Chapter 3: The Spiritual Platform of the Heart

[Having found no immortals, Buddhas, or deities in the Nanshan Continent, you came to the coast of the Western Sea, determined to set out to sea.]

[You saw someone selling fish by the shore but paid no mind, and instead went into the nearby woods, chopped down trees, and made yourself a raft; you floated across the Western Sea and arrived at the land of the Western Bull-Heaven Continent.]

[You wandered the Western Bull-Heaven Continent for a while, and seeing a great mountain, with the guidance of a kindly woodcutter, you found the Mountain of Mind and Heart, the Three Star Cave.]

[Inside the Three Star Cave lay a world apart; you met an ancient immortal named Subhuti, who gave you a name—Sun Wukong, for from the begining of the Primordial Chaos there was no surname, to break the obstinate void one must realize Wukong.]

The Monkey King, seeing that he had indeed found an immortal in the Western Bull-Heaven Continent and even been given a name, couldn't help but dance with joy and wave his hands in approval.

"Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous!"

He exclaimed three times over, his face beaming with happiness, feeling that all the hardships he had endured along the way, both in the simulator and in reality, were worth it.

Upon hearing that in the simulator Ancestral Master had given him the name Sun Wukong, he was so overcome that he somersaulted seven or eight times in a row.

The Ancestral Master in the simulator, who had named him, was truly his reborn parent.

Not to mention what the Ancestral Master had said: "From the beginning of the Primordial Chaos there was no surname, to break the obstinate void one must realize Wukong."

Wasn't this his greatest expectation?

"From now on, I shall be called Sun Wukong too."

[After you became a disciple in the Three Star Cave, you studied language and manners, debated the scriptures, and practiced writing and burning incense every day; in your spare time, you took it upon yourself to handle all the chores inside the cave, sweeping the floor, hoeing the garden, caring for flowers, tending trees, gathering firewood, carrying water, and grinding grain, all of which did not escape Ancestral Master Subhuti's watchful eyes.]

[Seven years later, one day while the Ancestral Master was routinely expounding on the Great Dao, you, being naturally a spirit monkey, were more intelligent and perceptive than your fellow disciples and grasped the profound mysteries, overjoyed, you danced with delight in the hall.]

[There was a hint of joy in the Ancestral Master's eyes; after all, he had preached the Great Dao for so many years, and only you, a monkey, understood it. So he asked what you wished to learn.]

[Uninterested in the four minor paths of "technique," "flow," "stillness," and "motion" that didn't lead to immortality, you didn't study them. Thus, the Ancestral Master pretended to be angry, knocked on your head three times, and left.]

[Your fellow disciples blamed you for your greed. You apologized with a smile but you had already guessed the Ancestral Master's intention and went to his chamber in the dead of night, before the third watch, where you were taught the Great Dao of immortality:]

The profound secret of manifest and hidden is fully revealed; there is nothing more to cherish in life but this.

It all comes down to nurturing the essence, energy, and the spirit; secure and firmly contained, do not let them leak.

Do not let them leak; cherish within your body, receive my teachings and you shall thrive.

The formula remembered brings many benefits; expel wicked desires to achieve cool tranquility.

Achieve cool tranquility; become luminous and pure, and then ascend to the elixir platform to admire the bright moon.

The moon harbors the jade rabbit, the sun, the crow, naturally, there are turtles and snakes intertwined.

Intertwined they are, firm is life; even amidst fire, one can grow the golden lotus.

When the five elements are bunched and inverted, your efforts culminate, and you can become a Buddha or an immortal.

Sun Wukong saw that his own avatar in the simulator truly received the teachings of the Great Dao, and now he himself knew the formula; this filled him with immense joy, and he focused on reciting it silently.

Indeed!

Divine Power grew within his body, making him feel as light as a swallow, as if he could leap up and fly at any moment.

"Truly the methods of the immortals!"

Likewise, he saw that within three years, his avatar in the simulator had cultivated to success, was imbued with a Divine Body, and had attained long life, causing even greater joy. It meant that by following this dao, he too could achieve immortality in just three years.

