On Spirit Mountain.
Inside a room, two bigwigs sat: one was Buddha, and the other was Patriarch Bodhi.
“The matter you spoke of, I have already instructed Guanyin to handle it.
The Lingming Stone Monkey will be born five hundred years late, and we cannot let him waste several hundred years staying on Flower-Fruit Mountain.”
“Therefore, I will arrange for people to prompt the Stone Monkey to go to Square Inch Mountain to learn skills, ensuring he arrives at Square Inch Mountain within three years.”
Patriarch Bodhi listened to Buddha’s words, nodded, and felt relieved.
The Stone Monkey was five hundred years late, so now, they needed to quickly get the Stone Monkey into the routine: start learning skills, wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace, be suppressed, be rescued, and embark on the journey to the west.
“That’s good then.
I’ll go back and wait quietly.”
Patriarch Bodhi nodded and then left directly.
Originally, Patriarch Bodhi came to find Buddha because he felt that since the Stone Monkey was born five hundred years late, all matters needed to be expedited, otherwise, any unforeseen changes would be troublesome.
At this moment, Sun Wukong, busy cultivating in Water Curtain Cave, had no idea that these two shameless individuals had already begun to accelerate their plans for him.
In the journey to the west, the Stone Monkey enjoyed himself on Flower-Fruit Mountain for three to five hundred years.
Only after seeing Old Monkeys continuously die and realizing that he too would eventually die, did he seek a master to learn the art of immortality.
But now, Buddha and Patriarch Bodhi clearly would not give Sun Wukong the chance to enjoy himself; they were preparing to make him seek a master as soon as possible.
…
Early the next morning, Sun Wukong was still cultivating when he heard a group of monkeys shouting loudly.
“Come quickly, the Monkey King has passed away!”
“Everyone wake up, the Monkey King has passed away!”
“Come quickly!”
“Oh, Monkey King, why did you leave so suddenly?
You were only Monkey King for one day…”
Sun Wukong heard the commotion and came out of his secluded cave.
Among the group of monkeys, some were sad, some were in tears, and there were even monkeys stirring, wanting to become the second Handsome Monkey King.
Monkeys kept arriving from various places, all looking bewildered.
How could he just suddenly pass away like that?
Sun Wukong also felt strange.
It couldn’t be such a coincidence, could it?
After thinking for a moment, Sun Wukong walked forward to examine him but found nothing amiss.
There were no injuries on the Old Monkey’s body; he had passed away quite peacefully.
Another Old Monkey, seeing the suspicious looks on the faces of the other monkeys, spoke up, “Everyone, don’t overthink it.
Monkey Flute simply reached the end of his normal lifespan.”
As he spoke, the Old Monkey explained, “Like us, we are all around three hundred years old and could pass away at any time.
Don’t be sad, everyone.”
Only then did Sun Wukong realize that this tool monkey was named Monkey Flute.
However, these were clearly not Sun Wukong’s concerns.
Regardless of whether the Old Monkey died or what to do after he died, he had little interest in being the Monkey King.
It was better to continue cultivating.
After a night of effort, Sun Wukong had successfully evolved one cell to the Earth Immortal level.
In other words, Sun Wukong’s strength was now Earth Immortal × 2.
Sun Wukong felt that at this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he could flatten Buddha’s lumpy head.
Just as Sun Wukong was about to leave, a monkey suddenly pulled him.
“What do you want?”
Sun Wukong looked at the other party with some confusion.
Sun Wukong found this monkey a bit strange.
Logically speaking, besides the four spiritual monkeys, Sun Wukong felt nothing special about the other monkeys.
Sun Wukong had met and confirmed all four spiritual monkeys last night.
They were four monkeys with human-like features.
The two Red-Bottomed Horse Monkeys were the two female monkeys who gave him bananas and peaches.
The one who brought him bananas was called Big Monkey, and the other was Little Monkey.
The other two were the Through-Arm Apes called in by the monkey group from other places; they were already somewhat older.
One was called Through-Arm Monkey, and the other was Old Monkey.
However, the monkey currently holding him, although not as human-like as the spiritual monkeys, Sun Wukong still found him very strange no matter how he looked at him.
“What are you going to do?” the monkey holding Sun Wukong asked.
Sun Wukong said with a calm expression, “Go back to sleep.
It’s still so early; what else would I do besides sleep?”
After speaking, Sun Wukong turned and left.
He truly returned to his secluded cave and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.
Of course, he wasn’t really sleeping but entering cultivation.
Sun Wukong’s cultivation was like normal sleep: relaxing his body, with his divine consciousness roaming within his body.
His divine consciousness inside his body was like being in a vast universe, where each cell resembled a star.
In this sea of stars, he used his cultivation and magic power to activate, strengthen, and evolve each star, which meant each cell.
Ahem, the monkey who pulled Sun Wukong was certainly not an ordinary monkey.
It was Guanyin in disguise, whose purpose was to accelerate Sun Wukong’s desire for power and immortality, inciting him to quickly become the Monkey King and seek a master to learn skills.
At this moment, Guanyin was speechless.
The Monkey King had died, and the next step should definitely be to elect the next Monkey King.
Why was this Stone Monkey so unconcerned?
When the first Monkey King died, the monkeys simply dug a shallow pit and buried him.
Next, several Old Monkeys discussed with the crowd of monkeys how to elect the next Handsome Monkey King.
If it were before, perhaps an election wouldn’t be necessary.
Now, with over a thousand monkeys gathered in Water Curtain Cave, without a Monkey King to lead them, it would definitely descend into chaos.
“Who do you think should be our next Monkey King?”
The monkeys listened to one of the Old Monkeys, scratching their ears and cheeks, unsure of what to do.
“I think we should still follow the previous method: whoever can jump up from below in one leap will be our new Handsome Monkey King.”
The one who made this suggestion, without a doubt, was the monkey transformed by Guanyin.
“Good, I think that’s acceptable.”
Listening to Guanyin’s words, Big Monkey, who had brought Sun Wukong earlier, seconded the motion.
“This…”
Several Old Monkeys looked at each other, somewhat troubled.
The Water Curtain Cave waterfall was so high; it was doubtful if anyone in their monkey group could even jump up there.
Many monkeys who were preparing to challenge for the Monkey King position felt somewhat disheartened upon hearing this.
They truly didn’t have the ability to jump up.
“Do you think anyone can do it?”
An Old Monkey asked Big Monkey.
“I think that Stone Monkey can.
We can let him try,” Big Monkey strongly supported Sun Wukong.
Perhaps she was still infatuated with Sun Wukong’s body.
“Stone Monkey?”
“Who is that?
Come out and let us see?”
Some of the later monkeys, hearing the name Stone Monkey, felt a bit strange; they didn’t recognize him.
Guanyin, beside Big Monkey, felt somewhat pleased.
This Big Monkey was good at adding to the conversation; she didn’t even need to say much herself.
“Stone Monkey…
he’s not here.
I’ll go call him over.
You all wait a moment, okay!” Big Monkey said a few words and then ran off to find Sun Wukong.
The monkeys watched Big Monkey go to call someone, shaking their heads, feeling it wasn’t very reliable.
Sun Wukong, who was cultivating in the cave, was interrupted by Big Monkey.
Before he could even ask, Big Monkey pulled him out and ran off.