As dusk fell, the swaying skyship crawled at a snail’s pace into the small harbor of the Immortal Peach Orchard.
Monkey and Belle stood side by side on the deck, gazing out over the endless sea of blossoms.
A gentle breeze swept by, stirring waves of pink-glowing petals. In the darkness, paired with Heaven’s nightscape, it gave an almost dreamlike, surreal sense of awe.
"Form ranks—!"
A hoarse shout echoed from the high suspension bridge.
At the dock, a full formation of Skyward Legionnaires had already assembled. Each soldier struck their breastplate heavily, shouting, "Welcome, Lord Orchard Steward—!"
From another direction, dozens of clerks led hundreds of immortal servants, all bowing in unison: "Welcome, Lord Orchard Steward!"
Seeing this, Monkey tilted his head slightly and glanced sidelong at the two men standing beside him, half-smiling as he asked, "Just gave the orders, did you?"
At his words, the two immediately wiped their sweat in panic.
Warden Joel Chow hurriedly said, "You honor us, my lord—this... this is everyone’s idea, no need for orders, right? Who doesn’t know of your great reputation, Lord Steward?"
"Exactly! All everyone's idea! Hahaha!" Captain Carl Chang quickly chimed in.
"Not bad, I rather like it." Monkey nodded, stepping onto the just-lowered suspension bridge.
Only then did the two finally breathe a little easier.
Leading the group, Monkey and his entourage slowly crossed the bridge. The heads of the Skyward Legionnaires and clerks came forward to greet him, but before they could speak, Warden Joel Chow darted ahead to shoo them away.
He bowed deeply and said, "My lord, let me guide you since this is your first arrival."
"Fine, you lead the way." Monkey replied offhandedly.
Surrounded by the crowd, Monkey slowly walked through the cramped dock area, passed through towering defensive wards, and entered the Immortal Peach Orchard.
All along the way, the scent of peach blossoms filled the air, and with pink fluorescent light everywhere, the scene felt like walking through a lantern-lit painting.
"My lord," Warden Joel Chow bent forward, walking just ahead and to Monkey’s side, speaking in a low voice, "Everyone has prepared a banquet for you, to welcome and cleanse the dust—just ahead."
"Oh? Has my official seal arrived yet?"
Warden Joel Chow quickly glanced at a clerk nearby, then turned back and whispered, "The seal has arrived. It’s just... our ship ran into some trouble and moved slowly, so the envoy has already left, leaving only the seal behind."
"In that case, I must receive the seal first."
"Well..." Warden Joel Chow smiled awkwardly and said, "My lord, it’s already late. Why not handle the handover tomorrow instead?"
"That won’t do." Monkey glanced coolly at Warden Joel Chow. "If word gets out, someone might accuse me of dereliction of duty. What then?"
With things said this clearly, Warden Joel Chow couldn’t press further, so he only murmured, "My lord’s diligence is a model for us all."
With that, he glanced at the clerk, who immediately understood and broke away from the group, running ahead.
……
Jade Pool.
Grandmaster White set down the Jade Tablet pressed to his lips and quietly reported, "Your Majesty, the monkey has arrived at the Immortal Peach Orchard."
"And then?" the Queen Mother asked coldly.
Her expression was much more relaxed than before.
"Then... Warden Joel Chow invited him to the banquet, but he refused, saying he feared... feared a charge of 'dereliction of duty,' and insisted on finishing the handover before joining."
The Queen Mother took a deep breath, absently rubbing her ring. After a long pause, she chuckled coldly, "That monkey is certainly suspicious—far too clever for his own good. If I wanted to deal with him, would I stoop to such a petty charge as 'dereliction of duty'?"
……
An hour later, Grandmaster White set down the Jade Tablet at his lips and quietly reported, "Your Majesty, the monkey has received the seal and is now... now beginning the handover."
"The handover?" The Queen Mother frowned. "It’s so late, does he really intend to finish all the procedures tonight?"
"It looks that way."
"Fine then." The Queen Mother said languidly, "The sooner he finishes, the sooner he takes office, and the sooner I can deal with him."
……
Another two hours passed.
Startled awake, her head still resting on the low table, the Queen Mother asked groggily, "What about the monkey? Has he finished the handover yet?"
Grandmaster White pursed his lips and answered quietly, "Your Majesty, he... he’s still reading the ledgers."
"Still reading ledgers?" The Queen Mother hesitated, asking, "How long has it been—he’s not done yet?"
"Not yet." Grandmaster White bowed. "He’s only on the second volume. He says he never went to school and doesn’t know many characters, so now... he’s having that palace maid, Belle, teach him word by word."
"Word by word... teach? He’s learning characters at a time like this?" The Queen Mother’s eye twitched involuntarily.
……
And so, a whole day passed.
