Myths and Dharma, starting from Erlang Shen

"The Dragon King of the South China Sea requests an audience."

Zhang Sheng, one of Ji Ren's six generals, stood outside the yard and called out in a low voice from a distance.

In the yard, on the bed.

Ji Ren was sleeping comfortably with Guan Yan in his arms. When he heard a noise outside, he blinked his eyes. Then a black hair from his head floated out, flew out of the door, and turned into his appearance.

"Is something wrong?"

Guan Yan was awakened by the sound outside. She moaned and slowly woke up, with a slight blush on her beautiful face.

"fine."

Ji Ren said gently, holding Guan Yan's fragrant body in his arms, and continued to sleep.

A long absence is better than a new marriage.

He and Guan Yan hadn't seen each other for a hundred years. On this first day, he didn't want to care about anything and just wanted to sleep well.

Unless a saint comes, no one can stop him.

"Yeah." Guan Yan responded softly, then leaned lazily in Ji Ren's arms and closed her beautiful almond-shaped eyes.

After a hundred years of hard work, no matter what, I don’t want to get up today.

……

"Uncle Zhang, why are you standing so far away?"

After Ji Ren's clone floated out, he looked at Zhang Sheng standing outside the yard in confusion.

"Aren't you afraid of disturbing others? And what if he sees something he shouldn't see?" Zhang Sheng said while standing outside.

"I'm here, but you can't see me." Ji Ren shook his head and walked out naturally. "Let's go and meet this Dragon King. He came so soon. He must have just visited Master Cihang last night and then came to us. Let's see what this nominal Lord of the South China Sea wants to do?"

As he spoke, Ji Ren walked in front, heading towards the living room. After walking a few roads, he saw the Dragon King of the South China Sea sitting in a seat in the living room, followed by a young man who seemed to be his son, but he didn't know which one he was.

"The Dragon King has arrived. Please forgive me for not welcoming you in person."

Jiren walked in with a smile.

The sitting South China Sea Dragon King stood up immediately, smiling, and said, "I dare not. Now the True Lord is the Emperor in charge of the four seas, and I am now the Emperor's minister. It is only right for me to come here to pay my respects to the Emperor. But yesterday I heard that Jade Ding True Lord had returned, and I was afraid of disturbing the reunion of the Emperor and his disciples, so I did not dare to come. Therefore, I came here today to obey the Emperor's orders."

“What are you talking about, Dragon King? The Dragon King is highly respected and has governed the South China Sea for tens of millions of years. He is much more experienced than me. If I want to govern the South China Sea, I will have to rely on the help of the Dragon King.” Ji Ren walked over with a smile on his face, then sat down in his seat naturally and let the Dragon King of the South China Sea sit down.

"For the Emperor, you are a favored child of heaven. Governing the South China Sea is a piece of cake. Why does an old dragon need to do anything?" Upon hearing Ji Ren's answer, the Dragon King of the South China Sea felt a little relieved and responded with a smile.

His first reaction after learning that Ji Ren had become the Emperor of Dongyin was panic. After all, Ji Ren was in the South China Sea, and might be out of reach of the other three seas, but for the South China Sea, it was like having a big father above his head. He even went to find Guanyin Bodhisattva for this purpose, and the answer he got in the end was that Guanyin Bodhisattva supported Ji Ren.

Although he felt desperate, the Dragon King of the South China Sea still had to force himself to cheer up and come to visit Ji Ren. For now, everything seemed to be moving in a relatively favorable direction.

"Of course I do. After all, I don't have much experience in this area. By the way, I remember that in a hundred years, it will be time for the South China Sea to recommend immortals, right? By then, I will need the Dragon King's support. After all, this is my first time doing this." Ji Ren said.

"Your Majesty is very intelligent, and this matter is very simple. We just need to make preparations in advance, and then wait for the chiefs of the aquatic tribes in various waters to submit the lists, and then we will recommend them to the Heavenly Court." said the Dragon King of the South China Sea.

"Oh, how many people are you recommending this time?" Ji Ren asked.

"Thirty-six thousand people. If nothing unexpected happens, the number of recommended candidates is fixed." The Dragon King of the South China Sea replied, feeling even more relieved. This emperor was quite easy to talk to and not very difficult to deal with. In this way, he might be able to gain another backer.

“This kind of recommendation happens once every hundred years, and there are 36,000 people every hundred years. Does that mean all the people before that were dead?” Ji Ren looked at the Dragon King of the South China Sea suspiciously.

