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Chapter 88 Three Questions
Chen Guangrui's fingertips landed on the monkey's head, making three soft "bang! bang! bang!" sounds.

This abrupt action stunned the old man who had been rambling on beside him! His mouth gaped, his eyes widened, and his deeply lined face was filled with shock and bewilderment.

"Hey? My lord! What... what are you doing? Why... why did you hit its head!"

The monkey that was being reprimanded, who had just been cursing and wishing it could drown Chen Guangrui with its spittle, now seemed to be frozen in place.

The monkey's curse was abruptly cut off; he didn't immediately unleash another curse, nor did he erupt in fury as before.

The monkey's arrogant golden eyes suddenly narrowed, revealing an extremely rare...
stupid!
It was like a bolt of lightning striking me without warning, dimming my eyes and leaving only a brief moment of bewilderment.

It wasn't anger, it wasn't astonishment, it was bewilderment.

It was as if these simple three taps contained a tremendous power far exceeding its apparent action.

The monkey's restless heart, suppressed for over six hundred years, was touched for the first time by something indescribable; a distant hint flashed through his mind.

He seemed to be recalling something from a very distant past. His narrowed golden eyes stared intently at Chen Guangrui, so sharp that they seemed to pierce through his skin and see directly into the deepest secrets of his soul.

This time, he was no longer the aloof and dismissive person who "disdained to pay attention to Xiao Mao Shen," but was truly and intently examining and contemplating the matter.

He didn't speak immediately, but kept his mouth tightly shut, his eyes scanning Chen Guangrui's face with a complicated expression, as if he were trying to identify and verify.

Chen Guangrui ignored the old man's panicked questioning and the monkey's gaze that seemed to pierce his soul.

He maintained a calm, downward-looking posture, his voice low but clear.

"I came here today specifically to seek out the Great Sage because there are three things on my mind that I don't understand, and they are like a fishbone stuck in my throat that I must get out."

It's "three" again!
The monkey's eyes suddenly became sharper, and also more bewildered.

"Firstly," Chen Guangrui leaned forward slightly, as if recounting a major case, or uncovering a long-healed but buried wound.

"The uproar at the Peach Banquet shook the heavens. The Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother were furious because most of the Peach Garden in the Jade Pool had been lost for no reason."

He paused deliberately, his gaze sharp and fixed on the monkey's pupils, which were beginning to tremble violently.

"Of the peaches that were truly lost, how many did you actually eat, Great Sage?"

He didn't use "steal," but "lost," and then connected "truly lost" with "Great Sage, how much did you eat?"

"How much of it did you actually eat?"

He emphasized the word "truly" with extreme force. He leaned forward slightly, his eyes filled with piercing skepticism, "Why did you say you ate so much when you were collecting the bill?"

The monkey was unusually quiet at this moment, it was unclear whether it had heard Chen Guangrui speaking, and Chen Guangrui didn't care whether the monkey had heard or not, she just said what she was thinking.

"Secondly, the position of '弼马温' (Bima Wen) in the Heavenly Court's Imperial Horse Administration... Before you ascended to Heaven, was there any official title of this rank in the Heavenly Court's official hierarchy?"

"If it never existed... Great Sage, how did you know that the position of Bi Ma Wen was a low-ranking, unaccountable official post?"
The monkey remained silent.

"And the third one," Chen Guangrui asked the last question, "who exactly sent you that somersault cloud that can travel 108,000 li in a single somersault?"

"Having practiced to such a high level, do you really think you can't escape the palm of the Buddha's hand?!"

He finished speaking and didn't say anything more.
"Pah!!" The monkey, who had been silently pretending to be dead, finally spoke up.

He abruptly pulled his hand away from Chen Guangrui's ear and spat fiercely, the spittle almost hitting Chen Guangrui's face.

"Hey! You little brat who doesn't know what's good for him!" The monkey's curses came out like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, fast and loud, filled with intense disgust and the intention to drive him away.

"Are you so bored that you're asking your grandpa about all this old stuff? What business is it of yours how many peaches were lost? Grandpa can eat as many as he wants! And that stable boy? If Grandpa says he's a low-ranking official, then he's a low-ranking official, who cares if he existed before!"

