Ao-Kuang, Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, laughs at the Monkey King’s pronouncement and tries to proceed with the execution, but when the Monkey King stomps on him, he accepts the name. The Monkey King storms off to announce his new name. The Monkey King says this is a mistake: he’s no longer the Monkey King and is now The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven. One monkey offers his king a scroll from Heaven, which reads that the Monkey King has been sentenced to death for trespassing upon Heaven. The other monkeys are ecstatic when the Monkey King emerges, but they’re puzzled by his appearance: he looks somehow human. After 80 days studying kung-fu in solitude, he achieves the four major disciplines of invulnerability and the four major disciplines of bodily form, which means he can’t die and can shape-shift. The next day, he declares that all monkeys in his kingdom must wear shoes, and locks himself in his chambers. Back home, he’s suddenly aware of his fur’s smell. The Monkey King is embarrassed, so he beats up the other deities at the party. When he gets to the door of the party, the guard denies him entrance since he’s a monkey and isn’t wearing shoes. One night, smells from a party in Heaven waft down to Flower-Fruit Mountain, and since the Monkey King loves parties, he decides to go. The novel begins with the story of the Monkey King, a deity who reigns over monkeys on Flower-Fruit Mountain.
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