My brother is so cunning

Chapter 1162 There are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.

"Is this what you call 'upholding the Heavenly Way'?"

Wen Rui's gaze swept over the two saints, his tone full of sarcasm: "Suppressing knowledge, erasing memories, and sending all living beings back to the ignorant past, all to preserve the privilege of immortals and Buddhas monopolizing the path of cultivation—you say that my destruction of your Mount Ling is a sin, but what about letting billions of living beings fall into eternal ignorance?"

"Is this what you call 'upholding the Heavenly Dao'?" The Creation Celestial Venerable's gaze swept over the two sages, his tone full of sarcasm. "Suppressing knowledge, erasing memories, and sending all living beings back to the ignorant past, all to preserve the privilege of immortals and Buddhas monopolizing the path of cultivation—you say that my destruction of your Mount Ling is a sin, but what about letting billions of living beings fall into eternal ignorance?"

The screen exploded with comments, and the voices of all mortals flooded into the two saints' consciousness like a tidal wave, clearly audible through their telepathic abilities: "So they've been plotting to harm the Heavenly Venerable all along! And they even wanted to make us stupid?"

"That's outrageous! It's not enough that they monopolize the spiritual veins; they even want to control how we learn!"

"No wonder the Celestial Venerable wanted to develop technology. If they had succeeded, we would still be eating grass roots and tree bark whenever we encountered a natural disaster!"

Some residents living on the border between Jambudvipa and Aparagodaniya even testified: "That's right, Aparagodaniya has already started banning technological items such as televisions, mobile phones, movies, and even radios, saying that they spread evil ideas and pollute the spirituality of believers."

"That's utter nonsense. How can you get the latest news or learn new knowledge online if you don't use your phone or watch TV? All you do is work, sleep, and have sex with your wife all day? What's the difference between you and an unintelligent animal?"

There were even former followers of the Western Sect who smuggled themselves from Xiniuhezhou to Nanzhanbuzhou and gave their own testimonies: "I have been a follower of the Western Sect for three years. My master never taught me advanced techniques or methods to change the world. He only made me recite scriptures and comprehend the principles of self-comfort and spiritual liberation in those obscure texts. It made me feel like I knew a lot, but in reality, I didn't know anything. This is a typical example of ineffective learning!"

"Hmph, they're afraid we're too smart and won't believe their nonsense anymore!"

The Guide Daoist clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white, and the Buddhist light around him trembled uncontrollably—he never expected that the secret conversation of the three saints would be recorded, let alone that it would be made public before being broadcast live across the entire internet.

At this moment, the doubts and anger of all beings in the Three Realms were like countless sharp knives piercing his heart.

The sage's art of concealment was something that even another sage could not see. However, the two sages of the Western Sect never expected that Wen Rui would use a loophole in the law of time to travel back in time and capture footage of the past at the original site of the Kunlun Mountains, which had already been destroyed. He unearthed this secret conversation from a corner of the long river of history.

The time-travel camera is a technology that Wen Rui had mastered long ago. It originated from a blue raccoon that accidentally entered this world due to a time machine malfunction, and was finally developed and perfected by Lao Rui through upgrades and modifications.

"Nonsense!" Saint Zhunti retorted sharply, the Seven Treasures Tree trembling violently in his palm: "This is a fabrication by the remnants of the Jie Sect, intended to sow discord between immortals and Buddhas and all living beings! How could we saints do such a thing?"

"Forgery?"

Wen Rui raised his hand and pulled up another set of evidence—a series of files appeared on the screen, recording the Western Church's "confiscation of scientific and technological books," with detailed annotations of the names and locations of the books burned, and even the signatures of students who had secretly studied the new knowledge books of the Intercepting Church at that time.

Attached to the table is a recording of an ordinary person's oral account, in which an old man's trembling voice recounts his experience of "monks burning books and arresting people": "They said those books were 'the language of the devil,' and they arrested and imprisoned all the people who possessed the books, and they never came out again..."

"These books contain knowledge about 'how to improve the soil' and 'how to cure the plague'; those who were arrested were teachers who taught ordinary people to read and do arithmetic."

