No one dared interfere, and no one dared provoke them. Seeing the various powers gathering in Spirit Vine City, the Heavenly Court naturally dared not provoke Spirit Vine City either.
And so, in the blink of an eye, five hundred years drifted by, and the event that would most profoundly reshape the balance of power in the Three Realms-the Journey to the West-began.
Five hundred years passed in a flash. During those five centuries, Spirit Stones underwent an explosive boom in the Three Realms, which accumulated enormous quantities of them.
Spirit Stones truly became the hard currency of the Primordial World, and the Three Realms entered an economic age.
That day, as evening approached, two figures came from the east. One was a monk riding a horse; the other was a monkey carrying a staff over his shoulder and leading the horse.
They were none other than Tang Monk and Sun Wukong.
The monkey said, "Master, it's getting late. There's a temple ahead. Shall we stay there for the night?"
"Wukong, this is a monastery, the Guanyin Monastery. Let us lodge here. I vowed to pay my respects at every temple I encountered. Let's go inside!"
The monk immediately dismounted and knocked on the gates of the Guanyin Monastery. Soon, several young monks came out and invited Tang Monk and Sun Wukong inside.
The two lodged there that night. During the night, however, Sun Wukong heard a tremendous crash from the distant mountains.
Sun Wukong woke at once.
"What was that sound? Well, I'll go take a look!"
Sun Wukong glanced at his sleeping master, then rode a cloud straight toward the distant Black Wind Mountain, where the noise had come from.
Not long after Sun Wukong left, the old monk of the Guanyin Monastery arrived at Tang Monk's quarters