Standing atop the clouds, Mo Xuan gazed eastward and saw a mountain range stretching ten thousand miles across the sea. From afar, he observed its majesty commanding the vast ocean, its might pacifying the jade sea. Where it commanded the vast ocean, tides surged like silver mountains as fish dove into their caves; where it pacified the jade sea, waves rolled like snow as mirages rose from the depths. Rising high in the wood and fire quarter, it towered at its peak in the East Sea. Crimson cliffs and strange rocks, sheer walls and remarkable peaks. Upon the crimson cliffs, pairs of phoenix sang; before the sheer walls, a single qilin lay resting. Atop the peaks, one could often hear golden pheasants cry; in stone caves, one could regularly observe dragons coming and going. In the forests dwelt immortal deer and mystic foxes, in the trees perched spiritual birds and dark cranes. The jade grass and extraordinary flowers never withered, the green pines and cypresses remained eternally spring-like. Immortal peaches bore constant fruit, and tall bamboo forever caught the clouds. One ravine was thick with vines, while all four sides of the earthen embankment showed fresh grass. Truly it was a pillar holding up heaven where hundred rivers met, an unshakeable root of the earth through ten thousand kalpas.
This description of the mountain in "Journey to the West," apart from a brief mention at the beginning, had no further detail. Now it appeared far larger than Mo Xuan had originally imagined it to be.
This fellow had always been careless in his reading, never looking carefully. He didn't know that at the beginning of "Journey to the West" it was written that this Mount Huaguo was the ancestral vein of the Ten Continents, the dragon's approach of the Three Islands, established when clarity and turbidity were separated, formed after the primordial chaos was divided.
Mo Xuan descended his cloud and gazed at the endless expanse of Mount Huaguo, feeling somewhat headached. In such a vast place, how would he find the Water Curtain Cave? Just as he was worrying, he suddenly saw a streak of light flash across Mount Huaguo. Looking closely, he was delighted—it was that monkey riding his somersault cloud, crossing two hundred li of water in an instant, flying toward the nearby Kingdom of Aolai.
Mo Xuan's heart stirred, knowing what was happening. It seemed the monkey had already beaten up the Havoc-Making Demon King and was now heading to the Kingdom of Aolai to steal weapons for training his troops.
Sure enough, shortly after, a strange wind arose in the city, sweeping up countless little monkeys and weapons, flying back toward Mount Huaguo. Mo Xuan followed this fierce wind to the entrance of the Water Curtain Cave.
What happened next was just as recorded in the book—the monkey found those weapons unsuitable and, following the suggestion of his four elderly monkey advisors, went to the Crystal Palace in the East Sea.
Mo Xuan was very familiar with this plot point and felt quite sympathetic toward the four Dragon Kings—who had they provoked or offended?
However, as the saying goes, a common man commits no crime by merely existing, but possessing jade brings guilt.
These four old Dragon Kings had no real ability, yet they had blown their reputation so large, making it seem as if their East Sea Crystal Palace was filled with treasures. Even Mo Xuan's heart was moved. So, after the monkey used his water-dividing spell to enter the East Sea, Mo Xuan transformed into a small fish and followed him down to the bottom of the Eastern Ocean.
While the monkey was extorting the Dragon King, Mo Xuan followed behind the Mandarin Fish Marshal and entered directly into the East Sea Dragon Palace's treasure vault.
Originally, Mo Xuan had high hopes for this East Sea Dragon Palace, given its reputation, but upon entering the treasury, he was greatly disappointed.
"This old miser!!"
Mo Xuan cursed silently. It turned out the treasury was filled with gold and silver treasures, and besides these precious metals, there were few things that caught Mo Xuan's eye. After circling the inner chamber's pile of treasures, he walked to the side chamber, which was filled with weapons.
Compared to the yellow and white objects in the inner chamber, the items here were somewhat interesting. In fact, Mo Xuan had come today partly hoping to find a weapon to play with, but after searching for a long while, he found nothing that suited him. The weapons here were either too heavy or too light. His strength couldn't compare to that monkey's—he couldn't lift the heavy ones, while the light ones didn't feel right in his hands. Finally, he dug out two golden cudgels from the pile of weapons. These two cudgels had jade handles studded with treasures and gold leaf inlays; green velvet cords were threaded through as hand guards, and refined copper made them gleam. When he picked them up to test their weight, they felt just right.
Looking at their quality, celestial energy emanated from the cudgels' bodies. The refined copper-colored cudgel bodies were clearly forged from primordial star iron, obviously immortal treasures at a glance.
Who knows what that old Dragon King was thinking, placing such a treasure among a room full of scrap metal—his judgment was certainly questionable.
Mo Xuan didn't stand on ceremony. Having taken a liking to this pair of golden cudgels, he stored them in his jade-green gourd, planning to refine them when he had time.
After collecting the cudgels, Mo Xuan was about to search further when suddenly the space around him began to shake violently.
The surrounding seawater churned and roared, the world spinning as screams and shouts of alarm rang out around him. Mo Xuan couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly, abandoning any thoughts of further searching. Outside, after obtaining the As-You-Will Gold-Banded Cudgel, the monkey had thrown aside all restraint and was wreaking havoc in the Crystal Palace. The old Dragon King was terrified, the young dragons scattered in panic; turtles, tortoises, and alligators all drew in their necks, while fish, shrimp, and crabs all hid their heads. The entire East Sea was thrown into chaos, which also dampened Mo Xuan's mood for further exploration.
As for what happened next, Mo Xuan naturally had no interest in watching such an extortion show. Making a water-dividing hand seal, he left the East Sea and returned to Mount Huaguo.
It should be known that Mount Huaguo's territory was vast, and besides the monkey tribe, it was home to wolves, insects, tigers, leopards, deer, musk deer, foxes, raccoon dogs, badgers, lions, elephants, lion-dogs, orangutans, bears, deer, wild boars, mountain cattle, antelopes, rhinoceroses, jackals, divine hounds... various demon tribes, totaling seventy-two caves.
These seventy-two cave demon tribes each had their demon kings, who by now had all acknowledged the monkey as their superior. Beyond these seventy-two caves, there were many other treacherous mountain ridges, waterfalls, and deep pools, with some cliffs so high and dangerous that even eagles couldn't fly to their tops.
Mo Xuan chose one such dangerous cliff as the location for his cave dwelling. He selected this cave firstly because it was far enough from the Water Curtain Cave to avoid attracting the attention of that self-satisfied monkey, and secondly because there were no demon kings' forces around these cliffs. It could be said this was one of the more desolate areas of Mount Huaguo. The cave was spacious and ideal as a temporary residence.
Entering the natural cave, Mo Xuan walked to the wall at the bottom, extended his left hand, and channeled his mystic arts. The red formation in his palm began to appear. He pressed his left hand against the wall, and when he removed it, a formation appeared on the wall, revealing a doorway.
Mo Xuan walked through the doorway into a space similar to a stone cave, but the previous simple furnishings like the stone bed and stone table were gone, leaving only an empty space that seemed somewhat desolate.
So it turned out he had to bring his own furnishings!
Mo Xuan shook his head with a wry smile, walked out of the doorway, and selected some blue stones from below the cliff. Using his mystic arts, he carved the blue stones into a stone bed, stone table, and other necessary items, then stirred up a whirlwind to carry all these objects into the formation space.