The Final Game of Go

The Stone Monkey had just been born and was still utterly naive. Yet because he had been tempered from the very beginning, the Daoist teachings ran deep within him, and he instinctively understood speech. He went to pay his respects to the four directions. The highest Daoist teachings refined golden light within; it was a path where understanding one principle illuminated all principles.

The Stone Monkey's foundations were far too profound. Even without practicing cultivation, he could have lived for several hundred or even a thousand years.

And because he knew nothing of the arts of restraint and composure, that boundless golden light circulated within him and gradually seeped out. Two beams of golden light burst from his eyes, shooting into the sky and startling the four quarters. At that moment, the Jade Emperor had summoned the Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind Ear, two divine generals, to his presence.

The two divine generals had just heard that the Jade Emperor had suddenly summoned them in person. Alarmed, they hurried over—and happened to arrive just as those two beams of golden light shot skyward and illuminated the four quarters. Having also received the Great Celestial Venerable Jade Emperor's command, they did not dare delay. They immediately used their divine powers to investigate and discovered what had happened on the immortal mountain by the Eastern Sea.

Though astonished, they still returned and reported to the Jade Emperor. "We report to Your Majesty."

"The two beams of golden light just now came from a mountain in the lower realm, by the Eastern Sea. A stone monkey was born there. It seems to have a connection to the Dao. It paid its respects to the four directions, and its foundations are impressive. Golden light within it startled the realms above and below; earlier, golden light