Under One Person: My Name is Wan Jing Zhenjun

The so-called "Hero's Slope" sounds quite grand, but it is actually just an irregular stone staircase carved from rough stones.

At first glance, the stone steps not only have a large drop, but also lack guardrails on both sides, making them look far from safe.

Upon arriving at this place, Wang Xiao silently surveyed his surroundings.

Although the place is a bit run-down, to be honest, it is still a tourist attraction, so there are not only many tourists on both sides of the Hero's Slope, but also many vendors selling local snacks.

Of course, a large number of people isn't necessarily a good thing.

Wang Xiao glanced at the messy ground, which wasn't exactly littered with trash, shook his head, and sighed.

"Mount Song is one of the Five Sacred Mountains, how did it become like this?"

When I climbed the other five sacred mountains before, although they were all in varying degrees of disrepair, none of them were as dilapidated as Mount Song.

Therefore, after seeing the current situation inside Mount Song, Wang Xiao remained quite silent.

"There's nothing we can do about it." Li Ka sighed. "The situation here in Songshan is rather special. Compared to Songshan itself, which is one of the Five Sacred Mountains, the Shaolin Temple on the mountain is much more popular."

Therefore, most tourists and shopkeepers don't come to climb the mountain at all, but rather to visit the Shaolin Temple.

"But visiting Shaolin Temple doesn't warrant making such a mess on the mountain, does it? What's the connection between the two?" Wang Yan was also puzzled. "Besides, don't the monks care? Aren't their morning prayers supposed to involve cleaning the mountain gate?"

"Of course they'll manage it, but they can't possibly manage the whole mountain." Li Ka looked around helplessly. "Even if they were to sweep, they'd only sweep the area in front of the temples. Who would sweep the entire Songshan Mountain every day for no reason?"

Moreover, the reason this place is so chaotic, besides being related to the Shaolin Temple, is mainly because there is no unified management. As a result, the shops and vendors' buildings here are basically all illegal constructions, making it look messy and disorganized.

As he spoke, Li Ka kicked an empty bottle on the ground. "As for the trash all over the place, it's naturally because everyone only cares about their own area. They only make sure there's no trash near their own shops. As for the rest of the place... who cares?"

"Nobody's in charge of this place..." Upon hearing this, Wang Xiao finally understood. "No wonder."

No matter where you are, if no one maintains order, the environment will inevitably not be good. Therefore, Wang Xiao really understands the current situation.

"Let's keep climbing, maybe the situation will be better up there." After glancing around, Wang Xiao and Li Ka continued up the mountain.

After passing Hero's Slope, you'll reach the South Heavenly Gate.

Of course, just like the Hero's Slope we saw before, the only good thing about these attractions is their names.

Seeing the single-story stone house with weathered and mottled walls, Wang Xiao and his companions didn't even bother to go in and offer incense, and continued walking up the mountain.

A morning passed in the blink of an eye.

Along the way, Wang Xiao and his group passed through places such as the Three Emperors Hall, Book Cliff, and the Sky-Connecting Suspension Bridge, and walked straight out of Shaoshi Mountain.

Although there were some beautiful sights along the way, Wang Xiao wasn't very satisfied with his overall experience.

First, the place is quite dilapidated, with a sense of disrepair everywhere. Second, the place is a bit chaotic.

With so many tourists and no one in charge, the place is littered with trash, and there are countless "I was here" graffiti carved by tourists.

Although Wang Xiao had no objection to tourists coming to visit and leave some souvenirs, seeing too many of these things inevitably affected their viewing experience.

However, although he wasn't very satisfied with the visit, Wang Xiao was still gratified as he looked at the gradually solidifying phantom of Mount Song in his mind.

For him, if the scenery wasn't beautiful, it wasn't worth seeing; ultimately, supernatural powers were more important, as that was the fundamental purpose of his trip.

Therefore, as long as he can acquire the supernatural power on this trip, his ticket price will be well worth it.

"Young master, here you go." Li Ka handed Wang Xiao a loaf of bread.

As noon approached, the group naturally ate lunch while hiking, which consisted of nothing more than simple bread.

They have never been particular about food, and Wang Xiao asked Li Ka to prepare something simple as well.

Wang Xiao took the bread, opened the package, took a bite, and asked, "How does it taste?"

"Not as good as Mount Heng," Li Ka said.

"Not as good as Mount Hua," Wang Yan shook his head.

"It's inevitable," Wang Xiao smiled. "But we'll be at Shaolin Temple soon, this famous ancient temple with a history of over a thousand years, which should still be worth seeing."

"Perhaps." Li Ka and Wang Yan exchanged a helpless glance.

After experiencing it all morning, they really had no expectations left.

However, unlike the other two, Wang Xiao was somewhat expectant, because he was thinking about something else.

Shaolin Temple, as a world-renowned Buddhist holy site, naturally has countless extraordinary individuals.

Among them, the two who left the deepest impression on him were Monk Jiekong, who later became one of the Ten Elders, and Xiao Zizai, a temporary worker from the East China region.

Judging by the timeline, at this point in time, they should both still be at the Shaolin Temple...

Wang Xiao remembered that although Master Jiekong went to Lingyin Temple later, he should have been a Shaolin monk in the earliest period. At that time, Xiao Zizai should have also entered the Buddhist order and changed his name to Baojing.

Moreover... if he remembered correctly, the time when Xiao Zizai went berserk and severely injured Master Jiekong should also be next year, that is, 2003.

Thinking of this, Wang Xiao's anticipation for meeting Xiao Zizai and the other person increased considerably. After all, given Master Jiekong's character, he might be able to ask him about cultivation.

Previously, the main reason why Wang Xiao didn't consult anyone about cultivation was that he didn't trust them.

In this respect, Master Jiekong is undoubtedly a special case.

As a Buddhist master, Master Jiekong is undoubtedly qualified in terms of character alone.

After all, if he were a bad person, he wouldn't have been willing to let Xiao Zizai awaken by destroying his meridians when Xiao Zizai was in a frenzy; he would have slapped Xiao Zizai to death long ago.

Wang Xiao didn't believe for a second that someone could defeat the strongest Shaolin monk just because they went berserk.

Therefore, in essence, the reason why Xiao Zizai was able to seriously injure Master Jiekong was because Master Jiekong himself did not resist.

It was precisely because of this plot that Wang Xiao concluded that although Master Jiekong might be biased towards Shaolin in terms of stance, he was definitely a qualified person in terms of character.