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Following the battle between Xu Xian and Buddha, a crackdown was quickly launched across the country targeting illegal martial arts practitioners, religious figures, and especially bald-headed individuals.
Then, a year later, with the help of three thousand town guards, the entire Han King's territory could barely be considered a peaceful and prosperous place.
At least, your life is guaranteed. You don't have to worry about being killed one night in your sleep by the aftermath of a fight between those high-flying thugs!
Three years later, the King of Han unified the country, and the Equal Field Edict was fully implemented, truly realizing the dream of the people to own land that had existed for thousands of years.
At that time, Xu Xian erected statues throughout the country, collected faith, and spread knowledge. A red light shone across the land, covering the entire nation!
Five years later, the persecution of Buddhism began in full swing. Monks under its rule were given an ultimatum: they must drink alcohol and eat meat, kill and set fires, have children with nuns, observe mourning, and have offspring to prevent their lineage from dying out!
In short, under the guise of filial piety and preventing the family line from dying out, they severely punished the remaining monks!
When it comes to filial piety towards parents and the continuation of the clan, Buddhist doctrines and precepts are directly demonized.
As a result, the monks on the ninth floor all returned to secular life. The remaining monks were either doing hard labor in the labor camp or had already found a crooked tree, bumped into it, and run to the Western Paradise to meet the Buddha.
Thus, Buddhism, which had flourished in China for tens of thousands of years, was completely eradicated. At the very least, its foundation in the human world was utterly destroyed.
At this point, Xu Xian began to manage the Buddhist grotto-heavens and blessed lands. Each time he conquered a grotto-heaven and blessed land, he would bring along the city-guarding deity and sacred human artifacts, causing countless red rays of light to cover the grotto-heaven and blessed land.
Under the red glow, all supernatural powers became ineffective. All methods were rendered useless.
During this time, Xu Xian fought three battles against Shakyamuni. In the first battle, he was at a disadvantage and was no match for him. He was defeated after only an hour of fighting. However, being in the capital, he was not afraid! Although he lost, he was able to hold off the Buddha.
In the second battle, Xu Xian was defeated again. But this time, the battle lasted for three days and three nights before Xu Xian finally returned in defeat.
In their third battle, the two fought again, this time for a full three months. In the end, Xu Xian was defeated again, but Buddha did not gain much advantage either.
In the end, the Buddhist faith in the Nine Provinces was completely wiped out. At best, some devout believers managed to escape unscathed.
It took Xu Xian a total of twenty years to reach this point! At that time, the entire human world could be considered a paradise.
However, for the immortals, there were many restrictions; flying freely was no longer possible! It was said that they would collide with airships. Therefore, before riding the clouds, they needed to report to the local government in advance, which was quite cumbersome.
Therefore, many hot-tempered immortals rushed up and slaughtered everyone, but because of the guardian deity of the city, many immortals were beaten to death and their souls were destroyed!
Over time, as the Han Kingdom grew stronger, the troubles of living in the Nine Provinces increased. The immortals gradually departed, and by this time, the entire human world was finally under Xu Xian's rule.
To put it in a very sophisticated way, it means that all land under heaven belongs to the king, and all people within the realm are his subjects!
Above all the lands, even immortals must obey orders. This is a golden age of humanity unparalleled since the Three Sovereigns!
However, Xu Xian knew that the immortals were all waiting, waiting for him, the new human emperor, to ride a crane to the west, or to have three thousand women and ride a dragon away.
That will be their time to act. Immortality gives them ample time to change everything and rewrite history. This is the most unsolvable aspect of the immortals, and the source of their confidence.
The immortals had their own plans, and Xu Xian knew the ins and outs of it, but what could he do? The immortals didn't provoke any trouble; instead, they left the Nine Provinces. No matter how far the human emperor's jurisdiction was, he couldn't control anything beyond the Nine Provinces.
What followed was a period of great development that lasted for decades. During this period, many heroes and outstanding figures emerged throughout the empire.
They included members of the Cao family such as Cao Zhen, Cao Zhi, Cao Zhang, and Cao Pi, as well as members of the Liu family such as Liu Zhang, Liu Shan, Liu Cong, Liu Yi, and Liu He.
Looking at his heroic subordinates and assessing their strength, Xu Xian directly contacted Yunxiao through Bai Suzhen's connections. He then approached the Ziwei Emperor to seek cooperation.
The cooperation involves working with the Heavenly Court to combat barbarians from beyond the borders and to destroy the heretical cult—the Brahma Sect.
At the time, the Heavenly Court debated the matter for some time. Ultimately, with the support of many powerful figures in the Taoist sect and the Jade Emperor, the Heavenly Court was responsible for providing intelligence. The actual fighting was left to the Human Emperor, Xu Xian.
In any case, from the Heavenly Court's perspective, neither the Western Buddhist sect nor Emperor Xu Xian were good people. If they could perish together, that would be the best outcome.
Then, Xu Xian's younger brother, a modern-day Buddhist leader who smokes, drinks, gets perms, marries, has children, and fights, led Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang, Xu Chu, and others on a pilgrimage to the West under the guise of obtaining Buddhist scriptures. While gathering intelligence, they also built a road for the army to pass through.
Along the way, they carved through mountains, drained rivers, transformed the world, and shifted stars, using their supernatural powers to build a road that could accommodate large armies and led directly to the Great Thunderclap Temple in the Western Paradise.
However, the Buddhist sect was not to be trifled with. Along the way, they laid numerous traps. For example, the bodhisattva's mount escaped, and the suppressed demon accidentally obtained a Buddha's magical artifact and descended to earth to devour people.
In short, they encountered many hardships and even calamities, and Buddhist bodhisattvas and Buddhas directly intervened.
Finally, with the help of many gods in Heaven, the pilgrimage team reached the Western Paradise without any major incidents, and a major road for invasion was also built.
Later, in popular folklore, this battle became known as the Journey to the West. Over time, it evolved into the story of a monk riding a white horse, accompanied by a monkey, a pig, and a monster, traveling to the Western Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures.
Finally, following the main road, the so-called religious war began!
The question that lingered in the hearts of the people—whether the human emperor or the Buddha was the greatest—led to a fierce battle between the two sides for a full sixty years.
Over the course of sixty years, the Han Dynasty grew stronger with each battle. Countless monks and immortals, moved by the crimson light, reformed themselves and became new people, dedicating their lives to the most magnificent cause in the world—the struggle for the liberation of mankind!
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Chapter 54: Aftermath and Return (Part 2)
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Sixty years later, the two sides fought a decisive battle beneath the Great Thunder Temple.
In this battle, Tathagata led many reclusive Buddhas to set up the Ten Thousand Buddhas Formation, backed by the incense offerings of the entire Vulture Peak over hundreds of thousands or even millions of years, and set up the formation to defend it.
Xu Xian, leading countless heroes and millions of soldiers, relentlessly attacked the entire formation. Millions of people from the land fought bravely, wave after wave.
This war lasted for twenty years. During those twenty years, a generation of people died in the human world, while Mount Ling consumed a full sixty percent of the incense offerings and spiritual energy it had painstakingly accumulated over the years.
Even the Buddha in the sacred mountain was killed in battle, with a third of his forces perishing. Left with no other choice, Tathagata activated the formation, pitting soldiers against soldiers and generals against generals, intending to kill Xu Xian and carry out the dragon-slaying ritual.
As a result, the two fought a great battle in the heavens, and on that day, countless rays of Buddhist light illuminated the entire world. All the people of the world were bathed in the Buddhist light, which lasted for a long time.