Chapter 48

"Absolutely not!" Yang Zhen waved his sleeve and helped the people to their feet. Seeing the anxious faces of the king and ministers of Biquo, Yang Zhen quickly explained, "I understand your desire to seek the Dao, but you are the king and important ministers of Biquo. You bear the responsibility for the well-being of the entire country. If you all focus solely on seeking the Dao, it will inevitably delay important state affairs. In that case, we would become sinners of Biquo."

"This..." Hearing Yang Zhen's words, the people were momentarily speechless, looking at each other. Although they were very reluctant, they did not know how to refute Yang Zhen.

"Grand Master, it is precisely for the sake of the country that we need to seek the Dao and become immortals," a minister stepped forward, bowed to Yang Zhen, and respectfully said.

"Oh? Why is that?" Yang Zhen asked.

What the hell! Everyone can see that I don't want to teach you, and this guy is so tactless. Humph! Don't let me find an opportunity, or I'll definitely play a trick on you.

At this moment, the other princes and ministers also looked at this person with such intense gazes that it made one dare not meet their eyes.

The man smiled faintly and said, "Grand Master, think about it. If all the ministers of Biquo can cultivate the Dao and achieve immortality, we can govern Biquo forever. Biquo can then enjoy lasting peace and prosperity."

"Yes! That's right."

"Grand Master, that's exactly what we all think."

The king of Biquo secretly glanced at the speaker and praised him in his heart, "I didn't expect such a talented person to be just a minor official. I must promote him when I return."

Looking at everyone, Yang Zhen said, "Everyone, it's not that I'm keeping secrets or unwilling to teach you. The truth is, to become an immortal, one must have the right destiny. Without the right destiny, no matter how hard you try, you will achieve nothing." Yang Zhen had no choice but to make up a reason to deal with the situation.

However, seeing the clearly disbelieving expressions of the people, Yang Zhen was momentarily speechless. Just as Yang Zhen was about to make up another reason, he suddenly thought of someone whose experience could help deal with the current situation.

Smiling slightly, Yang Zhen said, "Everyone, have you heard of the Jade Emperor?"

"According to legend, the Jade Emperor is the supreme deity in heaven, ruling over all the gods and managing everything in the universe. Even in Biquo, there are several temples dedicated to the Jade Emperor. Why did you suddenly mention the Jade Emperor, Grand Master?" the king of Biquo asked.

"You all only know that the Jade Emperor has a high status, but you don't know the hardships he endured to become the Heavenly Emperor," Yang Zhen explained. "The Jade Emperor is the ruler of the three realms, managing all things in heaven and earth. However, his cultivation process was extremely difficult. He began cultivating the Dao from birth, and after three thousand tribulations, he became a Great Immortal. After another ten thousand tribulations, he became the supreme deity of heaven. After a billion tribulations, he finally became the Jade Emperor, the ruler of the universe."

Seeing the stunned expressions of the people, Yang Zhen continued, "The path to immortality is not as easy as you might think. King, and all the ministers, if you do more good deeds and benefit the country and its people in this life, after a hundred years, when you enter the underworld, you will have the chance to enter the divine path, and then you will have the opportunity to become immortals."

"Is that so!" Hearing Yang Zhen's explanation, the people no longer insisted, but they clearly had many more questions they wanted Yang Zhen to answer.

For example, crossing the Bridge of Sighs and drinking the Forgetfulness Soup, which would erase their memories. Yang Zhen simply explained that after becoming immortals, they would regain their memories.

Another question was how many lifetimes of cultivation were needed to become an immortal. Yang Zhen's answer was that it didn't matter how many lifetimes, but rather how many good deeds they did and how much merit they accumulated.

In short, for several hours, the king and ministers of Biquo turned into a thousand questions, and Yang Zhen became a living encyclopedia, answering all their questions. No matter what they asked, Yang Zhen insisted that only by being good people could they become immortals.

After the evening, the people had dinner at the Grand Master's residence and left reluctantly.

In fact, everything that happened today was unexpected. Yang Zhen never thought that the Buddha would make such a grand display to subdue Sun Wukong, allowing the mortals below to witness the power of the heavenly deities.

Later, Yang Zhen thought that the Buddha probably wanted to use this opportunity to expand the influence of Buddhism. After all, the Battle of the Gods had just ended, and the Journey to the West had not yet begun. Although the Daoist sect had weakened, Buddhism had only recently separated from Daoism and had far less influence in the mortal world.

However, the Buddha's actions gave Yang Zhen an opportunity. By guiding the king and ministers of Biquo with their desire for immortality, if the people of Biquo became more virtuous in the future, Yang Zhen would gain the merit of enlightening the masses. Although it was only the people of Biquo, the merit he would gain would be much greater than before.

Thus, Yang Zhen settled in Biquo. Time passed, and fifty years went by.

In these fifty years, the old king of Biquo had long been laid to rest, and the current king was the old king's grandson, who had been on the throne for three years. However, Biquo was no longer the same as before. Due to Yang Zhen's presence, Biquo had become very powerful. After fifty years of development, it had grown into an empire, with its territory several times larger than it was fifty years ago.

In fifty years, everything in Biquo had changed, but the only thing that remained unchanged was Yang Zhen's appearance.

Fifty years ago, when Yang Zhen first arrived in Biquo, people who met him for the first time thought he was just a young man in his early twenties. But today, Yang Zhen still looked like a young man in his early twenties, and no one believed he was really that age.

Because of his great powers and his protection of Biquo, Yang Zhen's status in Biquo was even higher than the king's. Fortunately, Yang Zhen had no intention of usurping the throne, or he would have already taken control of Biquo.

One day, Yang Zhen was cultivating in his room. After becoming the Grand Master, Yang Zhen never lacked gold coins. In addition to buying double experience pills every month, he could still save a lot of gold coins. So Yang Zhen used these gold coins to upgrade all his skills to level 5. Now, he was preparing to save up more gold coins to learn a new skill.

"Grand Master, His Majesty the King requests your presence."

Hearing the voice of the servant outside, Yang Zhen opened his eyes and said, "I know. Tell His Majesty I will be there shortly."

"Yes!"

After another ten minutes, Yang Zhen slowly finished his cultivation and got up to go to the palace.

Seeing the young king, Yang Zhen casually asked, "Your Majesty, you urgently summoned me. Is there something important?"

After becoming the Grand Master, except for the first few years when he often met people, Yang Zhen had been staying in the palace to cultivate. He only appeared for major events like ancestral worship and the New Year. Today, the king's urgent summons clearly indicated that something significant had happened.

The king immediately walked down from his throne, bowed to Yang Zhen, and said, "Grand Master, in the past month, the caravans traveling to and from Biquo have frequently been attacked. I thought it was bandits, so I sent troops to suppress them, but there was no report. Only a few days ago, a soldier who managed to escape returned, and only then did I learn that the attackers were not bandits but a group of demons."