Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

East, Shengshenzhou Continent.

Eastern Temple.

Maitreya Buddha casually sat on his Lotus Platform with one leg crossed, the other knee bent and standing, a genial smile gracing his face, giving an approachable aura to all. In his hands, he gently fiddled with a strand of semi-transparent purple Chant Beads.

However, upon closer inspection, one could notice a touch of deep contemplation and doubt within Maitreya Buddha's eyes.

"Something seems amiss..."

After a long contemplation, Maitreya Buddha took out the Calamity Book of the Journey to the West for Scriptures and silently observed the calamities recorded within, his expression of puzzlement becoming ever more intense.

The latest two calamities were the theft of a golden body and the disciple's ordeal, referring to the incident where the previous incarnation's golden body of Zhu Bajie was stolen, and Sha Wujing along with the Little White Dragon were captured by the Mysterious Bird.

In fact, Maitreya Buddha has orchestrated some schemes for these two calamities, one overt and one covert.

Initially, two additional calamities appeared in the Calamity Book, and Maitreya Buddha's calculations should have been successful.

Yet, in the recent days, Maitreya Buddha started feeling that something was not quite right.

First of all, with the Mysterious Bird directly interfering with the Scripture Seeking team and trapped in the Immeasurable Kalpa, it should've died, right?

However, it seems to be perfectly fine and unharmed.

Furthermore, after leaving the Scripture Seeking team, it even leisurely visited the Flame Cloud Entertainment City for amusement.

Well, the doubts regarding the Mysterious Bird aren't that significant.

After all, Maitreya Buddha only had a hand in inciting the incident from behind the scenes.

But what about the situation in the Demon Realm?

Logically, having personally orchestrated the calamity of the stolen golden body, the team of Scripture Seekers should have completely fallen out with Guanyin, to the point that Guanyin might even succumb to the calamity and perish, right?

But what happened? Sure, the Scripture Seeking team did visit the Demon Realm, but they just stayed in one corner there.

Moreover, after reaching the Demon Realm, Xuanzang just disappeared.

And Guanyin? The latest news tells that the mysterious disciple of Sect Master Tongtian, who not long ago killed Baosheng Buddha and nearly obliterated Empress Tongtian, secretly infiltrated the Demon Realm and almost executed Bodhisattva Guanyin.

seen separately, Xuanzang's disappearance and the incursion of Sect Master Tongtian's disciple into the Demon Realm seem unrelated.

However, the timing of Xuanzang and his followers' visit to the Demon Realm coincides perfectly with the intelligence of Sect Master Tongtian's disciple infiltrating the place, doesn't it?

"Could it be!?"

An incredibly dreadful thought suddenly emerged, making Maitreya Buddha's face turn unsightly.

Could it be that Xuanzang is Sect Master Tongtian's mysterious disciple?

Once this thought surfaced, Maitreya Buddha found it extremely unlikely and felt uneasy.

Xuanzang, being a key figure in the Journey to the West and the reincarnation of Tathagata's second disciple, could not possibly become Sect Master Tongtian's disciple, could he?

Besides, Tathagata's previous incarnation was Taoist Duobao, Sect Master Tongtian's eldest disciple. In a way, Xuanzang could be regarded as Sect Master Tongtian's grand-disciple, right?

Would Sect Master Tongtian secretly accept Xuanzang as his disciple, wouldn't that mess up the generational order?

Shaking his head, Maitreya Buddha thought it improbable.

Perhaps he was letting his imagination run wild? This speculation might be too far-fetched, right?

Yet, while his rationality told him this was impossible, once the idea emerged, it clung to him like an unshakable burr, refusing to leave.

Putting that aside, what was the purpose of Xuanzang and his followers visiting the Demon Realm?

Of course, it was presumably to search for Guanyin based on the clues he left behind, right?

But why, after staying in the Demon Realm for so long, with Xuanzang gone missing and doing nothing, did they just leave?

Moreover, as soon as they left the Demon Realm, they headed straight for him?

"Could it be that Xuanzang and his companions found out from somewhere else that the golden body is with me!?" Maitreya Buddha found it incredibly odd and even more incomprehensible that Jiang Liu and his companions left the Demon Realm and headed directly to him.

After a moment of contemplation, although it seemed somewhat illogical that Xuanzang could be Sect Master Tongtian's disciple,

Still, why would Xuanzang know that the golden body was with him? That warranted an investigation, didn't it?

Moreover, during the investigation, "incidentally" looking into whether Xuanzang was that mysterious disciple of Sect Master Tongtian seemed feasible, right?

After contemplating for a moment, a clearer idea gradually took shape in Maitreya Buddha's mind.

...

As for what Maitreya Buddha was thinking, Jiang Liu, of course, had no idea.

At that moment, Jiang Liu and his company continued on their Journey to the West for Scriptures.

Sitting atop the White Dragon Horse, Jiang Liu was struck by a sudden whim that day and took out the Treasure-Seeking Mirror from his storage space.

