Dow and Carbon-Based Monkey Breeding Guidelines

Chapter 952 Leaking into various causes (Part )

Before invading the morning, the dean told the story of the monster being killed.

When she first spoke, she said:

"Once upon a time..."

Then she paused, probably feeling that this was an inappropriate beginning. Cai Ji asked numbly: "Is there a mountain?"

"There is indeed a mountain." The dean said, smiling like him. Cai Ji relaxed a little and asked again: "Is there a temple in the mountain?"

"No, there is no such thing as a temple. The mountain is considered very sacred to the locals, so there can be no buildings on it."

"Shouldn't a sacred mountain have a temple?"

"This is based on our experience. What I am talking about now is about a very distant place. In that place, mountains and rivers are considered alive, and there are indeed strange phenomena. The mountain I am talking about This is an example. It is said that there are bottomless ravines everywhere in that mountain. No one can see the bottom of the ravines, but every time the weather changes, rhythmic wind sounds will blow out from the depths, like living creatures. Breathing. Sometimes the sound of the wind sounds like some kind of music. Anyone who lives where the shadow of the mountain can be seen can hear its sound. This is why the mountain is named - "

She stopped and thought about it quietly again.

"We can't name that name."

"Ah? Do you have any taboos?"

"No, it's just that I can't pronounce it. The place I'm talking about uses a completely different language from ours. Many of the syllables are beyond our ability to pronounce, just like some people can't master tongue trills - no, I should say, just Just like humans can't grasp the entire range of dolphins, so you and I can't pronounce the name they gave to the mountain. At most, we can only pronounce the first few syllables, and the rough pronunciation is close to "Oujiayiqi". To put it into perspective... the person who told me this story called it 'Ocean Mountain'."

She went outside the shed and broke off a bamboo branch, then dipped it in rainwater and wrote on the ground so that Cai Ji could understand what words she was talking about.

"The mountain that continuously exhales breath from the abyss... roughly means this. Because of the specificity of this mountain, people believed that the sound it made predicted the rise and fall of the heaven and earth. So the ruler of the country at that time ordered his nobles to He went to Mount Osei, settled and multiplied in the wilderness south of the mountain, and guarded the mountain for generations, observing and recording its changes. Later, drastic changes occurred within the kingdom, natural disasters and visions occurred frequently, and priests with divination and psychic abilities began to appear one after another. died violently; outside the eastern boundary of the kingdom, other allies that were supposed to provide help lost contact one after another, and nobles with military and even divine power in the kingdom also took the opportunity to launch a rebellion. Since then, the old kingdom has been torn apart, and the people of the royal family have been torn apart. All died, and the three most important national treasures were also lost. Over the past few hundred years, many small countries have emerged and been destroyed due to wars and disasters. In order to survive, most civilians can only rely on families with divine power-what happened. ?”

Seeing that the dean had noticed his expression, Cai Ji, who originally planned to swallow his doubts, could no longer hide it and could only hesitate and say: "Supernatural power?"

"Well, I don't know what is a more appropriate term. In short, it is the ability that ordinary people do not have. Such as flying, avoiding fire, invulnerability... It is roughly this kind of special thing, so it can stand in troubled times. Although In this way, it is not really impossible to resist with human power.”

After adding the last sentence for some reason, she stared at Cai Ji closely, as if she thought he would be frightened by it. But in fact, Cai Ji didn't feel scared at all - what was there to be afraid of? What he heard now were just stories, and not long ago he saw the dean turning the sun and the moon upside down with his own eyes. After witnessing such a scene, the dean actually felt that he would be intimidated by such a pediatric story. He couldn't help but puff up his chest a little to show that he didn't care at all.

"...If I say these are true, you shouldn't be too nervous, right?"

"I'm not nervous at all." Cai Ji said immediately. The dean looked at him suspiciously.

"If you are tired, you should go to sleep first. What I am saying now is not important. If it is really necessary in the future, others will tell you."

