The triangular banner representing the Treasury swayed gently overhead.
In the bustling hall, celestial maids, celestial servants, and even Heavenly soldiers and generals came and went without pause. Whenever they saw Monkey, each one was visibly shocked, shrinking away from him.
Monkey would have preferred to take on a human form—after all, being stared at and whispered about everywhere he went was truly unpleasant. But the problem was that the Treasury was riddled with talismanic seals targeting magical arts; triggering one by accident would only make things worse.
Left with no choice, Monkey had to grit his teeth and follow Lee Ping as they threaded through the crowd.
"Please wait a moment, sir. I’ll go fetch someone right away."
"Be quick about it."
After Lee Ping left, Monkey and Belle stood quietly in a corner of the hall, continuing to draw stares.
Fortunately, news that the Demon King had taken a post in Heaven was already common knowledge; otherwise, the chaos would be unimaginable. As it was, even though everyone instantly guessed Monkey’s identity, every Heavenly soldier and general who passed by reflexively gripped their weapons, their eyes full of wariness.
It wasn’t long before Lee Ping returned, leading the minor clerk Monkey had met at the Imperial Horse Bureau last time, along with a graceful celestial maid he’d never seen before.
"Greetings, sir." Catching sight of Monkey from afar, the minor clerk immediately bowed deeply, his eyes still filled with fear, no less than before.
The celestial maid, of course, followed suit and bowed as well.
"Why is it him again?" Monkey asked.
"You may not know, sir, but Mr. An is usually the one who liaises with our Imperial Horse Bureau. I’m most familiar with him," Lee Ping explained.
Seeing Lee Ping’s obsequious manner toward Monkey, both Mr. An and the graceful celestial maid couldn’t help but frown slightly.
"And what about her?" Monkey asked, pointing at the celestial maid.
"The list is rather long, sir, and I worry a single day won’t be enough. So I took the liberty of inviting another to assist, so you and Miss Belle can split up the tasks. Would that be acceptable?"
Hearing this, the celestial maid nodded to Monkey and bowed again, but did not introduce herself.
"That’s a good idea. I don’t want to waste too much time either," Monkey nodded.
After a brief discussion, they decided that Monkey would be responsible for purchasing weapons and armor, while Belle would handle the miscellaneous items and Anna Yang’s six-bamboo-slip-long list of elixirs.
When the minor clerk and celestial maid heard that Monkey intended to buy top-grade weapons and armor, they immediately became hesitant, hinting at the Treasury’s rules as if afraid Monkey lacked Gold Essence and might try to skip out on payment—though none dared say so outright.
Seeing this, Monkey simply pulled out a crate of Gold Essence and flipped open the lid.
Bathed in the golden glow, the two staff’s expressions were quite a sight. Instantly, they fell silent. The worry in their eyes faded, replaced by a hint of suspicion.
How could the tiny Imperial Horse Bureau possibly have such a vast sum of Gold Essence for daily expenses?
Even a fool could tell something wasn’t right here. Unfortunately, Heaven hadn’t given them the authority to refuse Monkey, and there was no way Monkey would tell them the bloody origin of this Gold Essence.
Once the route was settled, Monkey had Lee Ping and Belle fetch a small floating ship. Half the Gold Essence was loaded onto the ship for Belle and the celestial maid, while Monkey took the other half and followed the minor clerk onto a carriage.
After leaping across five floating stones, the group finally arrived at their first destination: the Golden Arms Pavilion.
The name sounded rather tacky, and its scale was pitifully small compared to other warehouses. But that was understandable—after all, a place for top-grade weapons couldn’t possibly be as large as one for ordinary gear.
As soon as he entered, Monkey saw rows upon rows of weapon racks, filled with every kind of weapon imaginable.
In front of each weapon, a wooden tag listed its weight, price, and the smith’s name. Any special functions were also written there.
After a quick circuit around the room, Monkey asked, "There are plenty here, but the quality isn’t quite high enough. Don’t you have anything better?"
"There’s nothing better, sir. The weapons in the Golden Arms Pavilion are already the best the Treasury has," the minor clerk replied in a low voice.
"I heard the Treasury has everything. You really can’t find better weapons? This place doesn’t even compare to the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace’s vaults."
The minor clerk gave a dry laugh. "You must be joking, sir. The Eastern Sea Dragon Palace’s vaults are the private treasures of the Dragon King. How could our Treasury’s weapons match up?"
