Chapter 43: Showdown
There is nothing unusual about Yang Jian's story.
In Li Anran's opinion, it was more like a replica of Journey to the West where the second generation of officials had promiscuous friends.
Because Yang Jian was busy with his official duties as the god of justice, San Shengmu was bored and made many friends.
Many of these friends were people she met by chance and had similar personalities to her, but more of them wanted to cling to his power and deliberately made friends with him to curry her favor.
Yang Jian had already sent people to investigate the background and character of these people.
However, since they only used the title of the God of Justice's sister and close friend as a talisman at the beginning, they did not take advantage of the power of the God of Justice to bully others.
Yang Jian felt that he owed something to the Three Holy Mothers, and was afraid that the Three Holy Mothers would be unhappy if they found out, so he did not stop them from interacting.
Unexpectedly, they are becoming more and more courageous.
This Fairy of Flowers actually dared to instigate the Third Holy Mother to visit the prison in the Heavenly Prison before the case was decided, in an attempt to help Fairy Ayanami escape punishment.
This touched Yang Jian's bottom line.
That's why before leaving, Yang Jian warned the Fairy of Flowers to take care of the affairs of the Flowers Bureau and not to go to Huashan unless necessary.
"…I'm afraid the Three Holy Mothers will be unhappy…this reason is simply invincible!"
Li Anran couldn't help but complain in his heart.
If this were to be said by the number one war god in heaven, the god of justice known for his ruthlessness, people would probably be shocked!
But looking at the doting and helplessness in Yang Jian's voice when he talked about the Three Holy Mothers, it was clear that he was sincere in his words!
Li Anran has a new understanding of Yang Jian's sister-con nature.
No wonder the Third Holy Mother was so easily controlled by the Fairy of Flowers!
With such a powerful and almost omnipotent second brother who is infinitely tolerant of her, it is good enough that she is just naive and has not become an arrogant and lawless second-generation fairy!
However, what puzzled Li Anran even more was why Yang Jian suddenly told him all this today?
Considering the relationship between the two of them, it's really an exaggeration to say this.
Yang Jian saw what Li Anran was thinking and said, "General Li, are you wondering why I suddenly ?"
Li Anran nodded.
Yang Jian said: "General Li, do you know about the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl? When my third sister came to the Temple of Justice to look for me just now, I was in the mortal world to solve this matter..."
Li Anran naturally knew the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
But in his previous life, he only listened to it as a myth and legend, and hearing it from Yang Jian's mouth now, the feeling was completely different.
"In the past, the love between immortals and mortals was mostly because the immortals could not stand the loneliness and fell in love with mortals. But this time, it was completely different. The Cowherd was bewitched by a bull demon and stole the Weaver Girl's clothes while she was bathing. I came to the mortal world this time just to capture that bull demon..."
As Yang Jian told the story, Li Anran finally understood what had happened.
Yang Jian had previously sent Boss Kang and Roaring Sky Dog to track down the Bull Demon using the method of "The sky and the earth are boundless, and the pursuit is thousands of miles away."
It took the man and the dog almost half a month to finally find the trace of the bull demon three days ago.
They did not act rashly, but immediately used magic to inform Yang Jian.
Afterwards, Yang Jian led his troops to pursue him.
The Bull Demon is quite powerful, but he is no match for Yang Jian.
But just when Yang Jian was about to capture it, a strong wind suddenly blew up, with flying sand and rocks, blocking Yang Jian's way.
By the time Yang Jian broke the spell, the bull demon had disappeared and the smell on its body had been completely removed.
Yang Jian had no choice but to return to Heaven and report the matter to the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother.
His original intention was to ask the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother to give him a few more days so that he could devote more energy to capturing the bull demon.
At the very least, he hoped that the Queen Mother would show mercy to the Weaver Girl, considering that she was framed by a monster and not because she was really tempted by human love.
But, no!
The Queen Mother not only has no patience, but also no mercy at all.
