I start by accepting Sun Wukong as my disciple and reshape the Journey to the West

Chapter 185 Seeking Truth: Buddhism for Me

"Who is spying on me?" Liu Boqin suddenly looked behind him, but by then Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had already withdrawn his gaze. Liu Boqin pressed down with one hand, and the tiger and python beside him were all suppressed into the ground.

He slowly turned around and looked at the dense jungle.

"Come out!" Liu Boqin's voice was extremely deep, and as soon as he finished speaking, echoes reverberated through the dense forest.

But that was all; apart from the echo, no one came out.

"If you don't come out now, you'll die!"

Liu Boqin's voice grew increasingly muffled, even carrying a hint of murderous intent.

He was, after all, a brute who had fought against Mara, and his killing intent was almost tangible.

"I'm coming out, I'm coming out, don't kill me!" Finally, a voice came from above the ground.

Immediately, a pile of fallen leaves was pushed aside, and Tang Sanzang crawled out from among them.

"Who are you? Why are you spying on me?" Liu Boqin frowned.

"This humble monk is a pilgrim from the Great Tang Dynasty in the East, named Tang Sanzang. I did not intend to spy on you, but I have been hiding here all along. There are too many jackals and tigers in this forest. I am just an ordinary mortal, unable to move an inch. Hiding among the leaves may be shameful, but at least I can survive!"

Tang Seng rattled off a whole bunch of things in one breath, and Liu Boqin stared at him for a long time.

"The pilgrim from the Tang Dynasty in the East, the Venerable Xuanzang?"

"Exactly!"

“It’s really unnecessary for the Golden Cicada to reside in your body. No wonder the Sage wanted to plunder that power,” Liu Boqin murmured.

"Brave warrior, what did you say?" Tang Sanzang didn't hear clearly and subconsciously asked again.

“It’s nothing. Come with me. I have been waiting for you here for a long time on the orders of the sage. The reason I have been going deep into the forest all this time is to find you. I didn’t expect you to be hiding here.”

"A sage? Is it the Sage of Xuantian?" Upon hearing this, Tang Sanzang immediately went to Liu Boqin's side.

"Hmm!" Liu Boqin didn't want to talk to this Tang Seng who looked completely unmotivated, not even for a second.

"What else did the sage say? Did the sage leave me any magical treasures? Can I...?"

Tang Sanzang asked many questions along the way, but unfortunately, he didn't get an answer from Liu Boqin for any of them.

Finally arriving at the Liu family's house, Liu Boqin casually took out a piece of deer leg and began cooking. The rich aroma of the meat made Tang Seng's mouth water.

"A monk reacting to meat? Are you even a monk?"

"I haven't eaten for seven days! It's normal to have some reaction, right?" Tang Sanzang showed no remorse whatsoever.

Gumbling.

Tang Sanzang drank a ladle of cold water in large gulps.

"Does the brave warrior have a vegetarian diet?"

Upon hearing Tang Sanzang's words, Liu Boqin's expression softened somewhat. He put the deer leg aside and began preparing vegetarian food.

"Hmm?" Tang Seng was just saying it casually, never expecting that Liu Boqin would actually set up a separate kitchen for him.

Tang Sanzang quickly gathered around, and seeing that there was indeed not a trace of meat in the pots and pans, he was dumbfounded.

"Did you prepare these kitchen utensils especially for me, brave warrior?"

It's no wonder Tang Sanzang had such thoughts. After all, in this desolate wilderness, having even a set of cooking utensils is already quite good, yet Liu Boqin actually had one on hand.

"It's for myself; I only recently entered the Buddhist order."

Liu Boqin made no attempt to hide anything and began cooking earnestly.

After a long while, a sumptuous vegetarian meal was served on the table.

Tang Sanzang swallowed hard, his mouth watering repeatedly. "Holy Monk, please eat!"

As soon as Liu Boqin spoke, Tang Seng picked up his chopsticks and began to eat heartily.

He was truly starving. You see, since he separated from the Twenty-Four Ministers, he had only been able to survive on wild fruits and spring water, and had rarely eaten a proper meal.

