Chapter 1374 - 926: Wilderness Tea House Meets Business Travelers, Duanmu Huai Encounters the White Bone Spirit
After passing Gao’s Village, we’ve arrived in West Cowherd State. Along the way, Duanmu Huai and Sun Wukong have been enjoying the scenery and having a blast slaying demons and eliminating devils.
Of course, to Duanmu Huai......
"That Tathagata is simply spouting nonsense and disturbing my peace."
"Master, why would you say that?"
Hearing Duanmu Huai’s complaints, Sun Wukong was curious and asked. He had been following Duanmu Huai long enough to know that this person was by no means a devout follower of the Buddha.
Not just devout, he was nothing like a monk at all, enjoying drinking and eating meat, with not a shred of the mercy and compassion expected of a monk. At every fairy territory they came across, he wouldn’t stop until all the demons inside were exterminated. To use Duanmu Huai’s own words, "Forgiving them is Buddha’s business; my duty is to send them to meet Buddha."
Well, to Sun Wukong, those demons didn’t stand a chance against Duanmu Huai’s divine power, their souls scattered so far that they couldn’t even enter Hell, let alone meet the Buddha.
However, Sun Wukong himself was no honest fellow either; the two together were like birds of a feather, and sometimes even Sun Wukong thought his master was more ruthless than he was. Back when his greatest pride was causing havoc in the Celestial Palace, if his master had been the one to go instead, he was afraid the palace would have ended up dismantled...
"Do you know, back when we were fetching the scriptures, Tathagata said in front of everyone: I now declare the character of all living beings in the four great continents is not the same; those in Eastern Victorious Divine Continent are respectful to heaven and earth, with peaceful hearts and balanced chi; In Northern Ju Lu Continent, though they cherish their kin, it is out of simple necessity, lacking ambition and overflowing with emotions. They hardly lower themselves; our West Cowherd State people refrain from greed and killing, nurturing their chi and hiding their spirits, although not obtaining the ultimate truth, each and every one of them enjoys longevity; yet, those in Southern Zengbu Continent are greedy, lecherous, take joy in disasters, are prone to killing and strife, it’s truly a place where rumors and slander run riot, the abode of conflict and sin... hmph, if you ask me, it’s all bullshit!"
Saying so, Duanmu Huai huffed coldly with contempt.
Tathagata’s words were quite straightforward, succinctly put, he describes his own West Cowherd State as a beacon of freedom where no one steals or robs, and doors remain unlocked at night. But the realm of the Tang Dynasty is depicted as a place teeming with greed and lechery, rife with killing and strife, a sinister dictatorship. "That’s why I have these three volumes of Free Underworld Scriptures; come and get them, then take them back so that your Tang Dynasty can also become a beacon of freedom like this."