Chapter 86

Sun Wukong stood in the deepest part of the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi, his eyes staring straight at the nine-thousand-year Pantao hanging on the branches, lingering with immortal light and extraordinary appearance.

These Pantao had excellent appearance, pink with purple, auspicious light flowing, and just smelling that fragrance made his saliva flow, scratching his ears and cheeks, as if there were ten thousand monkeys running wild in his heart.

"Good peaches, truly good peaches!" Sun Wukong couldn't help but mutter to himself.

What he loved to eat most in his life was peaches; he had eaten the wild peaches of Mount Huaguo from childhood to adulthood and had never gotten tired of them.

But what was before him were immortal fruits produced by the Pantao forest evolved from the innate spiritual root Pantao tree; eating one could allow one to live as long as heaven and earth, and the sun and moon.

This temptation, for a monkey, was simply fatal.

He subconsciously reached out his hand, wanting to pick one and taste it.

But just as his hand reached halfway, it stopped abruptly.

"No, no!" Sun Wukong shook his head vigorously, throwing that tempting thought away.

There were two voices fighting in his heart.

One voice was saying: "Eat! What are you afraid of! You are the Saint Qitian, this entire Pantao Zhen Yuanzi is managed by you; what does eating a peach count for? Just treat it as tasting whether the peach is ripe or not, it's also for work!"

Another voice retorted: "You are the Saint Qitian! The Saint conferred by the Jade Emperor, equal to heaven! How can you do such a thing of stealing from your own post? If this spreads out, where will you put this monkey face? Wouldn't it make the immortals of the Three Realms laugh at you to death?"

On Sun Wukong's monkey face, the expression changed uncertainly, sometimes baring his teeth and sometimes frowning tightly.

He was a monkey, naturally loving to eat peaches.

But he was even more of a face-loving monkey; he valued the title "Saint Qitian" more than anything else.

Stealing and eating the Pantao he was managing?

This matter was too indecent and disgraced his title of Saint Qitian.

"I am the Saint Qitian, how can I do such a thing of a rat stealing!"

Thinking of this, Sun Wukong puffed out his chest, as if he had made a huge determination.

He turned around and forced himself not to look at those tempting peaches anymore.

"Humph! Aren't they just a few peaches? When I make a contribution, the Jade Emperor will naturally send these best peaches to my mansion personally!"

Thinking this way, he felt much more comfortable in his heart.

He decided that not only would he not steal and eat, but he would also manage this Pantao Zhen Yuanzi in an orderly manner, so that everyone could not pick out any faults.

Saying it and doing it, Sun Wukong pulled his throat and called the local deity and a group of strong men over.

"You all listen to me!" Sun Wukong stood with his hands on his hips and said with a full style, "From today on, the management of this Pantao Zhen Yuanzi will set new rules!"

The local deity and the strong men looked at each other, not knowing what tricks this newly appointed Great Saint was going to play.

"First!" Sun Wukong stretched out a finger, "You must recount all the peach trees in the garden for me. How many are three thousand years, how many are six thousand years, how many are nine thousand years, and how many peaches are on each tree, all must be recorded in the book, and no mistakes are allowed!"

"Second, from now on, all matters in this garden must be reported to me first, and only after getting my permission can they be handled! Do you understand?"

"Yes! We obey the order!"

How could the local deity and the strong men dare to say no, so they hurriedly took the order and left.

In the following days, the entire Pantao Zhen Yuanzi was managed by Sun Wukong in an orderly manner.

He himself was not idle, strolling in the garden every day, sometimes running to the east to see if the strong men were lazy, sometimes running to the west to check the local deity's account book, and whenever he found a little bit of negligence, it was a face-to-face reprimand.

He really took this task of managing the garden as a big career.

Lingxiao Bao Dian.

The Jade Emperor was listening to the immortal officials reporting daily affairs below.

But his mind was not on this at all.

He had been waiting for news from the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi.

According to his assumption, the monkey was naturally naughty and loved to eat peaches; throwing him into the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi, within three days, he would definitely be unable to resist stealing and eating.

By then, he would send someone to check, catch him with stolen goods, and he could punish him with justification.

But several days had passed, why was there no movement at all?

Just at this moment, an immortal official sent by the Jade Emperor to be responsible for supervising the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi walked in hurriedly.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is news from the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi!"

The Jade Emperor's spirit lifted, his body leaned forward slightly, and he asked: "How is it? Did that demon monkey steal and eat the Pantao?"

He had already thought it through; as soon as the news was confirmed, he would immediately order General Li Jing to go and arrest the person.

However, the immortal official's answer made him very disappointed.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, that demon monkey not only did not steal and eat the Pantao, but instead managed the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi even better than before."

"What?" The Jade Emperor was stunned, thinking he had misheard, "Say it again?"

The immortal official had to report Sun Wukong's actions in the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi one by one.

"... He ordered the local deity and strong men to register all the Pantao in the book, patrol day and night, and guard strictly. He himself also inspects every day, conscientiously, without the slightest slack."

After listening to the report, although the Jade Emperor's expression did not change on the surface, his heart sank.

This monkey, why doesn't he play according to the routine?

He could actually resist not eating?

"Unreasonable!" The Jade Emperor cursed inwardly, "This monkey could actually resist the temptation and didn't fall for this trick!"

He waved his hand, let the immortal official retire, and then said to the Curtain-Rolling General beside him: "Go, summon Tai Bai Jin Xing!"

Soon, Tai Bai Jin Xing arrived before the imperial throne.

"This old subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Minister Changgeng, my beloved subject, no need for formalities." The Jade Emperor signaled Tai Bai Jin Xing to be free of formalities, then dismissed the attendants, and said to Tai Bai Jin Xing, "Minister Changgeng, my beloved subject, that idea you came up with, that monkey head didn't fall for it at all; he is now in the Pantao Zhen Yuanzi, dutifully, and is working very hard!"

Tai Bai Jin Xing was surprised when he heard this; he also didn't expect Sun Wukong to be able to resist the temptation of the full garden of Pantao.

He stroked his beard, thought slightly, and smiled slightly at the Jade Emperor: "Your Majesty, although he did not steal from his own post and eat the Pantao. But doesn't this just show that the monkey values his face as 'Saint Qitian' extremely?"

"So in this old subject's opinion, if we want him to take the initiative to commit a big mistake, we still have to start from his weakness." Tai Bai Jin Xing said unhurriedly, "And loving face is his weakness; let's design a trap targeting his love of face, and let him jump into it voluntarily."

The Jade Emperor became interested: "Oh? Does my beloved subject have another wonderful plan?"