Capítulo 1456: Chapter 1454: Jiang Ziya, We’ve All Been Played by Master!

Speaking of the relationship between Shen Gongbao and Jiang Ziya, it’s quite complicated!

First of all, Shen Gongbao and Jiang Ziya are fellow disciples under the same master, belonging to the Sage Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable!

However, under Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable, neither of them had favorable circumstances!

Therefore, initially, the relationship between Shen Gongbao and Jiang Ziya had a sense of shared sympathy!

Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable always despised the followers of the Sect of Intercepting who came to greet him, calling them scaled and horned beasts!

In other words, Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable looked down on those animals and spirits cultivating into immortals!

But how about Shen Gongbao? He was originally a leopard demon cultivated into form!

So, although Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable took him in as a disciple, he never looked highly upon him!

He was even worse than Yellow Dragon True Person!

At least Yellow Dragon True Person touched some of the Dragon Clan’s bloodline and was at least one of the Twelve Golden Immortals!

Additionally, in the Yuxu Palace, Jiang Ziya was also not favored due to his poor aptitude!

After cultivating to old age, he still made little progress!

Therefore, initially, while studying and cultivating Taoism in Yuxu Palace, because neither of them were favored…

Perhaps seeking warmth in numbers, perhaps due to shared sympathy, actually, the relationship between Shen Gongbao and Jiang Ziya was originally good!

However, when the Investiture of the Gods war began, their relationship changed!

Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable began planning the Investiture of the Gods list and needed to choose someone to host it!

And finally decided to choose between Jiang Ziya and Shen Gongbao!

Why Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable chose the two most unfavored disciples to do this was no longer important!

What’s important is that if they accomplished this, it would be something significant, changing their status at Yuxu Palace, right?

Naturally, both Jiang Ziya and Shen Gongbao wanted this opportunity!

Originally, it was assumed that the likelihood of Shen Gongbao taking this task was the highest!

Why? Because after cultivating for so long, Jiang Ziya’s cultivation level was still low, while Shen Gongbao at least had become immortal!

His cultivation level was higher!

But in the end? Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable said he wanted to test both Shen Gongbao and Jiang Ziya, but in reality, he clearly favored Jiang Ziya!

In the end, Jiang Ziya received the protection of the Apricot Yellow Flag from Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable, the God-Beating Whip as a weapon, along with countless other treasures, and went down the mountain to orchestrate the Investiture of the Gods war!

While Shen Gongbao, with a higher cultivation level, lost this opportunity to Jiang Ziya due to the master’s unfairness, he was naturally dissatisfied!

First, it was dissatisfaction with the unfairness!

Second, it was jealousy towards Jiang Ziya!

There’s a saying, everyone was equally poor, so why did you get rich first? How can everyone continue to play together nicely?

By the same token, everyone was unfavored, so why did you suddenly gain the master’s attention and receive a pile of treasures?

Dissatisfaction and jealousy led Shen Gongbao to secretly leave the mountain, causing trouble for Jiang Ziya everywhere!

The two who originally supported each other and bonded in Yuxu Palace became bitter enemies in the Investiture of the Gods war!

In the end, the Investiture of the Gods war concluded, and Shen Gongbao, for obstructing King Wu’s campaign against Zhou, was sealed as Water Dividing General and suppressed at the North Sea Eye!

However, for nearly two thousand years, after being suppressed at the North Sea Eye for so long, Shen Gongbao thought about many things and realized a lot!

Originally, it wasn’t Jiang Ziya’s fault after all!

If anyone was to blame, it could only be blamed on the master, Yuanshi Heavenly Venerable!

He did it intentionally so that I would be jealous of Jiang Ziya!

The purpose was to have me descend the mountain to create trouble for Jiang Ziya, creating tribulations and promoting the Investiture of the Gods war!

Moreover, during the immeasurable kalpa, my Spirit Platform was obscured, and I didn’t realize this at all, easily becoming a pawn manipulated by the master!

So, two thousand years have passed, and the immeasurable kalpa of the Investiture of the Gods ended long ago, and Shen Gongbao realized many things!

He was no longer affected by the Spirit Platform being obscured by the immeasurable kalpa! Towards Jiang Ziya, he even felt a bit guilty!

Later, after learning that Jiang Ziya, after the conclusion of the Investiture of the Gods, was also imprisoned in an underground prison for two thousand years, he found it quite amusing!

Even Jiang Ziya was imprisoned? The so-called immortals and Buddhas, the so-called Sages, are indeed hypocritical to the point of disgust!

After obtaining freedom from the North Sea Eye, Shen Gongbao had no intention of returning to Yuxu Palace!

Instead, he found an uninhabited island to use as his place to cultivate!

Who would have thought that today, by sheer coincidence, Jiang Ziya would be released from the seabed of the Eastern Sea!

And now, Jiang Ziya is even more pitiful, reduced to just a wisp of soul after his death!

“Who would have thought we’d meet again under such circumstances!” Recognizing Shen Gongbao, Jiang Ziya’s voice was filled with sighs and emotions!

At the same time, he had already prepared himself mentally!

Judging from the conflicts during the era of deification, if he fell into Shen Gongbao’s hands, it would be reasonable for Shen Gongbao to want to kill him, wouldn’t it?

