No taboos in the world

Chapter 622: The Poisonous Stakes, Inviting Yang Jiao

Hong Chen always maintains a consistent attitude towards Western religions.

That is, it can exist and should exist, but it is best to exist in a half-dead state.

The founding of Buddhism has provided mankind with richer religious needs, and the continuation of Buddhism has provided a continuous source of nutrients for the revival of the Western land. This is the meaning and value of its existence.

However, if Buddhism develops too large, it will shake the foundation of human faith and have an adverse impact on other sects. Moreover, a more powerful Buddhism will not accelerate the recovery of the Western land, because the two Western saints who founded Buddhism have to continue to repay their loans.

Moreover, it was not that Hong Chen was deliberately plotting, but according to the past patterns and principles of Jie Yin and Zhunti, these two saints might have been preparing to get out of the huge debt perfectly since some time ago.

It was as if they could not repay the karma for the sainthood they owed to Hongyun, so they secretly attacked Hongyun when many powerful beings in the prehistoric world besieged Hongyun to snatch the Hongmeng purple energy, causing Hongyun to eventually lose his soul and have his true spirit shattered.

If all the creditors are gone, cause and effect will naturally no longer exist.

It’s not that Jie Yin and Zhunti have the courage to go against the Heavenly Dao, but they may not necessarily use “escape” to face the huge debt when becoming a saint.

Perhaps, the Tathagata, who is now arranged to sit on the position of the Buddha of Buddhism, is some kind of preparation for them.

If Tathagata does a good job, then they will maintain the status quo.

If what Tathagata did was generally bad or even brought disaster to Buddhism, then they might have bad intentions.

Hong Chen did admire the perseverance and spiritual determination of Jie Yin and Zhunti, but he absolutely did not believe in their personality and character.

These are two completely different things.

Therefore, Buddhism cannot be dead, nor can it be too successful. The best state is to maintain a half-dead state.

Of course, this is Hong Chen's analysis from the perspective of a non-Buddhist.

If it were a Buddhist, he would certainly hope that Buddhism would flourish. Not to mention how much benefit he would gain directly, at least the strong fortune of Buddhism would be able to provide him with protection and even speed up his cultivation.

All in all, in Hong Chen's eyes, Jie Yin and Zhunti can almost be equated with "incapable of accomplishing anything, but capable of causing trouble."

If we really want to do something with them as the main focus, it may not be accomplished in the end.

But if they decide to cause trouble on someone else's home turf, they can really put on a show.

To put it more bluntly, two bad apples spoil the whole barrel.

So how could Hong Chen not leave a backup plan for the rise of Buddhism?
It doesn't make sense that you can do what you know how to do, but I can't, right?
During the final battle of the Conferred Gods, Tathagata and Jin Chanzi were trapped in the Zhuxian Sword Formation. Jin Chanzi attempted a sneak attack but was killed by Hong Chen with a single sword. He nearly lost his soul, but was fortunately rescued by Jie Yin at the last moment.

At that time, Hong Chen had never really thought about using Jin Chanzi's body to do anything. He just simply believed that Jin Chanzi would become the protagonist of Journey to the West in the future, so he took away Jin Chanzi's body and refused to hand it over on the pretext of "eating meat".

However, later, when Hong Chen held the body of the six-winged golden cicada, he gradually had some ideas.

For an ordinary Tang Sanzang, even if he completed his journey to the West and attained the status of Sandalwood Merit Buddha, his glory would almost have ended there.

Even if there is an invasion of demons in the future and Wu Tian rises, he will get more opportunities to appear because he is Sun Wukong's master.

Even though the Golden Cicada's true spirit awakened after being canonized as a Buddha, it was indeed no longer as powerful as the ferocious six-winged golden cicada it once was.

After ten reincarnations, he accumulated merits, but also lost his former spirituality in the cycle of reincarnation.

Isn't that just a coincidence?
Hong Chen: Except for Empress Pingxin, no one understands reincarnation better than me!
Therefore, Hong Chen used his own mortal fruit as the source, borrowed the authority of reincarnation, made some investments in the physical body of the six-winged golden cicada, and then carried out a deeper and more secretive calculation.

general speaking:
The body of the six-winged golden cicada has been completely controlled by Hong Chen.

The underground authority decomposed the six-winged golden cicada and slowly put it into Tang Sanzang's body. Because the two were of the same origin and the speed was extremely slow, the fusion process did not attract any attention.

Ever since the six-winged golden cicada's flesh particles first merged into Tang Sanzang, Hong Chen had already initially gained the ability to control Tang Sanzang.

Now that half of the body of the six-winged golden cicada has been absorbed by Tang Sanzang, Hong Chen can take over Tang Sanzang's soul and true spirit at any time without any hindrance.

The changes in Tang Monk described by Sun Wukong also came from this.

