Chapter 1428
Fate
Chapter 1428 Fate
"The corrupt prime minister...possessed me..."
The monk, dressed in black, stood frozen in place, not looking up for a long time. His eyes darted about, a complex mix of emotions, and his gaze was intense. After a long while, he finally exclaimed in praise:
"Great idea!"
He said:
"In this way, all the unusual aspects of my cultivation can be clearly explained, and it's not surprising that I obtained this golden land so easily!"
Dangjiang laughed heartily and said:
"That's natural. It's something that can't be proven by the dead—after the Dharma Aspect fell, Qin Ling had demonic offspring, but they were just tools to be used. No one ever took the main position. The Great Greedy Minister was once one aspect of the Dharma Aspect. Now, after being locked away for a thousand years, he has been resurrected. What's wrong with that?"
"But... you must be careful not to let your guard down."
Liao Kong hesitated for a moment, then said:
"I have never witnessed Faxiang's abilities... I'm afraid he can't be fooled by mere words."
"Not urgent!"
Dangjiang stood up, held the blue lotus in his hand, and shone it on the person in front of him. Sure enough, he sensed the tiny point of light and smiled:
"You just go down there and think you're all empty inside. Once that Dharma Image asks you some crucial questions, I'll use this to connect with the Golden Earth and temporarily take control of your body. How can I not intimidate him!"
Upon hearing this, Liao Kong was initially wary, but after careful consideration, he realized that if the heavens were truly intent on possessing him, there would be no need for such a roundabout approach. He calmed down slightly, frowned, and nodded, saying:
“That’s right. In this way, I can use my true self to behave in my daily life, and I don’t have to pretend in front of those Dharma forms all the time. There’s no reason to guard against a thief for a thousand days. There will always be a moment when I can’t keep up the act.”
"Exactly that."
The light in Dangjiang's eyes was sinister; he no longer resembled the miserable celestial official from heaven. He said:
"In that case, they're hesitant to act against you..."
Liao Kong finally put down that big stone and said:
"But from a long-term perspective, there's also the King of Wei..."
"Ha ha!"
Dangjiang laughed:
"One of us!"
These three words undoubtedly stunned Liao Kong. He stared blankly at the other person for a long time before belatedly snapping out of his daze and exclaiming in shock:
"So...so it was a legacy sent to me from heaven all along!"
"Absolutely!"
How could Dangjiang not see this? He nodded deeply and said:
"From your description, it seems that several raindrops fell from the sky to deliver this inheritance to you; it was no easy feat!"
Liao Kong felt his vision suddenly broaden, and his heart was filled with joy. He said:
"I understand! I understand!"
Feeling even more anxious, he gave a slight bow and said:
"In that case, I'll return to the Golden Land to stabilize my cultivation, so that my aura will be more stable when I descend to the lower realm. I'll leave the rest to you, Senior Brother!"
Upon hearing the address "Senior Brother," Dangjiang immediately helped him up, nodded meaningfully, and smiled:
"There is a small matter I need to ask my junior brother for."
Liao Kong immediately looked up and said:
"Speak freely!"
Dangjiang chuckled and said:
"Don't you still have four positions in your Golden Land? Qin Ling's Golden Land is special; these positions can't be given away easily. It's best to give them to trusted family members who are also from heaven, so there won't be any major trouble..."
Liao Kong saw his expression and immediately understood, asking:
"Senior brother, do you have someone in mind?"
Dangjiang clapped his hands and said:
"There's a little pitiful one imprisoned under the Great Sheep Mountain prison. He's seen some great figures in heaven, and thus offended people in both Buddhism and Taoism. He's been boiled in oil for years. I think he's made great contributions and can't be released easily... Your mission is extremely important. Go to that prison and pick a few loyal subordinates. Great Sheep Mountain will see this as an opportunity to plant a spy. Not only will they not refuse, they'll praise you for being sensible!"
Liao Kong's eyes lit up, and he nodded secretly:
'Pity... Pity is just right. He doesn't have the opportunity to possess another body. Even if he comes to my golden land, he can only slowly absorb other wondrous forms with my permission. He won't easily threaten my position... Rather than letting those I don't trust come in, it's better to let one of my own in heaven!'
He nodded emphatically and sighed:
"I don't care about all that! Since my senior brother has spoken ill of him, I'll go and take him in! And if there are any good candidates in the future, please keep an eye out for them..."
"it is good!"
Dang Jiang was overjoyed and nodded, saying:
"Once this matter is settled, a seat for the Jiedi (a high-ranking official) will be prepared in the main hall to await your arrival, Junior Brother!"
Liao Kong's status was special, and Dang Jiang was very generous. The monk left with profuse thanks. Dang Jiang saw him off with high spirits and returned to the Hall of Robes and Bowls. Only then did he remember that Nu Yan was kneeling outside the hall.
