The Lord of the Laws of Heaven

Chapter 344 The academy is completed, and imperial power reaches its peak.

After giving some instructions to the monk Jingren, he directly broke through the void and enveloped his thoughts.

Jingren, being a human immortal, did not resist, as she was enveloped by Xiao Jun's thoughts.

In the next instant, Jingren felt a sense of disorientation, and everything around him had changed.

Looking at everything around him, Monk Jingren's eyes suddenly widened, clearly showing a great emotional fluctuation.

This is Zhongzhou, the site of the former Great Zen Temple. This place was once incredibly prosperous, with even a young monk needing to ride a fast horse to offer incense before the Buddha – what a grand spectacle it was! Now, only some somewhat familiar ruins remain of the former Great Zen Temple.

"It was here that I received the Maha Vajra Prajna Paramita from the Tathagata," Xiao Jun said with a sigh. Then, with a flourish of his brush, he addressed the monk Jingren before him, saying, "In fact, the Holy Emperor Yuan originally intended to directly spread the Maha Vajra Prajna Paramita, but later generations lacked the ability to truly understand the Tathagata's thoughts."

The Tathagata was neither a mortal who cherished his own possessions nor a god or Buddha. He was merely a seeker of the Way and a scholar who created his own doctrine.

However, later generations distorted the will of the Buddha. Panhuang's will was also distorted by his successor.

The Supreme Daoist's Supreme Forgetfulness, besides forgetting emotions, also includes the compassion of the Dao, which was directly forgotten by his successor. Meng Shenji regarded himself as the supreme Heavenly Dao and wantonly manipulated the existence of life.

Perhaps the will of the great is always distorted by those who come after.

Xiao Jun now possesses the inheritance of the Holy Emperor Yuan. The Primordial Dao and the Prajna Sutra are both ideas for exploring the other shore, and are truths that corroborate each other.

Spreading the Prajna Sutras was also a way for Xiao Jun to obtain corresponding confirmation of the truth.

Jingren looked at the dilapidated ruins of the Great Zen Temple around him, and then he knelt down in one direction with utmost respect. A strong spiritual will permeated the universe, and the martial will in the darkness seemed to be about to materialize.

That vision of will is a beacon, incredibly bright, seemingly illuminating the entire world.

It symbolizes the condensation of faith and wisdom in Jingren's heart.

Upon seeing the incredibly bright lamp, which belonged to Jingren's martial arts will, Xiao Jun understood that the monk Jingren would definitely build the Great Zen Academy that Xiao Jun had envisioned!
“One lamp illuminates ten thousand lamps, eventually bringing light to all.” Xiao Jun exclaimed, “What a beautiful imagery!”

"This lamp is a lamp that this humble monk offers before the Buddha..." Jingren stood up. After coming to the ruins of the Great Zen Temple and bowing, it seemed that Jingren's spirit and will had been refined once again.

"Abbot, do not worry. I will do my best to complete the construction of the Great Zen Academy!"

Xiao Jun nodded, then said to the monk Jingren, "If you want to build an academy, then you will naturally need gold and silver!"

After saying that, Xiao Jun handed a bag directly to the monk Jingren. The bag was no bigger than the palm of his hand.

"This is the resource I bestow upon you for the construction of the Great Zen Academy! Like the Prajna Kasaya, you can use your martial will to open it. Inside, there are ten mountains of gold and ten mountains of silver, as well as countless precious materials of immortal steel refined with primordial magnetism, and countless Buddhist scriptures. There are also some martial arts and Taoist techniques that I have deduced."

Jingren respectfully accepted a bag from Xiao Jun's hand. The bag was like a cloud, and when the sunlight shone down, it reflected colorful, mysterious light.

Upon examining the site using his martial arts will, he discovered countless scriptures and books piled up like mountains, with towering mountains of gold and silver, as tall as Mount Tianzhu.

A closer scan revealed a large quantity of wondrous spiritual rice. Several pills were also neatly arranged.

This bag contains an incredibly vast microcosm, larger than, if not smaller than, the original Qiankun Bag.

Those mountains of gold and silver were all directly crafted by Xiao Jun by circulating his primordial energy, relying on the cyclical laws of primordial energy, and borrowing the immense power of the thunder pool condensed from the lightning of the Great Thousand World and the vast primordial magnetic true energy of the earth.

If Xiao Jun wanted to, he could even create a continent of gold and silver mountains. That would take him decades and would completely destroy the current economic system of the entire Great Thousand World.

But Xiao Jun has no reason to do that now.

Many of the items in these storage bags were the resources that supported Abbot Jingren in building the Great Zen Academy.

……

Around Yang Pan, people were preparing to review memorials.

