Chapter 161: Secret Lore of Buddhism!

"Hahaha, brother-in-law! You must come and visit my residence when you have time!" After stepping out of the inner courtyard, since Li Tai lived within the palace grounds, he bade farewell to Li Yi.

Li Yi cupped his fists with both hands and smiled faintly. "Alright, alright! I will definitely visit when I have time!"

"Very well! Then I shall take my leave first!"

"Take care, Your Highness!"

...

After Li Tai departed, there were no outsiders left, allowing Li Yi to finally relax. He rubbed his slightly dizzy head, desperately wanting to complain. Dammit, who on earth said that grape wine doesn't get you drunk? Step right up! I'll treat you to a drink.

"Hey! Weide, where are you off to?"

"Where else? To the Chamber of Commerce headquarters, of course!"

"Alright then! I won't walk you out!"

"Brother Yi, it really isn't good of you to be so biased toward beauty over friendship. Besides, Changle is coming back to the headquarters with me!"

"I know! You go on ahead, I'll personally escort Changle!"

Li Ke was choked with speechlessness. "Brother Yi, you win!"

Changle let out a soft laugh and pinched Li Yi lightly. "Stop playing around. It'll be fine for me to just go back with Third Brother!"

Li Yi scratched his head awkwardly. "I really don't mind walking you!"

"No need, really. Third Brother and I have some business to take care of at the headquarters! Besides, I'm coming over to your place tonight to listen to stories anyway! It won't be long!"

"Why wouldn't it be long? That's two and a half double-hours! I feel uncomfortable if I don't see you for even a quarter of an hour!"

Li Ke, listening from the side, shivered involuntarily! "I say, Brother Yi, can you be a bit more mindful? I'm still standing right here!"

"I know! So what if you are? What does that have to do with me?"

"Damn it!"

Changle gently patted Li Yi. "Alright! Cut the nonsense. I'm leaving now, be careful on the way!"

"En! You too! Mwah~!" After blowing a kiss to Changle, Li Yi turned to Li Ke and said, "Oh? Weide? You haven't left yet? Perfect, please help me escort Changle back to the headquarters. Many thanks!"

"Pfft~! Brother Yi, you're truly shameless, I completely surrender to you. Changle, let's hurry up and leave! I don't want to lay eyes on him again until tonight's story session!"

Changle let out a giggle and shook her head helplessly!

After bidding farewell to Li Yi, the two of them departed in each other's company!

Once Changle vanished from sight, Li Yi familiarly tracked down Juechen and strolled leisurely back toward his estate!

"Juechen! *Sigh*! It's just the two of us again. You're still the best, you'll never abandon me. I knew you loved me... Hey, hey, hey, what kind of look is that? Are you judging me? Damn it! Just look at how fat you've become, have I ever judged you? ... And you're nodding? You get fat and people aren't even allowed to mention it? What kind of horse are you anyway? Believe it or not, I'll divorce you? ... Damn it, you're actually begging me to divorce you? Fuck it, you're not allowed on my bed tonight! Pah! Tonight you're not getting any melamine-laced fodder!"

...

Leading Juechen while singing a song, taking small steps and burping along the way; flirting with maidens he met along the road: What's your Datang's QQ!

Somewhat intoxicated, swaying three steps for every one forward, he finally returned to the Li estate. The moment he stepped through the front gate, he saw a fleshy mass lunging directly toward him!

Li Yi was already tipsy and didn't look closely at all. He instinctively unleashed a blocking and counter-punch. Hearing a miserable shriek, Li Yi was jolted completely awake on the spot!

"Senior Brother? Oh my! Who knocked you to the ground? Damn! You actually got beaten up inside the Li estate? This is outrageous! Someone come..."

"Junior Brother! Junior Brother! Stop shouting! Senior Brother is fine!" The person sprawled on the ground was none other than Yuan Tiangang. Looking at Li Yi's bloodshot eyes, he couldn't tell whether Li Yi was genuinely drunk or just putting on an act, but for now, he could only resign himself to bad luck!

"Ah? You're fine? If you're fine, why are you still lying on the ground? It's not that I want to lecture you, Senior Brother, but this habit is really bad. Leaving aside how dirty the ground is, what if you catch a cold? Get up quickly!"

