Traveling through various miniature worlds with a small restaurant

Chapter 243 World of Famous Works 32

Li Lizhi hurriedly asked, "Really? Where is that immortal now?"

Lin Xiaoqian gestured for her to look towards the pavilion, and Li Lizhi indeed saw a figure faintly through the gap in the screen.

Are those immortals inside?

Lin Xiaoqian explained to her, "The one inside is the beloved disciple of Patriarch Bodhi of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars Cave on Lingtai Fangcun Mountain... Do you know Patriarch Bodhi?"

Li Lizhi shook her head with a confused look in her eyes. She had never heard of the name of the immortal Bodhi Patriarch in all her life.

Lin Xiaoqian fell silent for a moment. He had wanted to use the name of Bodhi Patriarch to make a good impression, but it turned out that the other party didn't even know the name of Bodhi.

It seems our ancestor was really too low-key.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xiaoqian asked again, "Then the princess must know about Guanyin Bodhisattva, right?"

Li Lizhi nodded. She naturally knew the name of Guanyin Bodhisattva; in fact, almost everyone in the Tang Dynasty knew it.

Moreover, not long ago she had witnessed a miracle of Guanyin Bodhisattva. At that time, Xuanzang had not yet gone to the west to obtain Buddhist scriptures. He was reciting scriptures on a high platform. Halfway through his recitation, a disheveled monk suddenly spoke a few words to him. She was sitting below the platform at the time and saw with her own eyes that the disheveled monk had transformed into Guanyin Bodhisattva, who was riding on auspicious clouds and whose face was full of Buddha's light. Because of this, she has always firmly believed that there are gods in this world.

Lin Xiaoqian continued, "This Bodhi Patriarch is no ordinary person. Even Guanyin Bodhisattva has to call him 'senior.' He is a deity on par with the Buddha. So, as Bodhi Patriarch's beloved disciple, you understand the significance of this deity, right?"

Li Lizhi stared in surprise, her mouth agape and her eyes wide as saucers.

Is the identity of this deity inside really that powerful?

Lin Xiaoqian clicked his tongue and sighed, "My greatest wish in this life is to meet Patriarch Bodhi, and ideally, to become his disciple. Unfortunately, I will never have the chance to meet Patriarch Bodhi in this life. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to meet his disciple now, so I have no regrets in this life."

Li Lizhi was taken aback and asked in a low voice, "Then how should I address this immortal master inside?"

"The Great Sage Equal to Heaven!" Lin Xiaoqian declared emphatically, looking quite proud. "The one inside is called the Great Sage Equal to Heaven; you can call him the Great Sage."

What a majestic name!

Li Lizhi nodded, looked at the pavilion again, her heart filled with awe and curiosity. She bowed respectfully and said loudly, "I am Li Lizhi, daughter of the King of Tang. I was unaware that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven was here. I have offended you greatly and hope that the Great Sage will forgive me."

A gentle breeze answered her, but no one responded.

Li Lizhi looked at Lin Xiaoqian with suspicion, and Lin Xiaoqian quickly explained, "Princess, your timing is unfortunate. A few days ago, when the Great Sage was teaching me the Dao, he had an epiphany. Right now, he is experiencing the Dao deep in his consciousness and cannot hear your voice."

"I see." Li Lizhi understood, but a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes. Then she raised her head and said seriously, "Then I will visit again tomorrow."

As Li Lizhi was about to leave, Lin Xiaoqian quickly stopped her, "Wait a moment, Princess."

"Is there anything else, Shopkeeper Lin?"

Lin Xiaoqian coughed lightly and said, "It's like this, the Great Sage is in a state of enlightenment, and it's hard to say when he will wake up. That is to say, he may wake up in the next moment, or he may not wake up for several years or even more than ten years. However, he is very resourceful and had already anticipated that you would come here, so he asked me to wait here. If the princess has anything to say, she can just tell me directly."

Seeing that Li Lizhi was still hesitating about whether to speak her mind, Lin Xiaoqian quickly added, "Is the matter that the princess is asking about related to someone who claims to be from the future?"

Li Lizhi suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with shock.

