Me and countless me.

Chapter 253 The Changed Plot of Journey to the West

Becoming a disciple and seeking enlightenment have always been the only proper path for those who do not have a good background.

Because every place is about factions and group formation, even Heaven and the West are no exception.

That's why Li Ke had to travel west, walk the journey west, lure those people to stretch out their claws, and then kill them all!

In this process, naturally the more capable companions we have, the better.

He doesn't care about the grudges among the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. After all, if you really come down to it, it's just a fight for the right to speak and resources.

After all, whether you worship Buddha or believe in gods, it is all to make yourself more perfect.

So he wanted to subdue the monkey, so the monkey wanted to find him to be his disciple.

Both of them have demands.

Therefore, Monkey's attitude towards Li Ke was quite frank. When walking on the road, he couldn't help but teasing Li Ke.

"Master, why don't you find a mount? You are a mortal now and can't bear it."

Monkey looked at Li Ke and asked worriedly.

In his opinion, Li Ke has lost his magic power. Although he still has brute strength, his endurance is bound to decrease. The journey to the west is not so easy to complete, so it is best to find a good mount for Li Ke to prevent him from getting a headache and delaying the journey.

"It doesn't matter. Besides, the journey to the west is so difficult and dangerous. Riding ordinary mounts would be like letting them die. There is no need for me to let them die in vain."

Li Ke looked at the map in his hand, then nodded, took out the charcoal pencil he carried with him, picked up some pieces of cloth he carried with him, drew the mountains and terrain he had seen before, and wrote down the local forces he had asked about before, and put them in his backpack.

After arriving at Gao Village, he planned to have Sun Wukong send this thing to the Tang Dynasty while begging for alms. After all, although he gave himself a map to draw when he had nothing to do, most of the information was hundreds of years old, and some big monsters and kingdoms had been updated.

So if you use it, it’s best to use the latest news.

This is first-hand information.

Especially the one he created during the battle with Sun Wukong, which now has at least a thousand miles of lakes and plains. The spiritual energy there is overflowing, the terrain is flat, and because of his forbidden moves, there are many more shallow iron ore, which can be said to be a good place for development.

If the Tang Dynasty fails to take it down in the first place, a city will probably appear in less than a dozen years, and a dynasty will emerge more than a hundred years later.

Such risks are unnecessary.

It would be best to let the Tang Dynasty take it down as soon as possible and use the money to reward soldiers.

After all, for the Central Plains, there has always been a shortage of arable land. Anyway, this is also the territory of the Tang Dynasty in the future, so just take it early.

Li Ke was thinking and thinking when he and Sun Wukong passed by a pond. After marking the pond again so that the army could come to get water, Li Ke continued walking.

Sun Wukong looked at the little white dragon under the water that was looking at them with fear, and his hands started to itch. However, seeing that there were no evil spirits in the dragon, he thought that it was not the kind of person who would hurt living beings at will, so he was on guard to prevent anything from happening to Li Ke, who was now a mortal, and to avoid any further trouble.

The little white dragon in the pond thought the same thing. He looked at Li Ke, who had white hair, wore a white monk's robe and held a whisk in his hand, and then looked at Sun Wukong in golden armor. He thought for a while and then nodded.

"Well, this shouldn't be a monk."

In his knowledge, monks all had no hair. Even if they had hair, it was in the shape of spiral beads like small pebbles, which was a proof of their merits and magical powers.

However, apart from the lotus between his eyebrows and the weird white monk's robe, this white-haired man has no other symbols of a Buddhist.

I don’t know why, but just by looking at this Tang Monk, Xiao Bailong knew that if he robbed him, he would definitely die a miserable death!
"The Bodhisattva said that Jin Chanzi hates evil and hates evil. Even if it's something like robbery, he will beat it to death with one palm. Although I feel bad recently, let it go."

Touching his belly, Xiaobailong sighed.

He had basically severed all ties with his father, as well as his wife, not to mention his close friends and relatives. It was only because Guanyin Bodhisattva took pity on him, otherwise he would have died long ago.

So after being enlightened by Guanyin, he has been waiting here, waiting for the arrival of Tang Monk. However, he waited and waited, but Tang Monk never showed up, which made him depressed and he started to overeat recently.

