People in Conferred Gods: Rising from humble beginnings, I am the God of Wealth

Chapter 290 A New Beginning After a Change of Fortune, Another Scheme for the Heavenly Court!
"What you say is correct, senior brother."

After hearing Jieyin's words, Zhunti's Dao heart gradually calmed down. He took a deep breath and forced himself not to think about the Styx River.

As Jieyin said, a great calamity is inevitable; this is a fact that cannot be avoided regardless of the timeline.

The only difference lies in how the great calamity will descend and what impact it will have on all living beings in the primordial world.

As long as the great calamity still occurs as normal, they will have a chance to make amends.

A sage's plan is never to put all his eggs in one basket.

From the outside, the Western religion appears to be sparsely populated, with very few disciples.

However, from the perspective of later generations, this matter will be found to be very strange.

The two Western Saints were completely shameless, not only roaming the prehistoric world begging for alms, but also frequently forcing themselves into relationships with people.

At the end of the Investiture of the Gods, he converted three thousand disciples of the Jie Sect, laying the foundation for the future of Buddhism.

With such two Western saints, how could the Western religion only have so few disciples?

Even if their requirements for accepting disciples are as picky as those of Yuanshi Tianzun, given their nature of making connections with people everywhere, how could the Western Sect have few disciples?

If they were to loosen their grip a bit, the title of "Ten Thousand Immortals Paying Homage" would probably belong to the Western Sect.

As for the claim that the West is barren and that the ancient beings were unwilling to settle there, that is utter nonsense.

No matter how barren the West is, Mount Sumeru has two sages guarding it. How could it be worse than cultivating alone? How could it be inferior to the small and medium-sized forces in the primordial world?
Besides, no matter how barren the West may be, it's not without life!

The West is vast and boundless, far exceeding the size of the Nine Provinces, and is home to a multitude of living beings.

As Western saints, Jieyin and Zhunti could easily gain disciples in the West without even having to force a connection with anyone. With just a word, the beings of the West would willingly prostrate themselves before them.

Given this background, how could Western Christianity have such a small number of members?

When Yang Xuan first guessed that the Black Lotus was likely related to the Western Religion, and considering the rapid rise of Buddhism, he had a vague suspicion in his mind.

Perhaps Western religions only appear to have few members on the surface; the reality is hard to say.

The facts were much as he thought; the Western Church was indeed not limited to the people who were on the surface.

Within the Heavenly Court, there are many spies like Black Lotus.

Taiyi Zhenren and Nanji Xianweng of the Chan Sect went to heaven to seize the divine positions, but because they were too arrogant, they waited for hundreds of thousands of years before they finally blocked Yang Xuan at the South Heavenly Gate and completed the conferment of the divine positions.

At that time, the Western Religion's spies relayed this information back to the Western Religion.

The two Western Saints were very clear about the character of the disciples of the Chan Sect. They waited bitterly in the Heavenly Court for hundreds of thousands of years, and finally blocked Yang Xuan at the South Heavenly Gate. They refused to go to the Temple of Fate and asked Yang Xuan to complete the pardon for them at the South Heavenly Gate.

It is evident that they already harbored resentment towards Yang Xuan and even felt dissatisfied with the Heavenly Court.

The plan of the two Western Saints was to incite conflict between the Chan Sect, the Jie Sect, and the Heavenly Court, and to use the power of the Great Calamity to create an opportunity for the West to prosper. How could they possibly let go of these two pawns?

Over the years, many Western Sect spies have been lurking around Taiyi Zhenren and Antarctic Immortal.

These spies either befriended the two of them or, from the perspective of the Heavenly Court, created conflict with them, exacerbating their dissatisfaction with the Heavenly Court.

If the two of them have a good impression of the Heavenly Court, or if they remain neutral and only want to accumulate merit, these undercover agents will inevitably arouse the suspicion of the Heavenly Court and may even expose themselves if they try to accomplish this.

However, after their attempt to seek official positions in Heaven, they already harbored resentment towards the Heavenly Court.

Haotian not only refused to grant them the title of First-Rank Emperor, but also refused to grant them any titles. Even Shen Tu and Yu Lei had to make things difficult for them in various ways. In the end, they were ignored by Yang Xuan for hundreds of thousands of years.

Let alone these self-important disciples of the Chan Sect, even a random Grand Luo Golden Immortal would probably have many grievances against the Heavenly Court.

In this situation, it would be incredibly easy to exacerbate their conflict with the Heavenly Court.

The Western Religion's spies don't need to show any obvious signs; they only need to strictly follow the Heavenly Court's rules to make Taiyi Zhenren and Antarctic Immortal dissatisfied.

Adding a little something extra during this process will make the effect surprisingly good.

Over the years, without realizing it, Taiyi Zhenren and Antarctic Immortal's dissatisfaction with the Heavenly Court gradually turned into malice.

