The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Chapter 104 But do good deeds
"Brother, why is this happening..."

Inside the post station, Wang Wen dismissed the sighing postman and, with a pale face, looked at Master Hun Kun, who was eating at the same table with him. His lips trembled slightly as he asked, "Didn't we successfully destroy the Vacuum Homeland and the Ten Perfect Heaven-Repairing Formation?"

Master Hun Kun avoided his bright yet dim eyes and sighed deeply.

He didn't say much because he knew that Wang Wen didn't actually need his explanation.

That day at the foot of Lotus Peak, everyone witnessed with their own eyes the old demon Wang launching the Ten Perfect Heaven-Repairing Formation.

But no one could have anticipated that in just a quarter of an hour or two, the Ten Perfect Heaven-Repairing Formation could cause such tragic consequences...

The inn was completely silent. Everyone was gritting their teeth and clenching their fists, filled with anger but not knowing who to blame.

Blame the White Lotus?

Most of the White Lotus Sect members who occupied Huangshan at that time had already died. When people die, their debts are settled, and even their hatred becomes vague.

Blame themselves?
They may not be well-trained or have limited abilities, but they have really tried their best.

The best proof is the line of coffin carts stretching for two miles outside the post station.

But this result was like a dark cloud pressing down on everyone's heart, making them all feel a little breathless.

This may be the case that if you do nothing, you will make more mistakes...

Wang Wen keenly sensed the silent, impotent rage surging within the inn. Suppressing his anger, he slammed the table and shouted, "Brothers, from now on, if you encounter the White Lotus demon, kill them all without mercy, regardless of reason or right or wrong!"

"Kill without mercy!"

"Kill without mercy!"

"kill……"

Everyone in the post station, regardless of whether they were officials or monks, slammed the table and responded loudly. The anger in their hearts had nowhere to go and they found an outlet. The strong sense of guilt gradually subsided.

I'm sorry, but for the sake of making my buddies feel better, I have to make the White Lotus Sect suffer a little longer!
After comforting his fellow disciples in the post station, Wang Wen reached out and tore off a large chicken leg from the bowl of chicken soup on the table. He turned his anger into appetite and fed it to his mouth, tearing it into big mouthfuls.

"Brother, based on your understanding of the imperial court, how will this matter end now that it has reached this stage?"

"The White Lotus Sect is definitely finished..."

Master Hun Kun stared at the food on the table with an unfocused gaze. His chopsticks rested in front of him, but he didn't even move. "The Ten Perfect Heaven-Repairing Formation has cost so many lives. The imperial court will certainly spare no effort to encircle and suppress the White Lotus Sect, making an example of them to warn the others and to express their gratitude to the world."

Wang Wen replied vaguely, "I'm well aware of the fate of those White Lotus bastards. We've come this far, and if the imperial court still can't deal with the remaining White Lotus, then it's truly useless... I'm asking about those bald donkeys!"

Master Hun Kun pondered for a long time with a gloomy expression, then he sighed softly and said with difficulty, "Although we all hope that this incident will prompt the court to send troops to punish the Buddhist sect and vent our anger!"

"However, we are all clear-headed. Regarding this matter... the imperial court may issue strict instructions, crackdowns, or even a purge of Buddhism, but it will not take any action that would truly damage its foundations."

"At least not right now!"

Wang Wen slowly frowned, continued to tear the chicken, and said in a deep voice: "Brother, why do you say that?"

Master Hun Kun opened his mouth and used the art of sound transmission to transmit his voice directly into Wang Wen's ears: "Junior brother, where do you think the White Lotus Sect originated? In terms of origins and roots, the White Lotus Sect does indeed originate from the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism. However, for hundreds of years, it was only a small sect with few followers. Yet, after Emperor Taizong of this dynasty abolished Buddhism, it suddenly rose to prominence. In just over a hundred years, it swept across the southern provinces. It has risen up many times, fought repeatedly despite repeated defeats, and never faltered... How could the court not know what is going on?"

Wang Wen's brow furrowed even more after hearing this, and he also used the art of sound transmission to communicate with Master Hun Kun: "So the court is just going to turn a blind eye and allow the Buddhist sect to mess around? Passively put out fires everywhere? This doesn't seem like the way the ruler of the country should handle things!"

Master Hun Kun listened to the steady voice beside him, looked at him with a hint of surprise, and replied, "Junior brother, how much do you know about Emperor Taizong's destruction of Buddhism?"

Wang Wen nodded calmly, "I've heard a lot, but I don't know the details."

Of course he had heard of the famous "Three Wars and One Sect's Destruction of Buddhism".

The Emperor Taizong of our dynasty, Chai Rong, is one of the Three Wus and One Zong.

But that's all he knew, he couldn't remember any more details.

Master Hunkun nodded and continued, "There's a rumor among the people, unrecorded in history, that Emperor Taizong's campaign against Buddhism angered the Mingwang (King of Wisdom), and he nearly died in his prime. Later, he was enlightened by a divine being in a dream, and dragged his sick body to Daxiangguo Temple. There, he kowtowed three times before the Buddha's stone statue and recited a confession of repentance. Only then did he escape death and have his life extended by nine years... Junior brother, have you heard of this?"

