Journey to the West: Man in heaven, working nine to five

#2294 - Merit ceremony begins

Now that the black-robed man was Maitreya Buddha, the situation was obvious: Kou Shanren's son must be working for the Demon Clan.

"Maitreya Buddha, why do you have to disguise yourself like this?"

"Dressing up like this, acting mysterious, aren't you just asking for a beating?"

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie said to Maitreya Buddha with a smile.

Although Tang Seng and his group had dealings with the Demon Clan on their journey west, they didn't have any major grudges with them in general.

They had even reached a cooperation agreement with the Demon Clan before, so Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie didn't harbor any hostility towards Maitreya Buddha.

"I was ordered by His Majesty the Demon Emperor to come and investigate the situation. I discovered that the Western Heavens were setting up a trap here, so I sent people to infiltrate the Kou residence to investigate, while I hid in the shadows.

I didn't expect you to take the place of Kou Shanren's son. He is the body of an elite member of our Demon Clan who was seized.

But now that I'm entangled by you, I'm afraid his fate will be grim."

Maitreya Buddha sighed to Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie.

"Why didn't you reveal your identity directly? Wouldn't that have avoided such a misunderstanding?"

"You were being so secretive, how could we not hit you?"

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie both said with a bit of a smirk.

"It's not that I'm deliberately mystifying things, but the Western Heavens are acting very carefully this time. I don't know how many spies they've arranged in this Diling County.

If I were to expose my identity and attract experts from the Western Heavens to gather here, wouldn't I be in a very dangerous situation?"

Maitreya Buddha shook his head and sighed, feeling naturally aggrieved after being beaten up.

"What information have you demons found out?"

Sun Wukong asked the defeated Buddha.

"That Kou Hong is a lackey of the Western Heavens, there's no doubt about that. But we've also noticed that this Diling County is no ordinary place.

We just haven't been able to find out what secrets Diling County holds yet, but that should be the key."

The secret of Diling County that Maitreya Buddha spoke of was also mentioned by Chu Hao.

But this matter is hidden extremely deeply. Even Chu Hao couldn't detect any clues in a short period of time. The Demon Clan has deployed so carefully, but they haven't discovered the problem.

"So it's that old man Kou Hong."

"We've all been fooled by him. It turns out he's the lackey of the Western Heavens!"

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie said somewhat angrily.

It must be said that Kou Shanren's acting skills were indeed superb, deceiving even Tang Seng and his group of four.

He even used Tang Seng and his disciples' goodwill towards him to drive away the housekeeper and the second wife.

He also deliberately arranged for his son to organize a merit-making ceremony, misleading Tang Seng and his disciples' judgment, and finally digging out the opposing Demon Clan as well.

"Now that my identity has been exposed, I can only make other arrangements. Farewell."

Maitreya Buddha said to Sun Wukong and the others, then turned and left.

Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie could only return to the Kou residence to discuss with Tang Seng and the others how to proceed.

"I didn't expect Kou Hong to be a lackey of the Western Heavens. This poor monk will go and kill him!"

Hearing what Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie said, Tang Seng was somewhat annoyed, and picked up his nine-ringed tin staff to go and deal with Kou Shanren.

"Master, don't be impulsive."

Sun Wukong and the others immediately stopped Tang Seng.

In fact, although Tang Seng had a fiery temper, he was not impulsive. He was just deceived by Kou Shanren's deceit, which is why he lost his composure.

After calming down for a moment, Tang Seng also spoke.

"Indeed, killing him directly would be too easy for this hypocritical Kou Hong. This villain is pretending to do good deeds in Diling County, and he must have some ulterior motives."