From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

Although they still prayed to gods and Buddhas, they had found solace in their faith, truly living and sleeping freely...

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Jiang Liu and his group rode on the old turtle. Although the waves were surging, there was no wind or rain. In less than a day, they arrived at the west bank and saw the sun.

The group removed the old turtle shell and thanked him.

The old turtle asked, "Great Sage, is your journey westward solely to find auspicious talents?"

Jiang Liu shook his head: "That was just a side thing. I want to follow the will of my ancestors and go west to Mount Ling to obtain the scriptures."

"In that case, we must see the Tathagata."

The old turtle exclaimed joyfully, "Great Sage, you may have forgotten your past, but when your master went west to retrieve the scriptures, he forgot to ask the Buddha when I would be able to attain human form and how long my lifespan would be..."

Now that you are also going on a pilgrimage to obtain the scriptures, why don't you ask the Buddha for me how much lifespan I have left? And how many more years of cultivation will it take to attain the appearance of a true immortal?

Why ask Buddha about this?

Jiang Liu reached out and stroked the old turtle's head, asking with a chuckle, "Do you know what my surname is now?"

"Still surnamed Sun?"

"It is the two characters 'Gu Yue' (古月)."

"Why?"

“Ancient means old; Yin means the moon. Old Yin cannot be transformed, but if one obtains the two words ‘perfect enlightenment’, one’s body and mind are in harmony and one’s mind is enlightened, then one can transform barbarians into Buddhas.”

Jiang Liu explained.

The old turtle suddenly realized and hurriedly asked, "Great Sage, please tell me, when will I be able to cultivate into a human form?"

“If you continue as before, let alone cultivate for another thousand years, even if you cultivate for ten thousand years, you will hardly ever become a true immortal. You can only take the side path and borrow the essence of other demons to cultivate,” Jiang Liu sighed.

"The Great Sage taught me!"

The old turtle bowed its head in worship.

"This is not difficult either."

Jiang Liu laughed and said, "I will pass on a technique to you called Ferry Crossing. In the future, you will cultivate it while escorting people to and from the east and west banks."

"Work diligently day and night, and when we return from our pilgrimage, that will be the time when you attain human form and understand the path to immortality!"

Upon hearing this, the white turtle was overjoyed, but also puzzled, and asked again, "How long will it take for the Great Sage and the others to return?"

"About eight or nine years."

Jiang Liu glanced at Hu Yuan, Hu Jue, and Liang Luzhen's cultivation progress and roughly estimated the time.

Hearing that it only takes eight or nine years to cultivate a human body and attain immortality, the old turtle was overjoyed. He obtained the method of crossing the river and led the other turtle offspring in the river to cultivate together, helping others and helping themselves. Although it was simple, they gradually became lighter and healthier, their life force became stronger, and their Qi became more vigorous.

When the old turtle returned, Pingping looked towards the east bank, but couldn't see any end in sight. Then she remembered something and said, "Brother Yuanjue, I heard that the east bank where we were before was the place where Tang Sanzang dried his scriptures. It's called the Scripture Drying Stone. Could it be a treasure?"

"Having enough material possessions is sufficient."

Jiang Liu laughed and said, "If we cultivators only seek externally and do not cultivate internally, how are we different from the masses in the world?"

On the contrary, it will only make the world more depraved, chaotic, and dark because we possess power.

That's all.

Pingping seemed to have figured out a point: "The gods in Heaven, the Buddhas of Mount Ling... are not so different from mortals?"

"You are indeed a clever person!"

"That's precisely why! That's precisely why!"

"It is precisely because those with hearts like demons have stolen the names of immortals and Buddhas to rule the Three Realms that this already difficult world has become even more difficult!"

Jiang Liu laughed loudly.

The reason why the Three Realms of this primordial world have developed into this state, with the Heavenly Court being dark, Mount Ling scheming, and all immortals, Buddhas, and saints being hypocritical, is precisely because of this.