So he called the person in, secretly pondering:
'They arranged for the person who rescued him in a short time, making sure that old bastard Wu Mu is completely obedient... Nu Yan is also a good candidate, but they can't be too quick to take advantage; these old fogies are always getting too big for their britches.'
He simply looked down at them and said calmly:
"Do you recognize Rinchen?"
Nu Yan had just seen the black-robed monk leave and had also witnessed the abbot's ever-changing demeanor. Having cultivated in both Buddhism and Taoism for many years, he was already accustomed to such scenes and realized an extremely serious problem:
'My value... is too low...'
He knelt down on the ground and said urgently:
"I recognize it! I recognize it!"
"it is good!"
Dangjiang stood with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth in the Hall of Inheritance, and said:
"This person has a connection with my Great Wu Xuantian. I am preparing to guide him, but he seems stubbornly unrepentant. Now that we are bringing him into Xuantian, do you have any suggestions?"
Nu Yan's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly looked up, exclaiming with delight:
“Reporting to Your Excellency, Nu Yan is an old man in the Great Desire Path. He obtained the position of Compassionate One by guiding people into the Path. Ren Shi Jia entered the Path a little earlier than me. Although he is intelligent, he is completely inexperienced in worldly affairs. He is fierce in appearance but weak in reality. He fears power but does not cherish virtue. I urge the Abbot to sit quietly in the hall and let me go to meet him... I will make him obedient and swear to serve Xuan Tian to the death!”
"You still have this ability?"
Dang Jiang raised an eyebrow and nodded, saying:
"Alright! Let me see what you're capable of!"
……
The State of Yan.
The mountains rise and fall, covered in snow, with the temple nestled among the peaks. Following the contours of the mountains, one finally enters the main hall, which gleams brightly, its plaque held aloft bearing three vermilion characters:
【White Mountain Temple】.
The monks below were sitting together, each holding a sutra scroll in their hands. They were sipping tea and exchanging scrolls to read, occasionally praising the scriptures. After a while, someone arrived halfway through the reading, and the monks quickly stood up and called out to the abbot.
The man was old and frail, holding a heavy monk's staff. He remained silent for a long time, glancing around before everyone else stepped aside. One of the older monks stepped forward and said:
"Master!"
The abbot then said:
"I told you to keep a close eye on our junior brother. Have you heard anything from him yet? Where is Beimei?"
The monk laughed and said:
“It was originally Junior Brother Beimei who was in charge, but he went to Luoyang a few days ago, so now I'm in charge—but there's no need to worry too much. Ordinary cultivators are overjoyed to hear that Abbot Yuanshan is coming to guide them. Although Junior Brother has some background, he's not too arrogant…”
Abbot Yuanshan shook his head with a stern face and said:
“You don’t understand. Your junior brother was born into royalty and is proud and arrogant. It was only through our efforts that he was able to enter the path of compassion, but his heart has not yet been converted. As his senior brothers, you naturally have to keep a close eye on him.”
The monk's smile was slightly cold as he said:
"Sigh... one after another..."
These words were veiled, prompting the abbot to glance at him subtly before replying:
"You don't need to say more here. Your senior brother gave the opportunity to that Kong Shu, but if it really comes down to fighting for it, which of you can beat him? It doesn't matter if you can't get it, but it would be terrible if you were harmed. Jin Lian was so arrogant back then, but look at her now?"
He didn't give his disciples a chance to argue. He pushed open the door and went inside. The main hall was brightly lit, but a huge, black-haired man was kneeling in the center, head raised, without saying a word.
Yuan Shan smiled and said:
"Have you attained enlightenment?"
The hall was silent. Seeing that he did not refute, a hint of joy flashed in Yuan Shan's eyes. She took out a small razor from her sleeve, pressed her other hand against the back of his neck, and sighed:
"Lower your head!"
The man let him hold him down, feeling the cold blade against his neck, and strands of black hair fell out. The old monk sighed, his voice tinged with coldness:
"You...you're just like that Guangchan. He got a tremendous treasure and still wanted to go back, while you've shed your mortal form and still refuse to bow your head. I had to spend all these years creating a Dharma body for you before you'd even take a look..."
"What's so great about the path of immortality? The high-ranking officials there are all incredibly powerful. How many of you from later generations can even squeeze into that position? Your physical bodies are fragile, your true spirits are exposed, and your lifespan is only five hundred years. Is that why you're so obsessed with it!"
As his black hair continued to fall, golden light slowly emanated from the man's body. He said in a low voice:
"No matter what, you still have your life on your shoulders, and you are cultivating your own path."
"Your own things?"
The old monk sneered:
"You can't even save your own life, so why care about mine or his? With your status and your opportunities, even if you enter the Buddhist world, few people will make things difficult for you. Why bother?"
The man said:
"And then what? Will he be able to cultivate the Dharma form, or will he become the World Honored One? Murong Xia gave birth to a Buddhist son, and you all used all your strength to help him ascend to the Buddhahood. Now go and ask him if he still remembers who he is?"
"absurd!"
