From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

"Then clean out five hundred rooms!"

Pigsy, mimicking his elder brother's mannerisms from years past, scolded him.

"Then where will we stay?"

The Taoist priest asked in a low voice.

“Of course we’ll live outside! I’m a Bodhisattva, and you are just ordinary monks. How can we live in the same place?” Pigsy said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"You're such an unreasonable man!"

The monk official was furious. "Buddha said that all beings are equal. Even if you are truly a Bodhisattva, why do you expect us to move out and let you live inside?"

But Pigsy was just waiting for the monk official to say that, and he chuckled and said, "Since the Buddha said that all beings are equal, why do you Buddhist followers only receive royalty and nobility, and not us who are on our way to the West to cultivate?"

"You...you're being unreasonable!"

The monk official, caught in the trap, panicked and started cursing.

"Humph!"

Pigsy didn't bother with any more words. Holding his rake, he smashed it down on a stone lion at the temple gate.

boom!

With a loud crash, the stone lion shattered into seven pieces, terrifying the monks and Taoist priests so much that they collapsed to the ground, not daring to breathe.

[First reason, then force. Pigsy truly experienced the journey to the West, learning many principles of life from my restless monkey.]

Jiang Liu chuckled inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged.

After the monks and Taoist priests got up, they asked Jiang Liu and his group their names, then hurried to the temple to make arrangements. They then led three to five hundred monks and nuns out to greet them, shouting in unison, "Please welcome Lord Gu Yue!"

The group then swaggered into the temple.

"These monks have no semblance of spiritual practice; they're just laymen who don't know manners until they're beaten!" Pigsy muttered to himself.

thereafter.

Surrounded by the monks in the temple, Jiang Liu and his group went to the dining hall. After a hearty meal, they were about to go to their rooms to rest when they saw a group of young monks dismantling the Three Buddhas statues on the main hall as they passed by.

"Why was it demolished?"

Pigsy asked in confusion, "Aren't you afraid of being punished by Buddha?"

The Buddha of the Western Paradise is quite petty. He doesn't offer incense or sacrifices and won't openly harm you, but he might do something different in secret.

Just like the country of Nashari.

“We didn’t want to either, but a few days ago two Taoist priests came and bewitched the king, saying they could concoct an elixir of immortality.”

The monk official looked bitter. "The king believed it and listened to the two Taoist priests' wicked words. He wanted to smash all the Buddha statues in the country and replace them with statues of the Three Pure Ones."

What can we monks do?

Other temples have already been altered, but our Baolin Temple, built by imperial decree, was personally ordered to be constructed by the king five hundred years ago. The current king dares not demolish it, yet he demands that we replace the Three Buddhas of the Three Worlds with the Three Pure Ones statues, or he will kick us all out.”

The monks in the Baolin Temple, which was built by imperial decree, were all ordinary monks and laymen. None of them practiced any spiritual discipline. For them, being a monk was just a way of making a living, and they only sought wealth and honor.

Therefore, Jiang Liu said, "In that case, let us stay for one night. Tomorrow morning, we will go to pay homage to the King of Wuji Kingdom and see what the identities of those two Taoist priests are."

If a Taoist has gone astray, I will give him some pointers and impart the essence of the Golden Elixir Dao.

If you are a deceitful and wicked demon, I will sever your demonic roots and teach you the Heart Sutra, instructing you to build a pagoda within your body, transcending all constraints to worship [my] Buddha.

Chapter 1462 The land of Wuji is shrouded in fragrant haze.

Upon hearing Jiang Liu's words, the monk official was overjoyed and hurriedly arranged six superior rooms for the six people, but Jiang Liu stopped him, saying, "There is no need for six rooms, one room is enough."

We six are of different bodies, but we are all focused on cultivation. How could we possibly trouble you any further?

What Pigsy said before was merely to remind you that since you have already become a monk, you should not have any sense of hierarchy.

Upon hearing this, the monk official quickly bowed to Pigsy and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Bodhisattva. I will remember it."

Bajie sneered, "I think you're so happy because you think we can help you kill those two evil Taoists. You're a snob."

The monk official dared not say much, but simply told the young monks who were dismantling the Buddha statues to stop.

But Jiang Liu was not happy about it.

"No need to stop."

"Tear it down."

This time, it was the monk official who was puzzled: "Master Guyue, what does this mean?"

"Although those two Taoist priests are spreading falsehoods, they are ultimately acting on the orders of the Emperor of Wuji Kingdom. If you disobey, you will be guilty of disobeying orders in secret and committing the crime of 'disobeying imperial decrees'."

Upon hearing this, the monk official broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly told the young monks to continue, not daring to be negligent in the slightest, for fear that the news would leak out and the emperor would find out and punish the monks in the temple.

This is one of them.

Jiang Liu held up two fingers. "Secondly, if you want to cultivate Buddhism, what's the use of worshipping these clay statues? You might as well return to your original state as clay."

"this--"

The monk official had lived for forty or fifty years and had never seen a Bodhisattva or Buddha. He only considered himself a monk to make a living. But it would be difficult for him not to believe in gods and Buddhas.

"No need to worry, it's just a casual remark." Seeing his timidity, Jiang Liu was not annoyed, but just laughed twice, and then led Bajing Bajie, Huyuan Hujue, and Liangluzhen to rest.