The Heavenly Laws of Heaven are practically meaningless to them; fulfilling their divine duties? They are practically nonexistent.

If it weren't for their status as disciples of the Chan Sect, the righteous gods of the Temple of Fate would probably have brought heavenly soldiers and generals to the Temple of Longevity to punish them according to the Heavenly Laws.

The two Western Saints originally did this as a backup plan, but now it has come in handy.

Although using Taiyi Zhenren and the other two to escalate the conflict made it difficult to bring down Haotian, the Heavenly Emperor, it at least met the basic requirements of the two Western Saints, which was acceptable.

In addition, the killing calamity committed by the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect during the battle was enough to force them into tribulation.

As for the Jie Sect, it's even simpler. The Western Sect doesn't even need to do anything. It's just the karma committed by the disciples of the Jie Sect. Even if the Dao Ancestor agrees, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable probably wouldn't.

Moreover, the conflict between the disciples of the Jie Sect and the Heavenly Court was even greater than that between the Chan Sect and the Jie Sect.

Although Bixiao and others had a good relationship with Yang Xuan and held important positions in Heaven and the Underworld, they not only gained a lot of merit.

Furthermore, in the future, one can steadily receive Heavenly Blessing Coins and Earthly Nether Coins from the Heavenly Bank, which will be transformed into Heavenly Merit and Earthly Merit to bless oneself.

However, the Jie Sect is said to have ten thousand immortals paying homage, and its disciples number far more than ten thousand.

Looking at the entire Jie Sect, only a few disciples, such as Bixiao, successfully joined the Heavenly Court and gained a lot of merit.

As for the other 99% of the disciples of the Jie Sect, they remained on Jin'ao Island and failed to gain any merit.

Does this mean they look down on merit and are unwilling to join the Heavenly Court or the Underworld? Obviously not!

Was it because the Tongtian Sect Leader disagreed with their ascension to heaven and prevented them from accumulating merit? Obviously not!

There is only one real reason: they are not qualified to join the Heavenly Court!
The Heavenly Court recruits many disciples, and with their cultivation and supernatural abilities, the disciples of the Jie Sect can meet most of the requirements.

However, there is one, and the most important, requirement that few disciples of the Jie Sect can meet.

That is, one can bear karma, but one cannot be immoral or have no fear of cause and effect or karma.

With the exception of a small number, the disciples of the Jie Sect were all like Lingya Xian, burdened with karmic debts and free from any taboos.

For their own cravings, they can keep living creatures in captivity and then kill them. How can such behavior be considered virtuous, and how could it possibly meet this requirement?

This requirement was personally issued by Yang Xuan and is one that all righteous gods must meet.

If you fail to meet this requirement, even if you are a Great Luo Golden Immortal, I'm sorry, the Heavenly Court will not accept you! As for whether a Quasi-Saint can do it, no one knows, after all, there are only a handful of Quasi-Saints in the prehistoric world.

The White Emperor became the Heavenly Emperor after his fall, while the December Emperor achieved quasi-sainthood by severing his corpse after becoming the Taiyin Emperor.

It was precisely because of this requirement set by Yang Xuan that 99% of the disciples of the Jie Sect did not meet the requirements for joining the Heavenly Court or the Underworld, and from then on, they were deprived of merit and could only watch helplessly as Bixiao and others gained merit.

If Bixiao and the others were like them, unable to join the Heavenly Court or the Underworld, and unable to gain merit, they would feel a little better.

However, as fellow disciples of the Jie Sect, Bixiao and others can enjoy a life of luxury every day, while they can only watch from the sidelines because of Yang Xuan's order. How can they feel at peace with that?
This is like your colleague getting a promotion and a raise, but because you entered the company with your left foot first, you can only call your colleague "boss" from now on. Can you tolerate that?
Normally, a normal person would not only find this unbearable, but would also likely have many grievances against the company.

The situation of most disciples of the Jie Sect today is clearly even worse than this.

Even if it were based on the principle of sour grapes, disciples of the Jie Sect like Lingya Xian had no goodwill towards the Heavenly Court or Yang Xuan.

Haotian knew a great deal about these things, so the two Western Saints were never worried about whether the Jie Sect would be afflicted by the calamity.

As long as the Chan Sect and the Jie Sect enter the calamity, a great war will inevitably break out between them.

As someone undergoing tribulation, the tribulation energy invading one's spiritual platform makes it easy to make unwise decisions.

The fact that the Chan Sect looks down on the Jie Sect, and the Jie Sect dislikes the Chan Sect, is nothing new.

Moreover, the Chan Sect and the Jie Sect had a doctrinal dispute.

The Chan sect advocates following the will of Heaven.

The Jie Sect advocated seeking a glimmer of hope for all living beings in the primordial world.

