The Battle in Journey to the West-Chapter 81 - 0: Sun Wukong Guards and Steals

The Jade Emperor had tasked Wukong with guarding the Peach Garden for several years, and Wukong had spent his days waiting for the peaches to ripen so he could pick and eat them.

Over the years, he would sleep soundly during his shift, only to chat a few words with Tao Yao if she came by, and the two had become good friends. Tao Yao, upon hearing from him what the outside world was like, felt some yearning, but still had no desire to leave. She was somewhat afraid, for she had grown up here since she was little. If she left, she feared more people would come to capture her. Without her father’s protection, how could she manage to survive on her own?

One morning, the Seven Fairies, attendants of the Queen Mother, arrived just as the Peaches of Immortality had matured, for the Queen Mother had decided to hold the Flat Peach Festival.

Wukong let out a strange laugh and said, "Tao Yao, come help Old Sun pick some peaches!"

With an affirmative reply, Tao Yao asked, "Sun Wukong, are you leaving?"

Wukong nodded and said, "My being here to guard the Peach Garden was just a facade. Now that the peaches are ripe and I’ve taken my share, it’s time for me to go."

"Ah... then, will you come back to see me?" Tao Yao asked, looking somewhat sad.

"That is..." Wukong thought to say "probably not," but considering Tao Yao’s solitude, he couldn’t bear to say it and instead said, "Of course! However, you could also come with me to see the world outside?"

Tao Yao puffed her cheeks and said, "I don’t think so, I’m waiting here for my daddy to come back! If he returns and doesn’t find me, he might be very worried!"

In his mind, Wukong thought, "Your deceased father is probably not coming back, not knowing where he has gone, not even bidding you farewell. I fear he didn’t care about you as much." But how could he say such words to hurt this lovely and innocent girl, so he smiled and said, "Perhaps your father is enjoying himself in the outside world so much that he doesn’t want to come back! If you come with me, we could find your father, right?"

After thinking it over and glancing outside the Peach Garden, Tao Yao indeed longed to go but was also afraid. She shrunk back and shook her head, saying, "No way, I’ll just wait here for my daddy to come find me. The outside world is so vast, how can I find him?"

Seeing that he could not persuade her, Wukong said, "After I leave, you better hide well. Without your father, you need to be careful not to be captured."

But Tao Yao replied, "I’m not afraid, not afraid at all! Daddy gave me a talisman, those people definitely won’t be able to catch me."

Learning that the person in the coffin had a contingency plan, Wukong felt relieved and thought to himself, "Why not take all these peaches back as well! It would be a treat for my brothers."

Outside came the Garden Hoeing Hercules, who reported to Wukong that the Seven Fairies had been ordered by the Queen Mother to pick the peaches.

Wukong simply said, "Let the seven fairies in."

The Seven Fairies entered the Peach Garden and greeted Wukong, saying, "Great Saint, we have been commanded by the Queen Mother of the West to pick the Peaches of Immortality for the Flat Peach Festival."

Wukong just smiled and said, "There’s no need for that Flat Peach Festival anymore."

Just as the Seven Fairies were about to ask why, Wukong flicked his fingers and cast a Freezing Spell. The Seven Fairies, with their magic far inferior to his, were instantly immobilized, unable to move.

Wukong said with a laugh, "You’ve been exploited by the Queen Mother, but today I shall give you a little benefit."

Having said that, he plucked seven peaches from the trees and stuffed them into the mouths of the Seven Fairies. The peaches transformed into True Qi and flowed into their entrails. The Seven Fairies were both startled and scared; startled that the Great Saint dared to guard and steal for himself, and scared because they had eaten seven Peaches of Immortality. If the Queen Mother found out, how could they get off easily?

Wukong moved the Seven Fairies to a concealed spot at the corner of the Peach Garden wall, then used his Freezing Spell on the working Hercules, the Local Deity, and the guards, freezing them in place. He then whistled, and Tao Yao crawled out of the ground.

"Tao Yao, help Old Sun pick peaches!" Wukong laughed and plucked a handful of monkey hair, blew on it, and turned it into hundreds of Monkey Kings. They scrambled up and down, dashing to the trees to pluck peaches.

Tao Yao said, "What do you need so many peaches for? Can you finish them all?"

Wukong replied, "I have many friends back home. Hurry and help me pick them before more people come."

Affirming with a sound, Tao Yao turned into a rainbow light, sweeping over the trees and causing the Peaches of Immortality to fall in droves.

Wukong, who had been sleeping soundly in the Peach Garden, had been eagerly awaiting this moment. He scurried after Tao Yao, catching the falling peaches with his clothes, but as soon as it was full, the peaches fell again, drop after drop.

"You’re so clumsy—how can you catch them like that?" exclaimed Tao Yao.

Wukong let out a hearty laugh, formed a spell, and the Swallowing Dragon Stele appeared. The dragon’s eyes on the stele opened up and sucked in every fallen peach into its dragon’s eyes.

Tao Yao, still in shock, exclaimed, "Wow, I would’ve never thought that Great Stele could be used in such a way! Be quick, catch them, I’ll pick more for you."

Wukong hurriedly followed Tao Yao with the Swallowing Dragon Stele, catching each Peach of Immortality that fell.

