I start by accepting Sun Wukong as my disciple and reshape the Journey to the West

Chapter 146 The True Cause and Effect

Li Cuilian wept, her tears like pear blossoms in the rain. The body Li Cuilian was currently inhabiting belonged to, Li Yuying, who was quite beautiful and, being a princess, exuded an air of nobility that was hard to conceal. She also used the finest rouge and powder. At this moment, a delicate beauty threw herself into Liu Quan's arms, leaving Liu Quan completely stunned.

"You idiot, what are you daydreaming about!" Li Cuilian punched Liu Quan in the chest, making him wince in pain, and he finally snapped out of it.

"Are you really my wife? But this body of yours..."

Li Cuilian immediately said, "Didn't I die? After entering the underworld, the judge took out a bamboo slip from somewhere and said that my life was not meant to end, and that I, like you, should have the lifespan to ascend to immortality. He wanted to bring me back to life, but then he said that my physical body was destroyed and there was no possibility of me returning to life."

At this point, Li Cuilian seemed to remember something and kept slapping her face: "That's right, the judge said that my physical body was destroyed, so he took out a book and searched for a long time. He said that the royal princess Li Yuying died suddenly today, which just happened to bring me back to life. So, are we really in the palace now?"

Fang Xuanling then stepped forward and said, "The person standing before you is the current emperor."

Upon hearing this, Li Cuilian hurriedly hid behind Liu Quan, her face finally showing a hint of fear: "Your Majesty, I did not intend to possess the princess's body. It was the King of Hell who said her life was over, so he brought me back to life. There is absolutely no lie in this."

Li Shimin waved his hand dismissively: "Hmm! Although my sister is now possessed by your soul, she still looks like her. It's a small comfort, better than her really dying."

Li Shimin looked at Ye Xuantian: "Your Majesty, is this couple really that important to you?"

"nature!"

"Then you will be my sister from now on, Liu Quan. Let me ask you, do you acknowledge my sister as your wife?"

Liu Quan never expected the topic to suddenly return to him, but he reacted quickly, immediately cupping his hands and saying, "How could this humble subject dare to take advantage of Your Majesty!"

"Fine! You blockhead, don't you love me anymore?" Li Cuilian was about to cry again, but Liu Quan stepped forward and grabbed her hand: "Although this body is unfamiliar, I know it's you. Let's not take this royal identity, so that people won't think they're clinging to power."

“Okay!” Li Cuilian replied.

"No!" Li Shimin said directly, "You can only accept my bestowed marriage and become my brother-in-law, or you can leave on your own."

Li Shimin's words were so domineering that Liu Quan was momentarily stunned.

“My sage, I am now your man, please grant me your command.”

Despite his bravery, Liu Quan was not foolish, despite the imperial majesty.

"From now on, you will work as a servant under my tutelage, far from your homeland, and no one will know whether you have curried favor with the powerful and wealthy."

"Huh? Do menial tasks?" Li Cuilian's eyes widened immediately: "Why would we do menial tasks for you when we can just stay at home?"

“Shut up. I promised the Sage that as long as you can come back and reunite with me, I will serve the Sage as his servant for the rest of my life,” Liu Quan said.

“Then I’ll follow you too, wherever you go I’ll go!” the ever-sharp-tongued Li Cuilian immediately declared.

"Sage, what do you think?" Liu Quan looked a little embarrassed.

"Mm!" Ye Xuantian responded.

“Very well, Your Majesty, my husband and I are both willing. We only ask that you do not find it objectionable.” Liu Quan immediately bowed to Li Shimin.

"Still calling him Your Majesty?"

Liu Quan's face immediately turned red. After all, he was just an ordinary person who had suddenly struck it lucky and made connections with the royal family: "Brother!"

“Since you have acknowledged me as your sister and my husband as your brother-in-law, shouldn’t you show your appreciation?” After confirming her identity, Li Cuilian’s panic disappeared, and she became more spirited. She immediately stepped forward and shook Li Shimin’s shoulder.

"Yes, we must express our gratitude!" Li Shimin immediately ordered that all of Li Yuying's gold and silver jewelry and clothing be packed up, and also bestowed dozens of boxes of gold and silver jewelry as part of her dowry.

Ye Xuantian let Li Shimin do as he pleased, and as he walked out of the palace gate, he gave Li Cuilian a meaningful look.

It is said that Ye Xuantian, led by Wei Zheng, arrived at the residence of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang.

Xuanzang had regained consciousness and was frantically striking a wooden fish in his room, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, without any rhythm.

creak!

