Ao Shun went with Gu Hai’s group, leaving Shi Zhenzi and Elder Lin goggling for a long time at Ao Shun Palace’s entrance.
“What’s going on? What’s going on?” Shocked and enraged, the two flew into the sea.
——
A large island lay in the sea to the west of the Divine Continent. This island was lush, with many flowers and fruits. There were also many monkeys gamboling on the island.
On a mountain was a waterfall with a cave behind it. As various monkeys went in and out of that cave, they did not seem very happy.
Just then, an old monk wearing a kāṣāya entered. He had a wrinkled, benevolent-looking face and was rather skinny.
“How has the Victorious Fighting Buddha been recently?” the old monk asked one of the monkeys.
“The great king has been sitting on the large rock on the summit. He does not play with us anymore. I have no idea, Past Buddha!” one of the monkeys replied respectfully.
This old man was the Past Buddha of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s Three Lives Buddhas.
The Past Buddha raised his head to look at the nearby rock on the summit.
Sun Wukong, whom Gu Hai had summoned with the ritual array, sat on that rock.
Wearing armor with a red cape fluttering in the wind, Sun Wukong held a green foxtail between its teeth as it gazed at the distant sea with a vacant expression of melancholy.
[TL Note: A green foxtail is a species of grass. Here is the Wikipedia entry on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setaria_viridis.]
The Past Buddha stepped forward and instantly appeared beside Sun Wukong. “Amitābha, the handsome monkey king of Flower and Fruit Mountain’s Water Curtain Cave, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Victorious Fighting Buddha, Sun Wukong, what are you thinking about?”
Sun Wukong did not even bother looking at the Past Buddha.
“Old deaf man, can you even hear what I say? Are you Three Lives Buddhas all disabled? A deaf man, a mute, and a blind man?” Sun Wukong said disdainfully.
“This humble monk might be deaf, but I can listen with my heart,” the Past Buddha said with a faint smile.
“Tsk! So you can hear. Why pretend to be deaf? How ridiculous!” Sun Wukong ignored the earlier question.
“Victorious Fighting Buddha, do you find this Flower and Fruit Mountain comfortable? If you have any other needs, you can tell me,” the Past Buddha said with a faint smile.
“It’s all fake. What is comfortable about this? You were the one who arranged for these monkeys here. To monitor me? Heh! This Old Sun can’t be bothered to play with them. How ridiculous!” Sun Wukong said impatiently, spitting out the green foxtail in its mouth.
“Back then, when Victorious Fighting Buddha barged into the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s Hall of Great Strength, the Lord Buddha was merciful. He not only pardoned you of all crimes but even installed you as the Victorious Fighting Buddha. What else is Victorious Fighting Buddha dissatisfied with?” the Past Buddha asked with a smile.
“Ptooey! All Gautamas are the same. Humph! I was tricked by Gautama previously. He made me stay just to trick me into speaking,” Sun Wukong sneered.
“Gautamas? There is another Gautama? Victorious Fighting Buddha, where did you see Gautama?” The Past Buddha eyed Sun Wukong with curiosity.
Sun Wukong suddenly turned his head to look at the Past Buddha. “Hehehe! Past Buddha, are you trying to trick me too?”
The Past Buddha said with a faint, bitter smile, “Victorious Fighting Buddha is now a part of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land. There is no need to hide any information on buddhas, right?”
“There is no need to hide? Then, are you willing to lend me the treasures of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land to play with for some time?” Sun Wukong sneered.
“What do you want?” the Past Buddha asked after some thought.
“The Nine-Petaled Golden Lotus, the Reincarnation Pool, and the Eight Direction Glazed Lamp. How about it?” Sun Wukong replied with a smile.
The Past Buddha said with a faint, bitter smile, “It would not be a problem had it been other items. However, these are among the top sixteen ancient treasures, the foundational treasures of my Spirit Mountain Holy Land.”
“If you are not lending them, then just say so. What is the point of all this nonsense? Shoo! Shoo! Don’t bother me!” Sun Wukong waved his hand to dismiss his guest.
The Past Buddha sighed softly and nodded. “Victorious Fighting Buddha, the Lord Buddha and I just want to help you. However, how can we help you if you don’t tell us the situation?”
“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!” Sun Wukong waved impatiently.
The Past Buddha sighed softly and flew into the distance.
Whoosh!
The Past Buddha flew off in the blink of an eye. Soon, he landed at the entrance of an extremely majestic palace hall. This hall was called the Hall of Great Strength.
Many monks walked around in the surroundings of the Hall of Great Strength.
At this moment, a group of monks surrounded two figures in the plaza’s center. One was the golden-robed Present Buddha; the other was a woman wearing white muslin clothes.
“Lord Buddha, that Sun Wukong is as tight-lipped as before, refusing to say anything, so we need to go back to the source of this. Should we question Gu Hai?” the Past Buddha asked with a frown.
The Present Buddha frowned slightly. “The brutish monkey staying here is a good thing. Don’t push too hard. He will speak eventually.”
“Lord Buddha, I think we should just use force. He will submit after we use the Bang-Tightening Incantation,” the white-clad woman said with a frown.
[TL Note: In Journey to the West, Tang Sanzang was given a golden circlet to place on Sun Wukong to control Sun Wukong should it get too unruly. When the Bang-Tightening Incantation was chanted, the circlet would tighten, causing Sun Wukong immense pain.]
“Don’t!” the Present Buddha said seriously.
The Present Buddha’s mouth had not moved, but a deep voice had still rung out.
“Oh?” the white-clad woman said in puzzlement.
