Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 709 - 708: Give Them a Hand

Sun Wukong understood what he meant, and the warmth on his face faded by half, "I was wondering why you suddenly had time to come here today. But let me make one thing clear, in our shop, once a bill has been paid, there is no reason to ask for the goods back."

Vast Eye Heavenly King rubbed his hands and hurriedly explained, "Ah, I’m not saying I want it back, it’s just that I have a use for it and wanted to borrow it for a bit."

"Oh, a temporary loan, huh?" Sun Wukong nodded, curious, "Which treasure are you looking to borrow? My master has acquired so many treasures, you need to specify what you want in advance. Otherwise, I won’t know which treasure you’re talking about."

"It’s a mid-grade treasure called the Fire-Avoiding Cloak," Vast Eye Heavenly King said. "Just as the name implies, it’s a mantle that can ward off fire."

Sun Wukong nodded; a mid-grade magic artifact wasn’t such a rare item after all. With the Vast Eye Heavenly King coming to borrow it personally, it must be for something important.

"Alright then, since you’ve come to borrow it in person, wait here for a moment. I’ll need to inform my master and see if he is currently using this artifact."

Sun Wukong walked to Chen Nuo’s door and knocked, "Master, are you there? Vast Eye Heavenly King requests an audience."

Chen Nuo was in the middle of transferring a method for refining demon cores from the system. Initially, he intended not to answer the door, but upon hearing that it was Vast Eye Heavenly King seeking an audience, he put away the refinement method and opened the door, "What is it?"

"Master, it’s like this. Vast Eye Heavenly King says he wants to use the Fire-Avoiding Cloak. He says that he had given you the item when he came to ’eat dharma’ the other time, but now he suddenly needs it, so he came to ask if he could possibly borrow it," Sun Wukong explained.

"The Fire-Avoiding Cloak?" Chen Nuo paused, then searched for the artifact in his own space. He input the name and quickly found it.

"What does he need it for? His divine skills that awakened during his meal here had something to do with this. Why does he need to borrow an artifact now when he can solve the problem himself?"

Sun Wukong scratched his head, "I don’t know either, Master. That’s just what Vast Eye Heavenly King told me. Maybe you should ask him yourself?"

The most important task at hand was the refinement of the demon core. Chen Nuo wasn’t very curious about the cloak. If borrowing would do the job, he could let him owe a favor, which could come in handy if he ever needed assistance in the future.

After thinking it over carefully, Chen Nuo saw no reason not to lend the artifact.

So he took the artifact out of his space and handed it to Sun Wukong, "Remember to tell him when to return it."

Sun Wukong took the magic artifact and nodded, "Rest assured, Master. I’ll take care of it."

After Sun Wukong left with the Fire-Avoiding Cloak, the system began to speak, "This plot segment corresponds with ’The Theft of the Kasaya on Black Wind Mountain.’

Chen Nuo abruptly paused, feeling something familiar about this scenario, especially the Fire-Avoiding Cloak. It turned out to be this particular plot segment.

However, contrary to the original story, Vast Eye Heavenly King had already borrowed the Fire-Avoiding Cloak from him, and the Six-Eared Macaque came up to borrow it but ended up empty-handed.

Fearing the higher-ups, because he wouldn’t lend the Fire-Avoiding Cloak to the Six-Eared Macaque, Vast Eye Heavenly King immediately came to borrow one from Chen Nuo himself.

"So it’s this part of the story," Chen Nuo chuckled. "Then let me join in on the fun while the demon core matter can wait for now."

Chen Nuo said he was joining in for the excitement, and he truly meant it; he was mainly curious to see just how the plot had diverged from the original, and how amazingly the main plotline could still somehow be connected.

After borrowing the Fire-Avoiding Cloak from Sun Wukong, Vast Eye Heavenly King hurriedly expressed his gratitude, "Oh, Chef Wukong is really the best. Borrowing something went so smoothly. In the future, if I come across any treasures, you won’t even need to mention it, Chef Wukong. I’ll deliver them to Chaos Residence myself."

Sun Wukong didn’t take these pleasantries as fact and just smiled casually, "Alright, you’d better remember what you’ve said. If I find out you’re hiding any treasures, I’ll definitely come to you first to settle the account."

The two laughed and joked for a while, and Vast Eye Heavenly King returned to the Heavenly Court with the Fire-Avoiding Cloak.

He handed the Fire-Avoiding Cloak he had just borrowed from the Chaos Residence to Six-Eared Macaque, "Here, Traveler, I’ve just borrowed this from the Chaos Residence for you to use, but remember, this item isn’t mine anymore, so you must remember to return it."

Six-Eared Macaque originally didn’t expect to be able to borrow the item after hearing from Vast Eye Heavenly King that it was no longer his, but to his surprise, he really managed to borrow it. He thanked the Heavenly King while leaving.

With the Fire-Avoiding Cloak in hand, he returned to the Zen monastery and draped the cloak directly over Xuanzang, who was deep in sleep, then stood up and went outside,

Outside, the monks had almost finished evacuating their possessions, and then they tossed a torch into the pile of firewood they had arranged.

Six-Eared Macaque coldly watched from the sidelines. He truly hadn’t expected that these mortals, who always spoke of goodness, would now go so far as to kill a living person for a mere kasaya.

These people seem to have forgotten the original intent of their detachment from the secular world, having been blinded by money, all for the sake of profit.

The fire slowly started burning. Inside, Xuanzang was sleeping soundly, completely unaware of what was happening.

Shielded by the Fire-Avoiding Cloak, he couldn’t feel a hint of the flame; the cloak not only isolated him from fire, but also from smoke and sound. Xuanzang slept blissfully, unaware of the smoke and fire swirling outside the cloak.

Six-Eared Macaque felt angry thinking about how these monks had initially planned to burn both of them alive. This thought made him even more furious, for if it were up to them, only burning down these three Zen rooms would not be enough.

If they wished to burn, then the fire should be bigger, it would be better if the entire Zen monastery caught fire.

Thinking this way, Six-Eared Macaque used his spells to blow the flames towards other Zen rooms.

The interior of the rooms was all wooden and the windows were covered with paper; a single touch of fire made them catch easily.

It would have been alright if they had discovered the fire early, but they were too busy watching the commotion and didn’t notice the situation on their side.

The flames grew more and more fierce, spreading from one window hole to two, from one door to two. By the time they noticed, it was too late.

The monks hastily grabbed buckets of water to put out the fire, but the flames were too fierce, and it was impossible to douse them.

And it wasn’t just one room on fire; gradually, other Zen rooms caught fire, too. The monks realized things had taken a turn for the worse and began crying out for help to extinguish the fire.

Jinchi Elder’s mind was filled only with concern for his treasures. Precious paintings and porcelain were all gathered together. He disregarded the safety of his disciples, only ordering them to save his valuables, but in the end, his frantic efforts failed to save either the treasures or the rooms.

The fire grew and blazed higher and higher. It was night, and the flames reaching the sky quickly attracted the attention of nearby spirits and monsters.

Xiong Daoren was originally in his dreams, still savoring Shopkeeper Chen’s Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, such a lingering taste.

But as he slept, he suddenly dreamt of Shopkeeper Chen serving him Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, which instead of the radiant golden glow of the small pot he had eaten before, was a black and charred mass.