Who is going to tell me? Cai Ji was thinking about it, but was unwilling to say it. Instead, he asked, "What about the family that protects that mountain? Do they also have supernatural powers?"

"Maybe."

"You don't know either?"

"Well, as I said, in that country at that time, the so-called divine power was not a particularly remarkable thing, and it could not be passed down through blood relatively stably like genetic inheritance, so the rise and fall of the family always changed very quickly. As for The same is probably true for the family that guards Mount Osei. Fortunately, they live very close to the eastern boundary of the old kingdom and are blocked by mountains and cliffs, so they were not completely involved in the turmoil after the kingdom was destroyed. For hundreds of years, they have multiplied and multiplied in that place, forming independent villages and manors..."

"Is it like Peach Blossom Spring?"

"You know this story too."

"I'm not illiterate."

Seeing his uncomfortable excuse, the dean just smiled absently.

"Although it is somewhat similar to the legend of Peach Blossom Spring, it has not yet reached that level of peace. The mountain guardians are often harassed by outsiders, and they have to regularly organize manpower to eliminate bandit beasts, so compared to the villages you have seen, I think It should be more like some kind of military organization, not a carefree paradise."

"Then why not move out?"

"Leave from the vicinity of Mount Osei? I don't think there is such a need - compared to external disputes, the land that has been inhabited for hundreds of years should be more stable; as for the place further east of Mount Osei , they simply cannot go there because it is the gateway to the Central Kingdom. These are all objective reasons. Considering their own wishes, they probably have no intention of leaving. They settled there to guard and record the changes in Mount Osei.”

"But isn't the emperor who gave them orders gone?"

"That one is not an emperor."

"what?"

"The king who sent them to Mount Osei at that time should not be called an emperor from our point of view. He was just counted as a vassal state - he really had a status close to the emperor and was considered to be the king of kings who was appointed by heaven. In fact, Just beyond the pass east of Mount Osei, the nations there were ruled by mortal kings, but the really important powers were held by higher powers, and the really key institutions were determined by the men behind the kings; The form is explained as 'following the teachings of the saints and complying with the changes of the sky'."

When he heard this, Cai Ji suddenly burst into laughter. The acrimony in the laughter even made him blush. Fortunately, the dean was not angry and only asked him what was wrong. He repeatedly said that he was fine, but the dean did not let him go, but asked him to tell him whatever he thought.

"It doesn't matter even if you think I didn't speak well. Your own opinion on this matter is more important."

Having reached this point, Cai Ji could only say, "I just heard you talking about 'sage' and thought it was quite funny."

"Why do you think this word is funny?"

Cai Ji couldn't explain. After getting along with her for a while, he has discovered that although the dean has some eccentric personalities, she is quite an old-fashioned person in some aspects. Whenever he mentions movies or novels to her, all she will say is some well-known classics. works, and has never shown any interest in games or video websites. How such a guy would understand the saying "all saints are just ants" circulating on the Internet, he couldn't imagine at all. So he had to say vaguely: "What does the word saint... mean?"

"Roughly speaking, it refers to a person who has both talent and virtue and is the best and most capable."

"Like Confucius and Laozi?"

"That's what we thought in history. Of course, absolutely supreme wisdom and morality are probably impossible to achieve here, so we can only say that we try our best."

"Can such a person really be able to command a king? He should be someone with divine power, right?"

"Indeed, if we are in a world with divine power, then divine power itself should be considered a part of 'talent'."

Cai Ji looked at the sky speechlessly, and then asked: "In that case, isn't it just talk about moral character? Isn't it just about who has a harder fist? Whoever does well is a saint. Anyway, ordinary people can talk about it. It doesn’t count.”

The dean smiled faintly, as if he knew what he was thinking. Cai Ji vaguely expected that she would have some rebuttal, but she just said: "That's it."

"Really? Aren't the emperor's words about benevolence, justice and morality all used to deceive people?"

