Chapter 1296: Westward Journey

As the grand drama of the Journey to the West began, Su Fan watched as Tang Seng and his three disciples assembled, then embarked upon the path of the westward journey.

Yet, compared to the Journey to the West in the storybooks, the westward journey in this world naturally had many changes, and the demons, ghosts, and monsters encountered during the eighty-one tribulations were also different.

However, most of the demons were merely deities from the heavens.

It was simply to put on a show.

As for the meat of Tang Seng being able to grant immortality, that was naturally impossible.

As the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, Tang Seng was now merely a mortal with extraordinary physical constitution; Jin Chanzi was indeed extraordinary.

He was already a powerhouse at the Taiyi Golden Immortal Peak, and as a disciple of Rulai, becoming a Great Luo Golden Immortal in the future was not a problem.

But clearly, the former was not satisfied with just being a Great Luo Golden Immortal; he wanted to challenge a higher realm, so he chose reincarnation.

Ultimately, he incarnated as Tang Seng to accumulate Merit and increase his own foundation.

This method of cultivation is actually not rare in Honghuang, and the Buddhist Sect is the most adept at it.

However, this method of cultivation also carries certain dangers; after all, in reincarnation, if something goes wrong and the origin is damaged, it is a different matter.

It is just that the Buddhist Sect has a great power, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, who, although a Bodhisattva, possesses the power of a Quasi-Saint and is considered a cultivator of Merit.

That is why the Wu Clan gives him face.

Of course, this step taken by Jin Chanzi was indeed successful; through multiple accumulations, coupled with the Journey to the West Calamity, which was the peak of the Buddhist Sect's accumulation of Qi of Luck, he gained immense benefits.

When the Journey to the West ended, his cultivation broke through to the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm in one stroke, and in terms of the depth of his accumulated foundation, he was likely even above the monkey.

In the later Buddhist Demon World, even if this guy had not reached the Quasi-Saint level, he was still at the very top tier of the Great Luo level.

The monkey, of course, also gained benefits during the Journey to the West Calamity, and becoming the Dou Zhan Sheng Fo of the Buddhist Sect could be considered the status of a Buddha.

It is just that whether it was the monkey's own wish, only he himself knows in his heart.

"Interesting! It seems the Taoist Sect does not wish for the Buddhist Sect to have their way so easily?"

Watching the master and his three disciples being made difficult by many top sects in Nanzhan Buzhou, Su Fan found it increasingly interesting; the westward journey was not the Journey to the West.

In this world, the Profound Gate remains the mainstream, and the Buddhist Sect is merely a side branch; even if there are two Saints, so what? The Profound Gate still has four.

Not to mention that a Profound Gate great power will be born in the future.

Furthermore, there are no Saints in Honghuang now, so the gap in power between the Buddhist Sect and the Profound Gate has become even larger.

After all, during the era of Saints, because of the Saints, no one dared to look down on the Buddhist Sect.

But once there are no Saints, in terms of top-tier combat power, the Buddhist Sect is truly far inferior to the Profound Gate.

The three great Buddha elders of the Buddhist Sect, such as Randeng and Rulai, are indeed very strong, but they are still inferior to old-school Quasi-Saints like the Heavenly Emperor, Kunpeng, and Zhenyuanzi.

It is just that the Profound Gate has always been full of contradictions among its giants, and the Three Pure Ones, because of the Fengshen Calamity, have already completely separated.

Other Profound Gate bigwigs are also fighting on their own, which is why the Buddhist Sect was allowed to occupy the Western Xiniu Hezhou.

The current prosperity of the Buddhist Sect is merely the result of the karma owed by the Profound Gate Saints back then.

It does not mean that the Profound Gate is truly willing to see the Buddhist Sect's Qi of Luck explode, especially with the Great Trend of the future; every force is scrambling to strengthen its own power.

After all, the stronger the Buddhist Sect's Qi of Luck and power, the worse it is for the Profound Gate; there is only so much Qi of Luck in Honghuang, if the Buddhist Sect has more, wouldn't the Profound Gate have less?

