After obtaining the true scriptures, Tang Seng and his disciples quickly rode on a cloud and headed straight for the Tang Dynasty in the East.

Cheng Long didn’t mind completing this last step in the spread of Buddhism to the East.

After all, this was something that the Three Pure Ones and Nuwa all tacitly agreed to. During the Journey to the West, except for the Lord of Reincarnation, Lady Pingxin, who sent people to secretly interfere, other gods chose to join in and gain merit.

The spread of Buddhism to the East is the trend of nature. Even though Cheng Long was reluctant to see Buddhism flourish in the Tang Dynasty, he did not have the ability to stop it.

It’s not that he is afraid of the two Buddhist saints, but he is wary of Hongjun, the Taoist founder, who owes the West a debt of cause and effect.

The Three Pure Ones and Nuwa agreed to allow Buddhism to spread eastwards only out of respect for the Taoist master, otherwise Tang Monk would have died on the way.

Perhaps because the Buddhist sect had been notified in advance, when Cheng Long and his party arrived in Chang’an, Emperor Taizong of Tang had already led his ministers to wait at the city gate, and the scene was very lively.

As a result, the prestige of Buddhism declined to its peak.

Almost at the moment when Tang Seng and his three disciples handed over the scriptures to the Tang Emperor, an invisible and intangible group of merits fell from the sky and split into hundreds of strands, landing on every participant.

Among them, there were two huge amounts of merit that were almost the same in size and quality, which were poured into Cheng Long and Tang Seng respectively.

At the moment of merit, Tang Seng, who had already awakened the memories of his past life, suddenly felt a surge in his aura, and he actually crossed the threshold of Daluo and stepped into the ranks of quasi-saints.

Seeing the changes in Tang Monk’s aura through the round light technique, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the main hall could not help but reveal a hint of joy in their eyes.

Buddhism has gained another quasi-saint.

Tathagata and Guanyin, two old quasi-saints of Buddhism, also broke through the shackles at the same time. Although Tathagata’s improvement was not as direct as Guanyin’s, directly promoted from the early quasi-saint to the middle stage, but after receiving the merits of Journey to the West, the aura exuded by Tathagata Buddha was no less than that of ancient gods such as Zhen Yuanzi, Minghe, and Kunpeng.

Previously, Tathagata has always been compared with these ancient gods. In fact, it is a marketing method used by Buddhism to enhance Tathagata’s reputation.

Tathagata is protected by the two saints Jie Yin and Zhunti, and ancient great powers such as Zhen Yuanzi and Minghe will not be petty about such a small matter.

In fact, although Tathagata has reached the peak of quasi-saint cultivation, his understanding of the laws is much worse than that of Zhen Yuanzi and others.

It is not until now that Tathagata is truly qualified to be compared with ancient gods such as Zhen Yuanzi and Minghe.

Even saints are divided into high and low levels, let alone the quasi-saints below the saints?
“Lao Sha, I, Old Pig, have made a breakthrough in my cultivation! Hahahaha, I, Old Pig, am a Daluo Jinxian…”

Zhu Bajie, who broke through the shackles with the help of the merits of the Journey to the West and successfully stepped into the realm of Daluo, danced with excitement and kept showing off in front of his two junior brothers Sha Seng and Ao Lie.

Little did they know that at this moment, Cheng Long, who had gained a lot of merit from the Journey to the West, had quietly left the team.

This was also thanks to Emperor Taizong of Tang who led hundreds of ministers to go out and welcome them. The attention of all the Buddhist leaders was on Tang Seng and his disciples. It was not until half an incense stick of time after Sun Wukong left that the Buddhist leaders of Lingshan, such as Tathagata, Dipankara, Maitreya, and Guanyin, discovered the clues.

However, it was too late by then.

“…I am the Lord of the Three Realms, and I hereby confer upon Sun Wukong the title of Great Emperor of the North Pole of the Purple Star in the Central Sky…”

The Jade Emperor’s majestic voice resounded throughout the three realms like a provocation, and continued to echo in the void.

