Chapter 163

"I really didn't expect it to turn out like this. I really just wanted to help the human race here. I really..." By the end, Yang Jian could no longer speak; after all, the deed was done, and he bore an inescapable responsibility, at least that was what he believed.

"Actually, what you did was right." Just as Yang Jian was sinking into a state of self-doubt, Xuanzang walked over and said to him.

Upon hearing Xuanzang's words, Yang Jian immediately raised his head: "Really?"

"Although I do not like Lingshan, there is one saying I quite like, and that is that those who have left the secular world do not speak falsehoods. I truly believe that," Xuanzang nodded.

"Then why has the Chechi Kingdom turned into what it is now?" Yang Jian was somewhat confused.

"Although the Chechi Kingdom is now prosperous, when it comes down to it, this is still a conspiracy," Xuanzang said, sitting down beside Yang Jian.

Yang Jian did not speak, but stared fixedly at Xuanzang.

"We do not deny that the Chechi Kingdom has improved because of those three so-called National Preceptors, and has even become prosperous because of them. But they are not without demands; their demand is the fortune of the human race. When the Chechi Kingdom accepted their help, it also had to pay a price, and now is the price they must pay," Xuanzang said.

"The reason the Saint did this was also for the sake of the entire human race; otherwise, the fortune of the human race would soon be devoured. Do you understand now?" Xuanzang stood up and looked at Yang Jian.

Hearing Xuanzang's words, Yang Jian nodded. Although he still felt somewhat distressed, he was much better now.

"As for what the people of the Chechi Kingdom think or say, that has nothing to do with us. Dapeng was right when he said that the human race has its own way of operating; we should not interfere too much," Xuanzang added, seeing that Yang Jian's state had improved significantly.

"Many thanks to Master Xuanzang for your guidance." Yang Jian bowed very earnestly to Xuanzang.

"It is nothing. We are a team now, are we not?" Xuanzang said with a smile.

After his mindset shifted, Yang Jian found Dapeng and the others: "It was Yang Jian's fault before. I apologize to everyone."

After Yang Jian finished speaking, he bowed to everyone. Dapeng and Sun Wukong accepted Yang Jian's bow quite calmly, but the others hurriedly stepped aside; they dared not accept such a bow from Yang Jian.

"Actually, this is not a bad thing. After experiencing this, your state of mind should advance further, which will be of great help to your future cultivation," Dapeng said.

Yang Jian did not speak, and there was no emotion in his eyes. Seeing this, Dapeng stopped mentioning the matter, and the affair was completely put to rest there.

"Since the matter of the Chechi Kingdom is over, let us continue on our journey," Ao Mo'ang said at this moment.

"On the road, on the road! Staying here these past few days has been truly boring," the Black Bear Spirit said hurriedly.

The reason the Black Bear Spirit was so eager was that there was nothing good to eat in the Chechi Kingdom. In these past few days, he had eaten his way through the Chechi Kingdom, and in his words, there was truly nothing good to eat in this place.

Because of the large number of people, and because of what had happened to Yang Jian earlier, Xuanzang chose to enter the Chechi Kingdom in batches so that the target would be smaller and would not cause a commotion.

Yet, even after Xuanzang and his group entered the capital, they still attracted the attention of the common people.

"They are the ones who are going to fetch the scriptures; I have seen them." Suddenly, a voice rang out in the crowd, and in the next second, everyone's gaze turned toward Xuanzang and the others.

The looks they cast at Xuanzang and the others were filled with disgust and anger. Xuanzang and the others were fine; they could turn a blind eye to such gazes, but Yang Jian could not. After feeling these gazes, a trace of guilt appeared in his heart—this guilt was toward the human race before him, and also toward Xuanzang and the others, as it was because of him that they were subjected to such cold looks.

"Bah! Hypocrites." Suddenly, an egg was thrown over. Yang Jian subconsciously used his magic power to block the rotten egg, and then he looked toward the crowd. A young man wearing patched clothes and with a sallow complexion was looking at Yang Jian with anger.

Yang Jian opened his mouth, but in the end, he could not say anything, because he did not know what he should say.

"We had better leave quickly," Dapeng said via telepathy.

In the next second, the group vanished from the spot. When they reappeared, they were already at the West City Gate. After showing their travel documents to the guards, Xuanzang and the others left the capital of the Chechi Kingdom amidst the guards' disgusted and angry glares.

