Now it is said that the Mystery Girl took Yuan Gong up to Ninth Heaven with her, and that they were received by the Jade Emperor. Seeing that he loved Dao, the Jade Emperor invested Yuan Gong as Lord of White Cloud Cave and ordered him to take official charge of the Mysterious and Marvelous Secret Books of Highest Heaven. And why, dear reader, are these known as "Secret Books"? Well, whatever books may have been posessed by mankind, whether they be of the three teachings, Confucianism, Daoism or Buddhism, or the Nine Schools of antiquity, or whatever, wherever, all are stored in Heaven. But the books of this highest Ninth Heaven have reached neither the eyes nor the ears of humanity, nor can they be reckoned in their numbers; hence they are called Mysterious and Marvelous Secret Books, and they are collected and kept in a jade box which is in turn inside a golden vault. Every year, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the Royal Attendant in Charge of Cultural Affairs comes to take an inventory of them; he is the leading official of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Now although Yuan Gong had been given official charge of the books, there were decrees of official prohibition that had been promulgated by the government of Heaven, and ordinary mortals like himself did not dare open the books without proper authorization. But suddenly one day, that of the morally upright Golden Mother of Western Heaven's birthday celebration, also called the Pantaohui, or Fairy's Banquet, the Jade Emperor called out his officials, generals and councillors for attendance at Yaochi, the Jade Fairy Pond, that Queen's domicile far off in the Kunlun Mountains of the West. And how do we know? There is a passage from an ancient book of poetry that serves as evidence:
Although it has been said that Yuan Gong cultivated himself in accordance with Dao, he had not yet climbed the Buddha's path to spiritual progress. And because he was only a mortal staff member of the Palace of Heaven he could not follow the others to Yaochi. Now, he had always been fond of fruit. Having heard that the fairy fruit of the Queen Mother's birthday feast were ten feet wide, that they came from precious flower that bloomed but once every 3,000 years and that eating of them would bring eternal life in accordance with Heaven, how could his mouth not water? Consequently he was feeling glum and bored so he plucked the two pellets from up his sleeve, breathed onto them and incanted "live!". They then changed into the male and female swords as before, leaping and dancing about and putting on a little show for him. Then he swept his arm and caught the sunlight on his sleeve, and they returned to their hiding place in his garment. By now he was really bored and sullen, but he suddenly realized that, in his own quarters, he was taking care of many secret books. He had not yet had an opportunity to browse through them but, he now thought, "there's no time like the present for stealing a peek, is there?".
And as he spoke to himself he ran his eyes over to them, seeing only the Golden Vault and Jade Box that contained sections of the Three Great Teachings and of the Nine Schools of Antiquity, each in its own class arranged by order of their Chinese characters. And as Yuan Gong peeked clandestinely through the index of Confucianist terms he became impatient.
"This stuff is about degree holders," he mumbled; "I needn't bother myself with it." Then running his finger down the list of Buddhist terms he was yet again disappointed.
"This is about sickly-faced monks in saffron", he hissed contemptfully. But seeing the concordance of Daoist characters he jumped for joy.
"Ah," he exclaimed, "this is about me, Old Yuan, and my very own profession!"
Now, in the midst of the collection sat a small jade box, and layed out along its edges were innumerable sealing stamps. When, as in former years, the Royal Attendant of Cultural Affairs comes to this box to perform the inspection ceremony, he checks the seals and adds a new one.
"What with all the seals on this jade box," Yuan Gong whispered, "there must be someting really profound somewhere in here!"
But when he tried to tear open the seals and open the box with his hands he found that it was entirely solid, as if cast of iron. Yuan Gong thought it strange, for if this box were indeed iron it would have rusted shut over the long years, but it was fashioned from beautifully ground jade, its lines so square as to ensure a perfetly tight fit. Yuan Gong thought: "If I could have a word or two with the craftsman, whoever he was, that crafted this box, I'd tell him to polish off a bit where the top slides in, to make it a bit easier to open!" But to get on with the story Yuan Gong tore away with all his might at the lid once more but it seemed as if firmly nailed as well as sealed with molten gold, totally unmovable no matter what.
