While Lin Ze and Zhuang Zhou were talking, a few piercing sounds suddenly sounded outside the palace.
Wu Fan's hurried and high-pitched words came next: "Your Majesty, three heavenly beings want to see you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Meng Ke, Maitreya Ksitigarbha, followed Wu Fan to the door of the palace.
Wu Fan knelt on the ground and worshiped: "The three heavenly beings are eager to see Your Majesty, but the humble ministers cannot stop them and fail to report in advance. I hope Your Majesty will punish you."
Lin Ze's cold eyes glanced at Meng Ke Maitreya Ksitigarbha, who had a vague trace of panic on his face, and replied calmly: "This matter has nothing to do with you, there is no need to blame yourself, just step back, and I will handle the next matter personally.
"
"Thank you, Your Majesty Haihan. I will take my leave," Wu Fan bowed in reply and quickly stood up and left.
Lin Ze glanced at Meng Ke and the others and said calmly: "Three fellow Taoists are here in a hurry. I think they must have something to say, so don't stand at the door and come in first."
Meng Ke and the three of them looked at each other and stepped into the palace one after another and came to Lin Ze.
Lin Ze looked at the three people less than three meters away from him, his expression moved slightly, and his body moved to the side quietly to ensure that Zhuang Zhou was in the middle of the crowd.
"It's getting late at night, and the three fellow Taoists are not resting at their residence. Why are they here?"
Lin Ze had a searching look on his face and asked calmly.
Meng Ke raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice: "Does the King of Qin know that the lower class has just been attacked?"
Lin Ze nodded slightly and replied with a serious face: "I know, the aura is so obvious, I felt it as early as the beginning of the explosion."
"Just now, I was discussing this matter with my senior brother. Not only was there powdered Buddhist relics at the scene, but also the aura of awe-inspiring righteousness remained. From this, we can infer that the person who took action is undoubtedly the Buddha and the Confucian sage."
Meng Ke looked solemn and said: "It is for this matter that we came here. Zhuang Sheng just went to the scene and comforted us while investigating. He suddenly left not long after, but did not disclose the relevant information to us. We, etc.
I am very worried and want to know if Zhuang Sheng has discovered anything?"
Lin Ze looked at Zhuang Zhou with a strange expression and asked, "Didn't Senior Brother explain it clearly to them?"
Zhuang Zhou said calmly: "Didn't my junior brother tell me to come to you quickly?"
"Ahem"
Lin Ze said slightly embarrassed: "This is a misunderstanding. I hope the three Taoists will forgive me for being rude."
"My senior brother just told me something. Apart from the relics that were broken into powder and the books that were turned into fragments, there were no traces of the entry or exit of the Buddha and the Confucian saints. From this, we can infer that the Buddha and the Confucian saints took action through some kind of medium.
,The purpose is to test your reality.”
"As you are people who have personally experienced this matter, and also have a deep understanding of Buddha, Confucianism and sages, do you have any different opinions on this?"
"For example, what methods did the Buddha and Confucian saints use? What methods did you rely on to escape? In addition, do you have other countermeasures? If you are attacked again next time, how long can you last at most?"
"The more detailed the better. Various traces will not only help my senior brother to deduce the current status and strength of the Buddha and Confucian saints, but also allow my family to formulate countermeasures."
Lin Ze naturally wanted to understand it as thoroughly as possible. As for why, only he knew best.
Meng Ke did not answer the question raised by Lin Ze. Instead, his face was slightly gloomy and he said in a very cold tone: "As far as I know, it seems that Zhuang Sheng appeared a little slow just now, and Dao Sheng did not show up from the beginning to the end."
Lin Ze was stunned when he heard this, and then he sighed slightly and said: "I apologize on behalf of Taoist palace and my senior brother for this, but please understand, since my senior brother must not be noticed by the Buddha, the Confucian saints, so that they will not dare to take the lead.
, just stay far away.”
"In fact, my senior brother has been secretly monitoring Chang'an all the time. As soon as the incident happened, he came as quickly as possible. Although he was not able to arrive at the first time, he did his best."