As the door opened, Xuanzang stood up as if he had been electrocuted, his eyes filled with panic. Looking at the person who came in, he immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Lord Wei."

Wei Zheng introduced Xuanzang to him, saying, "This is the Sage of Xuantian."

Snapped.

Xuanzang knelt down immediately, his eyes filled with unconcealed horror. During the time that Mosquito Taoist had occupied his body, Xuanzang's consciousness had not been completely erased. Jin Chanzi, who had reincarnated ten times, naturally still had the karma of one lifetime in Buddhism. In addition, with the fortune of the power of the Great Tribulation, even if Mosquito Taoist's methods were good, it was still unlikely that he could completely erase Xuanzang's will.

Therefore, he had sensed the power struggle between Mosquito Daoist and Ye Xuantian during this period. Although he had only heard a few names occasionally, the title of Ye Xuantian, the Sage of Xuantian, had already filled him with deep fear.

"The Buddhist essence of nine lifetimes has been completely swallowed up. In this last lifetime, you were first bewitched, then possessed. How much of your last Buddhist essence do you have left, Jin Chanzi? I ask you, is your devotion to Buddhism still firm?" Ye Xuantian's indifferent voice showed little emotion. As his words fell, the sound of chanting lingered in the air.

Under the influence of the chanting, Xuanzang's eyes began to glaze over, and then tears welled up in them, streaming down his face.

His eyes turned golden as he looked at Ye Xuantian: "Five hundred years ago, when we fought, I was ordered by the Buddha to enter the cycle of reincarnation. I sought this merit through ten lifetimes, yet I did not avoid your chessboard at all. Now, my Buddha has become a demon. Even if I turn to Buddha, where is my Buddha?"

Jin Chanzi's tone was filled with endless sorrow, a sorrow that caused the atmosphere to become chaotic, and images began to appear, all of his experiences in his previous nine lives.

He suffered countless hardships, but his unwavering conviction guided him to enter the Buddhist order time and time again, and to embark on the journey to the West time and time again. But ten lifetimes are too long and too much for a mortal.

Because of Ye Xuantian's scheme, he inevitably experienced a hundred times more torment and setbacks than ordinary people before each time he stepped into the Buddhist order in his ten reincarnations. He was too tired.

"This path is too difficult! Sage, my Buddha has become a demon. Give me a quick death. Without my protection, my physical body can go wherever it wants. Let the cause and effect of this world decide. What do you think?" Jin Chanzi put his hands together and chanted "Namo".

"Alright!" Without any hesitation, Ye Xuantian flicked his fingers at Xuanzang's brow, and a golden light pierced through Xuanzang's brow.

Threads of golden light flew out from his body, eventually transforming into a relic before Ye Xuantian. His heart was dead, but his soul resided in the relic; Jin Chanzi's devotion to Buddhism in his final incarnation remained remarkably strong.

Master Xuanzang lurched forward, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His eyes regained their clarity as he looked at the relic in Ye Xuantian's palm, his eyes filled with reluctance.

The reluctance lasted only a moment before being overwhelmed by fear. Liquid began to appear beneath him, which even his wide monk's robe could not conceal.

Ye Xuantian looked down at Master Xuanzang: "You just clearly sensed that you are the tenth reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, a disciple of the Buddha. You are destined to embark on the journey to the West. Do you understand?"

“Sage, if you do not wish to proceed with this journey to the West, I can refuse, I really can refuse.” The monk Xuanzang crawled up to Ye Xuantian, weeping bitterly, and reached out to grab Ye Xuantian’s clothes.

Ye Xuantian turned and left: "Leave everything to cause and effect. From the moment you were chosen by Jin Chanzi, this was your destiny. He died, but this cause and effect did not dissipate."

At this point, Ye Xuantian paused, glancing back at Xuanzang: "Of course, you can try to resist. I also want to know what kind of ending this karma will bring you to. Jiang Liuer, can you still remember your original intention? Do you still know who you are?"

Wei Zheng looked at the liquid that had been dragged away on the ground, and then looked at Xuanzang with disdain: "You'd better watch yourself."

Ye Xuantian and Wei Zheng left, leaving only the monk Xuanzang wiping away his tears.

"Journey to the West, Jin Chanzi, destiny! Me?"

Xuanzang got up, changed his monk's robe, washed his face, and looked at himself in the bronze mirror for a long time before saying, "If I am the tenth reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, then who is that relic? If I am the owner of this body, then who am I?"

