Chapter 14: Shen Gong Bao's Calculation

  On the top of a lush mountain peak, Shen Gong Bao descended from the clouds and sat cross-legged on a strange rock at the summit. He closed his eyes and meditated, inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for three days before finally concluding his practice and standing up. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stood at the summit, gazing out into the distance as countless thoughts swirled in his mind.

  Later generations all say that Shen Gongbao has a narrow heart and must report his grievances, but it's not bad. The reason why he resented Jiang Ziya was that during the Investiture of the Gods, he often obstructed Jiang's presiding over the investiture. Apart from this reason, most of it was because Jiang Ziya was also so despicable and secretly plotted against Shen Gongbao.

  Who says Jiang Ziya is dull and honest? He has mastered the art of war, and later led the three armies of Zhou to victory, using clever tactics to help Zhou destroy Shang. If he were indeed dull and honest, how could he have achieved such feats?

  The treacherous and cunning old man, Jiang Ziya is also like this, unexpectedly speaking without faith, secretly plotting behind his back, truly detestable. Shengong Bao's hatred for Jiang Ziya is not fake, previously at Qilin Cliff he indeed had the heart to tear him apart alive.

  Recalling the boundless sacred power of Yuanshi Tianzun, he was completely unable to resist. At that moment, Shen Gongbao truly felt that doomsday had arrived and death was so close to himself!

  If it weren't for Jiang Ziya's actions, how would I have ended up in this predicament?

  Fortunately, although the process of calculating with himself had some differences, the result was the same, and he temporarily escaped from the teachings and regained his freedom. Thinking of this, Shen Gongbao couldn't help but reveal a faint smile.

  Not bad, after getting "Huang Ting Nei Jing Jing", Shen Gong Bao was thinking about how to get rid of the Xuan Jiao, at least not to have anything to do with the Xuan Jiao.

  Being a disciple of the Saints has many benefits, such as being able to listen to the Saints' teachings from time to time. Moreover, when others hear that you are a disciple of the Saints, they will be cautious and not dare to provoke you, making it safe for you to travel across the vast continent.

  However, wherever there is a benefit, there must be a drawback. Shen Gong Bao opened his heavenly eye and looked directly at the cloud of merit he had created. At this time, the line of good fortune that connected to the teachings had already separated from the massive dragon body formed by the vast good fortune of the teachings.

  The relationship between merit and aura, Shengong Bao has not yet fully grasped it, only knowing that when merit is prosperous, aura is prosperous, and when karma is strong, aura declines. Aura is very elusive, and Shengong Bao's divine eyes cannot see it either. However, he can see the huge golden dragon coiled at the top of Mount Kunlun, covering the entire mountain peak without moving, but the things it inhales and exhales are all connected to the lines of merit on its body.

  Shen Gong Bao once used his divine eyes to observe that these lines of merit were formed by the accumulation of merits from all disciples and followers related to Xuan Jiao, among which the boundless merits on the body of Yuanshi Tianzun were the most prominent, followed by the merits on the bodies of the second-generation disciples of Xuan Jiao.

  After the golden dragon swallows and spits out the merits, the gathered aura forms the dragon's body, which in turn nourishes all the people of the sect. A layer of golden light envelops their bodies, protecting them from evil and bringing good fortune, making their cultivation path smooth and unobstructed. However, if one's innate qualities and opportunities are too poor, it will have little effect. The golden light shield only has an enhancing effect.

  Since there are such benefits, why did Shen Gongbao think of leaving the Tiantai School and wanting to be independent? There must be some deep thinking behind it.

  Here is the translation:

  Ever since he obtained the "Huang Ting Nei Jing Jing", Shen Gongbiao no longer cherished the opportunity to hear the sacred teachings of others. Who has heard the complete great way that Hong Jun Dao Zu lectured on in the Zi Xuan Palace for three thousand years? The great way taught by Yuan Shi Tian Zun is only a jade clear great way formed by loading his own understanding of the great way, although it is more popular and easier to understand than Hong Jun Dao Zu's three thousand great ways, but also loses some of its essence, after all, there is Yuan Shi Tian Zun's personal point of view.

  Secondly, it is a matter of personal virtues and destiny. Perhaps destiny is the most elusive existence, even Shen Gong Bao's divine eyes cannot see it, but it is possible that his divine eye ability is still very weak at present, and when his divine eye ability increases in the future, he may be able to see destiny as well. Although this is the case, Shen Gong Bao can still see the virtues and karma of himself and others, as well as the condensed dragon of destiny.

  Only by forming a sect or a country can the aura of the dragon be condensed, and only then can it be seen with one's own divine eyes. On his way back from the Cloud Child Cavern in the front, he had seen it on the Hongyuan Continent. Now, above the top of the Great Merchant City, there is a purple dragon swirling with purple energy. In addition, the four major vassal states around it also have smaller purple dragons that absorb and spit out virtues, and more than half of the aura of these four purple dragons has been swallowed by the purple dragon of the Great Merchant.

  Thus, it further solidified Shen Gongbao's speculation. He was certain that while Xuan Jiao's aura protected him, it also devoured his own aura to supplement itself.

  It doesn't matter, the two are interdependent, when the church prospers, I will prosper too, when the church declines, I will be unlucky too, one rises and falls together, there's nothing much to say.

