Chapter 244: Nezha: Loophole, this is a loophole! ...

Li Shimin certainly knew who the Great Emperor of the Nine Heavens, who was in charge of the merits and demerits of yin and yang and who could subdue demons, was. That was the title of the Emperor of Heaven worshipped by both Taoism and Buddhism.

With the Emperor of Heaven secretly backing him up, how could he be afraid of Guanyin?

Just now, Fu Li secretly conveyed a message to Li Shimin, and had no intention of avoiding Guanyin.

It had been clearly agreed long ago that preaching in the East was permitted, but using the mortal emperor as a pretext was not. Yet, Guanyin was trying to be clever and skirt the line, so Fu Li naturally had to give her a warning.

Guanyin appeared calm on the surface, but secretly groaned in her heart, knowing that her risky move had touched the bottom line of His Majesty the Emperor of Heaven.

But she had no choice. The failure of the "White Horse Sutra" plan during the Qin Dynasty made the entire Lingshan realize that without the consent of the mortal emperor, the journey to the West to obtain the scriptures would be in vain.

Fortunately, both Li Shimin and Guanyin were smart people. When they confronted each other in public, each spoke more politely than the other.

Guanyin stated that the current Buddhism in the Central Plains is primarily based on the Hinayana teachings, which can only save oneself, not others. If one truly wishes to liberate the souls of the deceased, one must go to the Great Leiyin Temple on Mount Lingshan in the West and seek the Mahayana teachings.

Mahayana Buddhism?

Yin Xuanzang, who was kneeling at the head of the monks, felt something in his heart, as if something hidden deep in his soul was touched. He felt that he should go to Lingshan to read the so-called Mahayana Sutra.

But he came from a family of officials after all. Even though he became a monk at the age of ten, he received family education since childhood and truly regarded himself as a subject of the Tang Dynasty.

Seeing that the atmosphere between His Majesty the Emperor and Bodhisattva Yin was not right, Xuanzang certainly would not rush out at this time to express his intention to go and obtain the scriptures, otherwise wouldn't he be slapping His Majesty the Emperor in the face?

Let's wait until the game between the two of them comes to an end.

Having made up his mind, Xuanzang knelt there with his head down, as if nothing had happened, waiting for the emperor to tell them to stand up.

Fortunately, Li Shimin did not have much reverence for Guanyin in his heart, so he acted very calmly. Before he could say a few words, he smiled and said, "Buddhism emphasizes compassion. Bodhisattva, please let them all stand up. Their knees hurt after kneeling for so long."

Guanyin smiled and nodded slightly: "Your Majesty is right. Everyone, please stand up."

But from the ministers to the common people to the monks, no one stood up, as if they had not heard anything.

——This is the confidence given to them by His Majesty the Emperor.

Guanyin sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat helpless, but she had to give in a little: "It seems that your Majesty's subjects are all loyal to you, and they only dare to move when you give them orders."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "My people are ignorant. I am sorry to have made the Buddha laugh at me." Then he raised his hand to the crowd and said, "Don't be so polite. Please stand up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty—"

The crowd cheered loudly, and after bowing again, they gradually stood up. Yin Wenjiao, who was standing behind Li Shimin, secretly winked at her son, signaling him not to show his face.

Xuanzang nodded slightly, looking at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose, treating himself as a statue.

But he wanted to make a statue, but Guanyin disagreed. She gave him the two treasures, the Jinlan cassock and the Jiuxi Ring Staff, in front of Li Shimin, and pointed out in public that he was the most suitable person to obtain the scriptures.

Yin Xuanzang: No, although I'd like to go to the West, I don't want to be in the spotlight. Do the gods and Buddhas of Mount Lingshan like to force cows to drink water like this?

Li Shimin caught a glimpse of Xuanzang's stunned expression and laughed in his heart. He said a few perfunctory words to Guanyin and ended the water and land conference in a whimpering manner.

But he knew in his heart that many of his subjects had heard that "Mahayana Buddhism can save the souls of the wronged", and that the news would definitely spread throughout the world at an unimaginable speed.

No matter how unwilling he was, sending people to the West to obtain the Mahayana Sutra was inevitable.

The only thing that made him feel comforted was that Xuanzang came from a noble family and was loyal to the Li Tang Dynasty. He would never waver in his loyalty after studying Buddhism for a few years.

The ministers in the court were the best at understanding the emperor's mind, and of course they knew that taking people to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures made His Majesty feel aggrieved.

Empress Changsun had not expected that just holding a water and land conference to seek some psychological comfort would lead to such a thing.

She was also from an aristocratic family and had a high level of political literacy. How could she not know that Buddhism needed to be suppressed? Because her affairs had turned out like this, she felt very guilty.

Li Shimin comforted her, "Zi Tong, please don't think that. This Buddhism was clearly premeditated, and you just happened to be caught up in it. Even without you, they would have found loopholes elsewhere. If you feel guilty, wouldn't that be fulfilling their wish?"

The queen was brought back to life, and it was said that the underworld had added ten years to her life span, which made Li Shimin grateful.

But Guanyin's appearance at the Water and Land Assembly made the emperor suspicious: Taoism and Buddhism alike were bound to the Heavenly Emperor, and presumably the same was true of the underworld. The Heavenly Emperor was clearly on his side. How could either Buddhism or the underworld so easily increase or decrease a mortal's lifespan? Could the supposed extension of the Empress' lifespan be a ploy by Buddhism and the underworld?

