Subsequently, the City God vacated the City God Temple, allowing Guanyin and Muzha to reside there, and then went elsewhere.
Over the next few days, Guanyin and Muchi wandered around Chang'an City, searching for the person who could go to the Western Paradise to obtain the scriptures.
However, what I never expected was...
Faced with this enormous city of tens of millions of people, its magnificent and prosperous scene almost made the two of them lose their way, let alone find the person who was on the pilgrimage.
On this day, Guanyin said, "Muzha, this humble monk has decided to take a risk. I will leave my body and enter the palace at night to dream of the emperor. If I can influence his mind, that would be good. If not, I can still report back to the World Honored One!"
When she said this, Guanyin was filled with grief and indignation. She never expected that, with her divine powers, she would not be able to find a single person with wisdom in this vast city of Chang'an.
This is a tragedy for Buddhism, and also a tragedy for Guanyin.
When Guanyin received the Buddha's order, she was overjoyed, for it showed the leader's high regard and trust in her.
It's just finding a pilgrim to retrieve the scriptures, it's a piece of cake.
Although he did put in some effort in subduing the various monsters, the process was smooth sailing and uneventful.
But to everyone's surprise, what was thought to be the simplest step turned out to be the most difficult. In the vast new empire with hundreds of millions of people, not a single person with the potential for enlightenment could be found.
What the hell is this?
In desperation, Guanyin, after much painful reflection, decided to take a desperate gamble, risking injury from the dragon's aura, to infiltrate the palace and strike at the emperor.
Her thinking was very simple.
To influence a country's policies, one must influence its leaders from top to bottom to completely reverse the decline of Buddhism in Jambudvipa (the southern continent of the Eastern Lands).
Then, things progressed fairly smoothly.
At the third quarter of the hour of Zi (11:45 AM), when the Yin energy between heaven and earth is at its peak, Guanyin's spirit left her body, sneaked into the imperial city, and entered Emperor Wang Jianguo's dream. She pretended that his lifespan was not long and ordered him to worship Buddha.
Fortunately, she retreated in time, slipping out of the imperial city before the human dragon energy could react.
Then, Guanyin and Muzha continued to disguise themselves as Taoist priests and wandered aimlessly through Chang'an City, waiting for further developments in the matter.
The next day, everything was calm.
Undeterred, Guanyin and her companion continued their stroll.
On the third day, Guanyin brought Muzha to the north gate of the inner city. They sat at a roadside stall, eating breakfast and drinking tea. In their ears, they could hear the voices of everyone in Chang'an City, except for the imperial city shrouded in the aura of human dragons.
Don't ask Guanyin where she got her money; the answer is that the Bodhisattva is never short of money.
At this moment, the north gate opened wide, signaling the end of the court session, and a group of ministers emerged from the imperial city in twos and threes.
The local people were already used to it, since court assemblies were held every few days. They would just occasionally look at the ministers with envious eyes.
Just then, the bearded old Taoist priest, who was actually Guanyin in disguise, twitched his ears and overheard what the officials who had left the court were saying.
Not only her, but Muzha could hear it clearly as well.
The two Taoist priests, one old and one young, exchanged a glance and both saw the excitement in each other's eyes.
The fish has finally taken the bait!
Guanyin was overjoyed and could no longer sit still. She took out several coins from her sleeve, placed them on the table, and then called Muzha to leave the place.
She needs to carefully consider what to do next.
………………
The Imperial City.
Xiao Ning and Wang Mang sat on the roof of the Golden Palace, enjoying barbecue and spiritual tea. The experience was indescribably wonderful.
"Master Xiao, why don't we just take action and capture that old woman Guanyin directly? Why bother with this scheme?"
The two men stared intently at the teahouse outside the north gate of the imperial city. To be precise, it was the two Taoist priests inside the teahouse. Wang Mang wiped his mouth and asked, puzzled.
"What do you know? To catch a thief, you need to catch him red-handed; to catch an adulterer, you need to catch them in bed!"
Xiao Ning rolled her eyes at him, annoyed, and explained, "The Buddhist sect is powerful and not so easy to mess with! If we act recklessly and forcibly kidnap Guanyin, we might not gain any righteousness or popular support! If Mount Ling turns around and accuses us of being demons, then we'll be in trouble!"
Forcibly kidnapping someone requires no skill whatsoever, and Xiao Ning disdains such tactics; nothing beats the efficiency of entrapment!
After looking up, Xiao Ning turned his head and stared intently at Wang Mang, asking suspiciously, "Wait a minute, old Wang, are you up to something? You should know such a simple thing!"
A thought struck him, and he asked, "You're not going to back out, are you? You came up with the idea, and if you change your mind at the last minute, that's not how you play the game!"
Wang Mang shook his head and sighed, saying, "I have no ulterior motives. It's just that going against Buddhism makes me a little nervous, a little excited, and a little uneasy!"
After all, the Buddha was someone Wang Mang had heard of in his previous life. Sun Wukong was quite arrogant, yet he was suppressed with a single palm strike.
The larger and more established a business is, the more cautious it becomes.
If it were when the country was on the verge of collapse and the family was destroyed, Wang Mang would not have had so many concerns.
Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose.
Things are different now; he has a large group of people following him around!
Hearing him say that, Xiao Ning finally realized what he meant and quickly encouraged him, "Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. There's nothing to be afraid of. Don't be a coward, just do it!"
"I will not back down, but I am afraid that something unexpected will happen and cause trouble!" Wang Mang sighed, full of entanglement.
"Alright, enough nonsense. Get ready. Guanyin will definitely enter the imperial city again tonight. When that happens, we'll trap her like a turtle in a jar, tie her up, and then settle accounts with Buddha!"