Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Advice System
Chapter 174: Notification and Breakthrough

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Notification and Breakthrough

Tongming Hall.

His Majesty the Jade Emperor, clad in a moon-white robe, was leisurely reclining on a soft couch, eating grapes while listening to the immortal maidens playing music and dancing within the hall.

Taibai Jinxing stood respectfully to the side, waiting.

At that moment, a palace guard entered to report, "Your Majesty, the Northern Celestial Honor requests an audience outside the hall."

The Jade Emperor was somewhat surprised and glanced at Taibai Jinxing, only to find that he had already lost himself in reverie; the Emperor threw a grape at him.

Taibai Jinxing, jolted back to attention, hastily bowed and said, "Your servant thanks Your Majesty for the generous gift!"

The Jade Emperor said, clearly annoyed, "That monkey is outside, tell me what’s going on."

Taibai Jinxing’s eyes flickered, and stroking his beard, he said, "Your Majesty, the Great Sage has been idle of late, and just now a disciple of the Chan Teaching went to the peach garden to pick peaches and was beaten by the overseer Ao Lie. It seems likely that the Great Sage is here about this matter."

The Jade Emperor waved his hand to dismiss all the dancing immortal maidens and then summoned Sun Wukong to enter.

Soon, Sun Wukong arrived in the hall, performed a salute, and without waiting for the Jade Emperor to ask, took the initiative to say, "Your Majesty, I would like to inquire, are the peaches in the peach garden there for anyone who wishes to pluck them?"

The Jade Emperor replied with an unchanged expression, "Under the heavenly regulations, no one is allowed to intrude upon the peach garden without permission."

"And if someone intrudes?"

"They will be judged according to the heavenly laws."

"And if the peach garden is damaged as a result?"

"Destroying a peach incurs a capital punishment, damaging the peach garden results in eternal damnation to the cycle of reincarnation, and harming the Spirit Root of the peaches means eternal damnation without salvation."

"Heh heh, with this understanding, I can prevent my foolish disciple from being bullied without being afraid to fight back."

This straightforward conversation made Taibai Jinxing, who was listening at the side, twitch uneasily.

As he was leaving, Sun Wukong suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, when Ao Lie fought while guarding the peach garden, would it be considered brawling? Would he be punished with fifty blows?"

The Jade Emperor glanced at him and said sternly, "Self-defense is not a crime."

"Then please inform the Queen Mother on my behalf, to avoid any misunderstandings," Sun Wukong said with a smile, cupping his hands in thanks.

With that, the unspoken understanding concluded.

After Sun Wukong left, the Jade Emperor frowned slightly and asked Taibai Jinxing, "Did he fully understand, do you think? What will he do?"

Stroke his beard, Taibai Jinxing pondered for a long while before answering, "Your servant believes that the Great Sage will certainly not disappoint Your Majesty’s expectations."

He did not say that Sun Wukong would not harm his own disciple, for that would imply Sun Wukong only cared about his disciple and not about the intentions of His Majesty the Jade Emperor.

The Jade Emperor nodded slightly, "Go and notify the Queen Mother."

Taibai Jinxing received the order and took his leave.

...

After leaving Tongming Hall, Sun Wukong swaggered back to the Mansion of the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, then summoned Ao Lie from the peach garden.

Before long, Ao Lie came back, puzzled.

At this time, Golden Cicada had already been sent to the Earthly Fiends’ military camp to practice formations with the soldiers and generals, so only the master and disciple were in the mansion.

Sun Wukong directly said, "As your teacher, I think your techniques against adversaries are still lacking. This is the Binding Immortal Rope that I personally forged, a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, which I now bestow upon you."

Ao Lie was deeply moved, remembering the saying that one must not refuse a gift from one’s elders, and immediately bowed respectfully, "Disciple thanks Master for the treasure!"

"Go then," Sun Wukong waved dismissively.

Ao Lie bowed and took his leave, unaware that a speck of dust had clung to his clothes, accompanying him back to the peach garden.

