My brother is so cunning

Chapter 938 The wool comes from the sheep

Venerable Kasyapa seemed to have been greatly insulted and said angrily, "This humble monk is not exaggerating or peddling anxiety as you claim! Creator, do you not understand the principle of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold'? Do you think that the Heavenly Court can rest easy just by guarding the gate to Heaven?"

He turned to the Jade Emperor and said earnestly, "As long as the Blood Sea Demon Clan is not eliminated and the mortal realm is not recovered, the gods will not receive incense offerings and prayers, and the Heavenly Court will only become weaker and weaker."

"Your Majesty, the demonic calamity has been ongoing for several decades. Any great calamity that lasts for more than a hundred years will shake the foundation of the world."

"The Great Tribulation of the Investiture of the Gods, from the time King Zhou insulted Nuwa to the time Jiang Ziya established the Investiture of the Gods, was only fifty years in the past."

"The demonic calamity has lasted for over thirty years without being quelled. On the contrary, the Blood Sea Demon Clan's demonic flames are burning even brighter and they are hiding even deeper. If this continues, even the high and mighty Heavenly Court will not be able to escape its fate!"

The Jade Emperor frowned as he listened. After so many years, he had grown accustomed to praise and flattery. Even if he knew there was some truth in what Venerable Kasyapa said, it was still hard to swallow.

"Back then, the Heavenly Court of the Demon Clan was incredibly powerful. The Zhou Tian Star Array, positioned high above, was invincible in suppressing the Three Realms. Yet, in the end, it fought a fierce battle with the Witch Clan, who had occupied the mortal realm, resulting in mutual destruction and a humiliating exit from the stage."

"The demons are lurking in the mortal realm, secretly accumulating strength. If they are not completely annihilated in time, they may very well become the second witch race!"

After Venerable Kasyapa finished speaking, the Jade Emperor's expression changed drastically, and he was finally truly moved by Venerable Kasyapa's words.

The two demon emperors of that time were far superior to the Jade Emperor in terms of character, cultivation, and combat prowess. The demon heavenly court was also full of powerful figures, all of whom obeyed the orders of the two emperors. The Zhou Tian Star Array was hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than the sun-covering canopy created by Wen Rui.

Although the Wu Clan had twelve Ancestral Witches in charge, in terms of resources, population, and overall strength, they had no chance to compete with the Demon Clan. Even if they wanted to rebel and cross the path to heaven protected by the starlight of the heavens, even if they risked the lives of the entire clan to launch a mass uprising, they would be wiped out halfway, and not a single one of them could break through the Heavenly Gate.

However, at the height of the Demon Clan's power, the Witch Clan, unable to bear the oppression, rose up in rebellion. All twelve Ancestral Witches gathered together, using their own essence and spiritual power as a guide to communicate with the evil energy of heaven and earth, activate the Great Array of Divine Fiends of the Capital, and condense the true form of Pangu. With a single axe, they cleaved the starry sky, and the elite of the Demon Clan were almost completely wiped out.

Venerable Kasyapa recounted this past event as a lesson for future generations to remember the past, reminding the Jade Emperor that he must not underestimate the Blood Sea Demon Clan lurking deep within the mortal realm.

"After ten years of dormancy, the elite demonic insects among the demon race have grown to a martial arts level comparable to top-tier divine generals. If we delay for another ten years and do not eliminate them quickly, it will be too late!"

"Although the Heavenly Canopy created by the Creator is powerful, it is ultimately not enough to suppress the innate treasure of destiny. If the Blood Sea Demon Clan finds a way to break it, what will the Heavenly Court rely on?"

The series of probing questions left the Jade Emperor with a grim expression, and a sense of foreboding arose in his heart.

Over the past decade, he had indeed become somewhat complacent, thinking he could win effortlessly like during the Great Tribulation of the Gods, and completely disregarded the threat posed by the Blood Sea Demon Clan.

