Chapter 19: Wukong's Hope

Looking at the object in Sun Wukong's hand that resembled a jujube pit, Wang Liang was somewhat puzzled.
"What is this?"
"Monkey bezoar! Do you have any common sense at all? How did the Old Official teach you? How can you fail to recognize something as basic as this?"
Sun Wukong roared with a hint of anger. He had never encountered anyone quite like Wang Liang; this was clearly a blatant provocation to him.
However, Wang Liang was genuinely confused. Monkey bezoar was clearly a traditional medicinal herb, known for clearing heat, calming spasms, resolving phlegm, relieving asthma, detoxifying, and reducing swelling. It was primarily used to treat phlegm-heat coughs, sore throats, fright-induced epilepsy, acute infantile convulsions, and scrofula.
What did all that have to do with him? Why would Sun Wukong present this to him like a precious treasure when he wasn't even frightened?
Realizing that Wang Liang truly had no clue, Sun Wukong sighed in resignation.
Dropping his head, he said, "Fine, let me spell it out for you. This monkey bezoar is a stone formed within a monkey's body. And I am a stone monkey, do you understand what a stone monkey is? This is actually a type of jade, of a quality many times superior to the sixteen meteorite-crafted things under your command. If you take this along with the sugar pill, you can reforge beings far more powerful than those sixteen fellows. Do you understand?"
Wang Liang nodded, though another question lingered in his mind. "If you have the materials, why don't you make them yourself?"
"Are you an idiot? I am imprisoned here, and anything I create will inherently be influenced by that voice. No matter how I craft it, it's useless."
Seeing that Sun Wukong was on the verge of losing his temper again, Wang Liang hesitated for a moment before finally giving a wave of his hand.
One of the ancient Wengzhong under his command stepped forward and retrieved the monkey bezoar and the golden pill that Sun Wukong had referred to as a sugar pill.
Upon acquiring the two items, Wang Liang saw two beams of golden light manifest.
[Nine-Turn Golden Elixir (Quest Item)]
[Quality: Golden]
[Description: Can be used to craft Ancient Wengzhong (Magical Treasure)...]
[Spirit-Brilliant Stone Monkey Bezoar (Quest Item)]
[Quality: Golden]
[Description: Can be used to craft Ancient Wengzhong (Magical Treasure)...]

Golden quality?
Wang Liang was stunned on the spot. He was well aware of the game's foundational mechanics: equipment and items were divided into seven tiers—White, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Golden, and Iridescent.
Generally speaking, Red represented the highest level obtainable by ordinary players. Golden tier was reserved for famous magical treasures like the Heaven-Overturning Seal, the Primordial Golden Dipper, and the Golden Dragon Scissors. As for the Iridescent tier, even the lowest among them was the Seven-Treasured妙树 (Tree of Seven Treasures), while the highest was the Pangu Banner.
Just thinking about this made it obvious whether an ordinary player had any business getting their hands on such items.
Confronted with the two beams of golden light before him, Wang Liang hesitated.
"This, I..."
Sun Wukong raised his head and glanced at Wang Liang. "None of your 'I's and 'you's. You've got the items now; send the little fellow behind you over here."
Wang Liang uttered an "oh," then revoked his control over the ancient Wengzhong, sending one of the sixteen figures forward to stand before Sun Wukong.
Sun Wukong beckoned to one of the ancient Wengzhong, motioning it to draw close, and then reached out to pat the top of its head.
"No wonder. There is national fortune within this, and earth veins as well—things that bald man wanted to tamper with but couldn't.
Hoh, and what is this? Hahaha, that bald man truly thought he could defy the heavens and alter fate; what an absolute joke.
No wonder. That bald man constantly prattled on about karma, and it turns out karma is real after all. The day he suppressed me, he altered the destiny of an entire dynasty, and now comes the dynasty's vengeance. Thank you, little brother; you played the role of a logistics captain quite well."
Sun Wukong managed to glean a great deal of information from a single ancient Wengzhong.
He saw the meteorites that had fallen from the skies to crush Liu Xiu; he saw how those meteorites had suppressed the destiny of the Han Dynasty for three hundred years; he saw the unique characteristics of the Xin Dynasty.
All of this was inextricably linked to that palm descending from the heavens.
It could be said that a single palm had rewritten the course of history.
While the Five Elements Mountain could suppress anything, it could not bypass the web of karma tied to it. Therefore, no matter how formidable the might of the Five Elements Mountain was, it could not possibly trap Wang Liang, who had arrived bearing the ancient Wengzhong.
It was precisely upon realizing this that Sun Wukong laughed so heartily. Previously, he had only wanted to acquire the ancient Wengzhong simply to make his existence a bit more comfortable, but everything was different now—Sun Wukong saw a glimmer of hope for escape.
As he gazed at the sixteen ancient Wengzhong, a flash of golden light crossed his eyes.
"Little brother, make haste and leave. I'll give you eighty-one days; see if that is enough time."
"Eighty-one days? What is that supposed to mean?" Wang Liang failed to grasp Sun Wukong's intent.
Sun Wukong was never one blessed with patience for meticulous calculations. Remembering Wang Liang at all was already a testament to his relatively good mood, so asking him to provide a detailed explanation was simply out of the question.
Sun Wukong waved his hand dismissively. "There is nothing more to say. I am giving you eighty-one days. If you haven't found a secure place to hide away by the end of those eighty-one days, don't blame me when the fallout catches up to you."
Wang Liang opened his mouth to ask further questions, but with a sweep of Sun Wukong's arm, Wang Liang felt as though he had been gripped by an invisible force and forcefully hurled away.
By the time his senses returned, he was already floating upon the surface of the water, being pushed outward by a turbulent vortex.
Soaking wet and in no position to care about anything else, Wang Liang flipped his hand and summoned a bronze warhorse. Grasping its back with both hands—without even bothering to mount it—he commanded the bronze warhorse to drag him toward the shore.
Once he reached dry land, Wang Liang finally vaulted onto the saddle, locked his sights toward the west, and galloped away at full speed.
As for everything that had transpired behind him, Wang Liang resolved to banish it entirely from his memory. He never wanted to have the slightest involvement with that Sun Wukong ever again.
While Wang Liang was fleeing, Sun Wukong cracked open his mouth in a wide grin.
"Eighty-one days... even with eighty-one days, you won't escape. Unless you can leave this world entirely, escaping the palm of that bald man is no simple feat."
With that, Sun Wukong stretched lazily. Reaching out with his maneuverable left hand, he grabbed his right shoulder, and a chain woven entirely from golden light materialized within his grip.
His face flushing red and teeth clenched, Sun Wukong exerted all his strength to wrench the chain outward. Nearby, one of the ancient Wengzhong stepped forward and grabbed hold of Sun Wukong's right shoulder.
Putting his full force into it, Sun Wukong managed to hook the chain onto the body of the ancient Wengzhong.
Feeling the tension in his right shoulder ease slightly, a trace of a smile appeared on Sun Wukong's face.
Simultaneously, a red flash rippled across the body of the ancient Wengzhong, dragging a silver iron-cast dragon out from within it, which was promptly bound by the chain and pulled toward the nearby mountain cliff.
Witnessing the scene before him, Sun Wukong finally burst into uproarious laughter.
From this single success, he saw hope—the hope of substituting himself with the ancient Wengzhong to bear the suppression of the Five Elements Mountain.
He saw the hope of breaking free.
Laughing heartily, Sun Wukong once again reached for the chains binding his own body, exerting his immense strength to rip them out from within his flesh.