Volume 3: A Long Journey, Chapter 288: People Have Intentions

It wasn’t just Wukong who looked worried; Laojun also showed signs of concern. That person had become a towering mountain in his heart, insurmountable. With increasingly strange events unfolding—Heavenly Court and the Western Paradise gathering forces to shape fate, Buddha borrowing the scriptures to harness destiny, the Jade Emperor and Empress devising strange tactics, and the Kings of the Five Elements being coveted—it was hard to tell how many of these events were orchestrated by that person or how many forces were meddling to seize a share of the power.

Wukong said, “If this person possesses such great powers, why doesn’t he appear and act directly? With his level of cultivation, what could he not accomplish?”
Laojun replied, “He is extremely clever. If there’s an easier way, he certainly won’t exert extra effort. His absence must have another reason. The only thing I’m sure of is that during the last crisis, his strength was severely damaged, and he still hasn’t achieved sainthood!”
Wukong was puzzled. “How do you know whether he’s become a sage or not?” Laojun continued, “You might not believe me even if I tell you now. You’ll understand the secret when you achieve sainthood yourself.”
Wukong said, “Enough. I won’t bother guessing. With my meager abilities, I can’t accomplish anything earth-shattering.”
Laojun said, “O wise divine ape, never underestimate yourself. As the leader of the divine apes, capable of living forever in a ruined world, if anyone can uncover the true secrets of this world, it’s likely you—the key to it!”
Wukong said, “Laojun has said many things before, and they’ve been astonishing, but they seem unrelated to what’s happening now. I’m in trouble right now—how can your distant help relieve my immediate need?”
Laojun examined Wukong carefully and said solemnly, “I can’t gauge your cultivation level, but from the stars in your eyes, it seems you’ve made further progress.”
Wukong knew those stars in his eyes couldn’t hide from Laojun and said, “I’ve now reached the level of a Hunyuan Golden Immortal.”
Laojun exclaimed in delight, “As expected of the Divine Ape. If those fifteen ginseng fruits were eaten by others, they’d probably die from overindulgence!”
Wukong was shocked and asked, “How do you know about this?”
Laojun laughed heartily and said, “In fact, you should thank me for this!” He then explained in detail how he had disguised himself to deceive Zhenyuanzi. Wukong was speechless—even the Three Pure Ones would resort to such pranks.
Laojun said, “I knew that with Zhenyuanzi’s mind, he could never defeat you. Honestly, those fruits were meant for you.”
Wukong replied, “If I had a few more ginseng fruit trees, I might be able to achieve sainthood.”

Laojun spat and said, “Reaching sainthood isn’t as easy as you think. It’s simple to gather the elements of creation, but hard to cultivate the right state of mind. Besides, there’s only one ginseng fruit—if you want to eat more, you’ll have to wait ten thousand years.”
Wukong replied, “Sigh, defying heaven is not advisable. It’s better to focus on more practical matters right now.”
Laojun asked, “What practical matters? What difficulties do you have?”
Wukong said, “I just returned from the South Sea. I heard from Guanyin that the Heavenly Court wants to expand westward. Why is that?”
Laojun replied, “I should explain this to you. No matter how muddled the Heavenly Court may be, it still belongs to the Taoist sect. Since I promised that person, I can’t go against the Jade Emperor. The reason behind the Heavenly Court’s westward expansion is ultimately to gather the elements of creation for use in the Furnace of Creation.”
“The Furnace of Creation is in the Jade Emperor’s hands. What does he plan to do with it?”
Laojun said, “It’s called ‘refining heaven,’ but I haven’t delved deeply into the details.”
Wukong couldn’t help but say, “Laojun, you made that promise to that person back then out of master-disciple loyalty. Now that the situation has changed, it’s best to adapt flexibly!”
Laojun shook his head and said, “The chaos has just begun. That person hasn’t harmed me at all. It’s all just speculation. Breaking a promise isn’t feasible—at least not yet.”
Wukong secretly admired that person for truly understanding the nature of the Three Pure Ones. This wasn’t a conspiracy but rather the epitome of a straightforward strategy. He then said, “Since Laojun can’t overcome his own convictions, it’s pointless for me to keep talking. But why did the Jade Emperor retreat step by step before now, only to now try to reclaim lost territory? Isn’t that contradictory?”
Laojun thought for a moment and said, “The Jade Emperor must be allied with the Tathagata. The two of them are secretly in communication. I don’t know why, but this might also be a performance for others. Or… it could be related to Qitianling!”
“Qitianling!” Wukong pondered for a while. “I see. That’s indeed possible. The Heavenly Court stretches from east to Qitianling, while the Western Heaven extends west of Qitianling. By then, Qitianling will likely be caught between the two major forces—what a tricky situation!”
Laojun said, “Anyway, using the pretext of unifying heaven to bring Taoist forces together is a clever strategy.”
Wukong sighed, “The Buddhists and Taoists are fighting fiercely. I don’t want to get involved. But now the Taoists are hindering my journey to obtain the scriptures—this is really troublesome. If this continues, with obstacles at every step, the path ahead will be extremely difficult!”
Laojun said, “You don’t need to worry about that. Since you’re now devoted to Buddhism, you should show complete commitment to the Tathagata. If the Taoists stand in your way, just fight your way through. I can’t help you, but I won’t hinder you either.”

