[You still have one more doubt in your heart, so before heading to Wusi City, you ask the New Abbot to clarify it…]

[Ancient Heavenly Enma taught the people three thousand great paths, including Buddhist divine arts as well as divine immortal Daoist arts. So in Wusi City, besides temples worshipping the Mother Buddha of All Evils, are there also Daoist temples worshipping other Daoist immortals?]

[The New Abbot shakes its head and says that the Vermilion Empire’s national fortune has lasted for a very long time. Since the dynasty’s founding, it has already endured for several thousand years. That Martial Emperor revered Buddhism and suppressed Daoism, issuing edicts for the establishment of temples throughout Vermilion, and also establishing Scripture Lecture Institutes to propagate Buddhist Dharma and promote Buddhist scriptures.]

[By doing so, he obtained the Infinite Life bestowed by the Buddhas, and so from the founding of the dynasty until now, the Martial Emperor has still not abdicated. That is why all nations that came in tribute called him the Immortal Emperor.]

[As for those qi cultivators who cultivate the Dao, they speak of non-action and the Dao following nature. The Daoist Heavenly Venerates also do not enjoy worldly disputes. Thus, the Martial Emperor’s exaltation of Buddhism and suppression of Daoism happened to let them withdraw from the world and flee to immortal islands overseas to live carefree…]

Lin Xun frowned.

The New Abbot’s explanation was likely the official explanation from Vermilion. In reality, matters were definitely not that simple.

He activated Analysis Authority and very quickly pieced together a reasonable story.

With incense, something related to the fundamental interests of the gods, the Daoist Heavenly Venerates absolutely could not have willingly left Vermilion’s lands and retreated to immortal islands overseas.

There must have been a heaven-shaking struggle for incense between the two sides, and the final result was that the Buddhists emerged dominant.

The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas overturned the empire’s original dynasty and established their own agent in the mortal world, namely that immortal Martial Emperor of Infinite Life, thus obtaining incense power more effectively.

It was only that now the evil god had corroded the lands of Vermilion, causing all the gods and buddhas in the sky to fall into extreme evil.

That Martial Emperor then had no choice but to flee far overseas and seek help from the Daoist Heavenly Venerates.

[…]

[The New Abbot says in surprise, Supreme Buddha Ancestor, that Martial Emperor is still staying quite well in the imperial palace in the capital, and has not fled overseas as you said.]

[The world today is at peace… um, although there are indeed some evil heterodox wild gods that, through the propagation of the evildoers within the Fire-Worship Church, deceive the people and steal the incense of righteous gods, like the Mother Buddha of All Evils.]

[If not for your incarnation walking the mortal world, perhaps the people would have continued to be deceived by the Mother Buddha of All Evils for decades or even centuries, but such evil heterodox wild gods are after all a minority. It cannot be that every single god and buddha has become an evil god who has fallen into the demonic path, can it?]

[Moreover, the world has been free of war for a thousand years, so calling it a flourishing age of peace would not be excessive. Why would the Martial Emperor flee overseas?]

[Did you remember it wrong?]

Lin Xun sneered. “The kid actually got one thing right. Every single god and buddha really has already become an evil god fallen into the demonic path. There may be a few survivors, but they are absolutely not ones ordinary people could discover.”

The abbot before him, like the many villagers, carried the prefix label Extreme Evil. Under the erosion of malice, his memories had already been quietly tampered with.

According to the memories of the Fire-Worshipping Swordsmith’s Son, several decades ago the Vermilion Empire had still been struggling bitterly amid the war of the gods, yet by the New Abbot’s mouth it had become the world has been free of war for a thousand years.

Compared to the cold, numb villager trash mobs who could not communicate at all, the New Abbot possessed a little more independent awareness. To put it in common terms, it had a brain, but not much of one. That was probably because it was an elite monster in the newbie village…

So the information revealed from the New Abbot’s mouth could only be half believed and half doubted. Real information still had to be based mainly on the memories of Fire-Worshipping Shells.

After extracting all the stockpiled intelligence from the New Abbot’s belly, Lin Xun then ordered it and the village head to regularly hold incense worship ceremonies, while telling them to never again mention killing sacrifices and the like.

