Soul Ferry: My master is Uncle Jiu

Chapter 397 Gao Family Village

Lingshan, Daleiyin Temple.

The Buddha's light shines everywhere, spreading to many Buddha lands on earth, and the sound of chanting continues day and night. Under the swaying tree, arhats and bodhisattvas sit cross-legged, visualizing the Tathagata.

A streak of light passed by and fell into Lingshan.

On Mount Lingshan, golden lotus flowers are swaying in the Eight Treasures Merit Pond, blooming all over the pond. Except for the ninth rank merit golden lotus, the rest are all transformed from luck and merit, which shows how prosperous Buddhism is today.

In the eyes of many Buddhist masters, this is just the beginning. Only after the Journey to the West is over will their Buddhism truly prosper.

Over time, even Taoism was suppressed by them and became the largest religion in the world.

Thoughts are beautiful, reality is skinny.

At the beginning of the journey to the West, Guanyin Bodhisattva was already agitated by a troublemaker. Now even the mountain god she had appointed to guard the mountain was abducted, and the behavior of the pilgrims was becoming increasingly strange.

Feeling deeply uneasy, Guanyin had to leave Luojia Mountain in a hurry and go to Lingshan to meet Tathagata.

In the main hall, Tathagata, who had received the news from Guanyin in advance, also summoned the other seven great Bodhisattvas, four great Vajras, five hundred Arhats, three thousand Jiedis, eleven great stars, and eighteen Kalas, and the whole hall was filled with people.

Guanyin walked into the main hall and bowed, "Meet the Buddha."

Sitting in the main seat with a wealthy look on his face, Tathagata raised his hand and said, "No need to be polite. What's wrong with obtaining the scriptures?"

As soon as these words were spoken, other Bodhisattvas, Arhats and others all looked at Guanyin.

Among the seven great Bodhisattvas, many were ready to laugh at Guanyin. After all, they had been fighting for the position of the person in charge of the journey to the West for a long time.

However, Guanyin was famous and had a strong sense of reason, so it was natural for her to become the person in charge of the journey to the West.

They had also heard about the Taoist sect interfering in the Journey to the West, and while laughing at the joke, they were also thinking about how to deal with the matter.

But who would have thought that Guanyin would give up as soon as she opened her mouth, and said with a hint of fatigue: "Please, Buddha, replace me as the person in charge of the quest for scriptures. I really can't handle the people sent by this sect."

"Do you have any wishes, Bodhisattvas?" Tathagata looked at the other seven great Bodhisattvas.

The seven great bodhisattvas all shook their heads and said in unison, "We all think Guanyin is the most suitable candidate."

Knowing it's a lump, why don't you avoid it?

Knowing that Taoism is involved would make Guanyin's defense break down. How could the other seven Bodhisattvas possibly go ahead and do that?

Seeing this, Tathagata had no choice but to reject Guanyin's request, "Guanyin, is it still because of that little Taoist priest?"

Guanyin saw that the seven Bodhisattvas, who had argued with her before, were now showing disgust, and she was so angry that she felt a little stuffy in her chest.

Faced with Tathagata's question, she could only sigh and say, "Now, the three difficulties of changing horses in Yingchoujian, the burning of Guanyin Temple at night, and the theft of the cassock have all failed. If this continues, how can we complete the 81 difficulties?"

This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that there is only a little left of her share, most of which was taken away by An Yan. The key is that she cannot do anything to him yet.

Without any profit, you may end up having to take the blame yourself. Whoever wants to do this can do it.

Anyway, Guanyin doesn't want to do it anymore.

Tathagata laughed loudly upon hearing this, "How can we not gather all the materials? Aren't there three difficulties?"

Guanyin was puzzled and said, "I would like to hear more details."

Tathagata stretched out his fat palm and gestured: "The horse was snatched from the Eagle Sorrow Gorge, greed arose in the golden pond of Guanyin Zen Temple, and the bear monster from Black Wind Mountain attacked."

"Rules are dead, people are alive."

Guanyin was stunned when she heard this, and the other Bodhisattvas also looked hesitant.

"Does this count?"

"Why not?"

"The purpose of the Journey to the West is to give us Buddhists a reason to enter the Eastern Land in an upright manner, and the scriptures are the key."

Tathagata directly named the center of gravity.

"Even if the Taoist's plan works temporarily, it will only be a temporary gain or loss under the Buddha's light shining on Lingshan Mountain."

"There is gain only when there is sacrifice."

With Buddhist methods, they would not suffer any loss even if they were to exchange places. After all, if salvation is not possible, they can just enlighten.

When it comes to developing faith, Buddhism has far more sophisticated methods than Taoism.

After listening to Tathagata's explanation, Guanyin and the other seven Bodhisattvas suddenly realized.

Although Guanyin was unwilling, she had to accept it since the Buddha had spoken. She then asked, "Now they are about to enter the U-Tsang Kingdom. If Marshal Tianpeng sees that Taoist, I'm afraid something unexpected will happen."

