Chapter 135: Wukong and Nezha's First Meeting
Fu Li took out the Investiture of the Gods and said, "Teacher, what do you think this is?"
The Investiture of the Gods is a magical weapon created by the Heavenly Dao in accordance with the general trend, and has been in the hands of Daoist Ancestor Hongjun since its inception.
Later, Haotian went to Zixiao Palace to file a complaint, crying that the position of god in heaven was vacant and that the disciples of the three religions were arrogant and disobeyed the emperor's orders. Daozu Hongjun then summoned the Three Pure Ones and Nuwa to Zixiao Palace and ordered the three religions to sign the List of Gods and fill the position of god with their disciples.
Afterwards, he gave the List of Conferred Gods to Yuanshi Tianzun. Yuanshi Tianzun had kept it carefully, and even Guangchengzi, the head disciple of the Chan Sect, had never seen it, let alone Zhao Gongming.
He took it curiously, unfolded it, and was as surprised as Fu Li was in Yuxu Palace: "Investiture of the Gods?"
After just one glance, he suddenly closed it and asked Fu Li with wide eyes, "Did Second Uncle give this to you?"
"Yes, it was given by the Second Master." Fu Li nodded.
Zhao Gongming took a deep breath, unfolded the List of Gods and looked at it carefully. He saw that it only recorded the names of gods one after another, but not a single name.
After a long pause, he exhaled and raised his chin towards the cave entrance. "Is this the reason you accepted me as a disciple on my master's behalf?"
"That's right." Fu Li nodded. "Although the three religions signed the Conferred God List, how many people are there from the Human Religion? How many people are there from the Orthodox Religion? Three hundred and sixty god positions, in the end, won't we, the Jie Religion disciples, have to fill them?"
Her expression grew cold, then heated, her gaze blazing as she spoke, "Instead of passively waiting, it's better to take the initiative. Jiejiao has over a million disciples, and not all of them are exceptionally gifted. There will always be some who recognize their lack of talent in the immortal path and are willing to try their hand at the divine path."
Zhao Gongming certainly understood such a simple truth.
However, since the beginning of the world, the free and easy way of immortality has been the mainstream pursuit of the masses. Even when the demons established the heaven, they did not set up a formal priest, and still used the tribal settlement system.
Shinto is a completely new path. Even if one realizes that he or she cannot go far on the path of immortality, how many people are willing to try Shinto?
Fu Li smiled and said, "Teacher, we have more than enough disciples in Jiejiao. For Jiejiao, the minority is also the majority. There are only more than 300 god positions, and I'm afraid there won't be enough to go around when the time comes."
Zhao Gongming did not comment on this, but was willing to support Fu Li to go ahead and do it.
The next morning, Fu Li took Jiang Ziya and Shen Gongbao away from Emei and went to Jin'ao Island to pay a visit to the leader of Shangqing Sect.
The first was to let Tongtian Patriarch meet the person who presided over the Conferred God Tribulation, and the second was to use Tongtian Patriarch's account to post a notice recruiting priests in the internal group of Jiejiao.
Instead of putting the losers on the list unwillingly, it is better to let them compete for the job voluntarily.
This was a path Tong Tian Jiaozhu had never imagined. When he came to his senses, he burst into laughter: "Okay, okay, I'll do as you say!"
Not only did he send it in the Jiejiao group himself, he also contacted Taiqing and Yuqing to ask how many god positions their two sects were planning to use so that they could reserve them in advance.
The two saints responded quickly. Saint Taiqing asked for two, and Saint Yuqing also asked for two.
Needless to say, the Great Sage of Taiqing only had one disciple, the Great Master Xuandu, who had recently accepted a new disciple. With only three members in the Human Sect, filling two deity positions was already a great effort.
The Jade Purity Sage gave an explanation: his five disciples, Dipankara, Cihang, Manjusri, Samantabhadra, and Juliusun, had already reported to him that they would go to the Western Church for further studies after the catastrophe and would not be able to become priests in heaven.
After removing these five, there are not many people left in the Chan Sect, so if two of them can come forward, it can be considered as doing their best.
Tongtian Sect Master did not force this.
Before Fu Li came, the position of God was a hot potato for the three religions and no one wanted it.
But now things were different. Tongtian Patriarch had figured it out: not every disciple could achieve great things in the path of immortality. The divine path was also beneath the heavenly path, and was equally righteous. How could it not be another path?
After asking his two brothers some questions, Tongtian Patriarch put away the List of Conferred Gods and tossed it to Fu Li: "Keep it for now and come back in a few years."
He would first collect the intentions, and then gather all those who were interested and interview them just like when Emeishan was recruiting.
Fu Li collected the List of Gods and said with a smile, "Then I'm going to go play with Wukong."
"Go ahead. You've been gone for over half a year, and Wukong has asked about it several times."
"Disciple, I'll take my leave."
As Fuli left Shangqing Palace, someone grabbed her left leg. She knew who it was without even looking. She bent down and picked up the child, who looked about four or five years old. "Little Wukong," she asked with a smile, "did you miss me?"
"I do." Wukong nodded vigorously, then buried his little head in her arms, refusing to come out no matter what.
When Fu Li left, he thought that she would be back soon, so he followed his master and played with peace of mind.
Little did he know that his mother had been gone for more than half a year. He had dreamed of her many times, but she never came back.
