After discussing for a while, several people stopped the discussion at the same time.
Everyone noticed something was wrong.
Because... the bearded man is still playing with the bear skin.
Not only that, he also lay on the skinned bear carcass and started digging at it. I didn't know what he was doing, but I could only hear the sound of "puffing, puffing".
Several people's hearts skipped a beat, and an ominous feeling enveloped their hearts.
"Boss, what are you doing?" someone said in a trembling voice.
Hearing the sound, the bearded man stopped.
The strange "puff puff" sound also disappeared.
The bearded man straightened up stiffly and turned around slowly.
He was wearing a bear skin, so his younger brothers couldn't see his true face. They could only see a pair of bloodshot eyes.
Those eyes were filled with immense resentment, the malice within them almost overflowing.
Drops of blood fell from the broken bear's mouth.
It turned out that the strange "puffing" sound just now was the bearded man gnawing on the flesh and blood of the bear's corpse.
"Boss, you."
Several people suddenly felt something was wrong and turned around to run.
A terrifying bear roar was heard from behind.
Then came the sounds of screams, bones breaking, flesh tearing, and chewing...
After a long time.
A huge black shadow was trying to squeeze out of the stone temple.
Look at the appearance, it is exactly the black bear from last night, just a little bit embarrassed.
The bear's head was covered with crisscrossing scars, and in addition to the cassock-like wound on its shoulder, there were several large scars running through its body.
The width of the scars varied, and the skin and flesh were turned inside out, revealing the black and smelly flesh inside. These were caused by Big Beard and others when they were skinning the bear.
The black bear squeezed outwards. Compared to last night, its body was even bigger. The temple gate that it had widened last night could not allow it to pass through at this moment, and had to be widened further.
“Tear, tear, tear.”
The scars on the black bear's fur rubbed against the temple door, leaving behind smelly black blood and also scraping off a lot of gravel.
At this moment, a yellow talisman pasted on the temple door flashed a few times, and then floated down, sticking right on the black bear's head.
"boom!"
The moment of contact, the yellow talisman spontaneously ignited without fire, bursting into a ball of fire, like a raging fire that instantly enveloped the black bear.
"Roar."
The black bear roared miserably as the flames burned its body. It rushed out of the stone temple madly and rolled wildly in the mud, trying to put out the flames on its body.
But everything was in vain. Instead of being extinguished, the flame became more and more intense, and in a few breaths it turned into a bear-shaped torch.
Soon, the shrill roar stopped, the bear-shaped torch burned out, and a huge bear-shaped mark appeared on the ground.
In the middle of the mark, there was a pile of black ash.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
When the wind blew, the black ash scattered and disappeared without a trace.
Soon, the rain started again, and the black bear mark was washed away, and peace returned to the place.
Only the badly damaged stone temple gate not far away, the black blood on the door frame, and the broken limbs and flesh on the ground inside the temple recorded what had happened before.
……………………
The other side.
A smile appeared on Zhang Jingqing's lips.
Zhang Jingqing wanted to get rid of those men in straw raincoats who wanted to rob as soon as they entered the stone temple.
But considering that they did not take direct action, Zhang Jingqing did not let Zhang Zhiwei take direct action, but gave him a test.
If the test is passed, then the matter is settled.
If you fail the test, you will die.
This is also the reason why Zhang Jingqing did not allow Zhang Zhiwei to use thunder directly to destroy the spirit living in the bear skin.
If those men in straw raincoats had listened to him and left, the black bear's body would have been buried underground for a while and would have returned to dust.
If they were greedy and dug out the bear's corpse, they would definitely suffer backlash, and then the talisman he left on the temple door would come into play.
In this way, he could destroy this group of thieves without any psychological burden and even without breaking his rules.
Of course, as a heavenly master, Zhang Jingqing had already captured his inner monkey and understood himself. Even if he killed this group of people directly, there would not be any psychological gap left.
The reason for doing this was, on the one hand, to let Zhang Zhiwei know what it meant to be unpredictable human hearts and to increase his experience.
