Chapter 1298: Chapter 1296: Resurrection
In the mortal world, inside a Taoist temple.
Unlike other Taoist temples that enshrine beings like the Three Pure Ones, the central figure enshrined here is the Great Jade Emperor, seated naturally beside the Great Jade Emperor is the Empress.
Besides them, figures like the Four Heavenly Kings, Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li, and Third Prince Nezha are all positioned on the sides.
In appearance, it nearly replicates the seats of deities in the Lingxiao Hall of the Heavenly Court.
However, the figure of the Empress that originally sat beside the Jade Emperor has collapsed, leaving only a pile of shattered wood on the throne.
On this day, a little Taoist priest entered the hall, holding cleaning tools in his hands.
From the unexplained shattering of the Empress’s statue, one could infer that the Empress had perished as a calamity unfolded.
“Alas, everyone strives for immortal cultivation, but even the Empress can fall. Does becoming an immortal truly mean anything?”
This little Taoist priest, holding his cleaning tools, approached the place where the Empress’s statue used to be, then began to clean while internally whispering to himself.
Just as he was halfway through his cleaning, the shattered wood pieces suddenly started to move on their own.
Then, bit by bit, the shattered wood pieces automatically pieced themselves together until finally forming a complete statue again.
“What is this? The Empress’s statue? It automatically restored itself?” The little Taoist priest was stunned as he whispered softly, looking at the flawless statue just like before.
The automatic restoration of the shattered statue, what does this signify, the little Taoist priest roughly understood in his heart.
However, precisely because of this, the shock was greater.
“Master, Master, something has happened, the Empress’s statue has restored itself!” After being stunned for quite a while, the little Taoist priest shouted loudly as he ran out of the hall.
At the same time, in another civilian house.
Originally, there was a portrait of the Empress hanging on the wall, but ever since the portrait ignited spontaneously, the wall had been bare.
On this day, an elderly woman was cleaning her house when suddenly a burst of firelight attracted her attention.
Turning her head to look, she saw countless specks of dust gathering and reforming into a divine image on the originally blank wall along with the firelight.
“What is this? The Empress’s portrait? Did it come back on its own?” The elderly woman gazed, stupefied, at the wall with the restored portrait, whispering softly to herself, almost unable to believe her eyes.
The same situation was occurring almost everywhere in the world.
With the Empress’s demise, all divine statues and images related to her had been spontaneously destroyed.
But at this moment, all those destroyed images and statues restored themselves.
The significance of this scene was self-evident.
Along with the automatic restoration of statues and images, the void of the Three Realms and Six Paths resonated with celestial music, as if celebrating something.
“Celebration across the heavens? Has the Empress resurrected?” A gaming enthusiast slightly raised his head in an internet cafe, his gaze seemingly penetrating through the ceiling as he whispered softly.
“Ah! Darn it! Got controlled…” Coming back to his senses, the gamer realized his character in-game was immobilized by others, and a swarm of people rushed him and took him out.
Regretful, he slapped himself, saying, “How could I get distracted? I’m really not smart sometimes!”
Embodies in the internet cafe, not just the gathered gamers, but anyone with some insight upon witnessing the celebratory scene, felt the resurgence, understanding the Empress had regained her place.
In an instant, various factions had differing thoughts.
Not long ago, when the Empress perished, the unusual phenomena of heavens losing color and all creation mourning spread the news of her demise.
Later, the Jade Emperor, in order to resurrect the Empress, forcefully invaded Ksitigarbha Cave and even confronted Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha to retrieve her soul.
The rebellious act, suffering heavenly punishment, wasn’t a secret.
Now, has the Empress indeed resurrected?
“Truly?” With the cosmic phenomena, Jiang Liu sitting on the White Dragon Horse naturally understood what was happening, whispering internally.
The Empress’s revival, for Jiang Liu, was certainly not good news.
However, with a 91-level white version, being practically the weakest quasi-saint, finding a chance to brush a few times might be worthwhile?
“Master, has the Empress resurrected?” Feeling the cosmic change, Sun Wukong immediately asked Jiang Liu.
“Indeed, you should have sensed it yourself, right?” Jiang Liu nodded upon hearing this.
“Master, your face doesn’t look good!” After nodding, Sun Wukong commented to Jiang Liu.
“Ah, Monkey Brother, your words are really pointless. Master managed to find a way to kill the Empress with great difficulty, and now she has successfully resurrected. Do you think Master’s expression can be good?” Hearing Sun Wukong’s words, Zhu Bajie shook his head and said.
