"Yes. That White-Bone Demon seemed to have guessed I'd come for her. She vanished without a trace. I don't think those two Tiger Demons would dare lie to me, but I scoured the town three times and still found nothing." The Black-Bear Demon hung his head in shame. "Please punish me, Master."
"This is rather odd. Even I can't predict her whereabouts. You may step down. I'll go and consult the Buddha Tathagata." The Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva rushed out of the door and soared westward on a cloud.
She had been personally ordered to investigate and find out where the White-Bone Demon was.
When the immortals in Heaven heard about this, some of them couldn't help gloating.
"Not even able to find a newly-transformed demon. It seems those Buddhas from the Western Paradise are nothing special," the Grand White Star openly jeered.
"It's really strange. I heard it's a female demon. Instead of trying to eat Tang Sanzang's flesh, she even prepared two tables of food and treated the master and his three disciples well," the Southern Pole Immortals said, finding this extremely novel.
"Could it be that she's another one who wants to marry Tang Sanzang?" The Lightning Goddess dropped the chess piece in her hand and asked very gossipily, "She managed to leave safely. She must have some skills. I wonder what she looks like?"
"You'll have to ask the All-Seeing Immortal. Maybe he saw clearly," the Thunder God wasn't very interested in this. "It's your turn to move. If you don't want to play, let the Heavenly King of Growth take your place."
The Lightning Goddess was more interested in the gossip than the game. She immediately got up and gave up her seat. "I'll go and find the All-Seeing Immortal."
Soon, all the immortals in Heaven heard that the White-Bone Demon was as beautiful as a celestial being, charming and extraordinary. She even went shopping in the mortal world with Sun Wukong.
The immortals in Heaven were just as fond of gossip as mortals. After being passed around from mouth to mouth, the story turned into a romantic version.
Although the White-Bone Demon was just a newly-transformed female demon, she had an otherworldly appearance that even made the monkey born from a stone fall for her.
But their fun didn't last long. The Western Paradise sent the Manjusri Bodhisattva, hoping that the immortals in Heaven would send someone to find the White-Bone Demon.
What?
Could even the Buddha Tathagata not know where the White-Bone Demon was?
If so, who in Heaven would know? Wasn't this just making things difficult for them?
At this time, Yang Xue had no idea that the three most talked-about words in almost the entire Three Realms recently were "White-Bone Demon".
Those immortals watching the show had a question. Why didn't the White-Bone Demon fall for Tang Sanzang, who was loved by both humans and demons?
Yang Xue hadn't read the original work, so she didn't know the details of Journey to the West. She could only guess what kind of trouble Tang Sanzang and his disciples would encounter next.
However, she wasn't a lovesick fool who would really follow the four of them around. She was more concerned about whether there were any opportunities for her to cultivate on the way.
"Sister, there's danger ahead!" Mao Mao suddenly smelled the stench of blood and decay in the air. He immediately reined in the horse and stopped.
Yang Xue stopped cultivating and lifted the curtain to look out.
It was getting late. They needed to find a place to rest.
"Let's go and take a look." Maybe it was something related to her. She had to find out.
"Sister, I'm scared." Xiao Rou was a timid rabbit. She also felt the stifling atmosphere in the air and suddenly felt a chill down her spine.
"You stay in the carriage. Mao Mao and I will go and check it out." With that, she lifted the curtain and got off the carriage.
In front of them was a dense bamboo forest. The afterglow of the setting sun shone over the bamboo forest, and thick fog filled the ground.
Not far away, weapons could be faintly seen lying on the ground, emitting a cold, dim light.
Mao Mao led the way in front. He took out a short sword from somewhere and looked around warily.
The sight in front of them was chilling. Although Yang Xue had been mentally prepared, she still couldn't help retching when she saw it with her own eyes.
Judging from the traces, bandits had intercepted a small caravan. All their belongings had been looted. The carriages and luggage had been hacked to pieces, and none of the people traveling with them had survived.
There were eight people in total. Two of them looked no more than fifteen years old, young and innocent.
There was a person with his hands and feet cut off lying at her feet. Yang Xue could even see the reluctant soul floating in the air, looking blankly at its own body.
She used to be a forensic doctor and had seen many corpses, but she had never seen such a tragic and real scene.
Those who said they wanted to travel back to ancient times were so naive. In broad daylight, bandits ran rampant and showed no humanity.
"Help... help..." The floating soul was extremely fragile, almost transparent, as if it was about to dissipate.
As the cold wind blew, his voice was long and mournful.
"I wonder if I can help you?" Yang Xue endured her fear and slowly said.
Now she was the White-Bone Demon and had the memories of the White-Bone Demon.
The White-Bone Demon had once been a mortal. Her death had also been extremely tragic. Otherwise, she wouldn't have become a fierce ghost and cultivated into the White-Bone Demon.
However, she couldn't clearly recall the experience back then. Maybe the White-Bone Demon had deliberately cut off that memory.
She only knew that the ending had been miserable.
"Help me?" The floating soul slowly turned around. "Help me?"
"Yes. Do you have any..." She suddenly feared that she might not be able to help him and would only add to his disappointment.
"Bury us," his voice was calm. "It's not good to be left unburied in the wilderness. If our parents knew, they would surely be heartbroken. Bury us, and we'll leave."
"Sister," Mao Mao frowned and shook his head. "Let's go quickly. The resentment here is too heavy. It's better for us to leave as soon as possible."
"Have you forgotten that I'm cultivating the Book of Immortality?" She slightly shook her head and said very solemnly, "I have to bury them with my own hands. You don't need to help me."
Although it would be very beneficial for her cultivation to bury them with her own hands and fulfill their wishes, at this moment, she was extremely pained. She would rather not encounter such opportunities to cultivate on the way. She would rather not cultivate the Book of Immortality and let her cultivation progress more slowly!
"Yes, sister." Mao Mao understood and finally didn't stop her. He obediently stood aside.
Night fell, and the moon became brighter.
Without any tools, Yang Xue removed the wooden boards from the broken carriage and used her magic power to bury the corpses on the ground one by one in the pits.
The souls of these corpses were still there. They watched as Yang Xue dragged their bodies into the pits and covered them with handfuls of soil.
"My hand seems to be missing," a young boy's voice suddenly sounded.
Yang Xue turned around and found that one of the hands of the body she was dragging had been cut off by the bandits.
"I'm sorry. I'll help you reconnect it later," she quickly apologized, her throat dry.
"It doesn't matter. Those bandits were too fierce. We had thought this might happen. It hurt so much when we were cut, but now I don't feel anything," his voice was very soft, as if he had no resentment at all.
Yang Xue suddenly felt her eyes sting. He actually said it didn't matter to her.
Such comfort was the most heart - wrenching.
"Sister, you're so beautiful. You're not human. I can see your bones. Your bones are beautiful. They're golden."
The next moment, it was like being struck by five thunderbolts. Yang Xue felt a rush of heat to her head and a numbness in her back.
He was talking about her true form, right?
To be honest, she didn't know how to see her own true form. In the few days since her rebirth, she had always maintained a physical form and almost thought she was just like an ordinary mortal.
She had looked in the mirror. Judging from her appearance alone, she was truly a charming little demon.