Watching Li Yi's deadpan, serious expression, Yuan Tiangang almost spat a mouthful of blood. He finally realized that no amount of self-cultivation over decades could ever withstand Li Yi's shameless onslaught!

"Enough! Junior Brother, let's go to your courtyard to talk!" Yuan Tiangang now only wanted to get away from this place. Having a junior brother like this—he truly couldn't tell whether it was a blessing or a curse!

Li Yi supported Yuan Tiangang all the way to the back courtyard, seated him in the main hall, and ordered Sanzi to serve tea before finally speaking: "Senior Brother, you came looking for me—is something the matter?"

Hearing this, Yuan Tiangang instantly became agitated! "Junior Brother! It's not that Senior Brother is complaining, but you are too unprincipled! To perform *The Investiture of the Gods* without even calling your Senior Brother? This is a chance to bring glory to Taoism, how could Senior Brother not be present?"

"Oh? Senior Brother has heard about this too?"

"How could I not have heard about it! I dare not ignore even the slightest movement concerning Taoism nowadays!"

"What's the situation?"

Yuan Tiangang sighed heavily and said, "Alas! Does Junior Brother know of Master Xuanzang?"

"Of course I know him! What about him?" *Damn! It's Tang Monk, isn't it? Who doesn't know him? Could Senior Brother be planning to go on a pilgrimage for scriptures together?*

Yuan Tiangang stood up, walked to the doorway, gazed out at the horizon, and said leisurely, "Ever since the former Sui unified the realm, Buddhism began to rise aggressively, developing rapidly especially under the strong support of the two former Sui emperors. However, Buddhism was, after all, a foreign import, whereas our Taoist tradition possesses a historical foundation stretching back over a millennium—not something Buddhism can easily shake. Yet, as Buddhism developed with increasing swiftness while Taoism became more and more scattered like loose sand, our side has gradually begun to struggle! Still, Taoism's foundation is profound after all, and Buddhism was still not quite enough to contend with us on equal terms!"

"Until the Wude era! At that time, His Majesty fought an earth-shattering war against Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande in the Eastern Capital of Luoyang, lasting nearly ten months. For the first nine months, the fighting was exceptionally brutal. His Majesty's grand army launched fierce assaults on the Zheng capital of Luoyang, yet the city walls were sturdy and the enemy stubborn; despite repeated attacks, it could not be conquered, plunging both sides into a stalemate. It was then that Dou Jiande, who dominated Hebei, led an army of 100,000 reinforcements to aid Wang Shichong, instantly placing the army led by His Majesty in grave peril. It wasn't until April 27th in the fourth year of Wude that a sudden flying report of victory arrived—Shaolin temple monk-soldiers assisted our army in capturing the long-besieged Huan Prefecture, completely reversing the war situation! Just twelve days after taking Huan Prefecture, His Majesty captured Dou Jiande alive and forced Wang Shichong's surrender, thereby laying the foundation for our dynasty's grand enterprise of unification. Consequently, His Majesty specially erected a monumental stele, upon which every single one of the thirteen meritorious monk-soldiers was inscribed by name. The weapon with which these thirteen monks achieved their merit was simply a wooden staff. The Shaolin staff—imbued with the Buddha's compassion and spiritual power, it can be called the most unadorned weapon! This battlefield outcome shares wondrously similar mechanics with the decapitation strikes you spoke of! And it was precisely because of this that Buddhism completely rose to prominence, developing a strength sufficient to stand toe-to-toe with Taoism!"

Li Yi listened in utter dumbfounded shock. What in the world was all this? The thirteen Shaolin monk-soldiers saving the Tang king? Wasn't this just a television drama? Did this actually happen? *Damn! Then wouldn't this be the earliest prototype of special forces?* In an instant, he also understood why Li Er valued the Wolf Warrior Squad so much. Although the Wolf Warriors performed brilliantly in the military exercises, it still shouldn't have been enough to make the battle-hardened Li Er treat them with such extraordinary regard! So the reason lay right here! This old man Li Er had long since experienced the various benefits of special forces! That was why he held the Wolf Warrior Squad in such particular affection!