Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything-Chapter 448: The Epic Level Reward Given for Free
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If we were to speak in terms of my previous life, a bottle of mineral water would probably cost around two yuan, which was a fairly common price.
But if someone charged four or five hundred yuan for over a dozen bottles of mineral water, anyone would feel as though they were being extorted, right?
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That's about how Jiang Liu felt at the moment.
Although the money dropped by monsters increased as the level of the ones he killed rose, resulting in a considerable accumulation of wealth for Jiang Liu himself, he had not forgotten about the prices of things.
Back at Jinshan Temple, conducting a religious ceremony would cost just a little over one piece of silver, and everyone at the temple would seize this chance to put forward their demands for necessary supplies, which Jiang Liu also remembered distinctly.
"Your water is so expensive here? As is the price of meat? Why is that!?" Sun Wukong bared his teeth and asked the elder irritably.
"You are unaware of the rumor that, hundreds of years ago, a ball of flame fell from the sky and landed directly on our land, creating the Flame Mountain. For centuries, it has never ceased burning. The water sources for us living here have almost all dried up, hence the exceedingly high price of water," the elder sighed and explained.
"Nonsense, a ball of flame fell from the sky and created the Flame Mountain here? It looks like the people here have committed acts that have undermined their moral integrity, so that old Jade Emperor has sent down such a calamity as punishment," hearing the elder's words, Sun Wukong sneered dismissively at him.
"How could you, Elder Monkey, so unfairly tarnish our reputation? The residents around Flame Mountain are famously kind and good-natured!" The elder bristled upon hearing Wukong's accusation, defending with an air of righteousness.
"Old man, given that you are charging eight pieces of silver for just a small amount of water, do you still have the face to speak of your good nature?" Zhu Bajie, although he often liked to bicker with Sun Wukong, knew when to present a united front.
"What you say, Elder Zhu, I don't like to hear. The water here is incredibly scarce, so isn't it natural for it to be costly? If you leave Flame Mountain and come across a river, all you'd need to do is to drink from it; it won't cost you a single copper coin!" The elder, facing off against two, didn't give the impression of being at a disadvantage at all—his reasoning seemed logical and well-founded.
"Big brother, second brother, I think what the old man says is fair!" Sha Wujing, who had been listening for a while, couldn't help but interject, supporting the elder's point of view to Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie.
"Junior Brother Sha, just whose side are you on?!" Sun Wukong was flustered by his own junior brother's unexpected input.
"Alright, Wukong, Bajie, let's not say anymore,"
By now, Jiang Liu understood roughly where he was and intervened between Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie.
Without further ado, Jiang Liu directly took out a piece of silver and handed it to the elder.
"Old man, it is our fault for not understanding the situation here. Since it's a misunderstanding, I give this piece of silver to you for the water," Jiang Liu offered.
"As I've said, us Flame Mountain residents are genuinely good-natured. If it costs eight pieces, then it's eight pieces—there's no question of asking for more from you!" Having received the silver from Jiang Liu, the elder shook his head and insisted on returning two pieces of the silver back.
Impressed by the elder's insistence, Jiang Liu didn't put on airs and took the returned two pieces of silver.
Now that the water had been drunk and the money paid, seeing that Jiang Liu and his companions had no intention of leaving in a hurry, the old man naturally didn't have the heart to drive them away; he gestured for them to sit comfortably while he returned inside the water shop.
"Master, do you think the old Jade Emperor is just acting thoughtlessly? Looking at things, the people surrounding Flame Mountain really don't seem to have bad hearts. Why would such a heavenly punishment be inflicted!?" Once the elder had left, Sun Wukong changed his tune and voiced his doubts with respect to the divine judgment.
Although two pieces of silver couldn't prove much, the fact that the old man just now flat-out refused to take more than the fair price, indicated that he indeed was not trying to exploit the situation.
"Ahem, Wukong, as it happens, your master knows a thing or two about this..." Hearing Wukong's question, Jiang Liu gave a mysterious cough and looked at him with an odd expression.
"Oh? Master, you know the reason!?"
Upon hearing Jiang Liu's statement, everyone was taken aback. Immediately afterwards, Sun Wukong curiously fixated on Jiang Liu, saying, "Then master, please tell us what exactly is going on?"
"To my knowledge, this is not the will of the Jade Emperor, nor is it a heavenly punishment. Rather, the reason Flame Mountain has turned into what it is today is because of you, Wukong!" Jiang Liu said with a strange expression as he regarded Wukong.
"My responsibility?!" Pointing at himself, Sun Wukong was thoroughly baffled.
Just a moment ago, he had claimed that it was due to the poor conduct of the people around Flame Mountain that they had drawn such a disaster. He had even argued with the old man for so long, but now his master was telling him that he was to blame?
