Su Qing suddenly opened her eyes...
She turned her head to look at the waterfall, feeling a sudden intuition.
Immediately, she withdrew from the Water Curtain Cave.
A golden light shot up into the sky, piercing straight into the clouds.
Seeing this, Su Qing frowned slightly.
"Is this the Stone Monkey's birth? It's so fast... I thought it would take another two or three years."
After a brief thought, Su Qing decided to investigate.
It would also be good to observe the scene of the Stone Monkey's birth in detail.
On the mountaintop.
The golden light gradually receded, finally disappearing.
Only a monkey resembling a white jade stone remained.
The jade-white monkey had complete facial features and all four limbs, like a walking white jade statue.
The Stone Monkey learned to crawl as soon as it landed and learned to walk in moments.
Then it stood up and sincerely bowed towards the four cardinal directions: southeast, northwest.
It was a salute to the four directions.
From afar, a macaque happened to witness this scene...
It was eating a peach, watching the show... and found it quite amusing.
The Stone Monkey blinked, looked at the macaque... then mimicked it, jumped onto a branch, picked a peach, and took a bite.
With one bite, the Stone Monkey's entire body changed color.
In moments, it became indistinguishable from an ordinary monkey.
The distant monkey, seeing this, was stunned... and immediately ran away.
It had truly never seen such a sight.
The Stone Monkey, finding it amusing, swung on the branches, mimicking the other monkey, and followed.
The Stone Monkey's birth caused such a stir that it even startled the High Heavenly Sage, Great Benevolent and Compassionate Jade Emperor, Great Heavenly Venerate, Profound Firmament High God in the heavens.
The Jade Emperor was currently seated in the Golden Watchtower Cloud Palace, Lingxiao Treasure Hall, discussing mortal affairs with the immortal officials.
Suddenly, he saw a blazing golden light shoot up into the clouds, immediately interrupting the immortals' discussion.
Seeing this, the Jade Emperor dispatched Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind-Hearing Ear to the South Heaven Gate to observe and ascertain the situation.
The two generals, following the decree, flew out beyond the South Heaven Gate, each casting their spells to see and hear clearly.
The two generals saw clearly and heard distinctly. After understanding the situation, they flew back to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall to report.
"Your humble servants, by your decree, observed and listened. The source of the golden light is within the territory of Aolai Kingdom, east of the sea on the Eastern Purvavideha Continent. There is a Flower-Fruit Mountain, and on the mountain, there is an immortal stone. The immortal stone produced an egg, from which a Stone Monkey was born, and it is currently bowing to the four directions there. That golden light was produced at the Stone Monkey's birth!"
Upon hearing this, the Jade Emperor understood, saying, "That creature below was born from the essence of heaven and earth; it is nothing unusual."
"Your Majesty, we also saw... a snake demon on that mountain. That snake demon is enveloped in purple qi, condensing a dark purple illusory core... it seems to be a disciple of Bodhi."
"Hmm... Patriarch Bodhi has many disciples; she is but one of them, also nothing unusual."
"This..."
"Enough, you may withdraw."
The Jade Emperor still had other matters to discuss with the immortal officials.
Neither the Stone Monkey nor Su Qing caught his eye.
However, Taishang Laojun, upon learning of this matter, couldn't help but mutter to himself.
He wondered in his heart why this girl had run off to Flower-Fruit Mountain.
However, though he was curious, he didn't have the leisure to concern himself with Su Qing...
With Su Qing's current abilities, she wouldn't cause any major trouble.
Moreover, she wasn't one to seek trouble.
On Flower-Fruit Mountain.
Su Qing ascended the high mountain, her gaze searching.
Soon she spotted the Stone Monkey.
She also happened to witness the entire process of the Stone Monkey transforming from white jade back into a monkey...
"Interesting, this Stone Monkey was initially jade-white at birth. It only took on the appearance of the future Monkey King after eating mortal food."
"The Stone Monkey, born from the essence of heaven and earth, was originally an unblemished body, so its white jade color is normal... eating mortal spirit fruits, becoming entangled with worldly karma, it's not surprising its color changed. As for becoming a monkey's appearance... perhaps it's because, besides demons, monkeys are the most numerous on Flower-Fruit Mountain?"
