Daily Intelligence: From Water Snake to Jinghe Dragon King

Chapter 232 Snake Shedding Skin, Size as Desired, Guanyin Tathagata of Leiyin Temple

With a solution in mind, Liu Qing felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders. As his physical body grew stronger, shedding his skin became a challenge.

Then, Liu Qing raised the Panlong Eight-Tone Cone and used the Heavenly Gang Divine Power of Size Control, instantly shrinking his 59-zhang body to just over 1 zhang.

Liu Qing slithered his body toward the Panlong Bayin Cone, and the dragon relief on the shaft of the Panlong Bayin Cone was immediately replaced by a real dragon.

When Liu Qing refined this Panlong Eight-Tone Cone, it was in the form of a quail dragon, hence the relief carving is of a quail dragon. If Liu Qing evolves into a jiaolong, the quail dragon relief will change to a jiaolong.

Liu Qing clung tightly to the Panlong Eight-Tone Cone, winding its way towards the spearhead. When its head was close to the spear tip, it carefully made a cut on its lower jaw.

A cut was made in the lower jaw, revealing the newborn body inside. Liu Qing poked his head out of the cut, then sprang up, freeing his entire body from the molted skin.

Now, Liu Qing's cultivation is profound, and he no longer experiences the blind and weak period he went through during his previous molting.

After the newborn body broke free, divine power flashed across its body, instantly spreading inside and out. Within the purple light of the divine power, Liu Qing's originally shrunken body immediately swelled to sixty feet.

At the same time, after Liu Qing unlocked the power of the size control, the molted skin also grew larger, from its original size of over ten feet to fifty or sixty feet.

Liu Qing placed the shed skin into the Dharma Realm of Authority, and when he had time, he would refine it into a Dharma robe.

It can ignore the attacks of a late-stage Heavenly Grade spiritual treasure. If this shed skin were refined into a magic robe, it would definitely reach the level of a late-stage Heavenly Grade spiritual treasure.

The Western Paradise, the Great Thunder Temple.

The Buddha and Guanyin of the South Sea sat facing each other.

“Buddha, the Jing River Dragon King, who was originally destined to sacrifice the flag during the great calamity of the Journey to the West, has now joined the Jie Sect and become its last disciple.”

"Furthermore, it is likely that Buddha also sensed that the Tongtian Saint, who was originally trapped in Zixiao Palace, had a wisp of his soul escape to the mortal realm and transformed into Yu Yu Dao Ren."

"The Journey to the West is about to begin in a few decades, but now a sudden change has occurred. We beg Buddha for guidance on what we should do next."

After calculating for a long time, the Buddha Tathagata's eyes flashed with helplessness. He spread his hands and said, "The future has already changed, and I cannot predict to what extent it has changed."

"The future Jinghe Dragon King is easy to deal with. Although we can no longer kill him after he has taken control of the water veins of the Jinghe River basin and use his head as a sacrificial offering to start the Journey to the West, it is not a big problem. Suppressing him is the same."

"The difficulty lies in the fact that a wisp of the Tongtian Sage's soul has appeared in the world. Although it is only a wisp of soul, his cultivation has reached the Great Luo Realm, just like yours and mine, and his methods are even better than yours and mine."

Guanyin of the South Sea frowned and sighed, "It's more than just a step ahead. When I made a move earlier, I was repelled by his sword. That sword intent still can't be cleared away, like a maggot clinging to my bone."

"If the Daoist Yu Yu, who is actually the incarnation of the Sage Tongtian, were to disregard his reputation and attack us juniors, I'm afraid even if we were all combined, we wouldn't be a match for him."

The Buddha blinked, looking quite troubled. He had lost all his usual majesty as a Buddha. Faced with the divided soul of the Sage of Heaven, his Buddha-nature faded and his humanity surged.

"Sigh, I guess it's to settle the karmic debts from the Investiture of the Gods."

Upon hearing this, fear flashed in Guanyin's eyes. She was a disciple of the Chan Sect, who had betrayed her sect and joined Buddhism. If Tongtian were to settle the karmic debts of the Investiture of the Gods, she, as a traitor, would likely not escape being punished.