"Master, could there be some mistake? I'm visiting these parts for the first time as well, Old Sun. How can you say that I am responsible for what this place has become today? Where do you even begin with that!?" After a brief moment of confusion, Sun Wukong gestured dismissively and spoke.
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Although Sun Wukong always trusted his master's words, he still found these particular words hard to believe.
"Five hundred years ago, when you, Wukong, raised Havoc in the Heavenly Palace, you were captured by the Jade Emperor. They chopped with axes and cleaved with swords, struck you with thunder and flame, yet none could harm you. So finally, you were thrown into the Supreme Elder Lord's Eight Trigrams Furnace to be refined, was there such an event!?" Jiang Liu spoke up and asked Sun Wukong.
"Indeed, there was!" Nodding his head, Sun Wukong's face showed a hint of pride.
The incident of causing Havoc in the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago was always considered by Sun Wukong as the most glorious feat of his life.
"Later, after being refined for forty-nine days of seven seven's, instead of being melted to death, you escaped from the Eight Trigrams Furnace. In fact, in a fit of rage, you even overturned the Supreme Elder Lord's Furnace, do you remember that?" Seeing Sun Wukong sporting a proud look, Jiang Liu continued to ask.
"Of course I remember!" Sun Wukong nodded, his expression unchanged.
"When the Eight Trigrams Furnace was toppled, a fire brick fell from the heavens and happened to land here, forming what is now Flame Mountain. Monkey, would you say that the current state of Flame Mountain is your responsibility!?" In the end, Jiang Liu explained the reason for the formation of Flame Mountain to Sun Wukong.
"What!? So the flame came about like this!?" Hearing this, Sun Wukong was dumbfounded, standing still like a wooden chicken.
It turned out that everything was his own doing, and here he had been arguing with that old man just before.
"Great, just great, I, the old pig, was just speaking up for you, Monkey, and here you are, playing the thief crying 'stop the thief'!" By his side, Zhu Bajie slapped his forehead and said to Sun Wukong with annoyance.
"Master, you, your words, I, Old Sun, trust them. Looking at it this way, the current state of Flame Mountain does seem indeed to be my responsibility!" Scratching his head, Sun Wukong spoke with an embarrassed look on his face.
But isn't it too much to charge eight coins of silver for just some water that's gone up to the price of meat?
You must know that for common folk, it is rare to afford meat even once a month, and from here, one can glimpse the scarcity of the water supply.
Thinking of how people around Flame Mountain had suffered from water shortages all these years, and that all of this was because of him, Sun Wukong's heart felt quite uneasy.
"Master, as I, Old Sun, am responsible for my own actions, since the responsibility for Flame Mountain lies with me, let us find a way to extinguish the great fire of Flame Mountain, shall we?" After a long silence, Sun Wukong suddenly spoke up with the suggestion.
"Naturally, that is indeed something you ought to do!" Sun Wukong's words made Jiang Liu nod in agreement.
Coming across the situation of Flame Mountain, if they could conveniently help, it would be a great boon to countless people, and Jiang Liu was naturally willing to do this.
Tip: Triggered Quest "Extinguish Flame Mountain," Quest Requirement: Successfully extinguish the centuries-long great fire of Flame Mountain. Successful completion awards 50 million Experience Points and one Epic Level Treasure Chest*. Failure results in a loss of 50 million Experience Points. Accept/Decline?
Following Sun Wukong's proposal to extinguish the great fire of Flame Mountain, suddenly, the system notification appeared, directly triggering a passive quest.
"What!? 50 million Experience Points? An Epic Level quest!?" Hearing the details of this passively triggered quest, Jiang Liu was both shocked and excited.
Shocked by the generous rewards of the passive quest, which offered a whopping 50 million Experience Points.
But after giving it some thought, the great fire of Flame Mountain was not easy to extinguish, so such a reward seemed quite reasonable.
Elated because it appeared that the Banana Leaf Fan was the only means to extinguish the great fire of Flame Mountain, and luckily, their party was now completely on good terms with Demon King Ox, essentially making the one and only means to extinguish the great fire of Flame Mountain directly at their disposal.
Wasn't this like handing over 50 million Experience Points and an Epic Level Treasure Chest for free?
"Indeed, this game system has no intelligence whatsoever, completely rigid; otherwise, it would never have offered me such a task!"
Thinking that this was practically gifting a high-value reward, Jiang Liu once again confirmed the utter lack of intelligence in his Golden Finger game system.
"Master, do you have a method to extinguish the great fire of Flame Mountain?"
Putting aside Jiang Liu's thoughts on the triggered quest, since his master had also nodded in agreement, Sun Wukong looked curiously at Jiang Liu and asked if he had a way.
