Chapter 1044: Golden Cicada
"So this Water-Land Assembly was never really a ritual for delivering the dead.
The court needs a pretext, and so do I.
We need to pick someone capable of taking charge from all the monks under heaven.
Once he takes that position, he can join forces with the court and uproot all the estates attached to temples, the fake monks evading taxes, and the monasteries lending at usurious rates."
Zhang Qi answered. That was also why His Majesty was willing to do this.
After all, the Tang Dynasty had only just been founded, and the national treasury was empty—
"If this humble monk were still the same pedantic monk on Vermilion Bird Avenue today, the kind who kowtowed frantically at the sight of a Bodhisattva's manifestation, then you would never have told me any of this, would you?"
Xuanzang took a deep breath and asked.
"Of course not."
Zhang Qi answered.
Doing this meant making enemies of every monk under heaven.
He had originally arranged for several trusted men to enter the competition, but what had just happened changed his mind—
"Reforming Buddhism is boundless merit."
Xuanzang raised his head and met Zhang Qi's gaze. "But this humble monk cannot do it this way—"
This monk was adorably stubborn.
Zhang Qi snapped the toothpick in half and tossed it onto the table.
"No one is treating you as a pawn."
"I'm merely setting up a stage for you. Whether you act or not is entirely up to you."
Zhang Qi waved a hand, cutting him off directly.
"Very well, but only after this humble monk goes to Western Heaven and asks the Buddha—"
Xuanzang took a deep breath, pressed his palms together, and recited a Buddhist invocation.
"Good~"
Zhang Qi smiled when he heard that. This