Chapter 288: The Calamity Begins
"If Yang Jian wanted to save the Weaver Girl, he would have done it back then. It would not have been delayed until now. Someone else did this."
The Jade Emperor looked at the direction where Yang Jian and Li Anran left, and said meaningfully: "He was able to endure it with patience, and he has great ambitions."
The Queen Mother frowned and said, "Isn't the position of the God of Justice enough for him?"
The Jade Emperor said: "Yang Jian doesn't want power."
"What is that?" the Queen Mother asked.
The Jade Emperor shook his head: " I don't know either. But, it must be that I am what the Heavenly Court cannot give him."
The Queen Mother asked in confusion, "Since Your Majesty has already seen that Yang Jian has evil intentions, why do you still use him?"
The Jade Emperor laughed: "Your Majesty, don't you think this is very interesting? I want to see what tricks he can come up with."
The Queen Mother was stunned. She didn't expect the Jade Emperor to give such an answer.
She suddenly remembered that the Jade Emperor promised Tathagata to temporarily give up the authority of the Three Realms to give Tathagata and Kinnara a stage for gambling and fighting. Could it be because of this reason?
On the other side, Li Anran and Yang Jian came out of the Lingxiao Palace, and Li Anran told Yang Jian that Nezha was waiting for them in the Tianlao Palace.
Yang Jian realized almost instantly that this matter should be related to the gambling fight between Tathagata and Wujitian. Without saying a word, he agreed and flew to the Tianlao Palace with Li Anran.
On the way, the two talked about the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
"After you told me about that incident last time, I secretly went to Tianhe River. There were indeed traces of laurel leaves in the bodies of the children. This incident was also done by Empress Xihe..."
If Li Anran had not reminded him at the beginning, even Yang Jian would have found it difficult to find any clues if this happened suddenly.
However, with the incident of the bay leaf in mind and a suspected target, it would be much easier to find clues.
Yang Jian has basically confirmed that the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was done by Xihe, and the Weaver Girl's children are now in the Guanghan Palace.
However, he was not going to care!
No matter what Xihe's purpose was, it was ultimately a good thing for Zhinu's children. It was much better than losing their humanity due to the cold air of the Milky Way.
Li Anran naturally had no objection.
Not to mention whether the pair of children of the Weaver Girl can achieve something, even if they can, it would be a headache for the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother, it would never be his turn!
He was unwilling to offend Xihe for the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother.
God knows what unknown magic weapons Xihe has in her hands!
After talking about the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Li Anran told Yang Jian everything about Tathagata and Wujitian.
Yang Jian was surprised: "It will start in three years? Is Tathagata so anxious?"
Li Anran said: "It's not just about Wu Tian, but everything including the journey to the West, Tathagata was very impatient. There were many things he could have done better, but in the end he did them in a hurry, as if he didn't care much about the result."
After a pause, Li Anran expressed his guess with a serious expression: "I suspect Tathagata may know something we don't know. He is so anxious, he may be preparing for something."
Li Anran thought of the Legend of the White Snake, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and the final Dharma Ending Age after Journey to the West.
In the Legend of the White Snake, the Jade Emperor, Guanyin, Tathagata and the Antarctic Immortal still existed. But by the time of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, not only had all the gods and Buddhas disappeared from the entire Three Realms, but even some of the more powerful monsters disappeared.
So much so that a little demon like Cihang Pudu, who couldn't even become the king of a mountain in the world of Journey to the West, dared to eat up all the royal relatives, civil and military officials of a mortal dynasty.
But in the Dharma Ending Age, not to mention monsters, even magic has become a legend and no longer exists.
The essence of the Dharma-Ending Age is that humanity has completely defeated the way of heaven.
If the Way of Heaven no longer exists, then cultivation will naturally no longer exist.
Only the countless living beings were left in the world, and all the gods, Buddhas and monks who relied on the way of heaven for their existence disappeared along with the way of heaven.
