Simultaneous travel: City, infinite evolution

Chapter 440 Becoming an Apprentice of Patriarch Bodhi [Seeking monthly votes and recommendations]

"Yes."

"Successful, initiating time travel."

With a whoosh, Silly Girl led Chen Hong into the time tunnel and began to travel upstream in time.

In the time tunnel, lightning often strikes down.

If you are struck by the lightning bolt, you risk being blasted out of the time tunnel and falling into an unknown point in time.

But with Chen Hong operating the protective shield, even if someone gets struck by lightning, they'll be completely unharmed.

He wanted the silly girl to look at him with adoration.

Chen Hong couldn't help but sigh, after all, the silly girl was just a newborn baby, and she was really quite innocent.

No wonder she fell in love with Lu Xiaoqian in the original timeline, and the two started a human-machine romance.

But Chen Hong had no interest in a human-machine relationship.

Falling in love with your phone is an extraordinary level of dedication, comparable to Ning Caichen becoming a ghost, Xu Xian becoming a grass python, or Luo Shiyi becoming a reptile.

It's outrageous.

Chen Hong shuddered.

"Hey... silly girl, life is long. You need to see and learn more. When you have more life experience, you will find that some of the things you used to admire and care about are actually nothing."

The world is just a giant makeshift stage; all the prestige, the big shots, the geniuses—in the end, they're all just like that.

Under the immense power of time, everything is nothing more than fleeting smoke.

Love, too, is like that.

The silly girl stared with her big, innocent eyes, blinking repeatedly.

"Brother Chen Hong, what you said is so profound."

The silly girl seemed to understand the meaning of these words, but she also seemed not to understand their deeper significance.

very strange.

Are all human conversations this...philosophical?

Seeing the silly girl's adorable, half-understanding expression, Chen Hong coughed twice.

"Ahem, you're still young."

When you grow up and experience more things, you will naturally understand.

Don't rush, your emotional and philosophical understanding abilities are actually not much worse than those of humans.

If I'm not mistaken, you do possess some kind of spirit, only it's different from the human soul.

"Oh." The silly girl nodded as if she understood, but didn't delve into it. She simply took Chen Hong's arm and continued flying, traversing the time tunnel.

However, the corners of her mouth occasionally turned up, as if she was in a good mood.

Perhaps for her, this was also a novel life experience, allowing her to feel a mysterious and inexplicable sense of happiness.

At least, there was a strange sense of pleasure that made her smile involuntarily.

Occasionally, images flash through the time tunnel, scenes from the past that occasionally appear and are captured by Chen Hong's perspective.

Chen Hong was observing and analyzing this spacetime channel, trying to understand its structure, principles and essence.

Unfortunately, the time was still too short. Chen Hong could only tell that this time tunnel was related to data and seemed to be a semi-natural, semi-artificial product.

However, the reason why it connects the past, present, and future, allowing people to safely traverse the river of time without suffering any backlash, remains unclear.

"We've arrived, Brother Chen Hong."

Soon, at a previous point in time, Silly Girl led Chen Hong out of the time tunnel and landed in the world of that point in time.

"Is this the Cave of the Crescent Moon and Three Stars?"

Chen Hong saw only an ancient cave dwelling with a stone tablet in front of it.

The words “Lingtai Fangcun Mountain, Xieyue Sanxing Cave” are engraved on it.

Exotic flowers adorn the cave entrance, and fragrant herbs scent the air by the bridge.

The rocky cliffs rise abruptly, covered in lush green moss; the hanging walls are draped with long, verdant lichen.

The cry of cranes is often heard, and the flight of phoenixes is frequently seen.

"What a blessed land!"

Where had Chen Hong ever seen such a grotto-heaven, so full of spiritual energy and auspicious signs?

With each breath, the Six Treasures Immortal Thief circulated naturally, and I felt completely refreshed.

The body's vitality surges, increases dramatically, and multiplies.

It's like being immersed in an ocean of vitality, swimming freely and feeling incredibly joyful.

