Escorting an extraterrestrial lifeform, Wukong traversed the Chaos and arrived beside the world membrane. Upon taking a look, Wukong saw that this alien entity had drilled a massive hole right through the membrane. Master had told Wukong never to bully these alien beings, for they were truly pitiable; should war break out across Honghuang, everyone would simply be fellow wanderers cast to the corners of the world. As recorded clearly in *Chronicles of Chaos and Honghuang*, even Taishang Laojun, Yuanshi Tianzun, and Daoist Tongtian ended up swallowing the Saint-Corrosive Pills, with Daoist Tongtian being trapped inside the Zixiao Palace by Ancestor Hongjun. After listening to and reading through this saga, a profound wave of emotion stirred deep within Wukong's heart.
Wukong resolved to carry out this mission properly, approaching the task calmly and steadily to make things as close to perfect as possible. Who said monkeys don't care about beauty? It was just that in the original tale, Sun Wukong became a Buddhist warrior buddha. "To hell with being a Buddha! When you can't even master your own fate, what's the point of going on a pilgrimage to the Western Heaven and walking alongside a mere mortal? What kind of immortality do you cultivate, what kind of sagehood do you achieve? You'd be far better off as a bunch of rotten stones—a pile of rotten stones that no immortals or sages would ever deign to look at. Just like that, clouds rise and fall, suns and moons ascend and set …
Chapter 162