The Great Hall, which was filled with joy, suddenly fell silent when it heard the Jade Emperor’s words about conferring a title on Sun Wukong. The jubilant Tathagata, Guanyin and others suddenly lost their composure.

“Wukong actually returned to heaven without saying a word?”

In her heart, she was vaguely looking forward to Sun Wukong completing his mission to obtain the scriptures and returning to Lingshan to propose to Guanyin Bodhisattva, and she looked up at the dome with an incredible look on her face.

Three years ago, the Peacock King arrogantly asked Sun Wukong to leave a last wish. Many people have heard Sun Wukong’s slightly sarcastic wish, and this matter naturally reached the ears of Guanyin.

She was very angry when she heard it at that time, but when she came to her senses, she realized that it was actually her luck to be remembered by Wukong.

After only five hundred years of practice, he was able to easily defeat Kong Xuan, who was hailed as the number one person under the saint. With such a terrifying talent, it is not impossible to look forward to him becoming a saint in the future.

Whenever she thought of this, Guanyin wished she could marry him immediately.

Who would have thought that after finally waiting for the journey to the West to be completed and Buddhism to be spread to the East, the Monkey King who was so obsessed with Buddhism actually turned around and went to heaven.

Although this doesn’t seem to prevent Wukong from marrying her!
However, Buddhism and Heaven belong to different forces after all, and Guanyin is one of the four great Bodhisattvas of Buddhism and one of the indispensable high-level figures of Buddhism.

If she marries the new Emperor Ziwei, she will certainly be opposed by the Buddhist high-ranking officials.

“What a great plan! Zhang Bairen, you are really amazing…” Tathagata, who always had a sure victory, was actually broken by the Jade Emperor at this moment.

He gnashed his teeth in anger, anger rising in his eyes.

On the day of the successful completion of the Journey to the West, Buddhism should have added two generals. However, the Journey to the West, which took five hundred years to complete, ended up being a failure.

The Fighting and Victory Buddha destined by Buddhism, before he knew it, turned into the Purple Star Emperor of Heaven.

The powerful ones in the three realms don’t even know how to laugh at Buddhism!
“Buddha, Zhang Bairen actually dared to reach out and pick our fruit. This cannot be tolerated. We will go to the Heavenly Palace and take back the Fighting and Victory Buddha.”

Manjushri Bodhisattva, who lost his mount, has always had a grudge against Sun Wukong. In the past, he suppressed his anger only because of the overall interests of Buddhism. Especially after he learned that Sun Wukong was actually a powerful person at the peak of the quasi-saint realm, he gave up the idea of ​​seeking revenge on Sun Wukong.

Unexpectedly, on the day of the successful journey to the West, Sun Wukong blatantly slipped back to Heaven, accepted the Jade Emperor’s appointment, and was suddenly promoted to one of the Six Imperial Lords of Heaven.

Today’s Sun Wukong not only has higher cultivation than him, but his status as a god is also far higher than his, and he can even be compared with the Buddha.

All of a sudden, the fire in Manjushri Bodhisattva’s heart burst out.

Samantabhadra, who also lost his mount, was also furious.

“Kill the Heaven?”

Tathagata turned his head and looked at Manjusri Bodhisattva, and said sarcastically: “Manjusri, do you think that because Buddhism spreads to the East, our Buddhist sect can be on par with the Heavenly Court? You are so flattering. As long as Haotian has the support of Daozu, he will always be the master of the Three Realms.”

“Buddha, I am just talking.”

As soon as he heard the name of the Taoist Ancestor, Manjushri Bodhisattva instantly lost his temper.

By the way, before he became a traitor and joined Buddhism, he was a disciple of Taoist Master Hongjun!
I believe everyone is aware of how powerful Daozu is.

The Jade Emperor is a boy under the Taoist priest. No matter how powerful the Buddhist sect is, it is impossible for them to lead their troops to attack the Heavenly Palace.

Because this not only offends the Jade Emperor, but the entire Taoist sect.

