Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

The little girl chuckled, "Greed is being greedy for food, play, and pretty things! It's wanting what you see. You want pretty clothes, you want delicious snacks, you want fun toys. My mom says that's called greed, and it's bad."

Cheng Mo gave her a thumbs up: "That's right, but the cultivators describe greed in more detail, there are four kinds—"

"Greed for appearances is the desire to see beautiful colors; greed for physical forms is the desire to see beautiful postures; greed for pleasant touch is the desire to touch something comfortable; greed for offerings is the desire to be worshipped and treated with respect by others."

The little girl was stunned.

Cheng Mo continued, "These desires are great harms to spiritual practice. The scum on a corpse, the rotting of a corpse infested with maggots, and the pecking of birds and beasts correspond to these four kinds of desires. By contemplating these, one can rid oneself of greed."

He patted the little girl with orange hair on the head: "The reason you find cultivation boring now is because you are tempering your character, breaking through these desires, making your bones clear, and your meridians unblocked. Then your cultivation will progress by leaps and bounds every day."

The little ones were scratching their heads, picking at their nails, and one was looking up at the sky, lost in thought.

Cheng Mo chuckled and changed his question: "Have you guys read Journey to the West?"

The children immediately snapped out of their daze and raised their hands one after another: "We've seen it! We've seen it!"

Cheng Mo asked, "Think about it, after the three battles with the White Bone Demon, didn't Sun Wukong run away?"

Little Round Head chimed in, "He didn't run away, Tang Sanzang chased him away! Tang Sanzang is the worst!"

The other kids chimed in, "Yes! Tang Sanzang is the worst!"

Liu Yanyan seemed to be thinking, "Uncle, are you saying that our cultivation is like the Three Battles with the White Bone Demon, where we can go back to Flower Fruit Mountain and live a carefree life after we defeat her?"

Cheng Mo was genuinely surprised, and gave Liu Yanyan two thumbs up: "Yanyan, you're really amazing, you figured that out."

Liu Yanyan chuckled foolishly.

Cheng Mo told her, "During your cultivation, you've felt something jumping around inside you. This means your inner energy is returning, and you're about to enter the next stage. During this time, focus on introspection and meditation to restrain this inner energy. Once you've achieved some progress, your cultivation will be considered to have made some progress."

The other children all looked at Liu Yanyan in surprise, some with envy and some with admiration.

Little Round Head opened his mouth wide: "Wow, Sister Yan Yan, you're so amazing! Grandpa said my dad hasn't even reached this level of skill yet."

Liu Yanyan was a little embarrassed, her face slightly red: "Oh, it's not that good, I haven't even mastered it yet, hehe, hahaha."

The little girl couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Seeing this, Cheng Mo took out his phone and checked the time; it was almost time.

He waved to the little ones, "Uncle has to go now. Don't slack off!"

The little ones waved happily at him, saying, "Goodbye, Uncle! Goodbye, Auntie!"

Xia He came with a blank look on her face and left with a blank look on her face.

Once on the road, Cheng Mo took out his motorcycle and got on.

Xia He sat down behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist: "Little Taoist, why were you talking so much to those little guys just now?"

Cheng Mo twisted the throttle, and the motorcycle shot forward: "Regardless of what the Liu family thinks, they disposed of those three corpses, so we owe them a favor. Giving these kids a talk about cultivation is how we repay that favor."

Disposing of corpses is not as simple as destroying evidence. If it becomes the domain of corpse-driving craftsmen, Dou Mei, Shen Chong, and Gao Ning will never be able to rest in peace. Cheng Mo would never do such a thing, but if someone else did, he would approve of it.

Xia He pressed her face against his back: "You tend to overthink things."

Cheng Mo smiled, got on his motorcycle, and headed towards Guizhou.

……

The Liu Family Compound.

The little ones chattered away as they went back.

Some of the little ones told their families about the uncles and aunts who told them stories and talked about spiritual practice.

The parents didn't pay much attention. There were quite a few people in the clan, and it was normal for someone to occasionally tell the younger generation about it.

But when the news reached Liu Chengfeng, the old man felt something was amiss.

He called Liu Yanyan over: "Yanyan, what did those two uncles and aunts say today?"

Liu Yanyan tilted her head and said, "Auntie didn't say much; it was mostly Uncle who was talking."

Liu Chengfeng asked her what she had said in detail.