Li Anran suspected that Tathagata also saw that the root of this catastrophe was the struggle between humanity and heaven, and he firmly believed that humanity would win in the end. That was why he was in a hurry to achieve enlightenment and become a saint before heaven's demise, and he was unwilling to delay for even a single day.
Li Anran told Yang Jian his guess.
Yang Jian’s opinion is completely different from Li Anran’s.
The reason is simple:
"If that were the case, Tathagata would not have discussed with the immortals at the Ullambana Festival five hundred years ago to lay out the layout of the four continents and work together to eliminate the karma of cause and effect."
Tathagata and his companions artificially caused the disaster and sacrificed a large number of lives to eliminate the karma and delay the arrival of the catastrophe.
It itself represents the conflict between humanity and the way of heaven.
If Tathagata was worried that humanity would eventually win a great victory and the way of heaven would completely disappear, he would not do things to accelerate the victory of humanity.
Li Anran and Yang Jian guessed several other possibilities.
For example, there are many factional conflicts within Lingshan, and Tathagata is so anxious because he is afraid that one of his own people is secretly making trouble.
However, there is not enough persuasiveness and evidence.
However, the two did not give up because of the incident.
Tathagata has his own plans, and they have their own plans. They will not stop at taking advantage of Tathagata's bet with Wu Tian to make a fake thing come true and change the world.
"Being between heaven and earth, it is indeed impossible to escape from the catastrophe. Daozu Hongjun has united himself with the Dao, and the Jade Emperor was personally appointed by Daozu Hongjun and other saints. We want to change heaven and earth, so we are truly involved in this catastrophe, and are more deeply involved than others."
While the two were sighing with emotion, they had already reached the top of the Tianlao Palace. Nezha could no longer wait and flew up to meet them as soon as he saw them.
Nezha asked, "Second brother, Li Anran, you are finally back! How is the matter of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl going? It's just two children who left. Will the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother want to kill them all?"
There were so many people around that Li Anran did not answer, but said, "Let's go down first and talk while we drink."
After entering the Tianlao Palace and taking a seat, Li Anran used his magic power to block out the outside world from prying eyes. Then he told Nezha the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl as well as Xihe and the Moon.
"That's great!" Nezha couldn't bear to see the miserable plight of the Weaver Girl's family, but he was bound by the heavenly rules and regulations, and he couldn't openly disobey the Jade Emperor's will.
Hearing that the Weaver Girl had been freed and her two children had been saved, Nezha was overjoyed and kept clapping and cheering.
He looked at Li Anran with a serious face and said, "No matter what happened to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, those two children are innocent! Li Anran, you can't be an accomplice to the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother!"
Li Anran said unhappily, "Do you need to tell me about this? I will help them delay for ten days or half a month, and then I will go to the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother to apologize."
"That's good!" Nezha was not angry. He picked up the wine glass and shouted, "Come on, come on, we brothers haven't seen each other for a long time. We must have a big drink today!"
Li Anran snorted coldly: "The worse you are, the more you like to play !"
After a few drinks, the three of them discussed how to take advantage of the gambling match between Tathagata and Wujitian to make it real and change the master of the Three Realms.
The key here is how to turn the immortals from fake prisoners into real prisoners without letting them sense the danger and rise up in rebellion.
If the gods and Buddhas of the three realms attack together, not to mention the three of them, even if they could bring in Taiyi Tianzun, they would still be defeated.
"We can do this..."
Li Anran had already thought of a countermeasure on the way here and immediately expressed his idea.
Yang Jian and Nezha listened carefully and gave some suggestions from time to time.
It only took half a day for the three of them to come up with a plan, and then they split up to start preparing.
Time flies, and three years have passed in a flash.
On this day, the Jade Emperor was holding a court meeting in the Lingxiao Palace as usual.
Suddenly, there was a change in the wind and clouds above the heaven, with howling winds, and the sun and moon lost their light, as if the end of the world was coming.