In addition, Wen Rui was very sensible. After repairing the scars on the earth, he moved a large sum of money from the project to repair the Heavenly Protection Array and repaired the collapsed Lingxiao Palace first. He also specially reinforced the defensive array of the Lingxiao Palace.

Whether the celestial beings of Heaven could rest easy was unclear to the Jade Emperor. It seemed that the protective array guarding the entire Heavenly Court was constantly being planned and executed by a large group of celestial officials specializing in arrays. Although there was daily progress at the construction site, it was quite limited. The celestial officials had been harboring resentment, believing that Wen Rui disregarded their lives and that they lived in constant fear that the Mosquito Daoist would sneak in and suck their celestial blood.

The Jade Emperor also discovered the public opinion and demands among the immortals. He originally planned to hold a court meeting to urge Wen Rui to speed up the progress of the Heavenly Protection Array. However, before the court meeting could be held, Wen Rui took a different approach and created a traffic insurance business for the Sun-Shielding Sky Curtain. He sold the control rights of the Sun-Shielding Sky Curtain in the Heavenly Court and tailored an insurance package to suit the economic conditions of each celestial official.

This immediately quelled the public outcry among the celestial officials. After all, those who secretly sought auspicious omens would be refused even if they offered celestial jade to buy the Sun-Shielding Sky Canopy for wandering, for various reasons, leaving them with no last straw to hold onto.

Moreover, Wen Rui publicly declared that all revenue from the sale of the Sky-Shielding Canopy would be used to construct the Heaven-Protecting Array. This would help to make up for the deficit in repairing the prehistoric land, repair the Heaven-Protecting Array as soon as possible, and ensure the Heavenly Court's eternal peace.

After this series of blows, the Jade Emperor was speechless, and the immortals could only obediently pay their protection fees—or rather, their insurance fees.

But this insurance premium wasn't paid for nothing. Wen Rui valued user experience and would occasionally instruct Mosquito Taoist to send out some magical insects with special abilities of flight and invisibility. With Wen Rui's deliberate indulgence, these insects would sneak into the Heavenly Court and choose a lucky audience member to ambush.

That lucky audience member was usually the easy target Wen Rui picked from the client list. Their fighting ability was quite average. Fortunately, they had purchased the Sun-Shielding Sky traffic. After a thrilling battle, just when they were about to die in the insect's mouth, they summoned the Sun-Shielding Sky to burn the demonic insect to ashes and barely saved their lives.

After doing this several times, the immortals who purchased the "Sun-Shielding Sky Curtain" traffic felt that their money was well spent, their consumer experience was greatly enhanced, and the sales of the "Sun-Shielding Sky Curtain" traffic were greatly increased.

Little did the Jade Emperor and the immortals know that the Heavenly Protector Array could never be completed. It was merely a personal ATM for Commissioner Wen, and all the embezzled funds he raised were used to fund the enemy, building a paradise in the forbidden zone of life deep within the Earth's mantle.

Maintaining that underground secret realm wouldn't actually cost much immortal jade; Wen Rui's technological capabilities were already sufficient to create an ecosystem spanning hundreds of miles.

The majority of the Immortal Jade consumed was used to establish a powerful divine sense detection and deflection array and a silencing array to ensure that this secret realm would not be detected by the countless gods and Buddhas.

The funds to maintain this magic array, which consumes a huge amount of immortal jade, are all contributed by the gods and Buddhas who purchase the power of the sun-blocking canopy. In other words, the money comes from the people themselves.

Wen Rui's scheme of robbing Peter to pay Paul is, from a divine perspective, like a panda receiving a package – utterly despicable.

However, he did not suffer the evil karma that Heaven had bestowed upon him. Instead, as the insect-human education plan was gradually launched, he began to slowly reap merit.

This principle is similar to the Western religion's teaching of subduing evil through virtue, which transforms the most ferocious and evil species into a civilized race and guides them onto the right path, a path that Heaven is happy to see succeed.

The immortals and Buddhas, separated from the human race, did not know how to accumulate merit. Wen Rui took over, using the resources he had obtained from them to benefit all living beings in the Three Realms.

(End of this chapter)