Among the three realms of heaven, earth and man, the heavenly realm is actually the basic foundation of Taoism. Human beliefs can be said to be important, but they can also be said to be unimportant.

After all, there are very few gods who follow the path of faith. Buddhism has gone to great lengths to seize faith, mainly to accumulate merits to repay debts. The debts of merits that the two saints of Buddhism borrowed from the Heavenly Dao when they became saints in the past have not yet been repaid!
When the merits were bestowed upon them by heaven just now, Tathagata, Guanyin, Tang Monk and other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas made a huge fortune. Although their cultivation had been improved, a large proportion of their merits were withheld to repay their debts.

It was only because Sun Wukong walked quickly, reached the Heavenly Palace in time, and announced his joining the Heavenly Palace in a high-profile manner, otherwise three to five merits would have been deducted by the Heavenly Dao.

……

Changan.

On the way to the palace.

When Tang Seng and his four disciples heard the Jade Emperor’s voice, they looked at each other in bewilderment. They thought that their merits were fulfilled.

Brother Sun would have devoted himself to Buddhism like them and accepted the Buddhahood or Bodhisattva status bestowed by the Buddha. However, they never expected that their Brother Sun would turn around and go to heaven.

And he ascended to become the Emperor of Ziwei in one step.

The throne of the Six Emperors of Heaven is much more powerful than the throne of Buddha in Buddhism.

They would never believe that this matter had not been planned for many years even if you kill them!

“No wonder Brother Sun, a quasi-saint, would stay in Liangjie Mountain as the mountain god for five hundred years, and accept the dispatch of Guanyin Bodhisattva to escort Master to the West to obtain the scriptures. It turns out that they had planned this long ago!”

The astute Bajie, when he thought about how Sun Wukong and the Jade Emperor had started planning the Journey to the West five hundred years ago, wished he could start over again. If he had known earlier, he should have joined the Jade Emperor like Big Brother Sun.

Maybe this time, I can become an emperor.

Even if his cultivation is not enough to take the throne of the Great Emperor, the priesthood of Marshal Tianpeng should be able to be upgraded by a few grades, at least the word “Great” should be added in the middle.

“Brother Sun has become an emperor. I am so jealous!”

“Who says it isn’t?”

“Hey~~”

Bajie, Sha Seng and Ao Lie sighed in succession.

When they see others become successful, they feel very uncomfortable because the gap is too big.

“Bajie, Wujing, and Xiaobai, Big Brother Sun has accomplished great things. We should bless him. Why are you sighing?” Tang Seng, who has recovered his memories of his past life, still has great respect for Cheng Long.

“Master, Brother Sun has accomplished his mission, and we are happy for him!”

“Yes, Master…”

The master and his disciples went to the palace chatting and laughing.

By the time they finished the welcoming banquet and returned to Lingshan to be conferred the title, night had already fallen.

However, Lingshan is still magnificent and golden, shining brightly like daylight.

However, conferring the title of Buddha was a major event, and Tathagata did not handle it hastily. Instead, he summoned all the living Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats to watch the ceremony, and also hosted a banquet for many powerful people from the three realms.

I even took the opportunity to talk about Zen.

Time passed slowly, and Tathagata Buddha’s lecture on Zen had come to an end. It lasted for nine hours, and many people present had already become drowsy.

These are all monks from the human world who came to watch the ceremony and are not interested in Buddhism.

But there were also some great minds who benefited greatly from the Buddha’s Zen teachings. Some were fascinated, while others were on pins and needles. It was not until noon the next day that the Buddha stopped talking and officially began the Buddhist Ceremony of Conferring the Journey to the West.

“Tang Xuanzang stepped forward to listen to the seal!”

Some powerful people who were dozing off finally perked up after hearing this, and everyone looked up at Jin Chanzi in the audience.

Upon hearing this, Xuanzang slowly stood up, wearing the clothes given by Guanyin, and walked towards the platform with a majestic demeanor.

Buddhist music sounded all around, and the monks chanted the Buddha’s name, which transformed into Buddhist lotus flowers that bloomed in the air and slowly fell. The scene was magnificent.