On the sixty-fifth morning since Monkey ascended to Heaven, Grandmaster White stood before the Queen Mother and reported, "Your Majesty, the monkey has finished reading all the ledgers... Now... now he’s starting to count peaches."
"Count peaches?" At this, the Queen Mother snorted. "He really is thorough. There may be many peaches and blossoms, but all are rich in spiritual power. With his cultivation, he could just sweep them with divine sense—it wouldn’t even take the time for a cup of tea."
Grandmaster White coughed nervously and said, "He means... to count them one by one."
"One by one... count?" The Queen Mother was dumbfounded.
How many peach trees are in the Immortal Peach Orchard? Just the trees number in the thousands—how many peaches and blossoms must there be?
The Queen Mother slowly closed her eyes, her face now utterly grim, and could only sigh, "This counting will probably take another day or two..."
Grandmaster White swallowed hard, wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve, and whispered, "Your Majesty, he’s already counted fifteen hundred—but... but he claims he lost focus and miscounted, so now he’s starting over from the beginning."
With that, Grandmaster White instinctively stepped back.
At once, the Queen Mother leaned back, her eyes wide as saucers.
A moment later, a shrill, hysterical scream echoed through the Jade Pool, startling every immortal attendant in the palace.
"This—this—this monkey! Will he ever finish? You! Grandmaster White! You said three days, then three more! Now it’s the fifth day, and the monkey is still living it up in the orchard, not even officially in office! So tell me—what clever plan do you have? Tell me!"
Before she finished speaking, a candlestick flew straight at Grandmaster White.
……
Ten days later, in the Imperial Study of the High Sky Throne Hall, the Jade Emperor sat expressionless, eyes tightly shut, and sighed, "He’s finally finished counting peaches?"
"Your Majesty," General Curtain said hesitantly, "The peaches are counted."
The Jade Emperor slowly opened his eyes, "So, what does he want now? Is he going to count the peach blossoms next?"
"He’s not counting peach blossoms yet—he said he would, but later. Right now he wants... he wants to check the base records."
"Base records?" The Jade Emperor was dumbstruck.
What are base records? They’re the actual logs of when every tree and blossom bloomed and bore fruit. After countless millennia, those records have piled up like a mountain... Does he mean to check every peach against them?
The Jade Emperor slapped his forehead, gritting his teeth, "I see. He’s dragging things out as much as he possibly can! This monkey—he’s shameless! Absolutely shameless!"
With that, he slammed his fist down hard on the dragon desk.
General Curtain bowed his head in alarm.
At this moment, the Jade Emperor truly felt as if rage was burning him up from inside.
In all his years as Jade Emperor, he had never encountered such a shameless subordinate—someone who used Heaven's own rules to play these bizarre games.
But even so, what could he do? Should he issue an edict letting the monkey skip all procedures and take office directly?
If he did, then if anything went wrong in the future, the monkey could blame it all on that imperial decree. In trying to push him into the fire, he would only end up giving him a protective talisman.
After a long silence, the Jade Emperor gritted his teeth and asked quietly, "What about the Jade Pool? Has the Queen Mother made any moves? Is she just going to let the monkey keep this up? He finishes counting peaches, checks the base records, then counts peach blossoms—if he goes through everything, what if he demands to re-examine it all? At this rate, it could take more than a year, maybe even three or five!"
General Curtain hesitated and said, "The monkey hasn't even finished the handover yet. How could the Queen Mother possibly catch him out? Without evidence, she can't act. However..."
"However what?" the Jade Emperor asked, looking up.
"Your Majesty, these past few days, all the armies have been conducting drills—mostly around the Jade Pool area."
"Around the Jade Pool area?" The Jade Emperor felt his head ache. What new trouble was this? He gritted his teeth, "Why are they gathering near the Jade Pool? Who sent them? Training in the Ninth Heaven without reporting first—is that even allowed?"
"All the armies are involved, mostly small detachments. Maybe the scale is too small to require a report. But pieced together, there are nearly a hundred thousand troops now."
"Has anyone figured out what's really going on?"
General Curtain quickly lowered his head and replied, "Your Majesty, it's not clear yet. But it's suspected Grandmaster White is behind it. The Queen Mother fears the monkey's strength and wants troops to protect the Jade Pool, but she doesn't have command authority, so..."
"So she bribed the junior officers to bring their troops over for drills near the Jade Pool?"
"That... that appears to be the case."
The Jade Emperor took a deep breath and sighed, "Investigate thoroughly! This could be a big deal—get to the bottom of it!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"And another thing!" The Jade Emperor pointed at General Curtain and barked, "You find a way to break that monkey’s cheap tricks! If you can’t, go ask General Ward—doesn’t he have a whole staff of advisors? Make them all think! I refuse to believe we can’t outplay this demon monkey!"
"Y-yes, Your Majesty... yes."