"This……"

Wang Wen was speechless for a moment.

He really wanted to say, isn’t this unofficial history too wild?
But in the time and space of his previous life, the wise and brave Emperor Chai Rong died in his prime, and the Zhao family, who had no martial ethics, took over the world and established the Song Dynasty.

And in this time and space, it is precisely because Emperor Shizong Chai Rong did not die in his prime that the Great Zhou Dynasty has been able to continue to this day, preventing the old Zhao family from taking over the world...

Master Hun Kun saw his hesitation and nodded, "This rumor is true!"

Wang Wen was shocked and said, "Is it really those bald donkeys who are behind this?"

Master Hun Kun glanced at him, as if he felt something was amiss in his words, but he didn't dwell on it. He continued, "Junior Brother, if you had studied history thoroughly, you would know that there were four emperors in history who had ambitions to destroy Buddhism: Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Tao; Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong; Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yan; and our Emperor Taizong, Chai Rong. With the exception of our Emperor Taizong, all three died suddenly in their prime or their country was destroyed shortly after implementing their policies to destroy Buddhism. The calamity that befell our Emperor Taizong was also a fatal one..."

Wang Wen exclaimed "Oh my god!" Although he had heard about the Three Wus and One Sect destroying Buddhism, he really didn't know about this "coincidence".

This is because apart from Chai Rong, who led the Zhao family to seize the world and started the historical regret of a hundred years of humiliation for the "cowardly" family, the other three emperors who destroyed Buddhism can only be regarded as mediocre among the many emperors in history. They rarely appear in the eyes of later generations, and naturally few people pay attention to their fate.

"Brother, what you're saying is that the Emperor knows that anyone who undermines the foundations of Buddhism will die, so he's unlikely to fight to the death with Buddhism over this matter, right?"

Wang Wen scratched his head in confusion. "I can't quite wrap my head around this. You... no, what about us? What role did we, the Xuanmen disciples, play in these events? Given the precedent, how did those thieves successfully plot against our Emperor Taizong? Were we truly powerless? Or were we simply letting things slide?"

Master Hun Kun quickly comforted him: "Junior brother, don't get excited, let's talk it over..."

Wang Wen stared at him, saying he wasn't excited, but his eyes accidentally revealed some bad emotions: "I'm not excited, brother, please continue."

Master Hun Kun slowed down his tone and said, "Junior brother, we should be fair and comprehensive in our approach to people and matters. We can't simply generalize and conclude that the entire Buddhist community is a wreck of evil and a den of vile villains just because we've seen a few possessed bald men committing numerous evil deeds. Such behavior is bound to be extreme... To be fair, the essence of Buddhism is to guide people to goodness and to save all living beings. It has its merits and has great merit for all beings in heaven and earth."

Wang Wen hadn't wanted to interrupt, but he couldn't help but sneer when he heard this: "Beware of a large number of individual cases, right?"

He admitted that he did have preconceived prejudices against Buddhism.

Because he knew some of the history of Buddhism and had seen many bloated monks who indulged in drinking, whoring, gambling, and other vices under the guise of Buddhism, he often thought that in terms of understanding the essence of Buddhism, these fake monks, even if they had only read a few Buddhist scriptures, would definitely surpass him, an outsider.

Even the monks who have left the secular world have such a moral character, and they still expect outsiders to believe in them?
From another perspective, if Buddha really existed in the world, and if Buddha was truly as selfless and loving as they claimed, and saved all sentient beings, I'm afraid that first of all, those disciples who used the name of Buddhism to eat, drink, gamble, and make money for pleasure would have to be ground to dust and thrown into the eighteen levels of hell, where they would never be able to be reborn, right?

Since those fake monks are still alive and living better than most ordinary people...

This is enough to prove that Buddhism is not as grand as they claim!
The same was true in this time and space. He had indeed seen monks doing good deeds, such as the ascetic monk who used Buddha's light to protect everyone from the harm of ghosts during the battle at Yangzhou Prefecture.

But he also saw that, in order to achieve their goals, the Buddhist sect did not hesitate to use innocent babies to refine the formation, and did not hesitate to turn the ten prefectures of Jiangnan into a ghost den...

Even if this is an extraordinary time and space where Buddha really lived in the world, Wang Wen only believes in the power of Buddha and not their teachings!
Call him ignorant or narrow-minded, he only believes what he sees with his own eyes!
Of course, he also knew that eyes could deceive.

But if he couldn't believe what he saw with his own eyes, he really didn't know what else he could believe...

Master Hun Kun didn’t quite understand what “massive numbers of individual cases” meant, but he could tell what Wang Wen was talking about from his sarcastic expression and tone.

He sighed softly and said with a rather earnest tone, "Junior Brother, there's a saying that goes, 'A large tree has dead branches, a large clan has beggars.' No matter what sect or school, there are always those who go astray and become obsessed with evil. If Buddhism had no merits and only abused power and committed evil, how could it have flourished so greatly? How could emperors of all dynasties have tolerated evil?"

"Existence is truth, right?"

