Monkey had just left the High Sky Throne Hall, and before court was adjourned, Grandmaster White also took his leave.
He assigned a Court Herald to escort Belle to Guanghan Palace, while Grandmaster White himself led Monkey to the Imperial Horse Bureau.
Monkey was against this arrangement from the start.
According to Grandmaster White, newly appointed immortal maids in Heaven must learn numerous forms of etiquette, and by rule should spend some time at Guanghan Palace before reporting to the Imperial Horse Bureau, receiving instruction from the Moon Palace maidens.
But Monkey did not see it that way.
What did it matter if Belle understood etiquette or not? After all, in the Imperial Horse Bureau, Monkey—as Chief—was in charge. Was there really anyone else who could blame her for a misstep?
Thus, the argument began.
After bickering back and forth for quite some time, Grandmaster White, seeing that dusk was approaching and unwilling to keep sparring with Monkey, finally compromised: Belle would stay at Guanghan Palace for three to five days as a formality. Skipping it entirely, however, was out of the question.
Only then did Monkey reluctantly agree.
At parting, he repeatedly reminded Belle that in Guanghan Palace she must follow the principle: 'Do less, say less—better to do nothing than to do something wrong.'
In his view, many of Heaven’s thousand-plus laws ran counter to mortal ethics. Normally, this wouldn’t matter—he never intended to stay long anyway. But unlike the mortal world, this meant newcomers to Heaven were prone to mistakes.
If Belle made some minor mistake while alone—and he wasn’t there to protect her—what if she was seized and punished?
Imagining Belle trapped with nowhere to run in Heaven or on earth, Monkey grew genuinely uneasy.
He nagged so fiercely that Belle was deeply moved, while Grandmaster White—left standing aside—grew impatient and had to step in to stop him.
By dusk, Monkey finally parted ways with Belle and Grandmaster White, setting out for the Imperial Horse Bureau on the Eighth Heaven.
Speaking of the Imperial Horse Bureau, Monkey originally imagined it like this:
First, it should belong to the Celestial Army, raising horses for the cavalry. Since they were warhorses, there must be soldiers to look after them. Thus, though the Chief of the Imperial Horse Bureau was technically a civil post, he would surely have some command over troops—otherwise, how could the work get done?
As for numbers—during the Blossom Mountain War, he’d seen the Milky Way Navy’s heavy cavalry, and the memory was fresh. If the Milky Way Navy could field twenty thousand warhorses, then surely the Celestial Guard must have at least ten thousand, right?
With ten thousand warhorses, there should be, at minimum, a pasture spanning a hundred miles, plus a thousand or so regular troops, and three or five barracks—this would be the Chief of the Imperial Horse Bureau’s entire command.
It wasn’t much, but the thought of it still made him a little excited.
Unfortunately, the reality of the Imperial Horse Bureau was as follows:
The Imperial Horse Bureau is directly under the central administration of Heaven, a branch of a branch—a tiny ritual office.
This small department has only one function: to look after these carefully selected horses for Heaven’s various celebrations... To put it bluntly, they're only used for ceremonies, so why have so many? Just enough to set the formation is fine. So, the Imperial Horse Bureau has, at most, a hundred Pegasus.
Since it’s called the Imperial Horse Bureau, but there are so few horses, naturally there are even fewer people. In total, there are three celestial slaves and two immortal maids, plus Monkey as the newly appointed Chief and soon Belle as the assigned maid—seven people at most.
When Monkey actually saw the Imperial Horse Bureau, he was dumbfounded.
A small, inverted cone-shaped boulder floated in the air, its flattened surface no more than ten acres. On it stood five small wooden houses, a few barn-like sheds, and a tiny practice ring piled with straw.
“Where’s the pasture?” Monkey pointed at the floating boulder.
“What pasture? Someone will deliver the feed.”
“The houses are tiny, fine, but don’t these heavenly horses need to run? This ring isn’t even big enough to walk!”
“Pegasus fly, they don’t need to run.” Grandmaster White glanced at Monkey with meaning, then flew ahead toward the wooden huts.
Being mocked like this felt awful.
Oh well. At least this is a hundred times better than living in a tent at Dragon’s Pool. It’s just a vacation—why fuss over details? Monkey thought, following reluctantly.
The staff at the Imperial Horse Bureau knew their new boss was arriving today, so they waited outside the door early.
Though the immortal staff didn’t like Monkey as a boss, he was still their superior. They had to live under him. Besides, rumor had it the new boss was a former demon king from the mortal world, not someone to cross. So they dared not slack off.
As soon as Monkey landed, the staff, though a bit afraid of him, greeted both newcomers. The three celestial slaves led the way, two others circled Monkey, fawning and asking after his comfort. The two beautiful immortal maids waited respectfully to the side, smiling brightly.
As for looks, in Heaven, the men come in all shapes and sizes—some generals even keep scars to show off their battle honors. The women, though, are all beautiful.
Even in Monkey’s cold, backwater office, the two immortal maids might not rival Anna Yang, but in the mortal world, they’d be hailed as beauties who could topple kingdoms.
Of course, there are levels among beauties, but the gap is smaller than in the mortal world.
No matter how good something is, if it’s everywhere, it stops being special.
In Heaven, being beautiful isn’t really an advantage—in fact, it might be a disadvantage. The reasons for this are hard to explain.
Back to Monkey’s little patch of land.
All told, there were five houses—Monkey’s office was the largest.
Calling it an office was generous—it was just a wooden floor, a low desk, and a few cushions.
The other four were Monkey’s living quarters, the three celestial slaves’ quarters, and the two immortal maids’ quarters. The last was a utility room, where all the saddles from the Pegasus were piled.
As for decoration…
Except for the occasional drifting clouds outside the window, there was nothing that felt celestial. Compared to the mortal world, the only difference was the wood floors looked new.
It wasn’t because the house was newly built, but because the Heavenly Ministry of Works built everything here and always treated the materials with potions, keeping the wood looking fresh.
As for furnishings, there were none—the place was bare.
Yet this place… was actually an official department of Heaven?
Monkey was genuinely curious how the original Monkey managed to make friends and allies in a place like this. From what the book described, seeing this place, it’s a wonder he didn’t kill someone in rage. Anyone could tell the post was minor—no need for slip-ups.
Could something undocumented have happened in these three hundred years? Monkey wondered.
Since Monkey brought no luggage, Grandmaster White’s job was mostly finished. After wandering the house twice, he said to Monkey, “It’s getting late and you must be tired after a busy day. Rest for now. Tomorrow, I’ll bring you to register for celestial registry. You’re still unfamiliar with Heaven, so don’t wander around tonight.”
Monkey craned his neck to look outside.
Time in Heaven wasn’t like the mortal world. Day and night were just a matter of light and dark.
There was sunlight in the upper levels by day, but you couldn’t find the sun itself—no sunrise, no sunset, just light and dark. At night, there were no stars.
“Since it’s late, Star Lord, if you don’t mind, let me host a banquet for you tonight as thanks. Would that be alright?”
Grandmaster White glanced around the plain room and waved dismissively. “No need for such courtesy, Chief of the Imperial Horse Bureau. I have other matters to attend to—farewell.”
With that said, Monkey couldn’t insist.
After sending Grandmaster White off, the staff began to introduce themselves one by one.