"That can’t be right. Heaven not as good as the Dragon Palace? How is that possible?"
As he spoke, Monkey reached out his hand to the minor clerk, loosening his grip so that a dozen Gold Essence coins fell out.
The minor clerk quickly accepted them, but was so startled that he glanced nervously around.
"Don’t worry. I just checked—no one’s watching nearby."
Hearing this, the minor clerk finally relaxed a bit. He shot Lee Ping a faint glance, wiped the sweat from his brow, and tucked the Gold Essence into his sleeve.
"Thank you for your generosity, sir."
For minor Treasury clerks who liaised with the various palaces, it wasn’t unusual to receive a reward from a generous immortal. But such things were never meant to be public, and getting a tip from a Demon King was even more so.
Fixing his gaze on the minor clerk, Monkey lowered his voice: "Mr. An, tell me honestly—are there even better ones you haven’t shown me?"
Licking his parched lips, the minor clerk bowed and grinned obsequiously: "You misunderstand, sir. The Treasury truly doesn’t have any better finished weapons. But when it comes to raw materials, we have the most and the best in all Three Realms. That’s because... the Treasury hardly ever dares commission the forging of true top-grade weapons."
"Don’t dare commission them? What do you mean?" Monkey asked.
"You’re new to the Heavenly Court, sir, so you may not know. Forging top-grade weapons or refining top-grade elixirs takes not only the best materials, but also master-level immortals with superb skills. And even they sometimes fail. First, those masters aren’t easy to invite. Second, if they fail, the Treasury loses not just the materials but also the master’s fee. That makes the accounts hard to balance. The Treasury’s books aren’t like the Imperial Horse Bureau’s—the higher-ups watch them closely."
[Irrelevant passage about chapter navigation, skip translation.]
"Is that so?" Monkey burst out laughing, then slowly walked toward the area filled with bows and arrows. "If that’s how you think, then wouldn’t all the smithies in the mortal realm have to shut down? Why not just tack all the losses onto the finished products and sell them?"
The minor clerk hurried to catch up, hunched over behind Monkey, and whispered, "That’s not quite right. Mortal smithies exist to make money; the Heavenly Court’s Treasury isn’t for profit. The very purpose is different, so you can’t compare them. That’s one thing. Another is... if we set that precedent, people might start colluding—marking successful weapons or elixirs as failed on the books. Wouldn’t that turn everything upside down?"
He snuck a glance at Monkey and continued, "Anyone who can afford top-grade materials can find someone to forge them privately. Why not let them handle it themselves and spare the Treasury the trouble? Wouldn’t you agree, sir?"
"That... does make sense. I never realized there was so much to it." Monkey nodded, picked up a hard bow and gave it a pull. "I was hoping to buy something better, but it looks like I’ll have to make do with these."
With that, he handed the bow to Lee Ping.
After another round through the pavilion, Monkey not only collected all thirty-three weapons from the list, but also picked up plenty of spares. Outside, he tallied up the haul—fifty-six weapons in all, for just 110,000 Gold Essence.
He’d already picked out the best the Golden Arms Pavilion had to offer.
With the weapons bought, the real problem came next.
How to get them home?
It was fine for hard bows, short swords, and daggers, but most of the haul was heavy weapons like battle axes and meteor hammers—each weighing thousands of pounds. The carriage definitely wouldn’t be enough.
Helpless, Monkey had to send Lee Ping to find another floating ship, while he waited at the door.
Why?
Waiting for them to count the Gold Essence.
The Gold Essence system in the Heavenly Court was far superior to the currency systems of the mortal world, but as for being truly complete, it still had a long way to go.
Here, Gold Essence was the only credential—no such thing as paper money, no wire transfers. Everything had to be paid in hard cash. For small transactions, it was fine, but for large ones, it could be a real headache.
It took the three clerks most of the day to weigh out all 110,000 Gold Essence. Luckily, the scales here were accurate—if they’d had to count each piece, they might have bashed their heads against the wall.
Boarding the floating ship, the three set off for their next stop—the Armory Hall.
The Armory Hall was much the same as the Golden Arms Pavilion—not much in the way of true treasures. Monkey casually gathered up the items from the list and paid 80,000 Gold Essence. With daylight to spare, Monkey still interested, and Belle busy with Anna Yang’s 'prescription,' the minor clerk suggested they stroll over to the Wild Immortal Shop next door, which specialized in miscellaneous odds and ends.
