Chapter 278 What if it doesn’t work?
Li Anran put the blame on Li Jing without hesitation.
Tathagata also cooperated and showed a bit of surprise: "There is such a thing?"
He only believed 30% of what Li Anran said.
He believed that Li Anran and Nezha went to the Mengjie for Li Jing.
However, Li Anran and Nezha could not have been trying to prove Li Jing's innocence, they were only trying to find evidence of Li Jing's guilt.
And considering Li Anran's understanding of the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, it is impossible that the Meng Realm was destroyed accidentally. It must be that Li Anran saw the flaw in the formation.
However , Tathagata doesn't care!
All he wanted was a step down and—
An opportunity to negotiate terms with Taiyi Tianzun!
Tathagata's eyes narrowed slightly, and he thought to himself, "If I can use this opportunity to get Taiyi Tianzun to agree to my bet with Wu Tian, it would be worth it."
After Wutan refined the black lotus of his primordial spirit, the best way to kill him completely was to let him destroy himself!
This is also the reason why Tathagata is determined to fight with Wu Tian!
However, compared with him, Wu Tian is at an absolute disadvantage in the Three Realms!
If he wants Wutan to accept the bet, he must create a stage that is absolutely beneficial to Wutan!
That is, in the sequel to Journey to the West, the Three Realms were overthrown by the reincarnation of Tathagata, the gods and Buddhas became prisoners, and Wu Tian ruled the Three Realms for thirty-three years.
To set up such a stage, it is far from enough for Tathagata alone to be willing. It also requires the consent and cooperation of Heaven, Xuanmen, Jiejiao and even major forces such as Wuzhuangguan.
This kind of thing would have been impossible in the past.
But now, with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Journey to the West, the Eight Immortals' Gathering, and the destruction of the Demon Master's Mansion all having had significant effects in eliminating karma, Tathagata has turned the impossible into possible by using the reason of eliminating karma to postpone the catastrophe.
But, it's just a possibility!
It is also not easy for him to convince all parties!
Tathagata scheduled his bet with Wujitian to be fought after sixty years in order to give himself time to persuade others, or more accurately, to exchange interests with all parties.
Among these forces, Xuanmen is undoubtedly the most difficult to convince!
But the current events in Mengjie have given him an opportunity!
"How dare I speak nonsense in front of the Buddha!"
Li Anran looked sincere.
They plotted against the Buddha who guards the world and destroyed the Meng world.
It was said that when they were secretly investigating Li Jing's affairs, they saw that the Meng Realm was overrun with souls, so they wanted to help reduce the pressure on the Meng Realm and send these wronged souls into the underworld, but it ended up leading to the destruction of the Meng Realm.
Finally, he made a conclusion: "This is all pure coincidence! Ne Zha and I never intended to offend! Please understand, Buddha!"
Nezha: “!!!”
Nezha stared in amazement as Li Anran spoke nonsense in all seriousness.
What was even more unbelievable to him was that Tathagata actually nodded slightly, with an expression that showed he believed Li Anran. He clasped his hands together and said, "So that's how it is. It was I who misunderstood you." He waved his right hand, and a ray of Buddha's light flashed, which actually gathered up the entire sea of lotuses.
Nezha: “???” Tathagata believed it now?
Nezha was completely confused.
Tathagata was so furious just now, how come he believed Li Anran's words so easily?
This must at least be based on an oath from heaven, right?
But, there is none at all!
Tathagata seemed to have completely believed Li Anran and asked, "What are the results of your investigation?"
Seeing Tathagata being so cooperative, Li Anran knew that Tathagata had agreed to let things go, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
It is not necessarily that he cannot stop Tathagata by setting up the Zhuxian Formation, but it is also not certain that he can stop him.
But there is no need to fight to the death with Tathagata here!
Not worth it!
"Li Tianwang...Alas!"
Li Anran sighed, looking like he couldn't bear to continue. "Heavenly rules cannot be violated. Although Li Tianwang is Nezha's father, he did such a thing. Nezha and I can only sacrifice our relationship for the sake of justice."
Seeing that Nezha was still standing there like a wooden man, Li Anran touched Nezha with his arm.
Nezha suddenly came back to his senses and tried to imitate Li Anran's grief-stricken expression, but his acting skills were not good enough. He just nodded vigorously: "Yes! Li Anran is right! We must sacrifice our relatives for the sake of justice!"
Li Anran: “…” Although Tathagata doesn’t care about our acting skills, your gnashing teeth expression is too fake!
Li Anran continued, "I have already collected the witnesses and evidence. After returning to Heaven, I will hand them over to the Judicial Heavenly Palace. However, the King Kong in Lingshan..."