Tathagata laughed, "No, this is the agreement between me and the Jade Emperor, just go with peace of mind."

Seeing Tathagata so relaxed, Guanyin wanted to say something, but when she saw Tathagata's confident expression, she didn't say it in the end and just obeyed the order.

An Yan didn't know that Guanyin Bodhisattva was reporting him. He was very busy now.

In addition to answering Ao Lie's questions when practicing the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations from time to time, he also had to refine the black energy in his body without stopping, and at the same time organize the memories in his mind that came from the black energy.

As for why Ao Lie practiced the 72 Earthly Transformations, it was probably because he listened to Sun Wukong's nonsense that strength comes in numbers.

Moreover, the difficulty of practicing the Thirty-Six Transformations of the Heavenly Gang is indeed much harder than the Seventy-Two Transformations of the Earthly Demons. Ao Lie, aware of his limited talent, did not aim too high and chose the one that suits him best.

An Yan didn't say anything about this. What suits you is the best. After all, not everyone is a cheater.

In addition to teaching, after sorting out those memories over the past few days, An Yan roughly understood why there were monk memories in the black air.

He suspected that the source of the black air was Wu Tian. With the black air and the monk, it was hard not to connect them together.

But if it was Wutan, then the problem would arise. At this time, Wutan should still be waiting for an opportunity.

Could it be because of my snooping behavior?
If Wutan was afraid of exposing his identity and wanted to kill me to silence me, then this would make sense.

But Anyan still felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.

After thinking hard for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out, so he stopped worrying about it.

Thinking of the Buddhist technique he had obtained from those memories, which was very similar to the Great Heavenly Dragon move that Fahai used in his impression, he couldn't help but look at Tang Sanzang.

Tang Sanzang, who was eating dry food, saw An Yan suddenly looking at him. He asked in confusion: "Is there something on my face?"

An Yan smiled unscrupulously, "Your face is clean, nothing is on it. I just suddenly remembered that I have a Buddhist technique, and I wanted to ask if you would like to learn it."

"Buddhist skills? What Buddhist skills?" Tang Sanzang became interested when he heard it and put down the dry food in his hand.

Ao Lie dragged Sun Wukong to practice the 72 transformations of the Earthly Demons. Xiong Bin, who was left beside him chewing on the grilled fish, asked in confusion, "Master, aren't you a Taoist priest? How do you know Buddhist skills?"

"Combining Chinese and Western cultures, learning from each other, taking the strong points and making up for the weak points, do you understand?" An Yan said perfunctorily.

Buddha is Buddha, Tao is Tao. How to make up for the differences between the Eastern and Western Taos?
Xiong Bin, who didn't understand, didn't dare to ask. He could only look like he understood and then started eating his grilled fish with big mouthfuls, not daring to ask any more questions.

After perfunctorily answering Xiong Bin, An Yan said with a smile, "This is a very good Buddhist technique. You may not be able to understand it just by talking about it. How about I perform it for you to see?"

In order to satisfy his own evil taste, An Yan tried his best to promote the martial arts.

Tang Sanzang didn't think much about it, thinking that An Yan was just being kind, and nodded with a smile, saying, "Then I'll trouble you, An Yan."

"Let me lend you my robe." It would be meaningless without the robe.

Tang Sanzang also lent it out readily.

An Yan, who was wearing a cassock, immediately jumped up and threw the cassock away, while chanting, "Great and Mighty Heavenly Dragon, Great Luo Dharma Mantra, Prajna Buddhas, Prajna Bama Boom."

Suddenly, a dazzling golden dragon flew up beside An Yan, looking so majestic that Tang Sanzang's eyes lit up.

Then the golden dragon flew out and landed on a distant hill. With a loud bang, the rocks collapsed with incredible power.

Once you learn this trick, you will no longer be afraid of not being able to show off.

Tang Sanzang, who always felt that he was too rough when charging forward waving his staff, felt that this tactic was most suitable for him.

It's both dazzling and cool.

"How about it? Do you want to learn?" An Yan landed and walked towards Tang Sanzang.

Tang Sanzang nodded repeatedly, "I want to learn!"

Taking advantage of the time at night, An Yan readily taught it to Tang Sanzang.

After memorizing this move of the Great Heavenly Dragon, and hearing An Yan's repeated instructions, Tang Sanzang hesitated and asked, "Does it have to be recited?"

An Yan nodded heavily and said earnestly: "Of course, would I lie to you?"

As a result, Tang Sanzang no longer had any doubts and went further and further on the "right path".

After several days of walking, we finally saw some houses again.

Tang Sanzang glanced at the sky and said to An Yan, "An Yan, there is a mountain villa not far ahead. How about we stay there for the night and continue on our journey tomorrow?"

An Yan looked up and saw that there was indeed a villa in front of him, which was not small.

"That's fine, but let Wukong explore the way first."

Although it doesn't look like there's any evil spirit here and it seems to be a normal villa, it's always better to be cautious.