It is said that the desire of gods and immortals for human beings is the source of all evil, and without severe punishment it will not be enough to uphold the law and establish the majesty of heaven.
No matter what the reason was for the Weaver Girl to be tempted by worldly desires, it is an unforgivable sin.
The Queen Mother immediately issued an edict, ordering Yang Jian to separate the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl's family on both sides of the Milky Way. They could only see each other on the seventh day of the seventh month of each year, which was their wedding day, using magpies as a bridge.
When Yang Jian said this, Li Anran couldn't help but ask, "Since the Queen Mother hates the love between immortals and mortals so much, why does she want them to meet every year?"
"To intimidate the immortals."
Seeing Li Anran's puzzled expression, Yang Jian explained, "The Tianhe River gathers all the cruelty and disloyalty in the world. It is similar to the evil and resentful energy gathered in the Tianlao, but a hundred times worse."
"The Cowherd and his children are all mortals who have never practiced cultivation, and the Weaver Girl is just an ordinary female fairy. In ten years at most, no matter whether it is love, family affection or other emotions, they will be completely worn away, leaving only the purest hatred."
This Queen Mother is so cruel!
Li Anran took a deep breath and felt a chill in his heart.
When people in the mortal world talk about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, it is said that "when the golden wind and jade dew meet, it is better than countless things in the human world."
But when all feelings no longer exist, this meeting becomes a human tragedy and the most vicious curse and ridicule on love.
Among them, the Weaver Girl is the most miserable.
This "love" was not what she wanted in the first place. She was forced to marry the cowherd because of someone's scheme.
Now, because she has the body of an immortal and can better withstand the erosion of the Milky Way, she has to watch her husband and children become cold-blooded and full of hatred and resentment towards her.
This is far more cruel than having thousands of copper balls, iron juice and arrows piercing the heart, and it can scare all the gods and immortals to death!
After Yang Jian finished speaking, he brought the topic back to the topic again, cupped his hands and said, "General Li, I am telling you this today because I have a favor to ask of you."
Li Anran quickly stepped aside and said, "God of Justice, you are joking! Even if there are things in this world that God of Justice cannot do, there is nothing that God of Justice cannot do, which is what I can do!"
Yang Jian smiled bitterly and said, "I may seem to be powerful now, but in fact, I am just enjoying the vicissitudes of life. Too much is as bad as too little. When the day comes when I lose this power, my fate will be even more miserable than any criminal immortal who has committed a crime."
"What Yang Jian wants is that when this day comes, please ask General Li to look after my third sister for me. She is kind-hearted and innocent. If she is left without protection, she will be deceived and bullied."
Li Anran: “???”
Li Anran understood Yang Jian's thoughts, but was also a little confused.
Li Anran was not surprised that Yang Jian had such a clear understanding of his situation.
After witnessing the ruthlessness of the Queen Mother in dealing with the Weaver Girl, it was understandable that he was worried that the Three Holy Mothers would also be held accountable after he lost power.
But, even if you find someone to entrust the Three Holy Mothers to, it should be the Meishan brothers or Nezha, the second-generation disciples of the Chan sect. Why shouldn't you find him?
Thinking of the future divine actions of the Third Holy Mother, Li Anran was unwilling to continue the conversation and declined, "The God of Justice thinks too highly of me! Let's not talk about whether the God of Justice will lose power in the future. Just the Six Saints of Meishan are a hundred times better than me. How can I handle such a thing!"
As he was speaking, Li Anran suddenly realized something was wrong.
He practiced the Hehuan technique and had a keen sense of emotions. He noticed that Yang Jian seemed to appreciate him even more.
What is going on?
Li Anran was in doubt and confusion when he suddenly realized something even more wrong!
How could he sense Yang Jian's emotions?
With his level of cultivation, he could only sense Li Laosi's emotions when he was in the breathing state.
How could he sense Yang Jian's emotions?
unless……
Yang Jian let him sense it on purpose!
