At this very moment, in a valley on the eastern side of White Tiger Ridge.

    Tang Sanzang watched the woman in front of him with a blank expression, and the woman likewise stared back with the same blank expression. The little skeleton, acting as the land spirit beside the woman, was shivering with fear and sent a message to the woman, "Ma''am, wasn''t it agreed that he would go west while we head east? Why have we run into each other again?"

    The White Bone Lady was also dumbfounded, her body weak and trembling, as she communicated back, "I have no idea... Could it be we''ve gotten lost? But, I''m directionally challenged, you''re not, right?"

    The skeleton land spirit replied, "Could it be he is the one who''s directionally challenged? Going around in circles and ending up back here? Ma''am, look at his muscles, he seems even stronger now."

    Cold sweat was streaming down the White Bone Lady''s forehead...

    On the other side, Tang Sanzang was also feeling a bit uneasy. Along the way, he hadn''t seen a single demon, not to mention even a wild animal. And suddenly, here was a woman—if she were an ordinary woman, that would be fine, but the key issue was that she had a skeleton by her side. At a glance, she was obviously not a decent woman, and Tang Sanzang subconsciously thought of demons.

    According to the agreement, the eighteen protectors in blue couldn''t directly intervene, only offer covert assistance.

    In plain terms, they were there to ensure he wouldn''t die, but how he was going to be rescued was up to Tang Sanzang''s disciples.

    But here comes the problem: Tang Sanzang had no disciples!

    Realizing this, Tang Sanzang felt even more anxious and frightened, his body beginning to tremble...

    While the two were having a staredown, finally, the White Bone Lady mustered up the courage to say, "Honorable monk, are you heading west?"

    Tang Sanzang nodded, "Ah, patron, you ... are you going east?"

    The White Bone Lady: "Ah, heading east, how about you go first?"

    "You go ahead," Tang Sanzang didn''t dare to turn his back on the White Bone Lady.

    The White Bone Lady was also afraid that Tang Sanzang might attack her from behind, but then she thought, with the monk''s strength, if he really struck her head-on with a punch, she couldn''t withstand it either. The critical point was that she dared not ignore Tang Sanzang''s words, so she reluctantly nodded and said, "Okay, okay..."

    Then the two circled around a central point, exchanging positions after half a rotation.

    Finally, the White Bone Lady and Tang Sanzang tacitly turned around and broke into a run!

    Sun Wukong, carrying the Jingu Bang, said, "Master, we should be able to go hunting this time."

    Tang Sanzang glanced at him, "We are monks, what hunting? We are beggars, begging for vegetarian alms, understand?"

    Sun Wukong nodded, "Right, right, alms, fattening alms."

    Then the master and disciples exchanged glances, emitting a snickering laugh.

    "Achoo!"

    The high mountain was called Flat Top Mountain, and atop it was a cave dwelling called the Lotus Cave.

    Inside Lotus Cave, a group of demons gathered, one with a gold horn on its head sneezed outright.

    The Demon King with a Yin horn across from him laughed, "Big brother, have you caught a cold?"

    The Golden Horned King shook his head, "With our level of cultivation, how could we catch a cold? Someone must be talking about me; I sensed it."

    After saying this, the Golden Horned King tried to calculate, but couldn''t figure out anything. Checking the time, he slammed the table, "Brother, stop eating and drinking, take some minions to patrol the mountain."

    The Silver Horned King frowned, "Big brother, why do we need to patrol the mountain all of a sudden?"

    The Golden Horned King smiled, "You don''t know, I''ve recently heard that the emperor of the Great Tang from the eastern land dispatched his royal brother, Monk Tang, to the western skies to worship Buddha and seek scriptures. They are a group of four disciples, one called Sun Wukong, one called Zhu Ganglie, one called the foolish monk, and together with the horse, a total of five in the party. On your patrol, you needn''t do anything else; if you spot them, just capture them for me."

    The Silver Horned King was even more puzzled, "Big brother, we want to eat humans; can''t we pick a few from just anywhere? Why bother with a monk? If we bump into him, we eat him; if not, let him go."

    The Golden Horned King shook his head, "You don''t understand. When I left the Heaven Realm, I heard that Monk Tang was none other than the Golden Cicada elder incarnated, a good man who cultivated for ten lifetimes without leaking a bit of his vital essence. They all say, eating a bite of Monk Tang''s flesh can grant immortality."

    Hearing this, the Silver Horned King''s eyes sparked with excitement, "If eating his flesh grants immortality, then why should I even bother sitting for meditation or practicing the ways of the dragon and tiger? I''ll just eat him! Big brother, wait for me, I''ll go capture him and come back, and we can steam him for a meal!"

    The Golden Horned King quickly stopped him, "Brother, you''re a bit too eager; don''t rush off just yet. Remember, when you go out, don''t just capture any monk you see. If you catch the wrong one and eat another monk, that would be a bit too much.

    This is the most recent image of the group of four on the journey to obtain the scriptures, including their horse. When you encounter a monk, use this to verify. If it''s Monk Tang, take him.

    If it''s not Monk Tang, let them go."