Chapter 341

Hong Zun solemnly instructed Xu Jie, Zhao Zhengping and the other disciples, but the content of his teaching always felt strange and odd.

Come to think of it, even Xiu Ling didn't know when she had arrived beside Ye Zhangqing, and she asked with a strange expression.

"Junior Brother Ye Zhangqing, do you guys at Divine Sword Peak still teach this on a regular basis?"

In the courtyard, Hong Zun spoke earnestly.

"You must remember, when you go out, you always need to keep more wits about you; as the saying goes, 'Never harbor a harmful heart, but never lack a defensive heart.'"

"In an unfamiliar environment, regardless of anything else, you must first ensure your own safety."

"It's like setting a trap—you don't worry about whether it's dangerous; you set it first and see. If it's safe, you can just take it down, but if it turns out dangerous, it becomes a lifesaving straw."

"People say take one step and look three ahead, but here as your master I demand that even if you haven't taken a single step, you must see clearly the next hundred steps—that's what being prepared means."

"Take Old Three, for example—your idea this time isn't bad, but have you considered that ordinary disciples and elders can procure draft oxen, yet how many could they sneakily obtain?"

"When something happens, do you really think you can get yourself out of it?"

"So, observing and selecting people is also a discipline—he doesn't even have the qualifications to take the blame, how could he cooperate with us?"

"You know that as your master I have dominated Dongzhou for many years, even experienced nine deaths and one life in Zhongzhou, yet I have survived safely to this day—what do you think I rely on?"

"Running fast, being sly, being able to endure?"

Xu Jie spoke weakly, and as expected, he got a hard slap.

Off to the side, listening to the conversation between master and disciples, Ye Zhangqing's mouth twitched.

"It's not something we teach often."

"I now think I understand why Divine Sword Peak is like this."

"Huh???"

Turning his head to look at Xiu Ling, the little nun had an expression of having found the answer.

No wonder the Divine Sword Peak disciples' methods are one dirtier than the next—it turns out the root is here.

"Junior Brother Ye Zhangqing, I'm heading back first."

"Mm, senior sister, take care."

Seeing Xiu Ling off, Hong Zun happened to shout a sentence to himself.

"Hey, Ye Zhangqing kid, come over and listen too—these are all life-saving words; they could save your life later."

"Oh."

Similarly pulled over to listen to the teachings together, that night in the back courtyard of the kitchen, Ye Zhangqing and his group learned a great deal… a great deal… of life‑saving techniques from Hong Zun.

After a night passed, the next morning at the same time, the menial disciples of Putuo Temple's cowshed finished their Xiūliàn and began their daily work.

As the lowest stratum of Putuo Temple, their treatment is far worse than that of the menial disciples of the Dao Yi Sect.

Not to mention the scarcity of Xiūliàn resources, they don't even have a proper cultivation method, and their daily tasks are extremely burdensome.

The time left for them to practice Xiūliàn is almost only a few Shíchén at night; during the day they basically have no rest at all.

Just as usual when they came to the cowshed, but before they even got close, a group of them sensed something was wrong.

"Strange, why is the cowshed's main gate open?"

"Did we forget to close it yesterday?"

"Impossible, I clearly checked it."

"Hurry, go inside and take a look."

Saying that, the group rushed in, but at a glance everyone was dumbfounded.

"Where are the cows? Why are there so few?"

The cowshed is huge, but even so, a rough glance reveals that the cattle inside are damn missing at least several hundred head.

In just one night, several hundred draft oxen vanished.

"Did someone steal the cattle?"

A disciple quickly realized this, but such a guess was soon denied.

"Impossible, this is Putuo Temple!"

An ordinary petty thief—let alone stealing cattle in Putuo Temple—if you could enter the Buddha's realm unbeknownst to gods and ghosts, that would already be impressive.

And anyone capable of entering the Buddha's realm and sneaking into Putuo Temple as a major thief would certainly have high cultivation, not to mention their movement techniques.

Yet how could such a thief sneaking into Putuo Temple possibly come to steal draft oxen?

To pass up all those treasures and steal only a few hundred draft oxen? That makes no sense.

"Where did the cattle go?"

"How would I know?"

"Then hurry up and look for them."

After guarding the cowshed for so many years, I've never encountered anything like this.

But before those menial disciples could even start searching, a massive crowd came rushing in.

There were many familiar faces and many new ones, the crowd was large.

Seeing the Elder who had come yesterday to borrow draft oxen, the menial disciples' faces turned ashen, thinking they were doomed.

The draft oxen were lost, and before they could even start looking, the Elder discovered it.

Even if this Elder isn't in charge of the cowshed, just by his status a single offhand remark could decide their fate.

Not to mention them, even the Steward in charge of managing the cowshed is the same—he can be easily manipulated.

"Elder, we......... you......... this............"

Wanting to explain, they stammered for half a day without managing a complete sentence, and in turn the Elder became somewhat annoyed.

"What's with all this 'my' and 'your'? I, old man, came to borrow draft oxen—go, bring me a stronger one."

"Ah???"

"Ah, what?"

"Elder, you still want to borrow a cow? Yesterday it wasn't................"

"I originally thought they came to question us, but who would have thought they actually came to borrow a cow."

"But you only borrowed a plow ox yesterday, saying you wanted to give it a sermon, and only a day has passed."

"Seeing the doubt in the disciples' eyes, this Elder also couldn't help but blush, and forced himself to explain."

"Yesterday that ox had no affinity with the Buddha; I, the old monk, have already liberated it; today I come again to find another one."

"Huh???"

"No affinity with the Buddha? Who? Yesterday's plow ox? That would be weird if it had affinity."

"I've never heard such a saying; what affinity could a plow ox have with the Buddha?"

"Has this Elder gone crazy from Xiūliàn? So obsessed with lecturing the plow ox, and still places so much importance on affinity."

"People were dumbfounded, but under this Elder's urging, soon a disciple brought another plow ox over."

"He casually took the rope, and this Elder also pretended to be profound and said a line."

"Hope you can have affinity with the Buddha."

"Moo................"

"Seeing this, the old blue ox cried out in fear, but it was useless, and was directly dragged away by the Elder."

"Afterwards, other disciples successively asked to borrow oxen, including those disciples from yesterday as well."

"I also want to borrow one; my ox from yesterday also had no affinity with the Buddha."

"Mine has no affinity with me."

"Mine actually has affinity, but unfortunately I sent it to see the Buddha."

"With so many people borrowing oxen, a group of Menial Disciples are completely bewildered—what's happening? Could it be that recently the temple has been trend of lecturing sutras to oxen? Otherwise why would so many people come to borrow oxen?"

"Moreover, they borrowed today and will borrow tomorrow."

"After all the busyness, there are even fewer oxen in the cattle shed; regarding this, one Menial Disciple said with a complex expression."

"I think this matter needs to be reported to the Steward."

"I also think we should let the Steward decide; if this continues, in a few days the cattle shed will have no oxen left."