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

Chapter 160: First Battle
"Brother Tang, this journey to the Western Paradise to retrieve the scriptures is a mandate from Heaven. You are more important than anyone else or anything else. Therefore, on the journey, you must prioritize your own safety. The scriptures can be abandoned, but you must return!" Li Shimin held Tang Sanzang's hand tightly, his face full of worry.

"Your Majesty's kindness is truly appreciated, and your humble brother will certainly live up to your expectations!" Tang Sanzang had never seen such a scene before. The emperor of the current dynasty was so considerate and attentive to him, which was an unimaginable honor for a mortal like him.

As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Sanzang knelt down and kowtowed three times to Li Shimin.

When he looked up again, Tang Sanzang's eyes were full of determination: "Your subject will definitely accept all the scriptures of the Western Paradise and present them to Your Majesty to prove the prestige of our dynasty!"

"Alright! Your brother is waiting for your return at home." Li Shimin quickly helped Tang Sanzang up.

This scene was clearly drawn by Wu Daozi, who was standing to the side, and he even thoughtfully inscribed the words: "A scholar will die for one who understands him!"

In the scene, everything else is insignificant, but the eyes of Li Shimin and Tang Sanzang are lifelike, as if the two are about to face life and death together at any moment.

What's strange is that Li Shimin's eyes were clear, but his facial features were slightly blurry, as if they were hidden in the mist and could not be distinguished, while Tang Sanzang's facial features were perfectly clear.

Beside Wu Daozi, Lu Ya Daoren took out a gourd, took a sip of wine, and carefully examined the painting: "If this painting is copied and sent to the countries along the westward journey, it will not be a problem for Tang Sanzang, but the Tang emperor will lose some of his majesty and lack the means to deter villains."

"My lord, if we want to show the majesty of the emperor without revealing his true appearance, then perhaps the only way is to use the freehand style."

"No need, you just wait!"

After a period of mutual appreciation between the ruler and his subject, Tang Sanzang embarked on his journey to obtain the Buddhist scriptures.

"May my brother never fall into the abyss of depravity along this journey, and may the divine might of our Great Tang forever protect him!" Li Shimin said.

"May the divine power of the Tang Dynasty protect the holy monk!" shouted the ministers behind Li Shimin.

Lu Ya casually waved his hand, and a dragon's roar echoed in the void. A wisp of divine wind appeared out of thin air from beneath Li Shimin's feet, then spun and rose into the sky. Upon seeing this, Wu Daozi's brush seemed to come alive, moving swiftly across the blank scroll.

In the blink of an eye, the scene leaps onto the paper: Tang Sanzang leads twenty-four people in front, with Li Shimin and his ministers behind him offering their congratulations. Around Li Shimin, a dragon shadow coils, its dragon might surging.

Upon closer inspection, the dragon's shadow appears to be constantly wriggling, truly lifelike.

puff!
The moment the painting took shape, Wu Daozi spat out a mouthful of blood, which landed on the scroll. Instantly, the dragon shadow gained layer upon layer of dragon scales, becoming even more majestic.

Wu Daozi's face was bloodless, but his eyes seemed to hold endless starlight, bright and piercing. Although he was still a mortal, for some reason, even a Quasi-Saint like Lu Ya could not lock onto his aura.

Lu Ya couldn't help but look at Wu Daozi, and finally cupped his hands in greeting: "Of the three thousand Daos, Wu Daozi, you have comprehended the Dao from the painting, and can be called the Sage of Painting!"

"I must thank you for your guidance, sir. If I had not been blessed with the imperial destiny today, even if I had tens of thousands of years, I might not have been able to comprehend this path."

"The twenty-four ministers are now pillars of the nation, and they all lack a painting. Now that your painting skills have reached perfection, please come along this time and leave a painting for each of them."

"As you command!" Without any hesitation, Wu Daozi immediately drew a garment in the air with his brush. The garment was as thin as a wing and very transparent. It then fell down, and Wu Daozi put it on. At the same time, he drew another brush, and a cloud appeared. Wu Daozi jumped onto it and rode away on the cloud.

Ye Xuantian's figure slowly appeared, and Lu Ya immediately stood up: "You've arrived. There shouldn't be any problems with the Earth Mother, right?"

Ye Xuantian shook his head: "The aura of the Great Emperor made the Heavenly Dao wary, so after sensing the Great Emperor's aura, the Heavenly Dao became distracted, giving the Earth Mother enough time to restrain her. Now she has successfully regained her original form, and because of the arrival of the power of the Asura lineage, it has provided enough causal cover, so the Heavenly Dao should not have noticed the Earth Mother's situation yet."

