"Ah!? Drive them all away!?" Jiang Liu's words left everyone, including Sun Wukong, staring at him in a daze.

Clearly, they felt extremely surprised.

Others come with goodwill to give gifts and build good relationships, but the master says to drive them all away?

"That's right, drive them all away! There are too many people coming, it has already affected our normal training!" With a serious expression on his face, Jiang Liu nodded and said.

"This..." Sun Wukong's face showed a hint of hesitation.

Though Sun Wukong is fearless by nature, when others come with goodwill, he finds it difficult to take action.

"I didn't ask you to kill these people, just to drive them away!" Seeing the hesitation on Sun Wukong's face, Jiang Liu said.

"Alright then! I'll listen to you, Master!" Hearing his master's decision, Sun Wukong reluctantly nodded.

But after speaking, Sun Wukong looked at Jiang Liu strangely and said: "Master, these people come for your sake, isn't this a bit..."

"Nothing is more important than our training!"

Listening to Sun Wukong, Jiang Liu turned to look at him seriously and said: "If we reach the Great Thunder Monastery of the Western Heaven and our cultivation level isn't enough to protect ourselves, then our reputation is irrelevant! Don't confuse priorities!"

Jiang Liu's reminder made Sun Wukong's expression turn serious, and he understood Jiang Liu's thoughts, nodding: "Master, don't worry, I, Old Sun, understand! As long as we are strong enough, we will naturally have a reputation in this world. If one day we are all killed, reputation is useless, right?"

"Hmm, Wukong, it's best that you understand this!" Seeing that Sun Wukong understood, Jiang Liu nodded slightly with a pleased expression.

After setting the tone, Jiang Liu and his disciples continued on their Journey to the West, moving slowly, neither fast nor slow.

In the following days, indeed, more people came to give gifts, including more immortals and arhats besides demons and ghosts.

They all wanted to become acquainted with Jiang Liu, thinking that if they faced a life-and-death crisis one day, Master Xuanzang might save them, granting them another life.

It's just that over at Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's side, there is no favoritism, not even for the Jade Emperor and Tathagata, otherwise, these celestial beings would naturally all flock to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

Sure enough, after Jiang Liu gave the instructions, any demons, ghosts, or immortals who came to give gifts were all driven away by Sun Wukong.

Originally, even if driven away by Sun Wukong, these people were unwilling to leave without at least leaving their gifts.

But facing such a situation, Jiang Liu simply declared he would no longer accept any gifts.

He wished for a quiet journey to the west for scriptures, so many people coming disturbed his peace, making it hard to obtain the true scriptures and save all beings.

Following Jiang Liu's statement, the number of people coming to give gifts gradually decreased.

After all, giving gifts was a way to flatter Master Xuanzang and build a relationship, but since Master Xuanzang clearly wasn't pleased by gift-giving, there was no point in forcing it.

Just like that, about a month after Jiang Liu left the Heavenly Court and the message of the Soul-Returning Spell spread across the Three Realms, the journey finally quieted down.

Though the recent month's gift givers made things noisy, during this time, everyone's strength improved through dungeon training and was not to be underestimated.

For example, Good Corpse finally leveled up to level 80, and after equipping the divine-level Thunderfire Exorcism Command weapon, his destructive power during dungeon runs increased significantly.

Zhu Bajie also leveled up, reaching level 82.

Even Sha Wujing's level increased.

In this month, many people's levels improved, which was worth celebrating for Jiang Liu and others.

However, after a month, aside from the annoyance of many demons and monsters jumping out to give gifts, there were no other disasters encountered, and life seemed quite tranquil.

Beep beep beep!

One day, after Jiang Liu and others emerged from a dungeon, they continued their slow Journey to the West while Jiang Liu was also crafting some legendary-level equipment to hone his life profession skills. Suddenly, he heard a message alert in his mind. T+his c-o&n*t%en%t. is p^re.s!ented- by M*4@V!LEMPYR-.+

Hearing this sound, Jiang Liu opened his friend list to take a look, and saw that Yuanling's avatar was blinking.

"Hmm? Lately, Maitreya Buddha has been somewhat inattentive! Has he finally taken action again?" Seeing Yuanling's avatar blinking, Jiang Liu was secretly pleased.

He immediately opened the chat box between himself and Yuanling.

A month had passed, and Jiang Liu had gained about 4 billion Experience Points in total. This rate of gaining Experience Points was indeed not slow. However, for Jiang Liu now, relying solely on dungeons and Cultivation to gain Experience Points for leveling up was somewhat slow.

