The Demon King, reborn in Japan as a monk

以上。2022年8月17日22点24分。

Chapter 665 An Ambitious Monk

"I give up..." Sitting in his newly purchased house, enjoying Misako's service, Ishihara Sho sighed helplessly.

"What's wrong?" Misako looked up at him and asked.

"It's alright." After saying that, he pressed Misako's head down again.

It must be said that pulling Earth into the Dream Sea was an absolutely correct choice, because in doing so, he not only broke free from Mara's control, but also completely unleashed the power belonging to the Taiyi Golden Immortal level—

That is to manifest in countless forms!

He can now act like a company boss, with his main body in the Nightmare Space or on Earth, and then create thought clones to explore the world throughout the Void Sea like hardworking little bees.

Naturally, this time, Ishihara Sho's main purpose was not simply to conquer the world, but also to find his own origin, which was the world he lived in before he was reborn and taken by Bo Xun.

Therefore, in the process of exploration, he also constantly used Gaia consciousness to communicate and resonate with the Gaia consciousness of other Earths, exploring all possibilities.

However, it's unclear whether it was because his desire to go home was too strong or what, but apart from the dimensional worlds he provided information about, the Earth that he recently explored through the resonance with Gaia was not only entirely the modern world, but also entirely composed of Chinese TV dramas!

The sheer volume of shows like "Police Glory," "The Thunder," "Crackdown on Organized Crime," "Nothing But Thirty," "Nothing But Twenty," "Ode to Joy," "Growing Pain," "Little Departure," and "Little Husband" gave Ishihara Yuki a real headache.

After all, although he occasionally watched TV in his previous life, he would only glance at it while eating or exercising while writing. He knew about these TV series, but he had only seen them a few times. He had an impression of them and knew the general characters, but he didn't know the plot at all!

And most importantly, these worlds are also very troublesome to conquer—

Simply put, these worlds are all realistic environments, lacking any supernatural elements. Furthermore, since the activities take place domestically, even if Ishihara Shou wanted to employ a strategy of conformity to promote religion, he couldn't, and would have to shift his focus elsewhere.

For example, while seducing the main characters in the story and usurping global power, they might create a dubious new religion in Japan or South Korea, then use a strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside to operate abroad until they have enough power, and then use their authority to conquer the whole world.

In short, it's not only extremely troublesome, but also takes a long time, far less enjoyable than a dimensional world with extraordinary attributes.

But Ishihara Akira couldn't give up on that side.

Who knows if, after conquering the worlds of these modern urban dramas, one can use them as a springboard to directly find the modern society from which they came from?

Anyway, Ishihara Akira is now certain that in the country where he is currently on Earth, there is no, or rather, no, of the urban dramas that exist.

In other words, these worlds originate from elsewhere, from a world that may have a close connection with the world from which they were born, or from the world that gave birth to the world.

Therefore, we must take it seriously.

……

"Abbot, where are you? Master Jingming from Baosheng Temple is here. He said he had an appointment with you. What do you think..." A pleasant phone ring interrupted Ishihara Sho's thoughts, forcing him to pick up his phone. He glanced at the number and, seeing it was his own temple's number, pressed the answer button.

"Yes, it's arranged. Could you help me entertain them for now? I'll be right back." Upon hearing this, Ishihara Akira's face showed a look of realization, and he patted Misako's head, who was still busy in front of him.

"Then please hurry up, it would be very impolite to keep people waiting too long."

"Don't worry, I'll be home soon."

After saying that, Ishihara Akira hung up the phone, stood up, pulled up his pants, said a few more words to Misako, and then left the newly purchased apartment. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he used his supernatural powers to return to the temple.

"Namo Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. This humble monk Xingzhi greets Venerable Jingming." Shi Yuanzhang used a one-click costume-changing technique to put on his black monk's robe, and hurriedly came to the middle-aged monk who was sitting in the guest room, and greeted him with his hands clasped.

"Namo Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, you are too kind, Abbot," Monk Jingming returned the greeting.

Then, the lay Buddhist from the temple who had initially helped with the reception bowed to the two of them and quietly withdrew, leaving the space to the abbots of the two largest Kannon temples in Nagoya.

Yes, the Hōshō-in Temple of the monk Kōmyō is no other temple than the Kannon-ji Temple established by the Ishihara Shō family, a Buddhist temple whose main object of worship is the Bodhisattva Kannon.

Its full name is Kitanoyama Shinpukuji Hōshōin! It is an extremely influential Buddhist temple whose sphere of influence is the Ōsu Shopping Street, or rather, the Ōsu Shopping Street was able to develop entirely because of Hōshōin.

At the same time, it is also a strong competitor of the Ishihara family's Arako Kannon Temple in this regard.

Although the two temples are not in the same district, they are only four or five kilometers apart as the crow flies, which is quite close. So, while the monks from both temples do not usually avoid each other, it is rare for the abbots of both temples to have the opportunity to sit together and discuss certain matters like today.

