第 5 回

Sun Wukong became the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, but he had no specific job.

He walked around in heaven every day and met many gods.

The Jade Emperor was afraid that he would cause trouble if he had nothing to do, so he sent him to manage the Queen Mother's Peach Garden.

The peach trees in the Peach Garden are divided into three types.

Some bear fruit once every three thousand years, some every six thousand years, and some every nine thousand years.

Eating these peaches can grant immortality.

Sun Wukong was very happy and accepted this task.

He entered the garden, first looked at the land gods, strongmen, and celestial officials in the garden, then asked them all to leave, and played alone in the garden.

Sometimes he slept in the trees, and sometimes he picked ripe peaches to eat.

One day, the Queen Mother wanted to hold a Peach Banquet at the Jade Pool, and sent seven fairies to the garden to pick peaches.

The fairies entered the garden and could not find Sun Wukong.

They were afraid of wasting time, so they started picking peaches.

They first picked some small peaches, and just as they were about to pick big peaches, they woke up Sun Wukong who was sleeping on a high branch.

Sun Wukong appeared and asked them who they were and why they came to the garden.

The fairies said that the Queen Mother of the West sent them to pick peaches to prepare for a banquet.

Sun Wukong asked who was invited to the banquet.

The fairies said that Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats from the Western Paradise, and all famous deities from heaven and earth were invited.

Sun Wukong asked: "Was I, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, invited?"

The fairies shook their heads and said they had not heard of inviting the Great Sage.

Sun Wukong heard this and was very unhappy.

He thought, he was the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, yet he had not been invited.

He used the immobilization technique to hold the seven fairies still.

Then he himself left the Peach Garden and flew towards the Jade Pool.

Sun Wukong arrived at the Jade Pool and saw that the banquet had not yet started, but the wine and dishes were already set.

Only a few celestial officials and strongmen were busy.

Sun Wukong plucked a few hairs, turned them into sleep-inducing bugs, and flew them onto those people's faces.

They immediately yawned, fell to the ground, and fell asleep.

Sun Wukong walked to the table, picked up the fine wine and dishes, and happily ate and drank.

He ate his fill and also got drunk.

Sun Wukong, drunk and staggering, left the Jade Pool, wanting to return to his own Great Sage Equaling Heaven mansion to sleep.

But he was so drunk that he took the wrong path and walked to the palace of Taishang Laojun.

The palace was very quiet; Taishang Laojun was talking with others upstairs, and the immortal children and generals were not nearby.

Sun Wukong saw that there was no one in the elixir room, so he walked in.

He saw that the furnace fire was burning fiercely, and beside the furnace were five gourds, all containing refined golden elixirs.

Sun Wukong knew these were treasures, so he opened the gourds and ate all the golden elixirs like eating beans.

After eating the golden elixirs, Sun Wukong sobered up considerably.

At this moment, he suddenly realized that he had caused a great disaster: stealing and eating the peaches, disrupting the Peach Banquet, and stealing and eating Taishang Laojun's golden elixirs; the Jade Emperor would definitely not let him off.

He did not dare to return to the Great Sage Equalling Heaven's mansion, so he rode his somersault cloud and secretly flew out of the Western Heavenly Gate, returning to the Flower-Fruit Mountain.

Returning to Flower-Fruit Mountain, Sun Wukong distributed the celestial wine and dishes he brought back to the monkeys and also told them what he had done in heaven.

The monkeys drank together to celebrate.

Not long after, the Heavenly Court discovered what Sun Wukong had done.

The Queen Mother reported to the Jade Emperor about the theft of the Peach Garden and the disruption of the banquet, and Taishang Laojun also came to report that the Golden Elixir had been stolen.

The Jade Emperor was very angry and immediately ordered the Four Heavenly Kings, as well as Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li and Prince Nezha, to lead one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals, set up eighteen layers of celestial nets, tightly surround the Flower-Fruit Mountain, and capture Sun Wukong.

The heavenly soldiers and generals arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain, and the Nine Luminaries first came out to challenge, shouting insults outside the cave.

Sun Wukong came out to meet the battle with the seventy-two cave demon kings and monkey soldiers.

The Nine Luminaries charged together, and Sun Wukong was not afraid at all, wielding the Golden-Hooped Rod alone to fight them.

The Nine Luminaries could not win and retreated in defeat.

Heavenly King Li saw this situation and sent out the Four Heavenly Kings and the Twenty-Eight Mansions to attack together.

Sun Wukong also had the One-Horned Ghost King, the seventy-two cave demon kings, and four strong generals deploy their formations to meet the enemy.

Both sides fought from morning until the sun set, engaging in a chaotic battle.

The seventy-two cave demon kings and the one-horned ghost king were all captured by the heavenly soldiers.

Only the monkey soldiers under Sun Wukong's command, because they were very agile, none were captured.

The sky gradually darkened, and Sun Wukong, seeing that the monkey soldiers had no losses, withdrew his troops and returned to the cave.

He suddenly remembered that he had previously erased the names of the monkeys in the underworld, so these monkeys would not die and thus were not easy to kill.

Thinking of this, he felt a bit relieved in his heart.

The heavenly soldiers and generals also, because it was dark, temporarily withdrew their troops, set up camp, and tightly surrounded the Flower-Fruit Mountain.