"Master, if I find you a wife, can you acknowledge me as your son?"
"Ahem..."
Zhou Xuan had meant to refuse, but when he saw the eager look on Sun Wukong's face, he changed his answer.
"Hmm... More or less!"
Sun Wukong cheered.
"Wonderful! Just wait, Master. Old Sun will grow strong and bring you beauties from across the nine heavens and ten lands! Pure ones, alluring ones, bewitching ones, sharp-tongued older beauties, sweet girls with a surprising side..."
As Sun Wukong's list grew more outrageous, Zhou Xuan gave him a kick.
"You monkey, enough nonsense. You have your cultivation method, so get to work! Stop disturbing my reading!"
With that, Zhou Xuan waved him off and settled back into his rocking chair.
A new book appeared in his hand: Rainy Day: I'm a High School Student, Soaked to the Skin and Sheltering in a Convenience Store. There's No One Here but a Few Male Clerks Who Keep Staring at Me!
Sun Wukong counted the characters in the title. Thirty-nine in all. He said enviously,
"Master's book titles keep getting longer. When will Old Sun be qualified to read a book with a title that long?"
"No. If Master works this hard, I need to cultivate properly too."
The monkey shook his head and went off to cultivate nearby.
The system's voice sounded in Zhou Xuan's mind once more.
[Ding! Sun Wukong absorbed and refined ten thousand strands of true spirit. His cultivation increased slightly.] [Ten Billion Times Share: The host absorbed and refined one hundred trillion strands of true spirit. His cultivation increased slightly.]
[Ding! Sun Wukong absorbed and refined ten thousand strands of true spirit. His cultivation increased slightly.] [Ten Billion Times Share: The host absorbed and refined one hundred trillion strands of true spirit. His cultivation increased slightly.]
Meanwhile, on the Western Ox Continent...
At Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave on Spiritual Terrace Square Inch Mountain...
Patriarch Bodhi had tapped the monkey's head three times, then returned to his bedroom in high spirits to await the monkey's arrival.
The first watch passed!
Then the second!
Then the third!
Outside, the moon shone bright among scattered stars. A gentle breeze stirred the shadows, and all was still.
There was no monkey. There wasn't even a ghost.
"Where's the monkey?"
"Where's my monkey?"
"Could that monkey be too stupid to understand my riddle?"
Patriarch Bodhi waited until the sun was high in the sky without seeing so much as a single monkey hair.
"Never mind. A stupid monkey will do. He's only a pawn anyway!"
"If he won't come to me, I'll go find him."
Yet Patriarch Bodhi searched all of Spiritual Terrace Square Inch Mountain and the surrounding hundred miles. Sun Wukong had vanished without a trace.
Patriarch Bodhi formed a divination with his fingers and carefully sought the answer in heaven's secrets. He found nothing!
The monkey had disappeared completely!
"Aaargh! Which bastard tricked my monkey away?"
"Damn that bastard to hell!"
Patriarch Bodhi cursed, with no trace of his usual sage-like bearing!
"No. The monkey's gone!"
"This is too important. I must tell fellow Daoists Jieyin and Zhunti at once!"
As it turned out, Patriarch Bodhi was the virtuous incarnation of Saint Zhunti, one of Buddhism's two Saints!
After the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, Dao Ancestor Hongjun had established a rule through the Heavenly Dao: Saints were forbidden from entering the Primordial Wilderness in person.
As Zhunti's virtuous incarnation, Bodhi had become his representative in the Primordial Wilderness.
The coming Great Tribulation of Journey to the West would see Buddhism spread east and prosper. That was both Dao Ancestor Hongjun's promise and a karmic debt Hongjun had incurred years ago.
Sun Wukong was the most important pawn in Buddhism's plan for the journey. But the journey had yet to begin, and the pawn was already missing!
Patriarch Bodhi wanted to weep!
"Who? Who dares make an enemy of Buddhism?"
"They're asking to die!"
Deep within Mount Sumeru, in the chaos...
Buddha light filled the sky, gleaming brilliantly!
Buddhist resonance flowed without end. Its teachings seemed boundless, with no shore to turn back to.
"What? The monkey's missing?"
"Strange. Heaven's secrets are in such disarray that even I can't divine his whereabouts!"
"Which Saint has intervened?"
"How dare he ruin Buddhism's opportunity!"
The two speakers were Buddhism's Saints, Jieyin and Zhunti.
