Chapter Thirteen: A White Colt Passes Through a Crack

  "Monkey, monkey, where are you? Come out!" The loud voice of Lei Hau echoed through the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits.

  A rustling sound arose in the forest, and soon a golden-haired monkey with a thunderbolt-shaped mouth appeared on the branch above Lei Hao's head.

  "Niú tóu, hasn't come for days, what's the hurry?" Sun Wukong jumped down from the branch and snatched a few jars of wine and meat from Lei Hao's hands.

  "Never mind, for the past few months I've been leading the demon army to attack the scorpion's lair! Those disgusting crawling creatures, they couldn't hurt me but almost tortured me to death." Lei Hao said with a thud as he sat down on a rock at his feet.

  "Huh? Didn't you used to brag about how great you are? What happened, did you chicken out?" Sun Wukong asked with a curious expression, and everything outside of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits was fascinating to this rarely outgoing homebody.

  Lei Hao didn't want to tell Sun Wukong this, but the guy was indeed born not to be a peaceful master. Thirty years ago, he was clamoring to go out and make a name for himself in the Eastern Divine State with Lei Hao. Lei Hao dared not agree, although Sun Wukong's birth had only just occurred when the six Ding and Jia disappeared. Over the years, Lei Hao had not felt any pressure again. However, he knew that Sun Wukong was an important part of the rise of Western Buddhism. If Lei Hao took Sun Wukong to mix with the demon world, what if Sun Wukong didn't want to go out to sea to learn his skills? Perhaps Lei Hao would be directly killed by that Buddhist master's finger. So Lei Hao had always advised Sun Wukong to stay safe on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits as a monkey, but now it seemed that this method was also about to become useless.

  "But Lei Hao thought for a moment and said, brothers should be able to talk about anything, and that Sun Wukong is a sly monkey who will find a way to make him say it. The scorpion demons in the Scorpion Cave are not very powerful, but each of them has cultivated a very annoying innate divine ability called 'Reverse Horse Stake', which is actually just constantly cultivating the scorpion's reverse hook. This divine ability is quite formidable, and if you get hit by it, even if you're not seriously injured, the pain will still make you dizzy. I was also stung a few times, and the pain almost made me throw away my wolf-toothed club. Fortunately, those disgusting scorpions are not very powerful, or else this battle against the Scorpion Cave would have been hard to call." Lei Hao said with a painful expression, clearly recalling the unpleasant memory of being stung by the 'Reverse Horse Stake'.

  "Is it really that powerful, Cow Head? Your body is so hard, but you can't even withstand it?" Sun Wukong, who had long been accustomed to Lei Hao's smooth talk, said as he scratched his paw and picked up a stone to smash onto Lei Hao's head. The poor stone was crushed to pieces by Sun Wukong's immense strength and Lei Hao's extremely hard head. Lei Hao didn't mind at all, and simply patted the dust off his head before continuing: "It's very powerful, that 'Inverted Stake' can pierce into my flesh." It should be known that Lei Hao's physical body had long been refined to the extreme limit of the Inner Dan realm; if not for the drag of his law power, he would have already entered the Demon King realm in terms of physical strength.

  "After that, be careful when you meet the scorpion demon, don't get stung." Sun Wukong said this with his mouth, but in his eyes, a fierce battle intent slowly ignited. When he heard Sun Wukong say this, Lei Hao was stunned for a moment, as if this guy would really encounter a highly cultivated scorpion demon later, and seemed to be stung to the point of being on the verge of death. With Lei Hao's reminder this time, this guy wouldn't be stupidly stung again, right?

  "Does this count as changing history?" Lei Hao thought to himself, subconsciously reaching up to touch the cow horns on his head, a habit he had unknowingly developed whenever he had something worth thinking about. After a moment's thought, Lei Hao gave up, what's it to him anyway? It wasn't the first time this had happened in all these years, and he hadn't been struck by lightning yet, so he might as well not think about it. He grabbed a jar of wine, broke off the mud seal, and took a swig.

  Lei Hao started drinking and Sun Wukong, who had long been corrupted by him, skillfully grabbed the wine jug, broke the mud seal and poured it into his mouth.

  "Shutan, Niu Tou you bastard hasn't come for several months, and I've been drinking alone. After downing a large mouthful of strong liquor, Sun Wukong became even more heroic and directly addressed me as 'labor'."

  "Get out of here, you still have the nerve to say that this wine can only be obtained by the soul of the Mixed World Demon King, I only get a small portion every year and most of it goes into your stomach, and you're not satisfied, damn it..." As soon as Sun Wukong heard Lei Hao's shameless words, he suddenly became furious and started scolding loudly.

