Lao Tzu is Ji Gong

The Jade Emperor asked, "My beloved ministers, do you know where in the Heavenly Palace there are vacancies for official positions that you would like to appoint Sun Wukong to take up?"

Wuqu Xingjun stepped forward and reported, "There are many officials in all the palaces and halls of the Heavenly Palace, but the Imperial Horse Stable is short of a head steward."

The Jade Emperor decreed, "Since that's the case, then appoint him as '弼马温' (Bima Wen, a low-ranking official in charge of horses)."

Venus touched Sun Wukong's sleeve and whispered, "The Jade Emperor has bestowed this honor upon you; why don't you express your gratitude?"

Sun Wukong then realized what was happening and bowed deeply to the Jade Emperor.

"I knew this monkey could be given some kind of official position; it turns out he's just a stable boy."

"That's right. A monster is a monster. No matter how strong it is, it's only fit to be a horse herder."

The civil and military officials in the Lingxiao Palace sneered inwardly. However, despite their inner mockery, they did not show it, each maintaining a friendly and smiling demeanor.

The Jade Emperor then asked, "Is the Wood Star Lord present?"

The Wood Star Lord stepped out from the side and said, "Your Majesty, I am here."

The Jade Emperor said, "Sun Wukong has just arrived in the Heavenly Palace and is probably not familiar with the various places there. Why don't you take him to the Imperial Horse Stable?"

"Your subject obeys the decree." Wood Star Lord led Sun Wukong out of the Lingxiao Palace.

Sun Wukong was overjoyed at the Jade Emperor's reward and couldn't wait to head to the Imperial Stables with the Wood Star Official.

After delivering Sun Wukong to the Imperial Stables, the Wood Star Lord turned and left. Sun Wukong, having just obtained his official position, was filled with joy and curiosity as he watched the Imperial Stables with great interest, paying no attention to the Wood Star Lord's departure.

The Imperial Horse Stable was like a small government office, with a supervisor, deputy supervisor, clerk, strongmen, and dozens of other officials.

In addition, there were thousands of celestial horses. These celestial horses were used by the Heavenly Court in its battles; each one was tall and had glossy coats, clearly top-quality horses.

"Sir, these are the various account books and documents in the prison. Please examine them." The prison warden took out a stack of documents and placed them in front of Sun Wukong.

"Sir, this is a token. With this token, you can approach all the celestial horses in the prison. Without this token, the celestial horses will attack you," the prison warden said.

Sun Wukong curiously took the token, played with it in his hand for a moment, and said, "I understand." As for the stack of documents, Sun Wukong casually flipped through them and saw that they recorded various expenses of the Imperial Horse Stable, including the purchase of fodder and the monthly salaries of the staff.

After glancing at it, Sun Wukong placed it on the red lacquered wooden table and didn't look at it again.

"Hmm? There's another cultivation manual here?"

As Sun Wukong fiddled with the imperial horse token, he suddenly paused, noticing that the token was covered with tiny characters.

The token was only the size of a palm, with only a few characters, about a hundred.

After reading it from beginning to end, Sun Wukong only saw a few hundred tiny characters. It couldn't really be called a secret manual; it was more like a supernatural power. Moreover, this supernatural power didn't have any offensive capabilities; it was a supportive power.

Chapter 459 Official Appointment as the Protector of the Horse

That supernatural power wasn't anything particularly powerful; it was a technique specifically for raising horses. After practicing it, the magical power within Sun Wukong's body would have the effect of nourishing the celestial horses, making them stronger and more spirited.

Moreover, if a celestial horse is exhausted from a long journey, one can help it eliminate fatigue by pouring one's own magical power into its body.

It can be said to be a very useless skill, but at certain crucial moments, it can be an extremely useful supernatural ability.

Sun Wukong only needed to circulate his magical power slightly to successfully cultivate it. Indeed, the magical power within him was slightly different from before.

However, this slight change did not have much impact on his strength.

Sun Wukong asked, "Where are those celestial horses?"

Now that he was in charge of the Imperial Horse Stables, Sun Wukong was curious and naturally wanted to see what was different about those celestial horses compared to ordinary mortal horses.

The eunuch, dressed in light blue, said, "My lord, the celestial horses are grazing in the Milky Way. Would you like to go and take a look?"