To attain sainthood years ago, they had made forty-eight great vows and borrowed vast merit from the Heavenly Dao. They had become Saints on credit.
But in the years since, they had struggled to repay that borrowed merit!
Zhunti and Jieyin had taken out new loans to cover the old ones, exhausted their credit, and borrowed from one source to pay another. Now they owed a mountain of debt at crushing interest!
They were on the verge of default. The Heavenly Dao would blacklist them, making them deadbeat Saints!
But the Great Tribulation of Journey to the West would spread Buddhism east!
Once it was complete, the Dao Ancestor would repay his karmic debt, and the Heavenly Dao would bestow vast merit!
It was their chance to escape their debts!
They could pay the interest and still rake in a fortune!
"Anyone who obstructs the Great Tribulation of Journey to the West or Buddhism's rise must die!"
"You're right, Senior Brother. This is our last chance to turn things around. If anyone tries to make us deadbeat Saints, we'll kill him!"
At that moment, Jieyin and Zhunti looked like two desperate gamblers, their eyes blazing with murderous intent!
Even as Saints, they could not divine Sun Wukong's whereabouts!
There was only one explanation: another Saint had intervened and concealed heaven's secrets!
"Junior Brother, which Saint do you think is behind this? Who would obstruct Buddhism's rise?" Jieyin asked uneasily.
Zhunti's gaze darkened. "Either that bitch Nuwa or that arrogant bastard Tongtian!"
"Why do you say that?"
"The monkey was born from Nuwa's Sky-Mending Stone. She may well be helping him in secret!"
"As for Tongtian, during the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, even Duobao, his foremost disciple, defected to Buddhism and became Dabao Tathagata. How could Tongtian not hate us?"
At that, Jieyin sighed.
"After the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, didn't our teacher take Tongtian to the Purple Cloud Palace for punishment? Disheartened, he ventured deep into the chaos in search of a new opportunity. We hadn't heard a word from him in all those years!"
Zhunti shook his head. "Perhaps Tongtian found that opportunity and has returned for revenge!"
A vicious look flashed across Jieyin's face.
"Hmph! Whether it's Nuwa or Tongtian, obstructing the Great Tribulation of Journey to the West means defying our teacher and the Heavenly Dao!"
"Let's go to the Purple Cloud Palace and speak to our teacher!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the two turned into streaks of light and flew deep into the chaos.
Deep in the chaos lay the Eight Sceneries Palace.
It was like a secluded paradise, with beautiful mountains and clear waters!
Every blade of grass and every tree accorded with heaven's secrets!
Every flower and leaf seemed perfectly formed by nature!
The energies of yin and yang mingled there in an endless cycle, forming the pattern of the Taiji Diagram.
This was the abode of the renowned Grand Pure Laozi, foremost of the Three Pure Ones.
After the Saints withdrew from the Primordial Wilderness, he had gone into the chaos and established a new abode. There, he contemplated the Heavenly Dao in hopes of advancing further.
But as the Great Tribulation of Journey to the West approached and Buddhism grew increasingly active, Grand Pure Laozi began divining heaven's secrets more and more often.
At first, the signs had been clear!
Abundant purple qi filled the west. Buddhism's rise was close at hand.
Then, a few days ago, heaven's secrets suddenly fell into disorder and became shrouded in mist!
Even he could make no sense of them!
Among the Saints, Grand Pure Laozi was exceptionally skilled at divination. In that art, he was scarcely inferior to Dao Ancestor Hongjun.
"Who has concealed heaven's secrets?"
"Only a Saint could do this."
"Could it be Nuwa?"
"No. Nuwa cared little for the Human Race or even the demons back then. Why would she concern herself with one monkey's fate?"
Grand Pure Laozi frowned and pondered.
"Could it be Tongtian?"
"That must be it! Perhaps Tongtian found a new opportunity in the chaos, gained tremendous strength, and returned for revenge! Proud as he is, he would never swallow what happened during the Investiture of the Gods."
Grand Pure Laozi's voice carried a note of resignation.
"Tongtian, ever since the Three Pure Ones went their separate ways, you've had no elder brother to restrain you. You've acted willfully and defied the Heavenly Dao time and again!"
"Was the lesson of the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation not enough? Was our teacher's punishment not severe enough?"
"If you continue to act so recklessly, I'll ask our teacher for a Saint-Slaying Pill and seal your cultivation!"
"Then you can spend a hundred thousand years at Biyou Palace reflecting on your mistakes!"
Before you continue