Chapter 453: If You Dare to Suppress Sanshengmu, I Will Let Chenxiang Become the Jade Emperor

Hongjun and Tang An stood in a standoff; the atmosphere was scorching and tense, with battle ready to break out at any moment.

As long as Tang An used that reckless, scorched-earth style of play, she could force the Heavenly Dao to compromise once again.

"Why must you always defy the Heavenly Dao?"

Tang An laughed, "That is a truly excellent question."

"When I oppose you, you say I am acting against the heavens. When I comply with the Heavenly Dao and help you trigger the Great Tribulation, you still say I am defying the Heavenly Dao."

"It is clearly you who are difficult to please, so why are you blaming me?"

As soon as the words fell, Tang An appeared in a relatively isolated void where only she and Hongjun were present.

"Since you are the Guardian, you should understand the principle that the people of the world must come first in all things."

"You repeatedly use the suffering of the beings of the Three Realms to force me to concede, yet you do so only to protect the safety of a few. Do you even know how heavy the responsibility you carry on your shoulders is?"

Tang An understood; this was a mix of soft and hard tactics, starting to preach grand principles and gaslight her.

"Your meaning is that for the sake of the common people, I deserve to have been manipulated by the various sages and your Heavenly Dao since I was born—no, I deserve it from my past life."

"For the sake of the common people, I deserve to lose my closest kin multiple times and be betrayed by those I trusted, so that I could quickly grow enough to be capable of shouldering the burden."

"For the sake of the common people, I should be heartless and emotionless, sacrifice everyone I care about, and be trapped in that Zhenmo Pass for three thousand years in loneliness—is that the good account I am supposed to give the common people?"

Hongjun was silent for a moment, then said, "Those who achieve great things should not be constrained by petty personal attachments."

"Stop right there." Tang An interrupted him, "I cannot communicate with you, and I do not have time to listen to you talk about such nonsense."

"Let us discuss the matter at hand; it is better to resolve the current problem first."

Hongjun did not intend to back down, "The time has come for the New Heavenly Law to be born."

"Then it can just hold it in."

"What?"

"I said let the New Heavenly Law hold it in; it is not like it is going to soil its pants."

Hongjun: "..."

"What I am speaking to you about is a major matter concerning the safety of the Three Realms!"

"What I am speaking about is also a major matter for the Three Realms. What? Is the safety of the Three Realms going to collapse because a New Heavenly Law is holding in its shit?"

Hongjun took a deep breath, clearly offended by Tang An's crude language. "Can you not comply with the Heavenly Dao just once? I will not hurt her."

"Heh?"

"What are you laughing at?"

Tang An gave a speechless, cold laugh. "You break into someone's home, want to take away the mother of an underage child, lock her in a mountain for who knows how many years, without giving her food or drink, and you still speak so righteously?"

"I do not know what outrageous laws are in the New Heavenly Law, but where we come from, you, the Heavenly Dao, are a criminal human trafficker, and you would be sentenced to death by firing squad, do you know that?"

"Presumptuous!" Hongjun was clearly hit in a sore spot by Tang An's retort. "I am the Heavenly Dao! Supreme and peerless."

"Supreme and peerless?" Tang An said, "The Heavenly Dao should be an existence that maintains the balance of the Three Realms and resists the Outer Realm Demon Race."

"It is not an existence that stands above the Three Realms, wantonly harming living beings at every turn and creating one tragedy after another."

"You keep talking about the beings of the Three Realms; do Chenxiang and Sanshengmu not count as beings of the Three Realms?"

"If a horse goes out of control, with five people on the left and one on the right, is steering the horse to the right to trample one person to death the supreme truth?"

"You casually facilitate a Great Tribulation; have you even calculated how many people in the world will die?"

"It is you, the Heavenly Dao, who has never put the common people in your eyes, not me, Tang An, who insists on using the beings of the Three Realms as leverage."

"You facilitate your Great Tribulation, and I look after my son. By what right do you keep telling me to sacrifice the small self? Why can you not sacrifice yourself?"

