Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

"You're not killing me? Why?"

Inside the Water Curtain Cave Heaven, Demon King Yuan Tong, tightly bound, widened his eyes in disbelief as he stared at Sun Wukong, who sat upon the throne.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"What? You're tired of living and really seeking death?"

With a slightly amused look, Sun Wukong glanced at Demon King Yuan Tong. "If you truly are tired of living, I can indeed fulfill that wish for you …"

"Not tired at all, not tired in the slightest!"

Demon King Yuan Tong immediately shook his head, joking— who would want to die if they could live? Wasn't it challenging enough to have cultivated to his current level in the Earth Immortal Realm? Dying well was not as good as living badly!

"My king, he injured many of our brothers. We can't just let him go!"

The Through-Arm Ape Monkey, Sun Wushuang, now standing beside Sun Wukong, glared at Demon King Yuan Tong as he spoke.

"Just injured? Were any killed by him?"

"That didn't happen."

"Then it's fine. Yuan Tong is also a branch of our Monkey Tribe. He invaded merely for the cave dwelling, not with the intent to kill. I, old Sun, see him as quite talented. Killing him would be too wasteful. It'd be better to have him and his followers integrate into our Flower-Fruit Mountain."

As Sun Wukong spoke, he turned his gaze to Demon King Yuan Tong, who was kneeling below the stairs, and with a hooked smile, said, "Yuan Tong, would you like to submit to my Flower-Fruit Mountain? Accommodating a few thousand more demons in this Cave Heaven and Blessed Land is not a problem."

"You want to subdue me?"

Demon King Yuan Tong was surprised.

"What, you don't want to surrender? Fine, indeed a real man! The kind old Sun admires most is a hero like you! I've decided to …"

"Let me go?"

"Kill you, to fulfill your heroism!"

A teasing smile flashed across Sun Wukong's eyes. Demon King Yuan Tong shuddered in fear and without a second thought, immediately shouted, "No, no, no, I am willing to surrender, willing to surrender!"

"Really willing to surrender? Don't force yourself …"

"Not forcing, not forcing at all!"

"Really not forcing?

"Really not forcing! To have such a great king as leader, I, Yuan Tong, am fortunate!"

"Good! A wise man knows when to submit, you are clever, and old Sun likes smart people! Get up, from now on we are family, no need for such formalities!"

Sun Wukong laughed heartily and with a flick of his fingers, the ropes binding Demon King Yuan Tong snapped. "A'Tong, everyone in the Monkey Tribe of Flower-Fruit Mountain takes Sun as their surname. From now on, you'll be renamed Sun Tong, how about that?"

"Thank you, my king, for granting me a surname!"

Demon King Yuan Tong—or now Sun Tong, didn't hesitate at all in agreeing. The name Yuan Tong was originally casually chosen by himself, after all, he was from the ape tribe, merely of a unique physique which is why the Human Race called him Mountain Fiend. Having Sun Wukong this powerful, joining Flower-Fruit Mountain wasn't such a bad deal, perhaps even better than struggling on his own.

Just changing a name was nothing compared to showing allegiance and securing his future.

"Come, set the feast!"

Following Sun Wukong's command, a grand banquet was held within the Water Curtain Cave Heaven, celebrating for three entire days and nights. All the monkeys and various demons drank till they were utterly drunk.

Sun Wukong quietly took both Sun Wushuang and Sun Tong aside, bringing them to a large tree in the deepest part of the Flower-Fruit Mountain Water Curtain Cave Heaven, where he once obtained the thirty-sixth grade Cleansing Green Lotus stems, and also the deepest part of the entire cave heaven.

Facing the two, he cast a Dharma Decree to dispel their drunkenness. With their astonished gazes upon him, Sun Wukong shared the purpose of bringing them here alone. Listening to him, both Sun Wushuang and Sun Tong's eyes lit up, and they nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, leave this matter to us. We guarantee it will be taken care of perfectly!"

"Your Majesty, you did the right thing by entrusting this matter to us. We will definitely come up with a reliable set of rules. We will not let you down!"

What Sun Wukong discussed with Sun Wushuang and Sun Tong was actually about the future development of Flower-Fruit Mountain. Simply put, Sun Wukong wanted to establish a suitable set of rules for the Monkey Tribe and other members of the Demon Clan to follow, starting with the imparting of Cultivation Techniques and the handling of rewards and punishments.

Three hundred years ago, before he had gone to seek the Dao, Sun Wukong had already taught a simplified version of the Eight-Nine Profound Skill to the Monkey Tribe of Flower-Fruit Mountain. He had thought that this would at least produce a few Earth Immortal Realm powerhouses, and a large number of Ghost Immortals and Human Immortal-level experts.

However, upon his return, he was greatly disappointed.

Without Sun Wukong's supervision and without any rules in place, these monkeys and their descendants did not cherish the Cultivation Techniques they received, wasting most of their time. As a result, one by one, their lifespans ran out, and their souls returned to the Netherworld. Even the transmission of the simplified Eight-Nine Profound Skill was flawed, leading to a decline with each generation.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been just one Earth Immortal Realm powerhouse, Sun Wushuang, left when the Demon King Sun Tong attacked right up to their doorstep.

Sun Wukong remembered that his lifespan was recorded as 342 years in the Book of Life and Death. Now, 308 years had passed since his birth, leaving him 34 years before the Soul-Reaping Messengers from the Netherworld would come for his soul. By then, avoiding the attention of the Heavenly Court would be difficult.