Not long after leaving the Chechi Kingdom, everyone gathered together again. When everyone was assembled, Princess Long Ji looked at Xuanzang with a very strange expression.

Everyone was puzzled to see Long Ji like this, but Xuanzang knew what was going on. Long Ji could not be more than one mile away from Xuanzang, while the others could, which made Long Ji feel somewhat unbalanced.

"You are different from the others, so your restrictions are greater than theirs," Xuanzang said, looking at Long Ji.

Hearing Xuanzang say this, Long Ji immediately thought that she was indeed different from them; she had been resurrected from the dead, while they had not. Thinking of this, the imbalance in Long Ji's heart immediately vanished.

"Let's go!" After everyone was gathered, Xuanzang said.

Before leaving, Yang Jian looked back at the capital, not knowing what he was thinking. After a few breaths, he followed Xuanzang and the others.

In the time that followed, every time Xuanzang and his group arrived at a town, they would be met with the disdain and disgust of the local people. Their disgust was undisguised and unreserved, which made everyone except Xuanzang feel very uncomfortable. They had not wanted to go through towns, but Xuanzang insisted, so there was no choice but for everyone to bite the bullet and follow him.

"This can also be considered a trial for you, a trial of your state of mind," Xuanzang said with a smile, seeing that everyone was very unhappy.

Time flew by, and half a month passed. During these fifteen days, Xuanzang deliberately slowed their pace, so everyone except Xuanzang had their state of mind improved slightly.

Soon, they arrived at a place called Chen Family Village. Originally, Xuanzang wanted to stay the night in Chen Family Village, but no one in the entire village would accept them. What had happened in the capital had long since spread here, and the reputation of the scripture-seekers had been ruined to this point, so no one was willing to take them in.

"There is no other way. Let us spend the night by the Tongtian River tonight," Xuanzang said with a smile, seeing that no one in Chen Family Village was willing to accept them.

In truth, with a group of a thousand people, there was no household that had the capacity to host them. But in order to allow Dapeng and the others to temper their hearts, Xuanzang still chose to try his luck at Chen Family Village. Clearly, his luck was a bit poor.

By the side of the Tongtian River, almost instantly, rows of luxurious residences appeared. This movement attracted the attention of the demons in the Tongtian River.

"The scripture-seekers? Once you arrive at my Tongtian River, you will not have an easy time. Xuanzang cannot be killed, but that does not mean the others cannot," a woman dressed in red, with fish gills behind her ears and fish scales on her forehead and cheeks, looked at Xuanzang and the others on the bank of the Tongtian River and said with a look of resentment.

This demon was the koi from the fishpond of Guanyin of the South Sea, known as the Spirit-Sensing Great King. This was a name her dao companion had once told her. It was her dao companion who had been sent by Guanyin to the Flowing Sand River, only to be killed by Yang Jian. Later, Guanyin was injured by Yuding and had yet to fully recover. Now that they had come to the Tongtian River, it was the perfect time to settle old and new scores together.

As for where she got the confidence to say such things, that was unknown; perhaps she really did have some trump card.

"Keep a close watch on these scripture-seekers for me. As soon as they cross the river, notify me immediately," the Spirit-Sensing Great King ordered her subordinate demons.

"Yes, Great King!" The catfish spirit standing to the side hurriedly nodded.

After giving the orders, the Spirit-Sensing Great King came to the water mansion of the Tongtian River and entered its deepest part. There was a secret chamber here, guarded by an old turtle.

"Great King, do you really want to do this? If you really do, the consequences could be very serious," the old turtle said, looking at the Spirit-Sensing Great King.

"My affairs are none of your concern," the Spirit-Sensing Great King glanced at the old turtle and then walked into the secret chamber.

The secret chamber was not very bright, with only four night-luminescent pearls in the corners emitting a faint glow. The chamber was empty, with nothing in it except for a stone platform in the center.

On this stone platform was a stone box. The material of the box was very special, seemingly not ordinary stone. Approaching the box, one could feel an extremely oppressive aura. This aura contained unwillingness, anger, fear, and more. An ordinary person could not bear it at all, and even the Spirit-Sensing Great King did not dare to stay there for long.

"Just wait. I will definitely make you pay for my husband's death, especially you, Yang Jian." Looking at the stone box before her, a look of madness flashed in the Spirit-Sensing Great King's eyes.

