Chương 157: Confession

"What would you like to discuss, fellow Daoist?" Yang Jian asked Richard after sitting down.

He was curious to know what this person could talk to him about.

"Does the True Lord know that someone is plotting against the Third Holy Mother?" Richard immediately unleashed his ultimate move.

"Who? Who wants to scheme against my third sister?" Yang Jian wasn't entirely convinced. Given his position in Heaven that offended many people, it was normal for someone to harbor resentment, but would they dare to retaliate against him?

It wasn't that he looked down on the gods and immortals in Heaven; they might not actually have had the guts.

Richard had no idea what Yang Chan was thinking. Why wasn't she telling Yang Jian about such a big thing?

Still want to shoulder the burden yourself? You can't handle it all, and in the end you'll only end up hurting your brother.

It would be better to tell Yang Jian sooner rather than later. It's better to take advantage of your brother than to harm him, right? It's not like Yang Jian forbids him from taking advantage of his brother.

Now he finally understood why a misunderstanding in those TV dramas from his previous life could be stretched into eight hundred episodes.

It turns out there are quite a few mute people in this world. They have a mouth, but they don't know when to speak, right?

The best solution to this matter is to tell Yang Jian, right? It would be much better for him, a high-ranking official of the Heavenly Court, to investigate this matter than for Yang Chan to be forced to passively defend herself.

There's no such thing as being able to guard against wolves for a thousand days.

"Fellow Daoist—" Yang Chan sighed helplessly. Richard spoke too quickly; she didn't have time to stop him. How could he have told her second brother about this?

She originally intended to handle it herself and not cause trouble for her second brother.

"You're thinking too simply. Do you think ignoring Liu Yanchang will solve everything? But will it necessarily be Liu Yanchang then? Can't you just switch to someone else? When the cause and effect become intertwined and lust arises, can you control it?" Richard said.

Seeing Yang Jian's blank expression, he simply projected the general plot of The Lotus Lantern onto Yang Jian's screen, allowing him to quickly go through it.

"Impossible! How could Third Sister have an affair with a mortal? And even get married and have children?" Yang Jian's face was full of disbelief.

She knew all too well the consequences of a love affair between a celestial being and a mortal. For example, back then, their mother was imprisoned under Peach Mountain because she fell in love with a mortal and violated the heavenly rules.

His third sister knows how much effort he went through to rescue their mother back then, so how could she dare to do it again?

So he suspected that this guy might have put up a fake video to fool him.

"Don't worry, My Lord, this is just one possibility for the future," Richard told Yang Jian to calm down.

"So this is why we've come to discuss this with the True Lord? Let's be clear first, the Third Holy Mother wouldn't be foolish enough to knowingly violate the Heavenly Rules and Precepts, right?"

Even though the Holy Mother of the Three Realms wouldn't have knowingly committed such an act, this still happened. Does that mean someone was plotting against her?

"Does the True Lord know which powerful beings in your world are skilled in the Dao of Cause and Effect or the Dao of Desire?" Richard asked.

Yang Jian frowned.

"Fellow Daoist, do you mean there's a powerful expert skilled in this area at work? That's not impossible."

"Second brother, tell me, I want to know too," Yang Chan said.

As for the Celestial Hound, he was almost numb; how could he possibly listen to that? He quickly got up and ran out to guard the door.

I'm not listening anymore. If I keep listening, my owner might want to eat dog meat hot pot when I get back.

Yang Jian merely glanced at him indifferently and did not stop him. After he left, he even set up a soundproof barrier to prevent what was to come from being transmitted.

There are too many powerful beings in the Three Realms. Supernatural abilities such as clairvoyance and clairaudience are essential for powerful beings. It's best to be careful.

"There are many immortals and gods who are good at the way of cause and effect. Every immortal and god who has achieved success in cultivation knows a little bit about it."

But if we're talking about what they're best at, Buddhism is where they excel.

"The path of lust, that's rather obscure. In the Heavenly Court, the ones who are more skilled in this are Su Nu and Yue Lao." Yang Jian glanced helplessly at Yang Chan. He had no idea that his sister was hiding such a big problem, so he could only try his best to analyze it first.

Let's see if someone is really plotting against our girl.

"Isn't the Buddha of Bliss skilled in matters of desire?" Richard asked.

"Where did you get the idea that the Buddha of Bliss is skilled in the path of desire? That's a prejudice."

The word "joy" refers to the joy of Dharma and liberation, not the joy of worldly desires.

The dual forms of the Buddha of Bliss symbolize the union of skillful means (male) and wisdom (female), not worldly union. Yang Jian glanced at him curiously, but considering his identity as an outsider, he found it unsurprising.

Otherwise, he'll think this guy is ignorant and incompetent. Isn't that common sense?

"Okay, I see." Richard suddenly realized.

There was nothing he could do; nine out of ten fanfictions he'd read portrayed Buddhism as the main villain, and he was used to it.

The Buddha of Bliss was particularly targeted and vilified.

Unexpectedly, this "Happy Buddha" is actually a legitimate Buddha, so he's been unfairly maligned.

Judging from the original ending of the Lotus Lantern, the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West were the biggest losers, and the majesty of the Heavenly Court was greatly damaged.

The Buddhist sect emerged as the biggest winner. The demon race also seemed to have profited, otherwise they wouldn't have been so eager to follow Chenxiang in attacking the Heavenly Court.

According to conspiracy theories, whoever benefits the most is the most suspicious, and of course, the Buddhist sect is the most suspicious.

Besides, didn't Yang Jian also say that Buddhist masters are particularly skilled in the principles of cause and effect?

"Does Fellow Daoist suspect that the Buddhist sect is behind this, plotting against Third Sister?" Yang Jian asked.

"Is it impossible?" Richard countered.

Yang Jian remained silent, though it couldn't be said that he had absolutely nothing to say.

If that's the case, then the conspiracy behind it is much deeper.

Was there anyone behind his mother's sudden love for a mortal? Was there anyone behind the Seven Fairies' longing for mortal life?

Why do the people around His Majesty and His Majesty always get into trouble? And are they all involved in illicit affairs between immortals and mortals?

This is something I shouldn't think about too much. The more I think about it, the more I feel like it's a huge whirlpool that will eventually bury everyone.

But if it's the Buddhist sect, it's much more troublesome than those who dislike them in the Heavenly Court causing trouble.

He didn't know how to resolve it. It involved a power struggle between Buddhism and the Heavenly Court, a struggle for dominance in the Three Realms, which was beyond his control.

I wonder if His Majesty and the Empress have noticed this matter?

If that doesn't work, reporting the matter to higher authorities is also a possible solution. If you can't resolve it yourself, you can try asking His Majesty and the Empress to help.

No, that's just a possibility for the future; there's no evidence.

What I fear even more is that His Majesty and the Empress will use Third Sister as bait to lure out those people hiding in the shadows. At that point, they might not care about Third Sister's feelings.

Yang Jian was filled with countless thoughts, yet he didn't know how to proceed.

"Do you know the exact time of what just happened?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, I only know a general timeframe. It's been almost five hundred years since the end of Journey to the West, right? I reckon it'll be soon?" Richard said.

These past few days, Yang Chan has taken him around Mount Hua and also to visit the mortal city. The mortal dynasty seems to have arrived at the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Five hundred years after the end of Journey to the West?" Yang Jian memorized this time point and silently calculated in his mind. According to mortal time, five hundred years have passed since the end of Journey to the West.