Conferred God: Got cramped at the beginning

Chapter 979 The Human Emperor Ascends to the Heavens

Upon hearing the news brought by the Golden Spirit Mother, the Jade Emperor understood why Ao Bing was unconcerned about the impact the human race had on the dragon race after the Human Emperor intervened in the Jing River affair.

—The system of merit and karma is incorporated into the Thunder Department, manifesting the changes of thunder tribulation within the thunder.

From then on, those who enjoyed immortality or pursued immortality were in a state of being 'born with sin'.

From the moment they began their cultivation, from the moment they began to inhale and exhale primordial energy, karma had already followed them like a shadow.

This means that after such a change, all cultivators and all immortal beings will have to start walking through the world from the moment they begin to absorb and exhale primordial energy, accumulating merit in the world to eliminate or weaken the tribulation brought about by karma.

In such a situation, all cultivators in Pantian would forever bid farewell to their so-called 'freedom'.

Everyone should do good deeds and accumulate merit!
In this situation, whether one is influenced by the human race or not, there is essentially no difference between them!
The only potential problem in this process is whether, after being influenced by humanity, one can maintain one's true self under the influence of humanism and retain the identity of a 'god', instead of being dragged down by humanism, shifting one's stance to humanism, and becoming a 'human god' bound by humanism.

However, whether they are celestial gods or human gods, their origin lies in the immortals, specifically the immortals of the immortal path.

As for the two most ancient beings in the Dao of Immortals—Yuanshi Tianzun, let's not even mention them.

The other one is Yun Zhongjun, the second most powerful god in the divine path, below Yuanshi Tianzun.

His existence can be said to completely bypass the anchor of humanity.

Although it is closely related to humanity, to the point that it can support the fate of a nation, as one of the definitions of "immortal" in the "path of immortals," it is naturally not affected by humanity.

No matter how humanity changes, this Lord of the Clouds will always remain the Lord of the Clouds.

Others may not know much about Yun Zhongjun, but the Jade Emperor, as the head of the Six Emperors and acting on behalf of the Heavenly Emperor, is also a member of the Immortal Path. How could he not know Yun Zhongjun's background?
Isn't that so-called Lord of the Clouds one of Ao Bing's incarnations?
Besides Yun Zhongjun, the Dragon Clan also includes the Four Seas Dragon Kings, who are also powerful figures in the [Immortal Path] and are seeking to align themselves with their respective positions as great gods.

Whether it's the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas or the Lord of the Clouds... as long as they slightly deflect their brilliance towards those dragon gods who have been appointed by the human race, they can protect these dragon gods who have been appointed by the human race, so that they will not be entangled by human affairs and transform from 'heavenly gods' who are independent of the human world into 'human gods' who are corrupted by human affairs.

Therefore, this means that even if the human race intervenes in the matter of bestowing the title of Dragon God under the influence of this tribulation, it will not have any negative impact on the dragon race—on the contrary, it will be beneficial to the dragon race.

This will increase the influence of the dragon race in the human world, allowing the true dragons to accumulate merit more quickly and effectively.

At the same time, through the decree of humanity, many more positions belonging to the dragon race can be created in the world!
These positions are all outside the Heavenly Court's control and system—yet, the influence of these human positions on heaven and earth is no less than that of the Heavenly Court's positions.

If one day the heavens and the human world clash, and the human emperor raises an army to attack the heavenly court, then most of the human gods and the immortals who hold human positions will likely side with the heavenly court.

For the Jade Emperor, these human positions are naturally on the opposite side of him!
As for the gods in the Lingxiao Palace, what they saw was that the Jade Emperor's worries had become a reality—this Great Dragon God who had been in seclusion in the East Sea for a long time and then emerged from seclusion, indeed began to fight for the power of heaven and earth after returning to the Heavenly Court.

However, their method of vying for power was not to directly fight against the Jade Emperor.

Instead, he chose to borrow the power of the human race and the power of humanity—in this respect, the Great Dragon God of Heaven and Righteousness, who is closely related to the inheritance and reincarnation of humanity, has an advantage that surpasses everyone else!
His close connection with humanity is so unique in this world!
Thus, amidst the seemingly ordinary words of the Jade Emperor and Ao Bing, everything that happened in the Lingxiao Palace, and the judgments made by the immortals and gods there, also spread rapidly throughout the world as time went by.