[However, you were informed by the Ancestral Master of the trials of the three calamities, because the dao you practiced was too against the natural order, seizing the creation of the sun and the moon and encroaching upon the mysteries of heaven and earth, you faced the calamities of thunder, fire, and wind. These calamities came every five hundred years, cycling once every one thousand five hundred years, never ceasing, forever relentless; hence, one could only avoid them, not withstand them head-on.]

"You asked the Ancestral Master for the secrets of evading detection, and the Master gave you two options," one was the celestial transformations, thirty-six in total, and the other was the earthly transformations, seventy-two in total."

"Thinking to gain more skills, you learned the earthly transformations. Since once you grasped one, you understood all, you memorized the verses passed down by the Ancestral Master. Silently practicing a few times, you mastered them."

"Seventy-two transformations."

The Monkey King, through the simulator, had also acquired this ability, and he was overjoyed. However, his Divine Body was not yet perfected. Although he could perform the seventy-two transformations, it only affected his facial features, and his body remained that of a monkey."

"It seems I am of monkey kind, and these seventy-two transformations are techniques meant for human cultivation. Even for me, within the simulator, having perfected it, transforming other objects poses no issue, but transforming into a human form is somewhat flawed in certain aspects. A minor blemish, but of no consequence."

"Afterward, you displayed the art of cloud-riding, and the Ancestral Master, seeing you clamber upon the clouds, leaping and pulling, had an idea and created a somersault cloud technique, where one flip would carry you eighty thousand li. You learned the somersault cloud."

"Somersault cloud!"

The Monkey King was even more delighted, quickly memorizing the verses passed to that version of himself in the simulator. With a thought, it felt as though a single leap could carry him thousands of miles."

It was just that his cultivation was not yet complete, otherwise, he would have been leaping up to the heavens."

"Later, because you flaunted your Divine Skills after having learned them, the Ancestral Master was displeased, feeling you had lost your original heart of seeking enlightenment. He felt a touch of disappointment and banished you from the mountain."

"You returned to Huaguo Mountain..."

"Master, actually sent me away."

The Monkey King, watching his past self flaunting skills in front of his fellow disciples and disappointing the Ancestral Master, felt some indignation in his heart."

He had gone through untold hardships, traversing mountains and rivers, all for the sake of seeking eternal life."

Eternal life was obtained, so what was wrong with showing off a bit?

Couldn't he enjoy it for a while?

"Returning to Huaguo Mountain, you found that your children had been bullied by the Demon King of Chaos. You confronted him, confiscated his great sword, and cleaved him in two, thus saving your monkey descendants."

"After that, you proclaimed yourself king over Huaguo Mountain, feeling that your children needed weapons for protection. Following the advice of the monkeys, you went to Ao Lai to purchase some weapons. However, upon arriving in Ao Lai, you found buying weapons too troublesome, so you conjured a whirlwind and took all the weapons from Ao Lai."

At this point, the Monkey King was pensive; his simulated self did seem to have been rather presumptuous."

His children had asked him to buy some weapons, yet upon arrival, thinking of his expansive Divine Skills, he simply took them by force, which was indeed rather unscrupulous."

"I think I understand why the Master was disappointed."

In the process of seeking enlightenment, his resolution was unyielding; he paid no attention to the rest of the world for the sake of eternal life. Yet, having attained it, he seemed to have no goal and began acting recklessly."

In the simulator, his past self had once disdained the fame and fortune of Nanshan Continent, but after achieving eternal life, he too became entangled in it."

So it goes!

Such is fate!

For a moment, the Monkey King was suddenly lost in confusion."

The simulation continued:

"Having acquired the weapons, you felt that the great sword taken from the Demon King of Chaos did not suit you. Upon the suggestion of two broad-shouldered gibbons and two red-bottomed horse monkeys, you headed to the Dragon Palace."

"However, you had no regard for the Dragon King at all, taking the Heavenly River's stabilizing divine marvel iron and the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod like a ruffian."

"Afterward, you extorted a set of armor from the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, flaunted your might, and caused fright amongst numerous dragon descendants, sowing the seeds for your future troubles."