Before Fire-Cloud Cave, Monkey stood silently, his gaze cold as he watched father and son.
King Bullhorn kowtowed again and again, head smashing into the ground.
"I beg the Great Sage to spare my son's life! I beg the Great Sage to spare my son's life! I beg the Great Sage to spare my son's life!"
Tripitaka and his companions watched from afar, saying nothing.
Each muffled thud echoed; the ground split beneath his blows, and drops of fresh blood seeped out.
Behind Monkey, Red Boy stared, utterly transfixed.
After a moment of shock, Red Boy scrambled past Monkey, nearly falling as he rushed to his father's side. "Father, Father! Don't do this! I'm begging you, don't do this!"
Gritting his teeth, he used all his strength to support King Bullhorn, trying to pull him from the ground. "We don't have to beg him! I can die, but not without dignity!"
"What do you know? What's dignity worth? If you die, what will your mother do?" With a heavy swing, King Bullhorn flung Red Boy a full zhang away, then turned to Monkey and kowtowed again. Blood spread along the cracks in the rock.
"Old Bull only begs the Great Sage to spare my son's life. Withdrawing my troops back then was my fault. Failing to revive Blossom Mountain these years, opposing Chancellor Lü, that was also my fault. As long as the Great Sage spares my son, my life is yours to take—I will not resist! All the artifacts and troops I have amassed over centuries, I offer them all, nothing held back! Just spare my son's life! Just spare my son's life!"
Monkey continued to stand in silence, watching.
Staring at his father, who kept kowtowing, Red Boy collapsed to the ground, stunned. His mouth hung open, and tears poured down as if a dam had burst.
This was a father he had never imagined.
"Father, I was wrong, please don't do this... please, I'm begging you." Inch by inch, he crawled toward King Bullhorn, crying and reaching to grab his father.
Suddenly, King Bullhorn turned and slapped Red Boy hard across the face.
The crisp sound of the slap echoed slowly across the mountainside.
Monkey's eyes widened slightly; Tripitaka furrowed his brow.
King Bullhorn clenched his teeth, glaring angrily at his son.
Red Boy covered his now-swollen cheek, stunned.
Never in his life had King Bullhorn laid a hand on Red Boy. That slap left him completely dazed.
King Bullhorn glanced back at Monkey, then struggled to his feet, clenched his fist, and—without warning—struck Red Boy hard in the abdomen.
The blow sent Red Boy spitting blood; even Tripitaka, watching from afar, was startled.
"Father..."
Grabbing Red Boy and forcing him to kneel, King Bullhorn shouted, "Release your spiritual defenses!"
"Father..."
"Release them!"
Red Boy let all his spiritual power dissipate, squeezed his eyes shut, clenched his teeth, and knelt.
King Bullhorn raised his fist and struck Red Boy's back with a heavy blow, sending him crashing into the rocky ground.
Dust and gravel flew everywhere.
"Get up—!" King Bullhorn demanded, fists clenched and breathing heavily.
"Father..."
"I told you to get up!"
Amid the rubble, Red Boy trembled as he struggled to his knees.
Blood seeped from his mouth and nose, dripping onto the sand and gravel below.
"Great Sage." King Bullhorn turned and saluted Monkey. "I will discipline this rebellious son until you are satisfied!"
With a grimace, he kicked Red Boy hard.
Red Boy's body was swept up like a dead leaf in autumn, tossed through the air, then crashed down again, scattering dust and stones.
Clenching his teeth, Red Boy trembled as he crawled up from the ground to kneel, blinking through tears. King Bullhorn approached again and struck him heavily, over and over.
From start to finish, Red Boy never resisted, never screamed or begged for mercy, and never used spiritual power to shield himself from King Bullhorn's blows.
He simply clenched his teeth, shut his eyes, and endured, crawling up each time to kneel again.
In the blink of an eye, Red Boy was barely clinging to life, unable to move.
Yet King Bullhorn showed no sign of stopping.
Just as King Bullhorn steeled himself to strike again, Monkey reached out from behind and firmly caught his wrist.
"That's enough."
