Two treasure maps

Chapter 111: Past Events in Heaven

Taiyi Zhenren pondered quietly, then slowly spoke: "In the past, our God Heaven Court was located in the thirty-fourth heaven, like a shining pearl in the heaven. After you met with misfortune, your brother Xingtian angrily declared war on the Emperor of Heaven. In that battle, the God Heaven Court was beaten down two layers of heaven and fell to the thirty-second heaven. Our great master, the Taishang Laojun, has profound cultivation and is still able to hold on to the thirty-third heaven. As for the other gods, some chose to retire to the mountains, and some disappeared, and their whereabouts are unknown and difficult to find."

At this point, he sighed and continued, "Afterwards, the smoke of the Conferred Gods Battle rose, and the Heavenly Court suffered another severe blow and was knocked down two layers of heaven. Eventually, the Empress established the Heavenly Court on the 30th layer of heaven and became the new ruler of the heavenly realm."

After hearing this, Guo Xiu couldn't help but feel an inexplicable feeling in his heart. He thought to himself, no wonder he had been looking for the way to the God's Heaven for all these years, but never found it. It turned out that the once glorious Heaven had already sunk to a lower level.

He couldn't help but ask, "What about the twenty-eight layers of heaven that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong, reached?"

Taiyi Zhenren smiled slightly, recalling that magnificent history: "After the empress took charge of the Divine Heaven, although she had made remarkable achievements, she eventually attracted the covetousness of the Sea Realm. The former Jade Emperor was able to ascend to the throne because he killed the Nine-Headed Dragon, the vanguard of the Sea Realm. He prevented the Sea Realm forces from invading the Heavenly Court and protected the peace of the Heavenly Realm."

Guo Xiu listened quietly without interrupting Taiyi Zhenren's recollection. After a while, Taiyi Zhenren continued, "But the nine-headed dragon did not really die, but turned into a nine-headed insect. During the reign of the former Jade Emperor, it continued to stir up trouble and created many incidents. But because it lost the support of the sea realm, it could only retreat to the Bi Bo Lake and form a world of its own, no longer posing a threat to the Heavenly Court."

After Guo Xiu pondered for a moment, he said with certainty: "Because the former Jade Emperor fell into evil, the Divine Heaven suffered another blow and fell three layers of heaven, becoming the current Immortal Heaven of the twenty-fifth layer."

Taiyi Zhenren nodded in agreement and said, "That's right. Today, the Divine Heaven is only in name only, and everyone has fallen into the mortal world. However, I believe that in this chaotic world, there must still be gods who can stick to their beliefs and maintain their cultivation. They may be hiding in a corner, silently guarding the peace of the heaven."

Guo Xiu frowned and thought for a moment, then said: "No, in addition to those gods who were cast down to the mortal world, there must be others who have ascended. Those who can maintain their cultivation and stay in the upper realm are the real gods in heaven."

He remembered that his great uncle Taishang Laojun once said that his master Tongtian Jiaozhu lived in the thirty-fifth heaven, which meant that he had never fallen down there. And the reason why his great uncle fell to the twenty-sixth heaven was not because he was knocked down, but because he was invited down by his master. So he was able to maintain his cultivation and stay in the upper realm. There would be a management level, and that management level was the real divine heaven.

Taiyi Zhenren gently sipped the tea, the bitter taste seemed to linger in his mouth for a long time. He sighed, his voice full of vicissitudes: "My fellow apprentices and I used to think so, and firmly believed in justice and light. But since the former Jade Emperor fell into the devil's way eight hundred years ago, we no longer think so."

When Guo Xiu heard this, he felt a strange feeling in his heart. He asked curiously, "Why is it so?"

Taiyi Zhenren put down the teacup, looked at Guo Xiu deeply, and asked slowly: "Do you know who founded the Demon Realm?"

Guo Xiu put down the teacup in his hand, frowned slightly, and had an ominous premonition in his heart. He thought for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Could it be someone I know again?"

Taiyi Zhenren laughed bitterly, with a hint of self-mockery in his voice: "The goddess Nuwa whom we once believed in is the founder of the demon world."

After hearing this, Guo Xiu was shocked. He could hardly believe his ears and said in a lost voice, "How could it be her?"

Taiyi Zhenren sighed, a trace of pain flashed in his eyes, and he laughed at himself. The laughter was full of bitterness and helplessness, and he almost laughed to tears: "Yes, how could it be her? Do you know what it feels like to have your faith collapsed?"

He stopped laughing and stared at Guo Xiu, with a deep light in his eyes: "No, you know. You were betrayed by your subordinates, and that feeling was not pleasant. And the subordinate who betrayed you actually reincarnated as a Buddha. You should feel more deeply than me, right?"

Guo Xiu smiled bitterly and shook his head helplessly: "Yes, the day I knew that the Buddha was him, I didn't want to think about anything else. I just wanted to learn how to be cunning and see how deep the layout of this world can be buried."

After hearing this, Taiyi Zhenren sighed softly, with a hint of regret in his voice: "After the Conferred Gods Battle, we killed three monsters and formed a life-and-death feud. Do you know where the three monsters are now?"

Guo Xiu frowned in thought, but Taiyi Zhenren did not wait for his answer and said directly: "They are now the Lord of the Nine-tailed Fox, the Lord of the Nine-headed Pheasant Spirit and the Lord of the Jade Pipa Spirit in the Demon Realm. They have many talented people under their command and a huge influence. The Monkey King Sun Wukong once fought against the corpse demon White Bone Demon, and she was one of the twelve disciples of the Nine-tailed Fox. Later, because of the great cause of obtaining the scriptures, the Demon Realm actually stopped. And I, after being contaminated by the devil's aura..."

Before he finished speaking, Guo Xiu interrupted him. His eyes were as sharp as a knife, piercing Taiyi Zhenren's heart: "There is no devil inside you, but there are devils around you, and there is a twin formation on your body. Obviously, the person who is contaminated with devilish energy is not you. If I am not mistaken, the person who is possessed by the devil should be Nezha, right?"

After hearing this, Taiyi Zhenren clapped his hands and laughed, with a hint of admiration in his eyes: "Sure enough, your eyes can see through everything and nothing can be hidden from you." His smile revealed a hint of helplessness and sadness.

Taiyi Zhenren recounted the past in a deep voice. His voice seemed to have traveled through time and space and returned to that turbulent era: "At the beginning, you were convicted for losing the colored glaze bead of your past life and present life. This bead is extremely important to the world, and its power can affect the fate of the entire world. Because of this, Master Yuanshi Tianzun arranged for Nezha, the spiritual bead, to reincarnate, and he became that important bead. This also made him the target of countless people. They all wanted to get him and restore him to the colored glaze bead of his past life and present life to obtain that extremely powerful power. Therefore, Nezha has suffered many disasters in this life. If no one protected him, he might not have lived to this day."

His voice seemed to have traveled through time and space, returning to that turbulent era. His eyes flashed with complex emotions, both nostalgia for the past and worries about the present.

Guo Xiu scoffed at this. Isn't it just a scam? In order to maintain the stability of the Heavenly Court, all the gods were deceived. No wonder many gods who were too proud to go along with the crowd left. The Heavenly Court fell again and again. The grudges were too heavy and the cause and effect were too deep. Guo Xiu suddenly had a flash of inspiration. If this was true, then Nezha's possession of the devil was the beginning of the disintegration of the Heavenly Court.