Sun Wukong said, "That's right. Now that I'm the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses in the Imperial Stables, I naturally need to check on those heavenly horses so that I can understand the condition of the horses under my command."

The eunuch said, "In that case, Your Excellency, please follow me."

The eunuch walked towards the stables and, after a short while, led out two celestial horses, saying, “My lord, these celestial horses are kept in the stables for emergencies. Since you wish to go to the Milky Way to see the grazing celestial horses, then come with me on these horses.”

Sun Wukong saw that the two horses were both over two zhang tall, much larger than ordinary horses. The one on the right was pure white and extremely handsome, while the one on the left was entirely dark red with a few black hairs. It was also very spirited, with eyes like lightning, and its neighing sounded like thunder.

He mounted the white horse, and with a shout, Sun Wukong galloped off ahead.

When Sun Wukong first mounted the horse, the white horse resisted slightly, trying to throw him off. But when Sun Wukong took out the token from his pocket, the horse seemed to understand something immediately, becoming incredibly affectionate towards him, lowering its head and rubbing against him incessantly.

These horses were all celestial steeds, and naturally they were all very intelligent. They knew that the token in Sun Wukong's arms represented that Sun Wukong was the Keeper of the Imperial Stables, and that Sun Wukong was the highest-ranking official in the entire Imperial Stables. Yet, they also wanted to curry favor with Sun Wukong.

The eunuch in light blue robes rode behind Sun Wukong on a chestnut horse. These eunuchs and imperial guards had spent a lot of time in the Imperial Stables feeding the celestial horses and were very familiar with them, which is why the celestial horses allowed them to ride on their backs.

Riding on horseback, the eunuch looked at Sun Wukong with a hint of jealousy in his eyes.

The position of Bi Ma Wen in the Imperial Horse Administration had been vacant for a long time, with no one coming up for it. Among all the officials in the Imperial Horse Administration, he held the highest rank. Although he was just an official, he was in fact Bi Ma Wen, only his official rank had not been promoted.

Moreover, he always believed that the reason the higher-ups hadn't sent anyone down was because they wanted him to be the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, but he simply didn't have enough seniority to be promoted. Once he had enough seniority, the position of Keeper of the Heavenly Horses would definitely be his.

In addition, he had given away his treasured possessions to his superiors during this period, so the position of Bi Ma Wen (弼马温) in the Imperial Stables was practically his.

He just didn't expect that a Cheng Yaojin would suddenly appear out of nowhere, parachuting in Sun Wukong to become the弼马温 (Bima Wen, a low-ranking official in charge of horses) and snatching his position away.

He harbored considerable resentment towards Sun Wukong.

However, he had also heard that Sun Wukong was a demon immortal with great strength, who had once wreaked havoc in the East Sea Dragon Palace and the Netherworld. In front of him, he was probably not even worth a little finger.

He dared not lay a hand on Sun Wukong, and endured it in his heart, but he was thinking that one day he would drive Sun Wukong out of his position as the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses.

The celestial horse was extremely fast. Sun Wukong and the supervising official traveled swiftly, and before long, they saw a very wide river appear before them.

The Milky Way is incredibly wide, probably stretching for thousands of miles. Even with Sun Wukong's cultivation level as a Great Luo Golden Immortal, he couldn't see the other side.

In addition, the Milky Way is extremely long and endless, as if it flows out of the void.

It is said that this celestial river flows all the way to the realm of immortals and connects with the Yellow Springs of the underworld, but Sun Wukong doesn't know if it's true or not.

The entire surface of the Milky Way was shrouded in mist, a vast expanse of white, stretching as far as the eye could see. Waves several meters high surged one after another, resembling a scene of thousands of troops charging out on a battlefield.

The sound of the huge waves was like thunder.

In the calm part of the river, the colorful stones at the bottom of the Milky Way shone brightly, reflecting off the river like a large dye vat of different colors. It was as if the river water itself had color, and the entire world was filled with the brilliance of blue, green, and purple, which was very dazzling and mesmerizing.

On the sandbar beside the Milky Way, there grew spiritual herbs that were taller than a person. These herbs were as wide as a palm, lush and green, tender and juicy, and densely packed. The entire sandbar was covered with all kinds of spiritual herbs.

