The Monkey King

In the quiet courtyard, the breeze blew slowly by, raising the gray hair on the temples.

Youquanzi stretched out a hand towards the stone chair next to him and said with a slight smile: "Sit down. Today, it is rare for two junior brothers to come to my Youquan Valley. As a senior brother, I called you together. It’s good for the brothers and sisters to get together.”

Holding a crutch, Hou Hou stood in the elegant courtyard, bowed slightly and said, "Hello, three senior brothers."

"Yeah." Dan Tongzi yawned lazily, held his chin, pointed at the stone chair and said, "Sit down, don't stand."

"Sit down." Qingyunzi also said.

The monkey walked over step by step with a cane and sat on the stone chair.

Youquanzi opened his sleeves, made a cup of tea, pushed it over, and said softly: "We at Xianyue Sanxing Cave, maybe it's been a long time since we have so many brothers and sisters gathered together."

The monkey held the tea cup with both hands, blew away the hot mist with a gentle breath, and glanced at Qingyunzi and Dantongzi from time to time.

Dantongzi rolled his eyes at Youquanzi: "It's not that we didn't get together, it's that we didn't get together with you. Hey, I said you haven't been back to Guanli for fifty or sixty years, right? Is it time to go back?"

"I went back more than ten years ago, and you happened to be away from the temple." Youquanzi said calmly.

"More than ten years? Hey." Dantongzi raised his head and swallowed a large cup of tea in one gulp, wiped his mouth and pushed the cup in front of Youquanzi: "Although Dantong, I am a practitioner of Taoism and am a rough man, but I will never forget this respect for my master. I will definitely go back to see my master in three or four years at most."

Youquanzi smiled, picked up the teapot, filled his teacup, and pushed it back: "I won't be able to see the master when I go back. It doesn't matter whether I go back or not. I'll just contact you on the jade slip."

"Tsk!" Dan Tongzi frowned immediately: "That's because you didn't heal yourself. Even if you can't see, you should let the master see you. At least let the master know that he still has a disciple like you."

As he said that, he glanced at the monkey and said, "What about you? How often do you plan to go back?"

Monkey smiled awkwardly, lowered his eyes, held the teacup, and did not answer.

"I will naturally go back when it's time to go back." Youquanzi interrupted while stroking his long beard.

Qingyunzi took a deep breath, casually took the long stick wrapped in linen that was leaning on a pillar nearby, and handed it to the monkey: "Master asked me to give it to you."

He took the hand, untied the rope and spread it out. Inside was a brand new cloud-walking stick, which felt much heavier than the previous one.

"Thank you, Master, for me." Monkey cupped his hands and said, "Did Master say anything else?"

"Master said that the Supreme Master has left. If you want to go back to Guanli to practice, you can do so at any time."

"Anything else?"

Qingyunzi shook his head slowly.

The monkey blinked, held the stick in his hand, and hugged it in his arms: "Then, thank the master for me."

Qingyunzi sighed lightly and said: "It's better if you don't go back, it will save the senior brother from worrying about his little apprentice Feng Ling all day long."

"Is the wind chime okay?" Monkey lowered his head and asked.

"It's very good. You have practiced hard and made great progress. But she doesn't know about you yet. Now she always comes over to ask me if Yue Chao has returned to Guanli and whether your reply has arrived."

Monkey nodded slightly, pursed his lips and said with a wink, "Very good, that's good."

After a moment of silence, Qingyunzi stared at the monkey and asked, "Isn't it difficult for you to be out here? Are you really not going back?"

The monkey lowered his head and raised his head again, repeating this process several times without speaking. Holding the walking stick, he blinked, his eyes slightly red.

"I understand." Qingyunzi laughed dryly, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

After hesitating for a long time, Monkey opened his mouth and said: "Fifth Senior Brother, Junior Brother would like to ask a question."

"Say it."

"Why, I didn't do anything, Taishang Laojun will keep an eye on me."

The small pavilion suddenly became quiet.

Dantongzi and Qingyunzi both looked at the monkey in silence, while Youquanzi still closed his eyes and remained silent.

After a long time, Qingyunzi sighed softly: "You did it."

Turning his head, he glanced at Youquanzi and said, "You have been here three hundred years ago, right?"

The monkey's heart trembled slightly, and he couldn't help but clenched the cloud stick in his hand tighter.

With a long sigh, Qingyunzi said slowly: "My cultivation is still shallow, and I can't do things like calculating the way of heaven. But the second senior brother can. Previously, several of our senior brothers were very confused as to why the master wanted to take you in. And at first he didn't You were so determined to accept, but then you accepted it again. Your character... is actually not very suitable for cultivating immortals. This is not like the master's style."

