Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

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Dragon Palace, although a part of the Heavenly Court's forces, holds little sway within the entire power structure of the Heavenly Court; it was simply tasked by the Heavenly Court to guard the four seas and to carry out the work of distributing rain and clouds.

If described with modern terminology, it was nothing more than some officials in a remote area far away from the Imperial Capital.

They may look like local emperors on their own turf, but they are still far from the center of power, therefore not really significant.

Isn't there a saying, "Even a seventh-rank official in front of the Prime Minister's gate is higher than the rest"? An official from the capital always holds higher status than one from the provinces.

As the third son of the Western Sea Dragon King, Aolie knew well the delineation of powers within the Heavenly Court.

Thus, after his uncle was wrongfully killed, he saw an opportunity for vindication in the Journey to the West Team; even if it meant only becoming the Scripture Seeker's mount, he would be as if coated in gold.

Once he was bestowed a spiritual title at the Western Spirit Mountain, his identity and status would transform. Wouldn't he then have a say in his own case?

So, even though their goals were different, Aolie's thoughts were quite similar to those of Sha Wujing. Both wished to make their way through this Journey to the West to receive their spiritual titles after reaching Western Heaven.

However, today, floating midair, he heard his master and two senior brothers speaking with dissatisfaction, even hatred, towards the Immortals and Buddhas. This greatly shocked Aolie!

Firstly, now that they were all a part of the Buddhist Sect, such rhetoric was truly inappropriate. Should others overhear, who knows what Buddha might think?

Secondly, if they were all punished, then his goal of being bestowed a spiritual title in Western Heaven would burst like a bubble.

Therefore, even though Aolie was aware that he held the lowest position in the team, he could not help but speak up to remind Jiang Liu and the others.

Yet, at that moment, his master did not reprimand him, but instead gave him a bracelet?

Aolie naturally recognized the bracelet; under normal circumstances, his master always wore it on his wrist.

"This bracelet..."

Turning his head in midair to look at the bracelet, Aolie's eyes immediately filled with curiosity and confusion as he looked towards Jiang Liu, not understanding the significance of Jiang Liu giving him the bracelet.

However, before Aolie could speak and ask, suddenly, a dragon's roar came from within the bracelet.

Then, the phantom of a divine dragon emerged, sticking its head out from the bracelet and flying straight out. Its ethereal figure was clearly that of a Dragon Soul.

The lost soul of the Dragon King of Jing River flew out from the bracelet and promptly took on the appearance of a dragon-headed humanoid, who stood before Aolie.

"Uncle... Uncle?" Staring at the human form of the lost soul in front of him, Aolie stopped in midair, speaking in disbelief.

Wasn't his uncle killed a long time ago? Shouldn't his lost soul be detained in the Underworld? Why was it here?

His uncle had defied the decree of the Jade Emperor—after all, the order to execute him was issued personally by the Jade Emperor.

Those killed by the Jade Emperor's decree should naturally remain in the Underworld. Who would dare release them? Otherwise, where would the Jade Emperor's face go?

"Aolie, it's been such a long time!" The Dragon King of Jing River floated in front of Aolie, looking at his nephew, the Little White Dragon, with complex and joyous eyes.

The Dragon King of Jing River had always cherished his nephew, and after being with Jiang Liu for such a long time, he understood Aolie's purpose in joining the Scripture Seeking journey—it was to vindicate himself, which deeply moved the Dragon King.

"Uncle, how are you here? What... What exactly is going on?" Aolie asked his uncle in astonishment.

"All of this, I owe thanks to the Holy Monk..."

The Dragon King of Jing River began to speak, and then shared with Aolie everything that had happened to him, especially the events that had unfolded in Chang'an City.

"There must be trickery in this!" Upon hearing about the events in Chang'an, Aolie also realized that something seemed amiss, and said so.

How could the Jade Emperor's orders not have been issued yet, and yet someone knew them earlier, clearly and precisely specifying the time and quantity of rainfall?

This is something no mortal fortune teller could possibly achieve, right?

"Alas, I only blame myself. When my great calamity was approaching, my Spirit Platform was clouded over. The Holy Monk gave me a veiled warning, but in my anger, I failed to heed his advice and acted against the Jade Emperor's will..." With a long sigh, the Dragon King of Jing River appeared full of regret.

Calamities, feared even by the gods and Buddhas, are not only terrifying in their own right, but also because they cloud people's clarity, driving them to make irrational decisions, even courting their own doom.

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Looking back, the Dragon King of Jing River realized that this was exactly what had happened to him at the time.

