Chapter 24: Fifty Years of Wind and Rain, Sun Wukong's Taoist Heart Rises

  The sun rises and sets, flowers bloom and wither, another year of Yangchun time has passed. In the blink of an eye, Sun Yuan has been living at the foot of the mountain with a group of monkeys for fifty years. During these fifty years, Sun Yuan truly experienced the life of a monkey.

  His injuries had fully recovered after many years of rest, but because he knew that Sun Wukong's heart to practice Taoism was imminent, Sun Yuan did not return to the mountain to practice.

  On this day, the monkey group was playing in the mountains. Suddenly, a burst of crying sounds came from the other side of the mountain slope. The beautiful Monkey King, who was also competing with Sun Wukong in martial arts, happened to arrive at the scene.

  For this ordinary thing that he usually wouldn't care about, Sun Wukong reacted very strongly. At this time, he jumped out of the battle circle with one hand raised and shouted "What's going on? Who is crying over there?"

  Soon, a monkey came over and whispered a few words in the ear of the gibbon. The gibbon then stepped forward and said, "I report to Your Majesty that it was an old monkey who had died of illness the previous night. The one crying is his son, who cannot bear the pain of losing his father and has burst into tears."

  "Alas!" Sun Wukong was taken aback, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh. "Enough, enough, let's stop here for today. Everyone should do what they need to do. You return to your mountain peak, I'll go back to my Water Curtain Cave, and take a rest!" The Monkey King's face showed a mixture of excitement and worry, with anxious thoughts surging up in his mind.

  "The great king must have some thoughts, don't mind saying it out loud, perhaps everyone can help the great king to relieve a bit!" Sun Yuan's eyes turned, and he felt the progress of the historical wheel, as if the history of Huaguo Mountain should turn to a new page!

  "Alright, brother, you're knowledgeable and experienced, so help me analyze this. The Monkey King gritted his teeth, turned around, and said to Sun Wukong who was listening intently beside him, "Although I'm happy now, I have a lingering concern that's causing me trouble."

  "The great king, please speak." The group of monkeys said, and Sun Yuan also stretched out his hand to gesture for him to continue.

  "I have been thinking day and night about the two great kings' words on freedom, and over the years I have gradually gained insight. Although we seem to be carefree and at ease, today we may not be bound by human laws or intimidated by the power of beasts, but in the future when our blood declines with age, there is the old king Yanluo secretly controlling us. Once we die, will it not be a waste of living in this world, unable to stay long within the realm of heaven and humanity?"

  After hearing this, Sun Yuan didn't say a word. According to the book's records, at this time an old monkey should have come out and spoken up. Although after decades of secret observation, Sun Yuan still hadn't found such a knowledgeable and erudite old monkey, but he couldn't go against what was written in the book. So at this moment, Sun Yuan stopped talking and didn't respond, quietly waiting for the revelation of the mystery.

  Seeing Sun Yuan not speaking, a hint of disappointment flashed in Sun Wukong's eyes. In his heart, if there was anyone else in the monkey group who could tell him the answer, it would be this monkey. Based on his more than 200 years of mountain retreat, Sun Wukong could judge that Sun Yuan was not an ordinary monkey.

  The atmosphere on the scene was a bit dull for a while, and just as Sun Yuan was secretly surprised, an old monkey who was usually unnoticed by anyone pushed open the left three layers and right three layers of monkeys, and walked in with a tremble, instantly attracting the attention of the entire monkey group.

  As soon as the old monkey came out, a hint of contemplation flashed in Sun Yuan's eyes. This old monkey had also investigated and according to his understanding, this monkey should have reached the end of its rope, probably not having many days left to live. At this time, he actually walked out, and Sun Yuan's heart involuntarily moved.

  Looking at the old monkey's demeanor again, Sun Yuan suddenly felt a little enlightened. At this time, the old monkey was no longer in its original dying posture, and his entire body exuded a spiritual energy. To say that it was not just a dying old monkey, but even among all the monkeys on Mount Huaguo, there were only a few who could reach this level of spiritual energy, except for Sun Yuan and other leading monkeys, it can be said that even the strongest and most powerful monkeys did not have this kind of spiritual energy.

  The old monkey soon separated the crowd and came to Sun Wukong, made a bow and said: "If the great king is so farsighted, it's really the opening of the Taoist heart! Now among the five insects, only three are famous for their names and colors, and they do not obey the old boy Yan Wang."

  Sun Yuan's heart moved, and he secretly thought: "A hundred-year-old old monkey from the Huaguo Mountain, how could he know such a secret? It's likely that the original old monkey is already dead, and this one is an imposter." At this point, Sun Yuan was still unsure whether it was the power of the Heavenly Court or the Western faction.

  After hearing the old monkey's words, the beautiful Monkey King was indeed very interested and said: "Do you know those three people? Report them one by one. If what you say is reasonable, I, the great king, will heavily reward you."

  The old monkey nodded his body, although he made a grateful appearance, but in Sun Yuan's eyes, his high and mighty appearance could not be concealed. His acting skills were so bad that they reached the extreme point. It seems that this old monkey was also a person who had been living on others for a long time.

  And without mentioning Sun Yuan's cold eyes watching from the side, he looked at that old monkey, who made a forced gesture, calmed down and said: "It is the Buddha, the immortal, and the sacred three, who escaped the cycle of rebirth, were not born and did not die, and lived as long as heaven, earth, mountains and rivers."

  The Monkey King said, "Where do these three reside?", but his expression revealed a hint of doubt. As one of the four great spirit monkeys, Lingming Stone Monkey didn't know, so why would an ordinary old monkey in the mountain know? At this time, Sun Wukong's mind also rose with a cloud of doubt.

  Beside him, Sun Yuan looked at Sun Wukong's expression and turned his head to look at the old monkey. He wanted to know how the old monkey would explain the beautiful monkey king's doubts later. To say that if the explanation didn't make sense, it was possible that Sun Wukong's newly arisen thread of Taoist heart would die again.

  Only saw the old monkey unhurriedly taking a step forward and saying: "He is only in the Yanfu world, inside the ancient cave mountain."

  At this time, the beautiful monkey king did not have any intention of cheering or jumping for joy. Instead, he took a step forward and shouted loudly, "What are you? How do you know such secret things? Don't tell me you were born knowing it! If you don't give me a satisfactory answer today, humph!" The beautiful monkey king waved his hand, and a group of sturdy monkeys immediately surrounded him.

  Sun Yuan secretly paid attention to the original place and thought "It's coming!"

  Only the old monkey's figure suddenly disappeared, and at the moment when the monkeys were in a panic, a voice came from the sky, "I passed by this place, saw your Tao heart development, spiritual intelligence clear, couldn't bear you to go astray, so I manifested warning, you don't think of gratitude, but suspect me, what's the reason?"

  A few seconds later, the old man's voice gradually faded away, but the last four words "what is the reason" lingered for a long time, lingering in the air above the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits.

  "Great King, he's gone! This man has supernatural powers, I don't know what his purpose is!" Sun Yuan quickly took a few steps forward and came to the stunned Meihouwang's side, nudging him.