Chapter 9

Yang Zhen's days at Fangcun Mountain could truly be described as carefree. Every day, he either practiced cultivation in his room or wandered around the mountain. Master Subhuti would hold a lecture every two months, and each time, Yang Zhen listened very attentively. With the help of the Double Experience Pill, his cultivation progressed very quickly.

As the saying goes: "There is no concept of time in the mountains." Such carefree days passed in a blink of an eye, and seven years had gone by. In these seven years, Yang Zhen's cultivation reached the Tenth Rank of Earth Immortal, just one step away from the realm of Heavenly Immortal. Among Master Subhuti's disciples, his cultivation was second only to Sun Wukong, far surpassing his senior brothers and sisters. Although Yang Zhen's cultivation grew rapidly, it was still much slower compared to Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong had already reached the Sixth Rank of True Immortal. Although he was still far from being a top expert in the Three Realms, he was definitely of medium to high caliber.

However, recently, Yang Zhen noticed that Sun Wukong's cultivation speed had slowed down. It seemed that the accumulated heaven and earth qi and the essence of the sun and moon would soon be exhausted, and then it would be time for Yang Zhen to catch up.

Since the incident seven years ago, Yang Zhen and Sun Wukong's relationship had greatly improved. According to Sun Wukong, Yang Zhen was his savior. If Yang Zhen hadn't arrived in time, Sun Wukong might not have seen the next day's sun. Of course, Yang Zhen understood that even if he hadn't saved Sun Wukong, Master Subhuti wouldn't have let anything happen to him.

In any case, after that incident, Sun Wukong treated Yang Zhen like a brother, and Yang Zhen was happy with this arrangement. They often exchanged feelings in their daily interactions.

Today, it was once again time for Master Subhuti's lecture. This time, Sun Wukong seemed to be enchanted. He scratched his ears, scratched his cheeks, and grinned widely, even dancing around and causing a disturbance, preventing the other disciples from listening to the lecture attentively. They all frowned and scolded Sun Wukong.

Seeing this, Master Subhuti stopped his lecture and asked Sun Wukong, "Why are you acting so wildly and not listening to my lecture?"

Sun Wukong replied, "Disciple is listening sincerely, but when I heard the wonderful part, I couldn't help but be overjoyed, and thus I couldn't control myself. I hope the Master will forgive me."

Master Subhuti then asked, "Since you understand the profound teachings, let me ask you, how long have you been in the cave?"

Sun Wukong said, "Disciple has always been confused and doesn't know how long it has been. I only remember that there was no fire in the stove, so I often went to the back of the mountain to gather firewood. I saw a good fruit tree and ate seven full meals there."

Hearing this, Master Subhuti nodded and smiled, "Since you have eaten seven times, it has been seven years. What kind of Daoist art do you want to learn today?"

Sun Wukong was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "I will follow whatever the Master teaches."

Although Sun Wukong said, "I will follow whatever the Master teaches," it was clear that he wanted to learn the art of immortality. Master Subhuti mentioned several Daoist arts, but Sun Wukong refused to learn any of them. After being rejected several times, Master Subhuti seemed annoyed and shouted, "You monkey, you won't learn this or that. What do you want to learn?"

With that, Master Subhuti jumped down from the platform, held a ruler, and pointed at Sun Wukong, saying, "You monkey, you won't learn this or that. What do you want to learn?"

After saying this, Master Subhuti walked forward, tapped Sun Wukong's head three times, then turned his back and walked inside, closing the main door and leaving the other disciples behind.

Yang Zhen, sitting at the back among the disciples, was stunned by this classic scene. From now on, Master Subhuti would give Sun Wukong special treatment, which marked the beginning of Sun Wukong's true greatness. Looking at Sun Wukong, who was beaming with joy, Yang Zhen felt extremely envious. Sun Wukong was truly lucky. He didn't practice as diligently as I did, but because of his background, his cultivation progressed rapidly. Now, he had even gained Master Subhuti's favor and would be taught secret arts privately. How could the treatment be so different when we were both disciples?

"It's all because of this dead monkey. If it weren't for him, Master Subhuti might have taught you secret arts and powerful techniques."

Suddenly, a voice full of temptation sounded in Yang Zhen's mind. As soon as the voice appeared, Yang Zhen immediately regained his composure, and his inner cultivation stabilized, extinguishing the heart demon that had just arisen.

Phew! That was dangerous. I didn't expect a heart demon to appear so easily. If my willpower wasn't strong enough, and I hadn't listened to Master Subhuti's teachings for seven years, I might have been taken advantage of by the heart demon.

While Yang Zhen was overjoyed at having extinguished the heart demon, Sun Wukong was surrounded by Master Subhuti's other disciples. The eldest brother pointed at Sun Wukong and scolded, "You impudent monkey, how dare you be so unreasonable! The Master wants to teach you Daoist arts, but you refuse to learn and even talk back to the Master? This time, you have offended the Master, and you will have to wait two more months to listen to his teachings."

The other disciples also complained about Sun Wukong, criticizing his behavior. However, Sun Wukong was not angry at all; instead, he smiled apologetically.

Sun Wukong had already seen through the riddle Master Subhuti had left when he left, so he didn't argue with the others. Since he had already gained the benefit, it didn't matter if they said a few words. Master Subhuti's three taps on Sun Wukong's head were actually a hint to him to be mindful at the third watch of the night. Walking backward and closing the main door meant that Sun Wukong should enter through the back door to receive the secret teachings.

The Daoist arts that Master Subhuti would teach in secret were definitely his most profound techniques. Therefore, Sun Wukong was overjoyed all day long.

As for Yang Zhen, after extinguishing the small flame of jealousy in his heart, he had completely let go. This was Sun Wukong's destiny. Being able to become a disciple of Master Subhuti was already a great opportunity. If he were too greedy, even the heavens might not approve.

The idea of following Sun Wukong to steal the teachings or tricking Sun Wukong into teaching him never crossed Yang Zhen's mind. If Master Subhuti discovered him, it would be difficult to explain. Being expelled from the sect would be the least of his worries; if his cultivation were revoked, it would be a loss. Yang Zhen always believed that Master Subhuti had taken him as a disciple mainly because he and Sun Wukong had come to seek apprenticeship together. Otherwise, with Master Subhuti's profound Daoist arts, why would he look favorably upon a monster like him?

Influenced by the conspiracy theories of the Journey to the West from his previous life, Yang Zhen always felt that Master Subhuti had a premeditated plan in taking Sun Wukong as a disciple. Master Subhuti might even be an incarnation of the Holy Man Samantabhadra. Although it was just an incarnation, it was still an incarnation of a Holy Man. Therefore, Yang Zhen not only showed great respect to Master Subhuti but also had deep reservations in his heart.

"Never mind, this is Sun Wukong's destiny. My time will come eventually. If the time is not right, no amount of scheming will help." Yang Zhen thought to himself.

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