On the far bank, Tripitaka walked slowly along the fine sand, his brows furrowed. Every so often, he turned back to look toward where Monkey and Jack Rivers were.
Jack’s screams still lingered in his ears, unsettling Tripitaka’s mind.
Marshal Silver, always at his side, noticed and said softly, “Master Tripitaka, you needn’t worry. Jack Rivers and Monkey go way back, and by rights, Monkey would never kill him. As long as his cultivation isn’t crippled, no matter how severe the wounds, once he undoes the spell, there are ways to heal him.”
Tripitaka sighed lightly and said, “I do have a mind-piercing technique. If I used it, what would happen?”
“That’s his innate ability,” Marshal Silver glanced back. “Even if you know the incantation, it won’t work for anyone else. So, we can only force him to undo it himself.”
Tripitaka gave a helpless chuckle, shook his head, and kept walking across the fine sand.
Holding his prayer beads, he asked softly, “If he doesn’t release the spell, we can’t go west. If we can’t go west, we can’t achieve enlightenment. Without that, there’s no salvation for the beings of the Three Realms… So, to accomplish great things, we mustn’t fuss over trifles. Otherwise, we become rigid and foolish. Is that how it is?”
Marshal Silver replied, “That’s true.”
Tripitaka gave a faint smile. “But if, on this journey west, our vow is to save all beings, yet in the end we only bring suffering to others… Is the Dao we achieve still the one we truly wanted?”
“Master Tripitaka, do you mean…”
“All beings have their suffering. The Dao we seek is one of salvation, meant to resolve that suffering.” Tripitaka sighed softly. “Jack Rivers suffers for his father’s vengeance. Now he appears before me, and not only can I not relieve him, I must watch him endure new pain and do nothing.”
Marshal Silver was momentarily stunned by these words.
After a brief silence, Marshal Silver asked, “Then, Master Tripitaka, do you have a better way?”
Tripitaka slowly shook his head, gazing down at the mud and sand at his feet, still walking forward step by step.
This was the greatest dilemma they’d encountered on their journey west.
The waters of the Blackwater River could block perception, and the riverbed’s sand could be rearranged at will by formation magic, leaving travelers lost. But the true obstacle to their westward journey wasn’t Blackwater River—it was this dilemma before them.
Every person has their own suffering. To lessen one’s own pain, people often push it onto others. Back and forth, it becomes a vicious cycle—thus the saying: the Sea of Suffering has no shore.
The journey west is meant to seek a path that can choke off this vicious cycle, to pull all beings out of the Sea of Suffering.
Yet, as things stand, isn’t this journey just another kind of suffering?
Lost in thought along the way, Tripitaka finally gave a bitter smile after a long while.