Journey to the West: Sun Wukong's Advice System-Chapter 23 The Immortal Calms Anger

Sun Wukong had passed through the Ghost Gate, the Huangquan Road, and the River of Forgetfulness. With his cultivation as a Daluo Golden Immortal, the patrolling ghost soldiers and messengers could not detect his presence at all.

Along the way, he saw countless souls being escorted by teams of ghost soldiers and messengers.

He heard many voices either screaming in terror, crying and weeping, or laughing maniacally, echoing in the murky expanse above the Netherworld.

Some of the souls who had been influential in life were even less willing to accept their fate.

"No, I’m not dead yet, I’m not dead yet!"

"My father is King Jing, the powerful lord of the Yulan Kingdom. How dare you capture me? Beware, my father may raise an army against you lot!"

"Roar! I am the Demon King of Mount Tianyuan, who dared to harm me!"

"I am the founding ancestor of the Great Flame Sect, an Earth Immortal who attained the Dao Fruit, with a lifespan of ten thousand years. How could I have ended up in the Netherworld?"

The ghost soldiers and messengers paid no heed to their howling and threats. A few lashes tamed them quickly.

The Earth Immortal who tried to flee from the Netherworld was directly pierced through by a spear wielded by a Heavenly Immortal ghost above, nearly dissipating his soul.

When they reached the Naihe Bridge, it became even livelier.

There stood a big cauldron by the bridge, beside which an old woman with white hair, leaning on a cane, easily subdued the struggling souls and poured a bowl of hot soup into the mouths of the souls.

No matter how fiercely the souls struggled, one bowl of soup quieted them down.

Sun Wukong wasn’t surprised to see the familiar old woman.

Just as the predecessors on the Zhihu forum said, wasn’t Granny Meng, the lumberjack’s old mother, indeed Meng Po by the Naihe Bridge in the Netherworld, an incarnation of the Saint, Empress Houtu of the Serene Heart?

He stopped there, descended from the air, revealed his form, and said with a playful scratch of his head, "Granny Meng, Old Sun has come to ask for a drink of water too."

When the ghost soldiers and messengers saw him, they were immediately frightened out of their wits, each brandishing their weapons, ready to subdue him.

Meng Po knocked her cane, making them all back off, then coughed and said to Wukong, "You monkey, instead of cultivating properly up there, why have you come here to amuse an old woman?"

The two shared an unspoken understanding and did not mention anything about Magic Square Mountain.

"Hey, this is really unjust." Sun Wukong scratched his face, "Old Sun would like to cultivate properly too, but it’s your Netherworld who insisted on sending messengers to hook Old Sun’s soul away."

"Who would be so bold as to hook your soul?" Meng Po frowned, immediately sensing that there was more to the situation.

"If Old Sun knew who it was, I’d definitely smash his head!" Sun Wukong feigned a cold laugh. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"Cough cough, don’t act recklessly, don’t harbor bad thoughts, you better go investigate clearly first," Meng Po coughed a few times.

"That depends on whether they can give a reasonable explanation, Old Sun is off!" Having left a message and communicated with Meng Po, Sun Wukong felt even more assured and flew boldly into the depths of the Netherworld.

Meng Po watched Sun Wukong’s departing figure, the wrinkles on her face growing tighter.

She was unable to see the future but faintly felt that a complex game of chess with who knows how many players was about to officially start.

And Sun Wukong’s brief stopover forced her to enter the scene early.

In the meantime, Sun Wukong flew once again through the dim expanse above the Netherworld, finally arriving at the Fifth Hall overseen by the Yanluo King.

As he suddenly revealed his form, the ghostly guards with ox-heads and horse-faces outside the hall were startled, buzzing around, trying to stop him.

"Freeze!" Sun Wukong applied the Freeze Technique, rooting the clawing and biting ghosts in place, then he entered the Senluo Hall.

At that moment, the Yanluo King was inside the hall, dealing with the tedious affairs of the Great Hell, sensing the commotion outside, he ordered the waiting messengers to investigate.

But before they could, a Monkey King clad in golden armor and wearing a golden crown entered the hall.

"Who are you to daringly intrude upon the Senluo Hall?" asked the Yanluo King in a deep voice.

