The fragrance of wine drifted through the cave abode.
Gu Changqing lay askew on a slab of bluestone, cradling the Wine God Gourd. Yet a profound gleam, imperceptible to others, flickered in his hazy, drunken eyes.
His gaze pierced layer upon layer of space, still fixed in the direction of Western Spirit Mountain.
The Sky-Mending Stone hovered quietly before the Great Thunderclap Temple.
Buddhist School disciples sat around it, reciting scriptures, their Buddhist chants drifting through the air in a scene of solemn devotion.
Zhunti stood in the distance with his palms pressed together, his eyes brimming with anticipation.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the "ancient being" within that stone to awaken its intelligence, emerge into the world, and become a pillar of the Buddhist School as soon as possible.
But Gu Changqing knew that what Zhunti awaited would not be some gentle, obedient Buddhist School disciple.
It would be an untamable monkey who feared neither heaven nor earth and dared to punch a hole through the sky.
"Heh heh..."
Gu Changqing chuckled, shook his head, and took another great swig of wine.
"The other three..."
He murmured to himself, his voice exceedingly soft, seven parts drunkenness and three parts amusement.
"The Stone Monkey of Numinous Wisdom is already in the Buddhist School. Where are the Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey, the Long-Armed Ape, and the Six-Eared Macaque now?"
In Zhunti's view, what gestated within the Sky-Mending Stone was merely a wisp of life entrusted there by some unknown ancient being, which accounted for its exceptional innate foundation and astonishing talent.
But Gu Changqing knew better than anyone exactly what kind of being was gestating within it.
He was no ordinary ancient being.
He was the Stone Monkey of Numinous Wisdom, one of the Four Mischievous Monkeys.
And the origins of the