Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong-Chapter 549 - Jiang Liuers Resentment (Third

Chapter 549 -549: Jiang Liu’er’s Resentment (Third Release!)

Chapter 549 -549: Jiang Liu’er’s Resentment (Third Release!)

(PS: Another update will follow later.)

It had been but a moment, and they had already arrived at the Golden Mountain Temple. The abbot and Jiang Liu’er both had shock written all over their faces. Such great divine power they had witnessed for the first time in their lives, and the astonishment in their hearts was unimaginable.

“Great Sage, your profound grace is etched in my heart. I vow to chant scriptures daily to bless the Great Sage!”

The abbot brought his hands together and deeply bowed to Sun Wukong, his face brimming with reverence. This abbot, too, was a monk who had achieved enlightenment and understood clearly that although the Demon Cult was a burgeoning sect, as its leader and supreme being of his people, Sun Wukong’s status as the Great Sage Equalling Heaven was not at all inferior to that of Buddha. Should there be any disrespectful words that offended Sun Wukong, it was not just he who would suffer the consequences but the entire Golden Mountain Temple!

“There’s no need for blessings. Old Sun doesn’t need any protection from all the gods and buddhas in heaven!”

With a wave of his hand, Sun Wukong made the body of the monk that had been killed by an arrow appear on the ground. He had brought back the body of the deceased monk while the abbot and Jiang Liu’er returned to the Golden Mountain Temple, “Abbot, how to bury this body is for you to handle. Old Sun needs to have a word alone with Jiang Liu’er…”

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“Understood! Understood!”

The abbot was quick to grasp the situation, immediately agreeing without hesitation. It mattered not that Sun Wukong only wished to speak with Jiang Liu’er; even if he took a liking to Jiang Liu’er and decided to take him away, the abbot wouldn’t utter a word of objection.

Sun Wukong and Yuan Hong took Jiang Liu’er to a corner in the back hall of the Golden Mountain Temple, where Sun Wukong set up a soundproof barrier. This was to prevent the Western Heavenly Buddhist Sect from getting wind of their meeting with Jiang Liu’er. As for the abbot, Sun Wukong wasn’t concerned that a secular mortal world abbot would have any contact with the Western Heavenly Buddhist Sect, and wasn’t worried about news leaking.

“Great Sage, what do you want with this humble monk?”

Jiang Liu’er looked timidly at Sun Wukong. Such a leader of the Demon Cult didn’t seem like someone who had nothing better to do. What would he want to discuss with a monk with no power or influence like himself?

“Jiang Liu’er, do you know of your own heritage?”

“My heritage?”

Jiang Liu’er was puzzled by Sun Wukong’s question, “The abbot told me that I was found in a river, parentless.”

“Your father in this life is named Chen Guangrui, and your mother is Yin Wenjiao, the daughter of the current prime minister. After your father passed the imperial examinations as the top scholar, he was murdered on the way to his post by the treacherous Liu Hong, who then assumed your father’s identity to take up the position in Jiangzhou. In order to preserve her life, your mother was forced to yield to him. She gave birth to you, left you in the river to drift downstream, and that’s how the monk Faming found you and brought you to the Golden Mountain Temple to raise and grow up.”

At Sun Wukong’s disclosure, Jiang Liu’er burst into tears, knelt toward the south, and wept loudly with his head touching the ground, “Father, Mother, your unfilial son only learns today of the deep vengeance owed for a blood feud! Father and Mother, be at ease, for I shall avenge you and fulfill a son’s duty. I swear to make that villain Liu Hong pay with his blood for his debts!”

“Enough, this matter of vengeance is simple; Old Sun can help you with that!”

Sun Wukong waved his hand dismissively, “This is only the grudge of your current life. What Old Sun is about to tell you next concerns your past life!”

“My past life?”

Jiang Liu’er’s eyes widened as he wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes. “Great Sage, is this the real reason you came looking for me?”