"Isn't that person hidden in the cycle of reincarnation for a long time? Why is he willing to help the Earth Mother? And even if Maitreya Buddha sent the power of the Asura lineage, the Heavenly Dao lost a wisp of its will. How could it possibly conceal all cause and effect without being detected by the Heavenly Dao just by relying on the aura of the Asura lineage?" Lu Ya asked the questions in his heart like a machine gun.

"Among all those who hold the imperial throne, which one is weak? Take the True Martial Emperor, for example, who has never been willing to compete for fame and fortune. In the past five hundred years, he has completely controlled the North. Now, nothing can be done without a divine decree. That is what makes him a great emperor!"

Ye Xuantian's smile was quite handsome. After all, the stronger these emperor-level figures were, the more help they would receive after intercepting merits and breaking through this place.

"Although the Emperor of Fengdu has lived in seclusion for many years, the fact that the Underworld has maintained absolute independence under these circumstances is enough to demonstrate the strictness of his rule. He has truly reached the point of governing by non-interference. How could such a person be content with solitude!"

"Moreover, no matter what, Houtu Niangniang is a genuine colleague. It's not difficult for her to just leak out some of her aura to help. As for the Asura lineage concealing cause and effect, that's only one aspect. The key is that the Earth Mother completely devoured the Dharma body that the Heavenly Dao possessed."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ya finally understood: "Wu Daozi really did enter the Holy Will with his transformed body, just as you said."

Ye Xuantian looked in the direction Wu Daozi had left: "With the return of the Earth Mother, the Three Thousand Daos have finally developed their true abilities. Given enough time, more and more people in the human race will become clear about the Holy Will, and the national fortune of the Tang Dynasty will become stronger and stronger. In this way, the seal on humanity will become weaker and weaker, which is a good thing!"

"Hmm! So what do you need me to do next? Protect Tang Sanzang secretly and wait for those demon generals to appear?"

"No, with the protection of the twenty-four ministers, you don't need to pay too much attention to the pilgrims before you leave the border of the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, if you really wanted to pay attention, those three wouldn't easily show themselves. Let the situation be handled by the general trend."

"The twenty-four ministers are ultimately just mortals. Even if they can rely on the fate of the Tang Dynasty to use some extraordinary means, they are still too weak." Lu Ya did not believe that Ye Xuantian's arrangement this time would be foolproof.

It should be noted that even without Ye Xuantian's intervention, Yu Setian had to use several chosen ones of destiny to break the deadlock.

Ye Xuantian: "That's why I want you to find the key to winning this game."

Lu Ya: "Who?"

"Li Bai!"

"Are you crazy? Li Bai wasn't even born yet at this time!" Lu Ya said, reaching out to touch Ye Xuantian's head. "Did you fight with the Styx Ancestor and strain your head so much that it got burned?"

Ye Xuantian slapped Lu Ya's hand away in annoyance: "Get lost! You care about the timeline? If we're talking about characters from the timeline, you shouldn't even be here!"

“But aren’t you making things difficult for me? Li Bai was born a century after Emperor Taizong of Tang died. If we’re talking about the same lineage as the Li family, Li Bai would have to be a ninth-generation descendant of Li Shimin. Where am I supposed to find that?”

"Back when the Ziwei Emperor agreed to send down a wisp of his will to become the Tang King, I pulled some people out of the cycle of reincarnation and brought them down to this era. Li Bai was one of them. Moreover, over the years I have had Li Changgeng help teach him. Now Li Bai has already memorized all the poems of his later generations. Now he should have returned with the Earth Mother and become a true poet immortal. Let him go and gain some experience."

Lu Ya blinked his big eyes, his shock barely concealed: "You mean, you want Li Bai to confront those three demon kings? Have you really lost your mind?!"

"His poems are unrestrained and imaginative, which will give the demon kings a taste of what it means to act unpredictably." Ye Xuantian seemed quite satisfied with his arrangement. Lu Ya finally swallowed all his surprise and asked seriously, "Are you sure this arrangement is okay? We can't afford any mistakes now. After all, we've officially entered the journey to the West. If something goes wrong, neither of us can afford the risk."

"When you were running around like a madman during the Investiture of the Gods, I didn't realize you were so hesitant and cautious!"

"That's because I didn't want a result as deeply before! Now I'm still waiting for you to become a saint and create the world!"

"Go! I need to let them know that, despite the overwhelming circumstances, the power of the human race should not be underestimated."

Seeing Ye Xuantian's serious expression, Lu Ya had no more hesitation and immediately left.