Wen Rui's voice suddenly turned cold: "You say technology is heresy, but it is precisely these 'heresies' that have allowed mortals to survive from hunger and cold; you say 'simplicity and ignorance' is the right path, but that so-called 'simplicity' is nothing but numbness that allows one to be slaughtered!"

He walked to the tablet and brought up a picture of children in Liberty City attending class—the children were gathered around the experimental table, earnestly conducting a small experiment on "water purification," their faces full of curiosity and excitement.

"This is the 'heresy' you want to eradicate—letting children know why water becomes clean, and letting ordinary people know how to live better on their own." "But you only preach that there are 63,000 insects in the water, and that you must chant scriptures to exorcise them before drinking it, to show your compassionate hearts. Tsk tsk, you're even reluctant to harm bacteria! But drinking raw water will make you sick, and you'll get parasites in your stomach! Instead of chanting scriptures to exorcise them, you might as well boil it to kill the bacteria!"

"If you advocate boiling water before drinking instead of chanting scriptures, I will consider you to be genuinely concerned for the human race!"

……

After a few words, the two saints of the Western Sect broke out in a cold sweat, feeling their hearts wavering and their fortunes faltering.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, countless angry voices from all living beings, collected through his mind-reading ability, echoed once more.

"Give knowledge back to us!"

"You are not allowed to bully mortals anymore!"

"The Celestial Venerable is right, we should take charge of our own lives!"

"Anti-intellectualism! Feudal restoration! A policy of keeping the people ignorant! Idol worship! Oppression of the poor! It's utterly wicked!"

The guide felt a dull pain in his chest, and the golden light of merit dimmed at a visible speed. He wanted to refute it, but found that all his explanations were pale and powerless. The ancient books, recordings, and oral accounts were all so real that he could not deny them.

In front of all beings in the Three Realms, he could no longer confidently claim to be "upholding the order of Heaven and eliminating demons to protect the Way," because almost all the wise beings in the world had sided with the demons.

"The matter at hand is not irreconcilable."

Wen Rui changed the subject, his tone softening: "The Western Religion you founded is not without merit. For example, the principle of 'equality of all beings' is similar to our Jie Sect's principle of 'education for all without discrimination'."

"I am not entirely denying your views—technological development does indeed require moral constraints. If it is allowed to get out of control, it will inevitably breed greed and evil deeds. In this respect, the Buddhist scriptures of the Western religion have a unique perspective."

He raised his hand and tapped the tablet, and the screen switched to the "Spiritual Civilization Classroom" in Hunshicheng: students were copying the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra, while the teacher explained the doctrines of "compassion" and "self-control" on the side, and the classroom atmosphere was peaceful and orderly.

“You see, I have not prohibited the spread of Buddhist scriptures. The Diamond Sutra teaches people to ‘not be attached’ and the Heart Sutra teaches people to ‘cut off afflictions’. These have a great effect on purifying the mind and restraining behavior. Ordinary people need technology to improve their lives, but they also need spiritual guidance to guard their true nature. Material civilization and spiritual civilization should be grasped with both hands and both should be strong. This is the basis of our cooperation.”

Wen Rui's gaze returned to the two saints, his tone becoming more earnest: "The Western Sect's original intention was 'conversion', which is fundamentally different from the Chan Sect's 'killing and tyranny'."

“What Yuanshi Tianzun values ​​is the ‘privilege of immortals and Buddhas’ and the ‘old order of the Three Realms.’ If you follow him into trouble, you will only be used as his pawns. Mount Ling was destroyed because the Chan Sect started the war first. Now, it is being questioned by the beings of the Three Realms because you are helping the Chan Sect cover up its ambition to monopolize.”

“You could have used Buddhist scriptures to guide sentient beings on a spiritual level and worked with me to build a new order of ‘material abundance and spiritual fulfillment’. Why did you have to be dragged down by the Chan sect and end up with the infamy of ‘suppressing knowledge and oppressing sentient beings’?”

(End of this chapter)