Chapter 264 - 239: Reunion of Buddhism and Daoism at Wuzhuang Temple
Legend tells that the Yuan Shi Immortal Monarch invited Zhen Yuanzi to the Shangqing Tian Miluo Palace to discuss the Primordial Dao Fruit, and when the Leader of the Heaven-Penetrating Sect saw his own disciple, he naturally instructed him to go down later and to do exactly as he had said.
Meanwhile, Tang Sanzang had arrived at the Wuzhuang Temple along with his three disciples and one White Dragon Horse.
Everyone present knew that Zhen Yuanzi was no ordinary figure, heralded as the Ancestral Earth Immortal, capable of spreading the Way of the Dao in West Cow He State, he truly was formidable! Tang Sanzang, naturally, was unaware of this. At present, he was merely a mortal after all, with no real connection to the Great Immortal Zhen Yuanzi.
Qingfeng and Mingyue, the two Taoist Boys, had already received Zhen Yuanzi’s instructions and welcomed Tang Sanzang and his disciples into the Wuzhuang Temple.
Once inside the Wuzhuang Temple, they naturally offered pepinos as refreshments. Tang Sanzang, upon seeing them, refused to eat, saying, "Although these are fruits produced by the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root, they resemble infants. I cannot bring myself to eat them, but thank you for your kind offer, Immortal Children. When Zhen Yuan Immortal returns, please convey my thanks for his generous hospitality."
The pepinos, each one crystal clear and resembling a newborn child, were so lifelike that Tang Sanzang could not bear to bite into one and fill his mouth with their fresh fragrance; he felt a certain horror at the thought.
Zhu Bajie, however, was a glutton. Hearing this, he pulled Wukong aside and said, "Brother, I’ve long heard that these pepinos, being the treasures born from the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root, can confer forty-eight thousand years of life upon consumption! They are said to be even more miraculous than the Queen Mother’s Peaches of Immortality! Those two Taoist Boys are just too lazy, they were meant to be for us, but they ate them themselves."
Wukong laughed and replied, "Then let’s go and take some fruits to enjoy."
He was about to attain the realm of Mixed Yuan Golden Immortal First Layer with the Primordial Dao Fruit. Yin and Yang Qi had already separated within his body, gathering together and about to form a Primordial Dao Fruit. But creating such a fruit was not so simple, was it? Therefore, this opportunity to partake of Zhen Yuanzi’s pepinos was a stroke of fortune.
Zhu Bajie was purely greedy and had no other thoughts in mind. As for Wukong, he used his Jingu Bang to knock down some pepinos and opened his tunic to catch them.
Pepinos fall when struck by gold, and given that the Jingu Bang was made of the metal element from the Five Elements, it was only natural that it would cause the fruits to fall without having to use Zhen Yuanzi’s golden clappers.