After a moment’s thought, Monkey agreed.
The wares in the Wild Immortal Shop were far more eye-catching than those in the previous two places—though whether they were worth buying was another matter.
There were things like celestial robes that let you fly just by wearing them, bamboo slips that displayed your thoughts without writing, arrows that returned to the quiver if they missed, liquid that turned water instantly to ice, and fire seeds that burned endlessly without fuel and gave off no heat... All sorts of curious items, though it was hard to say if any were actually useful.
In the end, they were just trinkets for amusement. At least these were much cheaper than weapons and armor, so, since he was already here, Monkey picked out a few at random. His gaze finally settled on a wooden plaque that looked like a memorial tablet.
"Is this... a Life Tag?"
Monkey remembered that when he left the Slanting Moon Three-Star Cave, Subhuti had made one for him.
As long as a Life Tag was bound with someone’s hair, it could track them anywhere unless they reached the Divine Transformation Realm and severed the link. If the person died, unless their soul was captured, the soul would automatically return to the Life Tag, ready for resurrection.
"Life Tag?" The minor clerk squinted at the plaque.
"What’s wrong?" Monkey asked.
The minor clerk frowned in thought. "I remember Life Tags haven’t been sold for ages. They’re made from Heaven-Earth Yinwood, which is expensive and has many uses. Besides, for immortals living above the Seventh Heaven, they’re pointless; for those who travel between the mortal realm and Heaven, they’re too costly. Usually only wealthy mortal immortals need them, so there’s no real market in the Heavenly Court. They stopped stocking them long ago—maybe someone ordered this one and returned it."
Monkey glanced at the plaque’s price tag: "Two thousand Gold Essence... Hmm... definitely not cheap. But I like it."
With that, he handed it to Lee Ping.
At that moment, Belle sent word that everything on the list had been purchased and they could leave as soon as Monkey returned.
After a quick checkout, the three boarded the floating ship and headed back to their starting point.
After reuniting with Belle, the two floating ships merged into one. As usual, the minor clerk and celestial maid checked all the cargo on board. Once everything was confirmed, Monkey, Belle, and Lee Ping returned to the Imperial Horse Bureau.
Watching the floating ship fade into the distance, the minor clerk stood in front of the building and sighed. "Where do you think he got all that Gold Essence?"
"As long as he pays up, what do we care about the rest?" the celestial maid replied.
After a moment’s thought, the minor clerk shook his head and muttered, "True enough, what’s it to us? If they can pay, we just supply the goods."
Just then, an elderly man—well past fifty—came running over, panting and shouting, "Mr. An, where’s that Stablemaster you just brought? There’s a mistake in the accounts!"
Turning around, the minor clerk said to the old man, "What is it? Underpaid? We all watched closely—there’s no way we made a mistake."
"It’s not underpaid. The Life Tag—there haven’t been any in the accounts for ages." The old man flipped his ledger for the clerk to see. "It’s been listed as zero for a long time, so how could we have sold one? There must be a mistake somewhere."
Mr. An blinked in surprise, eyes darting about, and feigned alarm: "Life Tag? When did I sell a Life Tag?"
"Uh..." The old man was momentarily stunned. "Didn’t you just tell me about the Life Tag? And I saw one, too."
"You must have misheard. Not Life Tag—Memorial Tag. And about your eyesight... well, let’s not talk about that. If you can see things that aren’t there, you really must be getting old."
"Memorial Tag? That can’t be. I checked just now—none were missing."
"Then you must have forgotten to take it. When we re-counted, I didn’t see any Memorial Tags—thought it had fallen out, but turns out you just forgot to grab it." With that, the minor clerk shot a look at the celestial maid.
The celestial maid caught on immediately. "As long as it’s found, that’s fine. Losing things from the Treasury isn’t a good look. Hurry and send it back to them."
"Is that really it?" The old man eyed the clerk and the celestial maid suspiciously, scratching his head. "A Life Tag costs two thousand Gold Essence, a Memorial Tag just ten—such a big difference, and he paid without a second thought?"
"He’s got plenty of Gold Essence—what’s it to you?" The clerk shoved the old man away, urging him, "Hurry up, bring me the missing 1,990 Gold Essence and the Memorial Tag. If I catch up now, I might still make it."