Meanwhile, inside the Nuwa Palace, the sage Nuwa was constantly calculating with her fingers, her brows furrowed.

"I never expected that He really didn't intend to participate in the first tribulation of the Western Journey. If so, and this merit is lost, His status in the hearts of the gods will plummet!"

Before the sage Nuwa, there was a mirror that was 99% similar to the mirror of the Queen Mother of the West.

Nuwa, the sage, gently touched the mirror with her finger, and ripples immediately spread out. Unlike the Kunlun Mirror, which could only show one place, this mirror could show the entire human world.

The mirror's angle was too high, so that only the mountain ridge could be vaguely seen, stretching endlessly, like a sleeping dragon.

Nuwa, the sage, tapped her hand again, and the mirror's perspective rapidly descended, soon arriving at a main road, where Tang Sanzang and his twenty-four ministers disguised as monks were traveling.

Suddenly, Yuchi Gong, who was leading the way, seemed to sense something and immediately looked up at the sky.

Qin Qiong noticed that Yuchi Gong was acting strangely and immediately asked, "What's wrong? Is there any danger?"

"I sensed the power of surveillance, but it only lasted for a moment before disappearing, so I was unable to lock onto it immediately."

"Ah? Is there danger?" Tang Sanzang, who was sitting on his horse, immediately dismounted, his face full of panic. Along the way, everyone had gained a new understanding of Tang Sanzang.

This chosen one was extremely timid; at the slightest disturbance, he would dismount and hide in the crowd.

The twenty-four ministers kept their contempt for this man well hidden, after all, he was, in any case, the younger brother of the current Tang emperor.

“Holy Monk, there’s no need to be so nervous. If there is any real danger, we will definitely stand in front of you. Your actions are seriously delaying our journey.”

Yuchi Gong's impatience deepened, but he managed to suppress it.

"But……"

"There are no 'buts', Holy Monk, mount your horse! Don't worry, if there's any real danger, we'll definitely die before you." Qin Qiong walked to Tang Sanzang's side and, with a forceful movement, threw Tang Sanzang onto the horse.

Qin Qiong would never have done this under normal circumstances, but today was different, because he felt inexplicably agitated.

This irritation nearly wore out his patience, and most importantly, for the first time, he saw impatience on everyone's faces.

This is very abnormal.

Tang Sanzang was about to argue, but seeing Qin Qiong's stern gaze, he finally suppressed his emotions, quietly lay down on the horse, and tried his best not to get too high.

Seeing Tang Sanzang's actions, Qin Qiong frowned slightly, but ultimately said nothing, instead walking over to Fang Xuanling's side.

"Brother Fang, something's strange! The restlessness in my heart is about to burst, I want to kill someone!"

“Me too!” Fang Xuanling replied quietly.

"It seems we've already entered enemy territory. Otherwise, we wouldn't all be feeling this way. What should we do? Set up camp, or launch a preemptive strike?"

Qin Qiong's eyes shone with fighting spirit. This was a battle for the twenty-four ministers, and they were never cowards. Faced with challenges, they hoped to take the initiative into their own hands.

Fang Xuanling shook his head and looked at Xiao Yu: "Is there a way to suppress the restlessness in our hearts? If this continues, we won't even need the other party to make a move; we'll have to kill this holy monk directly, and we might even end up killing each other!"

Fang Xuanling's tone was serious, causing Tang Sanzang to tremble uncontrollably. He was about to speak when he said, "Then I..."

"Shut up!" the twenty-four ministers shouted in unison.

Tang Sanzang's eyes were filled with tears, as if he was about to cry at any moment.

Du Ruhui spoke up at this moment: "Something is strange. If it affects everyone, then the holy monk is too normal!"

Du Ruhui's words drew everyone's attention to Tang Sanzang, who immediately waved his hand and said, "I have no thoughts, I have no emotions, I'll shut up, I promise to shut up!"

Upon hearing this answer, Wei Zheng quickly walked to Tang Sanzang's side, placed his hand on his cassock, and pulled hard, tearing the cassock off.

Without hesitation, Wei Zheng draped the cassock over his body. Immediately, he took a deep breath and exhaled, letting out a heavy exhale of stale air.

“This cassock is indeed quite remarkable; the moment you put it on, all your emotions vanish!” Wei Zheng said.

"Then what do we do?" Qin Qiong continued to ask, feeling that he could no longer suppress the restlessness in his heart.

"Set up camp! Don't proceed until you find a better solution, or you'll be courting death!" the timid Tang Sanzang suddenly said in a deep voice.

(End of this chapter)