Suddenly, a memorial came into view, which made Yang Pan frown immediately.

The memorial described what had happened in Zhongzhou: a monk had come to the ruins of the original Great Zen Temple in Zhongzhou.

The monk's appearance and demeanor were described in detail, which made Yang Pan frown.

"Hmph... The remnants of the Great Zen Temple have reappeared!"

Yang Pan placed the memorial in his hand on the imperial desk. Although his face was calm, he exuded an innate sense of authority.

Hong Xuanji, standing below, looked at Yang Pan with some curiosity.

"Send this to the Grand Tutor for his perusal!"

A eunuch walked over, took the memorial from Yang Pan's hand, and handed it to Hong Xuanji.

Hong Xuanji quickly finished reading it, then respectfully handed the memorial back to the eunuch...

"The remnants of the Great Zen Temple are truly not dead yet! I was able to wipe out the Great Zen Temple once, so what can these remnants possibly do now?"

"Your Majesty, it seems the remnants of the Great Zen Temple are causing trouble!" Hong Xuanji said respectfully to Yang Pan, "I never expected that the remnant monk Jingren, who escaped temporarily, would actually go to the Wilderness and cultivate to the level of a Martial Immortal. However, instead of staying quietly in the Wilderness, he dared to return to the Central Plains! Your Majesty, this old minister begs Your Majesty to allow the dispatch of troops to subdue this traitor!"

“No, these remnants of the Great Zen Temple are clearly supported by someone behind the scenes! But we don’t know who it is or what their plans are!” Yang Pan pondered quietly, then said to Hong Xuanji, “A mere immortal is nothing. The Great Zen Temple has been completely destroyed. How difficult would it be to rebuild it? Even if it were rebuilt, what would it amount to?”

"Your Majesty is wise. Does Your Majesty wish to see what the person behind the remnants of that Great Zen Temple is planning?"

"It's nothing more than the doing of those aristocratic families and sects! Perhaps they want to use the remnants of the Great Zen Temple as a shield to resist my orders?" Yang Pan decided that officials and gentry should pay taxes together, thus stripping the aristocratic families of their power and elevating his own imperial authority. This was a crucial step on his path to becoming the supreme emperor, and he could not afford to fail. Of course, he knew that the aristocratic families were very dissatisfied with Yang Pan, but what could they do about it?

Even among the sage families, if it weren't for the need to protect their reputation and the fact that these families are not completely eradicated, Yang Pan could wipe them out one by one!
Yang Pan looked at Hong Xuanji, his confidence stemming from the old minister before him.

It is often said that emperors are heartless and lonely, but this is not the case for Yang Pan. He retains absolute trust in Hong Xuanji! Hong Xuanji is not only his subject, but also his best friend.

It seems unbelievable that a high-ranking emperor would have friends, but it's absolutely true. The friendship between Hong Xuanji and Yang Pan was even beyond what others could imagine! They were practically inseparable, willing to entrust their lives to each other!
From the emperor's perspective, whether an emperor trusts a person does not depend on that person's loyalty, but on whether that person has the ability to rebel! If someone has the ability to rebel, even if they are a loyal minister, they are a treacherous minister; if someone does not have the ability to rebel, even if they are a wicked person, they are still loyal.

Hong Xuanji is a mortal immortal, and in fact, he is the master of the Creation Ark. He could rebel at any time if he so desired. Although Yang Pan holds authority over the Creation Ark, its true master remains Hong Xuanji.

In theory, Yang Pan shouldn't have trusted Hong Xuanji, but on the contrary, he trusted him implicitly and entrusted him with important responsibilities. He made Hong Xuanji not only the head of the civil officials but also in charge of formidable military force.

This is one of Yang Pan's most fortunate aspects: as a high-ranking emperor, he actually has a friend by his side. More importantly, his current throne is largely due to the immense assistance and support of Hong Xuanji.

"This time, even the powerful families couldn't sit still any longer after the imperial examination!" Yang Pan said after a moment of silence.

“Those aristocratic families are all disloyal and disobedient. They always outwardly comply with His Majesty’s orders but inwardly defy them. These aristocratic families should all be killed!” Hong Xuanji said.

"Unfortunately, it's not possible!" Yang Pan shook his head and sighed. He was no longer the true Holy Emperor.

Even ghost immortals must serve as servants to sweep away dust for a true holy emperor. The countless Taoist arts practiced by cultivators and ghost immortals are nothing more than tricks to please the holy emperor.

Those aristocratic families possess a vast accumulation of Taoist arts, and countless ghost immortals exist within them. Some of these sage-level families even control a region of the Middle Thousand Worlds, wielding far greater power than the emperor! In fact, if these sage-level families were to join forces, they might even have the ability to depose or abolish the emperor.

