Chapter 511: The Great Dao is Constant in Non-Action, Yet There is Nothing it Does Not Do

Listening to what Tang An said, Yang Jian could not help but add, "Once all this is over, I also want to retire. Resign from my post as Judicial God, watch Chenxiang grow up, get married, and have children, continuing the Yang family bloodline."

Tang An's eyes widened, "Another one ordering a boxed meal?"

Nezha said, "Once all matters are settled, take me to the Heavenly Court to see her; I will not run away again."

Who is she? She must be referring to Lady Yin.

"Another one for a boxed meal? Please, come in?"

Sun Wukong lay on a thick tree branch, swinging his legs leisurely.

"Old Sun will return to Huaguo Mountain to retire, raising many monkeys and grandchildren across the hills. I'll be my Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and whenever I feel like it, I'll go up to heaven to sit on the Jade Emperor's chair—how delightful."

"What the hell? Everyone is ordering boxed meals? Is this a death trap???"

Are you kidding?

Jiuyue just opened her mouth to speak, but Tang An immediately covered it. "Alright, that's enough, don't say any more. We have to keep at least one."

"Huh?" Jiuyue looked blank. What is a boxed meal? Why keep one? Are they not giving her food?

"Sister~"

"It doesn't matter what you call me." Tang An looked at the three of them and said, "Hurry up, touch some wood and spit three times."

The three were confused, but under the pressure of Tang An's gaze, they still touched wood and spat three times.

Sun Wukong leaned on his side, supporting his head, and asked Tang An, "Master, where are we going next? Are we going to find the Nuwa Saint to resurrect Guanyin?"

Tang An thought for a moment and shook her head.

"We will return shortly. I will send the souls of my mother and grandmother back to the Six Paths Disk. They have been away from the Six Paths Disk for too long, and their souls have become increasingly weak."

"Only by staying there is it the safest and most secure method. When the time is ripe, they will naturally enter Reincarnation again."

"As for Guanyin..."

"Her life or death has little impact on the Three Realms; Nuwa will not agree to save her."

"I will preserve a portion of the Buddhism heritage and keep the name of the Great Compassionate Guanyin Pusa, so she may receive the incense and offerings of the people; there will always be a day for her return."

Sun Wukong jumped down from the tree and came to Tang An's side, leaning in to examine her. He felt that Tang An had changed; something was different.

"Is Master going to follow the Heavenly Dao and let things take their natural course?"

Tang An smiled, "Whether we follow or resist, you and I are both within the chessboard of the Heavenly Dao. We are all just indirectly facilitating Causality, calamities, and the fixed outcome."

"On the contrary, the more we resist, the more futile it is, and it will only create more variables. Letting things take their natural course, however, may lead to success."

Sun Wukong was surprised and shocked; an indescribable strangeness stirred in his heart.

Yang Jian was silent for a long time, then walked over and sat on a large rock beside Tang An.

"The Great Dao is constant in non-action, yet there is nothing it does not do. Master, you are becoming more and more like a Great Dao Saint."

Hearing this, Tang An placed her hand over her heart. She felt that after gaining insight into the Great Dao, she had become indifferent to many things, and her heart felt empty, as if, invisibly, she was missing something.

Moreover, she had a faint feeling that if she continued like this, the part she was missing would become increasingly severe.

"Are we still going back?" Nezha had not spoken, because he saw a familiar yet strange feeling in Tang An.

It was as if...

It was as if she had gained much true divinity, but lost her original character and humanity.

She was still her, yet it seemed she was slowly becoming someone else.

After all the calamities, could she really retire to the mountains and forests?

Even if she did not become the Heavenly Dao, would she be the next Great Dao Saint like Nuwa?

"Return, of course we return. I don't know if the Primordial Demon is dead yet, and even if we blew him up last time, he would still be resurrected; he remains a great threat."

"Furthermore, my Imperial Father is still guarding Zhenmo Pass. I am supported by the offerings of the Great Tang people; how can I stand by and watch the Mortal World suffer such devastation?"

In her words, there was the small love between father and daughter, but even more, the great love of shouldering the Three Realms.

After saying these words, Tang An patted her own face.

"Hiss, my awareness is getting higher and higher, huh." In the past, her heart would have carried some exhaustion, grief, and passion.

But now, she seemed to be solving problems just for the sake of solving them, so rational that it was almost cold.

"It's over, it seems I'm really about to stop being human."

Before, she was "not human" in a different way; now, she was truly "not human" in the literal sense.

Tang An realized her problem and looked at Sun Wukong and the others. "You three, and Jiuyue, try to move around me more often. I don't want to be a cold machine."

She still remembered her original intention: to be a happy mortal for a lifetime.

It was just that as her insight into the Great Dao deepened, that obsession of hers began to be weakened by an inexplicable force.

"Don't worry, Sister, Jiuyue will always stay by Sister's side." Jiuyue licked Tang An's cheek, making her itch.

Nezha's gaze remained on Tang An, very complex. "Are you unable to feel pain anymore?"

Tang An nodded, "Once it is empty, it naturally does not hurt."

Nezha did not know whether to be glad or heartbroken. "Perhaps this, too, can be considered a blessing."

Tang An curled her lips and smiled, "Fortune and misfortune are interdependent."

"The situation is not yet settled, and fortune and misfortune are hard to predict; who knows?"

She poked Nezha with a small stick, "Hey, do you miss the days when I bullied you?"

"How about I tie a few more little buns for you? Or braid your hair into a topknot again?"

Nezha's mouth twitched slightly, and he moved silently to the side.

"Hey, why are you running?"

"I'm not."

"If you're not, why did you move? Come here."

Nezha shook his head silently, refusing to go over no matter what.

"Heh." As Tang An stood up, Nezha hurriedly followed suit.

She moved a step, Nezha moved a step. She ran over to chase him, and Nezha took off running at full speed.

"What are you running for? While your master is in the zone, what's the harm in letting me show off my skills?"

"Hey, you're even running into the sky? Do you still think your master is that little rookie from the Journey to the West who couldn't fly? You stop right there, did you hear me?"

Listening to the two of them making a ruckus in the sky, Yang Jian and Sun Wukong exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly.

Sun Wukong said, "If Master lacks humanity, Brother Nezha is unhappy. If Master still has humanity, Brother Nezha is still unhappy."

"Poor Brother Nezha, life is hard for you."

Yang Jian was also helpless, but at the very least, the atmosphere was still the same as it used to be, and that was enough.

After all, Tang An loved to pester Nezha the most, and the two children were always fighting; what did that have to do with the two of them as adults?

The border of Great Tang, Zhenmo Pass.

Taking advantage of the fact that Tang An, the Guardian, was not there, the Primordial Demon once again created countless Demon Soldiers to wage war on the Inner Realm.

He wanted to seize this opportunity to take Zhenmo Pass in one fell swoop. Even if Tang An wasn't dead, by the time she recovered from her injuries and returned, it would already be too late.

It was just a pity that although Tang An was not here, the power she left behind to defend the pass was not to be underestimated.

Just that gatekeeper duo of the Star of Misfortune and the God of Plague alone had held back the endless, swarming army of the Outer Realm Demon Race, who had been charging for half a day without ever breaking through.