Hidden moth

Chapter 188: The Heart is at Ease, Yet the Wild Crane is Busy

He Kao was inexplicably distracted and forgot to speak for a moment. He seemed to have entered a state of ethereal enlightenment. He stood there as if he had forgotten his own existence, and seemed to be everywhere in the sky, light and cloud shadows.

In the past, he could only enter this state when sitting in deep silence, but today he was inexplicably touched upon it during a casual chat, and was filled with an unprecedented sense of agility and vitality.

He stood there for an unknown amount of time, when suddenly the light and shadows before his eyes rippled and shattered, and he came back to his senses.

There were also several white stones gradually emerging from the water in the pond. You could reach the other side by jumping over them one by one. Gu Chun came to a white stone and sat down, took off his shoes and soaked his feet in the pond water.

The ripples stirred up shattered the mirror of the sky and water, disturbing the green mountains and white clouds. The old man waved and said, "This water is so clear, come and take a dip."

He Kao also took off his shoes and sat on another rock. The water in the pond was not cold, giving people a very comfortable and cool feeling, as if his mood was washed clean and purified.

Gu Chun seemed to be talking to himself, "My cultivation level is not very low."

He Kao: "Well, that's it! It's not low at all."

Gu Chun: "I've been practicing for so many years, is it just for the sake of making my practice harder, busier, more mentally taxed, and less peaceful?"

Just as He Kao was about to speak, the old man spoke again, "Of course, it's because the more you practice, the freer you become, the easier it becomes, the more enjoyable you become, and the happier you become.

So what you just said was wrong. You said I was working too hard, running around all day, wasting my energy and having no time to rest. It sounded like you were praising me, but in fact, you were scolding me."

He Kao waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Master Geomancer, this is not what I meant..."

Gu Chun smiled and said, "I know that's not what you meant. 'Not even a speck of dust can be picked up, a white cloud flies away' is the line you just recited, which is describing my carefree and unrestrained nature.

It shows that you do understand.

But you come back and say I'm working hard, you're just trying to pick something nice to flatter me. You don't have to call me Master Geomancer, you call me Uncle Li, just call me Uncle Gu."

He Kao: "Uncle Gu, please give me some advice."

Gu Chun: "I know everything you did in Nanhua. I even went to the abandoned park a few days ago to check it out. It was handled very well.

I had intended to lecture you if you did anything wrong, but I couldn't find anything wrong. You may be young, and your cultivation isn't high, but you're quite meticulous in your work."

He Kao could only humbly say: "These are what I should do."

Gu Chun looked up at the mountaintop and said, "How many things should be done in this world? Are people doing them? No one asked you to do this. Did you find it on your own?"

He Kao: "Yes, although the Huiming Shi family has been destroyed, Gu Jiang committed suicide, and the whereabouts of the cleaners he trained are unknown. I know what those cleaners did, and I can't just ignore it. I want to vent my anger and eliminate the hidden dangers."

The water in the pond had returned to calm, and the blue sky and white clouds were underfoot again. Gu Chun shook his feet to clear the clouds and said, "You didn't want to let those cleaners go, but you let Ye Liangcheng go."

He Kao: "Ye Liangcheng was also a victim. He himself did no evil. He was simply framed, deceived, and exploited by Gu Jiang and Hu Shulue. The demise of the Huiming Shi family was actually a relief for him."

Gu Chun: "For an ordinary person, this step might be enough. Tell him the whole truth directly, and then ask him if he is willing to help find other cleaners.

But you put this first step until the last step, and it took you one and a half months, running back and forth so many times from Qiyuan to Nanhua, and all of them took up your rest days.

He plays the role of a senior master, exchanges skills with him, and then unravels the mystery to point out that the other party's skills are incomplete, and then assigns him a task to confirm the identity and behavior of his former accomplices.

When Feng Zilong comes, you can capture him with just one move, but you have to ask Ye Liangcheng to pretend to be poisoned to lure Feng Zilong out on his own initiative, thus exposing his true identity and that of Kucha.

After you've dealt with Feng Zilong, you tell Ye Liangcheng all the truth... This isn't just peeling off a cocoon, it's like embroidering! I want to ask you, are you tired? Tell me the truth."

He Kao: “Not tired.”

Gu Chun: "Not only are you not tired, you feel pretty good, right?"

He Kao looked down at the water, a smile on his face. Elder Gu was right. In front of Ye Liangcheng, he was a mysterious senior master. It really felt good.

