Great Sage, Equal to Heaven and Above Brockton Chapter 6 Preview

Sun Wukong twisted and turned on the thick mattress as he played with the thin blanket his host had given him. It was a very soft mattress, which he learned was a standard of this land. It couldn’t compare in the slightest to lying upon spring clouds or the golden silks of the Palace of the Polestar, but much better than woven mats. He looked at the cracked ceiling, with its splotches of dirt and the empty lightbulb hanging in the middle. A simple mechanism, turning lights on and off with a switch and no magic. After fifty or so times though, the novelty wore off.

‘This room could easily belong in a noble’s mansion with a small clean-up. A new coat of paint wouldn’t hurt as well. For all this ingenuity, these mortals love their drab buildings, glass spires notwithstanding. Even farmers colored their walls.” He sighed and let out a chuckle. ‘Look at me, mulling over details of a ceiling in bed like a sick man who fears slumber. I don’t even need sleep!’

While that much was true - Wukong could abstain from sleep for three whole years - he still liked to sleep, or at least lay down and laze around. A habit from his peaceful days as ruler of Flower-Fruit Mountain that he had no intention of breaking. 

‘If only I could drift off with nary a care, but alas, more troubling matters have seized my attention.’

The Jade Emperor does not exist. 

The gods do not exist.

The Great Sage sat up and ensconced himself in the blanket, draping it over his head and shoulders like a cassock. Those words, spoken as such a basic and obvious truth, jarred him greatly, and despite covering up his shock quickly from his host, Peizhi’s claim did not abate from his mind in the slightest.

‘The sheer absurdity of that statement…how is it possible?’ Wukong thought, restraining himself from scratching the frail blanket. ‘Every mortal knows of the gods and their power. They are part of the world and the order of creation, even if they deem themselves above it. Even the most remote villages and hamlets had local gods assigned to them, along with their own superstitions. The records of divine deeds are intensive and their remnants upon the earth are visible to all mortals. To say nothing of the feats and powers of the Buddhists. Heh, for all their claims of detachment from earthly affairs, they will revel in any praise from mortals, the lavisher the better.’

He stroked his chin and looked out the window, where a streetlight’s faint halo bloomed in the darkness.

‘Is it because this is a distant land with strange people, across a great ocean, that Peizhi-xiānshēng says his words with such surety? Yet distance matters little to the divine and enlightened. Why, the sons of Ao Guang swim and leap throughout the four cardinal seas and do not hesitate to puff and flaunt their ridiculous plumage to all mortals and spirits who see them.’

Steepling his clawed hands, a scratchy hum emanated from his lips.

‘No, it is not that he claimed no knowledge of the gods, else how would he speak of the Jade Emperor? He claimed that they do not exist. As if they were a made-up fable.’

He fell and rolled in his mattress again. ‘Bah, there are too many words missing from this riddle!’ 

He kept on ruminating about this new knowledge, trying to find reasoning to counter it. Unfortunately, nothing came to him. Eventually, a soft knock drew him from his thoughts.

“Uh, Wukong? Are you awake?”