The old monk's expression changed slightly, and he smiled:
"That's not called forgetting, that's called becoming one. Now that you've become a prime minister and entered the Sandalwood Forest, you should naturally possess thousands of classics, act in accordance with the rules, and speak in accordance with your duties. You shouldn't use that name from back then. If you insist on finding your mortal body, you can certainly reveal yourself to you. How can you say you don't remember who you are?"
The man said:
"To become one? That one... is it the lowly cultivator Murong Xia, or the compassionate, selfless, and desireless Guanyin?"
The blade flashed in the lamplight, slicing a bloody gash across half the scalp. The old monk's gaze was cold as he chuckled:
"Whoever is more capable is the one. Ordinary people's minds naturally cannot control it. If you feel that you are not worthy and do not desire the Dharma form, you can be a Maha for a lifetime."
"That's right, it's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death."
The man touched his head, and the blood spread, washing away all his black hair. His body slowly shrank, and his fat face dripped like melted candle wax, revealing the handsome face beneath the skin.
If Li Zhouwei were here, he would surely recognize this person.
Murong Yan!
This master of the Yin Water Dao was seriously injured and nearly died in the great battle at Salt Lake. He fled all the way back to the north. But just like Qi Lanyan's last warning back then, Murong Yan tried to escape in every way, but in the end he still fell into the hands of the monk!
The Master Yangfeng, who came from the Guanhua Daoist lineage, was truly capable. His final involvement in the cause and effect of Buddhism and Taoism was precisely out of compassion and reluctance to kill!
'Jianghuai...it's been a trap from beginning to end. If I offend Mingyang too much, I'll fall into their hands and become their pawn. If I hesitate, I'll also be entangled in the karma of being too merciful to kill!'
His female-type physical body, nurtured through cultivation over three hundred years, eventually transformed into sustenance for Buddhism and Taoism. The three supernatural powers intertwined and dispersed, continuously lifting his true spirit and sending it into the Buddhist land high in the sky.
"crunch..."
The doors of the main hall closed tightly again. Yuan Shan walked out with a cold face, sat on the steps, and wiped her blood-covered hands with a golden silk cloth. The temple was now silent, except for the disciple Bei Chuan who stood waiting in front of the hall.
Upon seeing his master emerge, Beichuan sneered:
"Another one who thinks he can be a Maha for a thousand years!"
Perhaps also harboring anger, Yuan Shan surprisingly didn't stop him from making sarcastic remarks. The old monk calmly said:
"Not necessarily. After all, he's of royal lineage, so he knows the unpleasantness of the situation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have stubbornly dragged things out with me for so long, until no one else came to his rescue..."
A hint of surprise flashed in Beichuan's eyes before he slowly nodded.
The Yan Kingdom can be considered a model of the integration of the immortal and Buddhist paths in the secular world. The two paths have reached a point where they are indistinguishable. Almost all the immortal cultivators in the Yan Kingdom have a backup plan: to switch to Buddhism if they have no other choice.
This has led to what can be described as extreme pressure within the path of compassion.
These immortal cultivators thought they could retreat to Buddhism and Taoism and take another path, and some even dreamed of enjoying a few hundred more years of carefree life. But when they actually arrived in the Buddhist land, they found that everything was completely different.
"No matter what level of cultivation you have, there will always be someone above you who is suppressing you, and there will be a constant stream of successors coming from behind. Positions are scarce. If you lack the wisdom and opportunity to be reincarnated, and you stay here for thirty to fifty years without being able to reincarnate, you will be in big trouble. Whether it is exorcising demons or educating people, it will be troublesome..."
'If you are unable to perform this task, whether you are seriously injured or your true spirit returns… a celestial cultivator will immediately join the sect and seize your position. Rather than wasting the resources of the sect on your slow healing, it would be better to give your position to someone else—celestial cultivators come with their own supernatural powers, magical bodies, resources, and spiritual artifacts, and they can also expand the sect's territory. Why not? There's no need for an old man like you.'
There are very few people in the world like Bei Gu, who comes from the Liao River region and can act recklessly according to their own nature.
He shook his head sarcastically, but then he saw his master seem to sense something, suddenly stand up, listen intently, and have a gloomy expression!
The next moment, a loud bell rang out from the mountaintop:
"Dong dong dong..."
Bei Chuan was suddenly stunned, his expression changed drastically. He turned his head and saw that his master was already kneeling on the ground, his ear pressed against the ground to listen. He quickly knelt down as well, but in that instant, his master suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils gradually turning into a merciless blood color.
"Let's go to Mount Xiao now!"
Yuan Shan stood up stiffly, rising to her feet, and murmured:
"Qin Ling is taken."
These five words exploded in Beichuan's ears like thunder. His body froze for only a moment before he unhesitatingly chased after his master and flew high into the air, his eyes flashing with fiery light.
"Golden Land... how long has it been since Golden Land recognized a master! This time... this time we absolutely cannot let the Great Mu Dharma Realm snatch it away again!"