"So, what if these lies suddenly become true?"

"How can something like this be said orally true?" "It is written in laws and regulations and is regarded as common sense by the public. In other words, since the concept of 'goodness' has appeared in language, the corresponding matters are also exists; the scope of its definition is wide and narrow, the changes of the times are another matter, and the existence of people's thoughts is another matter; when the practices called "unscrupulousness" and "hypocrisy" are established, they can be called "true" The concept of "goodness" and "the highest good" can be established. For places where language cannot reach things, concepts rise to the environment and are implemented by individuals; for places where language is facts, concepts are directly implemented by the system."

Cai Ji listened blankly. The dean sighed again, thought for a while and said: "The power of manifesting the way of heaven...that is, the saying that good and evil will be rewarded. How do you understand it?"

"what?"

"The reproduction of ethnic groups reaches the limit of the environment, and then it will decline; the evil will reach an intolerable level, and then it will be resisted. This is what we call balance. However, it is meaningless for this systematic trend to fall on individuals. . You must have seen many counterexamples to the so-called good deeds and evil deeds, right? Evil people can end well, but good people die with hatred, because the trend control is lagging behind, and in the final analysis, it is just the overall balance of the environment - then, if this Is balance really being imposed on individuals?"

"...What personally?"

"That is to say, the moral nature of a person's actions, and even his inner thoughts, will be directly reflected in his own circumstances. As long as you express your willingness to choose this mechanism through designated rituals, you will begin to interact with the entire environment. The system generates connections - let's call this kind of thing 'monasticism'; for people who are not deeply connected with the system, killing others will inevitably lose their own lifespan, and helping others will definitely be given the corresponding talents - - In layman's terms, it is the so-called accumulation of merit; for those who are further connected to the system, their ideology will also be thoroughly reviewed. Those who are consistent with the system's requirements will be promoted and receive more talents and talents, while those who do not meet the system's requirements will be Put it aside or eliminate it depending on the situation - how about calling this kind of thought review 'inner demon' or 'heavenly calamity'? In the end, the consciousness of a person who has passed all behavioral and thought reviews is no different from the system itself. Even if it is regarded as a backup of the system's content in a specific period of time, it does not matter. To this extent, all the capabilities of the system itself are used as this person's talents - this can also be called a saint with "all talents and virtues". Bar?"

The dean, who said these words with a sneer, suddenly became strange in Cai Ji's eyes. However, once she stopped laughing, she became as calm and natural as if nothing had happened.

"——So, in the place I am talking about, that is, the land of the countries east of Mount Osei, most of the time it was indeed led by saints——that is, it not only conformed to the highest moral requirements of the collective concept at that time, but also also Therefore, those with the strongest divine power exercise control. Sometimes, in order to deal with certain contradictory situations, people who have passed the ideological review stage can moderately engage in behaviors that violate moral requirements, but the continuous accumulation of behaviors will inevitably affect the nature of their thoughts; In order to reduce the risk of such qualifications slipping, or even being eliminated directly by censorship, most practitioners who are in the stage of ideological censorship will no longer go out to avoid encountering situations where they are forced to take wrong actions - this is the so-called 'non-sticking to cause and effect' Under these conditions, what should we do if we still want to maintain the stability of the overall environment? The saints always live in seclusion for a long time, or only send low-level personnel to supervise the outside world, and the truly specific decisions that are destined to fail to meet the requirements of 'perfection' are made by mortal monarchs and officials."

"Then...the one to the west..."