Wukong said, “There are countless great Taoists. If I can defeat one, how can I defeat a group?”
Laozi laughed and said, “That’s even better. I really want to see if, when they reach the Western Heaven and can no longer bear it, they’ll engage in battle with the heavenly troops!”
Wukong retorted angrily, “So Laozi isn’t just after peace after all; you seem to prefer chaos in the world.”
Laozi said, “On that point, I truly admire you. At first, I didn’t place much importance on the quest for the scriptures either. But you seem to have prophetic abilities—knowing that the group on this quest would inevitably become a focal point of conflict between Buddhism and Taoism, and you seized the bait laid by Buddha early on.”
Wukong said, “It’s just about unraveling the complexities. I don’t have Laozi’s ability to know everything about the world without leaving home. I can only take risks myself; there’s no other way!”
Laozi laughed and said, “Don’t flatter me. Back when you caused havoc in the heavenly court, you were quite reckless. If Buddha had captured you then, I don’t know what would have happened today.”
Wukong thought to himself, Of course you don’t know. If Buddha had captured me, I would have suffered just over four hundred more years of torment, unable to enter the three realms or meet the Kunpeng. I probably wouldn’t have known the secrets of the Crisis of the Origin. As the saying goes, human plans often fall short of divine will. If I hadn’t taken that risk back then, how could I have had all the experiences that followed?
Wukong asked, “I’ve been wondering why so many people stood by while I caused chaos in the heavenly court. Was it just because they wanted the Jade Emperor to lose face?”
Laozi said, “Perhaps. But at that time, although your cultivation was only that of a Taiyi Golden Immortal, it was barely weaker than that of Hunyuan. There weren’t many in the heavenly court who could actually capture you.”
Wukong thought for a moment and asked, “What about the Eighth or Ninth Rank Golden Immortals?”
Laozi looked at Wukong with a strange expression and asked, “You know about the Eighth or Ninth Rank Golden Immortals too?”
Wukong laughed and said, “Why not?”
Laozi said, “Fewer than ten people know about this. How did you find out?”
At this point, Wukong kept something to himself. Since the matter of Houtu involved the Armless Divine Ape, it was better not to tell Laozi, so he remained silent.
Laozi said, “Never mind. Since you know about the Eighth or Ninth Rank Golden Immortals, you must also know about the Three Thousand Buddhas. These two forces follow the same principle—they rarely appear in the world.”
Hearing that these two terrifying forces operated on the same principle, Wukong exclaimed in shock, “Could there be two Creation Forges?”
Laozi said, “You’ve guessed it. I only learned about this later. It was only after Buddhism rose that flaws in the second Creation Forge began to show.”
Wukong pieced things together and said, “That can’t be right! If you already knew that Buddhism also used a Creation Forge, you should have known who was behind it earlier. Why did you wait until the time of the King of the Five Categories to make a determination?”

Laojun curled his lips and said, “I’m explaining things to you one by one carefully, so you can surely figure it out. Back then, when I learned about the second Creation Furnace, I indeed had doubts. But there are so many outstanding people in this era, with extraordinary individuals emerging from time to time—why shouldn’t others also be able to create a Creation Furnace?”
Wukong asked, “In this era? Do you mean… were all the people in the last era really stupid?”
Laojun nodded and said, “Comparatively, that’s indeed the case.”
Wukong asked, “Why is that?”
Laojun replied, “It’s not surprising. In the last era, people on earth began to understand the truth very late, having to grope their way through generations before finally uncovering the mysteries of cultivation. But at the beginning of this era, the Three Pure Ones were already spreading their teachings. Even if people couldn’t grasp the true essence, following their examples was still better than exploring on their own. Don’t you think so?”
Wukong suddenly understood. What Laojun said made sense. The Three Pure Ones had reached a state of sainthood; their paths of cultivation were almost complete, and all their methods were refined. By passing these down to the world, they naturally helped later generations avoid countless detours, like a bright lamp guiding those who wandered alone in the darkness.
Wukong said, “I see. You think others also have the ability to create a Creation Furnace, which is why you had doubts. But this seems too coincidental.”
Laojun replied, “It’s not a coincidence. Everything is hardest at first; after that, imitation becomes much easier. I’ve also thought of another possibility—someone might have infiltrated the Heavenly Court and stolen the design of the first Creation Furnace to imitate it. What do you think?”
Hearing Laojun’s words, Wukong was completely convinced. If this Creation Furnace was indeed an imitation, it seemed that knockoffs had a long history.
Laojun asked, “Has Guanyin gone to Ling Mountain to report the news?”
Wukong replied, “That’s right.”
“Sigh, the Jade Emperor has made things so confusing. I don’t know how the Tathagata will react.”
Wukong asked, “Laojun, you don’t seem very concerned about matters in the Heavenly Court. Seeing Taoism decline and being gradually eroded by Buddhism, you remain indifferent. Why is that?”
Laojun said, “When we were learning our arts back then, the three of us studied the principles of fate thoroughly. Fate cannot be defied, and the general trend cannot be reversed; otherwise, retribution will surely follow. Everything should just follow its natural course—never force it.”
In the past, Wukong would have agreed with the Three Pure Ones, but now he sensed something amiss in Laojun’s words. So he asked, “If one day the Tathagata comes to the Heavenly Court, will you just stand by and do nothing?”
Laojun replied, “Of course not.”
Wukong asked again, “What does it mean to let things take their natural course?”

Laojun thought for a while but couldn’t think of an answer right away. He had immersed himself in the true principles of morality for countless years, and the idea that “the Way follows nature” was something he often repeated and kept in mind. So, following his usual interpretation, he said, “At its core, all things should be in a state of tranquility and non-action, following their natural instincts.”
Wukong shook his head, showing slight disappointment, and asked again, “Why do people have hearts?”