After learning that Lu Yuan Bodhisattva possessed divine powers, the Bald Donkeys of Shaolin Temple uncharacteristically refrained from disturbing Simon. Perhaps they had already prepared themselves for this, as, apart from their perpetually smiling expressions, they showed no particularly strange behavior.
Sun Lichai was not subjected to her mother's post-settlement reckoning, because her reason for leaving home was, in Sun Wangshi's eyes, perfectly valid. How glorious it was to search for treasure for a Bodhisattva! Of course, the key was that the Bodhisattva liked it, and the Young man was not injured, which made everyone happy. Given her usual good behavior, this incident was lightly brushed aside.
What many found displeasing was that the cricket Sun Lichai offered to the Buddha Child was too ugly, even uglier than the ugliest inert object. Such a bug resting on the Bodhisattva's hand was a desecration.
Sun Lichai explained that this bug was a rare cricket king, the Eight Failures, but the old women and most of the monks did not believe her. Soon, rumors spread in Jianchuan Town that Sun Zhengdao's child was disrespectful to the Buddha Child, passing off an inert object as a treasure to fool people. When these words reached Sun Zhengdao's ears, the middle-aged man's face turned ashen. He grabbed his insect net and left, disappearing for two days and one night.
When Sun Zhengdao returned to the town, he had somehow caught three bodyguards. He then took his crickets and visited house after house, challenging those who had spoken ill of him to cricket fights. This continued for a week.
It was a crazy week, a week full of sensational topics. Sun Zhengdao's cricket fighting exploits swept through all the villages and towns within Mount Song like lightning, adding more fervor to the approaching busy farming season. Many people specifically rushed over to watch the excitement.
For a time, Jianchuan Town was bustling with an endless stream of people. The streets and alleys were packed with idlers, leading to the emergence of various small vendors: snack stalls, toy stands, opera stages, fortune tellers, ornament peddlers, and even shoe repairers, clothes menders, medicine sellers, and mole removers. All sorts of trades appeared, making it as lively as a temple fair.
Sun Zhengdao was The Core of this gathering. Each of his victories would trigger a burst of cheers. The crowd would grow noisy, shouting and laughing, and the losers found themselves particularly embarrassed in such circumstances.
The three bodyguards were almost invincible.
However, there are no ever-victorious generals in the world. Everyone thought Sun Zhengdao's glory would continue indefinitely, but the outcome was often unsatisfactory.
A week later, he lost. Such a defeat was, in fact, expected, and most people sighed with sympathy. The three crickets had truly done their best; no more could be asked of them.
The festivities ended, but the lingering idlers still gathered in Jianchuan Town. So, taking advantage of the fact that the harvest season had not yet arrived, everyone remained immersed in the atmosphere of entertainment.
After this incident, although no one dared to gossip about the Sun family again, Sun Zhengdao remained unwilling to accept defeat.
He placed the three injured crickets in the best cricket jar in his home and enshrined them in the town's ancestral hall.
Every day, he personally fed them, hoping they would recover their vitality.
But only one of them became lively and vigorous after a few days of recuperation; one even died.
It was too late to catch more crickets.
Sun Zhengdao's competition had come to a complete end.
...
Sun Lichai ran up to Simon, watched him slowly turn the pages of the scriptures, and suddenly said, "Lu Yuan, why didn't you let Eight Failures help my father?"
Simon didn't look up, "Not yet. If he's going to compete, he'll have to wait a year or two."
"In a year or two, everyone will have forgotten!"
"Forgetting doesn't mean it didn't happen. When it wins a few matches, people will remember."
Upon hearing this, Sun Lichai calmed down. She was a naturally patient person.
"Lu Yuan, you've grown so much."
"Indeed," Simon said absently.
Now, if he were said to be a seven or eight-year-old child, people would believe it. His development was no longer tied to his age, but more to his state of mind and the growth of the innate qi within him.
The people around him had grown accustomed to it, so no one paid much attention, only Sun Lichai had a curiosity about it.
"Lu Yuan, don't you want to go out for a walk?"
"Not really."
"I'll take you out, okay?"
Simon asked curiously, "Does your mother agree?"
"I'll ask the big monk to take us out."
Sun Lichai had now learned to find excuses.
Simon put down the Avatamsaka Sutra he was holding, "All right, let's go."
The one who took them out to play was Juezheng, one of the Eighteen Arhats, a very humorous dharma name.
He held a secret fifth-grade Red Ghost Staff in his hand and wore a simple training suit. The eight-foot-tall man honestly followed behind Simon and Sun Lichai.
He was the only one accompanying them openly, but Simon knew that dozens of monks were also watching his outing from the shadows.
Since arriving in the Taiwu World, it was also his first time admiring these magnificent mountains and rivers.
Leaving the detached courtyard, they walked up the mountain path paved with bluestone slabs, ascending upwards. The trees along the way were tall and steep, with evergreen pines and cypresses, their splendor undiminished even in the bleak autumn. The weather turned dry, and the moss on the ground looked listless, like mottled stains, losing some of its beauty.
The mountain path often had difficult sections. Simon specifically chose secluded ancient trails with few human traces. Juezheng occasionally had to go ahead and clear the way, his perfectly round Red Ghost Staff cutting with sharp force, clearing thorns and bushes with ease.
Sun Lichai quickly ran out of energy, so the monk carried her on his back. Simon, however, remained unfazed, always maintaining a steady pace.
The innate qi circulated within his body, making him feel as if he was being supported by this qi mass, light and airy. Every step he took was peaceful and leisurely; walking the mountain path required no effort at all, allowing him to fully appreciate the scenery without the embarrassment of being out of breath.
The highest point of Mount Shaoshi is Lian Tian Peak, which is exceptionally steep. The famous Xu Xiake was once trapped here and nearly lost his life.
However, Shaolin Temple monks have their own light-body techniques to climb perilous peaks, such as the mid-eighth-grade Gecko Wall-Climbing Skill. Even a vertical cliff can be ascended as long as there is a slight point of leverage.
Juezheng asked Simon if he wanted him to carry him up.
Simon patted the steep cliff in front of him. Grayish-white rocks were stacked, and withered grass grew in the crevices, looking exceptionally desolate. The path ended here; ordinary tourists would not climb this high.
The intense traces of multiple tectonic movements that occurred here had not faded even after hundreds of millions of years of wind and rain. Born from a magnificent mountain, perilous and strange, it was destined to imparteditor
System: impart its silent, unspeakable suffering to the world.
At least Simon felt a great deal of pain from this mountain.
He turned his head and asked Juezheng, "How do you plan to go up?"
Juezheng looked a bit troubled. He really wanted to persuade the Buddha Child to return to the detached courtyard, but he didn't dare. So, he explained the Gecko Wall-Climbing Skill in detail.
Internal energy starts from the Dantian, passes through the waist and abdomen, and reaches the heels, sticking to the wall as if rooted to the ground.
Simon lowered his head in thought for a moment, then suddenly lifted his foot and stepped straight onto the nearly vertical cliff face, which made the monk panic. Then he lifted his other foot and also stepped onto the rock face, standing upright, his body now completely parallel to the ground.
This display had completely surpassed the confines of the Gecko Wall-Climbing Skill.
A few gasps of surprise came from the nearby woods, followed by an old voice exclaiming, "Prajna wisdom is truly immeasurable!"
Simon seemed to sense something, looked up and back, and Zen Master Zixing's inverted old face was right before his eyes.
As an abbot, shouldn't you be staying in the temple?
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