Chapter 1371: Chapter 618: Struggle for Faith, Reestablishing the Dharma King (Part 2)

"You all think so too?"

"No..." Old Man Bai waved his hand.

Tang Lingwu was nodding along at the side.

Qingnv grew curious: "Then what are you all thinking?"

Old Man Bai pointed at the Maitreya Body and said, "I’m wondering what bad idea this brat is cooking up."

"..."

Qingnv blinked, a little confused.

"Ever since I met Zheng Fa, this guy has never done a losing deal." Old Man Bai said lazily, "I think this Liuli Buddha is about to get screwed."

The Maitreya Body was a bit speechless.

Old Man Bai really didn’t know whether he trusted him too much or not at all.

"Selling Pure Spirit Water, that’s the Immortal Court’s idea."

"Huh?"

The Maitreya Body continued, "On the one hand, Thunder Sound Buddha inherited Leiyin Temple’s treasury, he’s rich, we definitely won’t lose out."

"On the other hand, the Supreme Elders of the Immortal Court are very wary of Thunder Sound Buddha, wary of the Emperor, even wary of Lu Yao."

"Wary of those three?"

Qingnv was stunned.

"Daoist Friend, you just said that right now we’re strong and Thunder Sound is weak, but have you thought about this: right now in the West Continent there are three Taiyi-level existences. Leiyin Temple... is actually far stronger than we are."

"The situation right now is very strange. It looks like it’s always Thunder Sound Buddha arranging the board, but does the Emperor really know nothing? And Lu Yao? What is he doing?"

Qingnv opened her mouth, but didn’t know how to answer this question.

Even Tang Lingwu and Old Man Bai’s expressions sank.

This was a very crucial question.

Ever since the talk of the Future Buddha spread, the Emperor and Lu Yao had both been like they’d lost all reaction, like idiots.

That was very abnormal.

Lu Yao was still understandable; maybe he’d already been controlled by the Emperor and lost his consciousness.

But has the Emperor really gone blind?

Keep in mind, this time the Dharma King Association was wiped out ninety-nine percent, Thunder Sound Buddha’s layout has been completely exposed.

"We’d guessed before that the Future Buddha was a pit, meant to resurrect the Emperor. But Thunder Sound Buddha took advantage of the situation and wants to use the Future Buddha to re-establish the Buddhist gate and perfect the Pure Land."

"That line of thinking is probably mostly correct."

"The problem is the Emperor’s silence. He seems to simply ignore us and the Dharma King Association."

Qingnv fell silent.

Old Man Bai also furrowed his brow, muttering, "If it were before, you could still say it was the effect of the Dragon Flower Tree, but now... who knows."

"Right. Before, I didn’t dare chase down those two Jile Heavenly Girls to the death, precisely because I was on guard against the Emperor." The Maitreya Body frowned. "But he’s made no move whatsoever. There are only two possibilities: first, maybe the position of Future Buddha has a major problem."

"The second is even more troublesome. I’m afraid they’re also preparing some conspiracy and simply have no heart to bother with us."

"What does that have to do with selling Pure Spirit Water to Liuli Buddha?"

"To attain the Future Buddha Dao faster. If we keep fighting Liuli Buddha, I’m afraid the longer it drags on, the more can go wrong."

Now Qingnv fully understood.

If they directly fought Liuli Buddha, then maybe the Emperor and the others would react; even if they didn’t, the Jile Heavenly Girls might help, and the two sides might end up locked in a stalemate.

Yet the Nine Mountains Immortal Court is very worried right now about what kind of trick the Emperor is pulling.

But selling Pure Spirit Water is different. That stuff can even turn Liuli Buddha into their helper, directly breaking the alliance between the Jile Heavenly Girls and Liuli Buddha, and more quickly eliminating the threat of Paradise Fragrance over the West Continent.

"What if the position of Future Buddha really does have a problem?"

"We still have to try." The Maitreya Body shook his head. "At worst, I die."

Those words left Qingnv at a loss for words.

Right, no matter what schemes the Emperor has, Maitreya isn’t afraid of death.

"Then what do you want to do?"

The Maitreya Body glanced out of the courtyard. Jianan walked in from the doorway, looking a bit uneasy as he saluted him.

"Are you willing to help us?"

Jianan pressed his lips together and said quietly, "Since the Sect Leader cultivates the cultivation method created by my Master, then he is my Leiyin Future Buddha."

Old Man Bai understood.

"You want to use the Dharma King Association to compete with Leiyin Temple for faith?"

"Exactly."

The Maitreya Body looked at Jianan, his eyes full of deeper meaning.

