Chapter 168. Request for Support (2)
“Get lost.”
The monkey we met after crossing the rugged stone mountain told us to get lost the moment he saw us.
So this is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven... Sun Wukong.
The S-rank Constellation ‘Victorious Fighting Buddha.’
The title he had earned after helping Tripitaka, ‘Victorious Fighting Buddha,’ was now his Constellation name.
And this monkey was none other than Sun Wukong, said to possess the strongest combat power in the East.
He looked like a monkey, but his expressions and movements were surprisingly human.
So it didn’t really feel like I was talking to an animal.
“Great Sage Equal to Heaven, please hear us out.”
“I thought I told you to get lost.”
Yang Jian tried to speak to him, but Sun Wukong frowned and waved him away.
“For old times’ sake.”
“What old times? All I remember is us beating each other up.”
“I helped you plenty of times too! Back then, you even treated me like an elder brother!”
“Forgot all about it.”
“Ugh...”
In Journey to the West, Yang Jian appeared as the Daoist deity Erlang Zhenjun.
At first, he fought Sun Wukong when the monkey was causing trouble.
Later, however, he also acted as an ally and helped him.
That was why I had come here through Yang Jian.
But true to the rumors...
Sun Wukong had a terrible personality.
“I just want to laze around here. I’m not interested in what happens in the Material Realm.”
“You can’t be that irresponsible!”
“Tell the humans down there to handle their own problems.”
“Even so...!”
“I went back and forth across India and did more than enough work in the Material Realm.”
Sun Wukong sprawled lazily.
“Now I’m a Constellation. Let me rest.”
Apparently, as a Constellation, Sun Wukong had become extremely lazy.
“Great Sage Equal to Heaven.”
“Hm? Who are you?”
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m the Nameless King.”
“So?”
Sun Wukong answered without much interest.
I held out the bag I had been carrying.
“A gift.”
“A gift?”
I opened the bag in front of him.
A sweet fragrance immediately spread through the air.
“Huh? Peaches?”
That was right.
I had prepared ripe pink peaches.
“I specially obtained these for you. Please have some.”
“Ooh!”
Sun Wukong immediately snatched the bag and started eating the peaches.
Most of his movements were humanlike.
But the way he ate peaches...
that was pure monkey.
“They probably don’t compare to the peaches you ate in Heaven...”
“No! These are good! Heehee!”
There was a famous story about Sun Wukong being put in charge of Heaven’s peach orchard, only to lose control and steal a huge number of peaches for himself.
I had prepared these with that story in mind.
Apparently, it worked.
Though this one bag cost me five hundred million Origin Power.
Bringing objects from the Material Realm into the Spirit Realm was incredibly expensive.
Alcohol like the kind Lee Gyu enjoyed was relatively cheap.
Fresh food like this, however, cost far more.
Still...
if it helped me recruit Sun Wukong, it was worth the expense.
“There’s something I’d like to discuss. You can listen while you eat.”
“Sure. What is it?”
Sun Wukong answered while devouring the peaches.
“I’m guessing you want me to help some humans in a fight happening in the Material Realm.”
“But I’m not interested.”
“That isn’t what I came to discuss.”
“What?”
“I wanted to talk about peaches.”
“What about them?”
Sun Wukong stopped eating and looked at me.
“Actually, these peaches... I obtained them through a special route.”
“That’s why they’re much cheaper and fresher than the ones Apostles normally distribute.”
Of course...
that was a bit of an exaggeration.
“If you’re interested, Great Sage Equal to Heaven, I could introduce the supplier to you.”
“You’d do that? That’d be great!”
“There is one problem.”
“What?”
“Even if they’re relatively cheap, they still require quite a bit of Origin Power.”
“That’s fine!”
Sun Wukong waved it off.
“My Contractors earn plenty for me.”
A Constellation as famous as Sun Wukong probably earned a considerable amount of Origin Power even if he did nothing but leave an automatic Blessing program running.
Still, I deliberately looked surprised.
“What?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh... you didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“Recently, a huge number of Contractors have been dying in China.”
I lowered my voice.
“Because of that... there’s a good chance your future Origin Power income will drop significantly.”
“What?!”
Sun Wukong looked genuinely startled.
I glanced at Yang Jian.
“Yang Jian. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes...”
Yang Jian immediately understood what I was doing.
“Most of the Contractors affiliated with the White Forest Alliance died, so my Origin Power income has been terrible lately.”
He sighed dramatically.
“I’m even thinking of getting rid of my dog.”
“Y-Your dog? The one that looks exactly like the Howling Celestial Hound?”
Sun Wukong had once been subdued after getting bitten by Erlang Zhenjun’s Howling Celestial Hound.
“I remember you spending a lot of Origin Power on that thing.”
“And you’re getting rid of it?”
“These days I barely have enough Origin Power to feed the dog...”
“I-Is it really that serious?”
“Yes.”
“Normally, Origin Power replenished itself quickly.”
“But lately...”
Sun Wukong hurriedly opened his Constellation status window.
“U-Umm... I haven’t checked my Origin Power recently.”
“How much do you have right now?”
“About five billion...”
Five billion.
Considering Sun Wukong’s fame, that was absurdly low.
“I spent a few hundred billion all at once last month expanding this stone mountain.”
“Great Sage Equal to Heaven...”
Yang Jian looked genuinely disappointed.
“I believe I advised you before not to waste Origin Power so thoughtlessly.”
“Anyway...”
I continued.
“Jin Gahui of the Black Dragon Society will probably die soon too.”
“What? Jin Gahui is going to die?”
“You said you knew what was happening in the Material Realm.”
“Pandemonium’s Asmodeus will attack Shanghai soon.”
“When that happens, Jin Gahui will die as well.”
"..."
“Then your Origin Power income will shrink to almost nothing.”
“You barely participate in the Spirit Realm either.”
If Sun Wukong continued living quietly like this, he couldn’t even build up Origin Power through fame within the Spirit Realm.
“Hmm... five billion really is a little low.”
I deliberately made a gloomy expression.
“With that little Origin Power... I don’t think I can introduce this route to you after all.”
“I’m sorry.”
“W-Wait!”
“I finally found a stable way to obtain good peaches in the Spirit Realm.”
“I was hoping to share it only with special people.”
“What a shame.”
“D-Don’t worry!”
Sun Wukong jumped to his feet and thumped his chest.
“If I interfere in the Material Realm just a little, I can earn that much Origin Power in no time!”
“Really?”
“Of course!”
Sun Wukong shouted proudly.
“Who do you think I am? I’m the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!”
Yang Jian and I exchanged glances.
Yang Jian had once told me,
He has an intellect sharp enough to rival mine in Daoist arts, but perhaps because he is still a beast, he can be strangely naive about certain things.
