Chapter 121 The whole story
Li Anran stared at the image of the flat-horned green bull on the book of punishments, and the life of the Green Bull Demon emerged in his mind.
Southern Continent.
Chen State is a poor county.
It was the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the world was in chaos. Laozi, the incarnation of the Supreme Sage on earth, wanted to resign from his official position and retire. However, due to his old age and frailty, he was not suitable for riding a horse, so he chose a flat-horned black ox as a means of transportation.
Laozi traveled westward, visiting various countries, and wherever he went, he would preach.
The blue ox with broad horns had been with Laozi for a long time, and after hearing so much, it gradually developed intelligence.
When Laozi passed through Hangu Pass to the west, he wrote the "Tao Te Ching" at the request of Guanling Yin Xi, which caused flowers to fall from the sky, golden lotuses to emerge from the ground, and purple clouds to come from the east for 30,000 miles.
The flat-horned green ox witnessed all of this with his own eyes, and also had the merits of the Supreme Sage on his shoulders.
In just one night, it transformed from a newly born green bull spirit into a demon fairy in the realm of true immortality. Its footing was also transformed from an ordinary mortal beast into a unicorn beast that was no less powerful than innate creatures.
When Laozi completed his merits and returned to his true self, the Green Bull Demon also ascended to heaven with his chickens and dogs, and together they came to the Daluo Palace Bajing Palace of the Supreme Sage.
"Is this the Bajing Palace of Daluo Palace?" Li Anran widened his eyes.
The Green Bull Demon is the first and only one among all the criminals in the Book of Punishment to have been to the saint’s temple and seen the saint’s true face!
Li Anran was extremely curious and looked carefully at the beautiful scenery in the Bajing Palace.
There were numerous pavilions and palaces, and rare and beautiful flowers everywhere. There were wisps of purple air lingering around, and wisps of mist rising. Faintly, one could hear the sound of the avenue echoing.
In a place like this, even if you don't practice cultivation, your cultivation will be improved unknowingly.
As the story of the Green Bull Demon moved forward, Li Anran's gaze left the Bajing Palace.
He could no longer recall the specific appearance of the Bajing Palace, and was left with only a vague impression that the Bajing Palace was indeed a saint's place of practice.
As for the Supreme Saint...
Didn’t see it!
When the life story of the Green Bull Demon came to the moment when he met the Supreme Saint, it seemed as if a large distorted mosaic appeared in the picture. Not to mention the appearance of the Saint, even the outline of the Saint's body could not be seen!
Even Laozi, the incarnation of the Supreme Sage in the mortal world, could only remember the other person's appearance but could not describe it or even recall it.
The only thing to be thankful for was that he could still hear the saint preaching!
The Green Bull Demon stayed in the Bajing Palace for less than a hundred years.
But, he was lucky.
The Supreme Sage gave a sermon once every eighty-one years, but he had heard it happen twice in the past hundred years!
It was through these two sermons that the Green Bull Demon realized a technique that suited his own abilities, and his cultivation level also broke through from True Immortal to Taiyi Golden Immortal!
"Being a saint is the greatest opportunity!" Li Anran couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
He had the system's golden finger, and it took him more than two hundred years to break through from a mortal to a golden immortal realm.
The Green Bull Demon only listened to the saint's sermons three times without understanding anything, and then he broke through from a green bull in the mortal world to the realm of Taiyi Golden Immortal.
I can only say that the power of a saint is so terrifying!
But from now on, this opportunity belongs to him!
"The Green Bull Demon must be locked up in the Heavenly Prison for a hundred years. I can listen to it as many times as I want in the future. There is no rush!"
Li Anran suppressed his urge to listen and continued reading about the life of the Green Bull Demon.
After all the saints followed the Taoist Patriarch to leave the Three Realms, the Green Bull Demon followed Taishang Laojun to the Tushita Palace in Lihentian.
Since then, the Green Bull Demon has been staying in the Tushita Palace, eating magical herbs and fruits, drinking fine liquor, and having a cowherd boy serving him. He lives a carefree and comfortable life, but there has been no major breakthrough in his cultivation.
In nearly ten thousand years, he had only advanced from the initial stage of Taiyi to the sixth level of Taiyi Golden Immortal.
The time soon came to the time when the monkeys made trouble in Heaven.
The cowherd boy, Han Zhongli's predecessor, loved gambling, fun, and gossip, so he would certainly not let go of the monkey's affairs.
After inquiring, he also liked to tell it to the gold and silver boys.
The Green Bull Demon also listened as he dozed off nearby.
However, he didn't take it to heart.
In the eyes of the Green Bull Demon, the Tushita Palace is located in the Lihentian Heaven of the Thirty-three Heavens, and no matter how noisy the monkey is, he cannot reach this place.
His only interest in the monkey came from the fact that the monkey defeated Nezha.
The Green Bull Demon prefers quietness to movement, but after practicing for so long, he can't help but be curious about his own strength and how it compares to other gods in the Three Realms.
After the catastrophe of the Conferred Gods, Nezha is the undisputed number one god of war in heaven.
