Chapter 148: Taoist Duobao

"Let's go, Senior Bai Ze. Now We feel that this Yuxu Palace, guarded by a saint, isn't all that terrifying after all," Jiang Yuan said with a faint smile.

"The Human Sovereign is probably the one who has the least reason to be afraid, isn't he?" Bai Ze remarked calmly.

"Why?" Jiang Yuan asked, puzzled.

"Because of the Human Sovereign's destiny and fortune," Bai Ze explained.

With the protection of the Human Sovereign's fortune, who could possibly kill Jiang Yuan? Who would dare to?

The higher someone's cultivation realm, the more constrained and cautious they became, as no one could bear the immense karmic backlash.

Saints were no exception, which meant Jiang Yuan should be the safest person on this trip.

Jiang Yuan smiled faintly. Thinking about it that way, Bai Ze wasn't wrong; he was indeed protected by the Human Sovereign's fortune.

Yet, there would always be those reckless enough to risk death. Moreover, the截教 (Jiejie Sect) was unlike any ordinary place, and the methods of a saint were entirely beyond his comprehension.

Who knew if the Master of Heaven might have a way to bypass karmic backlash altogether?

Such matters remained completely unpredictable.

What was most terrifying was that Jiang Yuan realized he seemed to have completely overlooked the existence of Hongjun!

This was a being transcending the saints, capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Heavenly Dao itself!

Though this supreme deity had never shown his face or interfered in the affairs of the Primordial World, no one dared to truly ignore his existence.

The three supreme deities of antiquity: Patriarch Pangu opened the heavens, Patriarch Hongjun disseminated the Dao, and Patriarch Fuxi sought the Dao.

These were all entities Jiang Yuan could not afford to provoke.

If Hongjun had been paying attention to the Primordial World all along, would he be aware of his true existence?

Would he know that he was a transmigrator?

Or had Hongjun already completely fused with the Heavenly Dao, turning into emotionless rules?

Jiang Yuan found that the higher his cultivation realm grew, the more troublesome matters seemed to surround him.

As it turned out, knowing too much wasn't necessarily a good thing.

This civil war among mankind might simply be a fuse, destined to ignite some massive tribulation.

Ever since Jiang Yuan transmigrated, many events had deviated from their original trajectory.

For instance, Daji had not caused the deaths of Queen Jiang and Bi Gan; Nezha and Yang Jian were serving the Great Shang; and Madam Shiji had not been burned to death by Master Taiyi.

All of these signs foretold that everything was changing.

So much so that the outcome of this Investiture of the Gods tribulation remained utterly uncertain.

No one knew whether the Heavenly Court could actually be established, nor did anyone know if the Shang Dynasty could continue to exist.

Jiang Yuan felt he was letting his imagination wander too far; he still had to figure out whether he could even survive this tribulation.

"Are the disciples of the Jiejie Sect all inside Yuxu Palace?" Jiang Yuan asked out of curiosity.

Bai Ze shook his head. "Unclear."

When it came to a saint's Dao field, he truly could not perceive anything at all.

"Then let's go inside."

The two arrived at the grand entrance of Yuxu Palace, where a serene-faced Daoist with a warm smile asked them, "Are the two of you here to seek apprenticeship?"

"What does the Daoist priest think?" Jiang Yuan countered.

Looking at this person's appearance, Jiang Yuan found him somewhat familiar: his head was rather bald, and his earlobes were remarkably large, giving him the look of someone blessed with great fortune.

"This poor Daoist believes that whether the two of you are here to seek apprenticeship or not, you are destined to see my master," the Daoist said mysteriously.

Jiang Yuan thought to himself: why did this guy have to sound so enigmatic?

"Is the Daoist priest's master the Master of Heaven?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Precisely," the Daoist replied calmly.

"Might you grant Us passage?" Jiang Yuan asked again.

"The path is right there. This poor Daoist is not blocking the Human Sovereign; please pass through freely."

Jiang Yuan felt on the verge of a breakdown. As expected, every single disciple of the Master of Heaven was an eccentric; what was wrong with this gatekeeper?

Why did he have to speak in such a philosophical manner?

"Does the Daoist priest know Our identity?" Jiang Yuan frowned.