Not only did she betray her sect, but she also attacked her former fellow disciples from the Jie Sect. Those who used to call her senior sister, Qiu Shou Xian, Jin Guang Xian, and Ling Ya Xian, were castrated by her own hand and are now being used as mounts.

The Buddha glanced at Guanyin of the South Sea, showing great disdain for her past actions.

Both being disciples of the Chan sect, Julusun became the Buddha after betraying the sect, while Guanyin of the South Sea, who originally held a higher position in the Chan sect than Julusun, only attained the status of a Bodhisattva.

Turning against one's sect might be forgiven by citing the way of Heaven, but to then turn against one's former fellow disciples in such a cruel way is utterly despicable.

"Now that Master Jieyin and Master Zhunti have been ordered to live in seclusion in the Outer Heavens and are not allowed to go out, the great plan for the Journey to the West set by the two masters has been handed over to you and me. However, the Sage Tongtian has sent a part of his soul to the mortal world. What should we do?"

"We can't just sit idly by and let the Journey to the West fall apart just because a wisp of the Sage Tongtian's soul intervenes?"

After thinking for a while, the Buddha slowly said, "Now that the Jing River Dragon King is assisting Li Shimin in his struggle for the world, the future Jing River Dragon King and the future ruler have formed a bond ahead of time. If we continue to follow the established trajectory of Journey to the West, it may not work."

"Li Shimin has too much karma with Liu Qing. If the journey to the West begins in the future, he will definitely not agree to use Li Shimin to kill the Jinghe Dragon King."

"Since the future ruler won't kill the future Jinghe Dragon King, why don't we just change the ruler?"

Guanyin of the South Sea was immediately alarmed: "Li Shimin is the Ziwei Emperor of Heaven descended to the mortal realm, and his status is equivalent to the future Buddha of our Buddhism. If we do not let him become the ruler, we will not only offend the Ziwei Emperor, but also the fact that the Ziwei Emperor descended to the mortal realm is determined by the Heavenly Dao. If we do this, the Heavenly Dao will retaliate, and even with our cultivation, we may not be able to withstand it."

"Emperor Ziwei is merely the Crown Prince of Heaven. Offending him is no big deal. As for the backlash from Heaven, firstly, we have our teacher protecting us, and secondly, if the Journey to the West proceeds smoothly, we will share in the merits of the journey. What is there to fear from the backlash from Heaven?"

Guanyin of the South Sea slowly lit up her eyes: "This plan is feasible!"

“Then let’s do it this way. Later, our Buddhism will help Li Jiancheng become the ruler and abandon Li Shimin. Specifically, we can send Arhats down to the mortal realm to prevent Li Shimin from having any chance to succeed.” “Yes, Bodhisattva, you will lead the Arhats to handle this matter. I, the Great Monk, will devote all my energy to dealing with that wisp of the Tongtian Sage’s soul that has descended to the mortal realm.”

Subsequently, a Buddhist decree spread throughout the Great Thunderclap Temple, and the five hundred Arhats and eighteen Arahats within the temple came forth, transforming into Buddhist light and descending upon the human world along with Guanyin of the South Sea.

They may be reincarnated as military generals of the Sui Dynasty, or possess the bodies of rebel kings, or possess the bodies of strategists and generals serving Li Jiancheng.

In any case, these people will all become Li Shimin's enemies in the future.

As for the sins committed during the process, they will be disregarded for the time being. As Buddha said, once the journey to the West is successfully completed, the sins can be offset by the merits of sharing the spoils.

Liu Qing flew back to Dawan Lake from the depths of the Qinling Mountains.

On the way back, he descended to the snake pool, appeased the river monsters there, and rewarded Crab Left Hand with several top-grade magic artifacts for protection. Liu Qing greatly appreciated this diligent subordinate.

So after thinking about it, he picked out a few Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Techniques from the Eastern Sea and taught them to it as well.

Liu Qing was generous in rewarding loyal and diligent subordinates.

