Chapter 481: Dragon Throne?

Better to turn it into a bathhouse.

The Queen Mother's shriek echoed from deep within the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, high and piercing, like a pig being slaughtered.

Sun Wukong didn't even twitch an eyebrow.

He kicked the palace doors open.

The two huge doors, studded with golden nails, burst open and fell to both sides, crashing onto the white marble floor and raising a cloud of dust throughout the hall.

Everything inside the hall was laid bare.

The Dragon Throne was still there.

But no one sat on it.

Behind the Dragon Throne, a disheveled old man was crawling on the ground toward a corner, using all four limbs, his posture hardly different from a dog's.

Beside her stood the Queen Mother, clutching a shattered jade bottle, her makeup smeared, her eyes bulging as if they might pop out.

That miserable scream she just let out wasn't from injury.

It was because she saw Sun Wukong.

"Jade Emperor."

Sun Wukong spoke, his voice not loud, yet the entire Lingxiao Treasure Hall hummed with resonance.

The Jade Emperor lying on the ground stiffened, his legs shaking like chaff in a sieve, his head buried deep, too afraid to lift.

Sun Wukong walked in, shouldering his iron staff.

His boots stepped on the gold tiles, each footfall clear and distinct.

The Queen Mother dropped to her knees with a thud.

"Great Sage, spare me! It was all his doing! It has nothing to do with me! Really, nothing to do with me!"

Sun Wukong didn't even glance at her, walking straight to behind the Dragon Throne and looking down at the Jade Emperor curled up in a ball.

Once the ruler of the Three Realms.

Once the Heavenly Emperor who sat high above the clouds, looking down on all beings.

Now he curled up like a worm beneath his own Dragon Throne.

He didn't even have the courage to lift his head.

Sun Wukong reached out a hand and grabbed the Jade Emperor by the collar.

Like picking up a chick, he lifted him with one hand.

The Jade Emperor's feet left the ground, his whole body hanging in mid‑air, swinging, his hands instinctively clawing at Sun Wukong's wrists.

His fingers were like dry twigs, unable to muster any strength.

His lips quivered, his teeth chattering.

"Gr... Great Sage... I..."

Sun Wukong stared at that old face.

"You call yourself 'I' to me?"

The Jade Emperor's words caught in his throat, his face turning from ashen to bluish.

Sun Wukong wasted no more words, swinging his arm.

The Jade Emperor flew out like a torn sack, bursting through the doors, tumbling roll after roll for over ten zhang, finally landing face‑down on the plaza outside the hall.

His gold crown flew off.

His dragon robe was ripped.

He was covered in dust and grime, nosebleed mixed with mud smearing his face.

The remaining heavenly soldiers kneeling on the plaza saw everything clearly, yet not one dared to step forward to help him.

Sun Wukong turned around and looked at the now‑empty Dragon Throne.

Made of pure gold, inlaid with jewels, its back carved with nine golden dragons, its arms engraved with auspicious clouds and beasts.

He walked over and plopped down onto it.

As soon as his butt touched the seat, he frowned.

"This thing is uncomfortable."

He shifted his weight, growing more uncomfortable, finally lifting a leg and kicking the backrest.

Crack!

Two of the nine dragons on the throne's back snapped.

"After sitting on this junk for millions of years, no wonder the old Jade Emperor's addled."

Sun Wukong jumped down from the throne, tapped the seat with his iron staff, producing a dull dong.

He looked around.

The hall glittered with gold, its walls covered in jeweled murals, priceless gold tiles underfoot.

All of it, the fat and ointment of the people.

All of it, a display built from mortal incense and faith.

He turned and shouted toward the outside of the hall.

"Come in! Listen!"

On the plaza, heavenly soldiers, immortal officials, palace maids and eunuchs knelt in a mass, trembling as they rose and helped each other crawl into the hall.

No one dared to move quickly.

No one dared to lift their eyes to stare straight at the monkey standing beside the Dragon Throne.

When the crowd had mostly gathered, Sun Wukong planted his iron staff into the ground.

"From today on, this Lingxiao Treasure Hall is changed."

Everyone held their breath.

"Let's turn it into a bathhouse."

Deathly silence filled the hall.

"It's public. Anyone can come to bathe. Gods can bathe, demons can bathe, mortals can bathe too."

A bold celestial official's lips twitched, as if he wanted to say something.

Sun Wukong's gaze swept over.

That official's mouth snapped shut immediately, and he lowered his head even further.