Liu Boqin originally wanted to start eating, but seeing Tang Seng's appearance, he finally gave up the idea of ​​eating together and even thoughtfully pushed his own bowl of rice in front of Tang Seng.

He picked up a scroll of scripture and began to read it. The moment the sound of his recitation reached him, Tang Sanzang's desire to eat diminished by more than half.

"This brave warrior can actually recite scriptures? Has he really entered the Buddhist order?" Tang Sanzang was somewhat incredulous. After all, Liu Boqin's appearance was truly intimidating.

Not to mention, he personally witnessed Liu Boqin fighting those tigers and pythons, which was extremely ferocious.

Liu Boqin did not respond to Tang Sanzang's question, but instead said in a deep voice, "You have been hungry for too long and are eating too fast. You may die from overeating!"

Forehead!
Tang Sanzang swallowed the food in his mouth, and his eating speed slowed down even more.

"Thank you for the reminder, brave warrior."

"Eat up. After you've eaten your fill, I'll send you on your way."

Huh? Tang Sanzang's eyes widened in fear. Wasn't Liu Boqin a Buddhist? Why was he going to kill him too?
"A brave warrior? If you had told me earlier that this was my last meal before I was beheaded, I wouldn't have eaten it."

Liu Boqin frowned and put down the scriptures: "Weren't you going to the Western Paradise?"

"Yes! But I didn't intend to die," Tang Sanzang replied, sticking out his neck.

Liu Boqin was truly helpless. He couldn't help but pinch his brow: "I meant sending you onto the path of the pilgrimage."

"Oh, you should have said so earlier." Tang Sanzang picked up his bowl and started eating again.

How much of the scripture do you still remember?

"That's all. The scriptures that should have been stored in my body are gone. One of them died, and the other fell into a coma. As for me, I'm just a half-baked mortal."

Liu Boqin narrowed his eyes slightly as he listened to Tang Seng's words: "You seem quite proud of this?"

"Otherwise what? Brave warrior, you don't know, the two beings in my body were said to be invincible in ancient times, but so what? One died, and the other was sealed away. It was I who survived."

At this point, Tang Sanzang put down his bowl and chopsticks, put one foot on the stool, and hugged his thigh with one arm: "Brave warrior, let me tell you, I've come to understand something during this time. Sometimes, fighting to the death is useless. Under the influence of the general trend, those who can live will live, and those who cannot will die."

Tang Sanzang wiped his mouth, his eyes shining even brighter: "To put it bluntly, a person's fate is predetermined. Fighting to the death is useless. What is success? As long as you're always at the card table, whether you're strong or weak, being able to stay at the card table is also a kind of success."

"Take those two inside me as an example. I outlasted them both, so I'm successful, don't you think!"

Liu Boqin stared at Tang Sanzang for a long time, then nodded: "Makes sense!"

"Right? I understand this principle, so when I felt I couldn't cross the Two Realms Mountain, I hid myself. Then, didn't the general trend push you in front of me? You can protect me for a while."

"This is fate! It was fate all along. I hid under such thick leaves, and those jackals and tigers didn't find me, but the brave man did. What does that mean?"

"What?" Liu Boqin asked subconsciously.

"Fate! Didn't I tell you? Why can't you understand?"

Seeing Tang Sanzang's smug look, Liu Boqin couldn't help but say, "But this is only the first trial, arranged by the sage. If you want to reach that high position and stand at the card table, you need to improve yourself."

"How can I improve? I only have one horse, two pieces of luggage, and I'm all alone. I do want to improve, but I need the right opportunity and someone to teach me!" Tang Sanzang said irritably.

“I’ll teach you!” Liu Boqin said earnestly.

"Do you even deserve to stand at that card table?" Tang Sanzang said irritably.

"Do you believe me that I am the reincarnation of the one who died within you?"

boom!
Tang Sanzang knelt directly in front of Liu Boqin, tears welling up in his eyes: "Please, Buddha, teach me!"

(End of this chapter)