Journey to the West: Tang Monk Conquers Everything

Chapter 78 Yuan Shoucheng is not Yuan Shoucheng

"My uncle?" Yuan Tiangang looked at Jiang Liu in surprise, obviously not expecting that Jiang Liu would suddenly bring up his own uncle.

However, he nodded, "Indeed, I do have an uncle named Yuan Shoucheng. How does Master Xuanzang know of him?"

"Just now, as the poor monk was walking through Chang'an City, I saw a fortune-telling stall. Noticing the owner bore a striking resemblance to you, I had a brief conversation with him," Jiang Liu responded with a slight nod.

"My uncle, when he has nothing better to do, likes to use my name to tell fortunes and earn some silver coins. It's just that his divination skills are not proficient. I fear Master Xuanzang might find it amusing," Yuan Tiangang said with an embarrassed expression upon hearing Jiang Liu's words.

"Is that so?" Jiang Liu tensed up when he heard Yuan Tiangang's reply.

Looking at the original story, it is indeed within the Dragon King's duties to command the rains, but to be executed just for slightly missing the timing and withholding a few points of rain?

This doesn't make any sense at all.

Logically speaking, in such a case, at most the Jade Emperor would be informed, and the Dragon King would be assigned a penalty for dereliction of duty, perhaps a mild punishment?

Otherwise, if the heavenly rules were really that strict, even with several more doses of courage, the Dragon King of Jing River wouldn't dare to fudge the figures, right?

Besides, in the original story, weren't there several instances of tampering with the weather? During the battle in Chechi Kingdom, the Five-Thunder Technique was used to summon the wind and rain divinities to prepare for rain, but Sun Wukong jumped up to stop it, wasn't that also a delay?

When fighting Red Boy, Sun Wukong also asked the Dragon King for rain; and for preparing a medicine for the King of Zhuzi Country with rootless water, Rain was summoned, wasn't that private rainmaking?

If the matter of rainfall was really so strict, all these individuals would have been executed.

Therefore, the execution of the Dragon King of Jing River can be regarded as him being used as a pawn and sacrificed by others.

Yuan Shoucheng is even more mysterious. The decree of the Jade Emperor should have been passed down from top to bottom to the Dragon King of Jing River, as internal communications within the system are supposed to be the fastest, right? Yet, strangely, he knew about it even earlier than the Dragon King of Jing River, which is completely illogical.

Besides, when the Dragon King of Jing River went to smash his stall, Yuan Shoucheng immediately predicted that the Dragon King would suffer a strike. The Jade Emperor's decree hadn't even been issued yet, how did he know in advance? And even who would carry out the execution, Wei Zheng?

In the world of Journey to the West, it's not surprising for someone in the world to possess great supernatural powers, but divination so potent that it could forecast the affairs of the Jade Emperor beforehand? Jiang Liu absolutely did not believe this.

Therefore, upon meeting Yuan Tiangang, he had casually asked, and Yuan Tiangang's answer had also left Jiang Liu feeling a sense of dread.

It seems that the real Yuan Shoucheng may no longer exist, and fortunately at that time, although I intended to save the Dragon King of Jing River as much as possible, I did not exhibit anything unreasonable.

Jiang Liu asked casually, and Yuan Tiangang thought nothing more of it. Subsequently, the Emperor of Tang personally conferred the title of Holy Monk of Great Tang upon Jiang Liu.

The ceremony was already well-prepared, so naturally, it was a lively affair.

However, Jiang Liu's mind was preoccupied with the matters of his Journey to the West, somewhat absent-minded.

In Jiang Liu's view, after the time-consuming fuss of the ceremony was finally over, he returned to the Great Buddha Temple.

Without the urgency to head to the Demon-Suppressing Hall for leveling up through combat, he sat cross-legged and continued to cultivate the Heavenly Dragon Zen Sound technique, to enhance his Experience Points, also properly waiting for the conclusion of the Dragon King of Jing River's fate tomorrow.

Although the entirety of the Dragon King of Jing River's situation was also a trap, I had warned him, but could he truly alter his destiny?

The next day, several disciples from the Great Buddha Temple packed their bags, preparing to leave the temple to perform religious services. From a distance, they saw Jiang Liu's Zen Room and could see him sitting by the window, gazing up at the sky.

"Hey, brother, the Holy Monk seems to have been staring out the window lost in thought since early this morning, what do you think he's pondering? Could it possibly be he's thinking about Princess Gaoyang?" A young monk whispered.

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"Silence!" A slightly older monk beside him said sharply, his face darkening as he spoke in a low voice.

As they spoke, they also looked towards Jiang Liu, sitting by the window. After a brief silence, he said, "Although the Holy Monk is young, his 'Formless Gatha' is recited throughout the world. His understanding of the Buddhist Law is profound, far beyond what we can imagine. Perhaps he spent the entire day contemplating Buddhist teachings?"

Jiang Liu sat quietly by the window, watching the sky. He had risen early that day. Although he hadn't heard the entire bet between the Dragon King and Yuan Shoucheng the day before, he still remembered the number of raindrops.

Thus, today Jiang Liu waited patiently, waiting for the rain, thinking that if the Dragon King lost the bet, there might still be a slim chance of survival. Otherwise, the situation would be far more terrifying than he had imagined...

"Greetings to the Holy Monk!" Several disciples from the Great Buddha Temple passed by and bowed respectfully to Jiang Liu.

"Hmm, greetings to you as well. Where are you headed?" Jiang Liu returned the gesture, his demeanor approachable.

"Esquire Li, who lives fifty miles away, has invited us to perform a rite, to help lost souls transcend," the oldest monk replied upon hearing Jiang Liu's question.

"Fifty miles, huh? You should take umbrellas with you. If I am not mistaken, it's going to rain today," Jiang Liu said, offering a reminder.

"Rain... rain...?" The monks were momentarily stunned and then looked up at the clear blue sky, which didn't look like it was about to rain at all.

However, since the Holy Monk had spoken, the elder monk thought for a moment and then turned around, instructing everyone to bring an umbrella.

Boom… Boom…

Thunder rumbled as clouds surged in.

Just as they had picked up umbrellas and were about to leave the Great Buddha Temple, the sky suddenly roared with thunder, and dense clouds appeared from nowhere.

Before long, a torrential downpour followed.

"This... the Holy Monk really is prescient..." The disciples, who had not yet left the temple, looked at each other with faces filled with amazement.

Jiang Liu was not surprised by the rain; he just waited quietly.

After about two to three hours, when the clouds and rain began to clear, Jiang Liu stepped outside and asked the monks in the temple about today's rainfall amount.

Upon hearing Jiang Liu's inquiry, the disciple, although also finding it strange, still ran to make a careful measurement, and then answered respectfully, "Reporting to the Holy Monk, today's rainfall was three feet and forty points."

"It's over..." Hearing this number, Jiang Liu felt a heaviness in his heart.

Although he could not recall the exact time, Jiang Liu remembered the rainfall amount clearly. Yuan Shoucheng had said it would be three feet, three inches, and forty-eight points.

At this moment, with the numbers not matching, it was clear that, just like in the original story, the Dragon King of Jing River had withheld some of the rain, delaying the appointed time for the rainfall.

With the amount of rainfall incorrect, there was nothing worth watching regarding the Dragon King of Jing River causing a ruckus in front of the awning.

Jiang Liu sighed and returned to his Zen Room, sitting down to cultivate.

His time was running out.

Indeed, within a couple of days, a major event that shook Chang'an City occurred.

A dragon's head fell from the clouds, drawing crowds of onlookers. Qin Shubao happened to be passing by, picked up the dragon's head, and went to report to the palace...