"Actually, you can't really blame Tripitaka for this. Given what just happened..."
"If not him, then who? Me?" Monkey spun around and roared at Marshal Silver. "He knew it was a trap and still jumped in—could he be any more foolish?"
Marshal Silver flinched, his brows twitching at Monkey's shout.
The two locked eyes. Monkey's gaze was so fierce it seemed his eyes might bleed.
After a long moment, Monkey drew a deep breath and turned away, his teeth grinding audibly.
"Can you really blame him?" Marshal Silver sighed softly and said, "Centuries ago, didn't you fall into the Buddhist Order's trap too?"
"I had no choice—Lord Buddha threatened me with all of Blossom Mountain!"
"And now isn't the Buddhist Order using the people of Phoenix County to threaten Tripitaka the same way?"
"Is it really the same? If he can't even handle this, what's the point of him?" Monkey's voice rose another octave, scolding, "How can we expect him to argue doctrine on the Westward Quest?"
With that, he slammed a fist into the tree trunk beside him, sending leaves flying everywhere.
He spat viciously. "Dog-bred Lingji!" Clenching his fists, he strode forward, vanishing into the darkness.
Watching Monkey disappear, Marshal Silver let out a slow sigh.
"What happened? Did you two quarrel?" Prince Adrian the Little White Dragon popped up from somewhere nearby.
Marshal Silver glanced sidelong at Prince Adrian and sighed. "We touched on some unpleasant memories."
"Unpleasant memories?"
"I suppose I must have said the wrong thing. If I hadn't compared Tripitaka to him, maybe he wouldn't have gotten so angry. Or... anxious."
With that, Marshal Silver quietly turned and left, leaving Prince Adrian standing alone, frowning and unable to make sense of it. "He gets upset just from a comparison? Has Big Brother Monkey's temper gone foul again?"
...
At that moment, Monkey was sitting cross-legged on a rooftop of a three-story building, leaning on his Golden Staff and gazing into the distance at Little Thunderhill Abbey. His eyes twitched at the corners.
After a long while, he let out a snort of laughter and muttered to himself, "Why is it that all the Buddhists on their side can always come up with such nasty tricks, while my side can't think of anything underhanded? It's always them making the moves, and us just responding. If it stays like this, can we really win the debate at Spirit Mountain?"
After thinking for a long time, Monkey rubbed his face hard, pressing so firmly it nearly hurt.
"Damn it... Even now, I haven't seen a trace of Universal Salvation. Just don't tell me that when we reach the Western Paradise, it's Lord Buddha who ferries Tripitaka across..."
Suddenly, he froze, struck by a terrifying thought.
"Becoming a Buddha..."
What was Tripitaka's final outcome in Journey to the West? He became a Buddha...
He suddenly recalled what Tripitaka had said to him not long ago: "This poor monk... cannot become a Buddha..."
Humans have a hundred faces, immortals a hundred kinds, but Buddhas—there's only one type...
At that thought, Monkey broke out in a cold sweat.
All this time, he'd tried so hard to protect Tripitaka. Even when gathering teammates, he'd followed the cast from Journey to the West. That was because he knew Tripitaka succeeded in the end. But he never really understood what 'success' meant.
If the result is Lord Buddha defeating Tripitaka in debate, Tripitaka becoming a Buddha, and bringing back the scriptures Lord Buddha 'gave' him to Tang China...