Liu Yanyan tried hard to recall and repeated the main points, emphasizing the three battles with the White Bone Demon and the cultivation of stillness: "Oh, right, there was also something about White Bone Zen and greed, but I don't remember it very clearly."

Liu Chengfeng was extremely surprised to hear this—there was a junior in the clan who took cultivation so seriously?

Read the full text for free: Chapter 156 Liu Yanyan: Grandpa, I can't tell, I really can't tell. Link:

He pressed his eldest granddaughter, "What did that uncle look like?"

Liu Yanyan thought for a moment and said, "He's very handsome."

Liu Chengfeng: "..."

"Where is that auntie?"

"That auntie is very pretty."

Just as Liu Chengfeng was considering whether to show Liu Yanyan photos of the younger generation in the clan, Liu Yanyan added, "That auntie has pink hair."

Liu Chengfeng frowned in thought.

Pink hair... I don't think there's anyone like that.

Could she be some young man's girlfriend?

After thinking about it, he decided to have someone find photos of all the younger members of the clan so that Liu Yanyan could identify them.

Liu Yanyan was quite interested at first—she also wanted to know who the uncle was, and forgot to ask his name.

Just as Liu Yanyan was painfully recognizing the photos, Cheng Mo and Xia He had already boarded a train bound for Guizhou.

They're not cycling enthusiasts, so why would they ride bikes to Guizhou for no reason?

Moreover, we are now gradually entering the peak of the return to the city, and there are many cars coming out of Guizhou. Who knows if there will be a car accident and get stuck in traffic.

There's no such worry when taking the train—most of the time you're leaving Guizhou, and few are entering; even a hard seat can be used as a private compartment.

The train rattled along, and the scenery outside the window changed little by little.

The mountains in western Hunan are the kind of delicate mountains, one after another, layer upon layer, shining green. There are always streams at the foot of the mountains, and stilted houses by the streams, with red lanterns hanging on them.

The train went through a tunnel, and when it came out again, the mountains had changed.

Higher, steeper, wilder, with stones emerging from the soil, squatting there like steamed buns.

Large terraced fields begin to appear on the mountain, stacked one layer on top of another, stopping halfway up the mountain, and then the forest begins.

Occasionally, when passing by a small station, there are several locals standing on the platform carrying baskets filled with mountain produce.

Xia He leaned against the window, watching the scenery flash by, and muttered, "The mountains here are different from the ones back home."

Cheng Mo leaned closer for a look: "Karst landform, lava terrain."

Xia He turned to look at him: "You know quite a lot."

Cheng Mo leaned back in his seat and said lazily, "I read it in a book."

The train continued on its way.

The mountains are getting shorter and flatter.

The terraced fields are gone, replaced by vast expanses of dry land planted with crops whose names I don't know.

Occasionally you can see a few villages with houses built of stone, all gray and dusty, completely different from the wooden stilted houses in western Hunan.

Further ahead, large fields of rapeseed flowers begin to appear.

It's not flowering season yet, the ground is lush and green, with only a few early bloomers, their bright yellow blossoms standing out starkly.

Xia He leaned against the window again: "Wow, little Taoist priest, look! Rapeseed flowers!"

Cheng Mo glanced at it and said, "Hmm."

Xia He turned around and glared at him: "Can't you even react?"

Cheng Mo thought for a moment, then exclaimed "Wow!"

Xia He: "..."

She turned her head away, not wanting to talk to him anymore.

More and more mountains, more and more tunnels, sometimes bright and sometimes dark.

Xia He yawned, rested her head on Cheng Mo's shoulder, and drifted off to sleep.

……

The train arrived in Qianyang.

Cheng Mo nudged Xia He awake: "We've arrived."

Xia He rubbed her eyes and followed him out of the car.

The two of them stretched vigorously—although there weren't many people in the carriage, it still felt a bit oppressive after a while.

The two stretched, warmed up, and breathed in the fresh air before leaving the train station feeling refreshed.

Then they took a car to Liupanshui.

Cars aren't as spacious as trains, and it's impossible to experience a chartered car service.

I originally thought that buses would be better than minibuses, at least no one would smoke on buses.

However, there are always some people who don't realize this.

There was an older man in the last row. The car hadn't gone far when he opened the window a crack and lit a cigarette.

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror and shouted, "Sir, smoking is not allowed on the bus."

The middle-aged man pretended not to hear and continued smoking.