Chapter 197: Taishang Laojun: Jade Emperor, suffering a loss is a blessing

About two quarters of an hour later, Taishang Laojun arrived slowly.

When he arrived, the Jade Emperor was clutching his stomach, looking like he was seeing stars, and he looked... very disheveled.

"Laojun~"

"Laojun~"

The Jade Emperor's voice was trembling. He had thought Tang An would be bold, he had thought Tang An had underhanded tricks, but he hadn't expected Tang An could really torment him.

Under normal circumstances, even if those mushrooms were truly poisonous, they wouldn't cause him the slightest harm.

But he had only eaten one piece of mushroom, so why was his stomach churning so violently?

Taishang Laojun stroked his beard, the corners of his mouth seeming to twitch. "Is the Jade Emperor caught in the Destined One's trap again?"

That word "again" was very expressive.

"Laojun, don't make fun of Me; hurry and think of a way for Me."

As the Jade Emperor spoke, he suddenly stood up abruptly, retreated to sit on the dragon throne, and gripped the armrests tightly. "You, why did you bring the Destined One to the Heavenly Court?"

Taishang Laojun was slightly stunned and looked back; it was empty. Where was any Destined One?

"Hey!"

"Why is there another one?"

"Why can she fly? And she even grew wings?"

"Oh no, oh no. Why are there more?"

"Ah!!!"

The Jade Emperor ran down from the dragon throne and saw Tang An everywhere, surrounding him.

Some held golden bricks, some held jade Ruyi, some held strings of Buddhist beads, and even more held the Qingping Sword!

Anyway, no matter what they looked like, no matter what hairstyle they had, no matter what they were wearing or holding.

They all had the same mischievous smile, approaching the Jade Emperor step by step.

Then, they swung whatever they were holding at the Jade Emperor's head.

He, the Jade Emperor, the dignified Jade Emperor of the Three Realms, was forced to dodge, flashing everywhere in the Lingxiao Palace.

That scene made Taishang Laojun open his eyes wide, and at the same time, he almost burst out laughing.

"Laojun, stop laughing and save Me!"

Actually, the Jade Emperor knew that what he was seeing were hallucinations.

But because he had been tricked so badly by Tang An, he didn't dare not dodge.

Because he was afraid, afraid that one of the hallucinations hid the real Tang An. After all, with her guts, she really would dare to hit him on the head!

If it were just golden bricks and other magic treasures, that would be fine. If she were holding the Qingping Sword, his body couldn't take it!

"Destined One, oh Destined One, you are truly naughty."

Taishang Laojun waved a clear breath, instantly dispelling the hallucinations the Jade Emperor was experiencing.

He also gave the Jade Emperor an immortal pill, ensuring he would recover as before after eating it.

As for Taibai Jinxing...

He had already asked for leave and run back to his immortal mansion when he couldn't hold it in anymore.

Taishang Laojun gave another immortal pill to the little fairy maiden, asking her to send it to Taibai Jinxing to solve his urgent need.

After the Jade Emperor ate the pill, the discomfort in his abdomen finally eased.

He let out a long sigh, but with his body recovered, his temper naturally flared up a bit.

"The Destined One, she, she!"

"I, I want to..." The Jade Emperor was thinking about how to punish Tang An.

"Fu Sheng Wu Liang Tian Zun." Taishang Laojun flicked his whisk. "Why does the Jade Emperor need to haggle with a child?"

"A child? Is she a child?"

"She has only been a mortal for twenty-some years; how can she not be considered a child?"

"She dared to make Me drink!"

"Drink what?"

"Drink..." The Jade Emperor pounded the table in anger, but he had to swallow this bitter pill even if it choked him to death.

"She dared to poison Me, yes, poison! I am the Lord of the Three Realms!"

Taishang Laojun smiled and shook his head. "Does the Jade Emperor have any evidence?"

"I! I!" The Jade Emperor swallowed another bitter pill, because when he received the items, besides him, there were only Tang An and her three disciples.

Clearly, the four of them were in cahoots. If he were to argue, he would definitely be the one to suffer the loss.

Most importantly, that barrier was set up by his own hand. Everything that happened inside the barrier, even Guanyin, who was in charge of the Journey to the West, couldn't peek into it.

So, there were definitely no other eyewitnesses to be found.

The Jade Emperor rubbed his temples, feeling a severe headache.

If this were any other immortal or mortal, the Jade Emperor could suppress them or punish them without asking for the reason.

But when it came to Tang An...

"Hiss..." The Jade Emperor looked at Laojun helplessly. "Did I owe her some causality in a past life?"

Taishang Laojun's eyes flickered; clearly, Laojun understood the Jade Emperor's question, which seemed helpless but was actually probing.

"No fruit without cause, no cause without fruit."

"This old Daoist just feels that the Jade Emperor shouldn't be angry with a child anymore. Lest you don't get your anger back, but instead get a whole body of anger."

The Jade Emperor sighed deeply, feeling a very frantic urge to kick Tang An twice.

But Laojun's reminder was right; if he went down to settle scores with Tang An now, whether he would be tricked by her again or come back with a belly full of anger again, it was hard to say.

"Hmph!"

"I am the Lord of the Three Realms; how could I not have even this much breadth of mind."

"So be it, I will not haggle with her over this matter."

On the westward journey.

Tang An and her group reorganized and set off again on the westward journey.

"The mushrooms the Jade Emperor ate?"

"Those mushrooms were definitely freshly picked, but I added some ingredients to them."

"If you eat them raw, at most you'll have the runs for a while."

"But if the Jade Emperor is even more cautious, or if someone smart wants to cook those mushrooms, then it really becomes a case of being too clever for one's own good."

"Once those cooked mushrooms enter the mouth, besides letting the Jade Emperor experience the thrill of diarrhea, he will also see some small hallucinations."

"Anyway, he won't die, and he won't be hurt for long, but he will definitely lose face again."

Tang An leaned leisurely on Jiuyue's tail, feeling a dark sense of satisfaction from having taken a small revenge.

"Does Master know how many tribulations we have left to pass?" Yang Jian was more worried about this question.

Tang An took out her little notebook from the Universe Bag and calculated. "It's already the forty-fifth tribulation."

"If I follow my previous calculations, the next tribulation should be a few tree demons."

Speaking of this, Tang An calculated carefully again.

"The tribulations we've experienced, compared to the ones I originally knew, although the monsters we encounter are the same, the calculation and progress of the eighty-one tribulations are all different."

"At this rate, we might not even be able to gather eighty-one tribulations by the time we reach Lingshan."

"How about..."

Nezha held his Fire-Tipped Spear and continued Tang An's words: "How about we use the Heavenly Court and Lingshan to grind out the eighty-one tribulations?"

Silence; it was a silence of agreement, and also a deafening silence.

Guanyin Bodhisattva in the clouds almost fell down. What kind of good person would use the Heavenly Court and Lingshan to grind out the eighty-one tribulations?

"Grinding dungeons without limits?" Tang An also felt this was feasible. "But they have to count them as tribulations for us."

"Am I right, Guanyin Bodhisattva?"

Guanyin Bodhisattva hid in the clouds, refusing to appear no matter what.

Just kidding, based on her understanding of the Destined One, if she appeared now, even if she just sighed, it could be twisted by Tang An as a name from Lingshan!

"Tsk, still pretending the signal is bad." Tang An had an expression that said she had seen through her.

"Since Lingshan and the Heavenly Court can't be ground for now, we can only go and meet those tree demons."

"Let's go."

If Tang An remembered correctly, this tribulation not only had tree demons but also an Apricot Immortal.

"First, let's agree: this time, you two cannot tie me up again."