Invasion Myth: Starting with the Schoolteacher

Chapter 785 A Bunch of Scholars
When Yu Gong received the statue, he didn't pay much attention to it at first.

The moment my fingertips brushed across the surface of the wood carving, a slight tremor of righteous energy rippled through me, and I only caught a few wisps of faint evil energy—like the filthy dust that lingers when incense is offered, rather than the essence of the statue itself.

As the information provided by Xu Xuan lay before him, Yu Gong began to recall if there had ever been any similar demons or monsters in his life who would do such a pointless thing.

The more I looked at it, the more I felt something was wrong, and the more I thought about it, the more familiar it seemed.

There was no obvious conspiracy, and no extraction of divine souls or blood essence was carried out; the offerings were simply distributed to scholars participating in the imperial examinations.

The propaganda focuses on the divine duties and position of Wenquxingjun (the God of Literature), while the bizarre incident of Bao cheating is just a shameful thing that a few incompetent fools did themselves.

What is the purpose of the person behind this?

Could it be that it's simply about spreading the image of the God of Literature and obtaining the most sincere prayers?
But those eyebrows and eyes look so human.

Ordinary statues of deities are said to be "three parts human and seven parts divine," in order to highlight their transcendent divine nature. But this statue before us, with its smile lines at the corners of its eyes and the furrows around its lips, is a perfect representation of a real person dressed in the robes of the God of Literature!
There might really be a problem.

Living a long life has its advantages, especially for legendary figures like this.

The things he remembers must be extraordinary.

The wisdom accumulated over the years flowed in his eyes, and Yu Gong suddenly recalled the strange sights he had seen forty years ago when he was guarding Longxi and thirty-five years ago when he was in the snowy mountains—in the tents of those nomadic tribes, there were all kinds of statues of gods.

Natural phenomena such as storms, rain, thunder, frost, and snow are all part of the divine, including many tribes that are one with the divine.

For example, the 27th Zanpa Thototo Ri Nyenzan, King Gesar, and others all have clear portraits that have spread throughout the snowy mountains.

So if you open your mind, you'll find a new direction.

"I have a preliminary idea."

"Does Hanwen have any knowledge of the White Lotus Religion?"

Upon hearing this, the Father's heart skipped a beat, but he calmly sipped his tea.

After getting into the right mood, the performance begins.

"White Lotus Sect?"

Xu slammed his fist on the table in righteous indignation, “The traitors of our Pure Land School are also the biggest hidden danger to our dynasty.”

He paced to the window, a subtle glint flashing in his eyes as he turned away from Yu Gongshi. But when he turned around, his expression had turned cold and stern: "If it weren't for you, Yu Gongshi, and General Zuo personally leading the army to wipe out their sect thirty years ago and joining forces with many righteous masters to seize the White Lotus Altar, how could we have suppressed their arrogance for three hundred years?"

"The man-made disaster we encountered in Jianye a couple of years ago was caused by the White Lotus sect. Those vicious people were truly lawless."

Xu Xuan expressed his indignation with great emotion and demonstrated his firm stance.

His clenched fist trembled slightly. "I am mortal enemies with the White Lotus Sect!"

Then the style changes.

"Do you think this was done by the White Lotus Sect?"

Yu Gong sighed deeply and slowly sat back down in his armchair. The old pear wood creaked under its weight, as if it too was sighing over this heavy topic.

"No."

Xu Xuan almost choked on his own saliva—wasn't that right?
Are you kidding me? ...What kind of terrifying joke is this?

Suddenly, I felt that all my previous passionate performance had been for nothing.

"As can be seen from the Chinese text..." Yu Gong suddenly raised his eyes, a sharp glint appearing in his cloudy eyes, "...the connection between the White Lotus Holy Mother and the future Maitreya Buddha?"

"I know a little bit," Xu Xuan blurted out.

He knew more than just that the white lotus image of the Buddha, seated in the homeland of emptiness, was now radiating pure light in his purple palace.

It also allows one to overlook the microcosm of the human body below from a first-person perspective. Then, the Dharma image suddenly flashed with a spark of wisdom, making Xu Xuan realize something, and his eyes turned serious.

“Maitreya…”

To be precise, Maitreya Buddha at this time is still Maitreya Bodhisattva, and his attainment is still that of a Bodhisattva.

But its status is extraordinary; it represents the hopes and aspirations of believers for the future world.

As a disciple of the Buddha, he entered Nirvana before the Buddha and awaited rebirth.

After the Buddha's passing, Venerable Kasyapa continued to spread the Dharma, but as he was only an Arhat, he was unable to lead Buddhism to prosperity.

Therefore, the Buddha prophesied that Maitreya would descend from the Tusita Heaven to the human world 5.66 billion years after the passing of Shakyamuni Buddha, and would become a Buddha under the Dragon Flower Tree in the Flower Grove Garden, spreading the Dharma widely.

The second appearance signifies that the future has arrived.

The reason why the White Lotus Holy Mother was a traitor to the Pure Land School and a true enemy of Buddhism was that she stole Maitreya's great vow.

She appeared before Maitreya was reincarnated and announced that she would guide everyone to her Vacuum Homeland in the future.

He knew better than anyone what the true nature of the Vacuum Homeland was—a dream forever stuck in the "future." When all believers were immersed in this illusory bliss, when the true Maitreya descended to earth, no one would wait, no one would witness, and no one would follow.

Therefore, the white lotus occupies Maitreya's position.

Therefore, we can deduce from this that Wenqu Xingjun... who would want to occupy the position of Wenqu Xingjun? Occupying this position would only give one more talent, and its greatest function is to consolidate one's fortune.

Xu Xuan and Yu Gong sat facing each other under the dim light of the academy. They had already had three rounds of tea, but they still couldn't make sense of things.

Anyone with exceptional literary talent is often praised as a literary genius descended from heaven; these are universally applicable phrases.

The child prodigy from the Li family in the south of the city is one, the nephew of the Wang family scholar in the north of the city is another, and even the poor scholar selling calligraphy and paintings by West Lake dares to boast like this...

There are at least dozens of child prodigies who are reincarnations of the God of Literature in Qiantang County, and several young people who are reincarnations of the God of Literature.

These mass-produced titles are more prevalent across Kyushu than willow catkins in spring.

Therefore, the status of Wenquxing in Confucianism and the status of Maitreya in Buddhism are completely different.

Xu Xuan and Yu Gong racked their brains in the academy, but ultimately came up with nothing.

The cicadas outside the window gradually fell silent, and the night grew deeper.

The old man suddenly slammed his teacup down: "That's all I can think of!" He waved his hand impatiently, "Don't you know that goddess in white? Go ask her!"

When Yu Gong realized that the direction he had given seemed unreliable, he felt ashamed and kicked the man out.

It's all because of this good-for-nothing that I can't leave Wu County. Otherwise, I could sweep across Jiangnan with my spear, and I wouldn't be in this predicament now.

Xu Xuan stood helplessly outside the gate.

Do you think I wanted to date an old geezer like you? It's just that the atmosphere between me and Miss Bai is a bit awkward right now.

But since important business was the priority, he reluctantly went to West Lake.

The sound wasn't loud, but it created ripples on the lake's surface. After waiting a moment without a response, he hesitated whether to call out again, when suddenly his footing gave way—

"Ouch!"

He was suddenly plunged into a vortex. When he came to his senses, he was already sitting at the white jade table in the Crystal Palace.

Across from her, Bai Suzhen, dressed in plain clothes, was slowly pouring tea.

(End of this chapter)