Journey to the West: Please Call Me the White Bone Demon

He sensed that Yun Zhao's tone of voice was different today—in the past, the man's eyes were full of excitement and hatred, and his voice carried a strange, mocking laugh, but today he was much gentler.

Overwhelmed by joy, he didn't have time to think things through and just burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! Has the Heavenly Court come to save me?"

"You demons, have you finally felt the pressure of the Heavenly Court and submitted? Have you finally remembered to release this Heavenly King?"

He laughed maniacally, three years of pent-up emotions exploding: "Hmph! You wait! When I return, I'll bring 100,000 heavenly soldiers to capture you, you demon! The pain you inflicted on me, I will repay a thousandfold! I'll let you taste the bitterness of suffering! I'll make you wish you were dead!"

Yun Zhao looked at Li Jing as if he were watching a joke. He thought this man was a complete idiot. If it were him, even if he thought that way, he wouldn't say it out loud.

They were practically teetering on the edge of suicide.

After Li Jing finished laughing and his voice gradually weakened, Yun Zhao slowly spoke: "Heavenly King, you've guessed wrong. It's not that the Heavenly Court has sent troops to rescue you, but rather... the Jade Emperor has appointed me as an official in Heaven, a position of supreme rank, with the title of Great Sage of White Bones. That's why he's releasing you all."

"From now on, we will serve as ministers in the same palace. I hope the Heavenly King will take good care of us."

After saying that, he smiled mischievously, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

Li Jing's laughter stopped abruptly.

His face turned deathly pale instantly, his smile froze on his face, looking worse than crying.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. After a long while, he managed to squeeze out, "You... what did you say? You... you're appointing you to an official position?"

Yun Zhao nodded: "Exactly."

"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, and the Great Sage White Bone, Yun Zhao, have both received the Jade Emperor's decree to ascend to heaven and enjoy blessings. Heavenly King Li, when you see me in the future, don't forget to pay your respects."

Li Jing's body went limp, and he almost collapsed.

His mind was buzzing. The "enemy" he had tormented for three years was now going to serve as his minister in the same court? And he was even asked to "take good care of him"?

He chuckled dryly, his voice trembling, "Just now... just now this Heavenly King was joking, haha, just joking... Great Sage Yun... in the future, please... please take care of me..."

Yun Zhao stood up and waved his hand to remove the shackles from his body: "Of course, Your Majesty, please."

Li Jing staggered to his feet, his legs weak, and he almost fell.

He leaned against the wall, took a few deep breaths, and barely managed to stand up.

After three years of living in darkness, he was extremely weak, but the thought of freedom made him force himself to walk out.

Stepping out of the dark room, the sunlight was blinding. Li Jing squinted and greedily inhaled the fresh air.

Yun Zhao also removed the restrictions from his body.

In the distance, the Giant Spirit God, Yaksha General, Fish Belly General, and others had been released and were gathered together chatting and laughing.

Upon seeing Li Jing emerge, everyone rushed forward, exclaiming, "Heavenly King!"

But when they saw Li Jing's appearance—skin and bones, covered in wounds, with messy hair and tattered clothes—everyone was taken aback.

The giant spirit stared wide-eyed: "Heavenly King, what...what happened to you? How did you become like this?"

The Yaksha general asked, puzzled, "Although we were imprisoned for three years, the demons treated us well, providing us with plenty of good wine and meat. Heavenly King, are you... perhaps you were too disobedient and received special 'care' from them?"

Li Jing's face turned ashen; he was extremely embarrassed.

He couldn't very well say that he was being tortured by "Yun Zhao" every day, wishing he could neither live nor die, could he? If that got out, how could he, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, save face?

He coughed twice, forcing a show of authority: "N-nothing... I was just fighting that demon and suffered some minor injuries. You don't need to ask any more questions!"

The group exchanged glances, sensing that things weren't so simple.

Fish Belly scratched his head: "Your Majesty is mighty! That demon must have been terrified by you to let us out."

