Use Titles at Work

Three days later, Wukong found Su Yuan as promised and opened his mouth to say, "Senior..."

Su Yuan reacted with lightning speed, clapping a hand over his mouth with a solemn expression.

"Use titles at work! Just call me Little Su!"

He released him, then added earnestly,

"Once you go up to the Heavenly Court, there will be many eyes and ears. Remember not to reveal our fellow discipleship. It would damage your good name."

Big Brother, you're going to wreak havoc in Heaven. Don't go calling me Senior Brother or Junior Brother.

When you get there, you'll beat them all up to your heart's content, then go on your pilgrimage and earn yourself a proper identity.

And leave me behind in the Heavenly Court to be settled with afterward.

Wukong blinked, then readily changed his form of address.

"Little... Su. Then shall we go now?"

But Su Yuan slowly shook his head.

"Not yet."

Wukong's monkey face tightened.

"What? Has something changed? Are you really treating me like a monkey to be toyed with?"

"No, no."

Su Yuan waved a hand and began spinning his tale again.

"Great Sage, think carefully. You and those six Great Sages are sworn brothers who bowed to Heaven and Earth, drank blood in oath, and became brothers of the golden orchid. Now that you have found a path to success, if you leave just like that and abandon the six of them in the lower realm, what will others say? Won't they curse Sun Wukong for betraying his word and abandoning righteousness, coveting wealth and rank, and selling out his brothers?"

Those words struck straight at Wukong's heart. He immediately grew hesitant, scratching his ears and cheeks.

"To tell you the truth, Little Su, Old Sun has been thinking about this these past three days too, and it's been weighing heavily on my heart! All my brothers have treated me very well, yet I... sigh! But I truly can't bring myself to say it! Since ancient times, loyalty and righteousness have been hard to fulfill together. Master told me to go to the Heavenly Court, so I..."

Seeing that the iron was hot, Su Yuan immediately pressed on.

"In that case, how about I sound them out for you? I don't know them personally, so some things may actually be easier for me to say."

Wukong's eyes lit up.

"Oh? How do we do it?"

Su Yuan leaned closer and whispered a whole string of this and that, and that and this.

The more Wukong listened, the brighter his eyes became. At last, he could not help breaking into a delighted grin.

"Hehe, brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Interesting! Too interesting!"

By nature, he loved bustle and fun. This scheme felt as though it had scratched him right where he itched, and he agreed at once.

But then a small doubt arose in his mind.

"Why do you need me to transform you? Couldn't you just turn into me yourself? Didn't Master teach you the Seventy-Two Transformations?"

Su Yuan's face darkened.

How would I know that? All this cultivation of mine was bought with money!

I can't learn spells! I'm afraid of pain when it comes to body cultivation!

I'm a complete fraud, brother!

Naturally, none of that could be spoken aloud.

Su Yuan could only cough twice, his gaze drifting away.

Seeing his awkwardness, Wukong immediately understood that he had misspoken. He hurriedly patted his own mouth.

"My apologies. Listen to this rotten mouth of mine! I nearly forgot that your innate foundation is utterly terrible, and you can't learn anything."

With that, he formed a hand seal, blew out a breath of immortal qi, and shouted, "Transform!" Su Yuan immediately became the very image of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven—furry-faced, thunder-god-mouthed, and awe-inspiring.

Wukong himself gave his body a shake, transformed into a tiny insect, and burrowed into Su Yuan's ear to hide.

Inside Water-Curtain Cave, the fumes of wine filled the air, and the fragrance of meat wafted everywhere.

The six demon sages—Bull Devil King, Flood Demon King, Roc Demon King, Lion-Camel King, Macaque King, and Rong Monkey King—were drinking merrily.

Then they saw Sun Wukong stride boldly to the seat of honor and plop himself down. Without saying a word, he hooked up a jar of wine with his foot, tore off its seal, and gulped it down with loud swallows before violently smashing the jar to the ground.