Tathagata said, "Don't worry, Prison God. Our Buddhist sect is a pure place, and we will never allow such people to do evil. I have issued a decree before, and the people of Lingshan must not violate the heavenly rules. Since he did not respect my decree and violated the heavenly rules, the Prison God only needs to ask the Jade Emperor to issue an order, and I will send him to heaven."
Li Anran was startled. He didn't know what Tathagata was up to. Seeing that Tathagata was so easy to talk to, a hint of doubt flashed across his eyes, but he still said, "Thank you, Buddha."
"I, a Buddhist disciple, committed an evil deed, which caused Li Tianwang to commit the crime of shielding the evildoer. This is my fault, and I do not deserve the thanks of the prison god. It's just..."
Tathagata changed the subject, sighed, and said, "The Meng Realm was a place I opened up for those who were wrongly killed. It's a pity that it's destroyed now!"
Li Anran was relieved when he heard this.
He was not afraid of Tathagata making conditions, but was afraid of Tathagata not making conditions. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Tathagata say, "Prison God, Third Prince, we have been away from the Three Realms for a while. I am afraid that Taiyi Tianzun is getting impatient. Let's go back to the Three Realms first."
As he spoke, Tathagata put his hands together, and Buddha's light shone from his body, instantly submerging the three people.
Nezha only felt a flash before his eyes, and when he looked around clearly again, they had returned to the junction of Xiniu Hezhou and Dongsheng Shenzhou.
Li Anran was prepared this time. He had been feeling the process of the changes in space. He was thinking about something in his mind and vaguely grasped some clues.
But before he could think about it, he saw a auspicious cloud floating in the distance, and on the top of the cloud stood a Taoist priest wearing a Taoist robe with a Tai Chi pattern, with two buns on his head, a wide robe with big sleeves, and silk sashes and linen shoes!
It’s Taiyi Tianzun!
Li Anran was worried about accidents, so as soon as he left Lingjiu Cave, he reported the matter to Taiyi Tianzun using the method of crane delivery.
Feihe's speed naturally cannot compare with his rainbow transformation technique.
Not to mention, Li Anran was worried that Feihe would be stopped, so he asked it to take a detour.
When Taiyi Tianzun received the letter from Feihe, Li Anran and Nezha had already been taken to the chaos outside the sky by Tathagata, and they came to nothing.
It was not until just now that he sensed the breath of Li Anran and Nezha again and hurried over.
"Disciple Li Anran (Nezha) pays homage to Master." Li Anran and Nezha stepped forward and saluted respectfully.
Taiyi Tianzun pretended to glance at the two of them casually, but secretly looked Li Anran up and down carefully. Seeing that Li Anran was safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief, and glared at Nezha fiercely, scaring Nezha so much that he trembled and his little face turned pale.
In front of Tathagata, Taiyi Tianzun did not say anything more. He just waved his hand and asked the two to stand up.
Taiyi Tianzun's movements of looking at Li Anran were very covert, but Tathagata's attention was always focused on Li Anran, so he still noticed it keenly.
This made Tathagata even more certain that Li Anran had mastered the Zhuxian Formation.
Otherwise, with Taiyi Tianzun's temperament, he would never be so nervous!
Taiyi Tianzun bowed slightly to Tathagata with an apologetic look on his face and said, "These two kids are making trouble and destroying Tathagata Buddha's world. I will punish them severely when I return."
The attitudes of Buddhism and Taoism towards their own disciples who made mistakes were extremely consistent:
Take him back and punish him severely!
However, after bringing him back, whether he will be severely punished or made to drink three glasses of wine as a punishment is hard to say!
Taiyi Tianzun took out a crystal clear fist-sized azure pearl from his bosom and said, "This pearl is called Tianshui Pearl. It is an innate spiritual treasure that was born in the primordial world when the world was first created. It contains a small world and can be used as a substitute for the Meng Realm. You can also tell me the materials needed to build the Ten Thousand Buddha Pagoda. I will send someone to deliver it to Lingshan as soon as possible."
Nezha was unwilling to give in, and said, "Master, the Meng Realm..."
Before he could finish his words, Taiyi Tianzun glared at him.
Nezha's voice froze, and even if he had a lot more to say, he could only swallow it back.
Tathagata spoke up at this time: "Heavenly Lord, I have learned about this incident from the prison god and the Third Prince. They are not to blame for this incident. It was because I did not discipline my disciples strictly, which led to them breaking the Heavenly Rules and causing all these incidents."
"Now that the catastrophe is approaching, the destruction of the Meng Realm is also the will of heaven. The Prison God and the Third Prince just bumped into each other by chance. Heaven does not want it to exist, and I cannot go against heaven anymore, so let it disperse."
Taiyi Tianzun frowned slightly, his face became more solemn, and he said: "The Tathagata Buddha may not care about it, but I cannot pretend that it never happened. Since the Tathagata Buddha is not planning to rebuild the Meng Realm, does he have other plans?"