How cool is that? It's much more fun than playing games anyway!
After experiencing this incident, he could more or less understand the mentality of those legendary masters who played with the world. They felt compassion when they saw the sufferings of the world and did what they should do, but they themselves had no hatred and could still be free and detached.

Gu Chun continued, "You're willing to do it, you're capable of it, and you've actually done it, so of course it feels good. If you weren't a hidden moth, you'd be exhausted from running back and forth so many times, and it would certainly be exhausting.

If the things you do as a result of your practice make you miserable and cynical, then stop doing them. There's no point in even talking about restoring your Hidden Moth lineage, because you can't achieve it."

He Kao: "Thank you Uncle Gu for your teachings."

Gu Chun: "It can't be said to be teaching, it's just a reminder. Now there are three elders in the clan law hall who know your identity. Elder Jiang is most satisfied with your character, Elder Li is most satisfied with your understanding, and I am most satisfied with your temperament.

If you ask me what it's like to travel the world and monitor the art of war, then since you've been drinking and reciting poetry, I'll offer one too: "Springs flow at their leisure, white clouds drift by at their ease. Watching wild cranes from the peaks, the clear wind and bright moon are my true feelings."

He Kao: "What a wonderful poem! In you, I see the legendary demeanor of a true immortal."

Gu Chun: "Why, didn't you see it on others?"

He Kao: "Uh, that's not what I meant."

Gu Chun glanced at him and said, "From your expression, I can tell that you have something to say. Just say it."

He Kao: "The poem you just sang reminds me of a Buddhist verse: Idle clouds and wild cranes are not Dharma forms, and the clear wind and bright moon are also dust."

Gu Chun: "If you want to discuss the Dao, you need to be at least at the sixth level. If you haven't achieved that level yet, it's all nonsense. If you want to debate, you've found the wrong person."

He Kao: "No, no, how can I discuss the Dao or the sutras with you, old man? I just suddenly remembered those two Buddhist verses, which seem to be a criticism of the poem you just wrote. I wonder what you think of it?"

Gu Chun: "How can idle clouds and wild cranes not be Dharma forms? The gentle breeze and bright moon are also material objects. Since they exist in this world, idle clouds and wild cranes, the gentle breeze and bright moon, the flowing water in the mountains, and the hidden moth earth master are of course all material objects.

This is correct nonsense! If it were just nonsense, it would be fine, but it is also poisonous. I suggest you read less of this kind of stuff.

He Kao: “I watched it several years ago.”

Gu Chun: "You still remember it so clearly, and it was so deeply impressed that you can even say it casually. I guess you didn't have a good time back then, right? I'm not talking about how your life was, but your state as a person." The geomancer hit the nail on the head again.

At that time, He Kao's grandfather had passed away, and he had just started his graduate studies. Apart from a small house in his hometown, he had almost nothing. Not only materially, but also spiritually.

Almost all the expenses for his postgraduate studies were earned by working part-time.

He used to work in a coffee shop, sitting behind the cash register at night and reading a lot of books, including Buddhist works. Looking back now, in the eyes of outsiders, he might have been a little depressed.

But he himself did not feel depressed, but just confused and uneasy. It was the most confusing period in his life.

When he was a child, his family also encountered major changes, but he was too young and got through it without realizing it. However, by the time he graduated from college, he was already an adult and had to face everything alone.

Studying Buddhism did not help him find his direction in life, but it made this tech geek a part-time hipster.

After graduating with a master's degree, he did not continue to pursue a doctorate, which disappointed his supervisor and even made him quite dissatisfied, because his supervisor really had high hopes for him and wanted to keep him to work under him.

But He Kao himself knew that he really didn't want to continue studying and the actual conditions did not allow it.

Gao Xue'e had actually seen He Kao in that coffee shop a long time ago. She originally thought that He Kao was just a waiter.

Later, He Kao went to apply for a job at the Qiyuan Branch of Tengxin Group. Gao Xue'e learned that he was working part-time at the time, and then he asked the human resources department to transfer He Kao to his department.

After joining the work, He Kao felt that he could settle down and his mood gradually eased. Then... he became a hidden moth.

Elder Gu's words evoked memories in He Kao, and his next words brought him back to life. He paused for a moment before continuing, "All things are material objects, but material objects are also different from each other.

If one has not yet reached the state of 'no distinction', which I have not, then this advice is not only unhelpful but also misleading. If one truly reaches that state, then one is no longer human.

Rice and dog shit are both material things, but people need to eat rice, not dog shit. Ye Wuniang and the Da Paotai are both material things, but you killed the Da Paotai and saved Ye Wuniang. This is how things should be handled.

