From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

"Master, are you asking me to go farming?"

Wugensheng could not believe it.

"Only immortals, Buddhas, and saints can achieve immortality, but immortals, Buddhas, and saints are all made by humans. You haven't even figured out how to be a human being yet, so how can you achieve immortality?"

The patriarch countered with a question.

Wugensheng asked in confusion, "Master, why don't I know how to behave?"

"How old was your daughter when you came to this spiritual altar?" the patriarch asked.

Around six or seven years old.

Wugensheng replied.

"At what age did you raise your daughter before leaving home?"

The patriarch asked again.

"Never raised a child."

Wugensheng was a little embarrassed. Seeing the disdainful looks from Gao Gen and the others, he quickly added, "Master, as the saying goes, loyalty and filial piety are difficult to balance since ancient times."

Although I am not loyal to the emperor, I travel extensively and often visit him in private.

Upon hearing this,

The other fellow disciples all seemed lost in thought, for they too had abandoned their families, wives, children, and parents, to seek the Dao in the mountains, hoping to become immortals.

Looking back now, it was indeed unfilial.

"You only care about your own pleasure and don't care about the lives of others. That's not a good thing."

The patriarch shook his head and waved his hand, saying, "Go to the back mountain to cultivate the fields and farm them yourself."

From this day forward, you will be responsible for your own food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.

You must not steal, rob, or accept help from others.

If you cross the line, I will know, and I will extract your soul, banishing it to the deepest hell, where you will never be reborn!

In an instant, Wugensheng was struck as if by lightning. His whole body trembled, and he knelt down on the ground, crying out, "Master! Master! If you want to kill me, I will accept it, but why torture me like this?"

Even if I cultivate fertile land and sow rice seeds in a day, they won't grow immediately!

I was raised by an old Taoist priest surnamed Feng when I was young, and I also learned the art of Qi cultivation. I can survive for a month without food or water, but waiting for the rice seeds to grow will take at least three months. You're trying to starve me to death!"

The patriarch laughed and said, "You won't starve, you won't starve. There's a peach orchard on the back mountain, and the fruit is ripe right now. That should be enough to keep you going for a season."

If you don't like the food, you can go down the mountain to perform for money.

"..."

Wugensheng had nothing more to say. He put on his straw hat, raincoat, and hoe, and was about to go to the back mountain when he felt a great earthquake and the mountains shaking.

Stepping outside the classroom, they saw two golden beams shooting straight towards the Dipper Palace. Terrified, they hurriedly ran back into the classroom with their fellow disciples and asked the patriarch, "Patriarch, what is the reason for this?"

"Master! Golden light is shooting through the heavens! The sky is about to collapse!"

The boy beside him also ran in and said.

"Do not worry, it is not that demons are using supernatural powers, but that the spiritual root since the beginning of heaven and earth has been born."

That spiritual root—

It is precisely the restless mind of the river.

Since Jiang Liu attained enlightenment and received guidance from Shakyamuni, his consciousness transformed into Bodhi, and his desire became Tathagata. The three corpse gods were also completely cleansed of their impurities and transformed into the Three Pure Ones, becoming the Primordial Beginning and residing in the Upper Elixir; becoming the Spiritual Treasure and residing in the Middle Elixir; becoming the Morality and residing in the Lower Elixir, thus opening up three more heavens and uniting with the Three Realms, Nine Lands, and Thirty-Three Heavens, which together are called the Thirty-Six Heavens.

Therefore, the Monkey King, the Horse of the Mind, the Golden Duke, the Wooden Mother, and the Yellow Woman chose to be reborn into the world to cultivate themselves anew, to reenact the Journey to the West, and to help Jiang Liu completely control the cultivation of that thousand-year-old agricultural civilization.

Upon hearing this, Wugensheng was completely dumbfounded.

Is this really the world of Journey to the West?

"Stop having wild thoughts, go and cultivate yourself."

The seven were lost in thought, but how could they escape the discerning eye of the patriarch? A rebuke startled them from their slumber.

After the sermon ended, the crowd dispersed, some practicing Qi, some going down the mountain to buy supplies, and some doing laundry and cooking. Everyone seemed to have a fulfilling time. Only Wugensheng went to the back mountain, carrying a hoe to cultivate the farmland.

That's how it is.

Three hundred years have passed quietly.

Some disciples went down the mountain, while others went up. Amidst the comings and goings, apart from the boys who served the patriarch, Wugensheng and six others were the oldest "elders".

However, in terms of seniority, for three hundred years, they have always been of the Ying generation.

Without him.

Those who become disciples have a secular name, so the patriarch will not give them a courtesy name, but will still accept them as disciples. Therefore, for three hundred years, the generation with the courtesy name Ying has been the same.

Feng Tianyang, Wei Shufen, Zhang Dong, Zhao Pingshan, and Zhao Tianhai completely mastered the techniques, methods, and minor arts created by their ancestor. Gao Gen immersed himself in the Scripture Pavilion for three hundred years, mastering all the four categories of classics: techniques, flow, stillness, and movement. Based on the Qi Flow technique, he created his own method called "One Qi Hunyuan Mysterious Skill," which was quite similar to Jiang Liu's original Eight-Nine Mysterious Skill.

