"The Buddhist School's Dharma Protector? Monk Tan Duan?"
At this, Chen Cuo narrowed his eyes. He studied the two gods before him and realized they probably did not know why Monk Tan Duan had vanished.
They mentioned the Fortune-Suppressing Copper Figures to me, so they must have noticed something about what happened in Jinzhou City. One of them is a City God, after all, and may have discovered something by calculating Fate. But he probably doesn't know exactly what I did.
With that in mind, Chen Cuo did not rush to reveal it. His true body was still beyond the mundane world, in the River Domain, and he could appear here only through the Divine Path's Legalism. Even if he disclosed his identity, it might accomplish nothing for now and would expose a card he had kept hidden.
Instead, he asked, "From what you're saying, is there friction between the Buddhist School and the Heavenly Court? Otherwise, why would a Buddhist Dharma Protector stop you?"
The Pingyang City God hesitated.
The Cloud Hill Mountain God held nothing back. "The Buddhist School also depends chiefly on Incense. Like the Heavenly Court's Incense Path, it seeks to claim that path's rightful inheritance. Of course there's friction. The Immortal Sect is no different. Don't its branches scheme against one another just to be recognized as their leader? The branches of Incense are the same. But unlike the Immortal Sect's branches, which share a single source, our Heavenly Court of the Central Lands and Buddhism from the west are divided at the root. It's a difference in people's hearts and customs. However friendly we may seem on the surface, beneath it all, we must contend!"
This time, the Pingyang City God did not hesitate. "The copper figures suppress the north's Fortune by suppressing Human