The next day.

After Xuanzang and his group packed up, they prepared to cross the river. First, as per custom, they went into the water to investigate. Soon, the water mansion of the Tongtian River was discovered by Ao Mo'ang. However, he did not charge in directly as he had at the Black Water River, because he felt a trace of the power of incense on the minor demons guarding the gate. Clearly, the ones in the Tongtian River were not evil demons, but a River God helping the common people.

"We can cross the river. There is a water mansion in the river, and I felt the aura of incense on them. They should be the subordinates of the Tongtian River God," Ao Mo'ang said to the group after coming ashore.

"Since that is the case, let us cross the river," Xuanzang nodded upon hearing Ao Mo'ang's words.

Just as Xuanzang and his group were preparing to cross the river, the face of Taishang Laojun in Tang Valley was smiling like a chrysanthemum.

Just a moment ago, he had actually felt a trace of the human race's fortune being added to him. One must know that the fortune of the human race was currently manifested in only three places: the Ren Sect, the Saint Court, and Nüwa. And now, he had actually felt a trace of the human race's fortune being added to him—how could he not be happy?

With this trace of the human race's fortune, he could slowly devour the remaining fortune of the human race through it. He had plenty of time and was in no rush at all.

"I can give them some sweetness. After all, they helped me complete the theft of the human race's fortune; I must reward them," Taishang Laojun muttered to himself.

After speaking, he waved his hand, and a streak of light shot straight toward the Chechi Kingdom.

Over in the Chechi Kingdom, the three immortals, Tiger Power, Deer Power, and Sheep Power, were still healing their wounds. Yang Jian's attacks were not so easy to block; the three of them were only at the Taiyi Profound Immortal realm, and even with the protection of the golden light of merit, they could not withstand Yang Jian's attacks.

Just as they were healing, the statue of the Saint of Great Purity in the Temple of Great Purity suddenly emitted a soft white light, which instantly made their faces show expressions of excitement.

When the statue of the Saint of Great Purity shone, they bathed in the white light. As the light shone upon them, the injuries in their bodies healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a dozen breaths, their injuries were seven or eight parts healed.

"Many thanks to the Saint for the blessing!" They hurriedly knelt on the ground and bowed respectfully.

"I am very satisfied. Continue to work hard, and I will eventually welcome you into the Demon Sect to become my disciples," a voice suddenly appeared in their ears.

Hearing this voice, their expressions were somewhat distorted with excitement. A Saint's disciple—this was an opportunity all cultivators dreamed of, and they never expected it to fall upon them.

"We will strictly follow the Saint's decree," the three said loudly after calming their excited emotions.

After the voice faded, the white light on the statue dissipated completely, and the great hall returned to a state of quiet.

"What should we do next?" Deer Power asked the other two.

"I suspect that the reason the Saint manifested is related to what we did before," Tiger Power said after pondering for a moment.

"What we did before? What thing?" Sheep Power asked.

"It is not really us; it should be said to be what the scripture-seekers did. At first, we were just on a whim, wanting to harvest a wave of human faith, and then we were inexplicably approached by the Saint, who asked us to help him scheme for the fortune of the human race.

Now, a part of it must have succeeded; otherwise, the Saint would not have manifested. And this successful part perhaps began with the removal of the ancestral temple in the Chechi Kingdom and the common people throwing away the statues of the Saint of the Ren Sect," Tiger Power continued.

"Then what should we do now?" Sheep Power and Deer Power asked, looking at Tiger Power.

"Continue to maintain this state, and then find ways to strengthen the national power of the Chechi Kingdom and help the common people live better lives. When the national power of the Chechi Kingdom reaches a certain level, they will naturally expand outward, and then won't the fortune come? And we might even have merit added to us then," Tiger Power said after thinking for a moment.

The next day, they found the King of the Chechi Kingdom. No one knew what they said to the King, but that very day, the palace issued a notice: those monks could be spared punishment, but they had to rely on their own abilities to survive in the Chechi Kingdom. If they could not survive, they could blame no one else.

The three National Preceptors did this to strengthen the national power of the Chechi Kingdom; only in this way could they better complete the task entrusted to them by the Saint.

Taishang Laojun felt the human race's fortune changing slightly again, and the smile on his face never disappeared. Everything is difficult at the beginning, but once it has begun, the rest is easy to handle.

(End of chapter)