Many dynasties have risen and fallen, and behind them all are the shadows of these sage families! These sage families have long regarded themselves as celestial beings! In their eyes, emperors and commoners are all the same.

This time, with officials and gentry paying taxes together, Yang Pan's spearhead was aimed directly at the aristocratic families, especially those of sages!
These aristocratic families suddenly realized that Yang Pan, without them even noticing, had managed to break free from the constraints of the sage-level families' power. Previous emperors had been unable to leave the sage-level families' influence; without their help, their thrones were unstable.

There wasn't even anyone to help the emperor govern the country!

However, at this time, Yang Pan seemed to have completely broken free from the power of the sage family. The main reason for this was Hong Xuanji. As a master of Neo-Confucianism, Hong Xuanji had gathered a lot of power. At the same time, Yang Pan was also promoting people in the school of mind, many of whom were scholars who were not from aristocratic families.

The Neo-Confucian school and the School of Mind are new doctrines that have only emerged in the last hundred years or so. From the perspective of the sages and their families, they are nothing more than child's play!

However, it was precisely the Neo-Confucian and School of Mind schools that made the emperor unnecessary for so-called talented individuals from sage families to help govern the country. Hong Xuanji and Yang Pan, on the other hand, harbored incredibly terrifying power, annihilated the Great Zen Temple, and acquired countless resources to build a military force loyal only to the emperor.

Under these circumstances, the powerful families realized that if Yang Pan really wanted to weaken them, he might actually succeed.

If they truly defied Yang Pan, the executioner's blade would fall directly upon the heads of the aristocratic families.

Since the emperor no longer needs the existence of powerful clans to control the entire country, why should he leave these malignant tumors to weaken his imperial power? Those clans that submit live, and those that do not submit die!

If things continue as they should, Yang Pan should be able to use several powerful families as a sacrifice, preferably families of sages, to make Yang Pan's methods seem even more sophisticated.

So this is truly a time of great upheaval, a new era bringing new changes!

The powerful families were also starting to get restless. Legend has it that a great Confucian scholar from the Xie family, a family of sages, who was over a hundred years old, was actually heading to the capital to participate in the imperial examination! This essentially meant that Yang Pan's power was enough to make the sage families take him very seriously!

Many other sage families are also beginning to make their moves, preparing to fight for their own interests in this new transformation.

After discussing with his friend Hong Xuanji, Yang Pan went to a secret location to set up his own network in the shadows to gather information about the remnants of the Great Zen Temple.

Yang Pan originally intended to obtain the Qiankun Bag from the monk Jingren, and dispatched Yang An to the desolate lands, bringing with him the power of both the Zhengyi and Fangxian sects. However, on that day, the power of both sects was greatly diminished, and Yang An also resigned, as Jingren had become a Human Immortal.

If it were a mortal immortal from the desolate wilderness, Yang Pan wouldn't be able to devote too much power to it, but since Jing Ren has actually come to the Central Plains, Yang Pan can naturally do much more.

……

The monk Jingren is located in the ruins of the original Dachan Temple.

This monk was fearless even when the local rulers brought their troops. He even made those people retreat in fear.

Because anyone with information knows that the monk in front of them is a human immortal.

Even if a human immortal can use human lives to kill, that's only possible when a human immortal is trapped in a battle formation and has exhausted their strength. Even so, a human immortal can easily take the head of an enemy general amidst a thousand troops.

No one would provoke a celestial being without reason.

Many people knew that the monk Jingren in front of them was a remnant of the Great Zen Temple, but they all pretended not to see it. The sects and aristocratic families on the side were also watching the monk Jingren, preparing to do something.

Then, the monk Jingren began hiring craftsmen. He had a small bag in his hand, which seemed to contain an inexhaustible supply of gold and silver, and he hired skilled craftsmen.

Everyone thought that Monk Jingren was going to rebuild the temple, but to everyone's surprise, Jingren seemed to have demolished the original site and was apparently building an academy in imitation of the original.

What shocked many people even more was what happened after the academy was built.

In the center of the academy stood a statue of a saint, whose face was that of the Holy Emperor Yuan. The statue wore a robe that resembled the elegant robes of the medieval period, much like the statues of the philosophers of the Middle Ages.

The flowing robe was engraved with profound scriptures, expounding deep truths.

The monk spoke from that sacred statue when the academy was completed.

"I once received the mantle of the Holy Emperor Yuan and attained the path of the Vajra Prajna Paramita! Today, I shall build a great Zen academy, transmit the Prajna Sutras, and widely spread the path of the Vajra Prajna Paramita throughout the world!"

(End of this chapter)