A group of practitioners who neither cultivate their inner body and mind nor refine their character, but still follow the law of the jungle, how can they not disrupt the order of this world?

"So how do we solve this problem?"

Pigsy wondered, "Could it be that they're going to spread the Great Dao we cultivate, so that we can have many more Daoist companions? And then change the world?"

"It's just a tactic..."

Jiang Liu looked up at the sky and chuckled, then said to Bajie, "Let's not talk about it for now. We'll bring it up again when you've also refined the elixir of body and mind."

Upon hearing this, Pigsy knew there was more to the story than met the eye, that it was a secret that he couldn't possibly know at his current level, and so he began to cultivate even more diligently.

But Jiang Liu advised again: "Cultivation is not about being as fast as possible. You also need to sense the changes of the four seasons and the rotation of the stars, otherwise you are just forcibly destroying your life."

If one only cultivates one's physical life without regulating the Qi of the five internal organs, without cultivating the primordial spirit, and only displays the courage of a martial artist, then one has mistakenly entered a heretical path.

Bajie suddenly realized something and stopped trying to circulate his Qi, letting it take its natural course.

That's how it is.

As they continued their practice, they crossed a high mountain, unaware that winter had passed. Only when they saw the three-foot-thick ice melt away and the plum blossoms blooming in the cold did they realize that early spring had arrived.

Suddenly, a stream appeared a few miles ahead. Pigsy said, "Brother Monkey, the land of the Women's Kingdom is just ahead."

"A land of women?"

Pingping was puzzled. "I've heard you say all along that there's a Golden Gourd Mountain before we go to the Kingdom of Women. How come we're already in the Kingdom of Women after crossing the Tongtian River?"

"Wasn't that the mountain from before?"

Bajie laughed and said, "With Laozi's green ox in Chechi Kingdom, Jindu Mountain will naturally be no obstacle!"

“As long as one’s temperament remains stable and one does not stray from the right path, once one crosses the Tongtian River, one will reach the Kingdom of Women. How could there be any trouble at Jindu Mountain?” Jiang Liu also said.

On Journey to the West

Just talking about the story, the ordeal at Jindu Mountain was caused by Sun Wukong taking someone's food without permission; and Zhu Bajie taking someone's clothes without permission. So even if they went to the Buddha, the Buddha couldn't personally intervene and could only hint at it.

Regardless of others' fishing, focusing solely on self-cultivation, it was truly Wukong and Bajie who made the first mistake.

The title of Chapter 50 already makes it clear:

Passion and lust arise from love and desire!

But if we're talking about spiritual practice—

It's just that Tang Sanzang was a bit too disappointing.

Although Sanzang was able to pass the Spine Pass in Chechi Kingdom with the help of the Mind Monkey's power, he was too anxious when he entered the Tongtian River, which caused him to lose his elixir, which is equivalent to losing his vital essence... well, like losing it.

Those who deplete their vital energy do not necessarily need to engage in sexual intercourse. However, if they are impatient, lose their temper, or fail to control themselves, they may deplete their vital energy along with normal physiological activities.

Tang Sanzang was too eager to succeed in the Tongtian River trial. Before Wukong and Bajie could completely remove the Linggan King from the river, he thought he could take advantage of the frozen river to cross quickly. This led to him changing his name to "Chen Daodi" and also causing him to lose some of his vital essence.

Since the vital essence has been depleted, it must naturally be replenished.

Therefore.

After crossing the river, Wukong drew a circle for Tang Sanzang, which essentially meant that Tang Sanzang needed to perform the circulatory cycle, keep his mind steadfast and not act rashly, in order to purify his body and mind, and then replenish the lost primordial yang, and continue to refine the golden elixir internally.

Unfortunately—

Because his mind and body were not at peace, Tang Sanzang "went astray." In other words, during the process of circulating his Qi, he went astray, which caused him to suffer from demonic possession and enter Jindu Mountain, where he encountered the Green Ox Demon.