Besides the spiritual herbs, there were also various unnamed, beautiful little spiritual flowers—pink, purple, red, pale pink…—growing among the herbs. Under the bright sunlight, they appeared exceptionally radiant, and a gentle breeze carried the faint fragrance of the flowers to the nose.

From afar, one could see a patch of green sandbar covered with many different colors, like a green carpet embroidered with tiny flowers—it was incredibly beautiful.

On that sandbar, a large herd of celestial horses were grazing on the green spiritual grass on the ground. The celestial horses were either raising their heads, lowering their heads, walking, or standing, and the whole scene was very peaceful.

Chapter 460 Marshal Tianpeng

On the sandbar beside the Milky Way, all sorts of spiritual herbs grew densely, interspersed with small flowers.

A large herd of pegasus leisurely nibbled on the spiritual herbs, carefree.

The number of celestial horses was so great that they were scattered across an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers.

Sun Wukong rode the white horse, followed by the eunuch, and arrived at the sandbar.

"Go!"

With a pat on the rump of the white horse he was sitting on, Sun Wukong released the horse as well. Then, he leaped into the air and looked down at the entire sandbar.

If he hadn't wanted to experience riding a celestial horse, he probably would have just somersaulted over and wouldn't have known how to ride a horse at all.

Looking down, Sun Wukong saw the vast Milky Way stretching to the horizon, with celestial horses scattered across the sandbar like black, white, and red dots.

"Hey, what is that?"

Suddenly, Sun Wukong's gaze froze. On the Milky Way, countless large warships were shuttling back and forth, arranged in a very neat and orderly manner, as if they were conducting drills.

"My lord, this is the Tianhe Navy conducting drills," the supervisor said from the side.

Sun Wukong asked in confusion, "The Heavenly River Navy?"

The eunuch nodded slightly and said, "The Milky Way is connected to the Netherworld and the Yellow Springs. From time to time, creatures will try to enter the Heavenly Court through the Milky Way. The Milky Way Navy is there to guard against those smuggling creatures."

At this moment, the sound of drums came from the Milky Way. As the drums sounded, the large boats on the Milky Way lined up and formed a battle formation.

Along with the drumbeats, a loud shout also rang out.

"Array up!"

On the Milky Way, there was a divine general who was over three zhang tall, wearing golden armor, holding a nine-foot rake that emitted divine light, with a square face, round head, lion nose, and wide mouth. He was majestic and domineering, with eyes like lightning, and he was commanding the naval forces on the Milky Way.

"That is Marshal Tianpeng of the Heavenly River Navy, who commands 80,000 Heavenly River Navy soldiers. He is a figure of considerable power in the Heavenly Court," the supervisor said.

"Who's spying here? Get out here now!"

Suddenly, Marshal Tianpeng seemed to sense the gazes of Sun Wukong and the eunuch. His eyes shone brightly with an air of authority as he looked at the two of them.

"Hmm? Who are you two, and why are you here?" Marshal Tianpeng asked.

The official bowed and said cautiously, "Reporting to the Marshal, I am the official in charge of the Imperial Horse Administration, and this is the official in charge of the Imperial Horse Administration. We are here herding the Heavenly Horses and have no intention of spying on the Marshal's troop deployment."

"The Keeper of the Heavenly Horses of the Imperial Stables?" Marshal Tianpeng looked down at the celestial horse on the Milky Way sandbar, ignoring Sun Wukong and his companion, and turned to fly towards the Milky Way. As he turned, his expression carried a hint of arrogance and disdain.

Upon seeing Marshal Tianpeng, the eunuch in light blue robes breathed a sigh of relief and said, "My lord, thankfully Marshal Tianpeng wasn't angry today. Otherwise, the two of us would probably have suffered quite a bit."

Sun Wukong asked, "Is he very powerful?"

The supervising official said, "He is the marshal of the 80,000-strong Heavenly River Navy, commanding the entire Heavenly River. He has countless capable and fierce generals under his command and has suppressed countless people with treacherous intentions. Don't you think he's powerful?"

Sun Wukong said, "Although he is powerful, he is still quite far behind me."

The eunuch smiled but remained silent, assuming that Sun Wukong was simply putting on a brave face and didn't want to reveal his inferiority. He had initially intended to tell Sun Wukong that Marshal Tianpeng's position was considerably higher than his own, that he didn't need to be so vain. However, after some thought, he decided to keep it to himself and didn't voice it.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days have passed.