Even the Primordial Celestial Venerable and the Tongtian Sect Master have had little contact in recent years, so how much better can the disciples of the Jie Sect and the Chan Sect be?

When the great calamity arrives, the Western Sect only needs to fan the flames to cause the conflict between the Chan Sect and the Jie Sect to erupt completely, severely damaging the strength of both sects and laying the groundwork for the future prosperity of the West.

Therefore, the primary task of Western religion today is to accelerate the arrival of the Great Calamity, and the Chan and Jie sects must become the main bodies of the Great Calamity.

As long as this goal can be achieved, any unforeseen circumstances are acceptable.

Just thinking about how Styx's actions caused them to lose two important hidden agents, Black Lotus and Yang Tianyou, at this crucial moment was unbearable.

Zhunti was furious that their years of planning had come to naught.

"That Styx is a madman!"

Zhunti looked up at the Heavenly Court, clutching the Seven Treasures Tree in his hand, wishing he could give the Styx a good whack.

If it weren't for Styx's seemingly insane actions, they wouldn't have been able to swallow this bitter pill, and their Western Religion could have gained even more benefits.

But he also understood that the root cause of this matter lay with Yang Xuan.

If it weren't for the grudge between Hei Lian and Yang Xuan, why would the Styx River have been so idle as to spend hundreds of thousands of years wandering around the prehistoric world just to find Hei Lian and capture him alive to take to the Heavenly Court?

Zhunti truly couldn't understand why the Black Lotus had schemed against Yang Xuan, yet it still ended in failure, resulting in the loss of two spiritual treasures: the Disaster-Breaking Lotus Platform and the Evil Ghost Prayer Beads. It gained absolutely nothing.

Later, the West Sea Dragon King, along with several powerful dragons and the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden, came to his door and shattered his physical body, causing him to lose all his spiritual treasures.

If it weren't for the intervention of the two Western Saints, the Black Lotus would probably still be hiding in some remote corner, rebuilding her physical body.

This ending is bad enough, isn't it?

Even so, Yang Xuan was still not satisfied. Now he had been captured alive by the Styx River and brought to the Heavenly Court. This was just too unreasonable!

"If you do not join my Western Religion, then I will have no choice but to let you experience the wrath of a sage!"

"Even if you have amazing comprehension, are favored by Haotian, and are protected by Houtu, if I wanted to kill you during the Great Tribulation, you would die silently!"

"This will be your last chance. I hope you can seize it and not ruin your future!"

Zhunti released the Seven Treasures Tree, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

After that, he stopped thinking about it and began to work with Jieyin to deduce the next steps of the plan.

But a moment later, they both turned to look in the direction of Kyushu, a look of surprise on their faces.

"It seems there's still a chance!"

After some deduction, they realized that although Yang Tianyou had been captured by the Styx River, this hidden agent was now useless.

However, their ultimate goal was not significantly affected.

From a certain perspective, this turn of events was even better than their original plan.

This left them somewhat puzzled as to why such a change had occurred.
"Could there be other sages plotting this?"

Zhunti's eyes flickered, and he looked thoughtful.

This matter concerns a great calamity; even if ordinary beings were bold enough, they would find it difficult to plan such a thing without the cultivation of a sage.

Therefore, the most likely explanation for this change is that another sage intervened.

However, it remains unknown which sage was also plotting this matter, what he was plotting, or whether the interests of the Western Religion were aligned.

After all, the other party was also a saint, and the primordial world was already experiencing calamity. Zhunti could not deduce who the other party was or what their purpose was.

The guides on the side felt the same way, but no matter what the other party was planning, this change was a good thing for them, and they were naturally happy to see it happen.

However, Yang Tianyou's hidden agent is now useless, and he has now discovered that other saints are plotting the Great Tribulation.

To avoid exposing his plan, Jieyin pondered briefly, then formed a flower mudra with his hands. A phantom white lotus appeared in his hand and then disappeared into the void, instantly arriving at the Kyushu Mall.

Subsequently, the two of them began to adjust their plans based on this turn of events.

If this matter succeeds, the great calamity will surely arrive ahead of schedule, and may even cause Haotian to trigger a great calamity, damaging his status as the Heavenly Emperor.

At that time, even if Haotian was personally appointed by the Dao Ancestor, the ruler of this prehistoric world may not still be the Heavenly Court, and everything the Heavenly Court has now will become a wedding dress for the Western Sect!

P.S.: I have to go back to sweep the tombs tomorrow, which will take a whole day. I have to clear the mountain to sweep the tombs here, and the weeds are waist-high, no joke. The scene is really primitive, and just thinking about it makes me tired.

I probably won't be back until at least 4 or 5 pm tomorrow, so I might only be able to write one chapter...

(End of this chapter)