It's like a traveler who has been thirsty in the desert for seven days suddenly finding a life-saving spring.

The spiritual energy was forming a vortex around him.

Upon first encountering genuine spiritual energy, Chen Hong carefully savored the spiritual essence within this active energy that was highly suitable for living beings, continuously analyzing its nature.

The nurturing effect of spirituality on the soul and spirit is incomparable to that of ordinary energy.

If sunlight tastes bland and tasteless, then spiritual energy tastes like a delicacy, and is very nourishing.

"An immortal! An immortal!"

A monkey with bright eyes jumped out, interrupting Chen Hong's thoughts, and bowed to him.

Chen Hong chuckled and said, "I'm not some kind of immortal."

"The true immortal is the master of this cave."

"I've come to seek a master and learn the arts of immortality. What are you doing here?"

The monkey's eyes lit up immediately. "I've also come to seek immortality! I've also come to seek immortality!"

The monkey jumped around excitedly, feeling as if it had met a kindred spirit and found its tribe.

The mortals in Jambudvipa are all mediocre and busy pursuing wealth and beauty; none of them understand the monkey. He's almost suffocated by this.

Who is making noise outside the cave?

Then a child's innocent voice rang out.

Then the door creaked open.

A Taoist boy with unusual features walked to the door and glanced at the strange trio of Chen Hong, Monkey, and Silly Girl.

"Were you the ones making noise outside the cave?"

Chen Hong stepped forward and calmly bowed.

“My dear celestial child, this monkey and I have heard that there is a great master in the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars, so we have come to seek his guidance and learn his skills.”

As for this young lady, she is a relative of mine and an attendant.

The fairy boy suddenly realized, "So it was the two of you."

“This morning during the morning prayers, the Patriarch said that two seekers of the Way would come today, one human and one monkey. He asked me to open the door and introduce you, and it turns out to be the two of you.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Hong's eyes flashed with a sharp light. It seemed that Patriarch Bodhi had foreseen his arrival.

Those who can predict the future are just a nuisance.

Being able to foresee his own existence, it seems that this Bodhi Patriarch is no ordinary person.

Could it be a projection of the Bodhi Patriarch from the real Journey to the West world?
It doesn't matter, Bodhi Patriarch probably doesn't mean any harm. I can just learn all of Bodhi Patriarch's skills.

"Come in, I will take you to see the patriarch."

Chen Hong and the other two followed them inside and arrived at the place where the patriarch was preaching.

The patriarch sat upright on the jade platform, with thirty little immortals standing on either side below, and the disciples gathered around him, listening attentively to his teachings.

Bodhi Patriarch opened his Dharma Eye, glanced at Sun Wukong, and then gave Chen Hong and Sha Niu a meaningful look.

Then, with a flick of his whisk, he asked the question he already knew the answer to:

"Where are you from? Tell me your hometown and name."

The monkey excitedly bowed and said, "This disciple is from the Water Curtain Cave of Flower and Fruit Mountain in Aolai Country of Dongsheng Shenzhou. I have no name or surname."

Chen Hong also bowed, saying, "Disciple Chen Hong is from Beiping, China."

The Bodhi Patriarch waved his sleeve dramatically, "Get them out! They're all charlatans and charlatans, how could they possibly cultivate any spiritual fruit!"

The monkey immediately became anxious, "This disciple is an honest person and would not dare to deceive the patriarch!"

Chen Hong: "Me too."

The patriarch flicked his whisk and leisurely spoke: "Since you are all honest, why do you talk about the Eastern Continent?"
That place is separated from me by two great seas and the continent of Jambudvipa. How did I manage to get here?

The monkey kowtowed and said, "This disciple has traveled across oceans and wandered the world for more than ten years before finally finding this place."

Chen Hongyi smoothed his sleeves and casually bowed:
"This disciple is destined to be with the patriarch."

"In the blink of an eye, we are standing in front of the ancestral master's cave, which shows that we are destined to meet."

Bodhi Patriarch immediately smiled.

"That's... interesting."

"Since we are destined to meet, you may become my disciples."