Li Anran's pupils suddenly shrank, and the expressionless face that he had been trying so hard to maintain could no longer hold back, and his vigilance towards Yang Jian soared to the extreme.
Yang Jian seemed not to notice and continued, "I have met many talented people over the years, but there are very few who can be compared with you, the general."
Li Anran felt the sincerity in Yang Jian's emotions.
He became even more panicked.
Who has Yang Jian met over the years?
Monkey, Ape King, Bull Demon King, Dragon Demon King...
But now, he said that there are very few people who can be compared with Li Anran!
What is this for?
Yang Jian obviously had no intention of stopping, and continued, "When I first met General Li, he was just a cultivator at the Spirit Refining and Void Transformation stage. In less than three months, the general has already achieved enlightenment and become an immortal. With such talent, he has surpassed most people in this world. Even I was inferior to him at first."
It turns out that this is where the problem occurred!
Li Anran suddenly understood and smiled reluctantly, "Thank you, God of Justice, for your praise."
In fact, it’s not entirely Li Anran’s fault for being careless.
Firstly, whether in the memories of his previous life or in the lives of the monster monks he had seen, he had never heard of any spell that could directly detect a person's cultivation level.
Secondly, even if he knew, what would it matter? Could he just stay in hiding and not improve his cultivation?
If that were the case, he might not even be able to pass the initial level of King Yu Monkey, and would still be a low-level heavenly soldier with less than a thousand experience points per day.
Yang Jian continued, "But, this is nothing. After all, there are always people better than you in this world. The Monkey King Sun Wukong was able to cultivate to the Taiyi realm in just a few hundred years, so it's not surprising that the general took only three months to break through from the Refining Spirit Returning Void to the True Immortal realm."
"What really surprised me was that, on the roster of heavenly soldiers, the general was actually seventy-three years old. This means that the general spent seventy-three years cultivating from a mortal to the state of refining spirits and becoming a virtual being, but it only took him three months to ascend from the state of refining spirits and becoming a virtual being to the realm of a true immortal."
Li Anran's heart tightened, this time he was really scared.
But when he came to his senses, he figured it out.
How could it be possible that a man as meticulous and scheming as Yang Jian would be easily promoted to the position of prison warden!
Before this, Yang Jian must have investigated him thoroughly.
However, it was not until this time that Yang Jian revealed his true colors to him.
Yang Jian said, "General Li, please listen to me and don't panic. Yang Jian can swear to heaven that he has no ill will towards you and will never force you." After a pause, he added, "You should also be able to feel Yang Jian's sincerity and kindness."
He really did it on purpose!
Li Anran calmed down at this time and said, "God of Justice, please speak."
Another feeling of appreciation came over me.
This is some bullshit!
Li Anran was a little amused.
However, he also knew that even for Yang Jian, it would be almost impossible to fake such emotions to deceive others without practicing the corresponding skills.
Yang Jian indeed had no ill will towards him and he indeed admired him.
Yang Jian continued, "There are only two possibilities for this situation to occur. The first is that you deliberately slowed down your cultivation speed when you were in the mortal world, but the probability of this is extremely small. The second is that after you arrived in heaven , you got some kind of opportunity, which led to your rapid progress in cultivation."
"I asked the soldiers in the prison about what you did in the prison, and I found something very strange."
"You once told a celestial soldier named Chen Yang that you knew you were weak-willed and would retreat easily when faced with problems, so you liked to set a goal for yourself and then force yourself to face your fear and complete it."
"Because you were frightened by the monsters in the prison, you set a goal for yourself to escort 10,000 prisoners into the prison. So I guess your chance is related to the prison and escorting prisoners."
Li Anran felt his scalp tingling as he listened to Yang Jian's detailed analysis.
However, Yang Jian's analysis goes far beyond this.
"From the Heavenly Soldiers, I also learned that when you first came to the Heavenly Prison, every time you practiced, you had to spend a lot of time to remove the evil spirits mixed in with the spiritual energy, and then spend a certain amount of time to regulate your body."