It was like a gust of wind that blew from one end of the world to the other—the message carried by this wind even reached the four directions of the great heavens beyond Pantian.

"In that case, let's invite the Human Emperor to the Lingxiao Palace for a discussion."

The Jade Emperor's voice rose slowly, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

As the Jade Emperor spoke, the throne belonging to the Human Emperor, which had been sealed away for who knows how long in the Lingxiao Palace, was revealed.

In just a moment, the light and shadow on the empty throne of the human emperor began to fluctuate and condense violently.

Like a mirage thrown into a pebble, a figure dressed in bright yellow robes quickly transformed from an illusory outline into a clear and solid form.

It did not arrive in its true form, but rather crossed the boundary between immortals and mortals through some mysterious method of "dream travel" or "projection of divine thoughts".

It was the human emperor who appeared on his throne through a dream.

"Is this the Lingxiao Palace?" The figure of Emperor Li Shimin quickly went from blurry to clear.

Although he was a mortal with a short lifespan, and although the world he saw was not as vast as the world seen by the gods in the Lingxiao Palace.

Even so, the aura emanating from this human emperor was no less than that of any immortal or god in the Lingxiao Palace.

—The heavens and the four directions of the heavens touched for a long time.

At the founding of the Han Dynasty, when plagues and locusts swept across the land and Qin, Chu, and Han were locked in fierce battles, the Xiongnu appeared in the far north.

During the early Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu's military might reached its zenith.

At that time, countless creatures in the world were curious about how the Xiongnu had come into existence out of thin air.

But as time went by, and as the four great heavens manifested, the origins of the Xiongnu and those barbarian tribes gradually came to light before everyone.

—That didn't just appear out of thin air.

Rather, they are a 'different race' among humans, which emerged from the intervention of powerful beings from beyond the realm using unpredictable means.

Although during the Han Dynasty, the powerful and unpredictable forces transformed the alien races' essence into human nature, making it part of the foundation of humanity.

During the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu and their ilk, who were entangled with the Han, were traces of those from outside the Han territory.

Today, the Turks who confronted the Tang Dynasty, and even the Tibetans on the other side of the Turks, are also traces left by foreign lands.

From this perspective, although it is said that only after those human emperors died would they lead their own troops to the outer battlefields to fight against the strongmen from beyond the realm.

In reality, the rulers and ministers of this world have long been in conflict with the forces from beyond the realm.

Throughout this conflict, the Heavenly Court has always been watching the conflict on Earth. Whenever the situation between humans and other races on Earth becomes unfavorable, there will be immortals and gods from the Heavenly Court who are involved in warfare, who will be reincarnated on Earth to cultivate the path of human immortals and go to the frontier to fight.

However, these generals who were reincarnated from immortals and gods, although they could be considered famous generals, were only 'mediocre' among the true famous generals.

Above these 'mediocre talents,' the true generals who are worthy of being enshrined in temples and recorded in the annals of history, all manifested themselves from ordinary people—the way of war and battle is something that cannot tolerate dogma the most.

To achieve something in this field, what is needed is an unprecedented flash of inspiration and enlightenment—something that most immortals and gods lack.

The longer one lives, the less likely one is to experience such sudden flashes of inspiration. Among the various schools of thought in ancient China, the military school is the one with the least inheritance—the military strategies of each famous general seem to exist solely to overturn the strategies of the previous general.

That is the result of applying the concept of using all things and keeping them in one's heart to the extreme!

That's something that truly doesn't care about reasons, right or wrong, or the process; it only cares about the result!
"Heavenly Ruler, Dragon Lord, Li Shimin greets you." After revealing his form, Li Shimin's gaze swept across the Lingxiao Palace, taking in the appearances of all the gods within.

Then, his gaze lingered on Ao Bing and the Jade Emperor for a moment each.

But they were already facing off against the two people in front of them and the two people in their dreams.

"Greetings, Your Majesty the Emperor." As Li Shimin spoke, Ao Bing and the Jade Emperor returned the greeting.

Immediately afterward, Ao Bing brought up the matter of the Jing River Dragon King.

"Regarding the lineage of the Jing River, I wonder what His Majesty the Human Emperor thinks?"

