Chapter 113 The Three Emperors' Faction

Bianzhou.

"Master Vajrabodhi, if we keep searching like headless flies like this, I fear we will achieve half the results with double the effort. It would be better to act separately; if either of us finds the whereabouts of that Prodigy, we can then inform each other."

Master Chengjue said to Vajrabodhi.

Vajrabodhi originally intended to go alone, but Master Chengjue believed that since both were Buddhist—though one was a Chan School monk from the Great Tang, and the other a Tantric monk from Tubo—it was necessary to unite at such a time.

Vajrabodhi had no objections; since arriving in the Great Tang, he had always appeared amiable.

"Let it be as Master Chengjue says."

Hearing his opinion was accepted, Master Chengjue was very pleased, feeling valued.

Vajrabodhi was known as the Vajra Tripitaka; his attainment in Buddhist teachings was already extremely high, and he was even treated with courtesy by the Saint, allowed to reside in Dacien Temple to chant scriptures as an exception.

This favor was not something just anyone could possess.

At least, since he, Master Chengjue, arrived in Chang'an, he had not even been able to see the Saint in advance, and he only lived in an obscure temple.

"Good, since that is the case, let us part ways here."

Master Chengjue chanted "Amitabha" and turned to leave.

Vajrabodhi did not linger either, continuing to walk toward the east.

Although this demon-subduing mission did not go as he expected, he could not ask for more.

He then walked to a village, seeing the people living in poverty, with children's bodies as thin as firewood.

Yet they were still innocently playing with wooden toys, holding half a piece of already melting candied fruit, which they were reluctant to eat.

The old man sat on the shaded threshold, fanning himself with worry.

Vajrabodhi looked at the candied fruit in the child's hand and asked the old man: "Old man, is everything well?"

Suddenly hearing this, the old man didn't even have the strength left to roll his eyes.

He only had a stack of complaints in his heart: 'Do I look like I'm doing well to you?'

But when he looked up, he realized it was a dark, withered monk with a shaved head.

Then he saw the skull staff Vajrabodhi was carrying, and his face instantly turned pale with fear, almost passing out.

He hurriedly stood up shakily, saying with respect and fear: "So it is a high monk. This old one has been disrespectful, disrespectful... It's just that there is no more grain in my house. If the high monk doesn't mind, shall I cook a bowl of chaff porridge for you?"

Vajrabodhi politely declined.

"No need for trouble, old man. I only wanted to ask you, have you seen a Daoist pass by here before?"

"A Daoist?"

The old man's eyes were confused for a moment, thinking for a long time before slowly shaking his head.

"I haven't seen one. I am so hungry that I am dizzy; I have no energy to look at who is on the road."

Vajrabodhi was not discouraged, but thanked him and prepared to leave.

But just then, the child playing on the side suddenly stood up.

"Grandpa, just now there was a long-bearded Daoist who passed by our house and even gave me a piece of candy!"

"Ah, is that so? Old man is confused, I really didn't see it just now!" The old man's heart, which had just calmed down slightly, began to beat violently again, his tone filled with fear.

Vajrabodhi's gaze turned to the child, becoming gentle.

"Little donor, do you still remember which direction that person went?"

"Hmm..."

Under the child's dusty face, bright eyes rolled around twice.

Subsequently, he smiled slyly: "Then you must also give me a piece of candy, and I will tell you."

Vajrabodhi rubbed the skull staff with his palm, an action that scared the old man watching on the side to death.

If it weren't for the concern for his grandson's safety, which kept him holding on, he might have been scared to death by Vajrabodhi.

But the child was ignorant, still persistently asking: "Are you going to give it or not? If you don't give it, you can find it yourself!"

The light in the depths of Vajrabodhi's eyes dimmed again and again, but in the end, it returned to calm.

He smiled and said: "I do not have any candied fruit on me at the moment."

The child was a little disappointed; this was the first time in his life he had eaten such a candied fruit.

"But I have some gold and silver on me, which is enough for you to buy many candied fruits."

Vajrabodhi opened his hand, and in his palm lay a piece of gold the size of a grain of rice, lying quietly.

"I don't want it. If there is no candy, I won't tell you!"

The old man was almost so angry he wanted to beat the child, so he hurriedly came over and reached out to take the gold bean from Vajrabodhi's palm.

He didn't forget to carefully observe it and squeezed it hard—it was real!

At this moment, his desire overcame his reason. With this gold bean, their whole family could survive!

"Er Gouzi, hurry, tell the holy monk where that person went. Grandpa will go to town and buy you ten of these candies!"

"Really? You aren't allowed to lie to me?"

"When has Grandpa ever lied to you?"

Er Gouzi pouted and muttered, then pointed in a direction.

"There, that person went this way."

Vajrabodhi glanced in that direction, then looked at the child named Er Gouzi, his eyes flickering, and thanked him.

He then paced toward the direction the child pointed.

The child watched Vajrabodhi's figure gradually disappear from view, and then burst into a giggle.

"Hehehe, I tricked him! This big monk is really stingy, not giving me candy to eat, humph!"

Hearing the child's words, the old man was instantly scared pale.

"You, you, who told you to trick him? Do you know, do you know, he..." The old man was so angry he was incoherent for a moment.

Seeing his grandfather's appearance, Er Gouzi was also scared, and immediately burst into tears.

"It was the Daoist grandpa who said, if someone asks me which way the Daoist grandpa went, I should ask him for candy, otherwise I shouldn't tell him!"

The old man's body swayed twice, and then, unable to support himself, he collapsed on the ground.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, what's wrong with you, Grandpa!"

The old man did not answer, his cloudy eyes staring blankly ahead, murmuring in his mouth.

"Disaster, a great disaster!"

At this moment, in a direction about forty or fifty degrees away from the direction the child pointed, more than ten miles away, a long-bearded Daoist wearing a blue Daoist robe was walking forward with a beaming smile.

Suddenly, he seemed thoughtful, looked back, and his smile deepened.

"Hehe, big monk, this is because you couldn't keep up, not that I was playing tricks."

The person who told the child to ask for candied fruit from the person inquiring about his direction was none other than him, Tian Tui, a high-ranking master of the Three Sovereigns Sect's Dharma lineage, and also the direct Disciple of the Three Sovereigns Sect Leader, the next successor of the Three Sovereigns Sect's Dharma lineage.

But unlike Jiang Chen, Jianzhen, and others, Tian Tui was half a generation older than them, but not by much. However, even so, he was embarrassed to walk the same path as Jiang Chen and the others, so he chose to eliminate the demon.

The Three Sovereigns Sect was skilled in divination using earth veins, so it was also easiest for them to find the location of the great demon based on the anomalies of the earth veins.

Just now, he perceived that someone was following him, and it wasn't those Imperial Agents.

So he used a clever plan to easily trick that person away.

As for the consequences for the person he tricked, he really hadn't considered it.

The Three Sovereigns Sect also relied on the Saint's grace to grow, and compared to the Saint's appreciation, nothing else was important.