The Green Bull Demon had heard the cowherd boy tell the gold and silver boys many stories about Nezha's exorcism, and was deeply impressed by Nezha.
This is also the reason why he specifically asked to fight with Nezha!
At this time, hearing that a mortal demon fairy defeated Nezha and became famous in the three realms, he couldn't help but feel itchy and had some thoughts of becoming famous overnight.
After that, the monkey caused a scene at the Peach Banquet and came to the Tushita Palace drunkenly to steal the golden elixir.
At that time, the Green Bull Demon was sleeping in the cowshed in the back hall. He heard some noises in the alchemy room, but did not care.
Taishang Laojun has a very high success rate in refining elixirs, but it is not always smooth. It is normal to have some unexpected incidents occasionally.
It was not until Taishang Laojun came back and gave the Gold and Silver Boys a severe lesson that he realized that the monkey had actually eaten up all the pills in the alchemy room like fried beans!
The Green Bull Demon was stunned.
There are many kinds of elixirs refined by Taishang Laojun, with different effects and different five elements. The monkey just ate them all and was not killed by the conflicting effects of the medicine. It is really unbelievable!
At the same time, he also regretted why he didn't go up and take a look. Maybe he could have competed with the monkey in martial arts.
Li Anran's attention was on Taishang Laojun.
He didn't know whether the monkey guarding the Peach Garden and causing trouble in the Heavenly Palace was a plan by the Jade Emperor and Tathagata, but there was definitely no involvement from the Taishang Laojun!
He clearly felt the extreme heartache, anger and frustration that Taishang Laojun felt when he found out that all the elixirs had been wasted by the monkey!
He also saw that Taishang Laojun's face was ashen and murderous, which was completely different from his usual pure and simple appearance.
After that, Taishang Laojun used the Vajra to knock the monkey over. After swords, spears, halberds, thunder and axes failed to kill the monkey, he asked for permission to put the monkey into the alchemy furnace and refine it into ashes.
The Green Bull Demon did not move forward in the back hall, but he also saw that the monkey's scapula was pierced by the magic weapon of Taishang Laojun. All his magical powers and soul were sealed and taken into the Bagua furnace which was specially used for refining weapons.
Taishang Laojun is determined to grind the monkey into ashes!
The Bull Demon saw this and felt that the monkey was doomed this time.
However, what he didn't expect was that after 49 days, the monkey was not dead, and he overturned the Bagua furnace. The blazing Liu Ding fire directly turned the hall into a sea of fire.
"Daluo Jinxian?!" Li Anran was a little surprised when he saw the monkey with golden flames burning all over his body.
After the monkey jumped out of the Bagua furnace, he did not restrain his tremendous magical power at all and released it wantonly.
Obviously, it has surpassed the realm of Taiyi Golden Immortal and reached the realm of Daluo Golden Immortal!
However, when he was in the Five Elements Mountain a hundred years ago, he had seen the monkey struggling hard. At that time, the cultivation level displayed by the monkey was only that of a Taiyi Golden Immortal!
Li Anran thought about it for a moment and immediately understood the reason, with a look of sudden realization.
"No wonder Tathagata didn't just take action, but used a trick to trick the monkey into his palm and press him under the Five Elements Mountain!"
The monkey jumped out of the Bagua furnace, which was equivalent to surviving a life-threatening crisis. It was exactly when “the heaven and earth are on the same side” that his good fortune flourished.
Although Tathagata was stronger than the monkey, he had to avoid the monkey's edge. He chose to trick the monkey by means of a gambling fight, forcibly cutting off the monkey's upward momentum, and even slapped the monkey to the ground with a backhand.
Not only did the monkey lose his freedom and be suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain, his luck also plummeted, and his cultivation level also fell from Daluo Jinxian back to Taiyi Jinxian.
Afterwards, Tathagata asked the local god Jie Di to use copper balls and iron juice to calm the monkey's wildness.
The monkey gradually lost his spirit and his luck continued to decline.
It is just like the saying goes, “When luck is gone, heroes cannot be free!”
The Green Bull Demon also saw the Monkey King's strength as a Golden Immortal, and decisively retreated into the back hall, pretending not to hear the noise outside.
Afterwards, the fire-burning Taoist boy was angered by the Jade Emperor and was sent down to the mortal world to become a land god in the Flaming Mountain.
The Green Bull Demon was safe and sound and continued to live his happy and carefree life.
Until more than two hundred years ago.
The Jade Emperor rode a green ox to Lingshan to attend the Ullambana Festival. When he passed through the southern part of Xiniuhezhou, he discovered that there was a Brahmanism here, whose reputation in some mortal countries was no less than that of Buddhism.
At that time, Taishang Laojun had an idea and wanted to use Brahmanism to create some troubles for Lingshan and restrain the development of Buddhism.
After some consideration, Taishang Laojun decided to leave the matter to the Green Bull Demon.
The Green Bull Demon prefers quietness to movement, but since it concerns Taoism and it was an order from Laozi, it naturally agreed.
