Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me
Chapter 548 - 464: Jiang Chen’s Plot

Chapter 548: Chapter 464: Jiang Chen’s Plot

At this point, the Jade Emperor broke his silence, making excuses for the Martial Virtue Star Lord. "Jiuchen, you misunderstand Martial Virtue. When we appointed Sun Wukong to manage the Pan Peach Garden, it was meant for his betterment, to help him overcome his wild nature and take control of his instincts."

"Who could’ve known that the reckless monkey would fail so miserably to live up to our expectations, not to mention causing such a huge ruckus and ruining the Pan Peach feast."

The Jade Emperor was bound to favor the Martial Virtue Star Lord, after all, he was the banner that the Jade Emperor himself raised. If he were to falter, who would dare to work for the Jade Emperor in the future.

Jiang Chen remained silent.

Recognizing this, the Jade Emperor had no choice but to say, "Jiuchen, I know you are annoyed. The words of Martial Virtue just now were indeed somewhat excessive. Your fairness and righteousness set an example for all the gods. It was indeed inappropriate for Martial Virtue to accuse you of favoring Sun Wukong."

"For his error of speech, I will punish Martial Virtue with a hundred years of reflection at the bottom of the Heavenly River. Jiuchen, what do you think of this?"

The Jade Emperor had offered him a way out. It wouldn’t do for Jiang Chen to continue arguing, lest he truly anger the Jade Emperor and create a big problem.

Therefore, Jiang Chen spoke, "Your Majesty is too severe. There is certainly no need for such punishment. Upon contemplation, I realized that my previous remarks were perhaps too rash. I reckon that maybe, the Martial Virtue Star Lord isn’t malicious, just possibly extremely foolish."

Having said that, Jiang Chen turned to the Martial Virtue Star Lord and apologized, "I’m sorry, Star Lord, I truly did not expect that someone of your elevated position in the celestial court could be so foolish.

"It’s one thing to assign Sun Wukong to oversee the Pan Peach Garden, but to be utterly unprepared after the incident. You certainly have a big heart."

"If you had even an ounce of wisdom, by placing someone to watch over Sun Wukong, today’s disaster might have been averted."

"Those who know, know you trust Sun Wukong. And those who don’t, like me, think you are either stupid or malicious."

"Besides, you just accused me of being close friends with Sun Wukong. In truth, it seems to me, when it comes to familiarity, your relationship with him supersedes mine."

"At least, I would never trust Sun Wukong enough to propose him for such an important task of overseeing the Pan Peach Garden."

The Martial Virtue Star Lord, having been chastised like this by Jiang Chen, turned red with embarrassment, and argued, "Even wise minds make mistakes, it doesn’t count as being foolish... can a few miscalculations truly be considered stupidity?"

Then followed some incomprehensible reasoning about "how recommending talents for the celestial court had nothing to do with personal relations" and things like "trust is irrelevant to personal relations"

This provoked laughter from everyone present. The joyful atmosphere in and outside the hall significantly diluted their annoyance with how the Pan Peach feast had been disrupted

Seeing his favored minister being put on the spot by Jiang Chen, the Jade Emperor intervened, "Enough Jiuchen, stop teasing Martial Virtue. There are only so few people in the celestial court who can work for me..."

At the Jade Emperor’s words, all the immortals in the hall stopped laughing and began apologizing in unison, "Your Majesty, we are at fault!"

His words were extremely harsh, verbally punishing all the immortals in the celestial court, accusing them of disobeying the celestial decree, and being merely decorative. But they were not allowed to argue back. If they did, what if the Jade Emperor assigned them a task right then?

Should they carry it out? Or should they not?

If they did, who knew what danger there would be? If they didn’t, wouldn’t they be humiliating themselves?

Hence, all the immortals in the hall said nothing, and merely apologized awkwardly.

This is what is meant by ’the law does not punish the many’.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere in the hall, Taibai Jinxing quickly intervened, "Gentlemen, this isn’t the time to play the blame game, we should catch the monkey and restore the honor of the celestial court."

Just as Taibai finished speaking, the immortals in the hall reacted quickly and pleaded, "We request Your Highness to dispatch an army to the mortal realm to capture the monkey."

"Hmph!" The Jade Emperor snorted, and ordered, "Instruct the Four Heavenly Kings, together with Heavenly King Li and Prince Nezha, to mobilize the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, Nine Bright Shiners, Twelve God Generals, Five Mighty Protectors, Court of Civil and Military Affairs, East and West Star Plates, North and South Deities, the Five Sacred Mountains, and the Four Seas, totaling one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers, to deploy the eighteen layers of the heavenly and terrestrial net to lay siege to the Huaguo Mountain and to capture the monkey."

With the Jade Emperor’s command, Heavenly King Li and his son prepared to gather the troops.

However, at that moment, Jiang Chen stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, wait! I must be packed along if you’re sending troops to capture Sun Wukong."

"It’s well known in the heavenly court that Sun Wukong and I are close friends. Now that he has committed such a tremendous crime, there will definitely be gossips trying to associate me with this."

"Therefore, to silence the wagging tongues, I wish to accompany the troops to capture Sun Wukong, to prove my innocence."

With those words, the Jade Emperor found himself in a tight spot. He didn’t want to agree to Jiang Chen’s request at all. Who knew what other problems would erupt once Jiang Chen set foot in Huaguo Mountain?

But he couldn’t deny the request either. Jiang Chen’s reason was simply too compelling. He was going to prove his innocence. If the emperor stopped him from doing so, what would people say about his intentions?

With no choice left, the Jade Emperor reluctantly agreed, "Since Jiuchen is excruciatingly eager, why should I retrench his enthusiasm? So, the task of going to the mortal world to subjugate the monkey is entirely delegated to you."