To put it bluntly, although Tang Seng did not gain any power from fusing with the six-winged golden cicada's body due to Hong Chen's suppression, his originally stubborn and even rigid Buddhist nature now became more flexible and adaptable.

However, if Hong Chen takes action now, it may still cause fluctuations in luck and the calamity of heaven and earth, which may cause the two saints of Buddhism and even the Tathagata to notice it.

Therefore, Hong Chen is also very patient.

Now that Tang Sanzang has been banned, doesn't that mean he has to go work for Buddhism himself?

It would be better to speed up the decomposition and fusion of the six-winged golden cicada's body without causing any fluctuations. When Tang Sanzang reaches the foot of Lingshan Mountain, or when Tang Sanzang successfully ascends to the throne of Buddha, or when Buddhism is about to do something bad again, Hong Chen will replace him quietly.

This is the best.

Who knows, maybe I could even compete with that fat guy for a position in the future.

If the two saints of Buddhism were really prepared to run away with the money, then he could not only directly gain a great sect, but also gain more favor from heaven.

Furthermore, if Hong Chen was well prepared and responded, and intercepted Jie Yin and Zhunti, their sainthood would definitely be deprived.

By then, hanging their bodies on Mount Sumeru and letting them bleed will be enough to accelerate the recovery of the Western land.

From this, it can be seen that Hong Chen hopes that Jie Yin and Zhunti can run away with the money even more than they do.

Perhaps, in this matter, he can give them some more substantial motivation...
-
But Tang Sanzang left the Kingdom of Women on horseback. Before leaving, he looked back and saw the Queen of the Kingdom of Women with a sad face and tears in her pretty face. Even though he had a firm heart, he couldn't help but feel a tightness in his heart.

He suddenly made up his mind, as if biting nails and chewing iron, turned around and galloped away on his horse.

The white dragon horse galloped at full speed, but Tang Sanzang was still not satisfied and kept shouting "Gee! Gee! Gee!"

After a while, he left his three disciples and went into the forest alone.

Behind him, Sha Wujing was carrying a load and walking quickly but he couldn't catch up, and there was worry on his face.

Seeing this, Bajie gently held down one end of the shoulder pole and said with a smile: "Brother, don't be anxious. It's the master who is in a hurry. It's ok if you can't catch up with him. If you catch up with him and see the master with tears on his face, wouldn't it be a loss of face for him?" Sha Seng said: "Second brother, don't be joking. Brother, you are determined to go to the West to see the Buddha and seek the true scriptures. How can you cry for a mortal woman?"

Bajie shook his head and laughed.

"Hahaha, Junior Brother Sha, this is what you don't understand. As the saying goes: Since ancient times, love has been full of empty hatred, and this hatred is endless... Ouch! Brother Monkey, why are you pulling my ears again?"

"Humph, you idiot! You saw your brother running far away and thought no one could deal with you, so you're talking nonsense here and slandering your master?" Sun Wukong twisted his ear and cursed.

Bajie was a little hurt when he heard this, but he still insisted on his opinion: "Monkey Brother, you don't understand this! Not to mention the wealth and status of the Queen of the Kingdom of Women, she is also very beautiful. What's more important is that the Queen is sincere and has no evil thoughts. She only expresses her admiration to Master. This is the state of no tricks being better than tricks. Although Master is a monk, he also has seven emotions and six desires. Even if he knows that the love between men and women in the world is just a little love, how can it resist the law of nature?"

Sun Wukong blinked and said, "Nonsense! If that were true, why didn't Master stay and wait to ascend the throne tomorrow, but instead rode away at full speed?"

"Oh, my dear brother! You don't understand. It is precisely because Master is in a hurry to leave that I say he is moved. Otherwise, I would have waited here to exchange the pass. He should at least be polite in this capital city and not damage the reputation of Buddhism and the Tang Dynasty."

After these words were spoken, both Sun Wukong and Sha Seng fell into deep thought.

Looking back on their past experiences, they had passed through many countries and met many rulers. It seemed that Tang Sanzang had behaved very politely and decently every time, and people could not find fault with him. Because of his courtesy, people even yearned for and respected the Tang Dynasty in the East more. This was also partly the reason why Tang Sanzang was called the "Holy Monk".

Bajie then said, "If you two don't believe me, why don't you chase him and see what happens? If Master is calm, then it's my fault. I'm willing to take the blame. But if I'm right, you all owe me a favor."

"Okay! This is what you said!"

Sun Wukong let go of Zhu Bajie's ear and wanted to chase after him to take a look.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he took off into the air, he saw a gust of strange fog and gloomy wind suddenly rising from the forest in front of him.

"Oh no! There's a monster!" Sun Wukong shouted, immediately pulled out the golden cudgel from his ear, and flew forward at an accelerated speed.