Quiz, you cooked well today. Can I ask you another question?

He Kao was lost in thought when Elder Gu suddenly mentioned cooking. He looked up and said, "You asked."

Gu Chun: "There's a saying that Eastern people's various cooking methods only focus on taste, but destroy the nutrients of the ingredients themselves. All food should be eaten as naturally as possible, which is the healthiest. What do you think?"

He Kao: "That's totally wrong!"

Gu Chun: "Why?"

He Kao: "Why don't people who say that just eat raw meat and drink blood? I know how to identify poisons, and I also know a little bit about identifying medicines and objects. I've discovered that in many cases, the best taste is often the state that is most conducive to nutrient absorption.

There are also many processing methods, such as steaming, drying, blanching, frying, pickling, and fermentation, which actually remove toxins from various ingredients and prevent allergies.

Otherwise, the question of whether something tastes good or not is not so much whether it can be eaten at all.”

Gu Chun smiled: "Eating raw meat and drinking blood is not a return to nature, nor is it the way of nature. As long as they can get something familiar, the ancient apes know how to do it."

He Kao also laughed and said, "You are absolutely right!"

Gu Chun: "You shouldn't be here to recite poetry with me today. Just tell me what you want to say."

He Kao: "What I actually want to ask is, what should be done with Ye Liangcheng?"

Gu Chun: "Haven't you already dealt with it?"

He Kao: "This is just a temporary solution, to let him do what he wants and help him cleanse his inner demons. But if he breaks through to the fourth level of cultivation in the future, he will naturally be summoned by the Guanshu Cave Heaven. In his situation, can he still return to the Shu Sect?"

Gu Chun: "So you already know what kind of inspiration high-level sorcerers receive. Since ancient times, many high-level independent cultivators have returned to the sect through this method, but Ye Liang's situation is a little special..."

As the elder spoke, he sent out a divine thought.

If a "wild sorcerer" breaks through the fourth level of cultivation and finds the Book Viewing Cave on their own, the clan's legal hall, the sect leader, and the deacons will examine their past behavior. If there are no problems, they will be officially included in the genealogy and receive a second inheritance.

If a person commits evil deeds that cannot be tolerated, his cultivation may be abolished or even he may be killed!
As for Ye Liangcheng's situation, it is probably more complicated, because the "cleaners" gang has been identified as an "evil force" by the sect.

If Ye Liangcheng had found the Guanshu Cave, Ruweimen would most likely not hold a second inheritance ceremony for him. The reason is completely understandable. Not destroying his cultivation would be considered lenient.

For Ye Liangcheng, this is not unfair. His origins are questionable and many things cannot be explained. As long as his cultivation is still there, he cannot suffer any loss.

He broke through the fourth level, so does Ruweimen have to teach him the techniques of a higher level? That doesn't make sense.

A cultivator of unknown origin who wanted to obtain a secondary inheritance had to pass the sect's inspection and gain the approval of the sect leader. Apart from anything else, could Kang Rulin, the current sect leader of Ruwei Sect and an elder of the Zongfa Hall, approve of Ye Liangcheng?

Among the other elders of Ruwei Sect, who would be willing to have anything to do with these cleaners? Not destroying their cultivation is already considered tolerant. Do they want to let someone else teach them the Dharma and guide their cultivation on their behalf?

They are not He Kao and have never had any dealings with Ye Liangcheng. They have no understanding or trust of him, and apart from supervising his behavior, they have no obligations or responsibilities.

Unless Ye Liangcheng finds ways to serve under a certain elder, works hard to prove himself to gain his approval, and finally convinces the headmaster to agree... the difficulty and cost would be too great.

Gu Chun finally said, "You are now the head of the Yin'e Sect. Why don't you let him join the sect and let you pass on the teachings on behalf of the ancestor?"

He Kao: "Ah, is it still possible?"

Gu Chun: "Do you have to handle everything on your own from now on? Besides, you've been very kind to Ye Liangcheng, and he absolutely trusts and respects you.

You have spent so much effort examining him and enlightening him, and he has passed your examination and gained your approval. The karmic relationship has reached this point, and it would be wrong for you not to accept him into your fold."

He Kao: "What I mean is, since he has already mastered the art of subtlety, can he still become a disciple of the Hidden E Sect?"

Gu Chun smiled and said, "Have you heard of my experience? Actually, my situation back then was not much different from that of a casual cultivator. I first practiced the art of alchemy..."

**
(End of this chapter)