After a slight pause and stroking his long beard, Qingyunzi continued: "Later, Taishang Laojun sent people to follow Xianyue Sanxing Cave, and something happened to you again in Kunlun Mountain. Eighth Junior Brother came back in despair, and we I immediately realized that there was something wrong here. But the master kept silent, and the senior brother clearly knew but refused to say anything. So, we asked the second senior brother to waste some time on his cultivation to explore what is going on here."

After saying that, he lowered his head and smiled, then raised his head and glanced at Youquanzi.

Youquanzi smiled faintly, clasped his hands in front of the table, and sighed: "After calculation, I realized that you became a disciple three hundred years early. Moreover, the one who came was not the one who was supposed to come. I'm afraid you yourself He should know better than us."

The monkey clenched the walking stick in his hand tighter and tighter, and nodded blankly.

Youquanzi smiled helplessly: "So there is a problem. Do you know what the way of heaven is?"

The monkey looked up at him and shook his head.

"The way of heaven is the law of operation of this world. Everything that cannot be changed is collectively called the way of heaven. Therefore, the fifth level is called the way of heaven. Supreme Laojun and Tathagata Buddha are all practicing the way of heaven. They are the closest to heaven and earth. People who follow the law, Taishang Laojun masters the law of 'inaction' and understands the core of the way of heaven. Tathagata Buddha masters the law of 'selflessness' and incarnates into nothingness."

"But the way of heaven is not just 'inaction' and 'selflessness', it also includes everything that must happen and everything that shouldn't happen. Buddhism says that there are causes and faults. Once the cause is true, the result is inevitable. "Youquanzi shook his sleeves and stood up. A fallen leaf fell in the courtyard and was caught between his two fingers: "Just like this fallen leaf, when it will grow and when it will wither, it has already been determined. This is also the case. It is the way of heaven. Even your apprenticeship time is included in the way of heaven."

"You mean, because I became a disciple early, that's why..."

"To be precise, it's not just about becoming a disciple. Let me give you an example. If God decrees that a person cannot die, but he dies, do you know what will happen?"

The monkey stared at him silently.

Youquanzi smiled slightly and said: "If he dies, then his descendants will be gone. Assuming that each of his descendants originally gave birth to two descendants, then his life and death will change into countless generations after dozens of generations. The existence of human beings. Similarly, if a person dies but lives, and should not have descendants, but does give birth to descendants, the result will be a change in the blood of countless people dozens of generations later. This is just an extreme As an example, what I want to say is that in the trajectory of heaven, as long as there is a slight change, even if I reach out and pick a leaf that should not have fallen at this time, it will still affect the pattern of heaven and earth tens of millions of years later."

As he said that, he laughed dryly again: "However, there are many people who want to change the way of heaven, and there are also many people who can measure the way of heaven to a certain extent, but no matter how hard they try, it is impossible. Because they themselves are people of the way of heaven, so Even the way they deduce the way of heaven is already destined by the way of heaven itself. In the end, it is just a meaningless act."

The monkey narrowed his eyes slightly and asked slowly: "But I am not a man of heaven, so everything I do will change, right?"

"right."

"The way of heaven cannot tolerate any change?"

"No." Youquanzi rubbed the dead leaves in his hands and waved his hands: "The way of heaven allows changes, and the way of heaven is constantly correcting itself. However, the person who controls the way of heaven does not allow the way of heaven to change, because if the way of heaven changes, it is not under his control. The way of heaven. In other words, he can no longer master the way of heaven. So, do you understand?"

Holding Xingyun Stick tightly in his arms, Monkey slowly lowered his head, pursed his lips, and thought for a long time: "So, he must make everything return to its original position?"

"It's not exactly in its original position. There are many layers of heavenly paths. There are several established trajectories, but everyone except the Supreme Being can only calculate one of them. Therefore, he has many ways to deal with it. It’s just that he must handle you carefully. Because you are involved in a major event three hundred years from now, the entire impact is unimaginable. Moreover, you are the source, and you can cause the greatest damage to the way of heaven, with every move you make. , can cause disaster. What he needs to do is to stop your destruction, destroy all factors that can cause you to deviate, and then reset your trajectory."

In the quiet courtyard, the wind blew slowly across the monkey's cheeks, stroking the fur.

He lowered his head and rubbed the complicated lines on the cloud stick with his hands. He looked at it for a long time and was fascinated.

After a while, he raised his head, took a deep breath, pursed his lips, and asked: "Master has known all this for a long time, right? He didn't accept me at first because he was afraid of being contaminated by Karma. Later, he accepted me because he wanted to add fuel to the fire. , let me break the way of heaven. This must be the master’s plan, right?”