Chapter 56: Becoming an Official in Heaven?

And on this very day,
Within the heavenly court, at the Hall of Miraculous Mist.
"Report! The Ten Kings of Hell request an audience."
"Report! The Dragon King of the East China Sea requests an audience."
"Report! The Dragon King of the West China Sea requests an audience..."
One announcement after another echoed through the entire celestial palace.
"Let them enter,"
a celestial attendant proclaimed in a clear voice.
Immediately following this, amidst the astonished gazes of numerous figures, the Ten Kings of Hell, the Dragon King of the East China Sea, the Dragon King of the West China Sea, and others stepped forward together, as if they had agreed upon it beforehand.
"To what do I owe this visit?"
inquired the figure seated high above in the vault of heaven.
The Ten Kings of Hell exchanged glances, and finally, King Qin Guang stepped forward and said,
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Handsome Monkey King of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit relied on his divine powers to wreak havoc in the Underworld, and even tore up the Register of Life and Death."
Upon hearing this, the assembled immortals were startled.
Especially certain immortal officials, whose brows twitched visibly.
Wreak havoc in the Underworld?
Are they serious?
Even Erlang Shen, the God of War of the Heavenly Court nowadays, would hardly dare to claim he could 'wreak havoc in the Underworld,' would he?
With that unfathomable 'Great Emperor' residing there, not to mention the Bodhisattva who vowed, 'If hell is not emptied, I shall not attain Buddhahood.'
Added to the boundless foundation accumulated by the Underworld over countless years, the number of its ghost immortals was simply incalculable.
And yet now, the Ten Kings of Hell were actually claiming that someone had 'wreaked havoc in the Underworld'?
Before the Ten Kings of Hell could continue, however, the Dragon King of the East China Sea suddenly cried out in grievance:
"Your Majesty, you must seek justice for my dragon palace! That neighbor of mine, the Handsome Monkey King, relying on his divine powers, forcibly seized our East China Sea Dragon Palace's supreme treasure, the Ocean-Pacifying Divine Iron. Now that the East China Sea has lost the divine iron, the entire ocean is in turmoil, triggering raging tsunamis that harass the mortal realm."

...
Meanwhile, had the Handsome Monkey King been present here, his eyes would surely have widened in utter disbelief.
You old dragon king, didn't you say this Ruyi Jingu Bang was just a piece of scrap iron?
Didn't you say that anyone who could lift it was welcome to take it?

...
Listening quietly, the many immortal officials could not help but exchange glances.
Most of them, however, cast their gazes toward the figure suspended high above the vault of heaven.
He was majestic and solemn,
resembling a supreme emperor standing above the nine heavens.
And this was none other than the Jade Emperor, the Supreme High Heaven Enlightened Sovereign.
"Since a rebellious monkey is causing chaos, he naturally ought to be suppressed."
The Jade Emperor's face remained expressionless as he looked toward Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and continued,
"Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, lead the heavenly soldiers and generals..."
Before the Jade Emperor could finish speaking, a white-bearded figure hurriedly stepped out.
"Your Majesty, you must not."
"Oh? Why must I not?"
asked the Jade Emperor.
"Our Heavenly Court should uphold the benevolent virtue of nurturing and creation, and furthermore, we need to gather immortals through proper ways."
"Consider how, when the stone monkey was born, it shook the Heavenly Court; presumably, it is bound by fate to our Heavenly Court."

"Why not offer him an amnesty instead?"

...
At these words, all the immortals fell silent.
It was not that they did not wish to speak.
Rather, they dared not.
This was Taibai Jinxing,
the Jade Emperor's trusted confidant and a disciple of Lord Laozi himself.
His status was incomparably noble.
To a certain extent, his intentions represented the intentions of the Jade Emperor, and represented the intentions of Lord Laozi.
"My esteemed ministers, do you have any thoughts on this?"
The Jade Emperor looked toward the gathered immortals and asked.
"..."
The air seemed to plunge into a deathly stillness.
"Since that is the case, we shall follow Taibai's suggestion."
As these words fell, the Jade Emperor turned his gaze to the Dragon King of the North China Sea.
"My minister, to what do I owe this visit? Could it be that you, too, are here because of the Handsome Monkey King?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I am not here because of the Handsome Monkey King."
The Dragon King of the North China Sea stepped forward and respectfully said,
"My presence today is entirely on account of my rebellious son—the Flood Dragon King. He..."