It was precisely because Tang Sanzang's spirit made a mistake that the heavenly soldiers and generals summoned by Sun Wukong seemed to have lost their minds. They were defeated, their weapons were taken away, and they began to blame and complain to each other, just like a market at the entrance of a village. They were far from the power and order they had when they besieged Sun Wukong.

The fact that the Green Ox Demon was finally captured signifies that Tang Sanzang had escaped the crisis of going astray and returned to the righteous path.

Furthermore, the return of the Green Ox also means that Tang Sanzang no longer needs to use the power of the Monkey King to temporarily replace the power of the oxcart. He has completely mastered the key points of the three passes and formed a state similar to instinct.

Why do we still need oxcarts in the end?

While the power of the Mind Monkey is equivalent to the power of an oxcart, and even more agile, it's fine to rely on it for the first time to pass a level. However, if you keep using its power to overcome levels, you're wasting its energy on passing all three levels.

What about other aspects of spiritual practice?

Should we continue refining the Golden Elixir of Body and Mind?

Does the Bull Demon King, representing the Great White Ox Cart and the One Buddha, still need to subdue the Mind Monkey?

Therefore, we must pick up the oxcart again!

And what about now?

Although Jiang Liu and his group did not achieve their goal, they were all genuine and straightforward.

Bajie and Bajing had already completed one journey to the West, so their faith was naturally firm.

Since Hu Yuan and Hu Jue left Huangfeng Ridge, they have escaped the quicksand of sexual desire.

After experiencing the ordeal at Pingdingshan, Liang Luzhen has stopped drinking much and is currently carrying loads to temper his character. How could he possibly wander off?

As for Pingping, although she has obtained the Heart Sutra, she is still eager to return home and would rather walk along the main road as quickly as possible. Why would she turn onto any side roads?

Therefore, they crossed Jindu Mountain directly without any demons blocking their way, and arrived directly at the territory of the Women's Kingdom!

After traveling several more miles, the group reached the riverbank and saw an old woman ferrying people across. They observed:

Short oars part the waves, light paddles float on the surf.

The boat is painted with vibrant colors, its decks are full and level. Iron cables coil at the bow, the helm shines brightly at the stern. Though it's a small boat, it's no less impressive than sailing on a lake or the sea. While it lacks elaborate cables and ivory masts, it has pine-pillared oars and cassia-wood poles. Though not as powerful as a long-distance voyage, it can truly cross a river. It travels only between the two cliffs, never straying from the ancient ferry crossing.

The old woman had a brocade turban wrapped around her head, black silk shoes on her feet, a patchwork cotton jacket, and a thousand-stitched cloth blouse around her waist. Her wrists were rough and her muscles were strong, and her eyes were blurry, her eyebrows were furrowed, and her face was aged.

Although she was an older woman, her voice was as sweet as a nightingale's. She said, "If you want to cross the river, come this way!"

"Old boatwoman, take us across the river."

Bajie gave the order.

Seeing that this group of people looked fierce, with only Ba Jing being handsome, Ping Ping being beautiful, and Jiang Liu being... handsome and roguish, the old boatwoman was not afraid at all. She just chuckled and lowered the boat plank.

Once everyone was on the boat, the boatwoman stowed the plank, pushed off, and rowed. In no time, they had crossed the river and arrived at the west bank.

After disembarking, Jiang Liu instructed Liang Luzhen to put down his luggage, unpack his bundle, and give all the remaining few taels of silver to the boatwoman.

It is:

Once you pass the Jade Pillow, you become a half-immortal; worldly wealth and possessions are left on the riverbank. Just teach them not to drink the river water, and their embryos will naturally nourish the golden elixir.

The boatwoman accepted the money without arguing over the amount, and went ashore with a smile. She tied the rope to a post on the bank and went straight into the village house.

Liang Luzhen put down his load, but felt thirsty. He grabbed the gourd from his waist, uncorked it, and poured it into his mouth, but found no wine. Seeing that the river water was clear, he filled the gourd and took a sip.