On the Thirty-Fifth Heaven, inside Mi’luo Palace, dozens of bamboo scrolls glowed faintly as they floated around a white-haired elder.
The elder’s gaze traveled back and forth among the many scrolls.
“Those two celestial maids from Tusita Palace had not joined any cultivation sect before ascending to Heaven. Nine generations of their ancestors show no record of cultivators. After arriving in Heaven, they took posts in Guanghan Palace, and all their contacts have remained within its bounds. If we must dig deeper… they did have dealings with Fairy Nisha. But if we pursue that line, the scope widens—nearly the entire Heavenly Fleet would be implicated, since Fairy Nisha had ties with Marshal Silver….”
The child attendant paused briefly, then continued: "Those two maids show no issues at all, but the maid Belle is riddled with anomalies. First, Belle is a disciple of Elder Gale, chief steward of Crescent Star Cave on Enlightenment Peak. Upon investigation, she is a fellow student to Simon Sun, the demon king who now serves as a Heavenly official. That’s just the first point."
“Second, I secretly checked the records across all Heavenly departments and found her fortune and blessings column completely blank. It doesn’t look deliberately erased… more like her fate has been fundamentally altered. I even sent people with your token to the Netherworld to check the Book of Life and Death. Here’s what it says.”
As he spoke, the attendant produced a thin jade tablet and presented it to the white-haired elder.
Reaching out to take the jade tablet, the white-haired elder glanced at it and was instantly stunned. Pointing to the tablet, he exclaimed, "This... is this truly what’s recorded in the Book of Life and Death?"
The attendant bowed and replied, “Yes, Master, it’s accurate. Consulting the Book of Life and Death is never easy, and this case is truly unusual. I had to send people back and forth several times to confirm, which cost us many days. I hesitated to present this to you. Please punish me if you wish…”
After a long silence, the white-haired elder set the jade tablet aside and waved his hand. "Enough. This matter was never something you alone could unravel, so you’re not to blame. Is there anything else?"
“Coming to my Imperial Horse Bureau to make trouble? He must be tired of living.” Monkey brushed his bracer, gently moved Belle aside, and said, “Don’t worry. If I say I won’t hurt him, I won’t.”
The white-haired elder hunched slightly, arms folded in thought. His eyes narrowed to slits as he said, “Go on, let’s hear it.”
“The demon king Simon Sun is indeed a disciple of Master Sage Subhuti, but his birthplace was Blossom Mountain in Eastrealm, while Crescent Star Cave sits on the far Western Ox Continent. The distance is not just one hundred thousand li—there are also two natural barriers: the Eastern Sea and the Milky Way. If we consult the Heavenly Fleet Case Files on this monkey… I wonder, could it be that from the day he was born, he somehow ‘knew’ that Master Sage Subhuti in the west would accept him as a disciple, and so went straight there? There’s something odd about it, isn’t there?”
As he spoke, the attendant watched the white-haired elder with great caution.
The elder’s eyes flashed, as if suddenly grasping the deeper mystery. He gave a short laugh. “Anything else?”
“Following this line, I also found some records on Anna Yang, the Holy Mother of Mount Hua, and Jade Cauldron Immortal, one of the Twelve Golden Immortals…”
……
Imperial Horse Bureau.
Everyone stared in terror at the monkey, whose face was utterly expressionless.
General Titan widened his eyes, held his breath, and slowly took a step back.
“Y-you! Stop spouting nonsense!” he shouted at Monkey, pointing angrily.
Monkey opened his mouth wide, but only scratched his cheek lazily, staring at General Titan. “So, General, are you still going to pick a horse or not?”
“His Majesty’s gift of Pegasus has always allowed free selection—this is the usual practice! How am I falsely transmitting an imperial edict?” General Titan roared, putting all his force into it.
Titan was famous in Heaven for his loud voice. With that shout, not only the entire Imperial Horse Bureau heard him, but even the black-haired elder sitting cross-legged on a nearby floating stone frowned.
“There’s really such a practice in Heaven?” Monkey turned lazily to Mona Frost.
Mona Frost hurriedly bowed. “Our Imperial Horse Bureau does have such a custom.”
Hearing this, Titan was instantly overjoyed, but Monkey sighed lazily, “Oh? So it’s just a bureau custom, not a Heaven-wide rule? Well, that makes things simple. Sorry, but since I took office, that custom’s been changed.”
Monkey quietly watched Titan, his eyes curving into crescent moons, making Titan feel uneasy inside.
“You—what are you planning?”
“Planning? Heh, I just want to see what you’ll choose, General. Will you obediently take the sick horse, or will you ‘falsely transmit the edict’?”
Lee Ping, kneeling nearby, accidentally let out a faint chuckle. At that, Titan’s big face turned bright red.
He came in blustering, but ran straight into a brick wall. If he really left like this, how could General Titan ever show his face in Heaven again?
Gritting his teeth, he roared at the top of his lungs, “Forget His Majesty’s wishes! I insist on picking a horse—do you, a mere Chief of the Imperial Horse Bureau, think you can stop me?”
With that, he spun around and bolted for the stables as if his life depended on it.
From a distance, he looked more like he was fleeing in panic.
Everyone in the Imperial Horse Bureau was stunned by the scene, and even the black-haired elder watching from afar shook his head and sighed.
Brave but not wise—that’s exactly the type he is.
Belle, whose heart had been in her throat, finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Good thing he backed down. Letting him pick isn’t such a big deal, right?”
Monkey patted his thigh, slowly stood up, and grinned. “If someone offers up their face to be slapped and you don’t do it, how will you ever get a foothold in Heaven?”
Belle was startled and quickly stepped in front of Monkey. “The old gentleman said no violence!”
“Coming to my Imperial Horse Bureau to make trouble? He must be tired of living.” Monkey brushed his bracer, gently moved Belle aside, and said, “Don’t worry. If I say I won’t hurt him, I won’t.”
With that, Monkey strode out the door.
About half an hour later, General Titan was found unconscious, stripped bare and trussed up, hanging upside-down from the Moon Tree. Around his neck hung a wooden placard inscribed with—'Horse Thief.'
The immortals who examined him closely found not a single mark or wound.
The Moon Tree stands on the Seventh Heaven, right next to South Heaven Gate, the main entrance to Heaven and a major thoroughfare.
General Titan had been hanging from the Moon Tree for less than an hour when the soldiers of South Heaven Gate got word and rushed over to rescue him. But in that short time, over a thousand immortals, celestial slaves, and handmaids had gathered to gawk, making such a spectacle that no matter how hard the soldiers tried, they couldn’t disperse the crowd.
When the soldiers finally managed to wake General Titan, he took in the scene, his face turning purple before he started foaming at the mouth and fainted again.
Helpless, the soldiers wrapped him in a cloak and carried him back to the South Heaven Gate garrison.
Within a few hours, news of General Titan’s humiliation at the Imperial Horse Bureau had spread to every corner of Heaven.