"What? Any objections?"

None.

No objections at all.

Everyone's heads bobbed like rattles.

Sun Wukong nodded satisfied, then walked out.

He took two steps and stopped again.

"Right. Which way is the Heavenly Prison?"

A scrawny celestial official came running out, stumbling and crawling, pointing shakily in a direction.

A golden flash flared under Sun Wukong's feet, and he vanished.

Heavenly Prison.

In the most remote corner of the Heavenly Court, the lowest layer of the Nine Heavens.

Dark, without sun or day.

Damp and chilly.

When Sun Wukong landed at the entrance of the Heavenly Prison, the guards had all fled, leaving only scattered weapons and overturned stools.

He walked in.

In the darkness came the sound of iron chains dragging on the ground, and an extremely faint breath.

Sun Wukong's Samadhi True Fire flared in his palm, lighting the long corridor.

Cells lined both sides, their iron bars mottled with rust.

The first cell held a white-haired tiger demon, skin and bones, eye sockets sunken; at the sight of the firelight, something flashed in his murky eyes.

The second cell held a mortal-looking young man, his hands suspended by iron chains in mid-air, the ground beneath his feet covered in dried bloodstains.

The third.

The fourth.

The fifth.

The further in we went, the more people were imprisoned, and the worse their injuries.

Some cells held nothing but a pile of white bones and rusted iron shackles.

Sun Wukong didn't stop, examining each cell in turn.

The iron staff spun in a flourish in his hand.

Then he raised the staff and brought it down.

Boom.

The first cell door shattered.

Boom.

The second.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

A series of thunderous booms exploded in the Heavenly Prison, iron filings and stone fragments flying everywhere.

All the cell doors were smashed into scrap iron within three breaths.

The white-haired tiger demon stared for a moment before reacting, then stumbled out of the cell, looked up and saw Sun Wukong, and his hind legs went weak as he was about to kneel.

"Don't kneel."

Sun Wukong's voice echoed throughout the Heavenly Prison.

"From now on, you need not kneel to anyone."

The iron chains suspending the young man snapped, his whole body fell to the ground, and he couldn't get up for a while.

He lifted his head, his lips split open, and his throat was so hoarse he could barely speak.

"You… who are you?"

"Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong."

The young man's tears poured out.

Not just him.

From deep within the Heavenly Prison came a wailing that had been suppressed for who knows how many years, one after another, more and more, growing louder.

Those demon clans imprisoned by the Heavenly Court on various absurd charges, falsely accused mortal heroes, and innocent living beings thrown into the death cells for offending some great immortal.

Some had been locked up for hundreds of years.

Some had been locked up for thousands of years.

They thought they would die here.

Today this light shone in.

Sun Wukong did not linger.

He walked out after finishing what he needed to do.

When he reached the entrance of the heavenly prison, he turned back and glanced.

Those who had regained freedom surged out in a stumbling rush, some laughing, some crying, some embracing and wailing.

He shouldered the iron staff again.

He returned once more to the square before the Hall of Ascending Clouds.

The Jade Emperor still lay where he was, no one dared to pull him, and he himself dared not move.

Sun Wukong walked past him on the tiles beside him, his voice carrying throughout the heavenly court.

"Today I will establish a few rules."

"First, from now on there will be no distinction between immortals and mortals. Everyone is a living being dwelling in this world, with no high or low, noble or base."

"Second, whoever relies on a little ability to bully the weak, whether you are a bodhisattva, an arhat, or some damned heavenly king,"

"my staff recognizes the person, not the title."

"Third..."

He paused, lowered his head and looked at the Jade Emperor lying at his feet.

"The old rules are abolished. The new rules are what I say."

The iron staff struck the ground heavily.

Everyone lowered their heads in unison.

No opposition.

No one dared to oppose.

Sun Wukong lifted his gaze to the heaven of the heavenly court.

It was very clear.

The old order shattered completely clean.

Yao drifted to his side at some point, reaching out to touch his arm.

Sun Wukong turned to look at her.

Yao's gaze swept past his shoulder toward the distance beyond the Southern Heaven Gate.

"Wukong."

Her voice was soft.

"Your master asked me to deliver a message."

"He said, don't just focus on smashing things."

"It's time to go back."

"An old thing can't wait any longer."

Sun Wukong's smile faded by a third.

He recalled that voice coming from the depths of the void.

The existence called Bodhi "junior fellow disciple."

He gripped the iron staff tightly.

"Go."