That night.

Moon stars are rare.

While everyone was sound asleep, Jiang Liu opened his eyes from his Qi cultivation and got out of bed. He woke up Ba Jing and Ba Jie, and then shook Hu Yuan and Hu Jue awake.

"Brother Monkey, why aren't you sleeping at night?"

Bajie rubbed his eyes and muttered, "Could your 'grandfather' be in the well in the temple's back garden?"

"What grandfather? Don't talk nonsense!"

Hearing Bajie mutter, Jiang Liu, who had cultivated a twelve-zhang golden body, was also speechless. "The King of Wuji Kingdom has been bewitched by two evil Taoists."

Now they've simply replaced the Three Buddhas with the Three Pure Ones, but in the future they might use people as ingredients to make elixirs for the emperor, causing suffering to the people of this country.

We cannot stand idly by; let us first investigate the background of those two sorcerers.”

Ba Jing said, "Absolutely! We must not let them harm the people!"

Bajie snapped out of his daze and said, "Let's go! Let's go!"

Hu Yuan and Hu Jue asked in confusion, "Shouldn't we order a piece of Lu Zhen?"

"By day, Lu Zhen carries loads to balance Yin and Yang; by night, he rests and settles his center. He needs to stabilize his mind and not move around rashly. He needs to nourish his spirit." Jiang Liu had his reasons.

So the four of them followed Jiang Liu and tiptoed out the door to the back garden of the imperial-built Baolin Temple.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around to disturb them, Jiang Liu chanted a spell, which stirred up a wind that pierced through the nine orifices, lifting the four people into the void. Their Qi transformed and followed the wind, moving with the magnetic field, and in an instant, they arrived directly at the city of Wuji.

The city streets crisscrossed, brightly lit, and every household stayed up all night, chanting scriptures and incantations, worshipping Laozi.

As incense burned, a layer of smoke and haze enveloped the royal city, and this smoke and haze converged towards the center of the royal city, transforming into a misty pill.

"The sea of ​​clouds is vast, and the fragrant mist rolls in; it truly has the beauty of a celestial palace."

Bajie was dumbfounded, thinking that the current emperor of Wuji Kingdom had gone mad with the desire for immortality, and had actually made such a big show of it.

"Look closely, Pigsy, those two demonic cultivators are refining elixirs!"

Jiang Liu opened his Dharma Eye and saw it clearly.

The emperor was muddle-headed, allowing the two sorcerers to perform their rituals, instructing the city's inhabitants to worship the Supreme Lord, ignite the fire of their will, burn their own essence, energy, and spirit, and continuously refine their primordial Qi, which billowed throughout the city with the smoke from the burning incense—

Because the smoke contains primordial energy, when people walk in it, they will not feel weak from having their essence and spirit drained away, but will feel as light as a swallow, as if they are about to ascend to heaven.

No wonder the king believed those two sorcerers!

However, these fumes would eventually converge at the royal palace and merge into a golden elixir.

Taking the capital city of Wuji Kingdom as an example, those two demonic cultivators used heaven and earth as their alchemy furnace and all the people as their alchemical ingredients to refine golden pills. Their scale was truly astonishing!

"Brother, if that's the case, then those two demons must be monsters from the mortal realm!" Upon hearing Jiang Liu reveal the truth and seeing the billowing smoke in the city, Bajie exclaimed in horror.

“There is no difference between the mortal realm and the heavenly realm; if they are monsters, they should be subdued.” Jiang Liu had already figured out how to deal with these two Daoist boys, Golden Horn and Silver Horn.

"Then let's sneak into the palace now and kill those two evil Taoists!" Hu Jue drew his monk's knife, filled with righteous indignation.

But Jiang Liu stopped him, saying, "Don't be impulsive."

This is not the wilderness, but the royal city.

The two sorcerers used such sorcery to deceive the king of Wuji Kingdom and were highly regarded.

Our rash actions, even if intended to restore order, will only lead to misunderstandings with the king and the people.

Pigsy said, "Brother, don't you always say, 'Just do good deeds and don't worry about the future'? Why are you hesitating today?"

"That's true, but it doesn't mean we should ask about our own future, but we should consider the future of others."

The reason is simple.

They are cultivators who have attained the Great Dao, practiced Qi cultivation and spirit preservation, and cultivated their own food. When they succeed, they will forge the Golden Elixir to nourish the Holy Embryo, and thus be able to transcend the Three Realms and be outside the Five Elements.

However, there are many mortals in Wuji Kingdom. If they only focus on subduing demons and monsters, evil spirits will still come to attack after they leave.

At that time.

Who can save them?

Although there are many people in this vast world who are willing to help those in distress, how can they possibly be all-encompassing?

Therefore, they were able to save themselves!

"What should we do then?" Pigsy asked.

"Let's go down and take a look first."

Jiang Liu cast a spell, which landed in the city.

Although the appearance of the five men was unusual, the city was shrouded in smoke at the time, and pedestrians on the road could not see their faces clearly, so it did not cause much of a commotion.

Walking through the streets, one could hear every household reciting scriptures.

Walking through the alleyways, men and women pay homage to the Three Pure Ones.