From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

Upon seeing his own sculpture, Pigsy was astonished, thinking to himself, "Who carved this? How can it be exactly the same as my original form?"

Immediately, he saw that Gao Cai and other young men were offering tributes, mostly flowers, fruits and vegetables. He then remembered what his senior brother had said years ago: "These offerings should be given to the people who harvest vegetables in that field. If we eat them, they will eat less."

Back then, when the monkey wanted to resign from his position as Buddha, he said it like that. I didn't take it seriously then, but now that I'm back in the game, I understand a little better. So I scolded, "How can you make offerings to this clay statue? If he wants to eat more, you all have to eat less. How can that work?"

To everyone's surprise, after offering the food, Gao Cai took the fruits and vegetables and ate them himself.

This made Pigsy's eyes widen in surprise—

Does this kid also have the same level of understanding as Old Pig?

immediately.

The other able-bodied men also took down the fruits and vegetables and ate them themselves.

"What are you doing...?"

Even without understanding the reason, Bajie knew it was definitely not because Gaocai and the others had high comprehension, and he became suspicious.

“The monk said that we should worship Bajie, but we cannot offer the three kinds of sacrificial animals. We can only offer rice, grains, fruits and vegetables. The offerings must be taken home and eaten by ourselves. We cannot burn incense every day. We can only offer sacrifices on festivals.”

Gao Cai explained with a smile, "Now that we are going up the mountain to get rid of that gang of bandits, we came to the ancestral hall to make offerings in order to ensure our safety. However, we still need to eat the offerings ourselves for good luck."

Pigsy: "..."

You damned stable boy!

I died once, but I learned to be cunning!

He cursed inwardly, but he also felt much better. When Gao Cai offered him a peach, he waved his hand and refused, saying, "If I eat it, you can eat less."

"Good man, you've just returned home, don't act like a little woman. Besides, we'll need your help later, so how can you not eat your fill?"

Gao Cai forcefully shoved the peach into his mouth.

Unable to resist, Pigsy took the peach, bit into it, and the juice burst forth, incredibly sweet. Although it didn't have the effects of the heavenly peaches, it brought him peace of mind.

After the remaining able-bodied men finished eating their offerings, they picked up their weapons and, amidst the cheers of the villagers, stormed into Fuling Mountain.

In front of Yunzhan Cave.

The bandits had built a mountain stronghold that resembled a castle, but the mountain was devoid of flowers and grass, the mist and haze had vanished, the peaks and rocks had collapsed, and the mountain was covered with round pillars.

Why do you think this is the case?

It was only because that gang of bandits built such a fortune by cutting down trees and quarrying stones.

This made Pigsy even angrier, and he cursed inwardly: "Who are these bandits who dare to turn my hometown into such a mess!"

You're not a human being! You're not a human being!

"Just wait and see, Old Pig will poke nine holes in their heads!"

Enraged, Pigsy stopped the village militiamen who were only driven by courage and wanted to fight the bandits head-on, saying, "Old Pig knows some magic. If you attack head-on, you will suffer heavy losses."

"Why don't you trust me this once? Go and bring some wood, and I'll use my supernatural powers to smash their fortress and throw them into chaos."

Most young adults were unwilling.

Firstly, Pigsy's appearance is unfamiliar, so he may not be believable.

Secondly, they came here to rid the people of harm and ensure the safety of the area, not to be porters.

But in the end, Gao Cai stepped forward and said, "Brothers, although this hero is an outsider, he is willing to help us. He has good intentions, so how can we fight among ourselves?"

I'll trust him one more time.

With Gao Cai as guarantor, the others had no choice but to put aside their worries and move the logs that the bandits had looked down on from the mountain.

Before long, hundreds of them were brought over.

Those bandits built fortifications and nearly cleared out the entire mountain forest. The logs they carelessly discarded were everywhere and could be found easily.

Looking at the hundreds of logs, Bajie stopped pretending and revealed his true form, transforming into the same shape as the Bajie clay sculpture in the Mao Erzhuang ancestral hall. He picked up the logs and threw them toward the mountaintop bunker.

boom!

With just one bullet, the bunker's gate was smashed open.

After that, hundreds of logs were thrown by Bajie towards the fortress, falling like a storm.

Not long after.

The bunker had already been smashed to pieces.

The robbers inside were either dead or wounded, and those who were still alive fled outwards in terror, crying and screaming in panic.

"on!"

With a loud shout, Pigsy, wielding his rake, charged ahead towards the already routed bandits.

Gao Cai was the first to recover from the shock of the man being the Clean Altar Messenger descended to earth. He roared to bolster his courage, grabbed his spear, and followed closely behind.

The other able-bodied men reacted quickly, also grabbing their spears and charging towards the bandits...

Chapter 1438 Strengthening the Foundation Before Beginning Cultivation

On the southern half of Fuling Mountain, drums resounded; on the northern half of Yunzhan Cave, gongs clanged.

Hundreds of men on the mountain, armed with knives and spears, charged at the unarmed bandits.

Every man in Mao Er Village is a fine and brave fellow!

But see—

Wolfskin covers his shoulders and top, brocade wraps his waist and chest. Wolf-tooth arrows tucked into his sack, a precious carved bow hangs from his hip. He is like a tiger searching the mountains, his horse like a dragon leaping across a ravine. A pack of dogs leads the way, their hawks perched on their wings.