It is true that the karma owed by the two Saints of the Profound Gate needs to be repaid by the Profound Gate, but it is not certain that a portion of the Profound Gate bigwigs are willing to pay so easily.

After all, what the Saints owed is not what they owed.

Therefore, during the westward journey, the monkey and his master's party had a much harder time than ever before; after all, the tribulations they encountered were no longer those in the novels and storybooks.

There were even a few times when even the monkey almost died.

If not for Su Fan acting in secret, I am afraid the monkey, even if he did not die, would have lost several layers of skin, and his very origin might have been severed.

After all, anyone with a discerning eye could see that once the four travelers of the westward journey finished, they would inevitably obtain the Merit of the Journey to the West Calamity.

Perhaps the Journey to the West Calamity is certainly not as good as the previous ones, and the Merit is not as great as the ones before.

But regardless, it is still the Merit of a Calamity; the massive Merit obtained by the four of them means their future achievements will certainly not be low.

Look at the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect after the Fengshen Calamity; even those who defected all reached at least the Great Luo Golden Immortal level in cultivation.

And those like Guang Chengzi reached the Quasi-Saint level.

The monkey's origin is extraordinary, and it is not impossible for him to challenge the Quasi-Saint level in the future; Tang Seng's predecessor, Jin Chanzi, was also no nobody in Honghuang.

This also has a chance to challenge the Quasi-Saint level, so the Buddhist Sect is very likely to obtain two Quasi-Saints; by then, wouldn't the power of the Buddhist Sect become even stronger?

There are many forces that have conflicts with the Buddhist Sect, so they naturally do not wish to see this.

Therefore, Su Fan saw much of the hidden darkness in Honghuang; of course, the reason Su Fan acted was not because he had a good impression of the Buddhist Sect—on the contrary, he had no good impression of the Buddhist Sect, and it was already good enough that he did not add fuel to the fire.

Acting in secret was also because of the monkey; not only was the monkey the hero of his childhood in his previous life, but more importantly, the monkey of this life had changed because of his appearance.

In the original timeline, no one knew if the Dou Zhan Sheng Fo was truly the monkey, but now, it is very difficult for the future Dou Zhan Sheng Fo to be the monkey.

At the very least, the monkey remains unruly and still does not submit to the Buddhist Sect.

It is very difficult for the Buddhist Sect to want one more Great Luo Golden Immortal, or even a Quasi-Saint henchman.

Do not look at the fact that the monkey was a disciple of the Bodhi Patriarch; the cultivation technique he practices is genuinely a Profound Gate Taoist technique.

And in fact, the monkey is closer to Nuwa; after all, the monkey was born from the Mending Heaven stone, and that Mending Heaven stone was left behind by Nuwa when she mended the heavens.

Although he was later poached by the Buddhist Sect, it is likely very difficult for the current monkey to join the Buddhist Sect.

Acting in secret to save the monkey was naturally no problem; he and the monkey already had some connection in terms of Qi of Luck.

As for Tang Seng, he naturally never thought of acting; in fact, there was no need for him to act.

The Buddhist Sect also knew that many in the Profound Gate wanted to secretly eliminate Tang Seng; the meat of Tang Seng seems like a joke, but it spread throughout the Three Realms, and I am afraid there were people secretly fueling the flames.

The westward journey eventually ended, but there were many secret battles; many powerhouses from the Buddhist Sect and the Profound Gate fought, triggering power at the Great Luo Golden Immortal level.

Moreover, one Great Luo Golden Immortal and six Taiyi Golden Immortals from the Buddhist Sect were killed; of course, the Profound Gate did not have it easy either, as two Great Luo Golden Immortals were killed by the Buddhist Sect's counterattack, and three Taiyi Golden Immortals died.

Both sides were truly enraged over this.

However, compared to the previous slaughter of the Great Qin, the Journey to the West Calamity was clearly much less intense.