The King, The Prince, and The Warrior

Chapter 31

After a night of resting they went back on the road with Wukong on his cloud with Macaque resting beside him talking to one another "I still don’t see the issue, okay tell me what's wrong with my attitude master, please and I'll listen" Wukong said as Macaque rested on his lap "you're talking about eating people monkey! What do you mean?!" Tripitaka said as Zhu Bajie, Ao Lie, and Sha Wujing try not to laugh "yes BAD people, not the good ones" Wukong said shrugging his shoulders "that's still terrible!" Tripitaka said as he and the other three pilgrims try not to laugh "they're still gonna get the death penalty anyway, why not change it to the Wukong penalty I nom on them" Wukong said smirking

"Nooo!" Tripitaka said failing to not laugh along with Zhu Bajie "d-death penalty or not, you cannot eat people!" Tripitaka said trying calm down "alright alright, I still say it's a good idea" Wukong said with a shrug, Macaque shifted a bit in his sleep but didn't stir, Wukong looks down and gently stroke the tanned simians hair but then he noticed a large boulder with protection talisman and words carved on it saying 'Beware Of The Cursed Immortal', Wukong felt a sense of uneasiness when reading that and Sha Wujing, Zhu Bajie, Ao Lie, and Tripitaka must've felt the same when they saw the boulder "The Cursed Immortal, who's that?" Zhu Bajie said looking at the message "someone  we shouldn't bump into in the future" Wukong said as they walked past the boulder

"Then Sha Wujing spotted something in the sky "look smoke!" The river spirit said pointing at the smoke "there must be a village nearby" Tripitaka said and they began to head to the direction of smoke. Soon they reached the village but their was no one there and it was quite "is the village abandoned?" Sha Wujing asked looking around, Wukong sniffs around and spotted a dying campfire with smoke coming off it "no they're here, just hiding I think" Wukong said shifting Macaque into his arms bridal-style hopping off his cloud. Tripitaka dismounted the white horse dragon and walks up to the nearest house "hello, is there anyone inside?" The monk asked knocking on the door

There was silence as the monk and pilgrims stood outside "are they even home?" Zhu Bajie said scratching his head, then the door opened a little bit but not enough either "who are you, what do you want?" The man asked looking at the pilgrims "I am Tripitaka and these are my disciples, we do not mean any harm I promise" Tripitaka said with a gentle smile, the man opens the door more and looks around outside "quickly come inside, hurry" the man said, the pilgrims quickly went inside with Ao Lie transforming into a human before going inside the home just as the man closes the door

When the pilgrims were inside they saw a woman holding a baby bundle up in a blanket, two little boys hugging her legs, and an elderly man and woman, huddled together "it's alright, they're not part of The Cursed Immortal" the man said walking up to his family before looking back at the group "you are not part of The Cursed Immortal, are you?" The man asked, the pilgrims shook their heads "we do not even know who he is" Sha Wujing said genuinely confused, the man looks at them before looking at his wife "go prepare tea for our guests" the man said taking the sleeping baby into his arms, the wife nodded and quickly went to make the tea, the elderly couple slowly sat down as the two young boys huddled behind the man "please have a seat" the man said motioning to the empty chairs, the pilgrims all sat down except Wukong who uses his tail