And what about those without roots?

After cultivating the land behind the mountain, he truly became a farmer. For three hundred years, he never slacked off. In his spare time, he would listen to the patriarch preach, and also chop wood, carry water, and do laundry. He was incredibly diligent.

During this period, the patriarch led the boy to the back mountain to observe the farmland every year and instructed Wugensheng in cultivation, thus transmitting the four words "manifest", "secret", "perfect" and "comprehensive".

However, it took Wugensheng three hundred years to fully understand and learn this true secret.

This day.

As usual, the Patriarch was preaching when the falling flowers suddenly stopped. He said to the boy beside him, "A seeker of the Way has come outside. Go and bring him in."

The boy descended from the Jade Terrace, went out, and returned, leading a handsome and extraordinary golden monkey.

That monkey was none other than the Mind Monkey of the River Flow. Now that it had entered the womb, it had forgotten its past life, but its eyes remained clear and bright, seeing the face of the Patriarch:

Emptiness and stillness naturally change with nature; true nature allows itself to be as it is.

With a dignified body that lives as long as the heavens, a great Dharma Master who has enlightened his mind through countless eons.

He immediately recognized the deity and bowed deeply, his excitement overflowing. He cried out, "Master! Master! Your disciple pays homage with utmost sincerity! Pays homage with utmost sincerity!"

"Don't rush to bow. Tell me your hometown and name first, then you can bow."

The patriarch smiled.

“Master, your disciple is from the Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain in Aolai Country.”

The monkey told him the truth.

But the patriarch was furious and scolded, "Get him out of here! This is a cunning scoundrel. Aolai Kingdom is in Dongsheng Shenzhou, which is separated from this place by two great seas and a Xiniuhezhou. How did you get here?"

"Master! Your disciple is an honest person and never lies!"

The monkey immediately knelt down and explained how he had gone through countless hardships to get here, then said, "Master! Master! Please accept me as your disciple!"

"Since you are so devout, I will accept you as my disciple. May I ask your name?"

“Master, I am without temperament. If someone scolds me, I will not be angry; if someone hits me, I will not be resentful. I will just apologize,” the monkey said with a smile.

"That's not your surname. What are your parents' last names?"

Chapter 1308 "Refusing to Learn This and Refusing to Learn That"

Upon seeing the Monkey King come to seek apprenticeship, Wu Gensheng, Gao Gen, Zhang Dong, Feng Tianyang, Wei Shufen, Zhao Pingshan, and Zhao Tianhai suddenly realized that they had been here for three hundred years. Their innate spiritual roots had been developed, and they had come to Lingshan Fangcun Mountain and Xieyue Sanxing Cave to learn the Dao.

In this way—

Aren't they the future senior brothers and sisters of the Monkey King?

"Master, I have no parents."

"That's what the monkey said."

"Why are there no parents? Could it be a spiritual root that grew from a tree?"

The patriarch asked with a smile.

"I dare not lie to my master, I am not a spiritual root that grows on a tree, but a monkey born from a stone," the monkey told the truth.

"It is also a spiritual root born from heaven and earth."

The patriarch smiled and said, “In that case, I will give you a surname. I observe that you look like a monkey. If you want to cultivate, you must go to the animal realm.”

The character "胡" is not good. In ancient times, it meant old age, and "月" meant yin (the moon). Old yin cannot nurture and transform.

The character "孙" (Sun) contains the radical for "child" (子), which aligns perfectly with the nature of an infant. So, you shall have the surname "孙" (Sun), shall you?

"Thank you, Master!"

Sun Wukong laughed loudly, "From this day forward, my surname will be Sun!"

Then he pleaded, "Master, I have a surname, but it is not good to be nameless. Why don't you give me a name?"

“Our school has twelve characters: Guang, Da, Zhi, Hui, Zhen, Ru, Xing, Hai, Ying, Wu, Yuan, Jue. You belong to the Wu generation.”

The patriarch pondered for a moment and said, "In the beginning, there was no nature; to break through the stubborn void, one must awaken to emptiness. So I will call you Wukong, shall I?"

"Thank you, Master!"

Now that Wukong had a name, he couldn't contain himself. He danced with joy, his voice booming and echoing throughout the area, shouting, "I have a name!"

Hahaha!

My name is Sun Wukong!

Hahaha! "

After his excitement subsided, Sun Wukong bowed to his patriarch again, sincerely paying homage and saying, "Thank you, Master, for bestowing upon me this name!"

"Master."

Just then, Wei Shufen asked, "If the character 'Hu' is considered bad, does that mean that all people with the surname 'Hu' in the world today are uneducated?"

"What name do you want to give him?"

The patriarch was also kind.

“Master, Lao Yin is Hu, and the Supreme Lord once transformed Hu into Buddha, so he can be surnamed Hu. As for the given name, we can take the two characters ‘Yuanjue’ and call him Hu Yuanjue… but that doesn’t sound very good. How about we split the character Hu and take Gu Yue as the compound surname, and call him Gu Yue Yuanjue.”

Wei Shufen spoke with great logic and clarity.