Although Tathagata appears to be taking the opportunity, he actually has other requests!
But he couldn't refuse to take this one!
Li Anran noticed that Tathagata specifically mentioned the word "catastrophe". He was moved and immediately guessed what Tathagata wanted to say.
As expected, Tathagata said: "When I created the Meng Realm, I collected the souls of those who were wrongly killed in the world. My original intention was to resolve the karma between heaven and earth and postpone the arrival of the catastrophe. Now, I have found a better way to resolve karma, but..."
Taiyi Tianzun guessed what Tathagata was going to say, and asked knowingly, "But what?"
Tathagata sighed and said, "But this matter requires the concerted efforts of the gods and Buddhas of the three realms..."
Afterwards, Tathagata told the story of Wu Tian and said, "If we can kill Wu Tian and his demons, we will be able to resolve the karma between heaven and earth and postpone the coming of the catastrophe for more than a thousand years."
"It's just that Wu Tian is cunning and wants to compete with me for the position of the World Honored One in the Buddhist world. He also knows that the righteous way in the Three Realms is thriving while the evil is declining. If I want to lure him into the trap, I need the gods and Buddhas of the Three Realms to cooperate with me to put on a good show with him, so that he will think that he has the upper hand, but in fact he has already fallen into the trap."
Taiyi Tianzun asked, "Has Tathagata Buddha figured out how to lure him into the trap?"
Tathagata nodded and said, "The black-robed Sakya governs the three realms. His true spirit will be reborn into the Buddhist world."
Taiyi Tianzun's pupils suddenly shrank.
Even though he had experienced all kinds of things, he was still shocked when he heard what Tathagata said.
"Black-robed Sakyamuni" undoubtedly refers to Wu Tian, and "ruling the three realms" means letting Wu Tian rule the three realms.
"The true spirit is reborn into the Buddhist family" must be referring to Tathagata, who is about to reincarnate as a mortal.
Tathagata wants to make Wu Tian the ruler of the three realms, and he himself will reincarnate as a mortal!
Although the ruler of the three realms cannot be real, Tathagata can only let the gods and Buddhas of the three realms cooperate with them in acting out a play, and temporarily hand over the three realms to Wujitian to rule, letting them use the three realms as a chessboard to engage in a gambling game of life and death.
However, this amount of money is already unprecedentedly large!
Not to mention the previous Yellow Turban Rebellion, Journey to the West, and the Eight Immortals.
Even during the catastrophe of the Conferred Gods, the Three Religions and Six Sages only used the Shang Dynasty and Xiqi of the human race as the battlefield for their confrontation.
When Tathagata spoke, he was going to use the entire Three Realms as a chessboard, and he was going to give up the entire Three Realms to Wu Tian!
This is simply unbelievable!
What is even more difficult to understand is that Tathagata is so confident that even if he gave up the entire Three Realms, could he still win?
The stakes of this bet are that the losing party will disappear on his own!
Compared with Tathagata and Wujitian, both Tathagata and Wujitian are superior!
Especially the latter, if the gods and Buddhas of the three realms join forces, let alone Wu Tian just refining the twelfth-grade black lotus of world-destroying into the black lotus of the soul, even if he had the twelfth-grade black lotus of world-destroying, they could still crush him into ashes!
But now, Tathagata did not ask him to help deal with Wujitian. Instead, when he had an absolute advantage, he gave up all his advantages and even put himself at an absolute disadvantage in his reincarnation, in order to have a gambling fight with Wujitian!
Even if Tathagata is absolutely confident that he can win, this approach is really too stupid and arrogant!
"Why?" asked Taiyi Tianzun.
He has been in charge of Xuanmen for so many years, and Tathagata has been in charge of Buddhism for so many years. He knows best how powerful Tathagata is. He doesn't believe that Tathagata can't understand this.
Tathagata said: "Your Majesty, are you confused? I clearly have a better way to deal with Wu Tian, but why did I choose this most thankless method?"
Taiyi Tianzun nodded.
Tathagata said: "Yes, I do have many ways to kill Wu Tian, but the battle between him and me is not a battle of magic power or supernatural powers, but a battle of Tao."
"Even if I have thousands of ways to kill him, it only proves that my cultivation is deeper and my magic power is stronger, which is of no benefit to Taoism."
"Only when the strength is reversed and he has all the advantages, and I can still win, can I prove that my way is right and his way is wrong!"
"As for the risks involved, whether I can win..."
Tathagata paused and continued, "I believe my way is right and his way is wrong. I will definitely be able to defeat him."
After listening for a while, Nezha finally understood the meaning of the sixteen words that Tathagata had just said, and his face was full of shock and disbelief.
At this time, hearing what Tathagata said, he could not help but ask: "What if it is not possible?"
Tathagata said calmly: "It is enough to hear the truth in the morning and die in the evening!"