The reason the Jade Emperor had Wukong guard the Flat Peach Garden was that he knew Wukong didn’t have the capability to carry away all the peaches. How many could he eat by himself? However, this time it was a miscalculation, for inside the Swallowing Dragon Stele there hid a vast space. Not to mention all the peaches in a single Flat Peach Garden, even if it were all the peaches from the Four Great Continents, it’s feared they could all be packed away in an instant. This time, the Jade Emperor really stood to lose the lady and the troops, suffering a substantial loss. Who knows whether the Queen Mother, upon finding out, might be angered to the point of spitting blood.

The Peach Garden was not small, totaling three thousand six hundred peach trees. Tao Yao fluttered from one to the next, and the peaches fell like raindrops, all being gathered by Wukong with the Swallowing Dragon Stele.

More than a hundred Great Saints giggled and laughed as they picked peaches and sneaked a couple to eat, before tossing what they picked to the ground. As Wukong wandered by, he gathered them up with the Swallowing Dragon Stele.

Wukong cackled, "A bumper harvest, a bumper harvest indeed! Hahaha, hahaha! I wonder if the old Jade Emperor knows that Old Sun has stolen all the peaches from the Flat Peach Garden in one go, will he be so angry he spits blood?"

Thinking this, Wukong slapped his head and said, "Tao Yao, can you uproot trees? Help me take out a hundred peach trees, the kind with Purple Patterned Yellow Core."

There were restraints buried beneath these peach trees, and any disturbance would be noticed. Wukong did not dare to act rashly.

"What do you want these trees for? They can’t turn into humans like me," asked Tao Yao, halting in her tracks and turning to inquire.

Wukong replied, "To take these peach trees out to see the outside world, of course! Staying here with you, they must feel very bored."

"Oh! They are all my good friends. If you take them away, you must take good care of them," said Tao Yao.

With that, a flash of rainbow light, and a hundred Purple Patterned Yellow Core peach trees were uprooted from the ground without tripping the restraints. Wukong thought this little girl was quite clever; she hopped as she uprooted them, carefully choosing the densest area. By pulling out one tree after another in this way, unless someone counted carefully, they wouldn’t notice a hundred trees were missing. Wukong hurriedly used the Swallowing Dragon Stele to collect the trees in one go. This Swallowing Dragon Stele had a grandiose name; even dragons it could swallow, let alone a few small peach trees. What were they in comparison?

Wukong then collected eight more Purple Patterned Yellow Core peach trees into the Swallowing Dragon Stele and called out, "Enough, enough! Stop uprooting them, lest we arouse suspicion."

Only then did Tao Yao cease, totaling one hundred and eight Purple Patterned Yellow Core peach trees that Wukong had uprooted, before she resumed helping him pick peaches.

Tao Yao found picking peaches to be amusing too and flitted around the Peach Garden. Wherever she passed, peaches fell from the trees like a small mountain forming. Wukong simply kept gathering them with the Swallowing Dragon Stele, thinking gleefully that the Jade Emperor had truly invited the wolf into his house.

After picking half of the peaches, Tao Yao stopped to catch her breath and said, "Oh my, I can’t go on! I need to rest a bit before I can continue picking."

Wukong told her to take her time resting, then plucked a strand of monkey hair and blew on it, turning it into more than a hundred Great Saints that chattered noisily as they scampered to pick the peaches.

After resting for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Tao Yao recovered her spirits and began once again to help Wukong sweep through the Peach Garden’s Peaches of Immortality.

It took nearly an hour, but they finally picked all the peaches. Wukong did a quick estimate—each tree bore roughly a hundred peaches, totaling around three hundred and fifty to three hundred and sixty thousand.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Tao Yao said, "Sun Wukong, I’ve finished helping you pick the peaches! How are you going to thank me?"

Wukong replied, "When I get out, I’ll help you find your father, and if I find him, I’ll tell him to come home early. How about that?"

After thinking for a bit, Tao Yao showed a full smile and said, "Alright! When you see my father, tell him I miss him and that he should come back soon."

Wukong agreed, thinking that if he saw that man again, he would certainly speak to him, lest Tao Yao feel too lonely in the Peach Garden.

Wukong continued, "Tao Yao, I must be going. If you ever tire of playing in this Peach Garden, come find me. My home is in the Ao Lai Kingdom, beside Flower-Fruit Mountain in Dongsheng Immortal State. When you arrive, just say you are my friend, and someone will bring you to see me."

Tao Yao’s eyes twinkled with joy and curved like crescent moons as she waved her hands and said, "Great! Maybe one day when I feel like going out, I’ll visit your home to play. But remember, you’ll have to treat me well then."

Wukong had spent several years with Tao Yao and found this little fairy quite endearing. Now they were parting, and it could be that once he left, they might never see each other again. He felt a pang of reluctance and plucked three strands of monkey hair, casting three talismans into them, and said, "If you run into any trouble, just take out a strand of monkey hair, call my name three times, and state your reason, and I will know."

Tao Yao didn’t stand on ceremony, took the three strands of monkey hair, imitated Wukong, and tucked them into her ears.

Wukong recalled his Divine Skills, and the Great Saints hopped over to him, reverting to strands of monkey hair and falling back onto his body.

"The mountains may not turn, but the waters will; the green mountain remains unchanged, the green waters forever flow! Tao Yao, we shall meet again if fate allows!" said Wukong with a slight bow.

Having said this, Wukong somersaulted into the air and headed out of the Peach Garden.

Tao Yao tried to hold back tears and vigorously waved her hands, shouting, "Sun Wukong, remember your promise! If you have time, be sure to come back and visit me! And... don’t forget to help me find my father!"

To find out what happens next, please tune in to the following episode.