“But before, Master also said that if the Empress resurrected, at worst, we’d just kill her again. Since Master could kill her the first time, he can kill her a second time!” Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong shook his head and said.
He felt that Master’s expression wasn’t so unpleasant simply because of the Empress’ resurrection.
“Well, Monkey Brother does have a point!” Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
The disciples’ gaze fell on Jiang Liu, clearly asking for his opinion.
“What Wukong said is correct. If we can kill her once, we can kill her a second time, but…” Under the gaze of the disciples, Jiang Liu’s face indeed looked a bit somber.
At these words, he paused slightly before continuing, “However, because I killed the Empress last time, my cultivation level regressed a bit. If I kill her again…”
Yes, originally Jiang Liu thought it wouldn’t matter if he killed the Empress a few more times.
But thinking back to how he suffered a karmic curse last time due to killing the Empress and leveled down by 1 level, Jiang Liu was quite concerned.
If he kills the Empress again, will he still suffer a karmic curse?
After pondering this over and over, Jiang Liu thought there was a high possibility of it.
Why does a karmic curse arise? It’s because I borrowed the Empress’ Map of Mountains and Rivers for cultivation, so I owed her karma. If I strike her again, this leads to a karmic curse.
And now? The Map of Mountains and Rivers is still in my possession, which indicates I still owe karma to the Empress, right?
If I kill her again, isn’t it likely that this karmic curse will continue?
“Ah, looking at it this way, things have indeed become troublesome!” Thinking of this, Jiang Liu sighed quietly to himself.
Indeed, I surely can’t return the Map of Mountains and Rivers to the Empress in advance, can I?
“Master, what should we do next? If the Empress has been resurrected, shall we just ignore it?” At this moment, Sha Wujing couldn’t help but step forward and asked Jiang Liu.
“This matter is indeed troublesome!” Upon hearing this, Jiang Liu wore a look of bitter contemplation.
As long as I’m still using the Map of Mountains and Rivers for leveling up, I’ll always owe karma to the Empress, and I can’t take matters into my own hands. This is a dead end.
Just like in ancient times, when a strand of Hongmeng Purple Qi descended upon Hongyun, countless people coveted it.
Originally, given the mindsets of Jieyin and Zhunti of the Western Religion, even if they already had Hongmeng Purple Qi, it was likely they would have tried to seize it, right?
After all, who would think such a supreme treasure is too much?
But in reality, Jieyin and Zhunti had no intention of participating in the struggle, presumably also because they owed karma to Hongyun and dared not act?
“We have all used the Map of Mountains and Rivers for cultivation, so we all owe karma to the Empress. Thus, if anyone is to strike her, it definitely can’t be us!” Jiang Liu sighed slightly and said.
“Alright then, who do we target next?” Hearing Jiang Liu’s words, Sun Wukong and the others naturally had no objections, but Sun Wukong was curious and asked again.
On the Journey to the West so far, we’ve arguably set our strategy to counterattack the Immortals and Buddhas.
Since we can’t strike against the Empress, then striking other Immortals and Buddhas is also fine. At the very least, during the final showdown, weaken the power of the Immortals and Buddhas as much as possible, right?
“And next…” Jiang Liu also pondered to himself.
If we can’t strike the Empress, perhaps next we’ll target Maitreya Buddha?
He’s already returned to the cultivation level of a Quasi-Saint, and slaying him indeed holds great value.
However, Yuanling has now become Maitreya Buddha’s confidant. With him by his side, perhaps at a critical moment, Yuanling can perform miraculously.
This would have a greater effect than if I slew Maitreya Buddha myself.
Thinking of this, the idea of targeting Maitreya Buddha is temporarily not urgent.
“Xiaobai…” After contemplating for a while, Jiang Liu’s gaze fell on the White Dragon Horse.
“Master, is there anything you need me to do?” Hearing Jiang Liu’s words, the White Dragon Horse responded.
“Do you remember why you were determined to join the Journey to the West for Scriptures initially?” Jiang Liu asked the White Dragon Horse.
“Of course, Master. It was to achieve enlightenment and then redress injustice for my uncle!” Hearing this, the White Dragon Horse replied earnestly.
“Very well, never forget your original intention. Now, Master will try to redress the injustice for your uncle, how about that?” Hearing Little White Dragon’s response, Jiang Liu smiled.
Redressing injustice, of course, only has meaning before the final epic battle.
Otherwise, if I end up overthrowing all the Immortals and Buddhas later, even if the injustice is redressed, the significance would be completely different, right?