It was okay at the beginning. Although he had broken off all ties with his father, the jewelry on his body could still be sold for some money and used to exchange for fine wine and delicious food. But as time went on, all the money he had was naturally spent.

In the past, the worst that could happen was that we could just go and rob them, grab two baskets of steamed buns, and then give them some coral or something like that to settle the matter, but now it’s not possible…

So Xiaobailong was thinking about whether he should rob houses and steal some animals to satisfy his hunger. However, every time he wanted to do it, he would remember Guanyin's teachings and choose to give up.

So, Xiaobailong suppressed his desire and stopped looking at Li Ke and Sun Wukong. Instead, he looked in the direction of the Tang Dynasty and started to chatter like Xianglin Sao.

"Golden Chanzi, Golden Chanzi, when will you come?"

"Ah!"

Li Ke, who left the pool where the little white dragon was with the monkey, sneezed suddenly, and the monkey immediately came over and looked at Li Ke helplessly.

"Master, look at yourself. Why are you doing this? You're starting to catch a cold, right? Come on, when you knocked me flying, I saw a gorgeous temple. Let's go over there and take a rest."

Holding Li Ke's hand, Sun Wukong dragged him towards a temple. Li Ke was too embarrassed to tell Sun Wukong that because of the conspiracy against Li Ke, he had mastered some yin and yang energy, so he could recover his whole body in eighteen hours. After all, he still needed this to fool some people, so he could only let Sun Wukong drag him towards the temple.

Li Ke actually knew very well where this temple was.

Guanyin Temple.

A place where the elders are so obsessed with wealth and treasures that they are unable to obtain true liberation and the great way. And strictly speaking, the people here are all disciples of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

It’s just a pity that Elder Jin Chi has evil intentions.

Li Ke put one hand on his chest and looked at the magnificent Guanyin Temple. After a moment of silence, he spoke to Sun Wukong.

"Wukong, when I ask you to do it later, remember to use your mind-reading skills. If they have no ill will towards us and are simply trying to kill us for wealth and fame, or even just following Master's orders, then show us some mercy and don't kill all of their nine clans."

Sun Wukong nodded subconsciously, and then reacted. "No, Master! What did you say?"

After picking his ears, Sun Wukong began to wonder if he had the same eye disease as when he was with Laojun, as his ears, which were hit by Li Ke, were no longer useful.

What does it mean to show the compassion of Buddha and not kill their nine clans?

So you came to this temple to exterminate your entire family? ! !

Someone provokes you!

Sun Wukong couldn't help but sweat profusely.

He never expected that Li Ke was so murderous!

So Sun Wukong quickly spoke up to confirm what was going on with Li Ke: "No, Master, we are looking for a place to rest and seek help. And seeing how majestic and magnificent this place is, I think the host here must be a great man with great accomplishments. I don't think he is some robber. Why would he kill an entire family for no reason?"

He really didn't understand, and Li Ke couldn't help but sighed as he looked at the Guanyin Temple in front of him.

The burning of Guanyin Temple actually has an allusion.

That is the story of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng.

Everyone is familiar with the story of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, who said that there is no Bodhi tree, nor is there a mirror. The person he killed with this sentence was Shenxiu, the most powerful disciple in the temple at that time. Shenxiu and Huineng began to have a rift because of this. When their master passed away and passed the robe representing the status of abbot to Huineng, Shenxiu was not happy.

He started to hunt down Huineng with his men. When Huineng fled to the mountain with the cassock, he set fire to the mountain, wanting to kill him and take away the cassock.

Shenxiu was an eminent monk and wanted the robe, the same robe that Huineng had obtained, or in other words, the qualification.

Jin Chi was also a high monk and wanted a cassock as well.

Therefore, when Li Ke looked at the Guanyin Temple, he seemed to see Elder Jin Chi, who had lived for more than 200 years, had everything, and could become an immortal by practicing step by step.

His greed is proven by the original work.

Li Ke also guessed his motive.

His obsession will only turn everything into ashes.

So Li Ke started explaining to Sun Wukong.