"But this time you deliberately let the evil spirit enter your body and pretended to be seriously injured to deceive Qiu Yin. Then you dispelled the evil spirit in a very short time, and your cultivation level has not declined but improved."
"When I captured Daji, I saw her use a similar method. And that three-tailed fox happened to be of Qingqiu bloodline, and you happened to be the one escorting it to the prison. Your transformation also happened to begin from then on."
"But this technique should be a secret of Qingqiu. You and the three-tailed fox had no connection before, so it is impossible for her to pass it on to you."
"If I'm not mistaken, the opportunity the general has gotten should be to gain some benefits from the prisoners he personally escorted. This is also the reason why the general refused the fourth brother's recruitment and was unwilling to leave the prison."
This time, Li Anran realized that he had revealed so many flaws inadvertently.
He opened his mouth and finally said only one sentence: "Li Anran is convinced."
Yang Jian said: "General Li, you don't have to be like this. Yang Jian only relied on his power to investigate everything, which is why he came to these conclusions. If you were in their place, the general would not be worse than Yang Jian."
Li Anran stopped pretending to be expressionless and smiled bitterly, "God of Justice, please stop comforting me. I am indeed the most self-aware person, and I can't do these things."
There were still four words in his mind that he hadn't said, "I'm too lazy to do it."
Yang Jian did not continue to say these words. He changed the subject and said, "Qiu Yin also knows what happened in the Heavenly Prison. I can't do anything about it. However, I have personally No one will discover the general's secrets anymore."
Li Anran breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, God of Justice."
Yang Jian's attitude showed that he had no desire for his opportunity.
Of course, this is also because Yang Jian did not know that Li Anran’s opportunity could lead directly to the path of sainthood. Otherwise, it is hard to say whether Yang Jian would be greedy.
Yang Jian said: "General Li, you are too polite. Compared to this opportunity, I actually admire General Li himself more."
Again, the emotion of sincerity and appreciation came through.
Li Anran felt a little numb.
He really didn't know what advantages he had that would be more important to Yang Jian than the system's golden finger.
Yang Jian said solemnly, "There are countless people with good fortune and talent in this world, such as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Driving Gods Yu Monkey King, and myself included. When they suddenly get a chance and cultivate a little bit of magical power, they will forget themselves and want everyone to know how powerful they are."
Li Anran: “…”
He understood what Yang Jian was going to say!
Sure enough, Yang Jian continued, "I have never met someone like General Li who can remain low-key and calm even if he has a chance and his cultivation has skyrocketed. With such a character, even if Yang Jian dies and the Heavenly Palace is destroyed, the general will probably be safe and sound."
Li Anran: "...Thank you, God of Justice, for your praise."
Yang Jian was still saying something when suddenly a auspicious cloud floated over from the distance. On the top of the cloud stood an old man with white hair, a youthful face and a spirited look. It was Taibai Jinxing.
As soon as Taibai Jinxing saw Yang Jian, he waved and shouted, "God of Justice, His Majesty has something to ask you to see."
Yang Jian frowned and sent a voice message to Li Anran: "General Li, I won't force you to do anything about my third sister. But if you are willing, I will also lend you a helping hand."
After saying that, Yang Jian rode a cloud to meet him and flew towards Lingxiao Palace with Taibai Jinxing.
Li Anran watched Yang Jian leave, and then heaved a sigh of relief: "No wonder he can become the God of Justice, this is too scary! Fortunately, he is worried about the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother, and wants me to help him take care of the Three Holy Mothers!"
Li Anran didn't know that Yang Jian would confront him at this time.
It's not just because of the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, nor is it just because of the potential and stability he has shown.
More importantly, when Yang Jian came to the mortal world this time, he also personally investigated his past and confirmed that he was a virtuous man who kept his promises, was kind, and protected one side , and was worthy of trust.
This showdown is also a reminder to prevent Li Anran from being lax and careless, leaving more flaws and being discovered by others.