  Sun Wukong was too busy pouring wine into his belly to pay attention to Lei Hao's loud scolding. After drinking who-knows-how-many mouthfuls of wine, he muttered a sentence, "I'm from the stone, no sister..." and then grabbed the familiar food brought by Lei Hao and started eating voraciously.

  Sun Wukong's immune family members asked about the attack on Lei Hao, who was also speechless. Unhappy with the situation, Lei Hao snatched a piece of meat from Sun Wukong's paws and devoured it with his mouth wide open. From afar, one could see that a cow demon who should be eating grass and a monkey king who should be eating fruits were drinking and eating meat together, feeling extremely strange and bizarre.

  "Wow, Wukong and Leihao, two demons, grabbed the wine jar and took a big mouthful. After that, Sun Wukong opened his mouth with a sigh: "Niu Tou, we've known each other for almost over a hundred years now." The expression on Sun Wukong's face looked familiar, no wonder, it was the same expression that often appeared on Leihao's face!"

  "Ah, it's been 97 years, it's been 97 years." Lei Hao let out a deep sigh and looked even more puzzled, like Sun Wukong couldn't understand him. Of course, Sun Wukong had no idea how Lei Hao had spent these years, the kind of loneliness that felt like being the only sober person in a world of drunkards, and the increasingly deep longing for his parents as time went on, all deeply tormented Lei Hao. Especially in the first 30 years or so, Lei Hao would often dream of his parents passing away with no one to guard their spirit hall, waking up many times with loud wails."

  "Is it really ninety-seven years? How come I feel like it's more than that?" Sun Wukong looked at Lei Hao with a displeased expression, who was getting increasingly despondent and melancholic. Every time Sun Wukong saw Lei Hao looking like this, he felt very conflicted, asking him what was wrong but Lei Hao never said anything, yet often made this face at him.

  "It was indeed ninety-seven years ago, I remember the day." Lei Hao said after some thought.

  "Ninety-seven years have passed, and I've been stuck in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits for ninety-seven years. I'm familiar with every nook and cranny here, but I'm fed up! The outside world is so vast, why won't you let me out? Don't tell me it's for the safety of the monkeys and their children in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits - that excuse has fooled me for decades. In all these years, except for you, hardly any monsters have come to the mountain. I'm not stupid, is it because you've been protecting this mountain all along?" Sun Wukong, who had always been influenced by Lei Hao's teachings, was apparently even more intelligent than his previous incarnation.

  Listening to Sun Wukong's words, Lei Hao continued to pour a mouthful of wine into his mouth at a steady pace. After the wine flowed down his throat and he felt like his stomach was on fire, he slowly said: "The demons outside all have their own caves, and each cave has a powerful demon as its king. Your strength is definitely not enough to be a demon king, so are you going to be a subordinate of another demon king in the Flower Fruit Mountain?" Before coming, Lei Hao already knew that this guy would want to pull him out again, so he directly hit Sun Wukong's weak spot. Having been together for 97 years, Lei Hao understood this guy better than anyone else. He was usually easy-going, but he was absolutely not a person who would submit to others' control. Therefore, Lei Hao deliberately enunciated the two words "subordinate" very clearly.

  Sun Wukong had always dreamed of leaving the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits with Lei Hao to make a name for themselves in the Eastern Divine State, but he really hadn't thought about this issue. When Lei Hao asked him, he furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, then opened his mouth: "So, Niu Tou, what do you plan to do? Do you have any good ideas? Can't just let me stay in this Mountain of Flowers and Fruits forever, can it?"

  Lei Hao had long thought of an excuse: "My old cow can't stay in the Water Cavern for long, now I have two thousand elite little demons under my command, as long as my cultivation is enough, my old cow will set up its own sect, and except for the Mixed World Demon King, I don't care about anyone else in the Water Cavern. By then you can come with me to become a great king." By the time Lei Hao's cultivation was sufficient, Sun Wukong should have already been taken as a disciple by that 'Grape Old Ancestor', no, spit, it was Bodhi Old Ancestor to learn those 72 transformations.

  "When will your cultivation be enough?" Sun Wukong asked with a look of urgency.

  "I'm now in the late stage of internal elixir realm, and it's almost enough for about a hundred or two hundred years." Lei Hao said with a face that didn't care.