"With the Human Sovereign's fortune burning so brightly, there can be no one else."

To be able to discern his identity at a single glance meant this Daoist's cultivation level was extremely high, at least at the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm.

Otherwise, seeing through his aura would have been utterly impossible.

"Senior Bai Ze, how does this Daoist's cultivation compare?" Jiang Yuan asked via telepathic transmission.

Bai Ze merely shook his head and offered no telepathic reply.

This left Jiang Yuan gazing suspiciously at the Daoist. Could this fellow actually overhear the telepathic communication between him and Bai Ze?

The Daoist continued to smile warmly, leaving Jiang Yuan baffled as to why Bai Ze hadn't replied telepathically but instead made such an obvious head-shaking gesture.

Wasn't that practically tipping off outsiders that they were conversing mentally?

"Does Senior Bai Ze happen to know this Daoist's identity?" Jiang Yuan asked again, perplexed, through telepathic transmission.

He could actually check the Daoist's information via his system, but he wanted to test whether this Daoist could truly intercept mental conversations.

This question received no response from Bai Ze either, not even a physical gesture.

What was going on here?

Just as Jiang Yuan was feeling puzzled, the gatekeeping Daoist spoke up.

"If the Human Sovereign wishes to know this poor Daoist's identity, why not simply ask me?"

What the hell!

He really could hear his inner thoughts, and Bai Ze was such an old fox for failing to warn him!

In truth, it wasn't that Bai Ze hadn't tried to warn him; Jiang Yuan had simply failed to notice. After all, Bai Ze hadn't spoken to him mentally either.

For a moment, Jiang Yuan felt deeply awkward, an experience akin to a social death.

"Then might the Daoist priest enlighten Us as to your identity?" Jiang Yuan asked, staring at the Daoist.

"What identity does the Human Sovereign think this poor Daoist possesses?"

Damn it all, Jiang Yuan was truly reaching his limit with the temperaments of these Jiejie Sect disciples.

Once again, the guy was telling him to ask.

And after asking, he would just turn it right back around on him! What was wrong with these people?

Too lazy to bicker with the Daoist any further, Jiang Yuan directly invoked the system to inspect the Daoist's profile.

Character: Duobao Daoist
Title/Position: Chief Disciple of the Master of Heaven (Later enlightened by Laozi to become Tathagata Buddha, the Sovereign of the Western Buddhist Realm)
Realm: Semi-Saint
Possessions: Seven-Treasure Pagoda
Cultivation Technique: Eight-Foot-Six Golden Body
Mount: Supreme Nine-Martial Bird
Loyalty: 00
Favorability: 60
Tyrant Points Obtainable: 8,000

Seeing these stats left Jiang Yuan dumbfounded. The Duobao Daoist?

The number-one heavyweight beneath the Master of Heaven in the Jiejie Sect?
The future Tathagata Buddha.

No wonder he looked so familiar, and so bald—he clearly had an affinity with Buddhism.

The crucial question was: why on earth was the chief disciple of the Jiejie Sect acting as a gatekeeper here?

Jiang Yuan was bewildered. This was a heavyweight on the exact same level as Bai Ze.

8,000 Tyrant Points—how utterly tempting, Jiang Yuan mused to himself.

If he were to personally kill a few semi-saints, would that allow him to accumulate enough Tyrant Points to ascend to Sainthood?

Of course, Jiang Yuan was just daydreaming. Setting aside whether semi-saints were easy to kill, it was absolute certainty that ascending to Sainthood could never be that simple.

If one could truly ascend merely by accumulating Tyrant Points, he might as well just find a spot to farm monsters.

Achieving Sainthood required a destined opportunity, or else Bai Ze wouldn't have sought him out.

His opportunity was himself, but what would his future opportunity be?

"So it is Senior Duobao Daoist," Jiang Yuan said with a faint smile.

"I wonder why Senior has chosen to keep watch at the gates of Yuxu Palace?"

"My master instructed me to come, saying that an honored guest was arriving and bidding me to personally come out and welcome them."

"Upon seeing the Human Sovereign, this poor Daoist finally understands who my master meant by an honored guest," Duobao Daoist said with a faint smile.

These words sent a jolt through Jiang Yuan's heart. The Master of Heaven knew he was coming?