Unless, of course, it's about the spread of the Guanyin faith.

Moreover, this is only under the condition that the head office of the Kannon-in Temple in Japan conveys certain instructions.

……

"...Let's get down to business." After exchanging pleasantries, Ishihara Sho, somewhat impatient with the witty banter, put down his teacup and looked at the monk Kagemyo, who, despite being over forty, looked only in his thirties, with a smooth face and impeccable manners.

"Has Abbot Xingzhi carefully examined the map of Nagoya?" Monk Jingming asked with a smile.

“No.” Ishihara Akira shook his head.

"Then it seems that Abbot Xingzhi hasn't observed the distribution of Guanyin Temple either?" Jingming said again with certainty.

"I'm really not sure," Ishihara Akira continued, shaking his head.

"Leaving aside distant areas, just looking at the western region of Nagoya centered on Atsuta Ward and extending to Tsushima, there are three famous Kannon temples: my Hoshoin Shinpuku-ji, the Arako Kannon-ji of Abbot Gyoji, and the Kasafuku Kannon-ji. Their influence covers the entire western and southern regions of Nagoya. Don't you think this is an opportunity, Abbot?" Monk Kyoumei reminded him meaningfully.

"But in this area, besides our temple that mainly worships Kannon, I remember there are other temples, right? For example, the Nagoya branch of the Shinshu Otani school, which is very close to your Hoshoin Temple, and the various shrines scattered throughout Atsuta, with Atsuta Shrine as the central point. How does Master Keimei plan to deal with these issues?" Having roughly understood Master Keimei's thoughts, Ishihara Sho didn't mince words and directly pointed out the fundamental difficulty in expanding the Kannon faith.

"And that is why I came to discuss this with Abbot Xingzhi," Monk Jingming said with a smile.

Chapter 666 Refusal

"Has Master Xingzhi ever entered the Nightmare Space?" Monk Jingming asked Shi Yuanzhang.

"I've been there." Ishihara Akira nodded.

He had not only been inside, but he had also personally created the Nightmare Space with his own abilities. It's just unclear why Monk Jingming would bring up the Nightmare Space out of the blue.

"Although Nightmare Space has a ban on transmitting information about Nightmare Space to unrelated personnel in any form, this ban seems to have been lifted recently for some unknown reason. As users of Nightmare Space, we can now freely discuss matters related to Nightmare Space with anyone without having to confirm whether the other person is also a Nightmare Space user, as we did before. So, taking advantage of this change, I did a little investigation, and the results are quite astonishing!" Monk Jingming sighed with a complex expression.

Then, without Ishihara Sho even asking, he began to speak on his own: "Basically, all believers who come to my Hōshō-in Temple to pray, excluding those over 70 years old and children under ten, regardless of gender, have a record of entering the Nightmare Space. As a result, the content of their prayers has changed. They no longer pray for marriage, wealth, family health, or smooth sailing as before, but have gradually changed to praying for good luck, safety, and protection. This is what made me realize the change in people's hearts, and thus led to my current thoughts..."

Ishihara Akira remained silent, watching him quietly and waiting for him to continue.

"This humble monk is preparing to jointly preside over your Huangzi Guanyin Temple and Faxuan's Lifu Guanyin Temple to create some miracles. They don't need to be very explicit; we just need to make believers and non-believers feel that Guanyin has truly manifested. In this time of widespread fear and insecurity, it will be very easy to guide them to start believing in Guanyin and become believers in our respective temples, thus increasing our profits. What do you think, Abbot Xingzhi?"

"I'll say it again, what about the other temples and shrines? I don't believe they'll just stand by and watch us cause trouble," Ishihara Akira warned.

"Speaking of this, we must thank the Nightmare Space. Thanks to its existence, powers and legends previously only recorded in classic texts have been brought into reality, and the extraordinary has become an undeniable fact." With that, Monk Jingming clasped his hands together and softly began reciting the Heart Sutra—

Then, a faint radiance emanated from him, making him appear divine and holy, as if he were a reincarnation of a truly virtuous and eminent monk, inspiring awe and reverence in all who beheld him.

Of course, this is in front of a special person like Ishihara Sho. For some ordinary people, or Nightmare Space Trialers who have exchanged the wrong power, Jingming's performance is still quite intimidating.

So if handled well, he might actually achieve his initial goal—to expand the Guanyin faith, increase the temple's heritage and the number of believers, and enhance his influence in the Nagoya area.

"So once things are settled, I will personally visit the abbots and shrine chiefs of the surrounding large and medium-sized temples and shrines one by one, and try my best to persuade or keep them calm, so that they will not hold events while we are causing trouble, thus diverting the public's attention. At that time, once we have finished our work, even if they realize it afterward, they will not be able to stop us. They can only follow suit and operate in the same way."

“However, not every temple and shrine can do this. First, there must be a sufficient foundation of faith, and the deity must have a sufficient reputation. Otherwise, even if a ‘miracle’ is performed, it will still be impossible to retain believers,” Monk Jingming said with a confident expression.