  As soon as Lei Hao said one or two hundred years, Sun Wukong immediately went crazy. "What? One or two hundred years? You should have given me the 'Shenmo Decision' long ago. If you had given it to me earlier, my cultivation would definitely be higher than yours now."

  "They all said you're a natural-born Stone Monkey, and this basic 'Divine Demon Scripture' would be useless against you, wasting your talent." Lei Hao said with a helpless expression. He wasn't unwilling to give it to Sun Wukong, he was just afraid to - giving it to Sun Wukong would make Bodhi Old Ancestor, the master destined for Sun Wukong, look like a fool? Was Lei Hao tired of living? Besides, Sun Wukong was destined to follow Bodhi Old Ancestor and others, so Lei Hao wasn't worried that he wouldn't become powerful in the future.

  Sun Wukong listened and couldn't help but feel helpless, was he really going to have to wait another hundred or two years? Just thinking about it made him feel depressed, so Sun Wukong directly downed the half tank of wine in his hand in one gulp.

  When Lei Hao's wine was almost gone and the meat was almost finished, Sun Wukong patted his furry forehead, "Look at my memory, I remembered it when I came, but when I saw the wine and meat in your hand, I forgot. After a waterfall, I found a cave with many stone rooms and treasures inside. Because of this, I have been elected as the Great King by the monkeys of Huaguo Mountain. Hmm, the magnificent Monkey King." Sun Wukong struck a majestic pose, waiting for Lei Hao's ridicule.

  After waiting for half a day, Sun Wukong didn't hear Lei Hao's voice and found it strange. He turned his head to see that Lei Hao had entered the natural stupid state again, and the powerful cow horns on his head had changed back into silly hair. Sun Wukong leaned in and heard Lei Hao muttering something in his mouth: "Shuǐ Lián Dòng, Měi Hóu Wáng? Shuǐ Lián Dòng, Měi Hóu Wáng?"

  "Hey, Oxhead, what's on your mind? Speak up and let King Monkey hear it." Sun Wukong looked at Lei Hao's naturally stupid expression without thinking much of it, as he had seen this look too many times in the past 97 years. He casually picked up the wine jug in his hand and smashed it straight onto Lei Hao's head, finally waking him up from his naturally stupid state.

  "Monkey monkey take me to see that cave." Lei Hao said with a gleam in his eyes after coming back to himself.

  "Alright, let's go." Sun Wukong said without hesitation. He didn't have any relatives, but Lei Hao was his family. It was Lei Hao who taught him everything when he was just born, and brought him wine and meat to broaden his horizons, so that he wouldn't just be a mountain monkey. As the Spirit Stone Monkey, Sun Wukong could feel that Lei Hao treated him like a brother with all his heart, so he would never refuse Lei Hao's request.

  Two monsters stepped quickly, and in the blink of an eye they arrived at the wooden bridge in the middle of the waterfall. With one step, they entered the mountain cave. Lei Hao was shocked by everything before his eyes. What a wonderful water curtain cave! There is a poem to prove it: Emerald moss piles up blue, white clouds float on jade, light sways and smoke and mist appear. The virtual window is quiet, the slippery chair board gives birth to flowers. The milk cave dragon pearl hangs, and the strange plants are full of the ground. The pot stove beside the cliff has a fire mark, and the wine cup leans against the case with dregs. The stone seat and stone bed are really lovely, and the stone basin and stone bowl are even more praiseworthy. Again, I saw one or two bamboo poles, three or five plum blossoms. A few green pines always bring rain, and they seem to be a family.

  Lei Hao, who had just arrived from a shock, saw a stone tablet in the Water Curtain Cave with the inscription: "Flower and Fruit Mountain blessed land, Water Curtain Cave heavenly cave." Turning his head to ask Sun Wukong: "Monkey, does this cave have a name?" Sun Wukong replied: "Monkey King Cave." Lei Hao, who had already known that the monkey was illiterate, made a vomiting gesture: "Vulgar, in my opinion, since this cave is behind the waterfall, why not just call it Water Curtain Cave?"

  Sun Wukong's eyes lit up, and it was clear that the name "Water Curtain Cave" was more pleasing to his ears than "Monkey King Cave". "Alright, from now on this cave will be called Water Curtain Cave. Hmm, you will be the second king of this Water Curtain Cave." Sun Wukong said with a matter-of-fact expression.

  Lei Hao didn't care about the second Water Curtain Cave, and upon hearing Sun Wukong confirm that this cave was indeed called Water Curtain Cave, Lei Hao felt a sense of unreality: "This cave is actually called Monkey King Cave, and it's actually the Water Curtain Cave I gave..."