Myths and Dharma, starting from Erlang Shen

Chapter 599: Meeting Laozi in Bajing Palace
Outside the thirty-third heaven, boundless chaotic aura was vibrating.

An ancient palace floats in the chaos, seemingly drifting with the flow, but no matter how violent the chaotic airflow is, it is difficult to damage it in the slightest.

It looks plain and not gorgeous at all, and it can even be said to be somewhat unattractive, but no matter who comes to see this palace, they always feel it is particularly pleasing to the eye.

A plaque in front of the palace has three ancient characters "Bajing Palace" inscribed on it.

The temple of human teaching is located here.

It is also one of the three most difficult to find among the saints’ dojo.

But today, there happened to be an uninvited guest.

I saw a tall man with a wild aura forcefully passing through the chaos, striding over and arriving in front of the Bajing Palace.

Then, without waiting for him to make a move, the gate of Bajing Palace opened automatically.

The man was not surprised to see this. He strode into the palace and stepped over the threshold. For a moment he felt as if he had entered a vast world, boundless and without boundaries.

However, when a person walks into this palace, his attention will definitely not be on the vastness of this world, but on the Taoist in this palace who looks very old and seems like he will die at any time.

No matter which angle you look at it from, he's there.

Consistently.

Eternal and immortal.

Like the manifestation of the Tao.

"Meet Grand Master."

Seeing the old man, the man bowed respectfully.

The old man, the leader of the Eight Saints, looked at the man, and then said with admiration: "Not bad, in just a hundred years, you can cultivate from a mere semi-immortal to the realm of golden immortal. With this speed, you are the best in the three realms except for me."

“Uncle Grand Master, don’t you have three treasures? One is kindness, two is frugality, and three is not daring to be the first in the world.” The man was Ji Ren and said with a wry smile as he looked at Laozi.

It was clearly a compliment to him, but in the end it turned into a compliment to myself.

“Because of kindness, one can be brave; because of frugality, one can be generous; because of not daring to be the first in the world, one can become a great person. The fact that I don’t dare to be the first in the world doesn’t mean that I am not. It’s just that when the water is full, it overflows; when the moon is full, it wanes. I need to reflect on myself from time to time, so I don’t dare to be the first in the world. When reciting the Tao Te Ching, you must recite it in its entirety.” Lao Tzu looked at Ji Ren and said.

"Yes." Ji Ren nodded.

"Okay, your cultivation speed is beyond my expectation. Now you have separated your incarnation and left Lei Ze, but you didn't see your master. Instead, you came to see me. You must have something to ask me. Tell me." Laozi looked at Ji Ren and said.

Ji Ren followed his instructions and sat down in front of Laozi. He had been studying in Lei Ze for twenty years and had just learned how to transform the Three Pure Ones into one and refine this Gonggong clone. After coming out, he neither went to Yuanshi Tianzun to ask, nor did he go to Guan Yan and the others to be gentle, but came directly to Laozi because he had some questions he had to ask.

“May I ask, Uncle Grand Master, what is the Purple Sky Tribulation?” Ji Ren asked.

"The hope of transcendence." Laozi said bluntly, "The world has its own rules, and the saints are in charge of the rules. To transcend, you have to go to Lei Ze. But the only one who can truly explore Lei Ze is someone who has survived the Purple Sky Tribulation. In other words, surviving the Purple Sky Tribulation means gaining Lei Ze's approval."

"What's in Lei Ze?" Ji Ren asked.

"I don't know what the secret of transcendence is. After all, I can't get in and can't find it. The last Yunxiao who survived the Zixiao tribulation failed." Laozi said.

“Uncle Grand Master, with your talent, when you were going through the tribulation back then, wasn’t it the Purple Sky Tribulation?” Ji Ren asked curiously.

With my talent, isn't it a matter of course for me to survive the Purple Sky Tribulation?
"No, I haven't got Lei Ze's approval, so naturally it's not possible." Laozi said.

"Who said the hope of transcendence?" Ji Ren looked at Lao Tzu and said.

"Of course it's Master." Laozi said.

Ji Ren nodded and asked, "What are the images of Gonggong, Ehuang, Nvying, and Luoshen?"

"The gods with different Dharma forms from ours, and more ancient Dharma forms, are the gods and demons of chaos." Lao Tzu said.

"Chaos Gods and Demons?" Ji Ren's eyes widened upon hearing this.

What is this ghost?

It would have been fine for my ancestor to be a god, but how come he became a demon?
"Yes, the gods and demons of chaos. That was the last era, before the teacher was born, in the era without Taoism and Buddhism, the heaven and the earth were not separated, there were three thousand gods and demons living in chaos, evolving the great way, but for some reason, all three thousand gods and demons died, and now it is our era, and the teacher is evolving the way of heaven." Lao Tzu said.

Maybe Fuxi was about to create the world, but three thousand gods and demons tried to stop him, and he was slapped to death by the great god Fuxi.

Ji Ren secretly complained in his heart that this world is absolutely crazy.

Or someone is talking bullshit.

“That’s why Grand Master accepted Qingyu and the others as his disciples.” Ji Ren suppressed the urge to complain in his heart.

"Yes, that's it." Laozi said.

"If that's the case, it means that Grand Master doesn't want me to die. Before I complete my mission, I have the destiny and can achieve whatever I want?" Ji Ren looked at Lao Tzu and said.

So this is why I was able to obtain the List of Gods and the Divine Whip? "Yes, in a sense, everyone will indulge you and harvest you after you complete your mission." Laozi said.

"What's going on with the Grand Master Uncle?" Ji Ren looked at Laozi and asked.