On the other hand, it was to teach Zhang Zhiwei how to deal with such situations.
…………
…………
At this moment, Zhang Zhiwei noticed Zhang Jingqing's smile: "Master, so they are seeking their own death. Do you have a clear conscience?"
"You have a clear conscience!" Zhang Jingqing asked, "Zhiwei, do you know why I did this?"
"Master must have his own reasons for doing this..."
Zhang Zhiwei originally wanted to say in a playful manner that his master must be seriously ill for doing this, but when he saw Zhang Jingqing's serious expression, he knew he had to be serious, otherwise he would be beaten up.
He immediately said: "Hmm... Master must have a deep meaning for doing this!"
Zhang Jingqing didn't understand the meaning of Zhang Zhiwei's words, nodded and said:
"Of course it is. You have always wanted to capture the inner monkey, but do you know what the inner monkey is?"
Zhang Zhiwei said: "The monkey mind is one's own restless heart!"
Zhang Jingqing nodded and said, "Indeed, the Heart Monkey is like Sun Wukong, extremely ferocious and restless. It resides in our body, always trying to turn against its master and escape. So, to the Heart Monkey, our body is like a furnace, constantly refining it, and finally turning it into a golden elixir."
"Golden elixir?"
Zhang Zhiwei was a little puzzled. Why did he keep talking more and more mysteriously? Was he going to talk about Nascent Soul or fusion next?
Zhang Jingqing knew Zhang Zhiwei was mistaken when he saw him, and explained:
"This golden elixir is just a metaphor. It doesn't mean that a large bead has actually formed in the body. Instead, it implies perfection. The essence is restrained into a circle, and the edge is honed into a circle. In the way we conduct ourselves, whether walking, sitting, or lying down, we can see the circle everywhere. There is a circle everywhere, and we can be at ease everywhere."
"This is a state of mind, the pinnacle of temperament. If there are beads inside the body, that's not called a golden elixir, that's called a serious illness!"
"Master, this metaphor is really vivid and descriptive. However, I understand what Master said just now: the essence is restrained into a circle, and the edge is honed into a circle."
"But in dealing with people, whether walking, standing, sitting or lying down, everything should be round and smooth, and everything should be smooth and at ease... I don't quite understand. Master, do you want me to become smooth and smooth?"
Zhang Zhiwei asked, in his understanding, the word "smooth" has always been equated with urban painting and is a standard derogatory term.
Zhang Jingqing said, "This 'circle' means to do things consistently, with reason and evidence, and with a clear conscience. It doesn't mean you should be slick or mercenary!"
Zhang Jingqing continued, "The reason for this is that the process of refining the mind monkey is actually the process of smoothing out and smoothing out the brutality, viciousness, restlessness, and all kinds of demonic obstacles and anxieties in your heart."
"During this period, you must focus more on cultivating your mind, observing the precepts, and not committing sins of killing without reason. Remember, the more things you do against your will, the greater the gap in your heart, the stronger your mind will become, and the harder it will be to tame."
"These thieves didn't commit any crime in front of you, yet you killed them based solely on your own subjective assumptions. Even if you don't feel anything now, they are actually a hindrance. In the future, they will become stumbling blocks on your path of cultivation!"
"Master, I understand!"
After listening to Zhang Jingqing's explanation, Zhang Zhiwei was thoughtful. It was indeed true. People will change, but what they did in the past will not change. The reason for taking action at the moment can only affect the present.
Just like in Lu Xun’s article “The Kite”, Lu Xun trampled on his brother’s kite for no reason due to his own mood at the time.
He didn't think it was wrong at the time, but many years later, when he began to understand himself, this incident became a thorn in his heart, making him unable to sleep or eat, and he often felt at night that "I should have died at that time."
This is the case with just a kite, let alone killing a group of people at will.
Zhang Jingqing naturally didn't want his beloved disciple to have a rough road ahead.
So from the beginning, I wanted to pave the smoothest path for him.