The three hundred Powerful Warriors and the Jiling God all broke into smiles. In these times, even Immortals need to make ends meet somehow.

"Thank you, Emperor, for your generosity!"

Nezha tossed the sack of rice to the Immortal of Colossal Spirit and returned to the starry sky. After all, the Turquoise Pool was originally built by Shi Ji; Nezha's involvement wasn't necessary since a touch-up on her end would be effortless.

As the Immortal of Colossal Spirit hoisted up the Turquoise Pool, he glanced around at the floating rocks, the neatly arranged stone steps beneath his feet, and the serene and breezy Nezha ahead. He couldn't help shouting in his heart, "Holy crap, now that's a real Immortal! Meanwhile, I'm just… a divine laborer."

Upon reaching the Twelve Layers of Heaven and hauling the Turquoise Pool to the Eleventh Layer Heaven, things became much easier. Without the support of arrays, the Turquoise Pool was just a particularly sturdy structure. For these Heavenly God Warriors, carrying it a couple of laps around the Heavenly Court wouldn't even tire them out.

True to his word, Nezha pulled a sack out from his sleeve and handed it to the Immortal of Colossal Spirit.

"There are two hundred thousand catties of Spirit Rice in this sack. Consider the extra as a reward for all of you."

With that, he departed right away.

Everyone respectfully saw Nezha off without raising a single doubt about his words. Across the entire Heavenly Court, everyone knew Emperor Ziwei's bold and generous nature. His influence spanned from the Heavenly Market all the way from the Heaven Palace to the Mortal Realm and even the underworld. His renown echoed throughout the Three Realms.

The Immortal of Colossal Spirit infused mana into the sack to open it. The moment he saw the contents, he couldn't suppress an uncontrollable grin. Although he had guessed as much, seeing two hundred thousand catties of top-tier Spirit Rice with his own eyes still filled him with joy.

Spirit Rice came in different grades, and the best of it brimmed with Spiritual Energy—its energy content could be three to five times that of ordinary rice. If this rice was packed into Nezha's Sleeve Universe, it couldn't possibly be of low quality.

Suppressing his greed, the Immortal of Colossal Spirit gave the order to line up and distribute the rice. The full and Spiritual Energy-packed grains of Spirit Rice were handed out one by one to the Warriors, whose faces beamed with smiles. As the rumors in the Heavenly Court said, follow Emperor Ziwei, and you'll never go hungry!

As the squad captain for this hauling mission, the Immortal of Colossal Spirit didn't take extra for himself. The sack of rice was evenly divided among the three hundred and one individuals. It wasn't that he didn't want more; he just had his sights set on the sack itself.

Every Immortal more or less owned some kind of storage Magical Treasure. The most basic ones could store a few cubic meters of dead objects. Higher-end ones offered larger spaces and could even hold living creatures for a short while. The truly powerful individuals directly took a fragment of a world to use as their personal storage realm—capable of housing items while doubling as a backyard garden.

Nezha, with his Divine Skills of Sleeve Universe, could connect it to Taihuangtian, pulling out anything imaginable. Naturally, he wouldn't need specially crafted storage treasures. However, the level at which he casually crafted tools was on a whole other level. Even a sack meant to hold rice qualified as a treasure for the Immortal of Colossal Spirit.

It's like Lord Lao Zi's water bottle back in the day—Guanyin clutched it for years, didn't she? Same logic.

Once the Spirit Rice was distributed among the three hundred Warriors, the Immortal of Colossal Spirit casually pocketed the sack. No one said anything about it either—this was the wisdom of the little people.

As for the sack's ownership, Nezha couldn't have cared less. Such things weren't worth his attention. What mattered was the upcoming Peach Banquet.

Buddhism had been around for quite some time. Over the years, it had accumulated enough Qi Fortune to reach a certain peak. If it didn't start connecting the fortunes of the East and West now, its development would hit a very slow pace due to material limitations—something that didn't align with the Daoist Ancestor's original promise for the great flourishing of the Western Sect.

Thus, the Journey to the West was an urgent matter.

The first clue Nezha obtained about the Hongmeng Purple Qi came from the Treasure Dividing Rock that Old Li had given him. Old Li himself might not care much about this act, but Nezha had to return the favor.

Back then, Nezha had vowed to sever all earthly relationships with them. It was impossible to now turn back and embrace the benefits, treating his own words as nothing more than empty promises.

He deeply respected Old Li and cherished the motherly affection Lady Yin had shown him. This was a bond of true feelings. Yet, since arriving in this Primordial world, he had never once called them "Father" or "Mother." By name and status, there was still a layer of separation.

Where there is cause, there must be effect. If one receives, one must also repay.

Currently, Old Li stands as the World Venerable of Buddhism. On the surface, his glory is unmatched, and to be fair, it genuinely is. But the Western Sect, founded by the Western Two Saints, existed fundamentally to repay debts and counter the Demon Dao.

At this stage, Buddhism was still in its period of ascension. So long as Old Li kept his role as Buddha, he enjoyed gains with no losses. But when the day came for stormy troubles, Nezha couldn't idly watch as Old Li and his spouse faced the brunt of it. Nezha had to elevate Old Li's credentials, enabling him to cleanly dissociate from Buddhism's obligations if necessary.

As for who would carry the burden?

Wasn't the Future Buddha Maitreya around for that?

Thus, the matter of the westward journey was something Nezha felt obliged to take seriously. It had to be executed grandly and beautifully. This way, Nezha could repay his karmic debt to Old Li, and Old Li, in turn, could gather enough achievements to make up for the benefits he enjoyed within Buddhism.

A win-win scenario, one might say.

Returning to the Ziwei Star, Nezha began contemplating the Journey to the West. Sticking to the original script wasn't impossible—it was just too slapdash. In the original timeline, the one leading Buddhism was likely the Past Buddha, Duobao Tathagata.

Duobao, wholeheartedly pursuing the Way, had spent years as the leader of the Jie Sect. His capabilities were unquestionably top-notch. However, since he was essentially dragged into this position by Saint Taiqing after the Jie Sect's collapse, he had little interest in Buddhist affairs, devoting his attention entirely to cultivation.

This lack of enthusiasm resulted in the Journey to the West becoming a spectacle admired by mortals but rather mundane to the Immortals. Beyond the dramatic struggles during the Big Struggle in Heaven phase, the rest of the journey was perfunctory. One day someone would throw out a stone lion, the next day a giant Niu Tou, and the day after that a big old rat—all just to mess around with Shi Hou along the way.

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