Bodhi Patriarch casually pointed to the ground, and two futons immediately appeared.

The meaning couldn't be clearer: the two of them became one of his countless disciples.

The patriarch accepted disciples in such a free and easy manner, teaching without discrimination.

If you love learning, you'll keep learning; if you can't bear the hardship anymore, and you crave worldly riches, you'll leave on your own.

Therefore, under the patriarch's tutelage, there are always disciples who go down the mountain to enter the world, and there are also those who go up the mountain to seek the Tao.

“In our sect, there are twelve characters used for naming, namely, the twelve characters of Great Wisdom, True Nature, and Perfect Enlightenment.”

"It's your turn in line, just in time for the word 'enlightenment'."

The patriarch pointed at the monkey and said, "Since you look like a monkey, I will give you the surname 'Sun' and the Dharma name 'Wukong'. What do you think?"

The monkey jumped for joy, exclaiming, "I have a name now!"

My master named me!

My name is Sun Wukong.

The patriarch smiled and stroked his beard, exuding gentle elegance, as he looked at Chen Hong.

"You have your own surname, you are entangled in karma, and you have many worldly connections. I fear that you may be plagued by demonic obstacles, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion, and unable to grasp the true meaning."

One must truly understand the meaning of "truth" to achieve this.

"How about I give you the Dharma name Wuzhen?"

"Thank you, Master, for bestowing this name upon me."

Chen Hong is quick to accept advice.

"Well, children can be taught."

The patriarch stroked his beard and smiled with great satisfaction.

Then, he continued to expound on the Great Way, occasionally interspersing some unorthodox methods.

Chen Hong listened with utter rapt attention.

This Bodhi Patriarch was truly extraordinary; he was a great master who had integrated the three teachings and was proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

He was proficient in even the various schools of thought and unorthodox arts.

His sermons were full of profound wisdom, revealing the true meaning of the Great Way.

Chen Hong, with his profound knowledge, understood most of it. He memorized the few obscure points he found, intending to apply them to other situations and gain a deeper understanding later.

After the patriarch finished speaking, he raised his hand to ask a question amidst the astonished gazes of the disciples. He drew inferences from one instance to another, reversing the Heavenly Stems and using difficult and flawed points to confuse the patriarch.

The patriarch was not annoyed, and patiently explained it to him.

It must be said that Chen Hong's comprehension, after being shared with many times, has already made him an outstanding person. His primordial spirit has already shown a trace of immortality, and its operation is extremely flexible. With the support of the calculation power of countless princes, he can always comprehend the mysteries expressed by the patriarch.

This caused Bodhi Patriarch's fondness for Chen Hong to increase rapidly.

After all, he had been preaching for many years, and most of his disciples were mediocre. In his eyes, those with natural talent were rather dull.

Compared to him, Chen Hong is much better.

Well, as expected, excellence is determined by comparison.

The only one present who could barely keep up with Chen Hong's pace was Sun Wukong, the monkey.

After the sermon ended, the patriarch instructed the celestial boy to lead Chen Hong and the other to the library to study and cultivate their character.

Chen Hong knew that Bodhi Patriarch would not easily impart the path to immortality.

Even a naturally born stone monkey like Sun Wukong had to be patiently tempered for seven whole years before he was willing to pass on his true skills.

I'm afraid I'll need to examine and hone myself for a period of time before I can truly impart the great Dao.

Chen Hong wasn't in a hurry; on the contrary, he was very excited.

Looking at the library, which was filled to capacity with books, one shelf after another, it was simply an endless sea of ​​books.

All the classic texts of the three religions, both lost and not lost, are available.

Chen Hong even saw two of the three lost classics, namely the Lianshan Yi and the Guicang Yi, as well as an ancient version of the Zhouyi.

There are 360 ​​unorthodox methods, techniques, and methods.

It has all kinds of magic and supernatural powers.

What profound knowledge and experience this is!
Chen Hong was absolutely ecstatic.

It's like a mouse that's fallen into a rice jar, it just wants to eat like crazy.

(End of this chapter)