Chapter 8: The Legend of Sun Wukong's Honeymoon on Mount Huaguo

  "Monkey grandpa, monkey grandpa, you must know a lot about the Second Great King's deeds, right? Tell us stories about the Second Great King, okay? Okay?" A group of little monkeys surrounded Long Mao, hopping and jumping up the mountain path.

  "Alright, stop it, stop it." The long-haired monkey struggled free from the grasp of several small monkeys pulling at his paws and said "The mountain path is rugged here, you must be careful. As long as you listen obediently, I'll tell you a story about the Second Great King."

  "Alright, hurry up, Grandpa Monkey!" Several dozen strong monkeys were carrying heavy food in front, while a dozen little monkeys surrounded the long-haired monkey, walking along the rugged mountain road towards the summit that was out of sight.

  "Let's talk about the story of Erda Wang and Xiao Bai Hou then. Decades ago, there was a group of little monkeys just like you, who also brought food to Erda Wang. This group of little monkeys was also as mischievous as you, one of them, a little white monkey, didn't listen to the elder's advice, and fell off the cliff. You know how high this mountain is, right? Just when the little white monkey was in crisis, guess what happened?" Lang Mao said mysteriously.

  "Cut." The little monkeys, who were originally full of energy and enthusiasm, suddenly looked helpless. One of them spoke up, "At this critical moment, a black wind swept over, which was unimaginably massive, covering the sky and earth, boundless and endless. In Little White Monkey's scream, the black wind directly lifted him up and threw him onto the mountain path. Then, a three-headed, six-armed, blue-faced, golden-furred monkey with razor-sharp teeth appeared, standing eight zhang tall. He was our Second Grand King."

  "Hey, have you all heard?"

  "My ears are all itchy!" A little monkey jumped out and said, "This story has many versions! I reckon Monkey Grandpa doesn't know more than we do. The version just now was told by the gibbon Monkey Grandpa."

  "Right, right, Grandpa Monkey, tell us something new, tell us something new."

  "Alright, alright, stop it, stop it!" The long-haired one revealed a wry smile. After the legend of Sun Yuan spread among the monkey group and became the most popular topic, every detail about Sun Yuan was dug up, including the story of him stealing wine. However, in the story, the object of his theft had been changed to an extraordinary old demon from the Flower Fruit Mountain, whereas in reality, the one he stole wine from was just an old monkey within the group.

  "Since you mentioned Tongbi Monkey, I'll tell you the story of him and Erda Wang!" As soon as he thought of Tongbi Monkey, Zhang Mao's heart was filled with anger. Ever since he learned the monkey fist and practiced it every day, Tongbi Monkey could no longer easily defeat him. In recent years, the two monkeys' skills had become more and more similar. How could Tongbi Monkey, who considered himself the third most powerful among the Flower Fruit Mountain monkeys, swallow his pride?

  So, once there is a long-haired figure in the monkey group, the gibbon monkeys always make excuses to leave. This is not serious, but the key is that one of the descendants of the long-haired monkey recently fell in love with one of the descendants of the gibbon monkey. Originally, the gibbon monkey was quite satisfied with this young monkey, but after hearing that the other party was a descendant of the long-haired monkey, the gibbon monkey changed its mind overnight and refused to let the two monkeys get married.

  It's said that Sun Wukong also knew about this matter, but the beautiful Monkey King was always thinking about how to have fun and play, who had the energy to care about these things? Although 150 years had passed, Sun Wukong and Sun Yuan were still single, without finding a female monkey to spend their days with. It's said that in the monkey group, this was also a well-known secret. Every time the monkey parents educated their daughters, the first thing they would say was: if you have the chance, you must take down the Great King and the Second Great King.

  This trip to Long Mao is first to visit Sun Yuan, and secondly, it's to let Sun Yuan speak out, he can't just watch as this beautiful marriage is ruined by that old scoundrel Tong Bian Hou!

  "What story? Tell us quickly! Grandpa Monkey, tell us!" A group of little monkeys chattered loudly, startling Long Mao out of his reverie.

  "Heh heh, I'm old and my memory isn't what it used to be, let me think for a moment." Chang Mao paused for a moment before saying, "Didn't your Grandfather Ape claim that his martial arts skills were unmatched in the world and that no one could defeat him?"

  "Right, right, Grandpa Monkey King is really formidable. According to him, even you, Monkey King, can't surpass him!"

  "Alright, this guy is really stubborn. Fine, I'll tell you about the time when Tongbi Yuan and Er Dawang competed against each other back in the day. This story has never been told before, right?"

  "No, no, hurry up and tell us, Grandpa Monkey!" The little monkeys suddenly became excited.

  "It was like this, one day..."

  "What's the result? What's the result?"

  "As a result, Tongbi Yuanhoulai's outstretched monkey paws couldn't be withdrawn again. Er Dawang's cultivation was not inferior to that of the Great King. Wasn't Tongbi Yuanhoulai humiliating himself? In front of everyone, Tongbi Yuanhoulai's face turned redder than his buttocks and he was lightly tossed by Er Dawang, directly thrown onto the wall." Chang Mao had a nostalgic look on his face.

  "Is that true? Is the Second Grandpa really that formidable?" "Why did Grandpa Monkey never tell us about this before?" "Grandpa Monkey, you're not deceiving us, are you?" The group of little monkeys started to tease.

  "I'm telling you, humph, go ask around, fifty years ago, in the Water Curtain Cave, who didn't know about this matter? Although the gibbon tried its best to hide it, the truth is still the truth. If you don't believe me, you can ask the elderly members of our tribe. Look at that guy, the one in front, he experienced the events of fifty years ago himself. Don't believe me? You can ask him!" The long-haired monkey pointed at a large mandrill in front.

  The gibbon was originally listening with great interest, but when he found out that the long-haired one had thrown the trouble to him, he immediately took a healthy step and flew away, disappearing in front of the crowd of monkeys. The orangutan would have gone to great lengths to hide this matter, if he knew that he was being talked about behind his back, he might have been beaten up.

  "What are you running for? You're a coward!" Long Hair spat viciously at the disbelieving little monkey, "Don't think that just because no one speaks the truth I don't have evidence. If you don't believe me, go to the Water Curtain Cave and take a look, the marks left by the Tongbi Ape are still there!"

  The monkey troop chattered and walked forward, soon the sun climbed up the sky, Sun Yuan also woke up from a night of quiet meditation. At this moment, after stopping his cultivation, Sun Yuan's body involuntarily inhaled the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, as if every cell had produced spiritual intelligence.

  Cellular autonomous absorption of spiritual energy was originally a sign of successful transformation, but Sun Yuan felt the changes in his body, and there was no joy on his face. The reason is that this situation has been going on for a year now. Every time he woke up from his cultivation, his body would autonomously absorb and spit out spiritual energy.