The boy dropped the palm-leaf fan in his hand, responded, and left the Tushita Palace. The heavenly soldiers and generals guarding the Heavenly Palace made way for him, and he soon arrived at the Lingxiao Palace.
"Reporting to the Great Celestial Venerable, the Master requests your presence!"
Upon seeing the Jade Emperor, the Golden Horned Taoist Boy spoke in a clear voice.
Upon hearing Laozi's summons, the Jade Emperor dared not delay and immediately dropped what he was doing to follow the Golden Horned Boy to the Tushita Palace.
"Child, do you know why the Grandfather summoned me?"
Halfway there, the Jade Emperor had a sudden thought and asked the Golden Horned Boy a question.
"The child does not know!"
Golden Horn shook his head and replied in a cute way.
No one would have guessed that the mighty Golden Horn King, who beat Sun Wukong so badly that he was crying for his parents, was actually this little kid who looked less than three feet tall.
Seeing that he could not get any information from him, the Jade Emperor's expression remained unchanged, but he secretly wondered to himself, "The time for Buddhism to spread to the east is approaching, but the Taoist Ancestor has summoned me at the last minute. Could it be that there has been a change in the Journey to the West?"
Before long, the two arrived at the Tushita Palace. The Golden Horned Boy reported to Laozi, "Master, the Great Heavenly Venerable has arrived!"
Laozi waved his hand and grunted, and the Golden Horned Taoist boy quietly withdrew.
"Greetings, Dao Ancestor!"
The Jade Emperor respectfully bowed and stood aside, listening to Laozi's instructions.
Lao Jun glanced at him indifferently and said, "The Heavenly Dao has changed. Two outsiders have come to this world. They have changed the original history of the Southern Continent. The Great Tang Dynasty of the East, which should have appeared, is gone. In its place, a more powerful and prosperous new empire has emerged!"
"The Buddha is in trouble this time regarding the eastward spread of Buddhism!"
If one is truly the ruler of the world, one should treat every person and every power in the world with fairness and justice.
After all, they are all their own children, and there is no difference between them.
However, that powerful being was himself a member of the Taoist sect, and Laozi, as his avatar, naturally had preferences and biases, favoring Taoism and disliking Buddhism.
Although in this great calamity of the era, under the operation of the Heavenly Dao, the Daoist sect is destined to hide, while the Buddhist sect's fortune will greatly increase.
However, Laozi doesn't mind giving Buddhism a little trouble and adding some fun to their peaceful lives.
In the original story, that's exactly what he did: he sent the two boys, Jin and Yin, to the human world to become great demon kings who wreaked havoc on humanity, becoming a major calamity for Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures.
Now, two outsiders have barged in, completely disrupting the plans for the eastward spread of Buddhism.
Laozi was naturally pleased with the outcome, and he wanted to add some seasoning to this pot of delicious food.
"What? Outsiders?"
Upon hearing this, the Jade Emperor frowned in surprise. With a thought, he used his position as the Great Heavenly Venerable to connect with the Heavenly Dao and quickly learned the whole story.
"So that's how it is. You were the one who extorted the monkey demon, and now you've kidnapped Guanyin, trying to extort Buddha too? How interesting!"
Soon, the Jade Emperor sorted out his thoughts and a smile appeared on his face.
"May I ask what instructions the Patriarch has?"
Thinking of this, the Jade Emperor smiled knowingly and asked Laozi a question.
"You bestow this title upon him in the name of the Heavenly Court, dragging him onto the chariot of my Daoist sect, so that Buddha may know that my Daoist sect is not a soft target to be manipulated!"
The kind-faced Laozi quickly made a decision.
"Imperial conferment? The Dao Ancestor's words make sense. However, many innate divine positions have already been bestowed, so it is not appropriate to confer a suitable divine position now!"
The Jade Emperor raised an eyebrow and said with difficulty.
"Although this person is only at the True Immortal Realm, he can still fight against Celestial Immortals. His combat power is unparalleled, making him an invaluable asset! The position of the Western Heavenly Emperor has been vacant for a long time. The Great Heavenly Venerable should make a decision!"
Upon hearing his words, Laozi immediately understood his ulterior motives: he was simply afraid of being threatened with his own rule.
Suppressing the virtuous and eliminating dissidents.
He is truly a short-sighted and narrow-minded person.
Since the unexpected death of Emperor Gouchen many years ago, the position of Emperor of the Western Pole has been vacant, but the Jade Emperor has yet to decide on a successor.
Laozi, however, already knew their intentions. He merely wanted to use the imperial throne as a carrot before the donkey pulled the millstone, enticing the celestial officials to do their utmost for the Heavenly Court.
This was an open scheme. Although the celestial officials had some idea of the Jade Emperor's intentions, they were all helpless. Before the question of the throne was resolved, no one dared to slack off.
However, Laozi considered this move to be a poor strategy, as the Jade Emperor was preoccupied with figuring out the ways to maintain a balance of power among mortal emperors.
Little did they know that cultivators ultimately revere strength, and might makes right.
Those who fixate on petty gains will ultimately lose the support of the people.
If it weren't for his position as the Heavenly Emperor, his position as the supreme ruler of the Three Realms would have been taken away long ago.
Laozi was very disappointed with the Jade Emperor's performance in recent years, but he did not show it.
The Jade Emperor was unaware that just moments before, Laozi had become utterly disappointed in him, and after much deliberation, he still couldn't make up his mind.
However, the more this happened, the more disappointed Laozi became.
"Fine, fine, that's enough. Do as you please!"
Disappointed, Laozi turned away and refused to look at him again.