22 Going Mad in the Little Sumeru Mountain

Lingji obviously hasn't understood what has happened. He sees that the monkey is making a scary look, so he pulls my sleeve and asks me in a whisper: 'How could I know what has happened? I did leave the Wind-freezing Pearl and Flying-dragon Staff here in the cabinet. Why did they disappear after I woke up?'

Lingji gets no response from me so he just sits on the ground confused and falls into a trance with his tilted head.

He has been sleeping for so long that he has zero knowledge of what has happened outside. He complains there alone: 'The Yellow Wind Demon was not an evil yokai. He ran away because he was afraid of getting punished after he caused the dimness of Ling Mountain since he stole the lamp oil in Buddha's glass lamp. He became a yokai after he escaped to my place. Buddha said that his crime would not bring a death punishment to him so I became his watcher. Who knows that he wanted to eat humans? He was just a mouse who ate lamp-oil in the past. How could he begin to eat humans? He was a cute yokai before I fell asleep. Really, you never know what will happen next...'

I look at him reluctantly and ask: 'When did you fall asleep? How many years have passed?'

Lingji scratches his head and tilts his head emptily to think what time it is right now.

I say: 'Tang Dynasty.'

He is shocked: 'The Great Qing is over!? It shouldn't be!'

...

Your reaction is really in time.

Lingji says confusedly: 'Okay, probably a few hundreds of years ago. Ayyy, Guanyin bodhisattva, I don't know, really. I was too tired and just couldn't wake up.'

Sun Wukong worries the for safety of his shifu and doesn't want to listen to us chatting about the history of a few hundreds of years ago. He says anxiously: 'You as a bodhisattva cannot even wake up by yourself! You even lost the things! What about my shifu!? If my shifu is eaten by that yokai, I will kill that yokai as my revenge and I will not make you easy either!'

His shout scares Lingji and trembles him. He is not fully awake, and he doesn't know Sun Wukong either. He has no choice but says: 'The Yellow Wind Demon is good at blowing wind. If we want to surrender him, we shall find the Wind-freezing Pearl and the Flying-dragon Staff first. Don't worry. My things shouldn't go missing even if I fall asleep. It is probably my disciples or my servants who put them away somewhere else. Let us ask them...'

Once Sun Wukong hears that there is still hope, he leaves us both and runs to the courtyard without looking back.

After that, Lingji sits on the ground looking at me: 'Where did this monkey of a furry face and a Thunder god mouth come from? He really put on airs as if he is someone big.'

I look at him speechlessly: '...'

Lingji says: 'Guanyin bodhisattva, what happened to you? How could such a disobedient monkey cause you so many attentions? What did I miss during my sleep?'

He really has missed the biggest matter that happened in both Heaven and on Earth during these hundreds of years.

I say: 'He is Sun Wukong who made havoc in Heaven. Even Jade Emperor couldn't surrender him.'

Lingji looks at me confusedly: 'What Heaven? What Sun Wukong?'

I have to explain to him: 'During your sleep, this monkey went crazy in Heaven. His cudgel reached the Lingxiao Palace. He almost overthrew the previous seat of the Jade Emperor. Tathagata kept him down beneath the Five Element Mountain for five hundreds of years, but he was afraid that this monkey would one day escape by himself so Tathagata wanted him to join Buddhism. Now the monkey is guarding the scriptures taker to Western Paradise.'

Lingji seems to understand but not. He emptily nods and says: 'Guard the scriptures taker? Then is he a small follower of the Golden Cicada? He is not a big deal. How could he make you so nervous?'

I: '...'

You did miss a lot and a lot.

Lingji says: 'By the way, the Golden Cicada has finally reached his tenth life. Is he going to receive the scriptures from Western Paradise now?'

I just nod.

Lingji says again: 'Ayyy, I really don't want the Golden Cicada to come back. You know he is stubborn and he keeps chatting to whoever he sees. I wasn't a drowsy one, but I just fall asleep no matter what I do after he forced to chat to me for a few times. I managed to keep myself awake when I listened to Buddha's teachings in the past. Who knows that the boringness can spread after his chats. Now I have become a sleeping one no matter when or where and I cannot wake up by myself. It is all his fault. If he didn't chat to me, I could have watched the spectacular event of that Sun Wukong making havoc in Heaven!'

...You the Lingji really have a passion for watching the fun.

Lingji tries to comfort me: 'Guanyin bodhisattva, don't worry. The Golden Cicada can chat more than anyone else. Possibly, he could have chatted those yokais in the Yellow Wind Cave to death or on their way to death.'

I: '...'

I just lost my hope trying to communicate with him, so I turn around and walk out of the room to search for the Wind-freezing Pearl and the Flying-dragon Staff with Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong is a disobedient one and he looks scary when he gets mad. He shouts at any Daoist or children he catches in the Little Sumeru Mountain: 'Have you seen the Wind-freezing Pearl and the Flying-dragon Staff?'

He is a yokai and he has a bad temper. He uses a lot of force picking people up in the air and he scares those children away. They run away when he appears. I believe that his method will never get an answer from them, so I ask politely for him: 'During these days, was there anyone coming to this mountain that belonged to your Lingji bodhisattva?'

A little child looks at me with his eyes and his cute and clean cheeks. He blinks and tilts his head to think: 'There was no random unknown people coming here. If there was any, we wouldn't let them in. Right, Huian Xingzhe came here two days ago.'

...

...???

I almost let my shout out and I hold the collar of the child tight: 'WAIT, WHAT DID YOU SAY, WHO CAME?'

The child is shocked by me as if he has done something wrong. He looks up at me timidly: 'Huian Xingzhe, the little prince of the Heavenly King Li. He also gave me a candy!'

...

No wonder my eyelids have been beating. A big thing is going to happen.

I knew it! My disciple has been missing for a few days and he will definitely cause me troubles! See! Just see this! He has made trouble for me!

Now he has learned! He knows to give candy to let kids cover for him!

The child is stunned by me and stands quietly in front of me. He scratches his little head and tries to recall. Suddenly, he says happily: 'Right, Guanyin bodhisattva, isn't Huian Xingzhe your first disciple?'

...No, he is not. I want to drive him out of my branch.

The child says: 'Then the result is simple. The treasures must be in Nanhai already. I will tell Sun Dasheng right now and let him not worry anymore!'