"As for the Somersault Cloud? Grandpa is a natural-born supernatural being. He can somersault however he wants. Whether he can fly out of that old man's palm or not is none of your business! Get lost! Take your worthless peaches and get the hell out of here! Don't make a racket here and provoke Grandpa's anger. From now on, I'll curse you whenever I see your face!" His curses were deafening, as if he were shooing away flies and mosquitoes. As he cursed, he irritably slapped the rocks beside him with his free arm.

Seeing that the monkey was a little angry, Chen Guangrui didn't say anything more.

"Old man, let's go." He straightened up and said to the still-shaken old man, his tone as calm as if nothing had happened.

"Alas... alas!" The old man was completely terrified by the monkey's frightening reaction. He dared not ask any more questions and could only stagger after Chen Guangrui, looking back every few steps at the furious monkey shadow under the rocks that seemed ready to devour anyone.

Only after walking quite a distance and no longer hearing the monkey's suppressed roars did the old man finally mutter under his breath again: "My lord, why...why did you do that? He was so pitiful, already irritable from being suppressed, and you...you even knocked on his head and asked him those questions. Look at the way he was just now, like he was going to eat someone alive..."

Chen Guangrui walked silently for a while along the mountain path before speaking softly, "She is truly pitiful."

He paused, his gaze seemingly piercing through the mountains and forests before him, reaching deeper into the distance. "But he hasn't cursed in a long time. If I don't give him a few whacks to vent his anger, I'm afraid he'll feel stifled."

The old man seemed to understand but not quite, and could only shake his head and sigh.

After safely escorting the old man home, Chen Guangrui bid him farewell.

Once he left the Liangjie Mountain area, he immediately rode on a cloud and chased after Li Jing's army in the direction they were heading.

When they were almost at a populated village or town, he dismounted and bought an ordinary blue horse at a nearby market, pretending to be traveling normally.

Chen Guangrui calculated the time and felt that he had returned a little early. It would be somewhat illogical for him to arrive at Li Jing's camp now.

So Chen Guangrui rode his horse and strolled around the nearby market, watching people come and go, which gave him time to sort out his thoughts.

As he rode on horseback, Chen Guangrui's expression darkened slightly.

The scene from just now replayed in his mind.

Something is wrong, very wrong!
What was he asking at the foot of that mountain? The Peach Garden! A Heavenly Forbidden Land! The Keeper of the Heavenly Horses! The Buddha! Which of these wasn't a momentous event that shook heaven and earth? Which question wasn't enough to alarm the four directions and provoke thunder?
But... where are the guards? Where are the patrolling gods?
These people should have come out by now. They should have come out when I asked the first question, but where are they?
Even if those high-ranking gods might be dozing off, or think that the monkey's daily cursing is nothing to worry about.

But what about the mountain god? What about the local deity? Those insignificant officials and minor gods are usually extremely sensitive to divine aura and light! They stood at the foot of the mountain for so long and even "knocked" the Great Sage Equaling Heaven on the head! How could they not have noticed such a commotion?

But why... is there no reaction at all? Is it because it can't find itself, or... is it afraid to care? Unwilling to care? Or... has it received some kind of instruction not to care?

What is the current situation around this seemingly solid seal at the foot of the mountain?
Chen Guangrui was very curious. He wondered what those gods who were assigned to guard the monkeys were like now, or if they had all left.

Well, there's one more crucial point to note. That monkey has fiery eyes that can see through his divine status at a glance; this is his innate supernatural ability.

However, other deities, especially those of lower rank or without special abilities, may not be able to easily see through their true nature.

Otherwise, they would have been exposed long ago, back in the mountains or at the foot of the Five Elements Mountain.

Next time I come, I'll need to find an opportunity to change my appearance and attire, or find a pretext to conceal my identity. I can't continue to approach places like this so openly as "Chen Guangrui."

As he pondered the eerie tranquility of the Two Realms Mountain and his own safety, the horse carried him slowly to the center of the market, where the surrounding area became noisy with people.

The already bustling market suddenly seemed to be plunged into a pot of boiling water.

Just then, a sudden commotion arose in the crowd ahead, accompanied by several excited shouts, as they surged towards the west end of the market:

"Come quick! Master Yuan is here to tell fortunes again!"

"Is it really Master Yuan? I need to have my fortune told this time!"

"Wait for me! Come with me! Master Yuan's divinations are known for their unerring accuracy!"

(End of this chapter)