As You Are [Monkey King]

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 6: Doubts

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Xiu yawned as she walked towards the restaurant, wrapped in two jackets to block the freezing cold of the morning. Her body can deal with it most of the time, but the last of sleep and rest from the last few days is definitely getting to her.

She reached in her pocket to pull out the shop's spare key, opening up the restaurant ahead of its usual work time by half an hour. Her hand slams on the wall to turn the lights on and her soul almost jumped out of her bones when she saw MK standing in the middle of the kitchen like a zombie, holding a broom in hand.

His arms are moving back and forth aimlessly that she could almost hear the invisible creaking of a rusted gear. He looked like he'd been here all night.

"Goodmorning... MK?" Xiu had to take a double look to confirm that it is him. "You're surprisingly up early."

His head tilted up to look at her, and she didn't miss seeing the solemn look he had, accompanied by prominent eye bags that surely wasn't there yesterday, " 'Morning, Xiu."

"Are you okay? You look pretty tired," she hangs her jackets on the rack.

"Yeah. Yeah-uh— I was just excited for training so me and Monkey King went a bit overtime," he chuckles, wincing as he rubbed his arm nervously.

"He finally went out?" Xiu was over the moon when she heard that part, ignoring the anxious look given to her by the young man. "Is he alright? Did he look okay? Did he do something different?"

"I... Well, he immediately took me to go practice blindfold defense to highten my senses. I guess he thought I'm still not that aware of dangers to my surroundings, even after the whole Bone Demon... But he's cool, Monkey King isn't in high spirits yet, so maybe that negativity thingy he's working on is nearly finished?"

Her smile falters, remembering the words of the black furred simian.

He's probably just throwing a tantrum again.

"But now that he's out, maybe you'd want to visit him again?"

The idea of seeing Wukong sent her heart ablaze, but there were things she needed to do that she'd like to show him later on, and that something still needs a bit of work— and practice. "I'll drop by on your training when I have the chance."

MK raises a brow at her, "Oh, uhm, Mei can give you a ride there if that's what you want." He'd been the one to accompany her to the island when she wanted to visit since he basically already knew how to go here every single day. Either him or Mei who had the means to get to Flower Fruit mountain— or maybe Sandy using his boat to dock by the Flaming Mountains— can get Xiu here in one place.

"I've actually been working on that part," she snickered.

"Huh?! How?!"

Xiu winks at him and grabs the broom from his hand, "You'll see it when I finish with it."

Rows and columns of high shelves in sight, but not a single useful information. Standing by the section related to the Netherworld, Macaque sat on the floor with stacks upon stacks of books by his side, his fingers tracing along the old pages to read the words, scanning through until the very end only to find his time wasted once more. But he had all the time in the world, there's no rush when it comes to the current problem, all he needed was a simple answer. Simple yet so hard to find.

"Would there be anything else you might need, sir Macaque?" says one of the Guardians of Knowledge protecting The Cloud.

"Maybe you'd like coffee as well?" asks the other.

Among all that are registered to seek knowledge in The Cloud, Six-Eared Macaque is their favorite patron. He'd sometimes hang around here to read when he's got nothing better to do, and the two guardians regarded him worthy of respect. As they'd say nowadays, no one takes time to read off of hard copies anymore, and what Macaque is doing is making their effort a little more worthwhile in this immortal life.

"I'll have that coffee, thanks. And is there anything about the bridge to reincarnation?" he asks, not taking his eyes off the page.

"I'll go handle that coffee," the blue guardian walks off, leaving his other counterpart with him.

"If I remember correctly, it's called Naihe Bridge or Bridge of Helplessness," says the red guardian.

"I suppose you know how that works?" Macaque raises a curious brow.

"Certainly," he uses his power to summon the books related to the topic, "The Naihe Bridge works as a preparation for the soul to cross towards reincarnation." One of the books were opened to show an illustration of Naihe Bridge. "After the soul has been punished and reached atonement, they drink the soup which helps them forget all that had happened in their previous life. After that, they'll proceed to the bridge in the final process."

Macaque closes the book in his hands and reached for the one that the guardian had shown him. He never reached an eighth of all that he had read so far, considering that the Lady Bone Demon revived him all too soon before succumbing to death on hell's torture.

"Well, it's better to read the whole information rather than playing it by ear," says the blue guardian as he came back with his and their own cup of coffee.

The black furred simian thanks them again and took a sip. Nothing beats the coffee made by these two, it's a wonder why no other individuals come here for it. Or was it only him who gets special treatment? Macaque couldn't be bothered to confirm it.

He read along the lines of total annihilation of memories, pertaining to full cleansing and removal of burdens of one's previous life.

If this situation is what he thinks it is— basing on all 31 books he'd read so far—, then Xiu might've not been who they really think she is...

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