With a sharp crash, shards flew everywhere. The lively banquet instantly fell silent, and every gaze turned toward him.

"Brothers!"

Sun Wukong's face was gloomy, his voice heavy with grief.

"There is a traitor among us! Someone accepted the Heavenly Court's terms and was bestowed the title of Great Sage by the Heavenly Court, equal in rank to the Four Emperors! Before long, he will ascend to Heaven and enjoy its comforts!"

The demon sages' breathing quickened. They knew the Heavenly Court had come to recruit them, but no one had said the terms would be this generous!

What did it mean to stand equal to the Four Emperors?

Everyone else was doing perfectly well. Why did you get to prosper?

Meanwhile, the real Wukong hidden in his ear anxiously shouted through secret voice transmission.

"Senior Brother! This is your strategy? You're flipping the table right from the start?!"

Su Yuan replied by secret transmission, his tone calm.

"I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious yet."

Seeing "Sun Wukong" angered so rarely, the six Great Sages could neither make sense of the situation nor risk being mistaken by the other demon kings for traitors. They hurriedly spoke over one another to clear their names.

Great Sage Moving Mountains, Lion-Camel King, spoke first.

"Seventh Brother, you know me. If the Heavenly Court's Pacification Recruitment Team had come to me, none of them would have left alive."

Great Sage Driving Away Gods, Rong Monkey King, gave a sinister smile.

"Seventh Brother, you know me. If I had betrayed you, I would have handled it in absolute secrecy. Not a whisper would have reached your ears."

Roc Demon King said in a shrill voice,

"Seventh Brother, you know me. My great-grandfather was the biological younger brother of Buddha-Mother Peacock Great King Bodhisattva, the Golden-Winged Roc! I... am commonly known as 'fourth-generation Buddha.' There's no need for me to accept the Heavenly Court's recruitment."

Sun Wukong listened in silence, then let out a faint sigh and picked up another wine jar to pour himself a bowl.

"I think I understand now, brothers. Every one of you possesses extraordinary abilities."

Then his tone shifted, and he appeared deeply worried.

"Precisely because of that, I must urge you all! We Seven Great Sages must twist ourselves into a single rope! Advance and retreat together! We absolutely cannot give the Heavenly Court a chance to divide us!"

He slammed a hand onto the table.

"That Heavenly Court envoy has now offered an extremely generous reward! The only condition is that we temporarily withdraw our demon troops and temporarily relinquish the title of Great Sage, giving them a way to save face!"

Everyone's breathing quickened again.

"I urge you all to keep your eyes open! Do not, under any circumstances, contact the Heavenly Court's recruitment delegation in private!

"And do not privately contact the recruitment envoy Su Yuan either. His spiritual communication code is: 9527814955! Everyone, be sure not to write it down or call it.

"Still less should you go to that nameless valley three hundred li east of Flower-Fruit Mountain!

"That Heavenly Court envoy is incomparably crafty. Fearing that you might have misgivings or find yourselves too embarrassed to show your faces, he specially set up an array there to conceal all traces! I hear that once you enter, no one can probe your true identity or the contents of your conversation! Utterly despicable! His intentions deserve condemnation! We must not fall for it!"

When he finished speaking, the entire Water-Curtain Cave became terrifyingly quiet.

The Great Sages' eyes flickered, each harboring different thoughts.

Wukong listened from inside his ear, dumbfounded.

"Senior Brother, aren't you plainly telling them where to go, who to find, and how to contact him?!"

Then Wukong suddenly came to a realization.

"Senior Brother, I understand. You want to recruit those six so I won't feel so guilty, right?"

"Senior Brother, you're too good to me. But we Seven Great Sages swore brotherhood so that we could fight the Heavenly Court to the bitter end! Even if all six of them are exterminated, they will never accept a single grain of salary from the Heavenly Court!"

Su Yuan secretly transmitted his voice, his tone unfathomably profound.

"When Heaven sends rain, and when a mother marries off her daughter, let them go."