The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 357 The Situation and Choices in The Competition

Taibai had a lot of doubts in his heart, but Lord Lao Zi looked like he was unwilling to talk too much about it. Taibai hesitated for a while. Finally, he curbed his curiosity and didn’t ask anymore.

The general mood of the Taoist sect was always free and easy. Its cultivators also advocated freedom, and they all thought differently, so there were many factions in the Immortal Court. Lord Lao Zi was one of the six people in the Sage Realm. In terms of cultivation, he should be the Immortal Emperor, but he was detached from the Immortal Court and paid no attention to worldly affairs.

But he didn’t break away from the Immortal Court. All sides were highly concerned about Lord Lao Zi’s views and attitude toward the affairs in the Immortal Court.

Out of the Doushuai Palace, Taibai was still frowning because he couldn’t figure out Lord Lao Zi’s position. Taibai vaguely understood that the chaos in the world this time seemed different from the past.

Some cultivators in the Immortal Court would also assist the mortal feudal princes in competing for the hegemony of the world. It happened all the time, but it never worked. Therefore, Taibai didn’t care about what Guanghan Fairy, God of Giant Spirit, and the others did. But now, everything seemed different.

On the immortal island, looking at clouds and fog, Taibai sighed slowly, full of anxiety in his eyes. He thought, “The situation is already difficult in the battle of the immortal territory. If there are any more problems in the human world so that the Immortal Court suffers great trouble, it will be disastrous to heaven and earth.”

“Without the faith of the mortal, the Immortal Court cannot exist, but without the protection of the Immortal Court, how can the mortal resist the invasion of foreigners?”

But Taibai didn’t overthink this.

Li Ye had grown beyond any expectations, but he didn’t think that Li Ye could take charge of Jiuzhou, break the arrangements of the Immortal Court in the human world, destroy the foundation of the Taoist sect in Jiuzhou, and make the Immortal Court lose control of the human world.

Leaving the Doushuai Palace, Taibai went back to the immoral office, straight to the Privy Council. He was on duty.

Not long after he sat down, a burly black-faced man with an iron pagoda on his hand came to sit down in front of him angrily, with a sullen look.

Taibai put down the jade pen and asked curiously, “Why are you so angry?”

Although Li Jing was fierce in appearance, he was a cultured general. He said in a deep voice, “Chen Qinghuai, who guarded the Yili Pass, was defeated, and the Yili Pass was captured by Moni! “Those barbarians are sending troops aggressively now. The Immortal Emperor was furious and ordered me to leave tomorrow and recapture the Yili Pass personally!”

Hearing this, Taibai was a little stunned, and he became serious.

The so-called Moni referred to the Moni sect, which was the sect Uighur people believed in, just like the people of the Tang Empire believed in the Taoist sect.

More than a hundred years ago, it was in the An-Shi Disturbances. To squash the An-Shi rebels, the Tang Empire transferred a large number of troops from the border into the pass, leading to the lack of defense in Hexi and the Western Regions. Taking the opportunity, Uighur invaded the Western Regions and Hexi on a large scale, setting off a war in the Western Regions.

The Taoist Immortal Court had been fighting the Moni cultivators since then.

At first, after the two sides fought for a long time, the Immortal Court had more defeats than victories and suffered heavy losses. And the human world also lost a lot of land in the Western Regions and Hexi. Later, the Immortal Court adjusted its strategy and finally had continuous victorious. In the human world, Zhang Yichao commanded the Guiyi Army to recapture 11 states and save the battle situation in Hexi and the Western Regions.

A few years ago, Zhang Yichao returned to the imperial court and was appointed with an official position. He no longer took charge of the Guiyi Army. Uighur began to fight back, and at the same time, the immortal territory was at war. The Yili Pass was the first important town in the western line of the Taoist Immortal Court’s resistance to Moni’s cultivators. Now that the Yili Pass was broken through, then Moni’s cultivators would march straight into it. The situation was extremely unfavorable to the Immortal Court.

