From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

But to target the city's tyrants and powerful figures—who knows what kind of monsters and demons would be unleashed! If they were fellow outcasts, it wouldn't be so bad, but if it involved warlords, that would be truly troublesome.

"Brother Jiang."

Seeing Jiang Liu remain silent, Ren Jiating advised, "It's best if we don't get involved in the affairs of Goose City. Let's just stay overnight and leave tomorrow morning."

"Out of sight, out of mind?"

Jiang Liu chuckled and said to the three of them, "You guys go first tomorrow. I'm going to stay here for a while and have a go at that bully."

After all, I don't have any connections.

He's just a rogue cultivator.

# Chapter 46 Code Names: The Pilgrim, Pigsy, Mischievous Child, Six-Eared

"Don't underestimate people!"

Upon hearing that Jiang Liu wanted to stay, Li Muxuan was the first to object. A sinister smile crept onto his lips. "If we're going to fight bullies, how can I be left out?"

Ren Jiating opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak.

"Isn't this a bad idea?"

Seeing that her employer didn't completely object, Lu Jin's attitude wasn't forceful either; she was just worried that doing so would break the rules.

"Don't worry, things are chaotic these days. As long as our 'kind' doesn't find out, we can just pretend this never happened."

I glanced at Ren Jiating—

Realizing that she also had a heart to help the weak and fight the strong, but was hesitant and worried due to the rules of the supernatural world, Jiang Liu reassured her.

"From now on, my code name is Walker, Lu Jin, your code name is Pigsy, Li Muxuan, your code name is Mischievous Child, Ren Jiating, your code name is Six Ears."

"We don't need to use our real names. Apart from the local bullies who oppress the people, once we get past this area, not many people should be able to recognize us."

It was precisely because technology was underdeveloped in that era that Jiang Liu dared to be so bold.

"Alright, then I'll risk my life to accompany you!"

Ren Jiating thought for a while, gritted her teeth, and agreed.

Although she is just a minor character performing ancient magic tricks, she is young, ambitious, and has a chivalrous heart to fight against evil and uphold justice.

Moreover, the Jiyun Society is different from ordinary sects of extraordinary individuals. They need to interact with ordinary people frequently, rather than spending most of their lives cultivating on the mountain.

"I understand the reasoning."

The employer agreed, so Lu Jin had no choice but to go along with it, though her gaze was slightly resentful. "But why is my code name Bajie? I don't seem to have anything to do with a fat pig like Zhu Bajie, do I?"

"It's very simple."

Jiang Liu pointed to the sides of his waist.

Lu Jin immediately understood that this meant he had used his kidneys to determine the location of his cervix.

Taoist priests of the Zhengyi school believe that kidney essence is turbid, and it is often used as a metaphor for Zhu Bajie (Pigsy).

"However, in the book Journey to the West, the principles of cultivation reveal more about the concept of alchemy. In the descriptions related to alchemy, Bajie is mostly referred to as the Wood Mother, which corresponds to the liver, not the kidney water. But you can change your code name to Dragon Horse if you want." Jiang Liu didn't mind Lu Jin changing his code name.

He can even be called "Dog Egg" if he wants.

However, as practitioners, it's easier to understand if we use a code name related to cultivation.

"Dragon Horse? I'll just call myself Pigsy."

Lu Jin accepted her fate.

If it were named Longma, the word "Long" alone would be flamboyant enough.

Why am I not called Sha Wujing?

Li Muxuan asked.

"You've always been known as a troublemaker, haven't you?"

This statement would obviously not be accepted by Li Muxuan, so Jiang Liu added, "Among the disciples of Journey to the West, in terms of alchemy cultivation, Sha Wujing is Huang Po, which can be used to refer to the spleen earth. Huang Po is the most evil, so even though Sha Wujing was enlightened by Guanyin and spared the pain of flying swords piercing his ribs in the quicksand of the sea of ​​nature, he still couldn't help but jump out of the quicksand river to catch people to eat."

On the contrary, after being enlightened by Guanyin, Bajie directly gave up eating people and even stopped eating meat, eating only vegetarian food.

Although Huang Po was wicked, she also longed to escape the quicksand of sexual desire, to do good, and to seek a righteous path. Therefore, no matter how wicked she was, she still had goodness in her heart.

I heard that when your father left you to grow up in your hometown, you often played pranks such as kicking the sky and wells and climbing on the roof, which made the neighbors uneasy. However, the people there did not have much ill will towards you. On the contrary, after you left, they felt much colder.

It's clear that you're similar to Sha Wujing: evil by nature, but kind at heart.

"Let's just call you 'bad kid' then. If you want to be Sha Wujing (Sandy), you might as well shave your head."

"Hmph, I'm a disciple of the Xuanmen sect, why would I shave my head? I'm not a monk!"

Li Muxuan accepted Jiang Liu's explanation.

Jiang Liu smiled without saying a word.

The three religions (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) all originated from the same source, so how can there be monks and Taoists?

They are all practitioners.

"Brother Jiang, why am I Six Ears?"

Ren Jiating also became interested.

"You should know the paper doll trick from the ancient Chinese magic tricks, right? When I saw you holding a paper monkey, you could control its movements. I suppose it requires you to use your mind to control it. Although you are focused, you must be thinking and pondering a lot. This is consistent with the true meaning of the Six Ears."

Jiang Liu laughed.

Ren Jiating was even more puzzled and asked, "Isn't Liu Er a fake Sun Wukong and a third party? How is he related to excessive thinking and contemplation?"

