Early the next morning, after tying up loose ends and bidding farewell to Monkey, Many-Eyes the Centipede and his band of demons vanished completely from Cartwright Kingdom. Suddenly deprived of the ally he had always relied on, the old king was thrown into a state of panic.
Tripitaka took the opportunity to lead Monkey and the others into the palace, where he confronted the king directly.
Naturally, faced with the overwhelming power of Monkey and his companions, the king obeyed Tripitaka without question.
The laws banning Buddhism were swiftly abolished, all monks were released from forced labor, and the temples were restored. Those who died were buried with honor, and the wounded received compensation.
Perhaps it was Monkey’s intimidation, or perhaps Tripitaka’s persuasion; in any case, the old king ultimately did something almost no ruler under Heaven would dare—he issued a ‘self-blame edict.’ Of course, he merely admitted to being deceived, shifting the bulk of the blame onto Many-Eyes the Centipede. But in truth, that was not far from reality.
As a result, wanted posters for Many-Eyes the Centipede were plastered across every street and alley.
Although Many-Eyes was certainly beyond capture, the monks remained deeply grateful to Tripitaka and his companions.
This world often works in strange ways: as long as you achieve final victory, all your former faults become marks of glory.
Not long ago, the monks had almost unanimously blamed Tripitaka’s arrival for the disaster that cost so many lives. But now, they nearly all reinterpreted the calamity as a ‘test from the Buddha.’ Some even declared that Tripitaka was Heaven’s envoy, sent to Cartwright Kingdom to test their devotion to Buddhism. Whether it was true or not—who cared?
This narrative left Tripitaka feeling as if a bone were stuck in his throat, yet he had no way to refute it.
Is this truly what he wanted?
His brows remained constantly furrowed.
As the foremost hero, Monkey paid them no heed, not even bothering to speak with them, so all gratitude naturally fell upon Tripitaka, his fellow member of the Buddhist Order.
To express their thanks for Tripitaka's rescue of the Cartwright Kingdom’s monks, they even prepared to petition the old king to allocate royal funds and build a grand monastery outside the capital, with Tripitaka as abbot overseeing all the temples in Cartwright.
Of course, Tripitaka declined the proposal.
After the sweeping movement to abolish corrupt laws, at the invitation of the monks and the old king, Tripitaka held a seven-day lecture series in Cartwright’s capital, expounding on the doctrine of "doing good."
In that moment, not only the monks who had just escaped death, but even the citizens, held him in the highest esteem. After a brief period of gloom, Cartwright’s Buddhism flourished as never before in a thousand years.
With the end of corrupt rule and the rise of the Buddhist Order, Tripitaka smoothly wove in his own newly formed ideas of "universal salvation."
For Tripitaka, this should have been the perfect ending. Yet, faced with such a scene of prosperity, he could not smile. Instead, his brow remained furrowed, lost in deep and troubled thought.
Meanwhile, from beginning to end, Monkey never explained his timely intervention that day, and Tripitaka never asked.