Taibai said indignantly, “Those b*stards of the Ming sect who once received the favor of our Immortal Court, are now unwilling to repay us. They even bite the hand that feeds them and attack our Immortal Court. How hateful they are!”

There was an Immortal Emperor in the Immortal Court and Saint Buddha in Land Buddhism. Moni’s cultivators called their leader “Master Ming,” so outsiders mostly called the Moni sect “the Ming sect.”

When Uighur was weak earlier, the Tang Empire helped them establish their country. They were powerful now, but they turned to attack the Taoist Immortal Court, so, of course, Taibai was angry.

Li Jing snorted and looked very disdainful. “The Ming sect is the heretical sect of the far west and even worse than the Buddhist monks who like to pretend to be dull and mysterious. Talking to these barbarians about etiquette and morality is like casting pearls before swine. I’ll go to the Yili Pass and kill them all!”

Buddhism always said that Land Buddhism was the Western Paradise. But compared with the birthplace of the Ming sect, the Spiritual Mountain was much more “eastern”. Most people in the Tang Empire probably didn’t hear of the specific birthplace of the Ming sect. The person who had gotten the closest to that place was probably Wang Xuance, who had once destroyed a country alone.

Silent for a moment, Taibai quickly thought the battle situation of the immortal territory through in his mind. He frowned and said, “The Tang Empire is not calm on all sides. In the north, Qidan is growing. Uighur is already out of control. Tubo is invading Hexi. Nanzhao sends troops to Chuan areas and Lingnan from time to time.”

“To cope with these four sects of gods, our Taoist Immortal Court is already short in forces and suffered great losses. If we cannot suppress one side quickly and stabilize the general situation, the battle situation will be thoroughly deteriorated! But at this time, there are continuous wars in the Tang Empire. Li Ye turns out suddenly to stir up the situation and disrupt the order. How hateful he is!”

“We don’t need to worry about Li Ye. Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan can kill him this time!” Li Jing didn’t take Li Ye seriously. As the military leader of the Immortal Court, he wasn’t concern about this. “Qidan, Uighur, Tubo, and Nanzhao, none of them are easy to cope with. It isn’t easy to suppress any of them quickly.”

Taibai fell silent. He felt powerless for the current situation of the Immortal Court.

If facing any of them alone, the Immortal Court was sure to win, but now, they all took action together. Although they didn’t go all out, the Immortal Court didn’t dare to take any of them lightly, so its forces were severely dispersed. Moreover, the human world was in chaos, so the offerings to the Immortal Court were reduced. The situation was difficult.

Li Jing stood up and said goodbye to Taibai. “Brother Li, don’t worry. Now that I’m going to Yili this time, I’ll recapture Xiongguan. With Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan in the human world, they’ll be bound to get the Luck of heaven. At that time, everything will turn around!”

Taibai’s name was Li Changgeng. Hearing these words, he stood up and saw Li Jing off with cupped fists. “I wish you a triumphant return!”

...

Land Buddhism.

Land Buddhism was as vast as the Immortal Court. But essentially, the place where the gods of the Land Buddhism were was only a piece of Buddhist temples, just like the capital of a country where the emperor and ministers were and the Taoist temple in the mountain where the five major Taoist sects were located.

The difference was that this piece of Buddhist temples was composed of countless temples around mountains, just like numerous courtyards and tall buildings in Chang’an. On top of the Spiritual Mountain, there was a group of towering and precipitous buildings, and the Leiyin Temple was located here. The main palaces were dedicated to Buddha statues in the mortal Buddhist temples, while all the palaces were just living quarters here.

On the mountainside, two monks in kasaya were playing chess in a pavilion with four sides open. These two monks looked extraordinary in any way. Like the vast difference between fireflies and the sun, their cultivation and temperaments were as deep as the sea.

They were Manjusri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, two of the four great Bodhisattvas in the Land Buddhism.

At the end of the game, Manjushri won. Samantabhadra threw the chess piece away and sighed. Turning his head and looking out of the pavilion, he said in a deep voice, “The secret region of the Tao of Heaven has been open for some time in Hedong. I don’t know if Feihong Bodhisattva has succeeded now.”

