to eat them? So he said, "Two immortal youths, I am frightened by these fruits and will not eat them."
Zhu Bajie stared intently at the ginseng fruits from the side. Truly one of the ten supreme innate spiritual roots, they were indeed captivating!
Hearing that Tang Sanzang would not eat them, Zhu Bajie was overjoyed. This meant he could happily accept them without needing to instigate the monkey to cause trouble. After all, this was the dojo of the Ancestor of Immortals; he didn't know what would happen if he caused trouble here.
But to Zhu Bajie's surprise, the two young Daoists did not follow the expected script. You didn't offer enough in the first place, and now that our master refused, you can't just take them away? Isn't that unsportsmanlike?
Staring dejectedly as the Daoists took the ginseng fruits away again, Zhu Bajie had lost count of how many times he wanted to complain.
"Idiot, what are you doing? They're just two fruits!" Sun Wukong said dismissively. Seeing Zhu Bajie's longing gaze, he felt a bit embarrassed.
After all, what kind of immortal fruits had he, Sun Wukong, not seen? He had even eaten the Peaches of Immortality as if they were ordinary peaches!
He found it rather ungenerous and contemptible that the two Daoists only offered two fruits as entertainment and then took them away.
Zhu Bajie was speechless. "You country monkey, what do you know?"
However, thinking that whether they could eat ginseng fruit depended on this monkey, he chuckled and said, "Brother Monkey, you don't know, but that is ginseng fruit!"
Sun Wukong raised an eyebrow. Ginseng fruit? He had never heard of it!
Zhu Bajie explained, "Ginseng fruit, also known as the Herb-Returning Pill, is one of the ten supreme innate spiritual roots. By the way, Brother Monkey, you know about the Peaches of Immortality, right? It's similar to the nine-thousand-year Peaches of Immortality. Also, that thing takes three thousand years to flower, another three thousand years to bear fruit, and another three thousand years to ripen. It takes a full ten thousand years before it can be eaten, and importantly, in ten thousand years, it only produces about thirty fruits. It is said that just smelling it can extend one's life by three hundred and sixty years, and eating one can easily grant tens of thousands of years of life!"
Hearing Zhu Bajie's words, Sun Wukong was stunned. "My goodness, isn't this even more precious than a nine-thousand-year Peach of Immortality?" He had been in charge of the Peach Garden back then and knew that even the nine-thousand-year Peaches of Immortality produced at least several hundred fruits. But look at the ginseng fruit, only thirty-odd in ten thousand years, clearly much more valuable!
Tang Sanzang, on the side, continued to chant scriptures, unconcerned about missing out on any ginseng fruit. Even if he had known, he would not have eaten it. Those things resembled children; how could he possibly bring himself to eat them!
Later, Zhu Bajie secretly called Sun Wukong out.
"Idiot, why did you call me?" Sun Wukong asked.
Zhu Bajie chuckled and said, "Brother Monkey, those Daoists are too stingy, they didn't even leave our fruits behind. They must have eaten them themselves. Weren't you the most skilled at this back then? Heh heh, get us one to try!"
Sun Wukong had also been thinking of stealing one to try. After all, monkeys had a low resistance to fruit!
Especially after hearing Zhu Bajie's description, he was even more eager for the ginseng fruit. He had originally planned to go at night, but since Zhu Bajie mentioned it, he decided to steal four, one for each of them, excluding Master Tang Sanzang.
So Sun Wukong went to the room of the two Daoists and found them eating ginseng fruit. Not only that, they were also mocking Tang Sanzang and his group, especially saying that Tang Sanzang was unworthy of being an eminent monk, a mere mortal with ordinary eyes who did not recognize the wondrous properties of this fruit!
Sun Wukong let out a哼 (hēng), listening intently. He indeed overheard crucial information: to strike the ginseng fruit, a golden pestle was needed, and Qingfeng had gone to fetch it.
Sun Wukong pulled out two of his body hairs, blew on them, and they transformed into two sleep-inducing insects, which entered Qingfeng and Mingyue's bodies. The two Daoists began snoring loudly in their room.
Sun Wukong beckoned, and the golden pestle immediately flew into his hand. Sun Wukong smiled slightly, took the golden pestle, and ran towards the backyard.
As expected, he saw the ginseng fruit tree. He circled the tree twice and praised, "Good tree, good tree!"
Then the golden pestle flew out, striking down a ginseng fruit. As Sun Wukong was about to strike a second fruit, the one that fell to the ground disappeared! At this, Sun Wukong became furious!
These fruits were very precious, and now someone was trying to take a cut right under his nose? He immediately took out his Ruyi Jingu Bang and struck the ground. In his mind, it must have been the local earth deity who had done this!
So the earth deity appeared. Seeing Sun Wukong, he immediately bowed and said, "This humble one greets the Great Sage!"
Sun Wukong snorted and said, "Fine, you still recognize me, Old Sun. When I was in the Heavenly Court, no one dared to take a cut from me. How dare you, a mere local deity, have the audacity? Quickly return my ginseng fruit!"
The earth deity turned pale with fright and quickly said, "Great Sage, Great Sage, you have wrongly accused this humble one. This is ginseng fruit; this humble one would never dare!"
Saying this, he glanced at the monkey. "My goodness, you are truly bold, daring to touch the possessions of the Ancestor of Immortals. This humble one certainly would not dare!"
Sun Wukong looked at the earth deity suspiciously and said, "Then tell me, where is my fruit?"
The earth deity quickly replied, "Great Sage, you may not know, but this ginseng fruit is a treasure of heaven and earth. This fruit is averse to the five elements: it falls upon encountering metal, withers upon encountering wood, dissolves upon encountering water, scorches upon encountering fire, and enters the earth upon encountering soil. Therefore, when striking it, a golden utensil must be used, and when holding it, silk must be used as padding!"
Sun Wukong was enlightened. No wonder! He had thought, why would a mere local deity dare to take a cut from him, Sun Wukong? That would be asking for a beating! So he impatiently waved his hand and said, "I understand, I understand. I was mistaken. Be quick and leave!"
The earth deity dared not linger and quickly vanished in a puff of smoke. He couldn't afford to offend, so he had no choice but to flee!