Sun Wukong had to expand Flower-Fruit Mountain's influence as much as possible within these 34 years, attracting various Demon Clan members and enhancing their overall strength so that they could eventually contend with the Heavenly Court.

As for how to enhance strength, imparting Cultivation Techniques was essential. However, not everyone could be taught the same techniques; if everyone received the same treatment, there would be no incentive to strive for better. Otherwise, the result would be no different from the past three hundred years—not much improvement!

Thus, the key now was to establish a set of practical management rules, categorizing the various Demon Clan members of Flower-Fruit Mountain into different levels. The requirements for reaching each level and the corresponding rewards and punishments needed to be clearly outlined. The imparting of Cultivation Techniques would also be divided according to levels.

This way, lower-level members of the Demon Clan would feel pressure, and pressure would lead to motivation for them to train harder and achieve recognitions and rewards.

In this aspect, Sun Wukong was not skilled. Even with memories from another space and time, he could at best propose a general direction. He needed help to refine the details, and Sun Wushuang and Sun Tong were good candidates.

Sun Wukong was clear that before his return, Sun Wushuang had been the leader of the Monkey Tribe at Flower-Fruit Mountain, and the Demon King Sun Tong, commanding hundreds of lesser demons, needless to say, must have good management skills. Sun Wukong would set the overall direction and framework, leaving the details to Sun Wushuang and Sun Tong for completion.

They were both very interested in what Sun Wukong had suggested, so it seemed he needn't worry further.

Now, Sun Wukong had other concerns to consider.

For instance, the issue of weapons.

He already had the Ruyi Silver-Hooped Rod and the Ruyi Golden-Hooped Rod was still merging and upgrading within his Dantian. In addition to the Chaos Divine Pearl, he had all the weapons and magical treasures he needed. His concern now was the weapons and magical treasures for the rest of the Demon Clan members of Flower-Fruit Mountain.

Sun Wushuang's iron staff and Sun Tong's broadsword were both of mundane grade. They might be considered divine weapons in the Mortal Realm, but if they were to face the Heavenly Generals and Soldiers of the Heavenly Court, they would barely tickle them. They needed at least treasure-level weapons. As for the other monkeys and smaller demons, their weapons were even worse.

Just as there were realm distinctions for cultivators, there was also a hierarchy for weapons and magical treasures. The lowest of course were the mortal weapons, which were merely a bit more durable and sharp.

Spanning from low to high, after mundane weapons were Magic Artifact, Treasure, Spiritual Artifact, Immortal Artifact, Acquired Spiritual Treasure, Acquired Supreme Treasure, Innate Spiritual Treasure, Innate Supreme Treasure, Chaos Spiritual Treasure, Chaos Supreme Treasure, Hongmeng Spiritual Treasure, and Hongmeng Supreme Treasure.

Anything above Acquired Spiritual Treasure was not easily attainable, not even Immortal Artifacts, which were rare. Even among the many Heavenly Soldiers and Generals of the Heavenly Court, not everyone wielded an Immortal Artifact. Most still used Treasures and Spiritual Artifacts, and even magic artifacts.

Sun Wukong's aim was to equip at least each member of Flower-Fruit Mountain's Demon Clan with a magic artifact-level weapon or magical treasure, ideally more if possible.

"First, let's visit the Aolai Kingdom!"

With a quick motion, Sun Wukong rose on his Somersault Cloud and headed east. Two hundred miles east of Flower-Fruit Mountain lay the capital of Aolai Kingdom, where the armory contained numerous blades and armaments. In a previous life, Sun Wukong had carelessly emptied it out regardless of the quality, but this time he did not plan to proceed that way.

Even an abundance of mundane weapons was of little use; he just needed to pick out those above the level of a magic artifact.

After turning the Aolai Kingdom's armory upside down, Sun Wukong had managed to find only ten magic artifacts, six treasures, and one spiritual artifact. It was a mere drop in the bucket. With Flower-Fruit Mountain's Monkey Tribe and the host of great and small demons brought by the Demon King Sun Tong numbering over forty thousand, these seventeen magical treasures were clearly insufficient!

"It looks like a trip to the Eastern Sea Palace is necessary," said Sun Wukong, shaking his head. He hadn't held much hope for the armory of Aolai Kingdom, and now, that hope was completely dashed. To procure magical treasures, he would have to visit his old neighbor, the Dragon King Ao Guang of the Eastern Sea.

However, before heading to the Eastern Sea Palace, Sun Wukong still wanted to take something—or rather, borrow something from Aolai Kingdom...

Flower-Fruit Mountain, Water Curtain Cave Heaven.

"Your Majesty, you're back!"

"The King is back!"

The members of the Monkey Tribe saw Sun Wukong descend through the clouds with excitement and loudly cheered. After a three-day banquet at Flower-Fruit Mountain, all the Demon Clan members had been thoroughly inebriated. Once awake, they found Sun Wukong absent; Sun Wushuang and Sun Tong mentioned that he was out gathering weapons for them. Seeing Sun Wukong's return now brought them great joy.

"Your Majesty, have you found the weapons?"

Flanked by the crowd of demons, Sun Wushuang and Sun Tong approached.

"There were indeed many weapons and armors in Aolai Kingdom, but mostly of mundane grade. I rummaged through and found only these seventeen magical treasures for now. I entrust them to you two for the time being. After I procure more weapons from the Eastern Sea Palace, we'll distribute them. But before that, there's another task for you to handle!"