Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 393: Deceiving for Elixirs, The Jade Emperor’s Inquiry
Behind the great hall, Sun Wukong still lay in a coma, with Gold Star Taibai looking worriedly at the closed-eyed, frowning figure.
With Wukong’s profound mana, how could he have been put into a comatose state by an obscure Buddhist disciple?
After pondering for a moment, he took out a pill from his pouch and placed it into Wukong’s mouth.
Wukong, with his eyes still closed as the pill entered his mouth, showed no response, prompting Taibai to take out a few more pills.
These pills were all superior elixirs that had taken a full twenty-one days to refine. It was unexpected that Wukong showed no reaction despite consuming them.
Taibai waved his magical staff in front of Wukong’s forehead, attempting to assess his condition, but, surprisingly, he found out nothing.
Taibai was somewhat astonished. Could it be that Wukong’s mana was so profound that even he could not detect anything?
As he reluctantly took out another top-grade pill from his pouch, which had taken even longer to refine, a full forty-nine days, and was about to place it into Wukong’s mouth, the Jade Emperor returned.
"That was close. I wouldn’t have known how to keep up the charade otherwise."
Taibai’s hand paused, "I don’t know where this Wukong was injured by those Buddhists to be knocked out so deeply. I already administered two pills to him, yet he hasn’t shown the slightest reaction."
"Really?" The Jade Emperor glanced at Wukong’s complexion, his eyes rolling as he quickly understood the situation, "Alright, no need to feed him more pills, I know how to wake him up."
"Fine." Taibai was ready to withdraw his hand when Wukong suddenly opened his mouth and swallowed the pill he held.
"You stingy old man, it’s just a pill. If I ate it, I ate it. Why would you try to take it back?"
Wukong munched on the pill. Although it could not compare to his master’s culinary skills, it was still an elixir that had been refined for a long time. Why not eat it if it’s free?
Seeing Wukong speak like this, Taibai also realized that Wukong was perfectly fine and was just feigning unconsciousness.
Now that he knew Wukong was alright, Taibai began to grieve the loss of his elixirs.
"Chef Wukong, if you’re fine, then stop pretending to be sick. Do you know how long I took to refine these pills? To be consumed for nothing, this was a premium pill that took me forty-nine days to make, and you just ate it like that."
"I call you stingy, and yet you get more worked up. It’s just a pill. Look how much you’re grieving over it. The taste isn’t even that good. You should work on improving it," Wukong said as he swallowed the pill and smacked his lips.
Taibai wished he could extract the pill from Wukong’s mouth, "Really, this is a medical pill, what does the taste have to do with anything? It’s meant to cure illness, not to be tasted. So what if it’s not delicious?"
Wukong dodged Taibai’s hand, "Your stuff is not even as good as the dishes my master whips up in passing, which are like rare delicacies. If he puts in a bit of effort, they become supreme dishes."
"Who is this Shopkeeper Chen, and you can’t compare me with your master."
"True. Well, I’ve eaten your pill, so when I have some free time, I’ll just whip up a few dishes for you in return, right?"
Though today Wukong could have escaped from Tathagata on his own without their help, he still owed them a favor for their intentions.
Upon hearing this, Taibai’s sorrowful mood lifted instantly as he eagerly nodded, "Yes, yes, make it extra spicy."
"Still eating spicy at such an old age." Sun Wukong looked at Taibai’s grizzled beard and hair and couldn’t help but tease.
"What does that have to do with anything? I just happened to be this age when I became an immortal, so my appearance was fixed. Besides, I’m not weaker than those younger immortals," Taibai said, a bit resentful.
He wasn’t wrong. Immortals’ appearances were fixed at the age they became immortals. Moreover, if one wished, they could appear any age they wanted.
"Enough with the idle chatter," the Jade Emperor interrupted them, "Tell me what happened tonight."
Although the question wasn’t accusatory, Sun Wukong wasn’t afraid of any blame. After all, he didn’t belong to the Heavenly Court; if he was displeased, he could simply return to his master’s side.
"Isn’t that just the way it is? You’re the boss here; you can’t possibly be oblivious to everything, right?"
"You’ve caused such a mess. Have you thought about how you’re going to sort it out?" The Jade Emperor said, a little irate at Sun Wukong’s indifferent attitude.
"This is the Heavenly Court we’re talking about. Whatever mess you make, other people will come to me to settle accounts. What am I supposed to do if I can’t cover for you?"
"Oh come on, you’re the Jade Emperor. With your divine skills, is there anything that can really trouble you?"
Sun Wukong chuckled and said, "Besides, what have I done? I was just cooking some dishes in the kitchen. My cooking turned out to be too delicious, and they couldn’t resist the temptation. They ate the dishes and now you want to blame me? How does that make sense?"
In a few words, Sun Wukong had absolved himself completely. The Jade Emperor and Taibai hadn’t witnessed the incident themselves and had to slowly deduce what had happened based on what they were told.
"You sure know how to come out of this looking spotless," said the Jade Emperor.
"I am spotless because this really has nothing to do with me," Sun Wukong replied. He was tired of standing and found a spot to sit, looking quite comfortable.
"I don’t believe you did nothing, and they just decided to eat the dish on their own. Also, how coincidental for them to gather there, and to bump into a Buddhism disciple. If it were purely a coincidence, it wouldn’t be so conveniently timed. I just don’t buy it."
Sun Wukong yawned, "I genuinely don’t know about that. My culinary skills might not be as good as my master’s, but I was thinking, I wanted you all to experience my craft as if it were my master’s, so I used just a little bit of trickery."
The Jade Emperor looked at Sun Wukong with a skeptical face, "So your little trick was to make the Buddhists break their precepts, just to show off your cooking skills? That’s awfully cunning. They haven’t done anything wrong, yet you made them break their precepts. Did you ever consider how that might affect them?"
"I never said my trick was about making them eat the dishes," Sun Wukong insisted. "All I did was make the dish ’Buddha Jumps Over the Wall’ smell exceptionally fragrant. I didn’t do anything beyond that. If you blame them for breaking their precepts, it’s their lack of willpower that’s to blame. If they had been firm, they wouldn’t have eaten my cooking."
The Jade Emperor couldn’t help but laugh at this, "So what you’re saying is, there’s another way for Buddhists to enjoy your cooking?"
"Yeah, exactly," Sun Wukong openly admitted.
"Then tell me, what other way is there for Buddhist monks, who avoid meat and strong flavors, to enjoy your dishes?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
"That’s up to them," Sun Wukong grinned. "As long as their hearts are firm and their devotion to Buddhism strong, contact with meat and strong flavors would be inconsequential to them. It wouldn’t affect their spiritual practice one bit."
"On the other hand, if their hearts aren’t steady and they’re preoccupied with all sorts of things, even if they avoid meat and flavors, they can’t focus on their spiritual practice. Meat and strong flavors are just a pretext."
The logic seemed somewhat sound, but the Jade Emperor wasn’t a Buddhist, and this was not an area he understood well, so he expressed his doubts.
"Then tell me, what kind of Buddhist disciple could possess such a state of mind? I don’t think such a person exists in this world."