"How can you grow without going through hardships? This is a test given to you by your great uncle. If you die, it means you are not suitable. Your great uncle has cut off his destiny and his cultivation has greatly increased. I am afraid that he will be able to suppress me by then." Laozi said, "Speaking of which, now that you have separated the ancient Dharma image, Yang Jian's Dharma image may not be able to defeat that monkey head."

“After separation, I can borrow magic power if I want, and the most important thing is, even if there is only Yang Jian, it will not be difficult to defeat him.” Ji Ren said.

"Being confident is a good thing." Lao Tzu nodded slightly.

"However, if that's the case, why did Grand Master grant me the magical power to separate Gonggong's Dharma image? How shameful is this Dharma image?" Ji Ren looked at Laozi and asked again.

"Because your Dharma form is the strongest one I have ever seen. If your Dharma form appears in the Three Realms, won't the others be tempted? Let alone the two in the West, if they really take action, unless you stay with us forever, you will definitely die." Lao Tzu said.

"Is that all?" Ji Ren looked at Lao Tzu and said.

"Of course it's more than that. The most important thing is to leave you a backup plan. Everything we know is said by the teacher, but it is difficult to tell what is true and what is false, so we need a backup plan." Lao Tzu said.

"Uncle Grandmaster doesn't believe in Grandmaster." Ji Ren looked at Laozi and said.

"Of course I believe him. After all, everything I learned comes from him. If there were no standpoints and no interests, he and I would definitely be able to get along well as master and disciple. But in the mortal royal family, brothers will fight against each other and fathers and sons will kill each other just because of a small throne. What's more, now we are facing the entire Three Realms. Do you know why the previous Emperor of Heaven was deposed?" Laozi looked at Ji Ren and said.

“In order to strengthen his own power and get rid of the control of the saints, he deliberately instigated the three religions of Chan, Jie and Buddhism to fight each other during the catastrophe, causing the catastrophe to get out of control, resulting in heavy casualties, and defying the will of heaven.” Ji Ren said.

In addition, the Zhou emperor at that time was indeed extraordinary, so the previous emperor was replaced.

"This is the superficial reason. The actual reason is because the previous Heavenly Emperor did not want to confer the title of God. He is the Heavenly Emperor, he can train his own people, and does not need people from the Chan and Jie sects to occupy high positions in the Heavenly Court. In fact, the high-level immortals and gods in the Heavenly Court are either Chan or Jie, which is a huge constraint for him. He cannot put his own people in high positions, which makes him feel constrained. But the teacher will not allow it." Laozi said slowly, "Every great catastrophe is a restart, representing the collapse of the old order, and the order is your master and the Heavenly Emperor. Your master is okay, but the Heavenly Emperor is actually in charge of the entire Three Realms. He does not want the order to collapse again and again!"

"So he wants to rebel against the heaven?" Ji Ren asked carefully choosing his tone.

The Emperor of Heaven rebels against Heaven?

Why did His Majesty rebel?

"It was Huantian. He thought he was the Emperor of Heaven, the master of the Three Realms, and he was the incarnation of Heaven, so he died in the end! Nothing was left! Master and disciple are like father and son, but if the father wants the son to die, the son will kill the father, let alone the master and disciple?" Laozi said.

"So the disciple is that knife?" Ji Ren said.

"Yes, if the master has no ill intentions, everyone will be happy. But if the master wants to kill the disciple, the disciple will kill the master himself. Of course, this is still very far away for you, so don't think too much about it, just practice well." Lao Tzu said.

"Uncle Grand Master, aren't you afraid that your disciple doesn't want to rebel against Heaven?" Ji Ren asked.

"So what do you want to do?" Laozi looked at Ji Ren and said.

"Uncle Grand Master, you are joking. Disciples of the Chan Sect only interpret the will of heaven and act in accordance with it. How could they go against it?" Ji Ren looked at Lao Tzu and said.

Listening to Ji Ren's words, Laozi suddenly laughed and said, "Well said, that's why I thought you were suitable at first sight when I was in Song State."

"Thank you, Grand Master, for your favor." Ji Ren thanked.

"Okay, are you done asking questions?" Lao Tzu said.

"I have another question. Do our Grand Master and Grand Uncle know about this?" Ji Ren looked at Lao Tzu and said.

"I don't know." Laozi shook his head.

"Then finally, I have one more request. My disciple needs the authority of water for his practice, and I beg my Grand Master to bestow the Emperor Dongyin on him." Ji Ren looked at Lao Tzu and said.

"Okay." Laozi nodded.

Upon hearing this, Ji Ren bowed again, then stood up and left.

His clone came out not just to ask Laozi questions, but also to do something important.

The North Sea is home to many monsters and is a place of exile, perfect for this clone to control power.

After Ji Ren left, a voice suddenly rang out from the empty Bajing Palace: "Do you think he really believed it?"

"I won't believe it all, otherwise I won't be qualified to participate in this game. But I will believe most of it. After all, a lot of it is true." Laozi was not surprised to hear the voice and said lightly.

"Just take advantage of it. Hongjun is not a fool. If you are too obvious, he will always be discovered." The voice in the void sounded again.

"It's okay. After all, there is someone in front who can attract attention. But we have to keep an eye on this kid, too." said Laozi.

After listening to Laozi's words, no more sound was heard in the void.

After Ji Ren left Bajing Palace, his expression changed slightly. It sounded logical, but what this kind of big shot said was mostly true and half false. He couldn't believe it all. He had to figure out for himself which ones were true and which ones were false.

But now is not the time to worry about this. Let me take charge of the righteous cause. This clone of mine will go and unify the demons in the North Sea first. Then I will come back. When the North and South Seas are in my hands, I will be able to achieve Daluo.

(End of this chapter)