Some things cannot stand scrutiny. The more Li Shimin thought about it, the more he felt that his ideas were right.

This Buddhism is really hateful!

Seeing his angry expression, Empress Changsun asked worriedly, "Second brother, have you figured out something?"

Li Shimin took a deep breath, unwilling to vent his anger on the Queen: "Zitong, the matter of the underworld adding years to one's lifespan is most likely a trick played by the Buddhist sect."

The two have been married for many years, understand each other's thoughts very well, and have deep trust in each other.

After hearing what her husband said, Zhangsun Wugou's face turned ugly: I, the dignified queen, was fooled by a group of bald donkeys!

"What are you going to do, second brother?"

Li Shimin patted the back of her hand in reassurance. "Now that things have come to this, sending someone to the Western Paradise to retrieve the scriptures is imperative. But the Tang Dynasty can't just send someone with such fanfare just to retrieve the scriptures." The couple looked at each other for a moment, and Empress Changsun smiled in understanding. "Second brother, you're right. Although Master Xuanzang is a disciple of Buddhism, he's also a descendant of the noble Yin family. He was also very intelligent since childhood, and he must have learned almost everything he needed to learn before becoming a monk."

Yin Kaishan was a military hero, and besides martial arts, he was also supposed to learn military tactics, which included surveying terrain and drawing maps.

When the Tang Dynasty dealt with the Turks, it first sent envoys on the pretext of a diplomatic mission and drew maps along the way, marking clearly where to march, where to set up camp, where there were deep valleys, where there were water sources, where to set ambushes, where to charge...

Tang Jian is capable of this task, and so can Xuanzang.

After the couple discussed it, they took it to Ganlu Palace the next day and summoned their trusted ministers, including Yin Kaishan, who had already been retired, to discuss the details in detail.

At this time, many founding heroes were still unwilling to accept their old age, and those who did still wanted to plan for their children and grandchildren. Everyone agreed with the emperor and empress's proposal.

The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty are eager to establish meritorious service!

=====

In the Ninth Heaven, in the Pixiang Hall, Fuli and Nezha looked at each other in surprise.

After a long while, Nezha hesitated and said, "This development trend doesn't seem right."

"It's not like that, it's just not right." Fu Li suddenly laughed, grabbed Nezha by the collar, and said, "If the Buddhist sect knew that they had lost more than they gained, what kind of expressions would the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have on their faces?"

"Hahahahaha..." Nezha, who had reacted, also laughed out loud. After laughing, he continued to watch the fun and said, "There's no saint in charge of Lingshan anyway. When the time comes, we can use the Fuli Mirror to see for ourselves and know for ourselves, right?"

Fu Li said hypocritically: "Oh, you are so mean! But I like it!"

The two of them were in a mess.

After playing around for a long time, the scene in the mirror had changed drastically. Yin Xuanzang, carrying the instructions of Emperor Tang II, was ostensibly going to obtain Buddhist scriptures from the West, but secretly he was drawing a geomancy map all the way west.

Xuanzang just vaguely felt that he should go to the West to see what the Mahayana Sutra looked like.

Apart from this, he has no other obsessions, and of course he doesn't mind doing Tang Jian's old deeds again.

After bidding farewell to the king, his mother and grandfather, and his master Elder Fa Ming, Xuanzang, who was given the surname Tang, left Chang'an with two little monks and his luggage loaded on a white horse, heading west.

Fu Li is more familiar with the following plot. She met three monsters, killed two novice monks, and was rescued by Taibai Jinxing.

Then he encountered a tiger in the forest and met Wang Bochin, the guardian of the mountain. He stayed at Wang's house for a night and recited several scriptures to pray for the salvation of Wang Bochin's father.

"A loophole! This is a loophole!" Nezha pointed out sharply, "Xuanzang studied Hinayana Buddhism in this life. Just now, Uncle Guanyin said that Hinayana Buddhism can only save oneself, not others. How come Wang Boqin's father said in a dream that he was saved after Xuanzang recited a few volumes of Hinayana Buddhist scriptures?"

Fu Li raised her chin and gestured for him to look carefully at Xuan Zang in the mirror: "Xuanzang obviously saw it too."

Nezha looked carefully and found that when the three members of the Wang family came to express their gratitude, Xuanzang's expression was very strange.

But Xuanzang was no fool. Although he could see that something was amiss with the family, he knew that the situation was more powerful than the person. He pretended to know nothing, calmly accepted the Wang family's gratitude, and left with the dry food and dozens of Kaiyuan Tongbao coins as a thank you.

Wang Bochin insisted on sending him to the border between the Tang Dynasty and the U-Tsang Kingdom, and told him that there was a fairy living not far ahead before turning around and saying goodbye.

Xuanzang continued to ride west on his white horse. After walking about 10 to 20 miles, he came across a peach forest.

Now it is late autumn, but the peach forest is covered with fallen petals and blooming peach flowers, which looks like a fairyland.

But after seeing the strange things that happened to the Wang family and such abnormal things, Xuanzang became alert and led his white horse to bypass the peach forest.

Wukong, who was waiting for him in seclusion, had no choice but to come out and said, "Master, I have been waiting for you for a long time. Where are you going?"

Xuanzang's hair stood on end and he turned around tensely. He saw a handsome young man standing at the edge of the peach forest and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

People are always tolerant of beautiful things, and Xuanzang is no exception.

Seeing that the young man was handsome and had a kind look in his eyes, although he was still nervous, he was not as nervous as before.

"Young Master, why do you call me Master?"