A cat that lingers beside a saint

Mount Emei.

Inside the cave, Sun Wukong suddenly sneezed.

On the lotus platform, Sun Wukong wiped his nose, his eyes darting around slightly: "Could it be that someone is talking about me, Old Sun?"

Just then, a familiar aura entered the cave.

Just as Sun Wukong was about to get up, Yang Jian's voice came from outside the cave.

"Great Sage, why don't you come out and have a chat?"

As the cave gate slowly opened, Sun Wukong, wearing a cassock and with his hands clasped together, walked out.

Stepping out of the cave, he first looked around, then stood quietly for a while. After confirming that no one was paying attention, he threw off his cassock and laughed, "Who do we have here? It's Brother Yang."

"Hey, what brings this little kitten along?"

"Come, come, quickly follow me into the cave, let's have a good drink today."

Yang Jian waved his hand, then shook his head and said, "I came here today not to drink with the Great Sage, but because my junior uncle has some questions, and I thought the Great Sage could help answer them."

"Junior Uncle?"

Sun Wukong was incredibly shrewd. Before he attained enlightenment, he only had a superficial understanding of many things in the Three Realms. But after he attained enlightenment, as he saw, experienced, and heard more, he naturally learned more as well.

He could learn many secrets, or things that others didn't know, from the mouths of other gods.

After all, he was well-connected both in the Heavenly Court and on Mount Ling in the West.

When Yang Jian told him that the kitten was his uncle, the first thing that came to his mind was those legendary sages.

However, among the things he had heard, none of the saints seemed to have a disciple named Cat. Could he be a newly accepted disciple?

Yang Jian knew how clever Sun Wukong was. Back when they wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, the two of them fought wits and courage. If it weren't for Laozi's intervention, the two of them would have been evenly matched.

Seeing that he remained silent, Yang Jian knew that the monkey must have guessed something.

Fortunately, Yang Jian didn't hide anything and said directly, "Great Sage should know that during the Investiture of the Gods, all three religions were wiped out."

"Later, all the sages disappeared into the world and never appeared in the human realm again. My junior uncle is a disciple of the Shangqing Sage."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong's eyes lit up slightly.

Back when he was the Great Sage Equaling Heaven in Heaven, he had met the Three Pure Ones and even addressed them as "Old Ones."

Now, after hearing Yang Jian say this, he immediately associated the Three Pure Ones with sages.

When he looked at the kitten again, a strange light flashed in his eyes.

A few days ago, he heard from his celestial friends in Heaven that the Jade Emperor was going to cause him trouble because he had urinated on the Jade Emperor's desk and inkstone and left some footprints.

Upon seeing Su Bai again, he couldn't help but recall these rumors.

Could it be...

Suspicion aside, he's done quite a lot anyway, so taking a little blame for him isn't a big deal.

Thinking of this, Sun Wukong laughed and said, "So you are a disciple of a sage. I am so sorry for my disrespect."

"Since you're a disciple of a sage, your cultivation level is far too low, and your state of mind is also lacking. Why don't you go and ask your sage master?"

Su Bai gave an awkward smile, hesitated for a moment, and shook his head, saying, "It's all very confusing; I really don't understand."

Upon hearing this, even Sun Wukong couldn't help but laugh out loud.

This is understandable, since not everyone possesses such exceptional comprehension as him.

Looking back, if he hadn't comprehended the three strokes of the patriarch's rod in the Three Star Cave of Fangcun Mountain, he probably wouldn't have achieved enlightenment today.

"In that case, Brother Yang and Little Cat Daoist, why don't you come into the cave with me? We'll talk inside."

……

The cave was very simple. Apart from the lotus platform that Sun Wukong used for meditation, there was only a stone table and a few stone stools.

Su Bai lay on the stone table, looking at the decorations inside the cave, and couldn't help but ask, "I see that the palaces of those immortals are either magnificent and grand, but why is Brother Monkey's cave so simple and sloppy?"

Upon hearing Su Bai address him as "Brother Monkey," Sun Wukong couldn't help but chuckle.

"So what if it's magnificent? It's just a gilded facade, seemingly grand but actually quite vulnerable."

After saying that, Sun Wukong squatted down on the stone bench and stared at Su Bai intently.

After a moment, he scratched his cheek, pondered for a long time, and shook his head, saying, "It's not difficult to temper your mind, but the difficulty lies in the fact that probably no one in the Three Realms would dare to touch you in the slightest."

Yang Jian's brow twitched slightly; those words had hit the nail on the head.

Given Su Bai's status, he could walk around the Heavenly Court with impunity, let alone bend over, and the gods and immortals probably wouldn't say anything.

But the more this happened, the less Su Bai could temper his mind.

Now that the Three Realms are at peace, even if one wanted to find a demon to fight, the God of Wealth's gold ingots would probably already be in the demon's possession before the demon could even make a move.

Combining this with the scenes of the Jie Sect during the Investiture of the Gods war, Yang Jian suddenly felt a buzzing in his head.

If those immortals and gods knew Su Bai's identity, they wouldn't need him to take action at all.

The gods and immortals didn't care whether they arrived early or late; they were only afraid that if they arrived late, they wouldn't have a chance to shine.

Thinking of this, Yang Jian could even picture that scene in his mind, and his eyelids twitched violently.

Sun Wukong didn't think as much as Yang Jian, and he rarely spoke of those convoluted and profound truths.

He has always spoken simply and in a way that is easy to understand.

Although Su Bai's situation was explained, no good way could be thought of to help him temper his mind, since people with such a powerful background usually don't have much to learn.

At most, it's just a formality; in the end, one will either ascend to the ranks of immortals or achieve enlightenment.

He saw far too many things like this during his journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures.

But then Sun Wukong thought again and continued, "Actually, there is more than one way than to descend to the mortal realm and become a demon king."

There are many paths, and many ways to achieve enlightenment.

"Instead of obsessing over entering the Tao, it is better to go with the flow and follow your heart. Although letting your mind run wild is not advisable, it is an essential step on the path to the Tao."

"Take me, for example. Back then, I was the king of the Water Curtain Cave. Later, I made a great disturbance in the Heavenly Palace and was suppressed by Buddha. Then, I protected my master on his journey to the West and have now attained enlightenment."

As he spoke, Sun Wukong sat down on the stone bench, and in an instant, his mischievousness vanished.

He clasped his hands together, and a faint Buddhist light emanated from his body. The robe he had previously discarded reappeared on his body.

"Whether one becomes a Buddha or an immortal, the ultimate goal is the same."

"Only by walking steadily can you understand your own path. I think only you can resolve your confusion. If you can understand that the path is found by walking it yourself, then you don't need to think about tempering your mind anymore. At that time, your mind will have already reached a state of great perfection."

Looking at the Sun Wukong in front of him, who was radiating Buddhist light, Su Bai found it difficult to compare him with the Great Sage Equaling Heaven he had in mind.

Although something felt off, he really liked what Sun Wukong said: "The path is one that one must walk out of oneself."

Just then, the Buddhist light within the cave suddenly disappeared. When he looked at Sun Wukong again, he saw him grinning and saying, "I've heard that Laozi's elixir is about to be produced. Although I'm far away on Mount Emei, I can still smell the aroma from a distance of 108,000 miles. Why don't you ask Laozi, Little Cat Daoist? That old man knows much more about the Dao than I, Old Sun."

As he spoke, he even winked at Yang Jian.