Wang Wen was unmoved, but nodded perfunctorily, "Yes, yes, brother, what you said makes sense."

Master Hun Kun thought he had truly understood, and he breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, "Just like what you said about my sect watching the Buddhist thieves plot against the emperors who destroyed Buddhism, that's a generalization. Junior brother, why don't you think about why those emperors only destroyed Buddhism and not Taoism?"

Wang Wen was stunned, watching Master Hun Kun's eyes slowly widen, the words "Oh my god" stuck in his throat, not knowing whether he should spit it out.

As if knowing what disrespectful things he was thinking, Master Hun Kun smiled faintly and said, "It's not as dark as you think. We are just following the trend. If they hadn't been so greedy and ignorant of fate, even if my Xuan Sect wanted to add fuel to the fire, we wouldn't be able to do anything!"

Wang Wen: "When it comes to playing politics, who can beat you? You are the practical pioneers of rebellion!"

He hesitated for a few seconds and lowered his voice: "Then Emperor Taizong of this dynasty..."

Master Hun Kun stroked his beard slowly and said, "Of course it was my Xuanmen who intervened and saved him from death!"

Wang Wen gave him a thumbs up...sincerely.

He asked in a low voice: "Then this time..."

Master Hun Kun sighed and shook his head, "The difficulty lies in the ancestral precepts left by the current Emperor Taizong before his death... one cannot worship Taoism, nor destroy Buddhism."

Wang Wen couldn't help but sigh: "He is indeed a great leader!"

He looked at Master Hun Kun helplessly, "Brother, is this matter really going to be resolved like this?"

Master Hun Kun patted him on the shoulder and said comfortingly, "We will follow the trend and do our best. We will take whatever steps we can take."

Wang Wen lay on the dining table, his eyes dull as he murmured softly, "That's hundreds of thousands of lives lost. How can they rest in peace without even an explanation?"

Master Hun Kun also whispered, "After Junior Brother recognizes his ancestors and returns to his clan, I will lead my disciples to the ten prefectures to gather the wronged souls from each prefecture and send them to the Three Sects for a fast and prayer to liberate them..."

Wang Wen: "Don't wait until I return to my roots. Senior Brother, take your disciples there now. The sooner you can liberate them, the less suffering they will endure in this world."

"I... must hurry back to Yangzhou first to see if there are any rules within the Imperial Astronomical Bureau that can alleviate the suffering of these wronged souls. If not, I will go find you, my senior brother, and reunite with you."

Once he left the territory of Huangshan, he lost the authority of the God of Huangshan. Although he was not completely defeated, he was not much stronger either.

At least in the way of saving the dead, he could not catch up with the high-level masters of the "Jing" generation of Maoshan for the time being, so it would not make much sense for him to disobey military orders and forcibly follow Master Hunkun and others to the ten prefectures that had become a den of ghosts.

In that case, he might as well rush back to Yangzhou to report for duty, return the troops, and then rush on...

Master Hunkun smiled kindly, patted Wang Wen's shoulder gently, and said "good".

After a short rest, the group continued on their journey.

Wang Wen had barely managed to sit on Hei Erniu's back when Xu Ergou wheeled his horse over to him, his eyes brimming with uncontrollable joy and excitement. He whispered, "Brother, I'm afraid we're going to get rich this time!"

"What's going on?"

Wang Wen looked at him in confusion: "Did you find gold?"

"What gold..."

Xu Ergou leaned over to him and whispered, "Brother, it's our Yangzhou Astronomical Observatory! The White Lotus Cult is causing such a commotion this time, so our Yangzhou Astronomical Observatory has become the one that got caught in the crossfire. Especially since we've got Zhao Yiming, the Yangzhou prefect, behind this achievement. If we put it on the desks of those high-ranking officials in the capital, wouldn't it dazzle their eyes?"

"Whether it's to win people's hearts or just go through the motions, at this critical juncture, shouldn't those high officials in the capital give our Yangzhou Astronomical Observatory a special reward?"

"Add to that the tremendous contributions you've made at Mount Huangshan, and your current relationship with Master Hun Kun. Surely he'll be writing you a great deal in the memorial he sends to the court?"

"Brother, if you don't level up two or three times this time, I, Xu Ergou, will chop off my head and use it as a stool for you to sit on!"

Wang Wen was stunned for a moment, then lost his voice and said, "Fuck! If you hadn't told me I wouldn't have reacted yet. This time... I'm afraid I'm really going to explode!"

To be honest, he really hadn't considered this, and what he did was not for the purpose of getting promoted or making money in the court.

But after Xu Ergou's reminder, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have really become the pig in the wind!

Take off, that’s for sure!
The only thing that remains uncertain is how high it can fly.

But considering the value of his resume of participating in the Yangzhou government office group battle and the Huangshan decisive battle, he should be promoted by two levels, right?

As long as Zhao Zhiling did not break his promise, his official position as Shaoqiuguan should have been sent to Yangzhou.

If he gets promoted two more levels... wouldn't he be able to take Zhao Zhiling's seat directly?

This may be the meaning of, just do good things and don't worry about the future...

(End of this chapter)