"Of course not, we are just constantly selecting talents for the Heavenly Court." The Dragon King of the South China Sea explained. "No, there are limited positions, and the selection should be based on the number of positions. If there are limited positions, but there are always so many people, it means that there are many people who are just sitting there doing nothing, and there are too many redundant officials. We should first dismiss a wave of existing officials, assess their merits, and promote the best ones, while the worst ones will be eliminated." Ji Ren shook his head and said, "Does the Dragon King have any suggestions?"

“Your Majesty, you don’t know that this assessment is the business of Heaven and is under the responsibility of the Water Department. We don’t need to do this. Over the years, the evaluations of the water officials in the South China Sea have all been excellent.” The Dragon King of the South China Sea hastily explained.

This is not included in our responsibilities.

“Wasn’t I here before? Now that I’m here, I naturally have to be responsible for the South China Sea. Investigate carefully and plan for the Three Realms. There must not be redundant officials or staff who take salaries from the Heavenly Court for nothing.” Ji Ren said.

Of course I know about what the Dragon King said.

There will be an assessment for the Water Department of Heaven, but the problem is that there are serious problems with this assessment by the Water Department.

First of all, there are only a few gods in the Water Department, and there are so many water officials in the four seas. It is unknown how many times more than the number in the Water Department.

Secondly, the vast majority of the water officers in the world have problems themselves.

Because the water officials of the four seas are not directly appointed by the Heavenly Court and then go to some place in the four seas to serve as officials.

Instead, they are the leaders of their own clans, control an area, and become the masters of the place. Then they apply to the Dragon Palace for the establishment of water officials in the Heavenly Court, and then the Dragon King applies again.

Their power does not come from their heavenly titles, but rather the heavenly titles come from their power.

Similar to the chieftains in remote areas of the mortal world, they actually hold power. The imperial court gives them official positions and mobilizes them to a certain extent.

But the official position is almost hereditary.

The dragon clan is the largest chieftain in the four seas, or in other words, the largest water chief. They send out real dragons to sort out the conflicts among the various clans in the water and manage them.

From this perspective, to the various regions in the South China Sea, the Dragon Kings sent out by the Dragon Palace are all half outsiders. After all, the Dragon Kings may change, but the subjects remain.

What’s more, they are people in Heaven?

In addition, many of these people in the Water Department of Heaven were forced to become gods, and they just went there to mess things up.

Therefore, when it comes to the assessment of the Water Department, either the assessing officials have been bribed, or all the information can only be obtained from the officials' families. Naturally, the evaluations given are all good, very good, or exceptionally good, and there will never be any bad ones.

Form is more important than meaning.

What is the significance of such an assessment?
"Your Majesty, this kind of thing has existed since ancient times. If we rashly reform it now, there will be endless troubles. I'm afraid there will be chaos in the South China Sea." The Dragon King of the South China Sea said in panic.

The positions of water officials are inherited by the clan leaders, and this is a rule that is about to be written into writing.

If Ji Ren were to do this now, it would cause a huge chaos.

"Endless troubles? Are you saying that someone wants to rebel? Then come on, I want to see how their strength compares to Tuxingsun of Buddhism, and how their backers compare to the ancient Buddha Ran Deng?" Upon hearing this, Ji Ren's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

The Dragon King of the South China Sea was shocked and looked at Ji Ren and said, "Emperor, you still need to think twice about this matter."

"I have thought it over, so I am going to do it now. The Dragon King has been in the South China Sea for a long time, so he should be the most clear about these things. I will trouble you for your help." Ji Ren said, looking at the Dragon King of the South China Sea.

"The old dragon is old and weak, and may not be able to help the Emperor." The Dragon King of the South China Sea said with difficulty. If the assessment continued in this way, how many incompetents would there be in his South China Sea dragon clan?

You can’t check like this!

"Dragon King, you are joking, right? The Dragon King is the Lord of the South China Sea. He has been in charge of the South China Sea for thousands of years and has never made any mistakes. These things are not difficult for the Dragon King. Don't you think highly of me?" Ji Ren looked at the Dragon King of the South China Sea with a smile on his face. Then a sword energy appeared in the yard and fell on the Dragon King of the South China Sea. The Dragon King of the South China Sea trembled like a sieve and said with a pale face: "I will do my best to help the Emperor, help the Emperor to pacify the South China Sea and restore peace to the South China Sea."

"Then I'd like to thank the Dragon King first." Ji Ren smiled when he heard this. (End of this chapter)