Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 211

Journeys to the West Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau, Shi, Sennett - 13 O nce upon a time, there was a courteous and noble monk called Xuan Zang, also known as Tripitaka. He was chosen on a journey to retrieve a set of Buddhist scriptures back to China. On his trip, he was accompanied by three powerful supernatural beings, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing. But one day on their long journey, Tripitaka started to get very sick and ill. Now the whole journey had to be delayed. Tripitaka's disciples were very worried and didn't know what to do, at that moment, Kwan Yin descended from the heavens and told Sun Wukong about a magical herb that can heal even death, but he must work to retrieve it. Kwan Yin disabled Sun Wukong's powers since he had to prove his sincerity to the journey. If he successfully comes back with the healing herb, he would get his powers back and they would resume the journey. Noticing how almost everybody was in distress, Sun Wukong hurries and went on the journey to the fabled “Echo Valley” to find the mythical herb that could save Xuan Zang, accompanied by his good pal, the White Dragon Horse. On the dreadful journey to Echo Valley, Sun Wukong and the White Dragon Horse were trapped in a horrible storm. The rain was shooting down at them from all sides, the wind almost knocking them off their feet, and occasionally booming thunder was heard and lighting cracked in the distance. Suddenly, one of the horse’s hooves got caught in a vine, and together, the drenched Sun Wukong and the White Dragon Horse was falling into a huge hole. Down and down they went, Sun Wukong’s screams were getting smaller and smaller, as the last sliver of light escaped from his vision. Sun Wukong blinked. He slowly awakened to the White Dragon Horse’s warm tongue on his face, as if begging for him to wake up. “How am I not dead?” He murmured, “Oh right, I’m invincible! Haha!” The mischievous monkey hopped up looked around and realized that a bed of flowers had coated their fall. Was this Echo Valley? He breathed a sigh of frustration when he saw that the White Dragon Horse was struggling to stand up. His hooves were hurt. Crack. Sun Wukong snapped his head upwards towards the tree, just in time to see a floating, white figure disappearing behind the top of the tree, the figure’s hair almost covering its whole body. Sun Wukong was too unnerved to investigate, so he turned his attention to the White Dragon Horse sore hooves instead. Sun Wukong looked around and found some fruits and some water from a nearby water stream and fed it to the White Dragon Horse. Praying for the horse’s quick recovery. While walking back to where they fell from, Sun Wukong spotted a frail old man sitting under a tree. Sun Wukong approached him, “Hello, Mister! Can I help you?” The old man replied, “Hello, I am extremely hungry, is there any food you could spare?” Taking pity on the old man who was too weak to climb up a tree to retrieve the fruits, Sun Wukong gave him all the remaining fruits and water he gathered from just now. The old man thanked Sun Wukong and said, “To repay your kindness, go and look under the white poplar tree, and you will be rewarded with something valuable.” Sun Wukong thanked the old man and was on his way with Dapple by his side. When they reached the white poplar tree, Sun Wukong discovered a golden box filled with expensive and sparkling jewelry! At this moment, a sudden blow of wind sends an eagle’s nest from the tree to come toppling down. Without hesitation, Sun Wukong immediately chose to save the eagle eggs instead of the priceless jewelry. Wukong climbs up the tree and delivers the eggs to safety. Before leaving he heard the old man’s warning again, “Sun Wukong, you have to be careful in Echo Valley or something terrible might happen!”” The truth is, the old man was actually the Gold Star of Venus in disguise. He wanted to test Sun Wukong, whether he would rather have jewelry or save the lives of an eagle mother’s children. The Gold Star of Venus was moved by Sun Wukong’s choice, and have decided to do his best to help Wukong and his companion return to Tripitaka and the others safely with the magical herb. After the eagle’s nest fiasco,