“Smart!”

Wukong looked at Jiang Liu’er and smiled. The current Jiang Liu’er was nothing like the Tang Seng of his past life that he knew about; they were completely different. Indeed, choosing this moment to meet Jiang Liu’er was the right decision, for if it were the muddle-headed Tang Seng of later times, then anything said would likely have been in vain.

“Your Old Sun won’t beat around the bush. I’ll just tell you straight! You were originally a disciple under Buddha’s seat at Western Heaven Spiritual Mountain, the Bodhisattva Golden Cicada Child. Because of your special physique, after being reborn through transmigration, you can become a virtuous person for ten lifetimes, capable of bearing a vast amount of Merit and Destiny. Buddha found an excuse to banish you to the mortal world, destroying your cultivation of one lifetime, and it was all for the future Journey to the West to Seek Scriptures!”

“Journey to the West to Seek Scriptures? What Journey to the West to Seek Scriptures?”

Jiang Liu’er was somewhat dumbfounded; what Wukong had said completely overturned his worldview. He was a Bodhisattva under Buddha’s seat! And from Wukong’s words, was his divine skills removed and he was cast down into the mortal world just because his special physique could be exploited by Buddha?

This, this was simply too much to accept!

“It’s the journey on foot from the Great Tang of the Eastern Land to the Western Heaven Spiritual Mountain to worship Buddha and seek the scriptures, to spread the Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures from Western Cattle Gift State to the Central Plains. According to the Buddhist Sect, it’s to enlighten all beings. But Your Old Sun knows very well that this is just a beautiful name on the surface, in actuality, it is to obtain the Merit and Destiny bestowed by Heavenly Dao!”

Wukong sneered, “Your Old Sun has already said it, you embody the virtues of ten generations of good people and have naturally accumulated quite a bit of Merit and Destiny. After the scripture seeking is successful, the vast majority of Merit and Destiny will be given to you. At that time, Buddha and those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of Western Heaven Spiritual Mountain will be able to extract Merit and Destiny from you to achieve their own goals. From beginning to end, you are just a pawn.”

“If you are compliant, when the time comes, meekly hand over the Merit and Destiny you’ve gained, perhaps Buddha will bestow upon you the title of Buddha Bodhisattva, but you will have to start over with your cultivation. Even if your status is restored, who knows if they’ll use you again for some other purpose in the future. If you don’t want to hand over the Merit and Destiny, huh, with the methods of those so-called compassionate Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of Western Heaven, they will certainly make you cry out and hand it over willingly in the end!”

Disdain for the Western Heavenly Buddhist Sect filled Wukong’s words. His face was full of scorn, causing Jiang Liu’er to frown deeply, “Great Sage, the Buddhist Sect seeks to enlighten all beings; it can’t be as bad as you’re saying, right?”

“Enlighten all beings? Nothing but a phrase! When have you ever seen all beings being enlightened? What the Buddhist Sect enlightens are only those with fate, and what is considered fate, if not defined by those high and mighty Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? Your Old Sun is asking you this— are you willing to let others manipulate your fate and be nothing but a pawn?”

“This..”

Jiang Liu’er found himself at a loss for words. Although he had grown up in the confines of Golden Mountain Temple from a young age, he was still young and hadn’t read many scriptures yet; he hadn’t been completely brainwashed by the Buddhist doctrines. Naturally, there was reluctance in the depths of his heart. Even if the ones using him were the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from Western Heaven Spiritual Mountain, he wasn’t as willing as he had been in his former life.

Especially since Wukong had already said that the supposed enlightenment of all beings in the Journey to the West to Seek Scriptures was just a façade and the real purpose was for the Merit and Destiny bestowed by Heavenly Dao. Although Jiang Liu’er didn’t fully understand what that meant, with his intelligence, it wasn’t hard to figure out something— that he was just a pawn meant to complete the scripture seeking mission!

Should such a life really be accepted with resignation?