After all, he had only just entered the chapter and would still remain in it for a long time. Killing sacrifices were not in line with humanistic spirit, nor with a sustainable and environmentally friendly development route.

If in the end he could save the world and fix the rehearsed chapter into reality, then the Book of Illusory Knowledge would be able to intervene in this world, and every believer would become an accelerator for his leveling.

Of course, if at the appointed time the villagers failed to worship Namo Great Sage Relic Honored King Buddha, then he did not mind staging another round of only killing and not delivering.

To Li Family Village, the Fire-Worship Church was no good thing, but he, this newly appointed Buddha Ancestor who met violence with violence, would not be much better than the Fire-Worship Church. At most, he would not torment them, and would let them find release and rebirth swiftly and cleanly.

[…]

[Regarding your decree prohibiting killing sacrifices, the villagers show no particular reaction. There is no jubilant cheering of approval as expected, nor any opposing rebuke or defiance. There is only the same unchanging numb indifference.]

[You know that these monsters fallen into extreme evil are already beyond saving. After taking one last look at this isolated mountain village, you leap up and fly toward the city outside the vast mountains, following Wusi City’s Location Map…]

To make things easier, Lin Xun was currently using the Child of Evil’s Shell.

Although this Shell did not carry the prefix Extreme Evil, the malice on its body was far greater than that of the Extreme Evil monsters. If some elite grade Extreme Evil monster saw him, it would probably shout that daddy had arrived.

[After flying over the vast mountains, you see a city standing amidst desolate wilderness and stony plains. From afar, the city appears deathly silent, with a towering malice vaguely rising from within…]

[At the center of the city stands a gigantic Buddha statue, taller than all the other buildings in the city. The stone-carved statue’s form is very familiar. It is the Mother Buddha of All Evils whose clay idol you saw before.]

[The enormous Buddha statue holds the Great Wisdom Sword in its left hand and a white bone alms bowl in its right, looking down over all believers and incense worshippers within the city with a smile that is not quite a smile.]

[You know that this city is the so-called Wusi City.]

[Although the enormous Buddha statue’s line of sight is clearly cast downward, it gives you the sinister illusion that it is staring at you. No matter which direction you fly toward the city from, that gaze seems able to perceive you.]

[Countless characters flash through your eyes. You temporarily hover in midair without directly flying into the city…]

[Suddenly, a streak of black light flies out from the city toward another direction outside the city. It seems to sense your presence, and halfway through its flight, it abruptly turns and comes flying toward you.]

[In the blink of an eye, the black light arrives before you. As the light dissipates, it reveals a robust monk wearing ritual robes. It is dressed in a black ritual robe that leaves half its chest exposed, with short blue stubble growing on its scalp, and in its hand it holds a bell-pestle ritual implement wrapped in black qi.]

[It arrives before you and asks in surprise, from where does this unfamiliar Living Buddha come?]

[Through the explanation of the New Abbot, you already understand that Living Buddha is the honorific title for those powerful monks who are nearly at the level of gods.]

[When a Living Buddha attains the fourth fruit, it can ascend to the immortal god-level Arhat. In the future, it may even have the chance to attain the first fruit, Srotapanna, and become a true Buddha.]

[You discovered the Extreme Evil Lesser Dharma King of the All Evil Precious Temple!]

[How should you answer the Lesser Dharma King’s question?]

[1. This poor monk is Tang Sanzang, from the Great Tang of the Eastern Lands, traveling west to worship Buddha and obtain scriptures, and happened to pass by here seeking alms.] 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

[2. This poor monk’s Dharma name is Tang Sanzang, burying heaven, burying earth, burying all living beings. Today you and I are fated to meet, and I have come here specifically to give you a grand burial.]

[3. This poor monk is Tang Sanzang. On the journey, I passed through the Women’s Kingdom and nearly ruined my path of obtaining scriptures. Seeing the solemn Buddha statue in the city, remorse arose in my heart, so I came here to pray that the Buddha Mother dispel the evil lustful desires in my heart.]

Lin Xun: ???