Manjushri smiled lightly. “We’ll know if she has succeeded in getting the Luck of heaven. But we get no news now, which means that it’s harder than we think.”

Samantabhadra fell silent.

He had powerful cultivation, and he was one of the famous Great Powers in Land Buddhism. He could tell the past and the future, but he was incompetent to predict what would happen in the secret region of the Tao of Heaven. He had to wait for Feihong Bodhisattva’s message to know whether she got the Luck of heaven or not.

A moment later, Samantabhadra suddenly said, “I heard that the Ming sect captured the Yili Pass.”

He said it succinctly. It was just a brief statement of an event without comments. It didn’t seem complete.

However, Manjushri understood what he meant. He said slowly, “Since the Ming sect gained the offerings from Uighur, their strength has increased greatly. Over the years, Uighur has been sending troops to attack cities and plunder lands everywhere. They become the largest force in the Mobei grassland.”

Samantabhadra’s voice gradually declined. “A hundred years ago, Guo Xin was defeated in the Western Regions, the border army of the Tang Empire was eliminated, and Uighur took the countries of the Western Regions charge. Since then, the influence of the Ming sect has expanded rapidly in all countries, and it has already threatened the status of our Buddhism, although the countries of the Western Regions are Buddhist!”

Manjushri remained silent.

Since Uighur took the Western Regions charge, they were, of course, taken charge by the Ming sect. Although people in the Western Regions still believed in Buddhism at present, this was just a transitional period. Some more time later, when the Ming sect completed the “spiritual transformation” of the people in the Western Regions, it would thoroughly enjoy the faith and offerings of the people in the Western Regions. At that time, Buddhism had to retreat from the Western Regions.

Samantabhadra continued, “A hundred years ago, when the Tang Empire was in the An-Shi Disturbances, Uighur took the opportunity to invade the Western Regions. Led by Guo Xin, the brave Prince, the border army of the Tang Empire resisted the Uighur army for decades, one against a hundred. In those days, our Buddhism once fought side by side with them. Unfortunately, Hexi was invaded by Tubo and Uighur, but the Tang imperial court was unable to help. In the end, Guo Xin’s troops all died on the battlefield.”

He sighed. “Our Buddhist local paradise is at war now. A hundred years ago, when the western gods invaded, the army failed and the country weakened. At present, the country is divided, foreigners invade, the human world is unstable, population declines, and the offerings are reduced again and again... A hundred years ago, if we had not been trapped by the eastern invasion of the western gods, the Ming sect would not have captured the Western Regions from us!”

The “local paradise” Samantabhadra said referred to Tianzhu.

Samantabhadra sighed heavily. “All feudal princes fight each other in the way of hegemony. It’s helpless that the royal power gradually abandons buddhist doctrine... After the western foreigners invaded, the Islam they espoused has now eroded the minds of our people! The local place is unstable, people are not united, and faith collapses. Just a hundred years later, the status of Land Buddhism is greatly reduced, and it is at stake...”

At this point, Manjushri interrupted Samantabhadra. “It is useless to say these now. Today’s world is really in chaos. We are all caught up in the competition of heaven and earth, and no one can escape from it but go against the tide. Under the circumstance that the local foundation is damaged, we must stand firm in the Western Regions and go out of the Tang Empire from the east to ensure our survival. This is the future of our Buddhism!”

Samantabhadra nodded. “Anyway, the local battle is not over yet, and Saint Buddha will fight Allah of Islam a few days later. This battle is a toss-up and is bound to be extremely dangerous, so we need to go as well. As for the Tang Empire... I hope Feihong Bodhisattva can live up to our expectations, get the Luck of heaven, kill Li Ye, and help Li Keyong to achieve great things. Otherwise, the future of Buddhism is tough to predict.”

The so-called unpredictable future meant that they would have no place to settle.

If the people of the Taoist Immortal Court had heard the conversation between Samantabhadra and Manjushri, they wouldn’t have wondered why the Land Buddhism would send Feihong Bodhisattva down to Hedong personally.