The First Lackey Under The Empress

#292 - The "Four" Forces in Shenlong Temple

"Thank you, sir."

Zhao Du'an was silent for a moment, then respectfully accepted the fragrant mutton soup with both hands, and took a sip.

In his heart, he was not at all surprised that Zhang Yan could see through his "disguise", or that he would appear here.

Feeling the mutton soup enter his mouth, he couldn't help but recall that it was in this shop that he had walked out of the palace and encountered Zhang Yan.

Taiwan Novel Network → 𝗍 𝗐 𝗄 𝖺 𝗇 . 𝖼 𝗈 𝗆

Now, meeting again, it really is "mountains and rivers meet".

"Sir, you've kept me in the dark!"

Zhao Du'an put down the soup bowl, touched the corner of his mouth, and smiled wryly.

The old Celestial Master, tall, with narrow eyes and a ruddy face, was still dressed as an ordinary old man.

Although he had appeared in public this morning, he seemed to have used some kind of magic, and was not worried about being recognized by outsiders at all.

He handed over a pancake with a smile:

"Eat the pancake, eat the pancake. Hehe, there's no need to talk about the past. I didn't pursue your crime of disrespect, and you shouldn't hold on to the past either."

Heh, he's afraid I'll bring up his black history of freeloading without paying… Zhao Du'an complained, but didn't mention it again.

He just thought it was still a dream.

"Sir, how is Jin Jian?" Zhao Du'an tried to start a conversation.

Zhang Yan glanced at him and smiled:

"You little brat is really fickle. You just came out from the Holy One in the palace, and you're already thinking about my disciple."

Zhao Du'an didn't know whether to laugh or cry:

"Don't scare people, I am wholeheartedly loyal to His Majesty, Heaven and Earth can bear witness, and I am completely innocent with Divine Officer Jin Jian, we are just friends."

Zhang Yan was obviously just joking.

Seeing him eagerly defend himself, he found it interesting, and casually asked how the Empress dealt with him.

Zhao Du'an casually mumbled a few words, glossing over it, only saying that everything was arranged by Her Majesty.

He didn't know, however, that the old man opposite him was one of the very few people who realized that this matter had nothing to do with the Empress.

However, Zhang Yan didn't expose him, and just pretended to believe it.

He also mentioned Jin Jian, saying that her injuries were not serious, and she would recover as before after a few days of recuperation, at least much better than the unconscious Monk Tianhai.

Speaking of Shenlong Temple, Zhao Du'an couldn't hide his curiosity:

"Sir, I have a question. Why did the Discipline Monk of Shenlong Temple force me so hard today, even risking offending the imperial court?"

He originally wanted to ask Zhen Bao, but Zhen Bao left too quickly.

So he asked Old Wang…呸, Old Zhang.

Zhang Yan was not surprised.

He held a pancake in one hand, dipped it in the soup bowl, and said:

"This involves the three forces within Shenlong Temple."

"Oh? I'd like to hear the details."

The old Celestial Master didn't hide anything from him, and casually explained:

"Within my Celestial Master's Mansion, the lineage of thousands of years is based on the 'Celestial Master', and the inheritance is passed down from master to disciple.

Within the Celestial Master's Mansion, although there are also many divine officers of the Dan Dao, Talisman Dao, etc., those are not the core of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

Well, you can roughly understand it as the Celestial Master's Mansion being a Taoist temple where many small Taoist sects gather together to live.

Among them, my Celestial Master's lineage is the strongest, and it is the head of this Taoist temple, as well as the Taoist sects in the world."

Well, it sounds like a loose alliance… The Celestial Master's lineage is the leader, and the others gathered around, also calling themselves divine officers, belong to the "member sects" within the alliance…

Zhao Du'an understood in his own familiar way.

Zhang Yan said:

"Therefore, the Celestial Master's lineage only has a few people in each generation.

Like this generation, it's roughly me and six disciples. But Buddhism is different, it's much larger, not to mention the difference between Western Region Buddhism and the Buddhism within the Dayu Kingdom."

"Looking at the Buddhism of Dayu alone, Shenlong Temple is the main altar, and all the monks in the world are one body, which is a very large sect.

Now, the strongest in the temple is naturally the Abbot Xuan Yin's faction.

In addition, there are also two factions led by the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva and the Great Purity Master. The sum of these two factions is enough to compete with Xuan Yin."

Well… it sounds like a temple.

Xuan Yin is the Empress, and Dragon Tree and Great Purity correspond to the "Li Party" and "Purist Party"… Zhao Du'an asked curiously:

"Then where does the Prajna Bodhisattva of Jizhao Nunnery belong?"

Zhang Yan glanced at him and shook his head:

"Prajna claims to be a faction, leading the nuns, but does not participate in the struggle."

Okay… no wonder the old nun moved out to live alone… Zhao Du'an suddenly understood.

