Journey to the West: Man in heaven, working nine to five

#2210 - Three thousand temples

As the controlling land of the Western Paradise, the country of Tianzhu was actually a very peculiar place. With the death of the Great General, the entire imperial court completely collapsed.

However, the capital of Tianzhu, on the contrary, calmed down. The people began to perform their duties, the farmers farming, and the woodcutters chopping wood.

It seemed that the complete collapse of the imperial court did not have a major impact on the people. On the contrary, the entire capital was more orderly than during the court's infighting.

This was simply unbelievable in other countries, but it was indeed true in the capital of Tianzhu.

In fact, it was not surprising. The Western Paradise's control over Tianzhu only relied on the imperial court for a part, and it was not an important part.

The real control of the Western Paradise over Tianzhu relied on faith, on the people's firm belief in Buddhism.

Although the capital of Tianzhu was not small, it was a large city of a million people, but there were many such cities. Even Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty was far larger.

In the capital of Tianzhu, the most numerous buildings were not restaurants or taverns, but temples.

Within the capital of Tianzhu, there were three thousand temples of various sizes. This number meant that temples were almost everywhere in the city.

The people's firm belief in Buddhism had formed a kind of imprint in their hearts or minds.

Among the three thousand temples, large and small, incense was flourishing every day, and worshippers came in an endless stream. Of course, the money earned from donations was also quite substantial.

If a statistic were to be made, the money donated by the people in the temples would be far more than the annual tax revenue of the entire capital.

The temples in Tianzhu even had direct jurisdiction over the people. This jurisdiction was not a direct right, but a right formed by faith.

This was why, after the imperial court of Tianzhu completely collapsed, the entire capital of Tianzhu returned to peace and order.

Chu Hao and Tang Seng and his disciples naturally saw this situation clearly, but it was not easy to change.

"The enslavement of Buddhism has made the people of Tianzhu form a belief and habit."

"The Western Paradise is using these temples to amass wealth on a large scale."

"This is a means of attacking the heart, ten times worse than killing people."

Tang Seng and his group couldn't help but say that the Western Paradise was using Buddhist beliefs to make the people willingly become slaves.

The capital of Tianzhu was naturally a fertile land, with prosperous commerce and convenient transportation. As the location of the capital, the people should have been living a prosperous life, free from food and clothing worries.

Chu Hao said to Tang Seng and Sun Wukong.

"Brother is right. Only when the people see it with their own eyes will they know that the Western Paradise is exploiting and enslaving them through Buddhism."

"Boss, just tell us what to do. This Western Paradise is too hateful."

"Immortal Chu Hao is thoughtful and will surely enlighten the people."

Tang Seng and Sun Wukong all asked Chu Hao.

"Then let's do it this way!"

Chu Hao gave Tang Seng and the others some instructions.

Daming Jue Temple was one of the largest temples in the capital of Tianzhu, and its location was in the core area of Tianzhu.

The incense of this temple was the most prosperous every day. From morning to night, people could be seen coming to worship and offer incense in an endless stream.

Most of the time, there would even be long queues in front of the temple gate.

The abbot of Daming Jue Temple was named Zen Master Juexin, who was said to have profound Buddhist teachings, and he was also kind and benevolent, with the appearance of an immortal Buddha.

Of course, this was only in the eyes of the people and in legends. In fact, this Zen Master Juexin was transformed by the Buddha of the Western Paradise.

Moreover, this Buddha only changed this image to confuse the people. In fact, his true appearance was not like this.

Every night, after Daming Jue Temple closed its gates, Zen Master Juexin would restore his original appearance.

He was a hunchbacked Buddha with a pointed mouth and monkey cheeks, extremely wretched. Just one look at this image would probably make people feel disgusted for half a year.

Moreover, this Zen Master Juexin was quite greedy. Although he had a certain amount of cultivation, he was greedy for gold and silver and regarded money as his life.

Every time after closing the mountain gate, Zen Master Juexin would ask the monks under his command to send the day's incense money to his room, and then he would slowly count it.

Today was naturally the same. Boxes of gold and silver were sent to Zen Master Juexin. This box of gold and silver was extremely large in quantity, enough to support many people for several years.

"Those stupid people, just need to be fooled a little, and they will obediently hand over the money, and they still dream of the Buddha's blessing.

They don't even think about it. There is only one Buddha. If so many of them want the Buddha to manifest and bless them, wouldn't that exhaust the Buddha to death."

Zen Master Juexin said wretchedly while counting the gold and silver.

This Zen Master Juexin was extremely greedy, and the incense income of Daming Jue Temple was very good. In addition to handing it over to the Western Paradise, there was still a lot left, which was left to Zen Master Juexin himself.

Although Zen Master Juexin had only been the abbot of Daming Jue Temple for two years, he had already set up a private vault in the backyard of the temple.

The gold and silver inside were piled up into a small mountain. Of course, this was nothing compared to what was handed over to the Western Paradise.

In fact, among these three thousand temples, there were many people like Zen Master Juexin. The Buddhas of the Western Paradise also regarded this as a good job.

Just as Zen Master Juexin was greedily counting the gold and silver, he did not notice that a shadow had appeared behind him.

This shadow was Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong showed a playful smile behind Zen Master Juexin.

"Rise!"

As Sun Wukong silently chanted in his heart, he pointed at the gold and silver.

The gold and silver immediately rose from in front of Zen Master Juexin and floated into the air, startling Zen Master Juexin.

"Let Old Sun first tease you, a wicked dog of the Western Paradise."

Sun Wukong thought to himself, and then his fingers began to move, and the gold and silver flying into the air also flew out of the window.

"My gold and silver, my treasure."

Zen Master Juexin thought he was dreaming just now, but when he saw the gold and silver flying away, he came back to his senses and immediately chased after it quickly.

Although Sun Wukong was right behind him, Zen Master Juexin could not find his existence with Sun Wukong's abilities.

Zen Master Juexin followed the flying gold and silver towards the small vault in the backyard of the temple.