Lingxiao Palace.
A Cloud Mirror formed from magic power floated before the Great Heavenly Venerable, bringing every detail of Guanjiangkou into view.
Within the image.
A hundred-foot-high Rice Mountain, a hundred-foot-high Flour Mountain, and the Mysterious Yellow Fine-Gold Lock.
The chicken clucked, and the dog panted.
Years ago, when Sun Wukong escorted Tang Sanzang on the Journey to the West, they passed through Fengxian County. The Marquis of Fengxian County, ignorant of the rules, overturned the offering table and fed the Great Heavenly Venerable's tributes to a dog.
In his wrath, the Great Heavenly Venerable established the Three Rules in Pixiang Hall: the chicken must eat the Rice Mountain, the dog must lick away the Flour Mountain, and the lamp must burn through the golden lock.
On a smaller scale, this was punishment.
On a grander scale, it was a supreme truth of the Heavenly Dao.
Cultivators sought to follow Heaven's will. If Heaven deemed you worthy, even the Hundred Thousand Mountains before you could crumble in a single morning. If Heaven deemed you unworthy, you were defying its will, and three mountains alone would stand like bronze walls and iron ramparts.
Even the Great Sage Equal to Heaven could not hope to budge them an inch.
Back then, the Heavenly Court had refused to grant Fengxian County any face, so the monkey could not resolve the matter.
Now, Yang Jian was refusing to grant the Heavenly Court any face. He had taken the trials his uncle once used to make things difficult for mortals and presented them, unchanged, to the imperial envoy his uncle had sent down. He had not even altered the questions.
"Erlang." The Great Heavenly Venerable shook his head and let out a long sigh.
His nephew's temper was exactly as it had been back then.