So be it, turning to dust is better than being trapped in that Ice-Fire Bipolar Gourd for eternity, suffering!

“Alright, let’s go!” Seeing Jiang Ziya’s indifferent attitude towards life and death, Shen Gongbao paused briefly before speaking.

As he finished speaking, he directly grasped Jiang Ziya’s soul and began ascending to the sea surface!

“Wait, hold on! Jiang Ziya’s soul is being suppressed here by the Jade Emperor…”

Although having Jiang Ziya’s soul suppressed here is indeed a shocking matter, it was by the Jade Emperor’s own hand, so naturally, Shen Gongbao shouldn’t be allowed to easily take Jiang Ziya’s soul away, and the crab and shrimp soldiers beside him shouted loudly, hoping to make Shen Gongbao leave Jiang Ziya’s soul behind!

However, upon hearing the crab and shrimp soldiers’ words, Shen Gongbao’s figure slightly paused, coldly gazing at them!

“Your Eastern Sea is located in the Mortal Realm. As far as I know, the Mortal Realm is under the jurisdiction of the Human Emperor, right? I didn’t expect your Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea to still be so loyal to the Heavenly Court! This matter should indeed be discussed with the Human Emperor in Chang’an City!”

“This…” Hearing Shen Gongbao’s words, the crab and shrimp soldiers’ hearts trembled, and for a moment, they dared not speak further!

Indeed, the entire Mortal Realm is under the jurisdiction of the Human Emperor, and the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea still being loyal to the Heavenly Court seems a bit unreasonable!

Shouldn’t they be loyal to the Human Emperor instead?

If they really want to be loyal to the Heavenly Court, they should leave the Mortal Realm and head to the Heavenly Court!

Seeing the crab and shrimp soldiers remain silent, Shen Gongbao paid them no more mind and, moving like lightning, passed through the sea surface and returned to his island!

“If you intend to lay a hand on me, go ahead and do it!” Jiang Ziya’s soul quietly remained there, appearing half-illusory, and glancing at Shen Gongbao, he spoke.

“If I wished to obliterate you, I would have done so directly in the sea. Why bring you out?”

Glancing at Jiang Ziya, Shen Gongbao replied.

“Then why did you bring me out? To torment me?”

In Jiang Ziya’s mind, Shen Gongbao’s image remained as it was during the era of deification. Naturally, Jiang Ziya didn’t think falling into Shen Gongbao’s hands would lead to a good outcome!

“Jiang Ziya, don’t be so quick to be hostile towards me. I admit that during the deification war, I wronged you!”

After a moment of silence, Shen Gongbao spoke, offering an apology to Jiang Ziya.

“You, are you the Shen Gongbao I know?” Hearing Shen Gongbao apologize to him suddenly, Jiang Ziya widened his eyes, as if seeing Shen Gongbao for the first time, and asked.

“What? We’ve known each other for so many years, and you don’t recognize me?” Even though Shen Gongbao apologized, his tone was not too pleased when saying this.

“Precisely because I recognize you, because I know you, it seems unbelievable! That you would apologize to me? What’s really happening?”

Jiang Ziya looked at Shen Gongbao in disbelief and said.

“Okay, Jiang Ziya, have you ever thought that during the deification war, the reason I turned against you and made things difficult for you everywhere was because our master was secretly manipulating everything at that time?”

Shen Gongbao spoke, reminding Jiang Ziya of the situation back then!

“The master plotted to make things difficult between you and me?” Upon hearing Shen Gongbao’s words, Jiang Ziya was slightly stunned!

Then he quickly realized, it seemed that Shen Gongbao’s words were indeed reasonable!

Just like the current situation of the Journey to the West for Scriptures, the eighty-one trials are a fixed number!

Therefore, while the Buddhist Sect hopes Xuanzang quickly retrieves the scriptures on one hand,

on the other hand, they arranged for the celestial Buddhas to create difficulties and troubles for Xuanzang to fulfill this predetermined number of eighty-one trials!?

Seeing Jiang Ziya’s expression, Shen Gongbao knew he had been heard. He continued speaking, methodically explaining his realizations over the past two thousand years to Jiang Ziya in detail!

And listening to Shen Gongbao, Jiang Ziya had to admit that Shen Gongbao’s words made sense!

“Actually, to be honest, the relationship between us wasn’t bad at first! There was no deep-seated enmity; why did we turn against each other? Besides the master’s deliberate schemes, there is completely no other explanation, right?”

“And what about after the deification ended? On the surface, I was appointed as a Water Dividing General but was merely used to fill the North Sea Eye!”

“And you? Even though you indeed provided merit to the whole world, you were detained in the underground prison for two thousand years afterward!”

“Jiang Ziya! Both of us were played badly! Naturally, there’s no need to carry on the hatred from the deification era!”

As Shen Gongbao concluded, he appeared earnest and sincere!

Listening to Shen Gongbao, it was clear that he wished to transform hostility into friendship. After a long silence, Jiang Ziya nodded: “If that’s the case, we indeed need not continue to harbor animosity towards each other!”

“Moreover, now that I’ve perished, any so-called grievances are nothing but fleeting clouds…”