Upon hearing the sound, Zhu Bajie immediately flew over with his rake in his hand. Sha Seng simply put down his burden, took out his crescent shovel and followed closely behind.

When the three men arrived, all they saw in the forest were fallen bushes, and there was no sign of a human being.
Sha Monk was shocked: "Who kidnapped Master again? Did you see it, Master Brother?"

Sun Wukong shook his head: "No, I haven't seen it. When I came, the evil fog had already dissipated and I couldn't track it." After that, he stamped his feet on the ground and called the local local god to inquire about the news.

There is a Poisonous Enemy Mountain not far away, in the mountain there is a Pipa Cave, in the cave there is a female monster, whose original form is a scorpion the size of a pipa.

She was originally a scorpion demon in Leiyin Temple. Because she did not put her palms together when listening to Buddhist scriptures, she was pushed by the Buddha. She then stabbed the Buddha with a poisonous stake. The Buddha ordered Vajra to capture her, and she fled to the Pipa Cave in Dudi Mountain near Xiliang State.

This time she controlled the evil wind to abduct Tang Sanzang, not because she wanted to eat his flesh to seek immortality like other monsters did, but because she had traveled to the Kingdom of Women before and saw Tang Sanzang's appearance and was quite attracted to him, so she suddenly took action to snatch him away and wanted to marry him.

To put it simply: The Scorpion Demon is coveting Tang Monk's body.

In the flower pavilion, the female monster transformed by the Scorpion Spirit is quite pretty.

"My dear brother, please relax. Although my place is not as rich and luxurious as the palace of the Western Liang Women's Kingdom, it is still leisurely and comfortable. You and I can keep each other company here, and it is very harmonious."

Tang Sanzang was poisoned at this time, his face turned pale, and he just lowered his head and remained silent when he heard this.

The Scorpion Demon didn't take it seriously and teased her.

Sun Wukong also found this place at this time, and used his transformation to sneak in. After listening for a while, he became even more impatient and immediately showed up: "Evil beast!"

When the Scorpion Demon saw this, smoke came out of his mouth and covered the flower pavilion. He turned around, took out a three-pronged steel fork, and fought with Sun Wukong.

The two men fought as they fled, and sparks flew as their sticks and forks collided. Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, who arrived shortly afterwards, also joined the battle, but the Scorpion Demon was also very powerful, and fought them on equal terms.

Soon, the Scorpion Demon repelled the three men and stood in place with a steel fork in his hand, fire coming out of his nose and smoke coming out of his mouth. It was really amazing.

"Sun Wukong, you guys really don't know when to advance or retreat! I recognize you, but you don't recognize me. You are going to the Lingshan Mountain in the West Heaven. Even the Buddha Tathagata in the Leiyin Temple is afraid of me. How dare you, a monkey, a pig, and an ugly ghost, be my enemy! Come up, watch the fight carefully!"

The Scorpion Demon was extremely arrogant. Sun Wukong and the other two were so angry that their faces turned red, and they started fighting again.

A moment later, the Scorpion Demon suddenly seized the opportunity, leaped up, and suddenly used a poisonous stake to pierce Sun Wukong's scalp.

Immediately, Sun Wukong yelled out in pain, his face looking miserable.

When Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng saw this, their faces changed drastically. They hurriedly supported Sun Wukong on both sides and quickly retreated.

The Scorpion Demon did not chase after him upon seeing this. Instead, he put away his steel fork and stood there laughing loudly.

The Scorpion Demon's poisonous horse-inverting stake was indeed very powerful. Sun Wukong's body, which had been pierced by swords, axes, hammers, lightning, fire, and burned in the Eight Trigrams Furnace for forty-nine days without being damaged, was easily pierced by her, causing Sun Wukong to scream in pain.

After a night's rest, the next day, Sun Wukong's head didn't hurt anymore, just a little itchy.

However, Bajie personally volunteered to fight and entered the poisonous enemy's cave.

Not long after, Bajie rushed out of the cave, dragging his rake and with swollen lips, as if running for his life.

When he saw Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing, he burst into tears and cried, "Brother Monkey, Junior Brother Sha, this monster's tricks are really hard to defend against. It really hurts so much that it's almost killing me!"

The three retreated, and after some discussion, they decided to ask for help.

According to past experience, the first to be affected is naturally Guanyin Bodhisattva.

But before they set off, Guanyin came with a bamboo basket.

"That scorpion demon does have some tricks. If you want to subdue her, you need to find someone who is really capable. There is a deity in Huashan named Yang Jiao, who has great skills in subduing demons. Why don't you ask him to help you?"

"Yang Jiao?" Sun Wukong was stunned.

Zhu Bajie was surprised and asked, "May I ask the Bodhisattva, is Yang Jiao the disciple of Emperor Xuanling?"

Guanyin smiled and nodded: "That's right."

(End of this chapter)