Honghuang: Creation of the Green Lotus, the beginning of the Three Pure Ones

Chapter 343 The Six Sages of Heavenly Dao, Each with Their Own Hidden agendas

Shen Gongbao's appearance on the banks of the Wei River was no accident. It was a scheme orchestrated by the Old Ancestor Hongyun.

The purpose was to let everyone know that the true successor of Xiqi should be Ji Fa, not Boyi Kao.

Therefore, Shen Gongbao was ostensibly humiliating Jiang Ziya, but in reality, he was helping Jiang Ziya and establishing Ji Fa's position in Xiqi.

That very evening, Jiang Ziya met Shen Gongbao, who was all smiles, in his new residence.

Shen Gongbao went even further and said to Jiang Ziya, "To cooperate with you, I directly attacked Ji Fa. The consequences of that are no small matter."

Jiang Ziya said helplessly, "Isn't there no other way? After all, Boyi Kao is the eldest son of King Wen of Zhou, Ji Chang."

“If Boyi Kao hadn’t died, it would have been impossible for Ji Fa to inherit Xiqi. So we had no choice but to make you the villain.”

"After all, Junior Brother Shen, you are the one destined to be a god. It is only natural that you should do some of the shady things."

When Jiang Ziya said this, his face was full of smiles. This made Shen Gongbao's beard tremble, and he was just short of taking out the Heaven-Opening Pearl and asking Jiang Ziya to attack him.

Seeing Shen Gongbao's angry expression, Jiang Ziya hurriedly said, "Don't worry, your master and uncle have seen everything you have done for the Chan and Jie sects."

"When I, your senior brother, confer titles upon the gods, I will surely make you the head of the 365 righteous gods. You will become a being second only to the emperor in the Heavenly Court, above all others."

After hearing this, Shen Gongbao smiled and said, "I hope you will keep your word, otherwise don't blame me for exposing your shameful deeds on the Investiture of the Gods platform."

After saying this, Shen Gongbao disappeared right before Jiang Ziya's eyes.

Watching Shen Gongbao leave, a smile involuntarily appeared on Jiang Ziya's lips. However, this smile was somewhat sinister, even harboring murderous intent.

However, Shen Gongbao did not see the strange smile on Jiang Ziya's face. At this moment, they had already left Xiqi and were heading west.

This was Shen Gongbao's second mission: to befriend the disciples of the Western Sect, and then use them as cannon fodder during the Investiture of the Gods.

Because the Daoist Zhunti had promised Shen Gongbao that he would accept Shen Gongbao as his personal disciple, Shen Gongbao's arrival in the West was naturally welcomed by the Western Sect.

Little did they know, this was all part of Zhen Yuanzi and Hongyun Laozu's scheme. Otherwise, no one would have intervened when Zhunti Daoist tried to take Shen Gongbao away.

To put it bluntly, the current prehistoric world has undergone a fundamental change from its original trajectory.

In the original primordial timeline, it was the Chan Sect and the Jie Sect who were plotting against each other. To be precise, it was the Chan Sect that was plotting against the Jie Sect.

Shen Gongbao was the key piece in the game, which is why he was also known as the one who gathered the gods and was destined to be enshrined in the Investiture of the Gods.

The current primordial chaos has affected the Chan and Jie sects, who are practically inseparable. The one they'll be targeting is naturally the Western Sect.

Of course, if given the opportunity to scheme against the Daoist sect, both Zhen Yuanzi and Hongyun Patriarch would be more than willing to see it happen.

However, these two were certainly self-aware enough to know that plotting against the Daoist sect would only lead to their own demise. Naturally, they wouldn't bother with such a futile effort.

Therefore, they ultimately set their sights on the Western Sect, intending to use the lives of its disciples to quickly fill the Investiture of the Gods list.

