[Lightscreen]
[The worship of the Heavenly Kings truly took off during Emperor Xuanzong's reign.
According to later accounts, in the first year of Tianbao, military reports arrived from Anxi: Tibetan forces had surrounded the city.
From Chang'an to Anxi was twelve thousand li. A high monk instructed Emperor Xuanzong to perform a ritual, invoking heavenly beings to repel the enemy for the Tang.
The monk's powers were said to be formidable. Furious winds swept through the Tibetan camp, leaving the soldiers dizzy and disoriented. Their weapons and armor were gnawed to pieces by "golden rats," throwing them into terror and forcing a retreat.
Seeing the enemy in chaos, the Anxi garrison rushed out to pursue them—only for Vaisravana, the Heavenly King, to manifest and forbid further killing.
It was a classic legend. After all, twelve thousand li separated Anxi from the interior; no one would bother verifying the truth. Vaisravana was said to cherish life and prohibit slaughter, so the Anxi army gaining no trophies made perfect sense.
In short, the cult of this Heavenly King flourished completely. During the Kaiyuan era, his image appeared on city gates, military banners, and throughout streets and alleys.
At the same time, thanks to Li Jing's battlefield record, he fell into the same problem as Li Shimin: people simply couldn't explain why he was so formidable.
So what if Li Jing himself was a deity?
Suddenly, everything made sense.
By the late Tang, stories circulated of Li Jing acting on behalf of the Dragon King, controlling clouds and rain.
By the Song dynasty, military performance against foreign enemies had become so poor that the common people grew anxious watching it unfold. As a result, the worship of famous generals surged.
The Song emperors understood this well. Just as Guan Yu was posthumously elevated, Li Jing was granted titles such as Manifest King and Loyal and Heroic King, with temples erected in his honor.
By then, Buddhism had already declined after Emperor Wuzong's suppression and the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. With deliberate and accidental encouragement alike, Vaisravana gradually merged with Li Jing.
By the Yuan dynasty, records already spoke of "Vaisravana, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li" and "Vaisravana, Li Jing, Heavenly King." In the Ming dynasty, the two images separated again, and the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King took on the form familiar today.
In Tang depictions, Vaisravana held a halberd in one hand and a pagoda in the other. When Li Jing's image split off, he took the pagoda with him.
Later, common folk felt that a Heavenly King holding only a halberd looked too bloodthirsty, so the halberd was replaced with an umbrella, symbolizing favorable winds and timely rain. This figure gained a new name—Mo Lihai—one of the Four Heavenly Kings we know today.
In Indian tradition, Vaisravana was said to have ninety-one sons. Only two were recorded: the second son, Dukang, and the third son, Nezha.
When Li Jing's image separated, he conveniently took Vaisravana's third son with him.
The eldest son's prototype was the Buddhist deity Kundali Vidyaraja, sometimes written as Junzhali, later shortened to Jinzha.
The second son's prototype was a disciple of Puguang King Monastery in the Song dynasty, named Mucha.
Thus, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing's three sons—Junzha, Mucha, and Nezha—took shape, eventually evolving into Jinzha, Muzha, and Nezha.
One could say that even in mythology, Duke Wei of Tang won decisively: he took the Heavenly King's sacred treasure and sons, and in the end even became the Heavenly King's superior. It was, frankly, absurd.]
"Supernatural lore can actually become… this complicated?"
Fang Xuanling felt his horizons expand.
Li Jing, however, fell silent. He didn't feel impressed—only faintly melancholy for the Song:
"Clay idols sit in temples, safely receiving incense."
"Capable ministers and great generals die unjustly in prison, with no path left to serve their state."
"How bitterly ironic."
Li Shimin laughed with those beside him.
"I conquered the realm and rarely met an equal—so I must have had a divine general protecting me."
"If I'd lost to Dou Jiande back then, wouldn't that divine protection simply have belonged to Dou Jiande instead?"
On this point, he agreed more with Li Jing.
Only blades and soldiers could deal with foreign enemies. What use was faith in gods and Buddhas?
Yang Guang had taken the Bodhisattva precepts, been called the Bodhisattva Who Upholds All, even granted the honorific "The Wise"—and still everything collapsed.
And there was Xiao Yan as well…
The more Li Shimin thought about it, the clearer it became: if Buddhism went unchecked, problems would indeed arise.
After all, he still remembered the caste system mentioned earlier on the Light Screen.
Upper castes revered like gods, lower castes treated like pigs and dogs—and that was a "Buddhist land"?
Shaking his head, Li Shimin reminded himself to be cautious in all future dealings with Buddhism.
Or perhaps…
A thought stirred, and he felt a flicker of anticipation.
Rather than letting Buddhists fabricate stories about him after his death, why not intervene now and establish an office to oversee Buddhist affairs?
Setting that aside, the story itself was undeniably entertaining.
Li Shimin thought far ahead; Li Ji thought much more practically.
"I don't need incense or worship," Li Ji said. "Being granted a divine title for a laugh wouldn't be bad either."
Given the emperor's current attitude, his place in the Martial Temple was all but guaranteed. The only question was ranking.
He had once expected to sit near the bottom, eyeing those ahead of him. Now, knowing how later generations would exalt military gods, he suddenly felt that second place—perhaps even first—wasn't out of the question.
After all, there was no absolute first in letters, and no absolute second in arms.
Li Jing said nothing, but privately considered whether he should properly train Su Dingfang—to rein in Li Ji's arrogance a little.
The two had never gotten along, and Su Dingfang clearly had the makings of a great general. Either way, it wouldn't be a loss.
And then—
Li Jing glanced at Wang Xuance, sitting quietly on a low stool.
Perhaps this one, too, was promising.
…
Zhang Fei clicked his tongue.
"Well I'll be damned. Second Brother only deified himself."
"But Duke Wei here—he just took it by force."
Then he frowned.
"But that Song dynasty…"
Zhang Fei couldn't help speaking up for General Yue:
"Enemies pressing the borders, and instead of promoting brave generals, they elevate ghosts and gods?"
"Because handing out empty titles costs almost nothing," Pang Tong said with a grin.
"But appointing generals means fighting wars. Soldiers need pacifying, commanders need rewards, supplies must be mobilized—and you might even lose."
"How could that compare to calling someone 'brother' or 'nephew' and buying peace with annual tribute?"
As a strategist overseeing the front lines, Pang Tong understood the power of applied technique better than anyone.
Transporting supplies—and launching surprise attacks on Xiangfan—with the Wooden Ox, shifting the balance of power in Jingxiang; massive warships that took fortified cities in seven days; this year's bumper harvest; the stabilized public sentiment in Jingzhou—
These were the clearest proofs of what such methods could achieve.
And yet the Song, possessing such foundations, still performed so poorly that Pang Tong nearly wished he could take their place himself.
Liu Bei felt exactly the same.
Song… do you have any idea how much I envy your foundations?
Watching the Song's record was like watching his own lord indulge in cockfighting and gambling, or seeing Guan Yu contentedly selling mung beans—infuriating beyond words.
Nearby, Zhuge Liang noticed that the Song emperor offered no reply, and his interest waned.
After sighing, Zhang Fei turned his attention to the strategist.
"Later generations worship the strategist too—so why didn't they make one of you a god?"
Pang Tong laughed loudly.
"Because common people don't understand warfare. Generals and ministers feel distant, so they're revered from afar and turned into gods."
"But Kongming builds irrigation works, regulates brocade, reforms salt policy—what part of that isn't bound up with daily life?"
"One who lives like that," Pang Tong said calmly,
"is meant to remain in the human world."