"Oh~ I infringe on your rights, and you can casually strike me with Thunder Punishment. But when you infringe on my rights, I must just squat there and let you bully me?"

"Now that you have forced me to become strong and have started to fear me, you turn to putting me on a pedestal and gaslighting me? I tell you, this lady does not buy that!"

"Today, either you take a step back. Or, you will have to take a step back. Or, you will willingly take a few more steps back!"

"In any case, I cannot compromise. No way, not even a window, the cracks are all sealed shut."

Tang An stared straight at Hongjun, clearly not wanting to talk anymore.

As the two dharma bodies stood in a standoff, the scene of the void dissipated, and they returned to Huashan.

This was the first time Tang An had confronted the Heavenly Dao alone and head-on; she absolutely could not give in.

As the Heavenly Dao, Hongjun clearly could not lose his majesty at this moment; he could not back down either.

Thus, he could only drag the Jade Emperor over again to let the Jade Emperor handle this terrible situation.

The Jade Emperor had just regained consciousness when he appeared on Huashan once more.

On one side was the reckless and deadly Tang An, and on the other was the supreme Dao Ancestor Hongjun.

No matter which side it was, it was not someone he could afford to offend.

"Girl Tang, how about you and I each take a step back now?"

"I am mindful of family ties; I will only punish Sanshengmu by imprisoning her in Huashan for a hundred years, how about that?"

"A day in heaven is a year on earth. In other words, Yang Chan would only be punished for a hundred days."

Tang An looked at the Jade Emperor, "Only punished for a hundred days? Then tell me, what fault does she actually have?"

"Because she is your niece and was manipulated by you, she deserves it?"

"Girl Tang—" The Jade Emperor secretly wiped his sweat and hurriedly pulled Tang An to the side.

"Just treat it as letting her take a vacation, let her rest for a hundred years. Besides, it is said to be a hundred years, but once you have taught Chenxiang well, will he not split Huashan open in just a few years?"

"When the New Heavenly Law is born then, supplementing the power of the Heavenly Dao and protecting the common people of the world, is that not also protecting the two of them, mother and son?"

At first glance, these words sounded very reasonable. Tang An only needed to take one step back, and Yang Chan and her son would suffer a small loss, and everything would be fine.

But if she took a step back now, what about later? How many steps would she have to take in the future? How many overt and covert losses would she have to suffer?

It was clear that Sanshengmu only gave birth to Chenxiang because of the influence of the Great Tribulation and the Jade Emperor's schemes. How is it that now, she, the victim, must be the one punished to calm the situation?

"Since the heavens are unjust, I, Tang An, will fight the heavens to the end."

When Tang An said this, there was no passion or indignation. It seemed like a very ordinary sentence, yet her eyes held a firmness that no one could shake.

"Oh, ancestors..." The Jade Emperor wanted to cover Tang An's mouth.

Tang An glanced at the Jade Emperor and suddenly had a better idea.

"Since no one wants to compromise on this issue, fine. I will create a bigger problem. By comparison, the small problem will be easily solved."

Her smile was somewhat wicked, making the Jade Emperor's spine turn cold.

The Jade Emperor was just about to leave, but Tang An pressed down on his shoulder.

"Where are you going? You insisted on suppressing Sanshengmu for a hundred years, and that's fine."

"Then if I let someone else sit in the Jade Emperor's seat, you won't have any objections, right?"

Hongjun narrowed his eyes, a cold glint already appearing in them. "If you continue to be so rebellious, I will suppress you with my own hands."

But Tang An didn't care what he said at all, continuing to speak to herself: "As the saying goes, the position of Jade Emperor is taken in turns, and this year it's my turn."

"Since my son has been wronged, he certainly needs compensation."

"As a mother, I don't ask for much. I'm just asking for the position of Jade Emperor for him; that's very reasonable, isn't it?"

Jade Emperor:?????

Is it reasonable?