...
Yu Qiye knew nothing of affairs in the heavens.
Yet he was well aware that the day of parting from the Handsome Monkey King was drawing near.
"Once he leaves this time, it will be over a decade. When he returns, he will be the renowned 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven'."
A trace of anticipation appeared on Yu Qiye's face.
As for the post of Protector of the Horses, it went without saying.
That would become an eternal pain in the Monkey King's heart.
In the future, you could call him a 'macaque' or a 'peevish monkey,' and he would not care.
But if you dared call him 'Protector of蔚the Horses,' he would truly fly into a rage with you.
"Serving as the Protector of the Horses brought him no benefits whatsoever; only when he became the Great Sage Equal to Heaven did he truly go wild."
At this thought, Yu Qiye's eyes flickered uncontrollably.
He had to seize that opportunity.
If he grasped it, he would truly soar to great heights in the true sense of the word.
However, how was he to grasp it?
"To successfully steal the flat peaches and acquire the celestial pills, I must go together with the Handsome Monkey King."
"That is to say, the next time the Handsome Monkey King ascends to heaven will be the time I ascend to heaven as well."
"Not only that, I must also evade the Demon-Revealing Mirror at the South Tian Gate..."
Yu Qiye began to ponder.
He had never been to the South Tian Gate.
Yet he had heard Old Brother Bull Demon King mention that two magical treasures were hung upon the South Tian Gate.
One was the Demon-Slaying Saber.
The other was the Demon-Revealing Mirror.
The Demon-Slaying Saber was relatively easy to deal with,
as it was an offensive treasure.
Since Yu Qiye was not forcefully breaching the Heavenly Court, he naturally had no need to consider this magical item.
The Demon-Revealing Mirror, however, was entirely different.
This mirror was like a high-power, long-range radar, capable of monitoring the activities of all living creatures within a vast expanse of space.
In the future, when Sun悟空 clashed with Erlang Shen, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King held high the Demon-Revealing Mirror, leaving the Monkey King with nowhere to hide.
Even when the Monkey King tried to escape in an invisible state, he failed to evade the tracking and monitoring of the Demon-Revealing Mirror.
"If I can bypass this Demon-Revealing Mirror and sneak into the Heavenly Court, then the matter is more than half accomplished."
Yet, just as Yu Qiye was pondering these things, his brow suddenly twitched.
This monkey had come again.
"You truly cannot stay idle for a moment,"
Yu Qiye sighed inwardly.
"No, no."
The Handsome Monkey King waved his hands repeatedly and then said,
"Old Sun has come this time to bid you farewell."
"How so?"
Yu Qiye feigned astonishment.
"I never expected that after I wreaked havoc in the Underworld, the Heavenly Court would actually invite me up to heaven to serve as an official."
The Handsome Monkey King looked somewhat smug.
Ascending to heaven was an extremely extraordinary matter for the vast majority of living beings.
It was equivalent to passing the imperial examinations in his past life.
And it wasn't just an ordinary iron rice bowl or silver rice bowl;
it was firmly a golden rice bowl.
Therefore, even after hearing Taibai Jinxing say that he would be 'allowed to go to heaven to serve as an official,' the Monkey King's face had beamed with joy.
"Viewed in this light, this Heavenly Court is truly not bad."
Yu Qiye exclaimed, deliberately and outwardly revealing a trace of envy in his words.
The Monkey King chuckled, then stepped closer to Yu Qiye and lowered his voice:
"Brother Crow, just wait. Old Sun will go up to heaven first to scout out the situation. If it feels decent, Old Sun will bring you up to serve as an official together later."
"Very well."
Yu Qiye wore a smile, then turned his gaze toward Qingqiu Xue and instructed,
"Go, fetch some of the treasures from the Heavenly Crow Cave and let my monkey brother take them with him."
"This..."
The Handsome Monkey King hesitated to accept.
"Monkey brother, these aren't entirely for you. Serving as an official in heaven is a delicate matter; it values human connections and worldly sophistication, and requires a bit of greasing the wheels."
"If you don't accept these gifts, how will you pave the way for me in the Heavenly Court in the future?"

...
Hearing this, the Handsome Monkey King rolled his eyes, seeming to understand.
"Brother Crow is truly the one who understands these things. No wonder Master always says you are a 'cunning old fox'."
Having said this, the Monkey King seemed to realize he had spoken out of turn and quickly covered his mouth.
He, the Handsome Monkey King, was born of heaven and earth and enlightened by nature.
Where on earth did he have a master?