From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

This is Zhang Zhiwei's assessment of you. He may want to advise you, but it's obvious that the arrogance in his heart is exactly the same as when he was young. He's just older now and looks a bit more amiable, but in essence, he still doesn't take you seriously and only sees the surface.

I only have one piece of advice for you:

Those who cultivate themselves should not deceive their own hearts.

# Chapter 572 "Shameless"

"Jiang Liu, this is going too far."

Hearing Jiang Liu bring up himself, even saying that he didn't take Lu Jin seriously, Zhang Zhiwei quickly said, "Old Lu and I have been friends for many years!"

"Really? I can knock him down with one slap, and so can you. You always let him win when you spar with him, right?" Jiang Liu bluntly revealed a fact.

"Oh shit!"

Lu Jin got worked up and questioned Zhang Zhiwei, saying, "You always gave in to me before?"

Before Zhang Zhiwei could answer, Lü Ci said, "Just now, when he and this Brother Jiang were fighting off the field, the clash of their auras alone created such a large crater in the ground. Didn't you see it?"

"What's it to you?"

Lu Jin cursed.

"Oh? It's none of our business, but your senior brother is lecturing you in public, can't we just watch the show?" Lu Ci sneered.

seriously.

Lu Jin really couldn't refute it.

However, after this little episode, Lu Jin gave up on the idea of ​​causing trouble for Zhang Zhiwei—he really couldn't beat him. In the past, when Zhang Zhiwei sparred with him, he always let him win. Now that Jiang Liu had exposed this, if he persisted, he would probably have to endure the same treatment as that "slap" in the Lu family compound back then.

He's been slapped so many times by this suddenly appearing "big brother," it really hurts!

Now that he has revealed the gap between himself and Zhang Zhiwei, he will have no face to ask Zhang Zhiwei to hold back when they fight again in the future.

Seeing that her great-grandfather and Jiang Liu's relationship had inexplicably become "harmonious," Lu Linglong was also happy. She stepped forward and asked in a dazed manner, "Should I call you Uncle from now on?"

“I’m only eighteen. In terms of age, I’m younger than you. Isn’t it a bit much to call me Uncle?” Jiang Liu retorted.

"Eighteen my ass!"

Lu Jin couldn't stand it anymore, "If you're eighteen, how do you know the Left Sect Leader? How come Zhang Zhiwei calls you brother? And how come he hit me as the elder brother?"

"Strictly speaking, he really is eighteen."

Zhang Zhiwei told Jiang Liu a lie, making it up: "He cultivated your Three Ones Sect's Reverse Life Technique, but modified it according to his own physique, calling it Reverse Life Ninefold. Your Reverse Life Threefold mainly cultivates the Three Elixir, while he mainly cultivates the Nine Apertures. In addition, as the adopted son of Ghost Hand King, he also learned the Reversal of Eight Directions. Combining the two, he created his own 'Eight-Nine Mysterious Technique'."

Internal cultivation of the five elements accumulates life force; external cultivation of the celestial sphere cultivates spiritual forms.

Although we are still far from the realm where a single thought can give rise to all things, at least the Mind Monkey in Journey to the West possessed most of the skills, except for the great supernatural power of manifesting the heavens and the earth.

Oh, right, he also seems to have forged a golden cudgel... Shall we show it to him?

Jiang Liu glanced at Zhang Zhiwei and shook his head, saying, "I've temporarily put it in the sea eye. That thing was originally made by combining metal and wood. I found a Guixu Eye between the East Sea and the South Sea. It has the power of a Kunpeng and generates dragon fire within it. So I suppressed it in the sea eye and let the sea water and dragon fire within the Qi Bureau spontaneously nurture it. Water and fire complement each other, practicing the innate Hetu method and supplementing the acquired Luoshu principle."

Once completed, the staff will have acquired the principles of metal, wood, water, and fire. With the human body as 'earth,' there's a three-tenths chance it will become the divine weapon I desire, perfectly harmonizing with my body and mind.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiwei was surprised and asked, "The River Chart Method, the Luo River Chart Principle... have you truly comprehended the principles of the heavens?"

"Not fully understood."

Jiang Liu chuckled, "I have some guesses. It's just that I've chosen a different path from yours."

"is it?"

Zhang Zhiwei's eyes turned serious. Realizing that Jiang Liu wanted immortality of body and mind, he sighed, "Then your path will not be easy."

“Cultivating one’s mind and character leads to the attainment of the Great Dao.”

Jiang Liu, however, did not take it to heart.

"Fine, why should I worry about it? In twenty or thirty years, I'll be old and dead, while you'll still be eighteen. I'm just an ordinary mortal living on the mountain. How can I compare to you, a banished immortal of the mortal world?"

Zhang Zhiwei was taken aback, then chuckled and stopped worrying about it.

"Why does this sound a bit sarcastic?" Jiang Liu narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Zhang Zhiwei.

"No way! You must have misheard me," Zhang Zhiwei quickly denied.

However, the others' attention was still focused on the fact that Jiang Liu was practicing the "Eight-Nine Arcane Technique".

The Investiture of the Gods.

Who among those present didn't know?

Yang Jian's cultivation technique is the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts, which possesses many wondrous methods and abilities. Jiang Liu, in addition to his incomparably strong life force, also demonstrates the ability to ride the clouds and transform, and can even use the thunder magic of the Celestial Master's Mansion... at least the Yin Five Thunder can be used.

The qualifying rounds then continued.

Jiang Liu accompanied Zhang Zhiwei and Lu Jin to venue B to observe Zhang Chulan's performance in the preliminary rounds.

