Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

Chapter 297: Chapter 297: Old Sun Hates Being Used as a Pawn the Most (3rd Update)

Given the nature of the Jade Emperor, he would undoubtedly exert all his might to obliterate Flower-Fruit Mountain if he ever saw it as a threat to the Heavenly Court. His calculated maneuvers against himself were already evident. The reason he hadn’t taken such actions yet was simply because Flower-Fruit Mountain had not developed enough, and the trajectories of the destinies of the Flower-Fruit Mountain Demon Race had not yet triggered the warnings of the Heavenly Secrets Instrument, and the Jade Emperor was unaware of it.

The Heavenly Secrets Instrument must be destroyed!

Sun Wukong clenched his fist and made up his mind. He would go to the Heavenly Strategy Pavilion and destroy that Heavenly Secrets Instrument. He absolutely couldn’t leave such a lethal weapon for that old man, the Jade Emperor. The fate of everyone was determined by heaven, but it was also created by one’s own efforts. Why should a machine control it? That’s outrageous!

It must be destroyed!

“Wukong, have you really decided to go to the Heavenly Strategy Pavilion?”

As a sophisticated figure, Donghua Emperor saw Sun Wukong’s expression and the murderous intent rising from him, and guessed Sun Wukong’s thoughts.

“Exactly, such a thing should never linger in the Heavenly Court, otherwise, it poses a great threat to all beings of the Three Realms! I, your elder brother, will act for the heavens and destroy that Heavenly Secrets Instrument!”

“Is it a considerable threat to your Flower-Fruit Mountain, isn’t it?”

Donghua Emperor rolled his eyes. Sun Wukong made his righteous declaration, but in reality, he just didn’t want the Heavenly Secrets Instrument to monitor the destiny trajectories of the Flower-Fruit Mountain Demon Race!

“Of course, your elder brother has never denied that!”

Sun Wukong nodded, “Even for Flower-Fruit Mountain, your elder brother cannot allow that Heavenly Secrets Instrument to remain!”

Sun Wukong had thought about simply moving the Heavenly Secrets Instrument to Flower-Fruit Mountain, but firstly, it was a device built by the Heavenly Court and probably only a handful of people in the Heavenly Court knew how to operate it. Secondly, retaining such a device would ultimately be a curse. Even if it were indeed moved to Flower-Fruit Mountain, who could guarantee the Heavenly Court wouldn’t have means to reclaim it?

Destroying it was indeed the most prudent course of action!

“It seems that you have made up your mind, Wukong! Well, since that’s the case, I won’t try to persuade you further. Every entity in this world has its reason for existence, and keeping such a Heavenly Secrets Instrument isn’t really appropriate.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong suddenly felt something was off. Why did it feel like he was being used by Donghua Emperor?

Although it was Sun Wukong who initially asked Donghua Emperor about the matter of Supreme Saintly Heavenly Venerable Guang Chengzi, Donghua Emperor turned the discussion around and provided clear details about the Heavenly Strategy Pavilion, emphasizing the instrument’s unique ability to control the fate of all beings across the Six Paths and Three Realms. He must have known that upon hearing this, Sun Wukong would not just ignore it and would definitely seek to destroy the Heavenly Secrets Instrument.

It seemed that Donghua Emperor had long intended to destroy the Heavenly Secrets Instrument. Since he was one of the Five Emperors, he could not take actions that would harm the Heavenly Court, so it was inconvenient for him to make a move.

“Emperor, you also want to destroy that Heavenly Secrets Instrument, right? You deliberately told this to your elder Sun!”

Sun Wukong squinted slightly, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he observed Donghua Emperor’s expression. Indeed, upon hearing Sun Wukong’s words, Donghua Emperor’s gaze flickered for a moment, although it was ephemeral, Sun Wukong caught it.

“This is why you summoned your elder Sun here, isn’t it? Even if your elder Sun hadn’t asked about Supreme Saintly Heavenly Venerable Guang Chengzi, you would surely have steered the conversation towards the Heavenly Strategy Pavilion, and eventually to the Heavenly Secrets Instrument, right?”@@novelbin@@

Donghua Emperor’s expression finally changed. Sun Wukong’s guess was right; he indeed wanted to destroy the Heavenly Secrets Instrument, and this was indeed his main purpose in inviting Sun Wukong to the Immortal Palace. No one wanted their fate controlled by others or by objects. At Donghua Emperor’s level, apart from not wanting to be controlled, he also disliked being monitored. Although the Heavenly Secrets Instrument couldn’t control the fates of the gods whose cultivation was above the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm, it could still display their destiny trajectories for the Jade Emperor to consult. This feeling of being monitored displeased Donghua Emperor.

But he was one of the Five Emperors, so he couldn’t publicly express opposition to the Heavenly Secrets Instrument or take any concrete action. After all, the instrument was extremely useful for the Heavenly Court’s governance of the Three Realms. Therefore, Donghua Emperor had always kept his dissatisfaction to himself.

But now that Sun Wukong had appeared, his destiny completely unaffected by the heavenly trajectory, he was indeed the best candidate to destroy the Heavenly Secrets Instrument, and Donghua Emperor was one hundred percent sure that by revealing the situation of the Heavenly Secrets Instrument to Sun Wukong, Sun Wukong would, without doubt, undertake its destruction, exactly as Donghua Emperor had anticipated.

