Who could have imagined that the immortals of Heaven, who have lived through countless kalpas, would all undergo such a dramatic change in character lately! Sister Chang'e sobs every night, and her tears are about to flood the Moon Palace. Brother Wu Gang has stopped felling the cassia tree and spends every day crashing into it with a bang. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was trying to end it all. The Queen Mother regards her peach orchard as more precious than her own life. Heavenly soldiers and generals stand packed together so tightly that not even a bee can fly in. The Jade Emperor is even more absurd: he hides furtively inside the Hall of Miraculous Mists, and whenever Sun Wukong is mentioned, he sighs like a young man nursing a broken heart. The place bustling most of all is Guanjiangkou. The True Lord Erlang has vanished, and the Howling Celestial Dog has taken the chance to make himself king. At noon, he happily gnaws on a bone, while the Seven Monsters of Meishan can only stare into their empty bowls and wipe away their tears. Most outrageous of all is the Tusita Palace. With a rumble, the alchemy furnace explodes, and a black thing shoots off and vanishes. The Supreme Old Lord jumps up and down with rage, shouting beyond the Chaos, “Tongtian! That rabbit of yours is wrecking my alchemy furnace again! Come keep it under control!” In the Purple Cloud Palace, Tongtian pretends not to hear, but Hongjun smiles and taps the chessboard. “If this rabbit fails to stir things up, it will hardly live up to the name ‘anomaly.’”