Turning, King Bullhorn saw Monkey's expressionless face. He quickly lowered his raised fist, saluted, and stepped back.
Monkey looked at Red Boy, who lay on the ground barely breathing, lips pressed tightly together.
"Does it hurt?"
Red Boy did not answer. His hand, half-buried in the rubble, had gone limp; he seemed to have lost consciousness.
"Does it hurt?" Monkey pointed to Red Boy. "I'm asking you—does hitting him hurt you?"
King Bullhorn glanced up at Monkey, dazed, then quickly shut his eyes and nodded heavily.
"You weren't a good commander. At Frost-Rain Mountain, you fought badly."
King Bullhorn clenched his hands, stood quietly, bowed, shut his eyes, and nodded hard, teeth gritted.
"You weren't a good ally. When trouble came, you abandoned your comrades for your own safety—even kicked them when they were down."
King Bullhorn nodded heavily.
"You weren't a good elder brother. You mishandled all your brothers. Now, they even dare to target your son."
King Bullhorn nodded heavily.
"You weren't a good subordinate, either. At Blossom Mountain, you withdrew your troops without consulting Six-Turns and the others. If you'd stayed and helped, maybe Rhino would still be alive. He was my loyal brother."
King Bullhorn nodded heavily.
Monkey reached out and patted King Bullhorn's shoulder, sighing. "But you truly are a good father. You may not have taught your child well, but you are a good father."
With that, Monkey turned, leaned on his Golden Staff, and walked toward Tripitaka, chuckling softly. "Honestly, I wanted to kill him—to make an example. But I can't bring myself to kill a man's only son in front of such a father."
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At Monkey's words, King Bullhorn's tears flowed freely.
With a heavy thud, he dropped to his knees and kowtowed. "Old Bull thanks the Great Sage! Old Bull thanks the Great Sage for his mercy!"
"Let the past go. You weren't a good subordinate, and I wasn't much of a leader. None of us are saints. Honestly... I don't have the face to hold grudges. Stop living in constant fear. Six-Turns likes to put on airs, but he's harmless." Monkey, still facing away, waved his hand. "That's all for now. Take your son home and nurse him. Next time, mercy won't be so easy."
"Old Bull thanks the Great Sage! Whatever you command, even if it's blades or boiling oil, I'll gladly die a thousand deaths!"
Monkey glanced back at him. "If it's my boiling oil, you could soak in it and not even bubble. Just keep an eye on your brothers for me—don't let them stir up trouble again."
King Bullhorn clasped his fists and kowtowed. "Old Bull obeys!"
Leaping across the chasm, Monkey led Tripitaka and the others onward, heading slowly west.
In front of the now-empty Fire-Cloud Cave, only King Bullhorn and the barely breathing Red Boy remained.
Shaking, King Bullhorn brushed away the sand and stones from Red Boy's body and gently lifted him up.
"Father... I'm sorry... I've caused trouble..."
"It's all right. Just stay alive, that's enough." King Bullhorn held Red Boy to his chest and murmured, "It's all my fault for spoiling you. When I was just a lowly demon, every day was a struggle. Now that life is easier, I only wanted to give you the best... and that's why you grew up fearless. It's all my fault."
"Father... from now on... I'll always listen to you."
"Don't talk. I'll take you home now so you can recover."
"Mm, thank you, Father."
Cradled in his father's arms, Red Boy opened his eyes and looked at King Bullhorn, tears streaming down his face. After a long moment, he managed a faint smile.
Turning, King Bullhorn soared into the air, carrying Red Boy as he slowly made his way toward his cave-manor.
......
At that moment, on the outskirts of Mount Hua.
Dazed, Ian Liu returned home, brewed the medicine, and helped his elderly mother drink it. Then he sat in his now somewhat dilapidated courtyard, staring blankly at the Third Saintess's hairpin.
Old Master Xiao's words kept echoing in Ian Liu's mind.
Ian Liu was a scholar. In this era, scholars were the reserve army for officials. But Ian Liu was not an exceptional scholar; if not for his father, who dreamed of office and forced him to study with a stick, he might have become a butcher or a tailor.