Xuanzang kept muttering to himself, "The Mosquito Taoist is of the Asura lineage, rejected by heaven and earth, definitely not me. The Golden Cicada, who has reincarnated ten times, is a disciple of the Buddha, but he turned into a relic, not me! I am just a river drifter with a tragic past, the monk Xuanzang in the temple."

Am I really me?

Xuanzang kept asking, "If everyone comes into this world with a mission, what is my mission? Jiang Liuer, you were eventually adopted by the abbot and became a monk, embarking on the path to Buddhism, so you are destined to become a member of the journey to the West."

Thinking of this, Xuanzang's body began to glow with a faint golden light: "From beginning to end, Jin Chanzi never appeared to help me or help me through my difficult childhood and adolescence. He just silently watched me go through it all, yet he influenced me to embark on the path of Buddhism, to stand before the sages, and to travel west!"

Xuanzang's soliloquy stopped there. He began to stare intently at his reflection in the bronze mirror, and one of his eyes began to turn golden.

He continued, “He did not suffer as I did, yet he wants to take credit for my journey to the West and become a Buddha on the spot. This is his scheme.”

“If that’s the case, then if he, Jin Chanzi, can be Jiang Liuer or Xuanzang, and can be replaced at any time, then why can’t I, Jiang Liuer or Xuanzang, take Jin Chanzi’s place?”

Xuanzang's eyes began to turn golden, and the corners of his mouth began to curl up: "From today onwards, I am the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, the chosen one of destiny under the great eon of the westward journey, and no one can deny my existence."

"allow!"

Three sounds rang out simultaneously in the void, and in an instant, Xuanzang's body shone with golden light, which then returned to his body.

Xuanzang shuddered, his voice trembling: "What's wrong with me? How could I have such a disrespectful thought!"

"What disrespect? You are Jin Chanzi, you are a disciple of Buddha!" ​​Xuanzang suddenly became serious, without the slightest panic on his face.

"No, who are you? Why are you inside my body? Why can you speak?" In a panic, Xuanzang threw the bronze mirror in front of him to the ground and stomped on it.

"I am you, Jiang Liuer. Can you stop being so cowardly? So what if they are gods or saints? They still climbed up step by step as human beings. If you continue to be cowardly, you can be replaced at any time. Not only Mosquito Daoist, but also Golden Cicada, anyone with the means will possess you. Why can't we go against the grain? What if we become beings under the influence of destiny? Answer me!"

The composed Xuanzang delivered a passionate speech, leaving the panicked Xuanzang speechless for a long time before finally asking, "Then are you me?"

“Of course I am you. I am the suppressed, dark, ambitious side of your heart. I have always been you, Jiang Liuer. Otherwise, you would not have had the chance to speak,” the composed Xuanzang replied.

"So what if we replace Jin Chanzi?" Xuanzang, in a panic, delivered the fatal blow.

"To attain Buddhahood, to realize the Way, and to achieve immortality!" Xuanzang said calmly.

The panicked Xuanzang said, "Then you be the one who commits this heinous act. I don't want to do it. I'll just hide inside my body and not say a word, okay? If we succeed, we'll share the profits. If we fail, it's all your fault. I won't know anything."

The composed Xuanzang said, "You may be cowardly, but you're not stupid!"

"Just tell me if you agree or not!"

"I agree. Anyway, you can't do anything, so go to sleep."

I can cheer you on quietly.

"roll!"

The room finally quieted down, and the sound of a wooden fish began to rise slowly, one note after another, with an incredibly clear rhythm.

Inside an inn within the imperial city, Liu Quan and Li Cuilian were enjoying a hearty meal, with the plates stacked up to a meter high in front of them.

Ye Xuantian sat to the side with his eyes closed, resting until the two of them had eaten their fill.

belch!
Liu Quan let out a burp without any regard for his image: "Sage, what exactly do you see in us? Why do you insist on taking two mortals like us as servants? Those twenty-four ministers are all stronger than the last, why don't you want them?"

Ye Xuantian smiled and said, "Because you have witnessed life and death and walked through the gates of hell, it is easier for you to enter the Buddhist order again."

Ye Xuantian handed the relic to Liu Quan: "When the time comes, you will absorb this power and develop a fearless heart. Go on the journey to the west and help me gain merit."

"What about me? What about me?" Li Cuilian hurriedly said, "The Emperor used me to connect with the royal family, it can't be just that, right? What else can I do for the Emperor?"

"Naturally, it is also entering the tribulation!"

"Your cause and effect far exceed my imagination. Now that I think about it, the person should have arrived by now."

Ye Xuantian looked towards the shop entrance and saw a man carrying a pagoda slowly walk in.

(End of this chapter)