This scene also made Cheng Long, who was watching the Imperial Conferment Hall in the Lingxiao Palace, shake his head.

Buddhism pursues the emptiness of the four elements, but the result is always extravagance and waste. You should know that when he accepted the imperial decree, abolished Bo Yikao, and became the Emperor of Ziwei, there were few people around him.

As a result, when Tang Seng was conferred the title, Tathagata not only summoned all the high-ranking officials of the Buddhist sect, but also invited a large number of unrelated monks to watch the ceremony.

“Xuanzang pays homage to my Buddha.”

Tang Seng walked up to the platform slowly and calmly, with his hands on his chest, and bowed slightly to the Buddha.

“Xuanzang.”

Tathagata spoke slowly, his voice was like thunder, as if there were thousands of echoes, making people’s ears buzz, “You were originally my disciple Jin Chanzi, who came down to the world to reincarnate in order to spread Buddhism. After ten lifetimes of practice, you finally achieved perfect merit. Now you have broken through to the quasi-saint realm. It is truly a blessing for our Buddhist sect. I now confer upon you the title of Sandalwood Merit Buddha and bestow upon you the sixth-grade Merit Golden Lotus…”

As Tathagata finished speaking, a golden lotus flew out from his palm and slowly flew in front of Xuanzang.

The Golden Lotus of Merit is the most sacred object in Buddhism. It was originally of twelfth rank, but was later swallowed by Taoist Mosquito during the Conferred God Period, and was downgraded to ninth rank.

Since then, the Nine-Rank Golden Lotus has become the mother plant for the cultivation of the golden lotus by Jie Yin and Zhunti. In the entire Buddhist community, there are not many people who have received this holy object from the Buddha, but there are quite a few. Many Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Vajra Arhats, who have great merits, have been bestowed with the golden lotus of merit by the Buddha.

But most of them are third-grade golden lotus.

The third grade is the easiest to cultivate and is the least resource-intensive reward. Only the sixth grade golden lotus not only consumes resources but is also very time-consuming.

Since the deification, the two saints of Buddhism have only cultivated three sixth-grade golden wheels of merit.

Two of them were given to Dipankara Buddha and Maitreya Buddha respectively.

The fact that Tang Seng was able to get the last flower shows that the two Buddhist saints valued each other very much.

But Cheng Long would never have imagined that if he did not return to heaven, this sixth-grade golden lotus of merit would be bestowed upon him by Tathagata.

Of course, even if I knew, I wouldn’t care. I possess a twenty-fourth-grade black lotus of world-destruction. How could a mere sixth-grade golden lotus of merit make him turn away from the path and become a Buddhist?

“Thank you, Lord!”

Tang Seng took the Sixth-Rank Golden Lotus, with a Buddha’s light around him, and sat down in an empty seat behind Tathagata.

Afterwards, Bajie stepped forward to accept the imperial decree, and just like in the original novel, he became the Buddhist altar purifier. Although he had washed away his demon body through his merits and achievements, he still had a big belly.

This appearance is far worse than that of Marshal Tianpeng five hundred years ago.

The attainments of Sha Seng and Xiao Bailong are also exactly the same as in the original drama. The former became a Buddhist arhat, and the latter became one of the Eight Heavenly Dragons and Guangli Bodhisattvas who had to coil around the pillars of the main hall.

Although he has attained the status of a Bodhisattva, he is the least free one.

On the other hand, Bajie’s Altar Purifier seems to have no actual organization, but he can eat and drink as much as he wants, run around the world, and his cultivation has also broken through from the Taiyi realm to the Daluo realm.

The difference between having a backer and not having one is huge.

As this grand ceremony of conferring the title came to an end, the world of Journey to the West fell into a brief silence. Although Cheng Long’s clone, Sun Wukong, failed to join the Buddhist sect, he took away a large amount of merit from Journey to the West, which only caused people in the three realms to talk about it for a while.

With Nuwa as his backer, Sun Wukong can enjoy the best food and drink whether in Buddhism or in heaven. (End of this chapter)