Chapter 009: The Crow's Nest Zen Master

The female Taoist, already horrified when she saw the thin Taoist's magic treasure sliced open by the sword aura, her beautiful face pale as paper, now watched the old Taoist die, cold sweat soaking her back.

Just as Wang Bo was about to speak, the female Taoist fell to her knees with a thud. "Please, spare me, don't kill me. I'll do anything, just let me live. I'll serve you like an ox or a horse to repay you."

Wang Bo: ...

That was way too practiced. Just how many times had she begged for mercy?

"Tell me the Daoist arts you practice," Wang Bo said.

The female Taoist dared not delay and quickly recited the Daoist arts she cultivated. After listening, Wang Bo carefully deduced several times. This art was inferior to the Pure Yang True Method or the Tongtian Treasure Canon, but it had its unique points.

Unfortunately, it did nothing to enhance his Solar Divine Art. However, a few spells within it filled some gaps in his combat techniques.

After reciting the Daoist arts, the female Taoist, seeing Wang Bo silent, knelt prostrate, not daring to rise.

After a long while, seeing Wang Bo still motionless, she dared to lift her head slightly for a look, but before her, aside from the unconscious thin Taoist and the dead old Taoist, there was no one.

Wang Bo had long since vanished.

In fact, shortly after the female Taoist finished reciting the arts, Wang Bo had gotten up and left. He didn't kill her, not because she was beautiful and he couldn't bear it, but because her crime did not warrant death.

In truth, although these three Taoists had intended to kill for wealth, in the end, they had only attempted murder.

When Wang Bo struck, he had not intended to kill them.

The thin Taoist's magic treasure was severed by Wang Bo, causing backlash, while the old Taoist, losing hope, committed suicide.

Wang Bo didn't kill them not out of soft-heartedness, but because he understood clearly that for cultivators, losing their magic treasures and cultivation was crueler than losing their lives.

Because they had transcended the mundane, they knew all too well the beauty of it.

For cultivators, the cruelest thing was to knock them down into the dust, making them one of the common mortals, forever cut off from the Great Dao.

That was why the old Taoist had committed suicide so readily.

Because he simply couldn't bear the thought of losing his cultivation and wallowing in the dust.

So he preferred death.

Meanwhile, having avenged himself, Wang Bo planned to visit a few people before the Journey to the West began.

The first person was naturally the Crow's Nest Zen Master.

In Journey to the West, the Crow's Nest Zen Master is a very mysterious figure. He appears on Futu Mountain between Gao Laozhuang and the Yellow Wind Ridge. The mountain is beautiful, but interestingly, the Crow's Nest Zen Master lives neither in a temple nor a cave, but in a nest of firewood—hence the name... Crow's Nest.

But in Wang Bo's view, it was pretty much a bird's nest.

Even more interesting, this Crow's Nest Zen Master had never met Sanzang but recognized him, yet clearly stated he didn't know the famous Sun Wukong.

Moreover, the Crow's Nest Zen Master was an old acquaintance of Zhu Bajie and had once wanted to take him as a disciple.

He also, upon meeting Tang Sanzang, gave him a Heart Sutra.

This Crow's Nest Zen Master only appeared once in Journey to the West, made a brief cameo, but was very mysterious. Many believed he might be an alias.

An alias of a great power.

And who that great power was, opinions varied.

Some thought it was Guanyin Bodhisattva, because the Heart Sutra belonged to Guanyin. Others explained it as the White Heroic Venerable under Dipankara Buddha, because the White Heroic Venerable was a bird, and a bird lives in a bird's nest.

Of course, some also thought it was Dipankara Buddha himself.

Most interestingly, many linked this Crow's Nest Zen Master to mythology, seeing him as the last sun—the Golden Crow that escaped from Hou Yi's arrow.

So after leaving Chang'an, Wang Bo decided that the first person he wanted to visit was this Crow's Nest Zen Master.

He wanted to know whether this Crow's Nest Zen Master was indeed that Golden Crow.

If so, Wang Bo's Solar Divine Art might advance further with his help.

If not, Wang Bo was very curious about who this Crow's Nest Zen Master really was.

So Wang Bo sped all the way until dawn, when he arrived at Futu Mountain. But after circling the mountain, he couldn't find any trace of the Crow's Nest Zen Master.

This surprised Wang Bo greatly.

Only then did he remember that this was not the orthodox Journey to the West world, but the world of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, where the plot had undergone earth-shattering changes from the orthodox version.

For example, in the orthodox Journey to the West, Sha Seng was the Curtain-Raising General in Heaven. Because he accidentally broke a crystal cup, he violated heavenly law, was banished from Heaven, and caused havoc in the Flowing Sand River on earth, harming the area and eating passersby.

Incidentally, Sha Seng had nine skulls around his neck.

And those nine skulls were actually the nine previous incarnations of Tang Seng.

Tang Seng was the tenth reincarnation of Golden Cicada.

But in the world of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, Sha Seng's origin changed from a deity to a human. One day, while passing through a fishing village, he saved a child.

However, the villagers mistook him for a human trafficker and beat him to death.

After death, Sha Seng's resentment did not dissipate, and he transformed into a fish demon, causing havoc in the fishing village, eventually attracting the demon hunter Miss Duan, who subdued him.

Thus, although Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is also a Journey to the West world, it differs greatly from the orthodox one.

The characters are the same, but their origins have changed dramatically.

So it was not surprising that Wang Bo didn't find the Crow's Nest Zen Master on Futu Mountain. Perhaps in this world, there was no such person at all.

After circling Futu Mountain a few times and confirming there was no bird's nest or Crow's Nest Zen Master, Wang Bo turned and left.

But Wang Bo didn't give up. He decided to ask someone.

Zhu Ganglie!

Wang Bo remembered that the Crow's Nest Zen Master and Zhu Ganglie, i.e., Zhu Bajie, were old acquaintances, so he planned to ask this world's Zhu Ganglie if he knew someone called the Crow's Nest Zen Master.

So he changed direction and headed for Gao Laozhuang, where Zhu Ganglie was.

Fortunately, Gao Laozhuang was not far from Futu Mountain. By noon, Wang Bo had arrived at Gao Laozhuang.

He entered a restaurant.

And the owner of this restaurant was none other than the demon Wang Bo was looking for—Zhu Ganglie!

Like Sha Seng, Zhu Ganglie's origin in this world had also undergone earth-shattering changes.

In the orthodox Journey to the West world, Zhu Ganglie was the Marshal Tianpeng, wielding a nine-toothed rake, proficient in thirty-six transformations. Although he was lazy and gluttonous on the journey, in terms of strength, he was not inferior to Sun Wukong.