Chapter 115: Meditating with the Tree Spirit (Part One)

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To put it plainly, this great monk was the protagonist’s halo, while the tree demon was the cheat he had activated.

Of course, in other places, people would call that being absurdly overpowered. But in the world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, it was perfectly normal. A scholar encountering ghosts and fox spirits, immortals and gods—so long as he did not die, he was an outrageous cheat.

Take this great monk, for instance. If the tree demon had not possessed him, Shen Shi’s kick alone would have—

Heh heh...

Of course, killing someone was not the objective. Shen Shi’s purpose—or rather, his path—had never been death. It was life: finding the villagers a way to survive.

To put it more precisely, this was also Shen Shi’s Dao.

He had not crossed into a golden age. He had arrived in a world that was in decline.

Shen Shi understood the theory. Generally speaking, in worlds of this kind, living beings were strongest in the earliest period. Later, for all sorts of reasons, both the level and structure of their power would gradually weaken, until that system of power finally came to an end along with changes in the world’s environment. Then, if living beings were fortunate enough to discover another path of power, they would begin climbing once more, from the bottom upward.

That was the cycle of a power system—or, one might say, the process of entropy transformation.

The former was the world granting power in disguise; the latter was the result of living beings learning and exploring on their own.

Restricting the level of power available to living beings within one’s world was not difficult, whether through spiritual energy or destiny itself. It was simply one of the ways heaven and earth operated. In the theories of later generations, it would be called the Gaia theory.

Sudden enlightenment, inspiration, aptitude, rare materials required for advancement, and all the preliminary conditions for promotion—these were all methods Gaia could employ.

A world’s system of power was not immutable. This was especially true in the absence of a ruler who governed the workings of Heaven’s Way. The evolution of the world and the changes among living beings were things the Gaia consciousness would rarely interfere with or concern itself over.

It cared only that the world continued to exist and function. Everything else was beneath its notice.

Only people could move and change—particularly cultivators. Yet if cultivators failed to discover the changes in heaven and earth and continued operating according to the experience of the past, they would gain nothing.

Put simply, the immortals and gods who had benefited from a golden age had gone to the “Immortal Realm,” a world suited to their experience. This world was probably the “lower realm” they had abandoned. That was why Shen Shi had spoken as he did.

Whether meditation in the past could truly lead one to Buddhahood, he did not know. Perhaps in a world governed by Heaven’s Way, the sages of the Western Paradise simply enjoyed rewarding those who meditated. But in this world, Shen Shi saw things clearly: everything depended on oneself, on evolution.

There might be other paths as well, but this was his.

The abbot said softly, “Benefactor, the verses you recited just now seemed to mean that meditation is useless. I cannot agree with that. I have never sought Buddhahood through meditation. Sitting is merely a method, a way of cultivating the mind. Since you are a cultivator of the Dao, you should understand even better how important methods are to cultivation. I devote myself to the Buddha, while you devote yourself to the Dao. The principle is the same. Just as you bullied the weak with your strength and struck them, did you not also rely on a method?”

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The tree demon had refuted Shen Shi. He had no choice but to do so. Though they appeared to be discussing Buddhist verses, in truth, the matter concerned their own paths.

It was no wonder the tree demon had argued back. If someone opened by attacking your Dao, who would not refute him?

But Shen Shi was right. One only had to look at Gongsun Ce and the others to understand. The sacred might displayed when the tree demon’s primordial spirit entered the body had merely stunned Gongsun Ce and the others for a moment. They were beings chosen by the stars and fate. That degree of intimidation could affect them only temporarily.

Thus, when the abbot began shamelessly twisting the argument around, Shen Shi’s anger flared again. He snorted, “What sophistry!”

“Master Shen bullied the weak with his strength?”

“And struck you?”

“You monks were the ones who attacked first. Why don’t you mention that?”

“That old bald donkey actually managed to turn it back on us!”

Wang Chao and Ma Han both shouted their protests, deeply dissatisfied with the abbot’s words.

The tree demon had cultivated for a thousand years. If something had not gone wrong, how could he have been unable to intimidate even those who had yet to return to their appointed places?

As for Bao Zheng and the others, Shen Shi had gradually come to understand their role as his knowledge of the Human Sect’s methods deepened. They were people who had ascended to the upper realm as celestial immortals—those ancient figures once rewarded by Heaven’s Way—but the lower realm still needed someone to fill the vacancies they had left behind. So these people had been sent down...

Well, unfortunate wretches, perhaps?

The reason for putting it that way was simple: in the world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, one could rely only on oneself. There would be no rewards from Heaven’s Way.

Shen Shi smiled and looked at him. “Was I the one who injured your disciples?”

“If not you, then who?” the abbot replied.

“You were trying to convert them, weren’t you?” Shen Shi asked suddenly.

“Yes. Heaven and earth have undergone a transformation. If people do not adapt themselves to Heaven, they will be destroyed by Heaven and Earth. Having received the Buddha’s teachings, I must save myself and save others.”

There was nothing shameful about admitting it.

So that was how it was.

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Shen Shi could not say that what he had done was wrong. Although the tree demon of Lanruo Temple was no longer an old crone but a Buddhist tree of profound attainment, wholly devoted to saving others, Shen Shi would never take the same path. Their Daos were different. But that did not mean Shen Shi did not wish for more such benevolent demons to exist in the world.

Moreover, Shen Shi knew that if he did not correct the tree demon’s understanding of this world, then sooner or later he would become another old crone.

Once that happened, killing him would be simple. Yet Shen Shi wanted to try persuading him first.

Whether he would die as an evil demon or live as a good one was, to Shen Shi, a very simple question.

Besides, he was not an old crone at present. He was a Buddhist tree performing good deeds. To destroy him now merely because he might one day become an old crone—how could that possibly be justified?

At the very least, Shen Shi could not get past his own conscience.

“Master, you are mistaken,” Shen Shi said, shaking his head.

“How am I mistaken?”

“Master, do you believe that a world in which a person who does not seek personal gain is rejected by Heaven and Earth is a wrong world?”

“That is correct.”

“Master, those words are based on the general meaning of a passage from Mencius: ‘Yang Zhu would not pluck out a single hair to benefit the world.’ Mencius was criticizing Yang Zhu. Yang Zhu advocated putting oneself first. Even if plucking out one hair from his body could benefit the entire world, he would still refuse.”

From Mencius’s account, Yang Zhu appeared to be an extremely selfish and miserly man. Yet after the phrase “not plucking out a single hair,” there was actually another sentence. The full passage was:

“Not even a single hair may be taken from oneself to benefit the world; nor would one take the entire world to serve oneself. If no one harmed so much as a hair, and no one benefited the world at the expense of another, the world would be well governed.”

Yang Zhu believed that one should neither harm others for one’s own benefit nor sacrifice oneself for others. He called upon everyone to refrain from harming others and from sacrificing themselves for others. Yet most people remembered only half the saying and assumed he was selfish. In truth, his philosophy was one of universal harmony and equality for all.”

“Is that truly so?” The abbot’s heart was shaken, just as Eight Lady’s had been when she first encountered Shen Shi.

They all held their own judgments about people. Yet the moment they encountered Shen Shi, those judgments shattered and turned into their exact opposites.

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