"I, your master, set out on the journey with a cassock. This cassock is not only an honor, but also a recognition, and more importantly, a symbol. It also represents the right to do something. I don't care about this cassock, because even without it, I will still go to the West. But many times, the things you and I don't care about are the things that others cannot obtain in their entire lives."

Li Ke looked at the Guanyin Temple, sighed and spoke.

"But the funny thing is that those who covet this robe are not qualified, while those who do not covet it will be the same whether they have this robe or not. It's just that countless people cannot see this clearly. They will fight and grab it at all costs, even if it means giving up their own persistence, polluting their own personality and soul, giving up their own persistence, and destroying their own practice, just to grab this robe."

After a pause, Li Ke looked at the monk who was walking towards him quickly and couldn't help but sigh again.

"And the people around him will support him unconditionally because they admire him or can benefit from him, which makes him unable to see the truth clearly. He comforts himself in his heart that he has done nothing wrong. Only when everything is irreversible will he wake up and realize that his behavior is hurting others and himself."

Sun Wukong was stunned for a moment, then spoke with a smile.

"Then Master, this is not awakening, it's clearly fear, knowing that you are going to die."

"That's right, so I want you to demonstrate your strength, show your abilities, collect our treasures, and not take the initiative to test the humanity of others, so that I won't have to kill everyone here. This way, he still has a chance to achieve the right result and walk the right path, instead of going crazy because of a single thought."

After Li Ke finished speaking, he shut up and stopped talking. Sun Wukong also clenched the golden cudgel in his hand. He understood what Li Ke meant.

Since you know that the people here cannot stand the test, then don't test them. Since they have been able to stick to their original intentions when they have not encountered fatal temptations in the past, then don't take the initiative to tempt them. Just let them continue to be like this.

When he saw Li Ke and Sun Wukong, the monk who came out to greet guests was stunned for a moment, because he saw that Li Ke also had Buddhist elements on him.

Especially the lotus mark between the eyebrows, which is only found on high-level monks. The sword on his back is also inlaid with the seven treasures of Buddhism. Although the moon-white monk's robe on his body is a bit ordinary, it is spotless. At first glance, you can tell that he is a high-level scholar who has achieved success in spiritual practice.

Therefore, the monk in charge of reception was not sure whether Li Ke was a monk or a layman, and spoke hesitantly.

"Two... donors?"

Li Ke bowed and performed a Buddhist ritual, but he took out some silver from his pocket and handed it to the monk in front of him.

"We are passing by here and would like to rest for a night. These are incense money. I wonder if you can be flexible."

When the monk in charge of reception saw the silver and money handed over by Li Ke, a look of joy appeared on his face. However, when he saw Sun Wukong behind Li Ke, a look of embarrassment appeared on his face.

"Okay, okay, but with the way you are dressed, you must be a high monk, right? If you are, then the incense money will be waived. You can also discuss Buddhism with our abbot, and you can get some travel expenses when you leave. But this hairy-faced, thunder-mouthed... general, please take off your armor if you enter the temple. After all, Buddhism is a pure place..."

Li Ke and Sun Wukong were both stunned for a moment. Sun Wukong looked at the golden armor on his body and wondered how he could have forgotten it. Could it be that he felt too insecure walking with Li Ke, so he subconsciously put on the armor?

But he was not angry. He just glared at the monk in front of him, and then he shook his body, and the clothes on his body disappeared, leaving only a yellow monk's robe and a yellow monk's hat on his head. The monk was so frightened that he couldn't help but scream.

"It turns out that this is a powerful monk! Please come in! Please come in! Go and invite the abbot! A powerful monk has arrived today!"

The monk in charge of reception exclaimed and asked the monk beside him to inform the abbot, while Sun Wukong laughed triumphantly.

"Hehe, let me show you what I am capable of!"

He hated people who looked down on others, so he showed off a little.

Li Ke smiled as he looked at Sun Wukong, who had revealed their identity as monks by showing off. In front of Sun Wukong's smug smile, he slowly stretched out his hand, which then took the shape of a dragon claw hand.

The smile on Sun Wukong's face disappeared.

(End of this chapter)