"Leave it to me, I'll be back soon." After hearing this, Sun Wukong somersaulted over.

Not long after, Sun Wukong jumped back and said, "Ang'er, Master, this is a good family. Don't worry about staying here."

He is still very confident in his ability to see through things.

With Wukong's guarantee, there is nothing to worry about.

A group of people arrived at the villa. As soon as they entered the villa, they saw a young man walking hurriedly with an umbrella and a backpack, and it seemed that he was going out of the villa.

Sun Wukong, who was worried about where this place was, stopped the young man and said, "Let me ask you something. Where is this place?"

The young man was frightened when he saw the monster-like appearance of Sun Wukong, "Monster! There is a monster!"

Thinking about what happened in the village, the young man suspected that the pig demon had sent helpers. He was so scared that he turned around and wanted to run, but he found himself stepping on the spot. It turned out that he was being held by the monkey demon.

He struggled and shouted, "Let me go! Let me go now!"

"Brother Monkey, don't scare people. Let me, the old bear, do it." Feeling good about himself, the bear walked forward with the luggage and grinned at the young man.

The young man saw a black bear with a human body and a bear head opening its bloody mouth towards him. He was so frightened that he fainted.

Seeing this, Sun Wukong laughed out loud, "You idiot, please don't scare people."

Fortunately, the bear's fur was black, so there was no sign of embarrassment on his face. He just said, "This guy is too timid. It's none of my business."

Seeing that the bear and the monkey successfully scared the man unconscious, An Yan and Tang Sanzang were helpless.

Tang Sanzang said: "Wukong, why don't you save him?"

An Yan also said unhappily: "Xiong Bin, come back, you still feel pretty good about yourself."

The white dragon horse grinned.

The young man who had just been awakened saw the white dragon horse laughing and was almost frightened to death again. He murmured in a daze, "What happened today? First it was the monkey, then the bear, and now even the horse can laugh."

An Yan got off his horse, walked up to the young man, and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid, we are all kind people, coming from the Tang Dynasty in the East."

"I have come to a treasure land, but I still don't know where this place is. Please let me know, little brother."

Seeing An Yan, who was as gentle as jade and polite, the young man felt relieved. He did not dare to ignore them anymore and stopped to say, "This is the border of U-Tsang. Because most of the people in this village have the surname Gao, it is called Gao Laozhuang."

At this time, the young man who had calmed down realized that An Yan was wearing a Taoist robe. His eyes lit up, and he looked at the two demons who were respectful to An Yan, and asked, "Excuse me, Taoist priest, are these two your followers?"

"Bah! You are the follower!"

"That's it, how do you talk?"

This naturally made Sun Wukong and Xiong Bin unhappy, and their grinning faces scared the young man so much that he shrank his head.

An Yan stopped Xiong Bin and Wu Kong and introduced them one by one: "This is my second disciple, and he is the eldest disciple of this mage."

The young man suddenly realized, nodded, glanced at Tang Sanzang and ignored him, then looked at An Yan with fiery eyes and told the truth: "To be honest, Taoist priest, I am a relative of Mr. Gao in this village, my name is Gao Cai."

"I have a favor to ask, I beg the Taoist priest to help us."

When he heard about the territory of U-Tsang Kingdom, An Yan knew who this villa and this young man were.

Sure enough, Gao Cai said it himself.

Knowing that it was Zhu Bajie, the incarnation of Marshal Tianpeng, who was causing trouble, An Yan also wanted to meet the former leader of the Tianhe Navy, so he asked, "What's going on? Tell me about it."

Gao Cai told his troubled story, "My great grandfather had an old daughter, only 20 years old, who had never been betrothed. She was taken away by a monster three years ago."

She is only twenty years old and is considered an old woman. This seemingly contradictory description is perfectly reasonable in ancient times.

An Yan nodded and said, "So you are dressed like this to go to a distant place to ask someone to exorcise a demon?"

Gao Cai did not dare to hide anything and told him everything, "I have looked for three or four magicians, but they were all useless and I was scolded by Taigong."

"Now Grandpa has asked me to go look for it again. I have searched all over this area within a hundred miles, but I still can't find anyone who can subdue the monster. I have no choice but to go to a farther place."

"I wonder if you are willing to follow me to subdue the demon? My grandfather will reward you handsomely afterwards."

This was the first time he had seen a Taoist priest or wizard who could subdue monsters as his apprentices, and it was even rarer to see one from the Tang Dynasty in the East.

I think to be able to climb over mountains and cross rivers, one must have some extraordinary qualities.

Therefore, only the talented people who want to give it their all will extend an invitation.

After hearing this, An Yan looked at Tang Sanzang, "Sanzang, what do you think?"

"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Let's go and take a look." Tang Sanzang would naturally not sit idly by when monsters harmed people.

Hearing this, An Yan looked at Gao Cai and said, "Lead the way."

"Okay, everyone please follow me."

Gao Cai happily led everyone to Gao's house.

(End of this chapter)