The woodcutter brought over a bowl of hot water and crouched down, full of concern, waiting for Granny Meng to stop coughing before gently feeding her.
After a while, Granny Meng's breathing eased a bit, and she gasped, "Wukong, you've troubled yourself for me. This illness of mine, even the old immortals on the mountain have seen it, and it can't be cured."
"Hey, that's because you haven't met old Sun yet." Sun Wukong immediately grabbed Granny Meng's wrist to take her pulse, and at the same time, channeled a force of his Primordial Spirit to probe.
He quickly discovered that Granny Meng was indeed seriously ill, with diseases in various parts of her body.
This was not only an illness, her life was coming to an end as well.
"Life and death, reincarnation, one cannot demand it," said Granny Meng with a weak chuckle, followed by a few coughs, then she said to the woodcutter, "Child, I'm hungry."
"I'll get the fire going and cook right away." The woodcutter, showing no impatience, took some firewood and went to cook.
Meanwhile, Granny Meng continued to bask in the sun with her head lowered, and soon, soft snores could be heard again.
Sun Wukong scratched his face, full of puzzlement as he looked at all this.
The woodcutter Wu Gang was indeed Da Yi, but why was he so dedicated and filial to an elderly woman who was gravely ill? Could she really be his mother?
And could this Granny Meng really be just an ordinary person?
At that thought, Sun Wukong silently activated the "Heed Advice" system, connected his consciousness to the intelligent guide, Zhizhu, and found the post that the Honghuang Bulletin had responded to him previously.
With another thought, he replied, "Senior, as you said, the woodcutter from Magic Square Mountain is called Wu Gang, and he is indeed the incarnation of the great archer Da Yi.
Old Sun also heeded your advice, asked him about archery, and learned a Divine Skill called the Heart Arrow Technique."
It wasn't long before the Honghuang Bulletin replied, "Well done, well done. Close combat with your staff technique, long-range with your archery, monkey life straight up takes off!"
Sun Wukong scratched his face, not surprised that the senior knew he had learned a staff technique, and replied inquiringly, "May I ask senior, do you know about the elderly mother of the woodcutter, Granny Meng?
Old Sun has visited his home and found that this old woman is gravely ill, with not much life left.
Since the woodcutter Wu Gang is the incarnation of Da Yi, could his elderly mother really be in such a state?"
Honghuang Bulletin: "Granny Meng? Meng Po? Since the woodcutter is Da Yi, then his old mother is Meng Po who serves the soup on the Bridge of Helplessness."
Sun Wukong was even more perplexed. The Bridge of Helplessness was in the Underworld, so how could Granny Meng be related to Meng Po?
He continued to read the reply from the Honghuang Bulletin: "As everyone knows, the ancestral witch Hou Tu once transformed into the cycle of reincarnation, becoming the Saint Heart Calm in the Underworld, but alas, she cannot leave the Underworld forever,
and to let the deceased souls rest, she also transformed into Meng Po by the Bridge of Helplessness, pouring each dead soul a bowl of Meng Po's soup, erasing their previous life memories, to calmly undergo reincarnation."
Reading this, Sun Wukong suddenly understood.
From the perspective of the witch tribe, an incarnation of the ancestral witch Hou Tu could indeed be the elderly mother of the woodcutter.
But how could Granny Meng be in this state; could she have used the Blinding Method to deceive old Sun?
"The Saint Heart Calm…" Sun Wukong still found it somewhat unbelievable in his heart. Could a Saint really be gravely ill?
At this point, the Honghuang Bulletin replied again, "The way you're going about this is pretty smart, getting to know Meng Po. It'll be fun the next time you go to the Underworld, haha, Sun Wukong's life is about to be completely messed up by you."
Sun Wukong: "Senior is joking. How could old Sun mess up his own life?"
Honghuang Bulletin: "Haha, looking forward to your next moves!"
Sun Wukong was also looking forward to it. Although he hadn't received any new advice this time, at least he had roughly figured out Granny Meng's identity.