"As for my teacher Tao Sheng, although he has not shown up, I believe he has been here. I just found that the traces of the Buddha and Confucian saints were not visible and it was difficult to pursue them, so I didn't want to alert the snake."
Hearing this, a sneer appeared on Meng Ke's face: "The King of Qin was able to evade the matter completely. I'm afraid that's not the case."
Lin Ze narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a bad tone: "If Sage Meng Ke has any ideas, you can speak openly and there is no need to hide them."
"This time, in order to solve your troubles once and for all, Taoist Palace has paid a lot. It cannot be said that in the end, Taoist Palace has paid the price it should have paid. Not only did it not reap any benefits, but it even ruined its reputation, it is better to just let it go."
"From now on, whether you are imprisoned in Chang'an or whether you venture out of the city to gain a chance of survival, you can do whatever you want and it has nothing to do with my Dao Palace."
As soon as Lin Ze said this, the expressions of the three of them changed. Meng Ke couldn't help but retorted: "King Qin, don't talk about yourself too high. Although this matter is to solve our worries, it is not to fight for Dao Palace.
Destiny will wipe out future troubles."
"We are cooperating with the Dao Palace, and we do not hesitate to use ourselves as bait. The main reason is to live without worries. Now that our lives are worried, how can we feel happy?"
"Besides, Zhuang Sheng came late, probably not because he was unable to catch us, but because he came to the King of Qin's place first to confirm that the King of Qin was okay, and then went to the place where we were attacked, right?"
Maitreya took a step forward and added: "The poor monk and others were just attacked. Zhuang Sheng came here without even understanding what happened. Does he seem to be looking down on the poor monk and others?"
Lin Ze's dark eyes swept over the two of them, and he said quietly: "I didn't expect that the two of you would actually criticize what Dao Palace did. You think the risk is too great, so you want to retreat, right?"
Meng Ke's face was extremely ugly and he said: "King Qin, we know that we are under the eaves and have to lower our heads, but King Qin threatens us with this, don't you think it's a bit excessive?"
Lin Ze said indifferently: "We all get what we need, so how can we go too far? You must know that this matter has nothing to do with our Dao Palace. It was my great kindness that made me take you in. Now that you are greedy for life and afraid of death, you are always afraid of death.
If you want to achieve your goal without paying any price, how can there be such a good thing in the world?"
As soon as Lin Ze said this, the atmosphere in the room became stagnant for a while.
Ksitigarbha, who had not spoken until now, quickly came out to smooth things over and said: "The current situation should be dealt with externally in unison, with the priority being to deal with the hidden Buddhists and Confucian saints. We have things to discuss, and we must not fight internally."
Lin Ze said coldly: "Mutual trust is the basis of cooperation. Lord Meng Ke, Maitreya Buddha, is unreasonably suspicious of our allies. I even suspect that you two have other plans in mind. Could it be that you want to take the opportunity to break with the Taoist palace so that you can rejoin the Confucian sect of Buddha?"
?”
"If you really have this idea in your heart, I will find you very pitiful. It is unlikely that the Buddha, Confucianism, and sages will accept you again, but it is very possible to clean up the family."
Ksitigarbha coughed lightly and said: "To be honest with the King of Qin, there is absolutely no way that the poor monks and others will surrender to the Buddha, the Confucian saints and live an ignoble existence again."
"It's just that the attack not long ago really made the three of us a little scared, and we haven't recovered yet. We raise the above questions because we want the Taoist Palace to fully consider our feelings and become a true partner, rather than someone taking advantage of whom."
Lin Ze chuckled lightly and said: "Having said so much, why not tell me your true thoughts and plans? It's so convoluted, but it's really inconsistent with the current situation."
The three of them looked at each other, and then said in unison: "Due to various considerations, such as why to increase the rescue speed, how to ensure our safety as much as possible, etc., we have unanimously decided that our daily life will be consistent with that of King Qin."
"In this case, if we are in danger, in order to protect King Qin, Zhuang Sheng will never be as perfunctory as he is today."