“How could you…” Li Lizhi glanced at the Monkey King in the pavilion and said knowingly, “It seems that the Monkey King told Manager Lin.”

She was certain of the deity's abilities, so she stopped hiding it and slowly told Lin Xiaoqian about the time her father had summoned her alone a few days earlier.

That day, her father solemnly instructed her to find some extraordinary people or enlightened masters, and that she must not let the news leak out to others.

At first, she thought her father was obsessed with seeking immortality and alchemy, and wanted her to secretly find some sorcerers to refine elixirs. She even wanted to advise her father not to believe the sorcerers' nonsense about attaining immortality.

But to her surprise, things turned out to be completely different from what she had imagined.

Her father told her that not long ago, a strange man who claimed to have traveled from the future a thousand years in the future suddenly appeared in his palace in the middle of the night, saying a lot of strange things and taking out some strange objects.

The Emperor feigned compliance and agreed to the strange man's request, arranging for him to stay in a deserted manor in the suburbs. However, he was actually quite uneasy, worried that this man might threaten the safety of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Emperor sent a famous high monk from the Tang Dynasty to the manor to investigate whether this man was human or demon, good or evil.

Strangely, the people they sent said that Zhuangzi had disappeared and they couldn't find him anywhere.

The emperor had no other choice but to devise this plan, instructing her to secretly travel to other places to find some experts, so as not to alert the enemy.

These days, she has searched for some things, but the results are all the same. Not to mention finding out the identity of that strange person, she can't even find the face of that strange person.

Fortunately, by divine intervention, she found the Monkey King today, who had foreseen her desired outcome.

"If this person is good, that's fine. But if he is evil, I urge the Great Sage to go and subdue him, so that he may bring disaster to the Tang Dynasty and disturb the peace of the people."

As Lin Xiaoqian listened to Li Lizhi's account, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, but she pretended to be calm and nodded slightly, saying, "Princess, don't worry. Since the Great Sage knows about this matter and still asked me to wait for you here, it is to resolve this matter."

Li Lizhi asked anxiously, "Shopkeeper Lin, can the Great Sage tell you whether that strange man is good or evil? Can he endanger the fate of our Great Tang Dynasty?"

Lin Xiaoqian reassured her, "Princess, please don't be anxious. Does the princess know how a cultivator can quickly improve their cultivation level?"

Li Lizhi naturally didn't know, nor did she know why she would ask that question.

Lin Xiaoqian explained in a pretentious manner, "Heaven favors the human race. For thousands of years, any cultivator who has led the human race to grow stronger has received the merit of enlightenment, which has led to rapid advancement in their cultivation. However, the merit of enlightenment is extremely rare, and it is simply a pipe dream for one person to lead the development of the entire human race. I think that person claimed to be a person from the future in order to make the Tang King believe him and then get the entire Tang Dynasty to cooperate with his plan."

Upon hearing this, Li Lizhi immediately understood and quickly said, "You mean that strange man went to Father Emperor and said some things about the mighty Tang Dynasty in order to gain merit for enlightenment and improve his own cultivation?"

Lin Xiaoqian nodded and continued, "So, regardless of whether that person is good or evil, his goal is to lead the human race to develop. However, fortunately, he cannot do anything to harm the human race, otherwise, not only will he not receive any merit for teaching, but he may also be subject to the retribution of Heaven and die."

Li Lizhi covered her mouth, looking incredulous.

Lin Xiaoqian waved his whisk, looking like a detached and otherworldly sage. "However, whether the Tang Dynasty should take advantage of this opportunity is up to your own choice."

The rhetoric in novels is really useful; it teaches virtue and improves cultivation, but of course, it's all just something she made up on the spot.

But if he directly confronted Li Lizhi about how Zhuang was a good person, it would seem rather fake.

I'm afraid not only would the Tang emperor not believe her, but Li Lizhi would also doubt what she said.

You have to mix truth and falsehood in your words for people to believe you.

The emperor's heart is unpredictable. The Tang king must feel that he knows Zhuang's true purpose, is in a proactive position, and still has a choice.

Only in this way can Brother Zhuang's plan to strengthen Tang be implemented smoothly.