In the following time, besides cultivating and seeking enlightenment on the mountain, he frequently descended to Sangxi Village to visit Granny Meng under the guise of helping to treat her illness.
He was very curious as to why Hou Tu, as a genuine Saint, and Da Yi, the foremost Divine Archer from primeval times, would pose as mother and son, choosing to live in seclusion at the foot of Magic Square Mountain.
So, every time he was with Granny Meng, he would ramble on—sometimes about ghosts and deities, sometimes about legends of the ancient witches and demon wars.
Unfortunately, each time Granny Meng would either hum in response or bow her head and start to snore.
In the blink of an eye, a year passed by.
In the village of Song Creek, at the lumberjack's house.
Sun Wukong pretended to take Granny Meng's pulse once again, while the lumberjack watched on.
"Old man, she's beyond help," Sun Wukong shook his head, yet he carefully observed Granny Meng's reaction.
This wrinkled-faced, white-haired granny was still basking in the sun, but most of the time she was dozing off, seldom awake.
The lumberjack lamented, "You've gone to a lot of trouble during this time."
"To be frank with you, old man," Sun Wukong scratched his hand and said, "I, Old Sun, have recently made progress in my cultivation. I can ascend to the heavens and burrow into the earth. Today, I truly can't bear to see granny suffer like this, so I intend to go to the underworld and persuade the King of Hell to give me the Book of Life and Death, to erase granny's name from it."
The lumberjack's eyelid twitched, and he hastily said, "I don't think that's appropriate. If my mother's name is gone from the Book of Life and Death, wouldn't that harm her?"
Sun Wukong rebuked, "You really don't understand, do you? I'm trying to save her!"
The lumberjack was not afraid and shook his head, "But if my mother hasn't mastered the art of immortality, even if you erase her name from the Book of Life and Death, she won't gain eternal life.
When her time comes to an end, if her soul doesn't enter the underworld for reincarnation, won't she become a lonely, wandering ghost?"
Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong scratched his face, jumped to one side, and pondered for a while, feeling that it indeed made sense.
But it wasn't conclusive—perhaps the lumberjack was worried that he would discover Granny Meng's true identity, which was why he said these things.
In the end, he decided to leave the matter be for the time being.
As he was about to leave, Granny Meng, who had always seemed unable to see or hear clearly, coughed as if suddenly waking from sleep and said, "Wukong, you mustn't do bad deeds in the future."
"Rest assured, Granny, Old Sun will surely do more good deeds," Sun Wukong smiled, waved his hand, and left the village of Song Creek.
Having traveled a good distance, he looked back at the very peaceful village, musing that there would be ample time in the future, and he would surely find out why the lumberjack and Granny Meng chose to live in seclusion on Magic Square Mountain.
In fact, throughout this year, he had also consulted his online friends on the platform called "Zhi Hu" for their conjectures and advice. While there were various guesses and suggestions, none helped him unravel this mystery.
...
Inside the Three Stars Cave Taoist Palace.
The Bodhi Patriarch sat cross-legged up high, while the lumberjack stood by his side.
"Master, please call the junior brother down from the mountain," the lumberjack said. "He's very astute. When studying archery, he claimed to have learned of my knowledge in archery in a dream and hence sought to learn from me. I'm not sure if he was telling the truth,
When he met Her Ladyship, he showed considerable curiosity and repeatedly made indirect remarks about ghosts and deities, and recounted legends of great witches and demon wars,
This shows that he harbors doubts about Her Ladyship's identity, and may have even guessed something.
Today, he even talked about going to the underworld to remove Her Ladyship's name from the Book of Life and Death.
If we let him continue his probing, I'm afraid it might ruin our plans."
"Even if he finds out, it's not a big deal; he's bound to know sooner or later," said the Bodhi Patriarch softly stroking his beard. "But it's time for him to come down from the mountain."
The lumberjack said no more, understanding that his perspective on the matter could naturally not compare with his master's.