Then, he called out Gaoyang's name.

Logically speaking, if Zhu Bajie's Golden Body could be found, then the Treasure-Seeking Mirror should also be able to locate a person like Gaoyang, right?

As Jiang Liu called out, the Treasure-Seeking Mirror erupted with a brilliant, strange light.

Then, the strange light converged to form the shape of an arrow.

Immediately after, the arrow began to spin.

"Can it find Gaoyang's whereabouts?" Jiang Liu watched the spinning arrow with some nervousness, and of course, with greater anticipation.

However, the arrow kept spinning chaotically on the surface of the Treasure-Seeking Mirror without any order, which turned Jiang Liu's expression slightly grim.

He had already experienced this once before.

So, Gaoyang wasn't in the Mortal World?

"Master, it seems that Princess Gaoyang is not in the Mortal World!" Watching the erratic spinning of the arrow on the Treasure-Seeking Mirror, Sun Wukong spoke.

"Hmm, I shall try elsewhere!" Jiang Liu nodded slightly and said.

In the midst of speaking, Jiang Liu's figure moved as he utilized the Art of Cloud Soaring and flew directly towards the direction of the Heavenly Court.

He had no intention of entering the South Heavenly Gate; Jiang Liu merely arrived at the Heavenly Court and stopped there.

Then, his gaze fell upon the Treasure-Seeking Mirror.

Well, the arrow on the Treasure-Seeking Mirror was still spinning, showing no sign of stopping.

"It seems that she's not in the Mortal World, nor in the Heavenly Court? Could it be she's in the Netherworld!?" Watching the unchanging state of the Treasure-Seeking Mirror, Jiang Liu murmured to himself.

While speaking, his figure shifted and he directly descended towards the direction of the Netherworld.

Within the Underworld, amidst the eerie Ghost Domain, yet Jiang Liu's attention was on the Treasure-Seeking Mirror.

He could see the arrow on the Treasure-Seeking Mirror was still spinning chaotically, with no change whatsoever.

The realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man!

He had visited all of them, and yet the Treasure-Seeking Mirror showed no change.

It seemed that Gaoyang was indeed not within the three realms.

Even so, Jiang Liu returned to the Demon Realm and stayed for a moment, but to no avail. Clearly, Gaoyang was not in the Demon Realm either.

"This is truly strange!" After a long while without any clue to Gaoyang's whereabouts, Jiang Liu pondered silently, his feelings complex.

Logically, Jiang Liu should be happy; since Gaoyang could not be found in any of the four realms of Heaven, Earth, Man, and Demon, it should mean that the location she was in truly blocked his system's friend function, right?

Then, it should mean she hadn't lost consciousness.

This seemed to be a cause for celebration.

However, if she wasn't in any of the four realms of Heaven, Earth, Man, and Demon, then where exactly was Gaoyang?

Not even knowing where she was, even if he wanted to save her, he would have no idea where to seek help, right?

Drip drip drip!

Just as Jiang Liu was entangled in his complicated feelings, feeling both happy and anxious, suddenly, a message alert sounded from his friend list.

Jiang Liu opened his friend list to check, and it turned out to be a message from Red Boy.

"Holy Monk, there's a big battle going on here, do you want to take a good look?"

"A big battle? What battle!?" Jiang Liu replied to the message with some surprise.

Shortly after Jiang Liu's message was sent, it didn't take long for Red Boy to send a video call.

Jiang Liu, of course, accepted the video call.

Good heavens, once the video connected, Jiang Liu could see a massive scorpion clashing with an equally large Mysterious Bird.

The cataclysmic scene made it clear that both parties were immensely powerful.

"This... isn't this the Mysterious Bird and the Scorpion Demon? Why are they fighting each other?" Jiang Liu asked, puzzled by the Great Luo Golden Immortal-level battle unfolding between the Scorpion Demon and the Mysterious Bird.

"The cause, you see, is because the Mysterious Bird is new here, and the Scorpion Demon wanted all the females of Ming Sect to heed her command. She's self-proclaimed as the wife of the Ming Sect Master, right? But the Mysterious Bird refused to submit to her, so they started fighting!"

With that said, Red Boy paused briefly before continuing, "But from what I can see, it's not really about submission. The real reason for their fight is for you, right?"

"Alright, this feeling is truly bothersome!" Hearing Red Boy's words, Jiang Liu shook his head in resignation and responded.

"Bothersome? Why do you say that? Two such beautiful women fighting over you, shouldn't you feel secretly thrilled?" Red Boy sounded puzzled in the video.

"You seem a bit premature in thinking that! But think about it, if two women are fighting over me, what do they take me for? An object? Forget it, there's nothing interesting to see, hanging up..." Shaking his head, Jiang Liu replied and ended the call.

As he spoke, Jiang Liu did not intend to say anything more, glancing at the two Great Luo Golden Immortal-level Female Demons brawling over him, he promptly hung up the video call.