Now, dear reader, it is common sense that your usual ape would quickly become frustrated and begin beating and kicking such a box, and even butting it with his head. Yuan Gong, however, had already cultivated himself in accordance with Dao for many years and had managed to suppress this fiery nature, but oh, how he wanted to make haste! Thrusting his hands down in a frenzy, he grasped the box and held it up with both hands as if presenting it. Then, throwing himself down on all fours he exclaimed: "My Teacher, Mystery Girl of Ninth Heaven, if thou blesseth thy disciple so that his sorcery might be enhanced he promiseth to serve thee always and never do evil!" He then proceeded to kowtow three times and, clamboring to his feet and once more prying the lid, he found that it came off easily in his hands. And in the box was a parcel wrapped in fine cloth with a flame pattern embroidered upon it. When he unwrapped it for a look he found a tiny book, three inches in length and thickness, on the face of which he saw three characters proclaiming this the "Ru Yi Ce", or, Concordance of Blessings and Charms. Opening it carefully, he found the One Hundred and Eight Charms for Transformation of Forms, with the Thirty-Six Greater Transformations listed in accordance with the princples of divination by the hot dry winds of highest Heaven, and the Seventy-Two Lesser Transformations listed in accordance with divination by the cold, damp spirits of deepest Earth. And there was a marvelous formula for altering the course of the heavens and moving the Pole Star, miraculously useful in battling against ghosts and in harnessing spirits.
Great happiness settled in Yuan Gong's heart. "This book alone," he blurted out, "should be quite enough for me, Old Yuan! All my life I've followed teachers but now I've got it all for myself! You know, every since I left home I've wanted to boil some rice, and now I realize that a lantern is a source of fire as well as light!"
Now, immeasurably pleased with himself, Yuan Gong rolled up this "Concordance of the Will of Heaven" in his hands, let out a long whistle and flew down into the cloudy heights of earth, finally arriving at his home in White Cloud Cave on Mt Dream-of-the-Clouds. And there were apes of all sorts and sizes on hand, his children and grandchildren, their numbers surging like waves, dancing happily and rushing forth to pay their respects. Yuan Gong spoke to them: "Today I received this book and I shall become the leader of its teaching. When I become a god, each and every one of you will be blessed and delighted. Now you can all get to work at chipping away the two cliffsides around our cave's entrance. Attack these walls and make them smooth, and believe me, I have a good use for all this!"
The herd of apes heard and complied as one; all rushed to take up the hammering, chipping, grinding and polishing until in the wink of an eye the two rock cliffs were wiped out, their features annihilated and their surfaces made over just like mirrors. Yuan Gong then took out his brush and ink, placed them on his stone table, moistened the inkstone and dipped his brush until it was soaked.
Then, on the western wall he wrote the Thirty-Six Greater Transformations by the hot, dry winds of highest Heaven, and on the eastern wall the Seventy-Two Lesser Transformations by the cold and damp spirits of deepest Earth. And then he ordered the multitude of beasts to take up hammers and chisels and to carve along the characters he had written, etching them deep in the faces of the cliffs.
"Folks say," he laughingly exclaimed, "that in Heaven things are open to all, so then why do they have this private book? Well, you up there can be the Venerated Emperor of Thirty-Three Heavens if you wish, and be as selfish as you like, but for my part I'll be glad to contribute to mankind's perfection. So, my children and disciples, I want you to go and study these skills with the utmost of concentration!"
And the animal throng answered with cries and moans of "How strict you are! How can we ever read this, let alone master it? We rely upon you, old Uncle, to explain it to us!"
Yuan Gong was unyielding. "If a slave girl," he answered, "brokers a marriage for her friend, she merely cheats herself out of a husband! I, Old Yuan, can only recite from memory, and I'm not very smooth even at that. So let's slow down and reconsider, and call things off for a couple of weeks or for as long as that old man, the Jade Emperor, has nothing to say. Then when he has forgiven me for my apelike mischief he'll come right here to this cave and explain each of these items in person."
And then, as he stood in silence, the multitude of apes hear a great boom and roar from above.
"It is thundering," one exclaimed, "and we are afraid it's one of Heaven's transformations!"
"That's not the sound of the Thunder God!" answered Yuan Gong, confidently; "It's only the signal drum at Heaven's gate. It sounds whenever the matter of a determination of guilt and punishment arises and an inquest is conducted in the torture chamber. It's just like the beating of the Crying Drums at criminal proceedings, which are in the Confucianist books of this world. All of you, remain on guard here in this cave while I go up to report for roll-call in Heaven, to try to overhear what's going on."
And so he went dancing and hopping right out of the cave, gradually turned his eyes toward Heaven's Gate and was gone. Only this time, he was responsible for those teachings of his...
For Yuan Gong had committed an unpardonable abomination in violating one of Heaven's regulations; indeed, so heavily had he transgressed that the Master of Heaven passed yet another law. It's really like this: