All realms have enabled me to achieve the Great Dao.

Chapter 288 Temples Are Rich

Cheng Yaojin chuckled and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, won't you invite us for a drink?"

Li Shimin was speechless and said, "If you want to drink, buy it yourself. I can't afford to treat you to such expensive wine."

His personal treasury was not wealthy to begin with, and this gold was almost half of his family fortune.

He wouldn't have bought it if the spirit wine couldn't improve his martial arts cultivation.

Cheng Yaojin and the others were speechless. They hadn't brought any money with them and had thought they could get free drinks by following His Majesty, but it seemed that wouldn't work.

They quickly left the tavern and went back to get the money.

Li Shimin watched as Cheng Yaojin and the others left the tavern, then took his wine and snacks to the table, sat down, poured himself a glass of wine, and began to savor the spirit wine.

The first wine he drank was Wuliangye. After tasting it, he felt that this was what wine should be, and that even the best wine in the Tang Dynasty could not compare with Wuliangye.

Then they tried a bite of the snacks to go with the drinks, and the snacks were just as delicious. No wonder Cheng Yaojin and his men couldn't forget them, and even slacked off at work.

After drinking the wine and tasting the meat, he began to examine the chair he was sitting in.

Li Shimin and Cheng Yaojin shared the same idea: once they returned, they would have a batch of these chairs made so that they could enjoy drinking while sitting in them.

Once the chair is made, he will sit in it to work and review documents.

A short while later, Cheng Yaojin and his companions arrived at the tavern.

They brought a little more gold this time than last time, enough to buy about six or seven ounces of wine.

After buying the wine, they sat down with Li Shimin to drink and chat.

"Your Majesty, the only way to buy spirit wine here at the tavern is with gold. We were discussing trading some gold with those aristocratic families. I wonder if you have any ideas?" Cheng Yaojin asked while eating meat.

“It is true that those aristocratic families hold the most gold, but if we try to trade with them, they will definitely be suspicious. We need to find a way to trade with them without arousing their suspicion,” Li Shimin said.

Zhou Yongcheng, who was behind the counter, said, "In the Tang Dynasty, the place with the most gold was not the powerful families, but some temples."

Li Shimin couldn't believe it when he heard this. Temples were places of quiet cultivation; how could they possibly be interested in worldly things?

"Why do you say that, shopkeeper?" Li Shimin asked.

"You should have someone investigate yourself. Seeing is believing. I'm just saying this, and the Emperor of Tang certainly won't believe it." Zhou Yongcheng didn't reveal too much about the dirty deeds of some temples, but instead let Li Shimin investigate on his own.

Li Shimin took a sip of wine, lost in thought. Although the tavern owner did not know his origins, he was certain that Li Shimin possessed supernatural powers.

Since he said that, it must not be unfounded. We can have someone investigate it.

They sat in the tavern for over an hour, leaving the task of trading gold with the aristocratic families to Cheng Yaojin.

Li Shimin and his companions then left the tavern.

Upon returning to the palace, Li Shimin ordered Li Junxian to lead a team to investigate the temples around Chang'an, instructing him to thoroughly investigate the details of all the temples.

In the following days, Li Shimin experienced the effects of the low-grade spiritual wine, and his cultivation, which had not improved before, began to advance steadily.

If even low-grade spirit wine has such effects, what must the effects of mid-grade and higher-grade spirit wine be like?

In the past few days, more people have been coming to the tavern to drink, and they are mostly important officials in the court.

Zhou Yongcheng discovered that all the houses around his tavern had been bought by Li Shimin and important officials in the court, and some officials had even moved their homes to live nearby.

Zhou Yongcheng remained silent and smiled at their behavior.

They did this simply to keep the tavern from the knowledge of those powerful families.

After all, the wine in the tavern can enhance martial arts cultivation, and most of those aristocratic families have martial artists.

If they were to learn of the tavern's existence, given their wealth, they could purchase large quantities of spirit wine to cultivate their power.

That's why Li Shimin did this.

Then let's talk about Minghui's side.

Since Minghui was not in a hurry to obtain the scriptures, he would stop at every human town he passed through.

If there are demons around the town, Minghui will send Liuer to eliminate them.

Even if there are no demons, he will stay and see if there is anyone in the town who needs help.

He would help ordinary people who were sick and unable to receive medical treatment.

If there is a bully in the town, Minghui will use Buddhism to forcibly convert the bully and turn him into a great philanthropist in the town.

If the town's top official is corrupt, he will also take action to punish him.

Minghui is not like Tang Sanzang; he has both the heart of a Bodhisattva and the methods of a Vajra.

As a modern person who has lived for so many years and practiced Buddhism for so many years, I have a very thorough understanding of human nature.

He earns merit by doing all these things, and merit is related to his cultivation improvement, so he can't be careless.

Having spent so much time in the Journey to the West world, Minghui discovered that accumulating merit in ancient times was quite easy.

Perhaps it was because his knowledge was broader and he knew more than people of this era.

He will gain merit as long as he does things that benefit people.

Over such a long period of time, his cultivation level has risen to the Void Returning Realm, a remarkable achievement.

That day, they left a small town and soon arrived at Gao Lao Zhuang.

Upon seeing Gao Lao Zhuang, Minghui knew that Zhu Bajie was active in the vicinity of Gao Lao Zhuang.

I wonder if there's still a Pigsy in Gao Village.

After all, the characters Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong from the Journey to the West have already been replaced, so it's not surprising that Zhu Bajie has been replaced as well.

"Master, how about we rest here tonight?" Liu Er asked.

During this time, Liu Er was very puzzled by Ming Hui's behavior, since they were on their way to the Western Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures.

But Minghui was not in a hurry at all. Along the way, he either preached to people, treated their illnesses, or helped those in need.

Along the way, Minghui has become a Buddha in people's hearts.

Although Liu Er was puzzled, he did not question Ming Hui, since the journey to the West was mainly led by Ming Hui, and whatever he said was the truth.

"can."

Minghui went to knock on the door.

A short while later, the door was carefully opened a crack.

"Who are you?"

“Amitabha Buddha, this humble monk comes from the Great Tang Dynasty in the East, on his way to the Western Paradise to obtain Buddhist scriptures. It is getting late, and I wonder if I could stay at your esteemed estate for the night?” Minghui said, his hands clasped together.

Minghui had some suspicions about the people in the village being so cautious, but she didn't know if it was as in the original story.

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man inside the door peeked at Minghui through the crack in the door and, seeing that he was indeed a monk, opened the door.

As soon as he opened the gate, he saw Liu Er carrying a load on a shoulder pole and leading a horse.

Seeing the six-eared creature almost scared the middle-aged man to death.

"monster."

After saying that, he left the door open and ran quickly into the house, shouting that a monster was coming.

Minghui was both amused and exasperated. She put her hands together, chanted Buddhist mantras, and the middle-aged man who was running inside stopped.

“Don’t be afraid, benefactor. He is my disciple. He has killed many monsters and protected many people along the way.”

The middle-aged man felt a little relieved and turned around to look at Liu Er.

"He's really not a monster?"

"of course."

"Can he slay demons and monsters?"

"can."

The middle-aged man then led Minghui and his apprentice into the manor.

He quickly went to report Minghui and the others' situation to Master Gao.