“The Shinshu Kitanpai and Atsuta Shrine are not minor religious beliefs.”

The former is a branch of Jodo Shinshu, and its prototype is even the Honganji Temple where the Honganji Incident occurred. It was only later split into the East and West Honganji Temples, and eventually evolved into the current Kitani School of Jodo Shinshu.

The latter is the place where the so-called Three Sacred Treasures, the Kusanagi Sword, are enshrined. Therefore, in terms of status alone, it is not much weaker than the Ise Grand Shrine, which governs Japanese Shintoism, and is comparable to the Izumo Taisha Shrine, which has a more unique status.

Most importantly, they originally worshipped the three noble gods of Japan—Amaterasu, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, and Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto. Their faith is very deep, and if they were to cause trouble, it would be no less powerful than their faith in Kannon.

"That's true, but it will take them three to five days, seven or eight days, or even half a month, to complete the miracle. That's enough time for us to gather believers and increase the temple's resources," Monk Jingming said nonchalantly.

It's not exactly greed...

"Does Abbot Faxuan know about this?" Ishihara Akira asked again after a moment of silence.

“I plan to wait until I reach a consensus with the abbot before we go together to persuade Master Faxuan,” said Monk Jingming.

"Then forget it," Ishihara Akira said, shaking his head.

He is not like Jingming, who is just a simple monk who can do whatever he wants. He is a true Taiyi Golden Immortal, a pseudo-Daluo, who has seen the world!

And most importantly, his true nature is that of a demon, Mara!

Especially after achieving true demonhood in the Yangshen world, even with the guise of Buddhism and practicing Buddhist teachings, their true nature as both demon and Buddha cannot be hidden. They do not wish for the true descent and manifestation of Bodhisattvas like Guanyin!

Especially now that he has pulled Earth into the Void Sea...

Who knows if excessive faith might attract the attention of Guanyin?

After all, one of Guanyin's supernatural powers is to respond to every call and save people from suffering. What if you attract her attention and she notices you?

Ishihara Sho didn't want to cause trouble for himself.

"The abbot?" Monk Jingming seemed surprised that Ishihara Sho was so aloof... and exclaimed in astonishment.

"This is my decision, Master Jingming, there's no need to persuade me further. Of course, spreading the Guanyin faith is also beneficial to me and my Huangzi Guanyin Temple, so you don't need to worry that I will spread the word and give others a heads-up. You should go and do your work as the abbot of Faxuan Temple." With that, Shi Yuanzhang picked up the teacup in front of him and made a gesture of serving tea to see the guest off.

Jingming remained silent, gazed at Ishihara Shō for a while, then sighed deeply, said "I'm sorry to have disturbed you," and stood up. With Ishihara Shō seeing him off, he left the Arako Kannon Temple.

“As expected, young people are not worth planning for! I thought you would be ambitious and enterprising…” Standing outside the Huangzi Guanyin Temple, Monk Jingming glanced back at the Huangzi Guanyin Temple, which seemed to be larger than his own Baosheng Temple, but was far inferior in terms of establishment time, cultural heritage, and collection of books. He sneered with a look of disdain.

"Namo Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, forgive me, forgive me." After saying this, Jingming, the monk, who seemed to have committed verbal sins and thoughts of anger and ignorance, murmured a Buddhist chant, then withdrew his gaze and walked towards the southern port area.

Hopefully, the Guanyin Temple under the monk Faxuan will not be as unambitious as the Guanyin Temple of Huangzi and Abbot Xingzhi.

Chapter 668 Yue Buqun

"Sigh, the modern city is too murky, even the Heavenly Demon can't control himself. I guess I should just go back to the countryside." Ishihara Akira, whose timeline had been reduced by some inexplicable god once again, sighed helplessly.

"Perfect timing, there's one right now."

In the blink of an eye, the world before my eyes changed from modern society and the void to a beautiful environment with clear waters and lush mountains, and houses with simple and elegant designs.

"Senior brother, have some soup first." A woman dressed in plain white clothing pushed open the door and entered the room, saying to Ishihara Akira, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed.

"Sigh, I'm troubling you again, junior sister." Ishihara Akane helped the man stand up and get off the bed.

"Senior brother, what are you saying? We are husband and wife, isn't it only right that I take care of you?" The woman gave Ishihara Koji a charming glare and said softly.

"I misspoke, brother. I apologize." Ishihara Akira smiled, taking the soup bowl from the woman and using the act of drinking the soup to organize the information in his mind—

It doesn't seem unfamiliar at all!

Because the body he temporarily occupied this time was none other than Yue Buqun, an important supporting character in many fantasy novels when he was still a writer on Earth!

The story takes place before the events of the previous battle between good and evil. Yue Buqun was injured in the battle and, after witnessing the difference between himself and Zuo Lengchan, felt resentful and depressed. During a practice session, he suffered a qi deviation, which is known as qi deviation. Ishihara Akira took advantage of this weakness, leading to his current situation.