Thinking about the goddess he dreamed of marrying when he grew up becoming someone else’s wife, he naturally felt quite indignant.

Fortunately, these were just some simple-minded kids. If it were someone else, they might have grabbed a kitchen knife and challenged him to a duel.

Glancing at these rowdy kids who looked like fighting cocks, he certainly wouldn’t stoop to argue with them. He cleared his throat and said, “Everyone, go back to your seats. If you don’t remember what I teach you today, you’re not allowed to go home for dinner.”

The first meeting with these troublemakers was far from harmonious, so Edward Thompson appropriately displayed a bit of a teacher’s authority.

He had already learned a bit about the world he was in now—the customs, habits, and etiquette were roughly equivalent to ancient China, where respecting teachers and valuing education was still the mainstream belief.

This mindset permeated every social class, so even if these kids were dissatisfied with him, they obediently returned to their seats.

Back when Mr. Carter was around, if they misbehaved in class and the teacher told their parents, they’d inevitably get a spanking when they got home.

“Spare the rod, spoil the child”—for these ordinary, unrefined people, this was still the only creed for raising children.

For the sake of their own behinds, these kids didn’t dare act up too much in class. But although they all sat in their seats, their faces still wore proud, defiant expressions, and their clear eyes were full of disdain.

The thoughts of these kids were written all over their faces. Edward Thompson glanced at them indifferently and said slowly, “Since this is our first class in the morning, we won’t study anything else yet. Let me tell you a story so everyone can relax.”

At the word “story,” the kids’ faces immediately changed, showing interest.

Growing up in Liuyue Village, including their own parents, everyone around them was an uneducated roughneck—who knew how to tell stories?

When they were really bored, they could pester their great-uncle to tell some legendary tales of the Liu ancestors, but after hearing those too many times, they got sick of them… Mr. Carter was the only scholar in the village, but he always wore a cold, coffin-like face in class, scaring the kids so much they barely dared to breathe. Hoping for an interesting story from him was pure daydreaming.

Even before he started, Edward Thompson had already piqued the kids’ curiosity.

The boy sitting in front, the biggest and strongest, had a hint of anticipation in his eyes, but still curled his lip disdainfully: “What’s so great about some dumb story…”

Edward Thompson took in all their expressions, and couldn’t help but let a faint smile curl at the corner of his mouth.

When it came to dealing with these simple-minded kids, he had a thousand ways to handle them…

“Today’s story is about a monkey.”

In front of Edward Thompson floated an illusory book, with the three characters 《西游记》 written on the cover.

“In the chaos before heaven and earth were divided, all was confusion and no one could be seen. Since Pangu broke the primordial darkness, the world has been divided into clear and turbid…” Edward Thompson recited a couple of lines, but suddenly felt something was off. Looking back at the kids’ bewildered faces, he realized he’d accidentally grabbed the original version of Journey to the West, which was too obscure for these kids to understand.

With a thought, he switched to a vernacular version of Journey to the West in front of him.

“In the chaos before heaven and earth were divided… all was confusion and no one could be seen. Since Pangu broke… broke the primordial darkness, the world has been divided into… clear and turbid…” Edward Thompson didn’t realize that the lines he just recited had exploded like thunder in the kids’ minds.

Even though they didn’t understand what this new teacher was saying, it—just sounded really impressive!

At that moment, Edward Thompson’s magnetic voice once again reached the kids’ ears.

“Legend has it that a long, long time ago, the world was divided into the Eastern Continent of Divine Prefecture, the Western Continent of Ox-Headed Land, the Southern Continent of Jambu, and the Northern Continent of Kuru. In the Eastern Continent, in the Kingdom of Aolai, there was a Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. On that mountain was a magical stone. One day, the stone split open, and a stone monkey leapt out, its eyes shooting golden light…”

A few seconds after Edward Thompson began, the expressions on all the kids’ faces changed. Their mouths dropped open, and their big eyes shone with disbelief.

The birth of the Monkey King, apprenticing to Bodhi, borrowing treasures from the Dragon Palace, wreaking havoc in Heaven…

As Edward Thompson narrated, a fantastical new world slowly opened before the children.

It was a world they had never encountered before, filled with gods and demons…

So thunder and lightning happened because the Thunder God and Lightning Mother were beating drums in the sky; when people died, their souls went to a place called the Underworld, where there were Yama Kings, judges, and the Black and White Impermanence; some people could fly through the sky and burrow into the earth, summon wind and rain; and above their heads, beyond the clouds, there were countless magnificent palaces…

A monkey clad in golden armor gradually became clear before their eyes, stirring up storms in this world with a staff that could grow and shrink…