"The situation west of Mount Osage is different. Before the demise of the old kingdom, they had lost the qualification to connect with the environment and voluntarily accept the review. Those with residual divine power are neither subject to review nor can they no longer be granted the gift after passing the review. Therefore, for subsequent countries, although the phenomenon of divine power exists, it is no longer linked to the character and behavior of the possessor. As you said before, the moral requirements for those with divine power no longer exist. Only by seeking strength can one gain power - but the family that guards Mount Osei has always hoped to restore the old order and etiquette. For hundreds of years, they have been recording the sound of the mountain, hoping to hear the saint coming from the east and the old rituals. The destiny of revival was just recorded and waited at first, and then turned into prayers from generation to generation. Out of the desperate plea to end the troubled times, all those in the family who died resisting foreign enemies would be thrown into the deep streams of the mountains, and those who died of illness and old age would be thrown into the mountains. They buried them on the hillside and planted a kind of arrow bamboo as a mark; they believed that in this way, the cries of the souls of the deceased could be conveyed to the sky through Mount Osei, and the nostalgia accumulated by the old and sick could relieve the family from disasters. "

As the dean spoke, he unconsciously turned the bamboo branch on which he was writing. Cai Ji couldn't help but look over and saw water dripping from the bamboo leaves and splashing on the ground between the two of them. Somehow, he suddenly remembered that sentence - falling from a height.

"What's wrong?" the dean asked, "Do you think this burial custom is strange?"

"No...this habit is okay. Anyway, we don't throw living people into the mountains."

"No. Only those they think are loyal to the family are allowed to be buried in the mountains, otherwise it will destroy their prayers for the mountains. If the voice of resentment is conveyed to the sky, wouldn't it be counterproductive?"

"Then, does it really work?"

"maybe."

"what?"

"There is no definite answer in the records I read. Maybe their intentions did have an influence, or maybe the time came naturally. One night, a sound that had never been recorded sounded in Mount Osei, like a sound from the abyss. The giant beast was singing, and it was like the rock veins in the mountain were being cracked by something. All the people in their sleep were awakened, and they spread rumors that it was the music of gold and stone during the sacrifices in the old kingdom. I saw a bamboo-green cloud lingering between the mountains, shining like a dragon, coiling and covering the entire mountain. This scene lasted until dawn when the current patriarch's wife also gave birth. He gave birth to the eldest son of the leader at that time."

"When the eldest son was born, he neither cried nor struggled. The people who delivered the baby were panicked and thought it was a stillborn child. However, when they shouted loudly, the newborn fetus immediately opened its eyes and behaved as calmly as an adult. Looking at them. At this time, people discovered that each of his eyes had two pupils, which was the so-called double pupil. So everyone said that this child's eyes were like the abyss in the mountain, and he was born. A response to the omens of the mountain.”

"As the baby grows older, various miracles begin to emerge more clearly. The first is that he can distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil - he will close his eyes when he sees a hypocritical and lying person; he will close his eyes when he sees a brave and sincere person. He looked directly at the other person; the evil and evil people were frightened when they saw him; the innocent and kind people felt at peace when they were with him. When he learned to walk, he never needed the help of adults. After his speech could be observed, people found that although he was smart, he was unwilling to show off to others; although he was taciturn, he would not be rude to the servants. When he began to learn riding, archery and martial arts, there were almost no people in the clan who could be his teachers. - Even the most violent wild horses will voluntarily bend their necks and knees in front of him; all the strong bows that can be found in the family territory are as light as daggers cutting flesh in his hands. Despite this, he has never eaten since his birth. The animals that were slaughtered never killed any wild beasts that had not harmed people. All these behaviors were like the virtues of the legendary saints. Because of his unusualness, people in the family did not even dare to use his parents. Call him by his surname, and call him the son of Shan Yuan."

