Chapter 361: The Path of the Incense God

The tank steel torrent advanced through the mountains.

No high mountain or cliff could block it.

After traveling over a thousand kilometers, the view suddenly opened up, entering a plain region.

Looking in all directions, fertile fields stretched in patches, fertile wilderness spanning a thousand li, with small rivers winding through them from time to time.

Upon the earth, villages and cities stood in a forest, watching in terror this sudden swarm of steel monsters, along with the earth-shaking roar.

Figures in strange clothes sat cross-legged atop the monsters.

"Supreme Commander!"

An Siyan reported: "The troops have currently entered the Nanzhong Plain area. The Nanzhong Plain spans over two thousand kilometers in width, with a population of hundreds of millions. There is a mortal regime named the Great Li Dynasty, established by immortal gates many years ago. After the Brother Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace occupied this place, it did not change the name, only forcibly promoted the Bao Ding Maitreya faith."

"The armored forces passing through this plain will inevitably destroy a large amount of crops. If the campaign ultimately achieves victory, we will return here to compensate and resettle the affected disaster victims."

If victory cannot be achieved?

Then we can only wish for the best; the heart is willing but the strength is lacking.

"Faith?"

Regarding the great army's operations, Jiang Ding rarely paid attention to anything other than dividing combat objectives, but at this moment, he was drawn to a specific term.

"Yes, the Brother Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace has conducted very deep research into incense faith; its peak representative work in incense faith technology is the three hundred and sixty-five Divine Generals guarding the Heavenly Palace, the Star Lords."

An Siyan consulted some data and said: "Bao Ding Maitreya is also one of its manifestations. Incense faith should be able to boost its power, especially within its Incense Divine Court, where its strength will undergo significant changes."

"Its faith distribution also exists in the Western Desert."

"Our Western Desert garrison troops are proceeding with iron-blooded efficiency to eliminate its Western Desert Bao Ding Maitreya faith; it is estimated that all visible incense temples can be wiped out within at most one month."

The tank army rumbled past the villages, flattening crops; even streams and small hills were directly crushed flat.

Many farmers watched with aching hearts but dared not offer any resistance; even more thought they were seeing the ghost soldiers of the underworld, kowtowing and praying.

Jiang Ding tapped his toe lightly, descended from the sky, and landed in the village, inside the most conspicuous building, a Maitreya Temple.

It occupied a vast area, paved with stone slabs extremely rare in the village, with not a single gap.

In the center stood a temple built of brick walls, painted pure white, with three tiers of green-tiled eaves.

Inside the temple, amidst swirling incense smoke,

a clay-sculpted Golden Body sat with solemn majesty; a ushnisha on its head, earlobes hanging down to the cheeks, hands clasped in prayer, with six arms behind it, each holding a pair of Zen staffs, a Bao Ding, and a golden wheel; it was so lifelike it seemed no different from a True Person.

Thick incense smoke swirled around the Golden Body, containing the emotional distractions of hundreds of millions of beings; for a cultivator's magical treasure and soul, this was a terrifyingly filthy substance.

"I, the Buddha Bao Ding Maitreya, diamond-like and indestructible, unbreakable..."

Even now, as the tank steel torrent passed by outside, a head monk with a broad face and large ears led four or five novice monks in chanting the scriptures of the Bao Ding Maitreya faith, with no other thoughts in mind.

Spiritual sense perception confirmed it was genuine piety, not a sham.

"The construction of this temple likely required the wealth accumulated over ten years of hard work by tens of thousands of people from over a dozen nearby villages, and even that might not be enough."

Jiang Ding said indifferently.

In feudal society, village productivity was inefficient; it was already difficult to feed one's entire family, young and old; selling sons and daughters during famine years was very common.

Now they also had to support such a great Buddha and a host of head monks and novice monks; one can imagine their lives.

A third-order spiritual particle radar scanned a hundred li in all directions.

Indeed, the common people were all yellow-faced and emaciated; some women in households clearly had less than half a month's grain in storage, yet still had to give half away, offering it to the Buddha.

Among the many temples within a hundred li,

there were quite a few such pious head monks, accounting for roughly one or two out of ten; the rest were mostly wine-and-meat-eating, flesh-consuming Monks who openly kept large numbers of female servants and maids in the temple courtyards.

But looking at the people around, in terms of piety, they seemed no worse than here; their performance metrics were all up to standard.

The people's lives, however, were exactly the same, extremely wretched; selling sons and daughters to offer to Maitreya. Life with the pious head monks was slightly better, but only slightly.

"Incense faith, to maintain piety, has two paths."

An Siyan introduced.

"The first path is to let all believers accept excellent Buddhist and Daoist education, enrich their spirits and material lives, and then guide them onto the Buddha's path, making them willingly recognize the Buddha's way, tirelessly seek its theories, spontaneously devote themselves to the Buddha's path, and willingly sacrifice and contribute."

"That seems very difficult, right?"

Jiang Ding guessed.

"It is very difficult."

"Humans are naturally rebellious; when poor, a single steamed bun or a tael of silver can make them grateful, and even if you ask for their hearts and livers, they will give them willingly."

"But after they have been wealthy for a while, if you give them a silver coin and ask for their hearts and livers, they will give you a spittle and a beating."

"The Buddha is the same; rich spirits and material wealth do not necessarily bring pious faith. Most people, after acquiring knowledge, instead develop the thought, 'Bao Ding Maitreya, I can take his place.' Even with guidance, piety is very rare and very difficult."

"How can this be called rebellious?"

Jiang Ding exclaimed: "This is called the endless joy of humans fighting heaven and fighting people; humanity's insatiable ambition to conquer all heavens and myriad worlds with infinite desire, achieving the supreme status of the lords of all heavens."

"You are right."

An Siyan rolled his eyes: "In short, the first path consumes many resources, yields little incense faith, and has unclear returns, so it is rejected by the vast majority of incense gods."

"They prefer the second path: placing believers in widespread poverty and hardship, maintaining only the most basic survival, and cutting off their channels for education and acquiring knowledge."

"The last bit of spiritual hope and reliance can only be found in the temple, thereby obtaining a large and continuous flow of incense."

"Understood."

Jiang Ding flew into the sky, sat cross-legged atop the super aerospace fighter, concealed his form, and flew ahead of the great army; the third-order spiritual particle radar deployed to scout the path ahead for the army.

"Deal with all these pious or impious Bao Ding Maitreya faith head monks."

"Bao Ding Maitreya is a sinner of the creatures of the Huang Copper Small Realm, the chief culprit behind the poverty and ignorance of hundreds of millions of people. Novice monks without sin may be let be; these head monks, accomplices, the more pious they are, the more they deserve death."

"If the people resist, obstructing the destruction of temples and the severing of faith, they too shall be dealt with; no forgiveness is needed. No one remains innocent after committing acts of war."

"Yes!"

Hearing this even more cold-blooded order, An Siyan quickly wrote it down and distributed it to the various divisions.

The steel army's torrent, moving in a straight line, crossed the entire Southern Central Plain, passing right by the Ducheng of the Great Li Dynasty.

The world-famous Great Li Imperial Guard, clad in heavy armor and holding fine weapons, stood trembling on the broad, high city walls.

Numerous princes and nobles, including the Great Li Dynasty's Emperor in disguise, hid among the soldiers, watching the tank formations rumbling past outside the walls in terror, afraid to breathe loudly.

Fortunately, from beginning to end,

no one paid them any mind; tanks simply kept passing before them, flattening everything that blocked their path, driving toward the distance.

The

(End of this chapter)