Li Jing's lips twitched, remaining noncommittal.

Yun Zhao and Sun Wukong stood aside, watching this scene.

The monkey suppressed a laugh and whispered, "Brother, look at that old man's appearance, tsk tsk, Brother Nezha really went all out!"

Yun Zhao smiled: "He deserved it."

The group remained silent and each took off on a cloud.

Giant Spirit and his companions were overjoyed and headed straight for the Heavenly Court to report back.

Li Jing lagged behind, his face grim, his eyes swirling with hatred, yet also filled with deep fear.

He glanced at Yun Zhao furtively, his body trembled again, and he quickly sped up, fearing that he would fall behind and be caught again.

Yun Zhao and Sun Wukong stood side by side, watching the immortals disappear into the sky.

The monkey asked excitedly, "Brother, when are we going to Heaven?"

Yun Zhao said, "No rush. It will be many years before we return. We need to make proper arrangements for Huaguo Mountain."

Sun Wukong knew his brother's methods, so he didn't ask any more questions.

After Yun Zhao had arranged everything properly to ensure that Huaguo Mountain would continue to operate smoothly after they left, the two of them rode the clouds to the heavens.

Nezha had already informed the Jade Emperor and was waiting outside the South Heavenly Gate. He led Yun Zhao and the Monkey King to pay their respects to the Great Heavenly Venerable.

When the Jade Emperor saw Yun Zhao, a faint smile appeared in his eyes.

He thought to himself that this was interesting. The Buddhist sect had spent so much effort, yet it had produced an anomaly. He wondered what kind of surprise it would bring.

Then he ordered the two officials Zhang and Lu to build a palace for the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and a palace for the Great Sage White Bone on the right side of the Peach Garden. He bestowed upon them a hundred golden flowers and a thousand bottles of imperial wine, instructing the two to settle down and not to act recklessly again.

In just one day, the two Great Sage Palaces were completed. However, after only two days, Sun Wukong, who was a restless person, and Yun Zhao, who also had other thoughts, went around meeting friends and visiting palaces, making friends and forming sworn brotherhoods.

The two of them befriended most of the gods in Heaven.

On this day, another decree from the Great Celestial Venerable arrived. Because Yun Zhao and the monkey were wandering around all day, they were given a task: to guard the Peach Garden.

This was exactly what Yun Zhao wanted.

Taking the monkey to the garden, Yun Zhao was also pleased to see the trees laden with fruit.

This is exactly what benefits them.

After managing things for a few days, Yun Zhao found an excuse to send away the strongmen and celestial officials, and then enjoyed the peaches of immortality with Sun Wukong.

Those peaches that are three or six thousand years old are of little use to them; they're just a way to satisfy their cravings.

But those nine-thousand-year-old peaches are extraordinary; even Yun Zhao felt his cultivation improve after eating them, let alone the monkeys.

Sun Wukong ate more than a dozen peaches in a row until he was full, and Yun Zhao then picked and kept many more of the three kinds of immortal peaches.

The orchard instantly became sparse.

To prevent the celestial officials and warriors from noticing, the two of them used a trick, and the fruit trees in the garden returned to their previous appearance.

On this day, seven fairy maidens came to the garden to pick peaches, saying they were going to organize the Queen Mother's Peach Banquet.

Sun Wukong wanted to ask if he and his brother had been invited, but Yun Zhao gave him a wink and told the fairies to go pick peaches on their own.

Then he said to the monkey, "Brother, I have something to tell you, please don't be angry. The Heavenly Court invited the two of us to serve as officials in Heaven, which seemed impressive, but in reality they still regarded us as demons. We were not invited to the Peach Banquet."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong felt a surge of anger.

Yun Zhao laughed again, "But it doesn't matter. We've eaten most of the peaches in this orchard, so what's the big deal if we don't host the Peach Banquet?"

"Remember what I told you before? Heaven was trying to secure some long-term benefits. Now there's another benefit waiting for us to take. Once we take it, we can immediately descend to the mortal realm."