"What I want to destroy is this very sky!"

After a series of boastful words, Zhang Chulan successfully fooled his three opponents, letting them wear each other down first. He then generously allowed the winner among the three to recover first, and finally, while the opponent was meditating, he took the initiative to beat him up. In doing so, he not only advanced in the next round but also earned the nickname "Shameless".

In an instant, the entire audience burst into curses!

In other words, there aren't many people with supernatural abilities, and most of the seats in the four venues are empty; otherwise, Zhang Chulan would have been buried in garbage.

Lu Jin nudged the old Celestial Master and said, "Celestial Master, your grand-disciple is quite something, haha!"

Zhang Zhiwei chuckled awkwardly twice and asked Jiang Liu, "Speaking of which, you've spent more time with Zhang Chulan than I have as his advisor. Tell me, what do you think of him?"

"Just like his grandfather."

Jiang Liu remained calm. "Your junior brother appears to be a nice guy, but he's very good at hiding his true feelings. His grandson has perfectly inherited that 'hiding' from him."

His talent is decent, but in terms of cultivation—

Tsk!

It would be better to accompany the 'clueless' Xuanzang on his journey to the West!

Speaking of "Xuanzang", Jiang Liu's gaze fell on Feng Baobao, who had also come to venue B.

And the restless mind—

That is Zhang Chulan.

But without a doubt, a mind that can hide is not a qualified mind.

The same reason.

A straightforward, innocent wooden mother...

Jiang Liu then cast a sliver of his gaze upon Zhang Lingyu—

It is not a qualified mother wood either.

Zhang Zhiwei, however, was still paying attention to Zhang Chulan, who was ignoring the trash and insults thrown at him by the others, and laughed, "The road to the West? That's not easy to travel. I've paved a road to heaven for him."

"Yes, that makes a lot of sense."

Jiang Liu suddenly laughed, "The Jade Emperor thought the same thing. First, he made the monkey the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, then he made him the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. In the end, the monkey was still restless and uneasy. He jumped out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace and stormed the Hall of Universal Brightness... Do you know why?"

Why?

Zhang Zhiwei asked.

"The medicine isn't right for my condition!"

Jiang Liu chuckled and said, "Being appointed as the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses is to keep the monkey's mind from wandering and his will from wandering; being appointed as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and having the offices of Tranquility and Peace of Mind are to teach him to be calm and peaceful."

These are all beneficial to spiritual practice, but the problem is—

What is the relationship between the Jade Emperor and the Monkey King? And why should the Monkey King be so devoted to the Jade Emperor because of his favor?

# Chapter 573 Worldly Mind and Spiritual Mind

"Isn't that a bit too worldly for you?"

Zhang Zhiwei was taken aback. He had thought Jiang Liu was going to use Journey to the West to talk about the principles of cultivation, but instead he was talking about secular things.

"Oh, so you're acting like some high-ranking official, taking photos with leaders outside the mountain gate, like you're above worldly affairs," Jiang Liu chuckled sarcastically.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiwei blushed, but he was speechless. He could only turn a blind eye and say, "Ahem, I was just being kind and approachable."

"Ah!"

Jiang Liu smiled, but didn't dwell on it. He simply said, "Talking only about cultivation is rather boring."

In the story, why doesn't the monkey restrain his restless mind and calm his spirit just because the Jade Emperor treats him well?

From the monkey's perspective, he stormed the Dragon Palace and caused trouble in the Underworld, yet not only was he not punished, he was even recruited to become an official in Heaven. What would he think?

After defeating the Giant Spirit God and Prince Nezha, the Jade Emperor summoned him to Heaven and actually bestowed upon him the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven. What would he think then?

Spoiling him so much, even indulging him, only gave him one thought: the reason he could gain so much benefit after making so many mistakes was because he was strong! He was amazing! He was incredibly awesome!

Therefore, everyone has to give in to him, indulge him, and go along with him!

However, from the Jade Emperor's perspective, his granting of titles such as Bi Ma and Qi Tian were in line with the Way of Heaven, the principles of cultivation, and the unity of Heaven and Man, achieving the maximum in cultivation through minimal action.

All nine orifices can lead to immortality.

Since Sun Wukong has already cultivated a body that is neither born nor dies, in the eyes of cultivators, he is capable of being taught and enlightened.

Therefore, he heeded Taibai's advice and summoned him to Heaven to serve as the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, thus averting the calamities of war and hoping he could restrain his restless mind and unbridled will. Later, he bestowed upon him the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven, a title without real power, hoping he would find peace and tranquility.

"What are you trying to say?" Zhang Zhiwei frowned, puzzled.

"This means that the two people are not on the same logical line at all!"

Seeing that Zhang Zhiwei seemed to have stayed on the mountain for too long, or perhaps he was simply unable to truly see people as ordinary, or perhaps his primordial spirit was too "pure," Jiang Liu couldn't help but sigh and said, "Although the monkey has cultivated an immortal body, he still has a worldly heart. He is not greedy for money, but he wants fame and fortune, and only for fame and fortune, and to enjoy the praise of others, rather than to use fame and fortune to do something worthwhile."

Just like the stable boy, did he only find out he was a horse breeder after working for more than half a month? It's just that he got angry after finding out that being a horse breeder was a minor official position.

The Jade Emperor, however, tried to persuade Sun Wukong, who was driven by worldly desires, with principles of cultivation… Isn't that just the wrong medicine for the wrong ailment?

Zhang Zhiwei was taken aback, truly not expecting this explanation.