"It's also interesting that this Stone Monkey is genderless... but thinking about it, that's normal. It was born from the essence of heaven and earth, a stone originally has no gender... so a Stone Monkey born from it naturally follows the same logic."
Su Qing watched the Stone Monkey from afar, finding it very amusing.
The monkey's birth was earlier than she expected, which surprised her, but only slightly.
The Stone Monkey would emerge sooner or later; a little earlier or later was no big deal.
Rather, it was better for him to emerge earlier.
This way, subsequent events could begin sooner...
So that the sparrows wouldn't have exhausted their lifespans by the time the monkey wreaked havoc in Heaven.
However, since she had changed so much, would future events still unfold as they originally did?
Su Qing didn't know...
Perhaps there would be some deviation! But the overall picture shouldn't change too much.
"Forget it, why think so much... just do what you want to do, lest you regret it when it's irreversible."
Su Qing thought, shaking her head slightly.
"Do your best and leave the rest to fate!"
Having sorted out her thoughts.
She looked again in the direction of the Stone Monkey.
She saw that the Stone Monkey was actually following the previous monkey, swinging towards the Water Curtain Cave.
Su Qing blinked.
Was that monkey... one of the monkeys from outside the Water Curtain Cave?
Honestly, Su Qing didn't know...
After all, all monkeys looked pretty much the same to her.
The only ones she recognized clearly were the macaque and the old monkey.
After some thought, Su Qing didn't intend to interfere.
If they came, they came; it was nothing.
Seeing that it was about time, Su Qing returned to the Water Curtain Cave.
Inside the Water Curtain Cave.
Leng Xiang saw Su Qing return and asked, "Master, did something happen outside?"
"Remember the stone on the mountaintop? That stone gave birth... ahem, hatched a Stone Monkey. That commotion just now was caused by the Stone Monkey's birth..."
"So that's it..." Leng Xiang nodded slightly. "I never thought that stone could actually hatch a living creature."
She didn't care about the Stone Monkey.
Or rather, she didn't care much about anything other than Su Qing...
However, the fact that the stone actually hatched a living creature did surprise her a little.
At the same time, she couldn't help but think about some things.
If... she were to hatch a living creature for her master, would her master never be able to leave her?
Leng Xiang thought, her face flushing involuntarily.
She quickly wondered what strange thought this was.
If her master knew, she would definitely be angry.
Su Qing looked at Leng Xiang suspiciously. Why was this girl inexplicably blushing?
But Su Qing was too lazy to ask, she just said, "However, now that the Stone Monkey is born, we need to get busy. Once things are settled, we'll leave!"
"Why? Isn't it good to live here?"
"It's good, but I have my plans. As for what those plans are, shh, heavenly secrets must not be revealed."
Su Qing made a shushing gesture and smiled slightly.
Leng Xiang blinked, only understanding that Su Qing didn't want to say.
Since Su Qing didn't want to say, she didn't ask.
She stood obediently to the side.
After speaking, Su Qing found a place to sit down... waiting for things to unfold naturally.
She intended to let the Stone Monkey interact with the other monkeys first.
The Stone Monkey is a monkey, and macaques are also monkeys; it's best to let the monkeys interact first.
At the same time, it also gave Su Qing time to think about how to make the Stone Monkey regain his title as the Handsome Monkey King.
After all... she couldn't just hand over the position, could she?
Would he be able to convince the other monkeys that way?
Although Su Qing wanted to shed this troublesome title quickly.
But she couldn't just mess things up and leave a pile of problems for others...
She still needed to save face.
Outside the Water Curtain Cave.
The monkey troop was playing as usual, with no serious business.
They were catching fleas, grooming fur, and picking nails.
The monkey swung all the way back, intending to tell the other monkeys about what it had seen.
The Stone Monkey followed behind, blending in...
The monkey who had previously seen it change its appearance didn't recognize the Stone Monkey.
It just foolishly asked, "How come I haven't seen you before? Did you just arrive here?"
Rate on N.U.