There, each peach tree was lush and thriving, laden with peaches, some ripe and some still raw.

Beneath the tree, a variety of exotic flowers and herbs bloomed in abundance, never withering through the seasons.

Between the drifting clouds and enveloping mists stood pavilions and halls, densely arranged on all sides.

Ao Lie usually attended to his duties in these halls, handling the affairs of the garden.

Outside, numerous strongmen bustled about, some hoeing trees, others carrying water, yet others pruning peaches, or sweeping up.

"Hehe, transform!" Sun Wukong observed his surroundings for a while, then turned into a sweeper from a speck of dust.

Seeing the garden brimming with peach trees, joy began to swell in his heart.

Though the Jade Emperor had granted him plenty of peaches and he had acquired many from opening treasure chests, the sight of these countless fruits still excited him beyond measure.

"Ha!" Sun Wukong’s eyes shone, and he drooled in anticipation, thinking, "None of my monkey kin have tasted the flavor of these peaches; this time, I must save a good lot for them!"

Subsequently, under the guise of sweeping, he began to switch the genuine with the fake, creating confusion.

With his strength, of course no one noticed that the tempting peaches were being replaced, one by one, without a sound.

[Congratulations, you have completed the suggestion—Take the opportunity to collect the peaches early, and received a fourth-tier treasure chest.]

Prior to this, the suggestion to communicate with the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother in advance was also completed, yielding a fourth-tier treasure chest, which granted threefold enlightenment in the Dao of Artifacts and Laws of Formation.

What would it be this time?

Sun Wukong was filled with anticipation, for his cultivation was on the verge of breaking through.

"Open!"

[You have opened a fourth-tier treasure chest, congratulations on obtaining physical cultivation (late-stage Daluo Golden Immortal) and Primordial Spirit cultivation (late-stage Daluo Golden Immortal).]

As the delightful notification sounded once more, two ancient treasure chests in his mind released a glow, a torrential surge of Daluo mana flooded into every part of his body, fortifying his flesh and continuously elevating his Primordial Spirit.

In the span of a breath, his cultivation ascended another rung!

Complete Daluo!

Sun Wukong felt his Daluo Dao fruit turn more profound and perfectly complete in that instant.

His entire being seemed to transcend, altering his perspectives on everything around him.

In his eyes, an involuntary detachment surfaced.

But soon, his lively eyes blinked, regaining their spark, brimming with unconcealed joy.

"Wonderful, truly wonderful!"

Sun Wukong carefully savored the improvement in his cultivation, his anticipation growing even stronger for the next step—breaking through the Daluo Golden Immortal, venturing into the Dao of Quasi-Saints, and stepping into the Quasi-Saint realm!

...

Qingxu Daode Zhenjun, a disciple of the Saint of Chan Teaching, was someone no one would dare to stop when he came to the Heavenly Court.

He, with the Cloud-Child, entered the Heavenly Court from the Western Gate all the way to the Peach Garden’s exterior.

But they did not burst in directly; instead, they stood floating in the air.

With an indifferent expression, Qingxu Daode Zhenjun glanced at the pavilions and halls below, then pulled out a treasure banner and said to the Cloud-Child, "Child, go call him out, and then capture him with the Chaos Banner."

"Yes!" the Cloud-Child respectfully took the Chaos Banner, then cast a resentful look towards the Peach Garden below.

Ever since becoming a disciple-servant to a Chan Teaching Golden Immortal, he had never suffered such a great and disgraceful humiliation.

Although he was but a True Immortal in cultivation, wherever he went, the gods always treated him with the utmost respect.

Yet the guardian of the Peach Garden dared to disregard him completely, to not even consider the Teaching of Chan.

For a follower of the Teaching of Chan to come early to the Peach Garden for peaches was entirely reasonable—neither the Celestial Emperor had objected, nor should a lowly member of the Dragon Race dare to obstruct!