Chapter 93: The Virtue of the Phoenix (Extra Chapter 1 for Alliance Leader Faxian Jun)

Walking out of the Fox Immortal Hall, Xu Jia felt refreshed in both body and spirit; after eliminating the chicken demon, his own fortune had increased somewhat.

Perhaps this is what is called "external merit."

Returning home, the Xu family was also discussing the killing of the chicken demon and the inscription at the Qingfeng Pavilion Fox Immortal Hall.

Seeing Xu Jia, Father Xu grabbed him: "Does this matter have anything to do with you?"

Xu Jia laughed and said: "It was exactly I who devised the plan to eliminate it. That chicken weighed a full forty or fifty jin; a single pot couldn't even hold it all. I was just about to invite you and Mother to go eat it together!"

Hearing that it was truly Xu Jia who had taken action, Father Xu was somewhat believing, yet somewhat skeptical, looking Xu Jia up and down: "That pavilion says it was done by a fox demon; could it be that you are a fox transformed?"

Xu Jia nearly spat out his food: "With me being so handsome and talented, how could I look like that bunch of crooked melons and cracked dates... That fox is a spirit I took in, single-mindedly learning to be good, so I also practice 'teaching without discrimination'."

"They had a grudge against the chicken demon at Qingfeng Pavilion and were also a bit gluttonous, so I took them out to forage. Didn't I ask you, Father, to help build an Earth Temple? To tell the truth, while it is for worshipping the Earth Deity, it is mainly to establish a proper Daochang for them."

Father Xu frowned: "Monsters and the like do not understand human nature; can they turn towards goodness? Those not of our kind must have different hearts..."

Xu Jia said: "If you don't teach them, how can you expect them to understand human nature? Among all sentient beings in the world, where is it not a case of exchanging sincerity for sincerity, and true feelings for true feelings? If they were truly born with the hearts of wolves and lungs of dogs, that would be perceptible, or if I were to beat them to death myself, that would be another matter entirely."

Father Xu understood: "You are following the path of the Sage Kong Fuzi's 'teaching without discrimination', only Kong Fuzi broke the monopoly of education held by the nobility to popularize it among the commoners, while you are even teaching these spirits and ghosts; your vision is indeed broader."

Xu Jia laughed: "How dare I compare 'teaching without discrimination' with the Sage Kong; at most, I am comparing myself to a teacher of children—good children, bad children, poor children, rich children, children with parents to teach them, and children without..."

Father Xu was thoughtful: "So you are treating me like a child to be taught, is that it?"

Xu Jia was suddenly stunned: You have truly succeeded in opening your mind! You even discovered this.

"That's not it, you are my own father, and I am your own son." Xu Jia said solemnly, then coaxed: "Don't you believe me, Father?"

Father Xu said: "It's alright, the cunning of beasts is ultimately inferior to that of humans. Actually, many times, I also enjoy spending time with these little things. For example, the turtle you bought back has a lot of spirituality; every time I tease it, it responds. When I am reading, it even shakes its head, as if it has listened in."

"Now I have even given it a name, called Xu Yi, considering it my 'turtle son'."

Xu Jia: The old man has started pointing at the mulberry tree to curse the locust tree, hasn't he!

Gui Linggao, you had better hold your position firm and stay on the unified front, otherwise you will really turn into turtle jelly.

Xu Jia smiled: "It is hard to find a soulmate in reading; presumably this little turtle has reached a point of good fortune to have such enlightenment and see eye-to-eye with you, Father."

Xu Jia immediately turned to find Xu Mu, leaving Father Xu still ruminating on what Xu Jia meant.

After a while, he realized: it was saying "a turtle staring at a green bean," they saw eye-to-eye.

He immediately felt like invoking family law.

Xu Jia arrived at the Buddhist hall, where Xu Mu was reciting the Heart Sutra before the statue of Guanyin. She was not reciting it mechanically; the words were clear, without slurring, each one distinct. The Sparrow Spirit Zhan Ying was slacking off here, standing on a branch, eyes narrowed, listening to the Heart Sutra.

Seeing Xu Jia enter, it was startled. Just as it was about to fly up, a voice rose in its heart: "You didn't come when I went to Qingfeng Pavilion to kill the chicken demon last night?"

"Ah? You didn't call me either!"

Detestable, killing a chicken in front of a sparrow—who was he trying to impress! "I heard that birds must cultivate to become phoenixes, and need to collect the feathers of a hundred birds. Do you want to find some feathers to stick on yourself?" Xu Jia spoke with concern.

How would a sparrow know about phoenixes? Moreover, sparrows are drab and grey, their calls are unpleasant, and they are born in broods and die in broods, basically becoming food for other natural predators—mostly falcons, cats, and the like.

It belonged to the "ants" among birds; how could it have the qualifications to collect the bright feathers of other birds? Was it tired of living? However, since Xu Jia mentioned it, the little Sparrow Spirit became interested. It looked at its own body, which lacked any magnificent feathers, and felt somewhat inferior. It immediately said: "Great Immortal, is this true? As long as I have many beautiful feathers, can I become a phoenix?"

"Er~ there should also be virtue." Xu Jia said: "Magnificent feathers are only on the outside; virtue must also match them. There is a saying that five colors match the Five Virtues; you need to be dedicated, friendly, hardworking..."

Xu Jia was frantically brainwashing Zhan Ying.

Zhan Ying tilted its head: "Huh? Great Immortal, is that for real? Don't lie to me, I haven't read many books."

"That is naturally true; these are all virtues passed down through five thousand years of Chinese history."

"Ah? No wonder I am still a tiny sparrow; it turns out my virtue is insufficient! If my virtue is sufficient, can I become a phoenix?"

"That is natural!" Xu Jia said confidently: "A phoenix was also a very ordinary little bird at the beginning. Even if it wasn't a sparrow, it was no different from one. It was precisely because its virtue surpassed a hundred birds that the hundred birds paid homage to the phoenix. Every bird that came to pay respects loved the phoenix from the heart and offered the most beautiful feather on its body to the phoenix. Once the magnificent feathers of a hundred birds were added to its body, the phoenix became the most noble bird in this world, the Saint King Qi among birds."

"So to become a phoenix, first you need virtue, and second you need magnificent feathers. Now you only need to cultivate virtue; I will collect the magnificent feathers for you as a reward for doing things for me." Xu Jia laughed: "How about it?"

"Good! I will definitely become a dedicated, friendly, and hardworking phoenix!"

While Xu Jia was fooling it here, mobilizing its subjective initiative, Xu Mu had already stopped chanting and spoke: "What are you muttering about?"

"I caught a wild chicken and cooked a pot of Ginseng chicken soup, intending for you and Father to taste it together?"

Xu Mu deliberated: "I have made a vow to eat vegetarian for a month."

"It doesn't matter. Firstly, Buddhism doesn't say you can't eat meat; it only says to eat 'three-pure meat'—not killed because of me, I did not see the killing, and I did not hear it being killed. Secondly, this is also your son's filial piety. If the son wants to show filial piety but the parents won't accept it, wouldn't that put the son in a difficult position?"

"Huh? Is there such a saying?" Xu Mu was actually finding it hard to eat vegetarian, but recently she felt like vomiting whenever she smelled anything fishy, so she hadn't wanted to eat meat.

"Since it is your intention, then it truly cannot be let down."

Xu Mu put away her soapberry prayer beads: "Are we going out to eat this?"

"Haha, that wild chicken is too big to bring over easily. It's important to eat it fresh, and it's not far."

(End of chapter)