They say books hold beauties and golden mansions, but for an unremarkable scholar from a poor family like Ian Liu, becoming an official was never in the cards. So neither beauties nor riches came his way. Still, reading had one benefit: it taught sense. Ian Liu knew he wasn't a great scholar, but he was good at calculating risks.
The Third Saintess's vow had hidden depths—this was now a foregone conclusion.
Normally, Ian Liu would be skeptical of tales of gods and ghosts, but this time, having seen it with his own eyes, he could no longer doubt.
The Heavenly soldier said Sun Wukong was the Third Saintess’s unconsummated husband; Old Master Xiao said that six hundred years ago, Sun Wukong crashed the Third Saintess’s wedding to a scholar, carried her off, and the scholar was seized by the Heavenly troops—his fate unknown.
The two stories matched perfectly, proving they were true.
On the other hand, the Third Saintess sent him to find Sun Wukong, and from her tone, Sun Wukong would surely honor her request. So perhaps that ‘abduction’ wasn’t really an abduction; maybe the wedding was just a pretense.
But if that’s the case, why not just send the hairpin and ask Sun Wukong to come to Mount Hua and rescue her? Wouldn’t that be more effective than taking Ian Liu as a disciple and teaching him for a decade or more, with no guarantee of success?
Ian Liu couldn’t figure it out—truly couldn’t.
He didn’t understand the world of immortals. All he knew was that the Third Saintess was no gentle deity, and if he made a wrong step... the scholar who vanished into Heavenly custody was a warning.
"What should I do next? If I don’t go... will something terrible happen?" Clutching the hairpin, Ian Liu was lost. "If I die somewhere far away, will my mother’s cure even matter? Isn’t that escaping a wolf only to fall into a tiger’s jaws?"
Thinking this, he forced a bitter smile.
Just then, a five-year-old boy, covered in mud, burst in from outside. Seeing Ian Liu, he shouted, "Father! They said you came home! Did you find medicine for Grandma?"
The boy rushed to Ian Liu, his big eyes blinking up at him.
Looking at his son, Ian Liu couldn’t help but smile. He reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair and sighed softly, "I found the medicine. The mountain immortal promised to save Grandma’s life."
"That’s wonderful!" Aiden Chen shrieked, dancing around. "Grandma will be saved! Grandma will be saved!"
He dashed into the inner room, then quickly returned, whispering, "Father, did you meet a god?"
Ian Liu nodded slightly.
"So, what does a god look like?"
"Well..." Ian Liu gestured, thinking for a long time but unable to find the words.
"Are they like the ones in the temple?"
Ian Liu nodded absently.
"Wow! My father met a god! I have to tell everyone—!"
Aiden Chen shrieked again and was about to run outside, but Ian Liu grabbed him and made a shushing gesture. "You can't tell anyone about this."
"Why not?" Aiden Chen blinked and asked.
"Gods don’t like being disturbed. This time, I nearly died up there. If they find out I’ve been bragging, we could all die!"
At the word 'die,' Aiden Chen quickly covered his mouth. After a moment, he asked, "If they don’t like being disturbed, why did they help us?"
Ian Liu replied, expressionless, "Because I agreed to apprentice myself to another god and help them with something."
"Wow!" Aiden Chen shrieked again, then quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "Apprentice? So... when you’ve learned, you’ll be a god too?"
"Sort of," Ian Liu replied offhandedly.
Aiden Chen was so excited he couldn’t keep still. After a while, he calmed down and whispered, "Father, which god are you apprenticing to?"
"To..." Ian Liu smacked his lips and answered casually, "To a very powerful god, but I can’t tell you who just yet."
"A very powerful god?"
"Yes, very powerful."
"Is he stronger than General Erlang?"
"Maybe even stronger than him."
Hearing this, Aiden Chen’s eyes sparkled as he gazed at his father. "Father, when you’ve learned, will you teach me? Can you make me a god too?"
Looking at Aiden Chen’s expectant face, Ian Liu’s brow furrowed slightly.