Even though Wukong was optimistic by nature, he once secretly asked Tongtian: "Is it because Wukong was not well behaved that my mother no longer wants me?"
This one sentence broke the leader's heart. He hugged him and coaxed him for a long time, telling him that Fu Li was going to do something important and would come back to see him as soon as she finished her work.
Fu Li finally came, but Wukong did not question him. He just buried himself in her arms and refused to come out. His little hands tightly grasped her clothes, determined not to let go.
He was afraid that the other party would leave again and leave him here without visiting him for a long time.
Fu Li's heart softened, and a feeling of guilt rose. She promised again and again: "I will take you to sleep with me tonight, and take you away with me tomorrow, okay?"
After coaxing her for a long time, Wukong finally raised his head and asked carefully, "Really? Mother won't abandon me again?"
"I never abandoned you," Fu Li coaxed with a smile. "I left you on Jin'ao Island this time because your master would be lonely all alone, and I was too busy, so I kept you here to fulfill my filial duty on my behalf."
She gently touched Wukong's forehead and praised him, "Your master just told me that Wukong is so well-behaved and cute, and he's the best child in the world. He's very happy to have Wukong accompany him these days."
Wukong's anxiety faded away little by little, and he finally smiled brightly and began to show off to Fuli: "Look, mother, I can now control whether I am in human form or monkey form."
As he spoke, he turned into a furry little monkey, shaking his two little paws to show off, and then turned back into a fair and tender child.
Fu Li praised him generously: "Our Wukong is really amazing. He can control his true form at such a young age."
Wukong was both embarrassed and delighted by her praise. He buried his rosy face in her arms again and said in a baby voice, "No, it's all thanks to Master's good teaching."
"Then Wukong is also very powerful. Your master has countless disciples who all listen to his teachings, but their cultivation levels vary. If Wukong wasn't so powerful, how could he learn so quickly?"
After coaxing Wukong back to peace of mind, Fuli turned to Jiang Ziya and Shen Gongbao and asked, "You three were all outside just now. Did you get to know each other?"
Jiang Ziya said with a smile: "I have already met you. I have also paid my respects to my elder brother and brought him to meet my uncle Shen Gong."
Shen Gongbao said, "My little nephew is very cute."
Wukong took out a pair of meteor darts and said, "Look, mother, this is a gift from Master Shen Gong."
Fu Li recognized the meteor darts. Yesterday at Mount Emei, Zhao Gongming gave Shen Gongbao two more offensive magic weapons, one was the Spring and Autumn Mace, and the other was this pair of meteor darts.
These two items were acquired spiritual treasures, invaluable to Shen Gongbao. He was willing to give them to Wukong, and Fuli naturally appreciated his kindness.
The next morning, the group bid farewell to Tongtian Sect Master and said goodbye to Duobao Zhenren, then went to Penglai to meet some people, and then returned to Chentang Pass.
They had been busy traveling these days, and only when they arrived at Chentang Pass did they feel truly at ease. Fu Li couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
When Yin Hua learned that Fu Li had returned, she hurriedly ordered someone to bring Nezha over, and the mother and son went to greet him together.
The two sides met at the second gate. Yin Hua saw that Fu Li was followed by an old man and a young boy, with a child of four or five years old in her arms. He was surprised at first, and then looked at Nezha worriedly.
Yin Hua had seen all of Nezha's dependence on Fuli. Now that Fuli had brought another child with her, she was truly worried that her son wouldn't be able to accept it and that a quarrel would damage their relationship.
"Master Dai, I wonder who this child is..." Yin Hua asked tentatively.
Fu Li smiled and said, "This is my son. He doesn't have a familiar playmate in the mountains. Nezha is about the same age as him, so I brought him here so they can have some company."
"The master is right." Yin Hua's smile was a little dry, and he prayed in his heart that Nezha would not lose his temper.
But she soon realized that she was just overthinking it.
The two children were each in their mother's arms, looking at each other curiously. They both felt that the person in front of them, who was about the same age as themselves, was very familiar, but they couldn't remember where they had seen him.
Wukong was more straightforward. When he couldn't figure it out, he asked directly: "My name is Wukong. What's your name? Have we met before?"
Nezha said, "My name is Li Nezha. I feel like we've met before, but I just can't remember."
Then he looked at Fu Li eagerly and asked, "Sister, you must know, right?"
Fu Lixin said: Of course I know, you have met him in your previous life.
But she couldn't say this out loud, so she simply imitated Jia Baoyu: "Since we all feel familiar, let's just treat it as a long-awaited reunion. Isn't that wonderful?"
Yin Hua secretly breathed a sigh of relief and agreed with a smile, "Excellent, excellent. There's no need to worry about you two feeling awkward playing together."
Nezha's eyes rolled, and he discussed with Wukong, "How about we go downstairs and play for a while? My mother had someone build me a swing, it's really fun."
When Wukong heard there was something fun to do, he started clamoring to get off, so Fuli had no choice but to let him down. The two children huddled together, whispered to each other for a while, and then went to play on the swing hand in hand.
Fu Li took the opportunity to introduce Jiang Ziya and Shen Gongbao to Yin Hua and asked Yin Hua to help find a house.
In the past, she was alone, so it was not inappropriate for her to stay at the Li family. But this time, she had a family to support, and she also had to teach apprentices. If they all lived at the Li family, it would be a bit too much to treat herself as an outsider.
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