With tears of gratitude streaming down her face, Liu Qing returned to Da Wan Lake.

After discussing Daoist principles with Bai She'er, Xiao Ya, Shui'er, and Sang Qingjun for several nights, Liu Qing took out his shed skin, divided it, and refined it into a magic robe.

The leather was of excellent quality, and since this was not Liu Qing's first time refining artifacts, the process went very smoothly. After melting the leather with the power of water and fire, he incorporated several formations such as dust removal, water release, fire avoidance, and Ruyi, and the robe was finally completed.

As guessed, they were all of the later-stage lower-grade spiritual treasures.

There were six items in total. One each for Hong Gu, Bai She'er, Shui'er, Xiao Ya, and Sang Qingjun, and one for Liu Qing herself.

In March of the thirteenth year of the Daye era, Liu Qing ordered that a portion of the elite river demons under his command be selected to be stationed in the Jing River to assist the first avatar.

Originally, the forces of the seven families of Jinghe were divided into those with flexible minds who surrendered without resistance, and those who were simple-minded and stubborn, such as the Dou family's fighting fish clan, who insisted on not surrendering and were wiped out by the river demons under the command of Liu Qing's first clone.

Before his death, the head of the Dou family suddenly experienced a surge in fortune, which directly propelled his cultivation to the Dharma Realm. His first avatar, also at the Dharma Realm, was unable to stop him and killed the four demons guarding the pufferfish, the water beetle demon, the red-eyed toad, and General Qinghua.

It wasn't until Liu Qing himself arrived that he was able to kill the Dou family patriarch, whose cultivation had inexplicably surged, with a single blow.

Afterwards, Liu Qing used his ability to see and hear through plants and trees to investigate, and finally understood that Dou Jiande, the son of the Dou family patriarch, had joined a force against the Sui Dynasty after coming ashore.

Because of his extraordinary skills as a river demon, his generous and magnanimous nature, and his self-taught mastery of military formations, he quickly became a powerful anti-Sui force in Hebei, with immense fortune.

When the head of the Dou family was on the verge of death, Dou Jiande felt a pang of sympathy and used a secret technique to temporarily lend his fortune to his father, helping him to greatly increase his cultivation. He thought he could escape with his life, but Liu Qing himself arrived in time to kill him.

After understanding the cause and effect of the matter, Liu Qing had no regrets.

Even without me, Dou Jiande would have clashed with Li Shimin in the future. So what if I've offended him now? Dou Jiande is no big deal.

The native river monsters in the Jinghe River either surrendered or their entire clans were wiped out, while some trusted confidants migrated from Dawan Lake.

At this point, Liu Qing's first clone had completely taken control of the Jinghe River area.

The four river demons who died in battle all reached the Refinement of Emptiness and Integration of Dao, although the difference between them was only in the early and middle stages.

Liu Qing threw their corpses into the waters where they were born to create new river demons, while their souls were nurtured by incense offerings. Once their yang spirits were fully developed, they were all appointed as river gods.

April of the thirteenth year of the Daye era.

Li Shimin sent a message through Liu Qing's accomplice in the army, asking Liu Qing to come and help.

Since Li Shimin captured Chang'an last year, Liu Qing reminded him to pass the news to his father Li Yuan, who was left in charge of Jinyang. Li Yuan had no choice but to rebel against the Sui Dynasty and establish the Tang Dynasty.

For the next six months or so, Li Shimin took over the counties surrounding Chang'an while simultaneously consolidating his territory.

Through a series of measures, including pacifying the people, encouraging agriculture, promoting childbirth, and training new soldiers, Chang'an City and the surrounding hundreds of miles were completely under control.

In addition, Liu Qing himself led his clones to bring rain several times, which helped the people and turned the area around Chang'an into a paradise with favorable weather and abundant harvests. The people's strength recovered quickly, and there was no shortage of money, food and weapons.

A month ago, Li Shimin led his troops westward out of Chang'an towards Jinyang, where his father and brother were located, in an attempt to re-establish contact with them, combine their territories, and expand his power.

(End of this chapter)