Setting Out

After Sun Wukong finished doing these things, he put away his stomach and suddenly regretted it, saying, "I was a bit too hasty today. I haven't even asked him his name yet. Oh well."

After thinking about this, Sun Wukong stepped forward, took the challenge letter, hid it in his sleeve, and put the yellow flag and his bronze gong into the roadside bushes.

Just as he was about to kick the little demon away, there was a loud bang, and a wooden plaque appeared at his waist with words written on it.

"My capable henchman, Li Laosan."

Upon seeing this, Sun Wukong burst into laughter, thinking to himself, "So these monsters all have such strange names. Oh well, never mind, I'd better go check out his cave abode first."

After thinking about this, Sun Wukong took off the waist tag and put it on his person.

Then, when Sun Wukong was about to throw the monster down, he suddenly remembered that if he brought it to the palace, he could earn a great merit. Sun Wukong muttered to himself, and after a short while, he arrived at the palace.

Zhu Bajie was sitting quietly in the hall, waiting for the king and Tang Xuanzang. Suddenly, he turned around and saw Sun Wukong returning with a demon. Zhu Bajie thought to himself:

"Sun Wukong can steal all the limelight; I need some too."

Thinking of this, Zhu Bajie raised his Nine-Toothed Rake and smashed it down on the monster's corpse, shouting to Sun Wukong:

"This is all thanks to me."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong looked at Zhu Bajie with a puzzled expression and said, "How can this be attributed to you?"

After hearing what Sun Wukong said, Zhu Bajie resorted to his shameless ways and said to Sun Wukong:

"Don't try to play dumb. I have evidence. Look, I've already punched nine holes in this monster's corpse!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong laughed and said to Zhu Bajie, "Take a look and see if there's a head on top of this?"

Upon hearing Sun Wukong's words, Zhu Bajie immediately looked over. After a short while, Zhu Bajie laughed and said, "So this monster is dead. No wonder he didn't move no matter how much I hit him."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong Zhu Bajie Sun Wukong Zhu Bajie and asked, "Where is Master now?"

Upon hearing what Sun Wukong Zhu Bajie immediately replied, "Master is currently discussing Buddhist teachings and is speaking with the Sun Wukong in the main hall."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong said to Zhu Bajie, "Now call our master out."

Upon hearing Sun Wukong's voice, Tang Xuanzang rose and descended from the hall to meet Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong placed a challenge letter in Tang Xuanzang 'Tang Xuanzang sleeve and said to him:

"Master, please keep all of this safe. Make sure the king doesn't see it, otherwise he'll be living in fear again."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xuanzang nodded to Sun Wukong. At the same time, the king came to Sun Wukong's side and said to Sun Wukong:

"Now that the Holy Monk Elder Sun has arrived, how has the matter of that demon been handled?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong pointed to the monster's corpse and said to the king, "Your Majesty, look, that monster was Sai Taisui's subordinate. I have already killed him."

After hearing what Sun Wukong said, the king stared intently at the monster for a long time before saying to Sun Wukong:

"This is just the corpse of a monster, not Sai Taisui. I have seen him twice in person. He was eight feet tall, with a face that looked like gold, a big and burly man, and his voice was like Lei Zhen as he walked like a whirlwind."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong smiled and said to the king:

"It was the Emperor who recognized him. This wasn't Sai Taisui at all; it was just one of his underlings, a little demon who came to report something. I happened to run into him, so I killed him and brought him back to report my success."

Upon hearing Sun Wukong's words, the king was overjoyed and burst into laughter. He then said to Sun Wukong:

"You deserve the most credit for this. I often sent people to gather information, but none of them came back. You went out and brought one back right away. You're really amazing."

After the king finished speaking, he addressed his subordinates:

"Go and warm up a cup of wine for Great Sage Sun."

Upon hearing the king's words, Sun Wukong quickly stopped him and said:

"Please don't be like this. The drinking is a minor matter, but let me ask you first, do you have a token of love with that Empress?"

Upon hearing this, the king was deeply saddened and clutched his chest, weeping loudly. After a short while, he said to Sun Wukong:

"It would have been better if you hadn't brought this up, but now that you've said it, it makes me feel really uncomfortable."

After hearing the king's words, Sun Wukong looked at him with a puzzled expression and said, "I know you're heartbroken right now, but please don't worry. Is there anything about that queen that's worth identifying?"

"Give me your token of love when the time comes, so I can go find her."

Upon hearing this, the king looked at Sun Wukong with a puzzled expression and asked, "What exactly do you want that thing for?"

After hearing what the king said, Sun Wukong smiled mysteriously at the king and said:

"To tell you the truth, when I was on the road, I discovered that the Demon King was Divine Ability powerful; he could set fire to things and release sand. So I was afraid. When I finally met the Demon King, the empress was terrified of the monster and didn't dare to acknowledge me."

"I've come to ask you for a token of our love. When she sees this token, she'll know that you sent me to rescue her."

After pondering this for a long time, the king slowly said to Sun Wukong:

"If we're talking about tokens of love, then there is one: a gold bracelet in front of a dressing table, which she used to wear regularly."

"But she took it off that morning because she had some things to do, and didn't wear it at all."

The king felt as if his heart was being torn apart after saying this. After calming himself down, he continued speaking to Sun Wukong:

"After he was taken away, I didn't want to see that golden bracelet again. If I did, it would trigger my illness from missing it, and make me even more ill."

After hearing the king's words, Sun Wukong waved his hand dismissively and said to the king:

"Don't say these things now. Have someone retrieve that golden bracelet first. I'll take it to the Empress later."

Upon hearing this, the king immediately ordered his servants to bring out the golden bracelet, which Sun Wukong then quickly slipped onto his arm.

Just as the king was about to ask Sun Wukong to stay and continue drinking, Sun Wukong suddenly rode his Somersault Cloud to Qilin Mountain, showing no interest in the scenery and focusing solely on finding his cave abode.