Pudu Temple has no real foundation in the West Continent, but the Dharma King Association is a True Inheritor branch of Leiyin Temple. More importantly, they seem able to borrow the power of the various Leiyin Sub-Temples everywhere.

Or, according to Jianan, they are simply one branch of Leiyin Temple; going into any sub-temple is like going home.

"But isn’t the Dharma King Association destroyed?"

Jianan lowered his head slightly.

To gather faith, you need a lot of manpower; right now the Dharma King Association... only has Big Cat and Little Miao and a couple others left.

He said to the Maitreya Body, "Dean Bai is absolutely right. If we want to compete with those Leiyin Temple disciples for faith, the Dharma King Association as it is now won’t do."

The Maitreya Body glanced at Tang Lingwu, and Tang Lingwu called out toward the outside: "Come in!"

Dozens of figures walked in from outside the door.

Old Man Bai took one look and immediately stood up: "Tian, what are you doing here?"

It wasn’t just Mrs. Tian; there was also Tang Mudao and cultivators from all major departments of the Confederation.

They were originally stationed in the modern world, yet today they had suddenly come here.

The Maitreya Body pointed at these people and said, "These are the manpower."

The three—Qingnv and the others—suddenly saw the light, but Jianan was still puzzled.

"If I give you ten million cultivators to rebuild the Dharma King Association and compete with those Leiyin Temple disciples for believers, can you do it?"

"Ten... million?"

Jianan’s eyes went wide.

He looked utterly confused, like he couldn’t grasp the number.

But seeing the expressions of the Maitreya Body and the three, he finally realized the Maitreya Body wasn’t joking.

When did the Dharma King Association ever have that many cultivators?

Forget the Dharma King Association.

Even Leiyin Temple doesn’t have that many people!

This was actually something the Nine Mountains Immortal Court had long planned.

Pudu Temple is essentially a colonial foothold for modern cultivators; now that the timing is relatively ripe, it’s relatively safe for ten million modern cultivators to enter the West Continent.

But Old Man Bai shook his head, muttering, "As snake-oil preachers we students aren’t exactly professionals."

"Of course not." The Maitreya Body smiled. "If all I wanted was people burning incense and bowing to Buddhas, what would I need this many people for?"

Jianan was a bit dazed: "What does the Sect Leader mean then..."

The Maitreya Body stood up and said, "I know what the old Leiyin Temple was like, but the Leiyin Temple now—or rather, our Pudu Temple’s doctrine—must be different from before."

"What is great compassion? What is bodhi? Do you not understand?"

Of course Jianan understood; he fell silent.

Old Man Bai also nodded. "Poverty relief and promoting education, that’s what we’re good at. Even if we’re bad at cultivation, we know how to do that."

Not just Old Man Bai.

Mrs. Tian and the others’ tightly furrowed brows also relaxed.

If it were about doing spooky religious stuff, they really weren’t more professional than Leiyin Temple.

More importantly, that wouldn’t fit the理念 of the Nine Mountains Immortal Court and the Confederation and would easily cause controversy.

"No wonder you need ten million cultivators."

Jianan said bitterly.

He understood Pudu Temple’s current model very well; the most important thing, in fact, was powerful execution—namely a large number of cultivators who could actually practice Maitreya’s doctrine.

But Maitreya’s doctrine is the grandest and the hardest type.

In other words, Leiyin Temple’s previous governance might have been eighty percent propaganda, twenty percent governance.

But Maitreya’s doctrine is forty percent construction, forty percent governance, and the remaining twenty percent propaganda.

The difficulty between the two is worlds apart.

"If we don’t do this, how can we re-establish the Buddhist Law?" The Maitreya Body looked at Jianan and said seriously, "If we don’t do this, then the Leiyin Ancestor Master’s plotting has no meaning."

Jianan let out a soft sigh and nodded, then suddenly said:

"I think we should change the name."

"Change the name?"

Jianan said, "Originally the Dharma King Association only existed to choose the Future Buddha, so it used the words ’Dharma King.’ Now... there’s nothing left to choose."

"As for Pudu Temple... the common folk of the West Continent aren’t familiar with it. If we want them to change their faith in a short time, it’s best to use a name they know well."

That did make some sense.

Everyone stared at the Maitreya Body. He pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled:

"Since what we practice is the Mahayana Buddhism of saving all beings, and we’ve inherited the Dharma King Association, which is a branch of Leiyin Temple, then let’s be straightforward and call it..."

"Great Leiyin Temple."

Old Man Bai sprayed a mouthful of tea, almost choking.