  But the key is that according to the ending of the later generations' deification, Jiang Ziya and himself were undoubtedly calculated by Yuanshi Tianzun and eventually abandoned.

  To put it in simple terms, the teachings are like a country, Jiang Ziya is like an individual businessman, merits and virtues are like taxes, and the golden light shield that protects him is like national policy.

  I worked tirelessly with Jiang Ziya to help the gods, seemingly earning great merit, but at the same time I formed countless karmic ties with those who were made gods and those who died tragically in battle, gaining a heavy load of karma.

  Jiang Ziya only collected taxes (merits) during the process of sealing the gods, and naturally used the golden light shield to protect himself and his two companions. However, he didn't care about the karma at all. After the sealing of the gods was over, Jiang Ziya and his two companions would no longer be able to obtain great merits for themselves. At the same time, their massive karma deepened, their fortune declined, and their merits and karma were clearly out of balance.

  At this time, if the Tianyi again protects himself and the two of them with his own aura, he is obviously reducing his own aura. In this way, Yuanshi Tianzun naturally abandoned himself and Jiang Ziya.

  It's like when the country introduces policies, individual businesses make money, and the country naturally supports them. At the same time, taxes also increase, creating a win-win situation. However, if it is finally discovered that you have a large amount of debt (liabilities) and are already unable to pay your way out, the country will naturally let you go bankrupt. Those debts, the country won't help you repay them, you'll have to solve it yourself.

  It's the same with teaching, when you can't bring him merits and virtues, can't increase his aura, but instead consume your own aura to protect both of you, it's strange if you don't abandon them.

  To be honest, if Shen Gongbao were in the position of Yuanshi Tianzun himself, he would have done the same. Unfortunately, now that their positions are reversed and it's happening to him, Shen Gongbao can't tolerate it.

  Thus, Shen Gong Bao had once planned to devise a plan, leave the Yan Jiao, and stand alone. Although in the end, if he really did as later generations knew, making enemies with all the gods and Buddhas in the sky, sending them to the Sealing Gods List, his karma would certainly deepen, but Shen Gong Bao didn't care, he only needed to refine the Karma Merit List, as long as he could control his karma under the merit, it was fine. In this way, after becoming independent, the merit that wouldn't be swallowed by Yan Jiao could raise the upper limit of the karma he could bear, and the Karma Merit List could also be refined faster.

  Shen Gong Bao didn't know how much tax (gongde) was collected, but estimated it to be very heavy. It's likely that half of their gongde was taken away; otherwise, relying on the accumulated gongde from one kalpa, the two wouldn't have ended up like this even if they were affected by their karma in the end.

  He didn't think much of Shen Gongbao's protection, he was confident that with his understanding of history, he could make a name for himself and rise to prominence. If so, why should he let Tianyi swallow up most of his merits?

  But unexpectedly, the willow tree grew into a shade, and before he had a chance to come up with a good plan to leave the sect, he was caught by Jiang Ziya because of his momentary indulgence in verbal sparring. Now, he has been reported to Yuanshi Tianzun, who is furious and has expelled him from the sect.

  Some people say that Shen Gong Bao is temporarily unable to return to the sect, but after a hundred years of good behavior, he can still return to the Quan Sect.

  Shen Gong laughed at the nose, and asked himself to perform well in this life? Joke, in the later generations' records, he was very angry with the people of the church, let alone his own plan this time, how could it be related to good performance. Therefore, this church will not enter again in this life.

  Shen Gong stood at the top of the mountain for a long time, thinking about the possible calculations of Yuanshi Tianzun. Was he really angry and intolerable to expel himself from the sect, or was it a deeper calculation? Perhaps both were true.

  "Whatever, it's all the same anyway. Let's just see who's got a better plan next. We'll just have to wait and see! Hehe!" Shen Gongbao chuckled to himself, then stepped on a auspicious cloud and headed towards the East Sea.

  Shen Gong Bao didn't know that his guess was not off by a single bit. Every time the Heavenly Tribulation occurred, there would inevitably be two main protagonists, one positive and one negative. This time, the main protagonists of the Sealing Heaven Tribulation were undoubtedly Xuan Jiao and Jie Jiao, while Shen Gong Bao and Jiang Ziya were just two pawns.

  Yuanshi Tianzun saw the grudge between him and Jiang Ziya, so he was expelled from Kunlun Mountain. At that time, Jiang Ziya built an altar to worship the gods. Relying on his understanding of Shen Gongbao's vengeful personality, he would definitely hinder Jiang Ziya in every way. However, Yuanshi Tianzun subtly guided him, and as a result, the Jie teaching crowd was not within his calculations.

  It can be seen that Yuanshi Tianzun's calculation is indeed high-minded, but unfortunately he doesn't know that this Shen Gongbao is no longer the original Shen Gongbao. In the end, will the outcome be as expected by Yuanshi Tianzun?

  (The analogy between the country and the church is just something Qingfeng thought of randomly, if there's anything wrong or any relation to reality, don't delve too deep into it! *sweat* I woke up this morning and revised yesterday's chapter a bit, only to find out that it was counted as today's update, damn it, I didn't intentionally delay the update! Need to go ask Baidu how to use the backend... *sigh* Finished coding, time for review... *sweat*)