This led to the incident where the Green Bull Demon was "frightened" by Li Tieguai's ugly face, broke free from the reins and escaped to the mortal world.
During the two hundred years that the Green Bull Demon disappeared, he was in the southern part of Xiniu Hezhou, mingling with Brahmanism, helping Brahmanism spread its beliefs and competing with Buddhism for believers.
Brahmanism itself is a sect founded by three innate creatures. It was born in the southern part of Xiniu Hezhou and has been passed down for tens of thousands of years. It can be said that it is deeply rooted.
The dispute between it and the Buddhist doctrines and believers is also long-standing.
Wu Tian fell from being Kinnara, the great guardian of Buddhism, to being Mara because he went to preach in the southern part of Xiniuhezhou at the order of Uparata, the Buddha, 30,000 years ago.
In the past, Xuanmen was the only dominant sect, and could only barely give room to Western religions, so it had never paid attention to Brahmanism.
At this time, in order to cause some trouble for Lingshan, the Green Bull Demon took the initiative to join Brahmanism and tried his best to help Brahmanism spread its doctrines and develop believers.
Because Vishnu, one of the three gods of Brahmanism, is a congenital bull god, the Blue Bull Demon was easily given important positions and rose to prominence with his own abilities.
By the time it faked its death and left Brahmanism, it had become one of the most powerful gods under Vishnu.
And the effect of this operation is very significant.
Originally, Brahmanism had been gradually eroded by Lingshan, and its sphere of influence had shrunk from the entire southern part of Xiniuhezhou to only a few small countries in the southernmost part.
With the support of the Green Bull Demon and the Xuanmen behind him, Brahmanism has been revived, and its influence has expanded outward again, causing a lot of trouble to Lingshan.
However, the Green Bull Demon was also targeted by Lingshan because of this.
After sensing the danger, the Bull Demon decisively chose to fake his death and escape, thereby exacerbating the conflict between Buddhism and Brahmanism.
Afterwards, he found a small country in the north of Xiniu Hezhou and became the king. He also deliberately exposed his identity and attracted the attention of Tieguai Li.
The Green Bull Demon was originally planning to follow Tieguai Li back directly, but because of Tieguai Li's rude remarks, he changed his mind and taught him a lesson.
This is how Li Jing was ordered to come down to earth to capture the monster.
"So that's what happened."
Li Anran finally figured out the whole cause and effect of the matter.
Looking at the Brahmanism in the life of the Green Bull Demon, he couldn't help but think of the country of Asan in his previous life.
However, this world is very different from the Blue Star in the previous life. Brahmanism is very similar to the Brahmanism in the previous life, but they cannot be treated the same.
The three innate creatures worshipped as the main gods in Brahmanism are, according to the evaluation of Taishang Laojun, all side-door cultivators in the realm of Daluo Jinxian. Although their strength is not as good as that of the orthodox Xuanmen, they are also quite peculiar.
In addition, they have several Taiyi Golden Immortals, more than a dozen Golden Immortals and dozens of Xuan Immortals under their command.
Although this strength is not as good as Xuanmen and Lingshan, it is definitely a hegemon.
Lingshan was also worried that the Brahmanism would be destroyed, so he did not use force. Instead, he chose to use both carrot and stick, hoping to convert the Brahmanism from top to bottom to Buddhism.
But, apparently it hasn't been done yet.
After sorting out everything, Li Anran reopened the life of the Green Bull Demon.
The most valuable things in the life of the Bull Demon are the three times of preaching by saints, or more precisely, the one time when the saint's mortal incarnation Laozi wrote the "Tao Te Ching" and the two times when the Supreme Saint preached.
The "Tao Te Ching" is not a method of practicing exercises; it can even be said that it has nothing to do with practice.
However, it expounds the Supreme Sage's understanding of the Way of Heaven, the Way of the Great, and the Way of Man. It can be said to point directly to the origin and is far more precious than any other skills.
However, it is not an easy task to comprehend it.
Li Anran was well aware of the principle that sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood, and was not in a hurry to read the "Tao Te Ching".
Laozi traveled westward, and wherever he went, he would preach to people. The content of his sermons was consistent, but also had new changes.
This is actually the process of Lao Tzu thinking about and perfecting the Tao that he has understood.
It is also the process of the "Tao Te Ching" from its initial form to gradual improvement and then to the writing of a book.
And the life of the Green Bull Demon just happens to include these contents!
Li Anran took a deep breath, sat cross-legged, and cleared his mind of all distracting thoughts.
Following Lao Tzu's thoughts and steps, I gradually comprehended the essence and differences between the Way of Heaven, the Way of Greatness, and the Way of Man.
Time passes very quickly at times like this.
In a blink of an eye, half a year has passed.
During the past six months, Li Anran did nothing but check the life story of the Green Bull Demon over and over again.
He was not greedy for more, and each time he only stopped when Lao Tzu wrote the "Tao Te Ching" in Hangu Pass, and was not in a hurry to listen to the two sermons of the Supreme Sage.
Finally, he felt that his understanding of Tao had reached a certain level.
It's time to read the "Tao Te Ching"!