However, Donghua Emperor hadn’t expected Sun Wukong to be so clever and quick to deduce his intentions, even bluntly stating them, making him somewhat embarrassed.

“Emperor, your elder Sun hates being used as a pawn! If you have something in mind, you can tell your elder Sun directly. There’s no need for such roundabout schemes! You have been good to your elder Sun, and for this, your elder Sun will not hold this against you. But remember, there will not be a next time!”

Sun Wukong’s expression darkened. He had always had a good impression of the Donghua Emperor, but that did not mean he was willing to be manipulated by him. In his previous life, he had become a pawn of Tathagata Buddha, suffering under Five Elements Mountain for five hundred years, and then dying tragically and wrongfully at the peak of Spiritual Mountain. Sun Wukong had sworn an oath that in this life he would never again be anyone’s pawn, striving for true freedom to wander freely. Now, being manipulated by the Donghua Emperor like this, although it did him no harm, Sun Wukong felt greatly displeased in his heart.

“This Emperor understands now, I’m sorry, Wukong!”

The Donghua Emperor had not expected Sun Wukong’s reaction to be so strong, almost to the point of storming off; he quickly apologized, and his estimation of Sun Wukong rose another level. This monkey was not just brute strength without brains; his scheming was no weaker than anyone else’s; he just disdained to use it ordinarily.

For a person like Sun Wukong, if one wished to be friends with him, the primary condition was to be sincere and not harbor any schemes, otherwise, he could turn against you in an instant!

“Emperor, I will definitely destroy the Heavenly Secrets Instrument, and I hope that in the future we can be truthful with each other, farewell!”

Although the Donghua Emperor had apologized, Sun Wukong still felt somewhat uncomfortable. He had planned to stay a while longer in the Donghua Emperor’s Immortal Palace to avoid Heavenly Court’s manhunt before taking action. But now he didn’t want to stay a moment longer, taking a deep breath and leaving with a cold face and without looking back, he headed out of the inner chamber.

After leaving the Donghua Emperor’s Immortal Palace, Sun Wukong stood in a secluded place for a long time and finally let out a long breath, venting all the frustration in his heart. His mood calmed down again. Really, the Donghua Emperor had no ill intentions; being in such a position, it was impossible for him to deal with one as frankly as Nezha the Third Prince or Erlang God Yang Jian. His anger stemmed not just from his reluctance to be manipulated or used as a pawn, but also from his overly high expectations of the Donghua Emperor.

“It seems I was just thinking too simply!”

Sun Wukong slightly laughed at himself and shook his head. Human hearts are complex. Among those in Heavenly Court, those with the temperament of the Donghua Emperor are rare. At least he had no ill intentions toward him, which was enough. As for loyalty and devotion, those were just his own wishful thinking.

By the same token, the Leader of Tongtian and the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord were probably the same; expecting them to help him selflessly was simply a naive hope. As long as they bore him no ill will, that was sufficient.

Shaking his head, Sun Wukong left these displeasing thoughts behind, mounted a cloud, and flew toward the Heavenly Ladder. If he was to create a great uproar in the Heavenly Palace, he couldn’t just talk about it—actions were necessary, starting with the Heavenly Strategy Pavilion!

The Heavenly Strategy Pavilion was not located in the Ninth Layer of Heaven but in the thirty-second layer.

Arriving at the Heavenly Ladder, Sun Wukong from a distance saw the guard soldiers stationed at the ladder. He noticed that their numbers were far fewer than usual—only about sixty percent of the normal guard, a forty percent reduction.

“Why are there so few? Could it be they’ve been drawn away to hunt for me?”

Sun Wukong’s curiosity surged. After casting an Invisibility Spell, he stealthily approached and, finding the soldiers chatting, hid nearby to eavesdrop.

“Day in and day out, just guarding this Heavenly Ladder, we never get in on any good action. Whenever there’s trouble, we’re the ones who get blamed. When will it ever end?”

One of the guards stared at the rotating ladder leading to the higher layers of Heaven and sighed deeply.

“Now you start sighing? Why didn’t you say that when the captain asked us to follow him and support the Third Prince?”

Another guard’s eyes widened, and he scowled angrily at the sighing guard, growling, “If it weren’t for your strong persuasion back then, encouraging all the brothers to stay, we would have followed the Third Prince already. Would we still be suffering in this godforsaken place?”

“I strongly persuaded? Weren’t you the one saying following the Third Prince was pointless, that it would lead to losing our lives, and staying would bring us the emperor’s rewards? Where are these rewards? Where are they? Show them to me!”

“Yes! Where are any rewards, indeed? The Third Prince pulled away over fifty thousand of our men, and we who remained are left to take the blame. We’ll probably be stuck guarding this ladder forever now,” sighed another, as the other guards’ faces filled with gloom and despair.

Listening from the side, Sun Wukong couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased.

“Looks like Nezha really did pull away a lot of men! The face of the Jade Emperor must be turning green with anger! Heh, this is getting interesting!”

Sun Wukong chuckled softly and without any further delay, he bypassed the guard soldiers and flew upwards along the Heavenly Ladder. With Nezha having taken away fifty thousand men and Erlang God Yang Jian also gone to recruit his forces, it was his own turn to stir up some trouble, not letting the Jade Emperor rest too easy!

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