They all shouted and yelled, scattering stars across the sky.

In less than half a day, all the bandits in the mountains were wiped out.

Gao Cai led a group of villagers to thank Bajie and invited him to the manor to express his gratitude.

"What are you thanking me for?"

Bajie waved his hand, picked up his rake, pointed at the corpses on the ground and said, "I don't want your offerings. Just help me take these corpses down the mountain and burn them."

When everyone looked at the corpses again, they were no longer human-shaped, but rather gray-skinned, yellow-furred wild rabbits!

It turns out that these bandits were not human at all, but wild rabbits from the mountains that had become spirits. They had worshipped Sister Mao Er as their ancestor, but Sister Mao Er had already entered Jiang Liu's primordial spirit and gone to cultivate with him. Without their restraints, they used the excuse that the people of Mao Er Village had abandoned their ancestor to go down the mountain to plunder and harm the people.

Now all the debts have been settled.

Gao Cai dared not disobey, and asked the other villagers to take the carcasses of wild rabbits all over the mountains down to burn them—they dared not eat the corpses of monsters.

He stayed behind to invite Pigsy to the ancestral hall.

“Can’t you understand human language, kid? My ‘nephew’ has already said that I don’t want offerings. I’m going home today to cultivate the land in the mountains and grow my own food.”

Bajie was speechless and muttered, "Even if you make offerings to me, I won't protect you."

"Not this! Not this!"

Gao Cai hurriedly knelt down and said, "The sorcerer taught us to be self-reliant, and we will certainly be self-reliant. We make offerings to you not to ask you to fulfill our wishes, but because most of the land in the village was cultivated by you five hundred years ago and is now being farmed by us. You are naturally our ancestor."

We offer sacrifices to you only to honor our ancestors, hoping for peace and safety at most. How could we possibly harbor resentment because you don't protect us?

Upon hearing this...

Bajie was shocked and muttered, "Back then, my father-in-law wished I were dead, but you all recognize me as your ancestor. How strange... I'm just a pig."

"As human beings, we should naturally be grateful."

Gao Cai spoke earnestly, kowtowing as he said, "Wasn't Nuwa, the goddess who created humans, also a human with a snake's body? But she made a contribution in creating humans, how could we forget that?"

You, sir, cultivated the land, entrusting it to us, your descendants, to cultivate...

You are our great-grandfather!

Unable to argue, Pigsy waved his hand and said, "Haha! Good grandson! You're quite the talker! But I still won't go! If you want to follow me in cultivation, you can come up the mountain after you've settled things at home, and I will teach you my skills."

“My ancestors want to pass on the great Dao to me, and I am willing to do so, but you really have to go to the ancestral hall.”

After Gao Cai finished speaking, he recounted how Jiang Liu had placed the spirit of the monster in the clay sculpture, saying, "The sorcerer said that it was the karma of our ancestors, and the one who tied the knot must untie it."

Upon hearing that the clay sculpture contained the spirit of a monster, and that it had become entangled with him, Pigsy became intrigued and asked Gao Cai to lead the way.

Upon entering Mao'er Village, the villagers, upon seeing Bajie, would either kneel down and kowtow, praying for safety; or, like Lord Ye who loved dragons but was terrified, hide back in their rooms.

Seeing the different reactions from the others, Bajie didn't take it to heart. He followed Gao Cai to the ancestral hall again, entered the main hall, and carefully examined his clay sculpture.

Unlike before, this time, the wooden mother within Bajie's body and mind pulsated slightly, causing his eyes to light up and allowing him to see the Dharma realm within the statue.

There, a black sow was nursing a group of newborn piglets, chewing on the rice, grains, fruits and vegetables that Gao Cai and others had offered earlier.

Although Gao Cai and the others ate the rice, grains, fruits, and vegetables, at the moment of offering, their faith and vows converged and formed the external form of the fruits and vegetables within the Dharma realm, which were then offered to the old sow to ensure its spirit would not perish.

"There are actually such methods? Directly consuming the power of incense and vows? Even Buddha only cultivated his golden body by using the power of incense and vows; he couldn't possibly survive without food and drink just by relying on those vows."

Bajie marveled at the wisdom his elder brother had gained after reincarnation, but wondered why he had put an old sow and a bunch of piglets in his clay sculpture, and why these pigs seemed somewhat familiar.

Just as he was wondering, the old sow in the Dharma Realm seemed to sense Bajie, turned her head, and stared at Bajie with a pair of clear eyes, squealing twice.

Pigsy understood—

Tell him to go and nurse with the piglets too.

"..."

Pigsy stood there, mouth agape, stunned.

He remembered.

This old sow is his birth mother, and those piglets are his brothers and sisters!

He had mistakenly been reborn as a pig and become a monster. Refusing to accept his fate, he killed his sow and her piglets in a fit of rage and went to the mountains to cultivate a simple human form.

Never thought.

The birth mother and her twin pigs harbored resentment and, five hundred years later, became monsters, wreaking havoc in the area. They were eventually subdued by their senior brother, who also provided them with a peaceful place to live.

Now, when he sees them again, Pigsy no longer has the will to kill; instead, he feels a pang of guilt—ultimately, this calamity was caused by his anger back then.

"Hmph!"

Seeing that Bajie was not coming to eat, the sow led a group of piglets out of the Dharma realm. They were drawn in by the power of the wooden mother in the river within him and entered Bajie's body and mind, becoming one with him.