Zhang Yan continued:

"Among them, the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva is the strongest, and also covets Xuan Yin's position as abbot."

Zhao Du'an asked curiously: "Is it useful to covet? Can he beat Xuan Yin?"

Zhang Yan smiled:

"Of course he can't beat him.

But Xuan Yin is old and will return to heaven sooner or later, while Dragon Tree is younger, so he naturally wants to compete for the next abbot.

What's more, Xuan Yin may not die unexpectedly early, but the heir he favors to cultivate is probably Bianji.

Therefore, Dragon Tree has also been constantly forming gangs and cultivating forces in recent years, and the Chief of the Discipline Hall and Tianhai are both from the Dragon Tree faction."

Good fellow… is he going to stage a coup in Buddhism too?

Zhao Du'an exclaimed in amazement.

If compared to a "Xuanmen Coup", Xuan Yin is the old emperor, Bianji is the crown prince, and Dragon Tree is clearly the second prince.

Hiss…

In that case, isn't the Prajna old nun, who is watching without getting involved, corresponding to the Third Imperial Princess?

Zhao Du'an's thoughts wandered.

Zhang Yan said:

"In order to accumulate prestige, Dragon Tree bet the treasure on this year's Buddhist-Taoist competition. If Tianhai wins, he can become a popular future 'Heavenly Man' candidate.

In this way, the Dragon Tree faction will benefit greatly.

Xuan Yin is well aware of this, but he is wholeheartedly devoted to the great cause of merging Eastern and Western Buddhism, and is worried about internal division, so he has been tolerant. But this was destroyed by you."

The old Celestial Master looked at him jokingly and teased:

"Your sudden appearance seems to have suppressed Buddhism, but in fact it has caused Dragon Tree's years of painstaking preparation to be in vain.

They invested so much in Tianhai, but you picked the peaches, how can they not be angry?

More importantly, this will restabilize the position of the Xuan Yin faction…"

Zhao Du'an was so clever, he understood immediately and said in surprise:

"So, the Chief of the Discipline Hall, for the sake of the Dragon Tree Bodhisattva, took the opportunity to launch an attack, deliberately provoking a conflict between Shenlong Temple and the imperial court?

Because the one who is currently in charge of Shenlong Temple is still Abbot Xuan Yin, so Abbot Xuan Yin must bear the wrath of the imperial court… Is that old bald donkey using the imperial court's hand to suppress Xuan Yin?"

Zhang Yan smiled and said: "A promising child."

Good fellow!

Zhao Du'an grinned, and only then did he solve the doubts in his heart. He didn't expect that there were so many twists and turns in it.

He analyzed to himself:

"Sir knows this, presumably His Majesty also knows.

So… His Majesty deliberately delayed a little, and then sent Mo Chou to Shenlong Temple to exert pressure, just to leave a space for Xuan Yin to deal with the Chief of the Discipline Hall himself… In order to deepen the contradiction between these two factions?

On the contrary, if the imperial court takes action, it will instead cause the two factions to stand together because they have a common enemy…

This is not what the imperial court wants to see.

And first let them fight internally and break apart, forcing Xuan Yin to take action and suppress the Chief of the Discipline Hall, and then the court will go to punish the entire Shenlong Temple.

It can both maintain the authority of the imperial court and magnify the internal contradictions… Wonderful!"

Zhao Du'an instantly understood the whole story and felt enlightened.

He suddenly realized that Zhen Bao's ability to sit on the throne was not accidental.

Although it seemed that he had been helping her all the time.

But in fact, whether it was the series of actions that the Empress had laid out for the establishment of the "Xiuwen Hall" in the past six months, or the clever provocation of the Shenlong Temple's contradictions…

It all shows that Zhen Bao, when dissected, is actually black too… Tsk, amazing.

"Thank you, sir, for clearing up my doubts."

Zhao Du'an smiled and thanked him sincerely, then changed the subject and said:

"Speaking of which, although this time I took action for the imperial family, I also helped the Celestial Master's Mansion a little, right? That… you see…"

He stretched out two fingers and made a rubbing motion, looking embarrassed.

Zhang Yan's smile slightly froze, and he frowned:

"I suddenly remembered that the Heavenly Book drying in the courtyard has not been put away yet, so I will take a step first, and see you again when there is a chance."

After speaking, without waiting for Zhao Du'an to speak, his figure turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared.

Zhao Du'an: "…"

Is this thing really a Celestial Master?

I clearly haven't mentioned the conditions yet… Zhao Du'an helplessly patted his butt and stood up, about to lead his horse away.

But suddenly, the boss of the shop ran out and grabbed him:

"This guest, you haven't paid the bill yet."

"… Those two bowls of soup and pancakes were treated by that old man just now…"

The boss grabbed him and refused to let go, displeased:

"He said you would pay the bill, guest, are you trying to eat for free?"

"…"

Zhao Du'an gritted his teeth and spat out two words:

"Old! Zhang!"