"Is there really such a divine being in this world, with an unrivaled art of prediction!? I don't believe it, unless he is the reincarnation of Fuxi! If I have time, I must go to Chang'an City and find this Yuan Shoucheng, to investigate thoroughly!"

After pondering for a long time, Aolie finally spoke to the Dragon King of Jing River, affirming his promise.

"Actually, I knew a little about that matter at the time…" Sitting on Aolie's back and listening to the conversation between Aolie and the Dragon King of Jing River, Jiang Liu suddenly spoke up.

"Master, what else do you know!?" Aolie asked curiously upon hearing Jiang Liu's words.

Indeed, judging from Uncle's words, when they were in Chang'an City, Master seemed to have noticed something, or knew something, and had hinted to Uncle. So, isn't it completely within reason that he knew something?

"Yuan Shoucheng, I know a little about him—he is the uncle of Daoist Yuan Tiangang of Chang'an City!"

Jiang Liu shared what he knew, "I've met Daoist Yuan Tiangang a few times, and once, I casually discussed his uncle with him. The Daoist said that his uncle sets up a stall in Chang'an City every day, using Daoist Yuan Tiangang's fame to swindle and deceive people!"

"Just a swindler!? But he was able to predict the Jade Emperor's decree in advance? And even gave pointers for others to dredge up the Water Clan from Jing River!?" Jiang Liu's words confirmed Aolie's suspicions.

Indeed, this matter was incredibly complicated, and surely, the person capable of such feats couldn't be an outsider; it had to be one of the Immortals and Buddhas, with tremendous influence at that.

Seeing Aolie's expression, Jiang Liu could roughly guess what he was thinking but didn't take the initiative to tell him anything.

Since he wanted to investigate the truth, let him do the investigation. The truth he discovered would always be much more credible than anything he himself could tell.

Luckily, being the third Prince of the Western Sea Dragon King, Aolie was already part of the system of Immortals and Buddhas, so he had his own thoughts about what to do and how to do it, without any need for Jiang Liu to worry.

In fact, whether Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, or even Aolie, they were all born within the system of the Heavenly Court and thus had a certain perspective.

Only Sun Wukong had spent little time in the Heavenly Court before causing Havoc in Heaven and falling out with the Jade Emperor, leading to his reckless behavior.

While flying mid-air, the affection between Aolie and his uncle was clearly very deep, so they chatted as they flew.

Occasionally discussing their respective matters and reminiscing about Aolie's childhood, of course, they also discussed the truth behind the Dragon King of Jing River's death and speculated on various topics extensively.

Jiang Liu and Sun Wukong didn't interrupt, and the group continued flying rapidly towards the direction of the Ancient Ice Cave.

Where was the Ancient Ice Cave? Naturally, Jiang Liu had no idea.

But, he had heard Sha Wujing mention that after leaving Treasure Elephant Country, he had traveled north for thousands of miles, so Jiang Liu had a general idea of the area.

"Master, you seem a bit strange!" However, while flying through the sky, Sun Wukong suddenly drew closer to Jiang Liu and said.

"Strange? In what way am I strange?" Jiang Liu turned his head in surprise and asked Sun Wukong.

"Aren't you very afraid of vengeful ghosts and spirits? Then why aren't you afraid of this dragon? You've even carried him with you for so long?" Sun Wukong looked at Jiang Liu, bewildered.

"Well, perhaps it's because he's a dragon, not a human? So I'm not afraid?" Jiang Liu pondered Sun Wukong's question before replying.

Indeed, in some domestic horror films from his previous life, the vengeful ghosts and spirits always looked like people, and they even wore strange and terrifying makeup to evoke fear. But there were none that were dragons, right?

So, even though he knew that the Dragon King of Jing River was also a vengeful spirit, Jiang Liu was not afraid at all.

"Alright, so you're odd, Master. Both are vengeful spirits, yet you're not afraid of the dragon, only human ones!" Sun Wukong spread his hands and said helplessly.

No matter how he thought about it, the idea of his master being afraid of ghosts was something Sun Wukong could not comprehend.@@novelbin@@

"Okay, we should be getting close to our destination. Monkey, take a look and see if you can find any trace of Junior Brother Sha!" Not wanting to dwell on this issue, Jiang Liu wore a serious expression and spoke to Sun Wukong.

"Roger that!"

Sun Wukong nodded, his eyes flashing with golden light as he gazed into the distance!

(PS: The situation at Qidian has become quite scary, I remember two or three years ago, I could make it into the top 10 of Qidian's sales chart by making around eight or nine thousand yuan a day. But yesterday, we made more than 10,000, with seventy or eighty donations, yet we only ranked thirteenth, sigh...)