"On a winter morning, strange phenomena that no one had ever seen appeared in the garden that was supposed to be covered with ice and snow. The snow melted, the lakes and streams thawed, the vegetation regenerated, and the wind sang and sang. All the wonders showed auspiciousness. The son of Shanyuan looked to the east, and then told his parents that a saint would cross the pass and teach him to complete his mission. Everyone was overjoyed and organized a cavalry to greet him. The saint from outside the east boundary crossed the pass and came to find the destined person. He saw the eyes of the son of Shanyuan and knew that he was born to connect heaven and earth, so he accepted him as his student and taught him how to obtain divine power and how to do it. Use your own power. When Shan Yuan's son reaches adulthood, he will take him across the pass to the place where the saints gather to help him improve his further practice. However, no matter how outstanding Shan Yuan's son is, west of Mount Osei. The order still could not be restored. The saints asked the world how to restore the old order in the West, and learned that the old kingdom had lost three national treasures-the crown, the holy robe and the ceremonial sword. Among them, the crown and the holy robe were just mortal monarchs. The sword worn by the king was given by destiny and has now wandered far to the west. Only by recovering the sword can the wish of the mountain guardian be realized. "

"The saints gave this mission to the Son of Shan Yuan, instructing him to return to his homeland, travel across the entire land of the Old Kingdom, and then cross an ocean of eternal darkness to find the lost ceremonial sword. They warned the Son of Shan Yuan that there All the order in the kingdom is completely different from that of the saints. The movement of yin and yang in the heaven and earth does not follow mathematics, and the reproduction of the five insects and all kinds of animals does not follow ethics. It is a land of monsters and monsters that even saints have never set foot in. It is difficult to use his divine power there. , knowledge is useless, but all precepts must be followed, otherwise you will lose the qualification to connect with heaven and earth when you return. Even so, the son of Shanyuan accepted the mission, crossed the pass and crossed the West Sea alone, and endured countless hardships. He arrived at the land of monsters, where every inch of land and every road was forbidden to outsiders, just as the sages warned. He picked fruits in the wild, and the trees emitted poisonous gases; he left his mark at the fork. , the road will immediately swallow him up. The residents always try to kill him, and when they fail, they avoid him to prevent him from getting any news, so the son of Shanwan can only wander among the wilderness and woodland for a long time, unable to find a way out. . When he was in trouble, a lord of the monster land noticed him. "

"As one of the kings who ruled that land, it reached an agreement with the son of Shan Yuan, granting him a subordinate status and making him recognized by that land. So all roads were opened to him, and the languages ​​​​of all residents were able to be recognized. He understood that with the help of the monster, he was finally able to recover the lost sword and complete his final test under the condition of abiding by the commandments. At the same time, in return for his help, the monster asked him to complete an important prayer for him. The wish ceremony. It tells the son of Shan Yuan that this ceremony is to guide its dead descendants back to the earth. In other words, it is a ceremony to resurrect the dead. "

"The King of Monsters made the Son of Shanyuan swear an oath that he would obey his orders during the ceremony and resist all opponents who tried to interfere with the ceremony. At first, out of the character of keeping his promise, the Son of Shanyuan drove away all the monsters that came to stop him. . But the monster deceived him and concealed from him the necessary steps of the resurrection ritual-the soul of the dead it wanted to resurrect was actually in the hands of another equally powerful monster king when it killed the person to complete the ritual. When he was the same kind, the heaven and the earth cried out, all the vegetation in the wilderness died, the mountains and forests were shrouded in eternal white mist, and the wilderness became rainy. Until the residents also questioned and cursed the son of Shanyuan, he stopped paying attention to him. The monster king showed respect. Eventually, a resident who had lost his home tried to disrupt the ceremony, and the monster asked the son of Shan Yuan to kill this enemy - so the son of Shan Yuan pulled out the recovered ceremonial sword and cut the lord's throat. Without the ability to speak, he couldn't use his magic power, so he fell to the ground and died. "

"Since then, the chaos caused by his arrival has been eliminated, and the residents of the land of monsters no longer attribute the responsibility to him; because of the recovery of the lost sword, the order of the old kingdom was finally restored many years later, and the saints In recognition of his trials, he was promoted to a higher realm. However, this promotion could not compensate for his breaking of the commandments, so that upon his return to his homeland, he was immediately punished permanently: for failing to treat him justly. Others, with their innate Dharma eyes, were the first to lose the ability to distinguish between true and false, and could no longer make people with evil intentions retreat on their own; because they had committed crimes, all the swords they had used were discarded, and all the swordsmanship they had mastered All were forgotten; because he made a false oath to others, he almost never spoke again, let alone made any oaths. Only after sacrificing these three abilities did his violation of the commandments be forgiven by heaven and earth."

