Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

Before interrogating the skinny Xie Xie, Wen Jiao noticed that it didn't have any blood on it. Seeing its earnest expression, she confirmed her guess, so she said, "Since you haven't had time to kill anyone yet, I'll spare your life for now, considering that your companion has been killed. In the future, you should remember what happened today and don't hurt anyone again. If you do it again, I will never forgive you."

Who knew that she wanted to let it go, but Xie Xie refused to leave.

The little demon came over, looking like he wanted to crawl up to her and hug her thighs, but he was a little afraid, so he had to lie down at her feet and kowtow, saying: "Master, I didn't know this was the Southern Continent at first, so I dared to run around everywhere. Now that I know, how dare I walk around freely? That place where the moon is dark is always pitch black, cold and lifeless. Unless I encounter the dog fairy who doesn't like the sun and wants to fight, there is no way I can get out. I don't want to go back anymore. I beg you to take me in!"

Wen Jiao frowned when she heard this: "How can I say that? You're always so heartbreaking, why would I accept you?"

If you keep a carnivore as a pet, you have to be responsible for providing it with food, water and shelter. The latter two are easy to solve, but what about the first one? Forget about the fact that she would kill the man-eating monster the first time she saw it. Even if someone in Journey to the West kept a man-eating monster as a mount, you wouldn't have to consider who could afford to keep one.

The green-haired lion monster, the mount of Manjushri Bodhisattva.

The six-tusked white elephant spirit, the mount of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.

Dapeng, the uncle of Buddha Tathagata.

She was just a cultivator who couldn't even ascend to heaven, so she wanted to raise a basil? Was she crazy?

Seeing that she refused decisively, Na Xie Xie couldn't help but look sad: "The little demon can find food by itself, it's easy to feed. The little demon can also fly, if you want to send a message, the little demon can let you drive it. I only ask you to save my life. The little demon really escaped with great difficulty, and I was too excited, so I rushed wherever I could. If the little demon had known that this was the Southern Continent earlier, I would not dare to act rashly even if I had twenty guts!"

If Wen Jiao had just refused, her eyes suddenly turned cold after hearing its pleading. The Xie Xie was completely unaware and kept pleading: "...It's too late now. If I run into other patrolling priests under the sect of the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable, I'll be crushed to ashes at the least. There might not even be a trace of my soul left. You don't look like a real person, you can tell at a glance that you're kind..."

"She is kind-hearted, then who is evil-hearted?" a feminine male voice suddenly asked.

Wen Jiao looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the sky above her head was filled with black-clad and black-armored generals. They stood in formation in the air, looking majestic. Standing in the front was a man in a black robe. He was very thin and tall, with a standard cone-shaped face that was later called "snake face". His face was so pale that it was almost transparent. His eyes were dark green, and needle-like vertical lines condensed in the dim light. There was an indescribable magical aura surging from his body.

It's the snake that will bring the candlelight!

You should know that the two generals of turtle and snake under the seat of the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable are different from the other gods. They were all six demon kings in their former lives, and they were all cruel and murderous. Later, they were subdued by the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable according to the decree of the Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable. Although they also cleansed their minds and cultivated kindness and tolerance, their cold-blooded and vicious nature would be exposed when dealing with demons and monsters that harm the world. When evil spirits meet them, no matter how many there are, they will be cooked into a pot of soup. When goblins meet them, it is normal to skin, bone, eat meat and tan their tendons. It is not uncommon for them to have their souls blown away. The cruel means really frightened the goblins, and thus all the demonic things in the Southern Continent were pacified.

Demons and monsters fear power but not virtue. To punish them, severe punishments must be used.

The demon was so frightened that it fell to the ground with its head knocked on the bluestone floor and did not dare to get up for a long time. Xuanzang looked over with some surprise and found that the demon had died of extreme fear.

Xuanzang sighed, with a hint of pity on his face. His lips moved slightly, and he was mumbling something. Wen Jiao asked curiously, "What are you mumbling?"

Xuanzang looked up and said, "I want to recite the Ksitigarbha Sutra to help these demons to transcend."

Wen Jiao heard this and said with a headache: "It's good to be compassionate, but don't be too kind."

Xuanzang was puzzled: "Mother, why do you say that to me? Is it possible that compassion is not good?"

Wen Jiao pointed at the dead Xie Xie on the ground and said coldly, "You think this Xie Xie is pitiful because you felt it was weak and harmless when it knelt on the ground begging for mercy, so you had pity for it. But don't you think that when it and the other Xie Xie were happily trying to dig out your hearts and livers to sacrifice to the heavenly dog, did you still feel pity for it? Moreover, when it wanted to dig out your hearts and livers, you were the ones who were weak and harmless, and they didn't feel pity for you at that time. In this case, can you still have compassion?"

Xuanzang frowned and said, "But just now it was begging at my mother's feet, which clearly shows that it has repented."

"Repent?" Wen Jiao was so angry that she almost laughed: "If I had come a moment later, at least half of the people in your Jingye Temple would have died. Even if General Snake arrived in time to save them, your dead fellow disciples would not be able to be resurrected. When the heavenly soldiers arrived, they would still beg and plead, full of regrets. But you are different. You don't even have time to pray for your fellow disciples, so how can you care whether the dead goblins are pitiful or not?"

Xuanzang shrank his head after being scolded, and stammered, "But my brothers and sisters are not dead, are they?"

"That's because you're lucky!" Wen Jiao said softly, "You just felt sorry for him because he begged for mercy before he died, and you didn't even think carefully about whether he regretted hurting others or not."

Xuanzang argued, "It clearly said that if it had known this was Jambudvīpa, it would not have dared to act rashly. If this is not repentance, what else can it be?"

"You call this thing repentance?" Wen Jiao was really angry this time and laughed, "What it regretted was that it didn't investigate it clearly before gathering a crowd to take people's hearts and livers, and ran into a god it couldn't afford to offend. What do you think it meant by 'find food for itself'? After it left the Southern Continent, it still dug out people's hearts and livers! I was going to let it go, but who knew it would still be its nature. Even if it didn't die just now, I would have taken its life to prevent it from escaping from the Southern Continent and continuing to commit evil. If I listened to you and let it go, and it killed people again in the future, wouldn't I be an accomplice? Tolerating evil is also evil."

"Xuanzang, when you do good, you need to know who you are targeting. If someone is not of my race but has evil intentions and has been punished but still refuses to change his ways, why are you trying to save him? This is not called compassion, this is called stupidity."

Seeing that she was scolding Xuanzang so harshly that his bald head turned red, Zhuguang Ji advised, "Junior Sister Yin, don't be angry. Your son is kind and gentle, which is also a good thing for him, isn't it?"

Wen Jiao sighed, "What is General Snake talking about? If he continues to be so kind-hearted and doesn't know right from wrong, sooner or later he will not only hurt himself, but also hurt others."

For example, the poor monkey who was supposed to protect Tang Monk by exorcising demons and monsters was cursed countless times because of his bad intentions, and was finally expelled from the sect.