As for whether Xiqi or the Shang Dynasty would ultimately prevail, Zhen Yuanzi and Hongyun Laozu didn't care. All they wanted was for the Investiture of the Gods to end quickly. Little did they know that the two Western monks were not lambs to the slaughter either. They also knew that Zhen Yuanzi and Hongyun Laozu were in cahoots.

So he had already been on guard and directly devised a plan to turn the tables on them. The key figure in this plan was none other than Shen Gongbao.

However, the outcome desired by the two Western monks was not like that of Zhen Yuanzi and Hongyun Laozu, who only wanted to end the Investiture of the Gods calamity as soon as possible.

Rather, it was to help Hongjun achieve his goal of enslaving humanity, so that there would be no more human emperors in the primordial world, only emperors. To reduce humanity to mere ants, contributing only the power of faith.

Therefore, even though they knew that Shen Gongbao's arrival in the West must be arranged by Zhen Yuanzi and Hongyun Laozu, they still pretended not to know and continued to make things easy for Shen Gongbao.

Sometimes, they would even send people to help Shen Gongbao by introducing him to Western Christian disciples, so that they could become close friends.

What the Western Sect wants to do is to have its disciples fight for Hongjun. When the Investiture of the Gods ends, the Western Sect will surely gain the greatest credit.

At that time, immense heavenly merits will descend, and the Western Sect must receive at least 60%, if not 80%. This will play a crucial role in the great prosperity of the Western Sect in the next great eon.

The reason why the two Western shamans were so proactive was because Hongjun promised them that after the Investiture of the Gods, the Western religion would flourish.

Meanwhile, the two Western Buddhist monks also had their own ulterior motives, which was to take advantage of the opportunity of executing generals and bestowing gods to arrange for Western Buddhist disciples to go to the Heavenly Court.

When there are enough Western Religious disciples in the Heavenly Court, they can usurp the power of the Jade Emperor and achieve their goal of controlling the Heavenly Court.

These are the two Western exemplars, and their ambitions extend far beyond the primordial world. They desire the entire primordial world and all three realms, to become their possession when the Western religion flourishes.

However, sending Ksitigarbha to the Netherworld not only failed to achieve its purpose, but also resulted in Houtu turning the tables and killing it, which can be considered a major blunder by the Western Sect.

Of course, Shen Gongbao wasn't only trying to win over disciples of the Western Sect. He also recruited disciples of the Demon Sect, since they could also become cannon fodder in the hands of the Chan and Jie sects.

The two demon emperors were naturally aware of this. However, they had long since given up any illusions about dominating the prehistoric world.

He only wanted to successfully navigate the Investiture of the Gods and fulfill Hongjun's arrangements. Then, he could openly and legitimately protect the surviving members of the demon race as a saint, no longer interfering in the affairs of the primordial world.

Of course, this was only on the surface; behind the scenes, Donghuang Taiyi had not given up. He had been plotting to one day break free from Hongjun's control.

They even wanted to take this opportunity to regain control of the Heavenly Court. And there was only one way to do that: to put the demon race on the Investiture of the Gods list and occupy important divine positions in the Heavenly Court.

It could even be said that the ideas of Donghuang Taiyi and the two Western monks were completely in sync. They both wanted to use the Investiture of the Gods to usurp the power of the Jade Emperor.

The restrictions placed on the names listed in the Investiture of the Gods did not cause them any concern. This was because if they were to begin to usurp the power of the Jade Emperor, they would absolutely not allow the Investiture of the Gods to remain in his hands.

In other words, the Six Sages of Heaven are now divided into three groups, each pursuing their own agenda and not following Hongjun's instructions to unite as one.

Hongjun was naturally aware of this, but unfortunately, his control over the Heavenly Saints was limited to life and death.

However, even the two demon emperors, who had been imprisoned for countless eons and subjected to countless tricks, could not truly influence the thoughts of the Heavenly Dao Saints.

Otherwise, Donghuang Taiyi would not have had any other ideas, but would have obediently followed Hongjun's arrangement and become a puppet.

(End of this chapter)