These words were actually quite calm—but to the other gods in the Lingxiao Palace, it seemed as if Ao Bing, the Great Dragon God who upheld justice and righteousness, was questioning the Human Emperor and using this as a pretext to force the Human Emperor to 'bow down'.

Similarly, this news also fell to the mortal world through the hands of these immortals and gods, reaching the mortal families they each supported.

"The Jing River!" Li Shimin sighed, a look of shame on his face.

"The matter of the Jing River is my fault."

"It is I who have failed the former Dragon King of the Jing River."

Li Shimin said frankly.

These emperors throughout history seem to share a common trait—they never hesitated to admit their mistakes.

Especially the current emperor, Li Shimin, who committed the murder of his brother and imprisonment of his father, he did not interfere at all, allowing the historians to record it in history, and he did not care at all when the people of the Tang Dynasty mentioned this matter.

He dared to admit to murdering his brother and imprisoning his father, so naturally he wouldn't evade the matter of the Jing River Dragon King.

However, to be honest, Li Shimin also harbored considerable dissatisfaction with the matter of the Jing River Dragon King.

The deployment of the magic array was indeed hasty—but with the calculations of Li Chunfeng and Yuan Shoucheng, two masters of mathematics, the magic array should not have had any problems under any circumstances.

However, he underestimated the powerful families of the Tang Dynasty—those vast families that had been passed down since the Former Han Dynasty.

Li Shimin originally thought that under such a torrential rain, those aristocratic families, as members of the human race, would put aside their differences with him, the human emperor, and join hands to overcome the difficulties together—but he did not expect that those aristocratic families would betray him at the crucial moment.

He used the deaths of his elders to bring about this 'natural disaster' that swept across the Tang capital, hoping to shake the rule of this human emperor.

—As for the common people and the powerful families affected by the natural disaster, they obviously did not take them seriously.

"It is said that behind those ancient families, there are powerful gods from the Heavenly Court supporting them."

"But I wonder where those powerful families are located in the Lingxiao Palace." Li Shimin pondered, his gaze sweeping around the Lingxiao Palace once more.

That incredibly powerful memory allowed him to clearly remember the appearance, seating arrangement, and even the distinctive aura of all the immortals and gods in the Lingxiao Palace.

Then, before the immortals and gods could notice, Li Shimin's gaze fell on Ao Bing again.

"I, the Emperor, will ensure that the lineage of the Jing River Dragon King continues unbroken."

“As long as the Tang Dynasty lasts, the waters of the Jing River will be controlled by the Jing River Dragon King’s lineage.” Li Shimin said, then looked at the Jade Emperor.

"When I return to the court tomorrow, I will mention this matter there and order Fang Xuanling and others to go to the Jing River to offer sacrifices."

Upon hearing Li Shimin's words, the Jade Emperor's gaze also shifted slightly.

It went so well!

It hasn't been that long since the three of them conspired in their dream...

However, the incredibly difficult situation and the almost impossible plan that existed before the conspiracy naturally unfolded within a few short days after the conspiracy took place.

Ao Bing and his conflict.

His conflict with the Emperor.

And the conflict between Ao Bing and the Human Emperor.

Add to that the disputes between these waterways.

The situation appeared to be in utter chaos—and this chaos was exactly what the Jade Emperor needed.

Only in such a chaotic situation, where no one is in control, will the guests he "invites" gladly step into this game of spreading Buddhism eastward.

"I have heard that the Tang Emperor will hold a Water and Land Dharma Assembly in Chang'an?" The Jade Emperor did not respond to the matter of bestowing the title of Jing River Dragon King, but instead mentioned another change that was about to occur in Chang'an.

"I have heard that Li Tang called himself Taishang, and can be considered a direct descendant of Taoism."

"The process by which the Li Tang dynasty seized power was also greatly aided by the Taoist sect."

"But does the Tang Emperor intend to invite Buddhist monks to participate in this Water and Land Dharma Assembly?"

"There seems to be something wrong with this."

"I am worried that some people in the world will use this as an excuse to say that His Majesty the Tang Emperor has forgotten his ancestors."

The Jade Emperor's words were subtle.

Upon hearing the Jade Emperor's words, Guanyin Bodhisattva in the Lingxiao Palace immediately stood up.

(End of this chapter)