Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

"Cough cough! Hou Yi, I'll leave this place to you, I'm heading out first!"

With a face flushed red, Sun Wukong left behind those words and fled the courtyard. Long gone was the ignorant wild monkey he once was; of course, he knew what was to follow was not for outsiders. After leaving the courtyard, he immediately set up prohibitions to block any prying before he left the Water Curtain Cave Heaven without looking back.

In a room deep within the Water Curtain Cave Heaven, the process of detoxifying Fairy Chang'er was nearing its end for Hou Yi.

The detoxification had taken almost half a day, and for Hou Yi, it was nothing short of torture!

"Yi, is that you?"

The detoxification finished, and Hou Yi finally let out a sigh of relief. As he was about to withdraw, he suddenly heard a tender call and looked up to find Fairy Chang'er had opened her eyes and was affectionately gazing at him.

...

"Great Sage, you're killing me!"

Half a day later, by the waterfall in front of Water Curtain Cave Heaven, Jiang Liu'er looked at Sun Wukong with an accusing face and said with a sense of grievance.

"How am I possibly harming you?"

Sun Wukong feigned ignorance, as he had already heard about Hou Yi and Fairy Chang'er's subsequent actions from Jiang Liu'er.

Yet, Sun Wukong didn't know how to console Jiang Liu'er, who could blame him for forgetting to teach Jiang Liu'er the Dharma Method of sealing the Six Senses? He had no choice but to play dumb!

"Alright, alright, Jiang Liu'er, look, you haven't really lost anything, have you? Besides, your Merit Golden Body has reached the Great Achievement Realm! Compared to your former life as the Golden Cicada Child at his peak, you're only three realms away now. How many years has it been? Let me tell you, many covet Fairy Chang'er's Mysterious Yin Primordial, including the Jade Emperor who, like you, cultivates the Merit Golden Body. He has been eyeing Fairy Chang'er's Mysterious Yin Primordial source hungrily!"

Sun Wukong gave a slight cough and started to persuade Jiang Liu'er, "Now that you've obtained Fairy Chang'er's Mysterious Yin Primordial source, the path to Proving the Tao and Becoming a Saint is already laid out before you. Just elevate your cultivation, and with the Merit and Destiny contained within your own Merit Golden Body, you will be sufficient to prove the Tao and become a Saint. If the Jade Emperor knew about this, he would be so envious, he'd go mad, believe it or not?"

As he spoke, even Sun Wukong himself began to grow excited, "You've received such a huge benefit, snagged such an incredible advantage, and yet you act as if you've suffered a great injustice. That's really not proper!"

"This..."

Jiang Liu'er was somewhat dazed; Sun Wukong had made it seem as if he indeed had gotten quite a good deal. But wait, he didn't even want to take advantage of this in the first place!

"Alright, enough of this matter, call out Hou Yi. I have something to discuss with him," Sun Wukong said, waving his hand and adopting a serious tone.

"Alright!"

Jiang Liu'er knew this wasn't the time to be bickering with Sun Wukong, and it was just a bit of annoyance anyway. Hearing Sun Wukong out, he summoned Hou Yi's soul from the pellet of the mud palace.

"Great Sage Sun, what do you need?"

Jiang Liu'er's gaze changed, and Sun Wukong knew that Hou Yi had taken control of the body.

"Hou Yi," Sun Wukong began, "I've told you before that I would reconstruct a body for you so you can come back to life. You remember that, don't you?"

"I remember!"

Hou Yi nodded, "So Great Sage, you're going to help me revive now? That's perfect, I really can't stand staying in this body another moment!"