"If you don’t recognize me, why send someone to hook my soul?" Sun Wukong sneered,

King Yama furrowed his brows, for he could not discern the cultivation level of this Monkey King, which meant only one possibility, this was a Daluo Golden Immortal.

But the Underworld would never send a reaper to claim the soul of a Daluo Golden Immortal!

Even so, he spoke with neither servility nor overbearing pride, "I must ask the immortal to clarify his origins so that I may understand the situation."

Sun Wukong said proudly, "I am Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King from the Water Curtain Cave in Flower-Fruit Mountain!"

King Yama immediately asked the judge beside him, "Check if there were any reapers sent to Flower-Fruit Mountain today."

The judge hurriedly flipped through a register to search.

Before he could find the record, the other Nine Halls Netherworld Kings rushed into the Hall of King Yama from their respective domains. Upon seeing Sun Wukong, their expressions changed, sensing that this Monkey King was no ordinary being, with strength surely surpassing their own.

A Daluo Golden Immortal!

"The immortal must calm his anger, please accept our apologies," the Nine Halls Netherworld Kings hastily said while making amends.

"And who are these birds of a feather?" Sun Wukong did not give them a warm welcome.

The Nine Halls Netherworld Kings introduced themselves in turn, "We are King Qin Guang, King Chujiang...King Biancheng, King Zhuanlun."

Sun Wukong cast a subtle glance at King Qin Guang, then scoffed, "If you all hold royal titles, you are certainly beings of spiritual prominence with responsive powers, so why do you act without discernment?

I, Old Sun, have cultivated the immortal Dao and my lifespan is as long as heaven itself; I’ve ascended beyond the Three Realms, escaped the Five Elements, so why send someone to detain me?"

King Qin Guang said, "Please quell your anger, immortal. There are many in the heavens and the earth who share the same name; perhaps it was a mistake made by the reapers?"

King Yama, who had remained silent, now furrowed his brows even more tightly.

How could today’s incident be so easily dismissed as a mistake?

At that moment, the judge beside him suddenly exclaimed with surprise, "Found it, my lord, today in the hall there were indeed two Black and White Impermanence reapers assigned to Flower-Fruit Mountain!"

King Yama breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to ask Sun Wukong, "Immortal, where are those two Black and White Impermanence reapers now?"

Sun Wukong replied with a laugh, "They were beaten into meat paste by Old Sun’s cudgel."

Some hint of anger now surfaced between King Yama’s brows; indeed, those two reapers deserved death, but now things were truly complicated!

Before he could speak again, King Qin Guang suddenly berated, "King Yama, you have some audacity, daring to claim the soul of a Daluo Golden Immortal!"

"Lord of the Netherworld, the matter has yet to be clarified, why rush to conclusions?" King Yama spoke in a deep voice.

"Hmph, it was your Fifth Hall reapers who took the immortal’s soul; what else is there to investigate?" King Qin Guang sneered, "I advise you to promptly confess your wrongdoing and hope for a lighter punishment, lest you fall into the cycle of reincarnation yourself!"

As soon as these words were spoken, three Netherworld Kings echoed the sentiment, urging King Yama to quickly admit his guilt.

King Yama did not reply, but another three Netherworld Kings argued in his defense, demanding a thorough investigation of the facts.

The two sides immediately started quarreling, completely devoid of any Netherworld King’s grandeur.

The other two Netherworld Kings kept themselves aloof, standing aside with expressionless faces, as if the matter did not concern them.

"Interesting, very interesting," Sun Wukong also watched the excitement as though it had nothing to do with him.

Only after he had his fill of the spectacle did he walk straight up to the throne in the Hall and grabbed the gavel, bringing it down with a strike.

Crack!

The crisp sound echoed within the great hall, jolting the Netherworld Kings back to their senses, only then realizing that the very person whose soul was wrongly reaped had audaciously taken the seat of the Fifth Hall Netherworld King.

But they couldn’t say anything; after all, this was a Daluo Golden Immortal!

"Hehe, have you lot finished your bickering?" Sun Wukong’s eyes twinkled as he scrutinized the Ten Yama Kings.