The Past Buddha said with a bitter smile, “Nan Longnu, you normally resided in the Southern Sea’s Purple Bamboo Forest and did not see this brutish monkey wreaking havoc in the Spirit Mountain Holy Land. It is short-tempered. The more we force it, the more it will resist. It would rather die than submit. However, it is someone who differentiates between gratitude and grudges. If not for the Lord Buddha using a benevolent method to deal with it, installing it as the Victorious Fighting Buddha, who knows what would happen? This monkey carries the Dao in it, and its Buddhist cultivation technique is bizarre. However, it seems greedy for empty glory. We managed to deal with the situation using that. We cannot use force.”
Nan Longnu frowned slightly. “This means we can only work on the Gu Hai angle?” f.f2d1895
“There’s no rush. Old Mister Guan Qi’s Revival Convention will take place in less than a year. We will see Gu Hai then. Let’s work on Sun Wukong first.” The Past Buddha shook his head.
“Alright!” Nan Longnu nodded.
——
At the same time, Sun Wukong looked towards the distant sea from the Flower and Fruit Mountain’s summit, showing a faint sneer.
“The Purple Bamboo Forest? Nan Longnu? Haha! Why is there no Bodhisattva Guanyin? Is there no Bodhisattva Guanyin in this world? Did Nan Longnu replace her? However, that makes sense. This world is truly strange. They are just a bunch of old baldies, and they want to trick me? This Old Sun has countless monkey followers. Back then, I once made a sworn brother, the Six-Ears Macaque. Six-Ears has a skill that can listen in to anywhere in the three realms. Although this great me did not completely master that skill, it is more than sufficient to listen in on you baldies,” Sun Wukong sneered.
“Hah…I wonder if my sworn brothers tried to find me or not,” Sun Wukong sighed.
Sun Wukong did not know that after it vanished, its sworn brothers had tried to find it. Unfortunately, the Six-Ears Macaque transformed into it and replaced it in an attempt to find it, manipulated by Earth’s Gautama.
“This Old Sun is greedy for false glory? Heh! Baldies are baldies. This Old Sun remained here just to use your Spirit Mountain Holy Land to help me figure out what is going on. You receive new information every day. Do you think that I don’t hear it? I just need to leak some minor information, and you go all out in investigating it. Hehehehe! The two Gautamas are the same, all not good things, so don’t blame me for it!” Sun Wukong sneered.
Sun Wukong showed a melancholy expression as he sat on the large rock.
Flap! Flap!
Suddenly, a bat flew over to Sun Wukong from a forest.
“Hah!”
Sun Wukong yelled in fun, trying to scare the bat away.
However, the bat did not seem to fear Sun Wukong, circling it and landing on its hand.
Shortly after the bat landed, it flitted away.
Sun Wukong frowned slightly, tightly clenching its fist and watching the bat vanish slowly from sight.
The monkey king opened its right hand only after a while. A note lay on that palm. Sun Wukong read the first line of that note, and its expression suddenly changed.
“Miniature Spiritual Platform Mountain, Tilting Moon Tristar Cave.”
Upon seeing these words, Sun Wukong nearly stood up. This is…? Excitement flashed in its eyes. This was the residence of its master, Ancestor Puti. It had never told anyone about it.
Then, it continued reading.
“You are being monitored. Carefully avoid them and find me on an island filled with black rocks about one million five hundred thousand kilometers to the north.”
Crunch!
Sun Wukong immediately crushed the note into powder and continued staring at the sea.
After looking for a while, it stretched and walked down the mountain.
A group of monkeys rushed over eagerly. “Great King! Great King! Your followers have choreographed a dance. Shall we dance it for Great King to see?!”
“There’s no need! I want to rest for a while. No one is permitted to disturb me!” Sun Wukong said indifferently.
“Oh! Oh!” The monkeys nodded.
Sun Wukong stepped into the Water Curtain Cave and settled in a room to sleep. The other monkeys did not dare to approach.
After the monkeys left, Sun Wukong extended its hand and tapped the air, turning a rock into its appearance. Then, it transformed into a mosquito and flew out, leaving Flower and Fruit Mountain and the island.
After leaving Flower and Fruit Mountain, Sun Wukong recovered its original appearance. Anxiety flashed across its face as it somersaulted, traveling nine thousand kilometers in a moment. It continued somersaulting, quickly heading north.
There was excitement amid its anxiety. It felt like it had finally found home.
Sun Wukong found that black rock island not long later. Then, it called out anxiously, “Master, is that you? Master!”
However, Ancestor Puti did not appear. Instead, four black-cloaked men walked out from a cluster of rocks.
The leader removed his hood and smiled faintly. “Great Sage Equal to Heaven, it has been a long time!”
“It’s you? Gu Hai?” Sun Wukong raised its eyebrows and glared.
“It’s me. This place is near the Spirit Mountain Holy Land. Although you sneaked out, something unexpected might happen. How about we find somewhere else to chat?” Gu Hai suggested.
Sun Wukong stared at Gu Hai for a while, remaining wary. Although it did not feel much threat from Gu Hai, Gu Hai had rescued it from Five Fingers Mountain. That itself represented a threat. That was why Sun Wukong never sought out Gu Hai to ask him about its situation.
“Let’s go, then!” Gu Hai called out.
“Humph!” Sun Wukong snorted coldly but did not object.
Find the original at bit.ly/3Tfs4P4.
The group quickly left the island, flying towards the shore on the other side. Soon, they arrived at an extremely isolated forest where Gu Hai had erected a pavilion shelter.
Gu Hai landed in the pavilion shelter with the other three black-cloaked men. However, Sun Wukong suddenly emitted a golden light from its eyes, scanning the surroundings.
“The Fiery Golden Eyes? Hah! Rest assured, I did not lay any ritual arrays here,” Gu Hai said indifferently.
