"A single golden mountain is too little, isn't it?"
Sun Kong's words were not objected to by the Tathagata, but Patriarch Bodhi found it difficult to accept.
"Brother Sun, must you be so greedy?"
"You also know that with the nourishment of Spirit Mountain's spiritual energy, your new Flower Fruit Mountain's vegetables, fruits, grains, and meats have increased a hundredfold. Coupled with this ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain, you still feel it's not enough?"
"Don't think that just because we are going to face the Journey to the West tribulation with you, we must always comply with your wishes."
"If you don't show respect, this Buddha will not be polite either. With this money, I could buy dozens of new Flower Fruit Mountains, why would I bother talking with you for so long?"
The Patriarch Bodhi's anger this time was not due to his stinginess, but because the fact was indeed so. This ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain, converted into gold and silver, would be enough to support half of Spirit Mountain for a hundred years.
Excluding divine beings and Buddhas.
Then, even calculating by the number of countries around Spirit Mountain, ten thousand mortals would be equivalent to one monkey grandchild. With this calculation, it would be enough to provide for a million monkey grandchildren without worry.
He dared not say more.
At least, it would last for ten thousand years!
In the eyes of Patriarch Bodhi and others, the Journey to the West tribulation was a minor tribulation, not a major one like the Investiture of the Gods.
Even the Investiture of the Gods, from deployment to war to conclusion, only took a few hundred years.
A ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain could support Sun Kong and others for dozens of Investiture of the Gods tribulations.
Let alone the Journey to the West tribulation, which was a minor one.
Converted, it could sustain thousands of them.
It's not possible that Sun Kong is so insecure that he believes their Journey to the West tribulation cannot be completed in decades, centuries, or even millennia, but must last tens of thousands of years, right?
"Yes, Kong Kong, Junior Brother Bodhi is correct this time. It's not that we are intentionally withholding your provisions, but there's really no need for so much."
"If you don't believe us, you can summon General Ba and the others. They know best about the daily consumption and expenses of the new Flower Fruit Mountain."
"Even then, I have a ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain in my possession, which can be used as an additional expense for their procreation."
The Tathagata, who also felt Sun Kong had gone too far this time, quickly produced a second ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain and summoned General Ba.
Under General Ba's narration, the situation was indeed more optimistic than they had estimated. Even with a million monkey grandchildren eating, drinking, defecating, and procreating voraciously, it would still take thirty thousand years to deplete a single ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain!
"Thirty thousand years is quite a long time. This time, Your Majesty, please listen to the advice of the two Buddha Lords and don't go too far. They are also working for the two Saints of the Western Teachings, it's not easy for them."
Upon hearing that it would take them thirty thousand years to deplete a ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain, the newly arrived General Ba, whose mouth was watering, couldn't help but speak for the two Buddhas who had been severely bullied by Sun Kong.
However.
This remark only enraged Sun Kong!
"Who the hell are you affiliated with?"
"Spirit Mountain's Buddhas found you several wives and some properties, and you dare to betray me and speak for them?"
Before General Ba could continue looking at the ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain, almost reaching out to take it, Sun Kong was enraged and immediately exploded.
He scolded General Ba for being a turncoat, making him grin foolishly and quickly regain his senses, vowing that he was not helping outsiders.
But wives...
It seemed that Guanyin had secretly sent quite a few.
Meanwhile, he vaguely sensed that during this period, while he was merely shocking outsiders and courting death among them, his own people were becoming complacent.
They were no longer afraid of him.
He immediately unleashed the first move of his advanced death-courting strategy: feigning poverty, and heading straight for the Tathagata and Patriarch Bodhi, determined to make them bleed!
"Thirty thousand years?"
"It seems like a long time, but I wonder if our two main Buddha Lords of Spirit Mountain have considered that my monkey grandchildren don't want to work 996, but only want to work 8 hours a day with weekends off?"
"In addition, triple pay for holidays?"
"And, is it only allowed for the Buddhas of Spirit Mountain to enjoy the incense offerings of trillions of believers, but not for them?"
"Compared to ordinary silver and gold, incense money is more important, isn't it?"
"I won't say more, but as far as I know, the annual incense offerings from the hundreds of millions of Buddhist disciples and descendants of Spirit Mountain are huge, allowing both your cultivation to improve rapidly. Can't this benefit be given to my people?"
"Even with all these, I'm speaking conservatively, not exaggerating. Otherwise, if I cited examples of 'zero-dollar shopping' and 'social security benefits' in certain countries, wouldn't it further increase the burden?"
This statement not only completely shocked the Tathagata and Patriarch Bodhi but also stunned General Ba.
The latter couldn't have imagined that their Great King Sun Kong was also an accounting expert, so good at calculating.
The former two couldn't have imagined that Sun Kong came up with new tricks every day.
It was one thing for him to court death and shock them in the past.
Now, he was actually coming up with terms like "marketing" and "social security benefits"?
He was truly possessed!
Was it the Ancestor of the Dao, or Lord Yuanshi Tianzun, or the Goddess Nuwa, who secretly taught a monkey so many skills to demand gold and silver, or did he learn it by himself?
The two of them had thought that one ten-thousand-zhang golden mountain each would be enough to appease Sun Kong, but they did not expect Sun Kong's appetite to be truly insatiable!
It seemed that without a hundred or so ten-thousand-zhang golden mountains, they wouldn't be able to satisfy him, and then they wouldn't hear more exciting content later!
Seeing Sun Kong's attitude of not speaking without money, the Tathagata and Patriarch Bodhi could only secretly confer.
"What do you think, Senior Brother Tathagata?"
"Forget it, let's give this Monkey King a little taste of sweetness. Fortunately, I still have dozens of ten-thousand-zhang golden mountains in stock. What about you?"
"I don't have many left. Who knew that after you stepped down last time, everyone else kept challenging me to bets and I lost it all... I regret it immensely. We, people of the Buddhist faith, have contracted gambling addiction because we were too tormented by Monkey King's death-courting!"
"It's alright, it's alright, whatever you have, we'll make do. If it's really not enough, we can borrow from Guanyin and the others."
"We can't borrow."
"Hmm?"
"I said we can't borrow. The reason is simple: partly because Sun Kong's previous death-courting was too severe, and we bought medicinal herbs to heal our wounds. Partly, it's to support the surrounding Buddhist disciples and descendants and countless countries."
"And another part is from many years ago, when you used it as a deposit for cooperation with the Jade Emperor. Now that the Jade Emperor has turned hostile, there's no way to get it back."
"...You are truly a great sucker! If you had said this earlier, we could have sent people to dig for it. Now that our assets are depleted, what else can you say!"
After listening to Patriarch Bodhi's inventory of Spirit Mountain, which, if sold, wouldn't be enough to give to Sun Kong, the Tathagata went berserk. His good corpse, Duobao Tathagata, and his evil corpse, the Five Great Ming Kings, were dispatched.
If it weren't for the fact that this was Spirit Mountain, they would have almost fought Patriarch Bodhi.
A truly grand scene!
Sun Kong, on the side, saw that the two were truly impoverished to the core and did not make things too difficult for them. While having them sign an IOU, he followed the rule of one Spirit Mountain for one statement.
The second step was... to market the real estate of the new Flower Fruit Mountain.
The third step was to market the Journey to the West tribulation as a super large financial project!