After saying this in one breath, the dean finally stopped. The two were silent for a long time. Finally, Cai Ji said, "Is this necessary?"

"Well, this is what is called 'cause and effect must appear'."

"But he can't make a better choice, right?"

"Don't make a vow in the first place - or do nothing at all. In this dilemma, not getting involved in the first place is their best option."

Cai Ji wanted to argue more, but the dean looked at him and said, "Why do you care about this person being punished?"

"Because it doesn't sound fair."

"It's just a choice of model. Since it is a person who voluntarily practices and obtains divine power from it, it is impossible to review it based on the moral standards of ordinary people. If such a strict mechanism is not adopted, it will be too easy for the saints. There will be a lot of trouble.”

The dean's voice sounded cold and heartless, with no pity for the "Son of Mountain Wish" at all - in this case, why do you want to make this person so like a perfect hero? Just as Cai Jigang was about to ask, the dean said, "I also have a question."

"Ah? Ask me?"

"Yes. If, as the king of monsters, you were killed by such a saint and lost everything you had during your lifetime, leaving only your soul in the world, would you want to take revenge on him?"

of course not. Cai Ji wanted to say this. But when the words came to my lips, I couldn't say them. Even if you are a generally recognized good person, if someone hurts you, how could you not want to take revenge? But why bother putting yourself in the shoes of the bad guy?

"I'm not a monster," he muttered.

"It's hard to say."

The dean put the bamboo branch aside, stood up and walked towards the eaves of the bamboo shed. In the dark night, her eyes shimmered like glass stained with rain.

"What is death? For mortals, physiological functions cease, and the continuous activities of consciousness end immediately. But for the monsters in the far west, consciousness does not exist based on the body, but is embodied by the body. The difference between the two is just like the puppet on the stage and the operator behind it. Even if the puppet is destroyed, it will only expel the operator from the stage. In the same way, death will only banish the demon dragon from the world. Although there are no characters, the audience is still outside the stage. And..."

"and?"

"...Zhuang Zhou Mengdie."

"what?"

"It's like Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly. The way a living thing thinks is determined by its body form. When he thinks that a butterfly only flies among flowers, when he thinks that Zhuang Zhou thinks that the butterfly is an illusion - it's just a short season. They are just insects. So, do the puppets on the stage and the audience outside the play have the same state of mind? , and only regard the living as butterflies.”

It was as if the dean's words had turned into a dream, and a cold fragrance floated from the rain and mist outside the shed. Cai Ji closed his eyes in a daze, thinking that he was sitting in a deserted garden with countless herbs spreading in the darkness. But when he opened his eyes to look for the source of the fragrance, there were only slender and sparse bamboo shadows in the courtyard, swaying slightly in the wind and rain. The pale dean in front of the independent shed looked like a ghost walking from the bamboo forest. She said in a low voice:

"That thing has always wanted to come back, but there is no suitable place. Since I don't want to completely leave the world, I can only remember the feeling of being a butterfly. Put the soul that has fallen away from the world into the stage you built, and imitate the life. The movie theater that exists only for those who have fallen away, like this, relies on the memory of the earthly world - isn't this the world of the dead that people think of? "

The rain gradually stopped. Unknown birdsong came from the dark grass outside the bamboo forest, like wild ghosts moaning sadly. Cai Ji stood up from his seat unsteadily, wanting to see what was crying, but then he sat back again, not daring to listen and think about the heavy rain that almost destroyed the hospital, and the dark The wind sounded like a ghost howling in the rain. He knew where he was now.

(End of this chapter)