"In the story of Journey to the West, Liu Er is indeed a superb imitator of Sun Wukong, but from the perspective of the allegory of cultivation, he is just a false heart born from the delusions of the real Sun Wukong."

Jiang Liu had his own interpretation of the chapter "The True and False Monkey Kings": "Generally speaking, the true Wukong is considered to be the true mind, while the Six-Eared Macaque is called the deluded mind, right?"

"Is not it?"

Lu Jin and Ren Jiating looked at each other, both showing expressions of confusion.

And Li Muxuan...

I only considered "Journey to the West" as a novel and never cared about these things.

“You may think so, but I believe that in this trial, true heart and delusional heart are both Wukong, while false heart is Liu Er.”

At this point, Jiang Liu didn't keep anyone in suspense and said directly, "True mind can refer to the original spirit, which everyone has, while deluded mind refers to the attachment formed by the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought that perceive the outside world, or the consciousness, desire, and the like."

If the real Wukong had killed the Six-Eared Demon in this ordeal, signifying that he had truly eliminated his delusions, then in the subsequent story, the real Wukong should have attained purity of the six senses and directly achieved enlightenment and Buddhahood.

But clearly, the real Wukong was still not pure of the six senses, and was prone to anger and resentment.

Moreover, the author's final comment on this ordeal was:

The Middle Way separates and disrupts the Five Elements; the demon-slaying gathering unites the primordial light. When the spirit returns to the heart, meditation brings peace; when the six senses are subdued, the elixir is naturally formed.

If killing the Six-Eared Demon truly signifies the eradication of deluded thoughts, would it be an evaluation of "realized Zen concentration"? Shouldn't it be a sign of greatly enhanced spiritual practice? But judging from the implication, it merely means restoring peace to a chaotic mind.

Lu Jin pondered, and Ren Jiating thought.

indeed.

If killing the Six Ears means killing the deluded mind and leaving only the true mind, in terms of cultivation, it means eliminating the influence of the conscious mind on the primordial spirit, and the primordial spirit becomes clear. This should not be evaluated in such a mediocre way.

"To give you an example, we are all in the process of cultivation, but we have not yet seen our primordial spirit, which means we have not clearly seen our true heart. We cultivate for a goal, such as wealth, power, authority, or to pursue a higher realm, or even to cultivate for the sake of cultivation. These ideas or motivations that drive us to cultivate can actually be considered delusions."

Jiang Liu prepared to explain to them in simple terms, "When you cultivate with the drive of delusions, the process is very tedious, to the point that two little people often appear in your mind."

One person said, "You're so tired, take a rest."

Another person said, "For the sake of your master, your family, and yourself, let's persevere a little longer."

One of the two false hearts gains the upper hand, along with the deluded heart that drives us to cultivate ourselves, and the true heart that already exists but which we are not yet aware of—

Look, now there are three people!

Therefore, I believe that in the ordeal of the true and false Monkey Kings, Sun Wukong was truly troubled by his delusions and developed a false heart.

Taking the question of whether or not we should slack off during cultivation as an example, in most cases, the "good" false self with the intention to work hard defeats the "bad" false self who wants to slack off. However, in this ordeal, Sun Wukong can be perfectly described as the "bad" one defeating the "good" one among the two false self-constructed by his deluded mind.

Instantly, Lu Jin, Ren Jiating, and even Li Muxuan, who didn't understand the cultivation concepts in Journey to the West, all understood.

The true and false Monkey Kings: the true Monkey King is the unity of the true mind and the false mind, while the false Monkey King is the manifestation of the evil side of the two false minds born from the false mind. Together, they have three minds, which is also known as "Six Ears".

The term "six ears" does not simply refer to a third party.

A person is composed of three parts: the true mind, the deluded mind, and the one whose good or bad qualities prevail, which arises from the deluded mind.

That is, a person can also be a third party to himself/herself.

Then, Jiang Liu said to Ren Jiating, "It is clear from this that if one can use a false mind to help a deluded mind cultivate and see the true mind, it will be beneficial."

The code name for you, Six Ears, is not meant to imply that you are a third party, but rather because you can perform paper puppet tricks and control paper monkeys. You also need to constantly coordinate your delusions and false intentions in order to verify your true heart.

If one can harmonize their minds, then it's a matter of single-mindedness and enlightenment; if they cannot harmonize their minds and their thoughts become confused, then they are simply indecisive.

# Chapter 47 Gathering Information

"Six Ears, does it really have such a profound meaning?"

Ren Jiating pondered and realized that, in terms of spiritual practice, most people are indeed unable to see their true spirit. They are driven by their deluded mind to practice, but they also relax, hesitate, and waver because of the arising of false mind. If they can truly adjust the relationship between false mind and deluded mind and persevere, they will indeed see their true spirit one day.

As someone who can perform paper doll magic and even needs to multitask while performing, it's truly essential to master the art of listening to others.

"Alright, that's all for the explanation of code names."

Jiang Liu made the final decision.

Next, they needed to investigate Huang Silang's background.

"Is it that complicated? Why don't we just cover our faces and teach him a lesson tonight?" Li Muxuan thought that they could just find someone to find out Huang Silang's address and raid the Huang residence at night.

"Because of the difference between extraordinary people and ordinary people, it's troublesome to do things that ordinary people do."

Jiang Liu glanced at Li Muxuan with a faint smile on his face. "If we can act within the rules, then we should abide by them. Although we have given each other code names, we are not the Quanxing. Let's play around with Huang Silang a bit more. After all, Renjia Town is not far from Goose City, only about seventy miles away. Even if we don't travel at full speed, we can get there in half a day. We still have about half a month left, so we have enough time."