"Yes, Your Majesty ~!"
Li Zexuan smiled but cursed in his heart. He resisted the urge to complain and bowed to accept the order.
"Hmm ~!"
Li Er nodded with satisfaction. Perhaps other kings would try their best to kill off unknown new things indiscriminately, but Li Er was a pioneering Holy Lord. His first thought was not to kill, but to develop Li Zexuan's new knowledge to the extreme.
As for whether or not Li Zexuan would threaten his rule, Li Er wasn't worried about that at all. He had confidence in himself, and he also had confidence in his subjects and generals.
The only thing that disappointed him was that the magical world that Li Zexuan mentioned was not the Celestial Realm. Then, were there immortals ~?
Li Zexuan thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, there is one thing that Your Majesty can be sure of. There are absolutely no immortals in the Nine Heavens. Above the sky is the vast and boundless space. In the space, there are countless planets like Earth. In the world in the dream, their technology can reach a place hundreds of thousands of miles away from the ground. Therefore, Your Majesty is very sure that there are no true immortals in the sky ~!"
Li Er's face turned ugly. "Is that so?"
"It is indeed so ~!"
Li Zexuan saw that Li Er seemed to be unwilling to give up on seeking immortality and Dao, so he continued.
"My master spent his entire life pursuing the Dao of Immortality. In the end, he achieved nothing and still died of old age. Before he died, he once said to Your Majesty, 'Everyone wants to live forever. From kings to ordinary people, they all regard the prolongation of life as their deepest dream. But they don't know that longevity itself is the biggest joke.'
Buddhism seeks nirvana, Taoism seeks inaction, and Confucianism seeks neutrality. Different roads lead to the same destination. In the end, it is to turn people into stone. Turtles live long because they are slow, trees live long because they do not move, and only stone has existed since ancient times.
Extinguishing human desires, severing human relations, severing the five senses, and blocking listening. Is this still human? You don't know the difference between cold and heat, smell and smell, right and wrong. You don't have any thoughts of home or country, you don't have any concept of family, you don't have any concept of family, you don't have any joy, you don't have any sorrow or joy. You are no different from rotten wood.
The reason why humans are different from beasts is that we have the ability to think, understand etiquette, know familial love, know how to work, know how to create, know how to change the world, and also know how to create the world, making everything in the world work for us. This is the duty of humans.
They surpass their own abilities in vain in pursuit of the illusory immortality, but they don't know that the heavens have already arranged for them. If they want immortality, they have to turn into stone. It's laughable that the people of this world are ignorant like moths to a flame! "
Yan Lide and Empress Zhangsun heaved a sigh of relief, secretly praising Li Zexuan for being sensible and understanding. They felt that since the words had reached this point and there was so much sufficient evidence, Li Er shouldn't have any improper thoughts about immortality, right?
The facts proved that this was indeed the case. After listening to Li Zexuan's long speech, Li Er's heart was half cold. He was silent for a long time, then faintly sighed and said, "The gods, Buddhas, ghosts, and monsters recorded in your book 'Journey to the West' were all fabricated ~?"
Li Zexuan was shocked. It was said that Li Er suppressed Buddhism and valued Taoism, but he didn't expect that he would actually read this kind of 'deviant' novel. Previously, he didn't publish 'Journey to the West' and sell it mainly because he was considering Li Er's attitude towards Buddhism. For a while, he was worried that Li Er would settle accounts with him after reading this novel, but he didn't expect that Li Er not only 'secretly' finished reading it, but also didn't find trouble with him.
In fact, he thought too much about it.
Later generations said that Li Er suppressed Buddhism and valued Taoism mainly because the Li family respected Laozi Li Er as their ancestor and advocated Taoism, which was beneficial to the orthodoxy and holiness of the imperial power of the Tang Dynasty. But in fact, Li Er didn't have much bad feelings towards Buddhism. On the contrary, the entire Li family had a lot of relations with Buddhism.
Li Er's youth was the period when Buddhism was popular throughout the country. At that time, the father and son Emperor Wen of Sui and Emperor Yang of Sui believed in Buddhism. "The people of the world were swept away by the wind, competing to admire Buddhism. The Buddhist scriptures among the people were dozens of times more than the Six Scriptures. "
The influence of Buddhism had already widely seeped into all levels of society and all aspects of social life. At that time, worshipping Buddhism had already become a common trend inside and outside the imperial court. Of course, the noble family of the Li family was no exception.
In the second year of Daye, when Li Er was nine years old, he suffered from eye disease. Li Yuan once personally went to the Chang 'an Cottage Temple to worship Buddha and ask for blessings. After Li Er recovered, Li Yuan created a stone Buddha and sent it to the temple for worship. These couldn't help but leave a mark in Li Er's young heart. Later, he never forgot this childhood experience. He once personally wrote a poem to praise the founder of the Cottage Temple, Kumarajiva, to express his reverence and remembrance for the previous generation of eminent monks.
In the early days, the Li family respected Buddhism. This could be seen from the childhood names of Li Yuan's sons. Li Jiancheng's childhood name was Sanhu, and Li Yuanji's childhood name was Sanhu. These were all names related to Buddhism. Although Li Er's childhood name wasn't recorded in history books, it was certain that it was related to Buddhism.
In the third year of Wude, Li Er, who was still the Qin King, was ordered to conquer Wang Shichong. The next year, he fought between Song and Luo. Zhicao, Hui Yi, Tanzong, and the other thirteen monks guarding the Shaolin Temple's Bai Gu Zhuang captured Zheng General Wang Renze and presented him to the Tang Army. Li Er took advantage of the situation to defeat Wang Shichong. This was the famous incident of the thirteen staff monks saving the Tang King. Because of this, Li Er had a good impression of Shaolin Temple and Buddhism.
However, during the Black Tortoise Gate incident, Buddhism had secretly helped Li Jiancheng. This made Li Er very angry after the incident, and he also had a trace of disgust towards Buddhism. At the beginning of the Li Tang Dynasty, they had once respected Laozi as their ancestor, so Li Er simply proposed the policy of "Taoism before Buddhism".
But so far, he hadn't introduced any obvious policies against Buddhism. In the Tang Dynasty, the Li family pursued the policy of coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Li Er was the founder of this policy.
"Uh! Your Majesty, the plot in 'Journey to the West' was indeed fabricated by me! I hope Your Majesty doesn't take it to heart. Seeking immortality and longevity is just an illusory delusion after all! "
Li Zexuan wiped the sweat on his forehead and cupped one hand in the other before his chest.
"Forget it! I'm here today to see how the preparation of your Academy is going, not to discuss with you about seeking immortality and Taoism. "
Li Zexuan waved his hand and said. At this time, he noticed the huge sand table in the room. He roughly glanced at it and suddenly said in surprise, "Li Zexuan, what is this?"
Previously, he and Empress Zhangsun only heard Li Zexuan's description of the dream outside the door. They didn't hear Li Zexuan and Yan Lide's discussion of the Academy's blueprint.
Li Zexuan was secretly scolding Li Er for being shameless. No one could force an explanation like him. At this time, when he heard Li Er's question, he replied.
"Your Majesty, this is the Yanhuang College designed by me. Next, I'll have to trouble Minister Yan to send some skilled craftsmen to Mei Village and Yunshan to build it!"
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