Naturally, Jiang Liu wished he could take on several Epic or even Divine Level quests to speed up the pace of leveling up.

"Holy Monk, Maitreya Buddha said he's planning to resign from the position of Coordinator of the Journey to the West." However, when Jiang Liu opened the chat box with Yuanling with high expectations, seeing the message from Yuanling, Jiang Liu's expression slightly froze.

This news was completely beyond Jiang Liu's expectations.

Maitreya Buddha intends to resign from the role of Coordinator of the Journey to the West? How could this be?

But, upon careful consideration, it's true that Maitreya Buddha had not made any significant accomplishments recently.

Also, though he's at the Great Luo Golden Immortal Peak with a Cultivation Level of level 90, he isn't regarded as very powerful for those in the Journey to the West Pilgrimage Team.

The possibility of him scheming against us secretly is very low now?

Upon thinking about it like this, the idea of Maitreya Buddha wanting to throw in the towel seems reasonable?

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Liu, who was initially shocked, realized that given Maitreya Buddha's current situation, it seemed understandable.

"Does he just have this idea, or has he already decided?" Jiang Liu wondered inwardly for a moment and then sent a message to Yuanling.

"From Maitreya Buddha's demeanor, I think he's already decided to do this!" Soon after, Yuanling replied, confirming this, which made Jiang Liu sigh inwardly.

Alright, the first Coordinator of the Journey to the West was Guanyin Bodhisattva, right? Then Guanyin Bodhisattva got possessed by a Demon and became one of the Three-World Buddhas, passing the role to Maitreya Buddha.

Then, Maitreya Buddha was killed by me, and the reincarnated Maitreya Buddha's power dropped significantly. To this day, he finds it difficult to continue, doesn't he?

If Maitreya Buddha throws in the towel, then who should take over in the Buddhist Sect next?

Who will be the third to take over? Surely it won't be Tathagata himself stepping down, right? Or is it going to be Randeng Buddha?

...

In Eastern Temple, leaving aside the conversation between Yuanling and Jiang Liu, Maitreya Buddha, after pondering for a while, realized that he truly could not continue managing the tasks of the Journey to the West for Scriptures, so he was determined to resign from this task.

After just one word to Yuanling, Maitreya Buddha's figure moved, leaving Eastern Temple directly to fly towards the Void Realm.

Upon reaching the Void Realm, Maitreya Buddha quickly found the two saints of the Western Religion.

Jieyin and Zhunti, the two saints, were sitting quietly within the Taoist Arena of the Void Realm. Jieyin had a gentle expression, giving an impression of friendliness and reassurance.

Zhunti, however, seemed to have a slightly colder demeanor, creating a bit of tension.

The two saints sat quietly in the Taoist Arena amidst the void; although they were physically present, they seemed very distant, as if their forms had perfectly blended in with the surrounding environment.

"Greetings to the two Hierarchs..." Arriving before Jieyin and Zhunti, Maitreya Buddha respectfully greeted the two saints.

"Maitreya, for what purpose have you come here today?" It was Zhunti who spoke, not Jieyin. His gaze rested on Maitreya, and he asked directly without any superfluous words.

"Disciple has come today to resign from the work of Coordinator of the Journey to the West..." Before the two sage masters, Maitreya didn't say anything redundant either and responded directly.

Maitreya's words made the brows of Jieyin and Zhunti twitch slightly.

Immediately, Zhunti stood up abruptly with a trace of anger on his face, saying, "Is it because your Green Lotus Treasured Flag was taken back, so you are resentful?"

"Disciple wouldn't dare! It's just that the current Journey to the West Team is very powerful; Hierarch must not misunderstand!"

Hearing Zhunti's words, Maitreya Buddha was startled and quickly explained, "The strength of Emperor Ziwei is no less than that of the disciple, yet he was still slain by Xuanzang and the others. In this Immeasurable Kalpa, the consequences are unpredictable. With disciple's means, I still find it difficult to achieve anything, which is why I proactively resign from this role, allowing the capable to lead. I wouldn't dare delay the great cause of our Buddhist Sect's flourishing..."

Maitreya Buddha's words eased Zhunti's expression a little.

From Maitreya Buddha's explanation, his intention could be understood.

However, since Maitreya Buddha was killed, the reincarnated Maitreya Buddha's power greatly declined, falling from the Quasi-Saint Realm to the Great Luo Realm. In addition to the rapid advancement of the Journey to the West Pilgrimage Team's strength, it's understandable that he finds it hard to keep up now.