Chapter 163: Destroying Sects and Abandoning Temples, Encountering an Old Acquaintance Again

The Arrowfish flying boat headed toward Anping Prefecture; since it was adjacent to Datong Prefecture, at the Arrowfish's speed, one day was enough.

Zhao Xing came out for some fresh air, while Long Xiao focused on piloting the flying boat.

One day was enough for Long Xiao, that thick-skinned warrior, to pull himself out of his melancholy; now he was talking again: "Why does it keep raining? I can't even see. Can you make it stop?"

Zhao Xing said, "The rain count of an entire prefecture—how could I change it on a whim? I don't want to live anymore?"

In normal times, inland, a little more or less rain didn't matter much.

But now it was on the eve of the great Miao-Suppression War, and both Datong Prefecture and Anping Prefecture were important border regions.

A small fry like Zhao Xing daring to alter the rain count—even if he were a genius of the Ten Sun Grotto-Heavens, let alone a genius of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens—the Ministry of War would chop off his head without the slightest hesitation.

Long Xiao, making conversation out of nothing: "We've already reached Anping Prefecture's territory. By the way, why did the Soldier Realm give you a task like this? Even matters of the Yin Realm need handling."

Yin gods dwell in the Yin Realm, serving a function similar to the Soldier Realm, but only two kinds of people can enter the Yin Realm. One is the dead—if their soul hasn't been destroyed, it's automatically absorbed by the Yin Realm; if they haven't been enshrined as yin gods, after a period of time they dissipate.

This duration is usually three to five generations.

Because after three to five generations, descendants basically stop offering incense, and naturally the soul dissipates.

The other case is cultivating to the Third Rank Primordial Soul realm, which allows one to break free from the life-soul's bond with the body and travel to the Yin Realm.

The Yin Realm wasn't created by Great Zhou; it has existed since antiquity.

Entering is hard, but exiting isn't—incense guidance, soul-summoning spells, even the natural convergence of yin and yang creating an entrance, can all allow yin souls to leave the Yin Realm.

When Zhao Xing had been making side money in Gucheng earlier, that situation belonged to the convergence of yin and yang—an entrance appeared—and because wandering souls couldn't enter due to other abnormal reasons, they lingered in the yin places of the yang world.

Therefore, when a new dynasty of destiny is born, the first thing it does is take over the Yin Realm, establish the yin god system, and prevent yin souls from harming the human world.

Zhao Xing also thought carefully about Long Xiao's question.

"At the Seventh Rank, it's not only the Minister of Agriculture—every profession can summon gods. Perhaps my chance of completing the Nine Rings mission and being enfeoffed as a Seventh Rank official is very high, which is why there's this training."

"Long Xiao, have you ever summoned a god?"

Long Xiao nodded: "Once I summoned the Minister of Fate, once the Giant Spirit True Lord, but that was seven years ago."

"Only twice? What was the cost?" When Zhao Xing had risen in his previous life, the yin god system was already beginning to show problems, so he hadn't done it much.

But summoning gods requires a price, mainly because sending them back is the difficult part.

"Two times is already a lot; the price wasn't small." Long Xiao said: "Military warriors summoning gods usually need essence-blood as a medium. The second time I summoned the Giant Spirit True Lord, I was at a life-and-death juncture, had no choice, and paid fifty percent of my essence-blood as the price."

"That time I lost at least 10 years of lifespan. Later I was granted a title and went to the god temple to register my lifespan; I don't know how much was recovered."

Long Xiao recalled: "There was really no other way. The situation was too dangerous at the time—if I hadn't summoned, I would have died on the spot. How could I have worried about losing lifespan?"

"Ritualists are still better off; the price they pay to summon gods is very small."

Zhao Xing said: "That also depends on which immortal you're serving. If the gap is too great, ritualists also lose lifespan."

Long Xiao said: "I don't understand the specifics, but I feel that anyone who can be a ritualist is very powerful—truly capable of anything between heaven and earth."

Zhao Xing nodded. Ritualists, priests—why are they called early-stage divine offices?

Because they are too powerful and too well-rounded.

Any god canonized by Great Zhou can be summoned by them!

Especially military priests—after Seventh Rank, they can almost summon yin gods of any profession to possess them.

Once possessed, the priest gains part of the abilities that yin god had in life.

All professions can summon gods, but the restrictions are too great—basically they can only summon gods of their own profession.

But priests can summon any. For example, an Eighth Rank priest now can summon Cao Xi True Lord to possess him, and then he can summon wind and rain, equivalent to a military Minister of Agriculture for a short time.

If he summons the Earl of East Lake, he immediately becomes a muscle-bound hulk.

Divine office is, literally, a god-tier profession.

When Zhao Xing was in Gucheng, he had thought about switching to ritualist for the thrill. Later, becoming a priest, he truly was an invincible existence at the same rank.

But for the long term, he ultimately gave up the momentary thrill.

Because priests depend too much on the destiny dynasty system. Once the yin god system collapses, ritualists fall from their pedestal.

Summoning gods then, the unbound yin gods won't obediently work for you—they basically take the money and don't do the job, or the price is absurdly high.

If a Minister of Agriculture runs amok in a region, the destructive power is great, so the review and promotion of Ministers of Agriculture, especially military Ministers of Agriculture, is even more stringent.

But compared to military priests, it's still a bit tender.

"Ritualists are indeed strong." Zhao Xing said, "Unless necessary, I won't summon gods. Going to Anping Prefecture this time, I estimate it's just in the nature of an advisory reviewer; on this mission, I'm not the one actually doing the work."

Zhao Xing saw through it quite clearly. As a Minister of Agriculture, taking on this task meant offering some opinions; they couldn't really expect him to destroy those yin gods.

Put bluntly, he was just there to wag his tongue.

The yin god system is something all officials must understand. When military Ministers of Agriculture campaign abroad, if they summon gods, they must never borrow the power of evil gods.

Otherwise, a military Minister of Agriculture plus evil god power—that destructive force would truly be deadly.

Anping Prefecture's current Prefect Cui Zhe was a Junior Rank 4b.

Anping Prefecture's Temple High Priest Wei Hong, however, was a Senior Rank 4a, half a rank higher than the Prefect.

After arriving at Anping Fucheng, Zhao Xing first reported to the Fucheng Minister of Agriculture Office, then through the Minister of Agriculture Office's channels, sent a visiting card to the Fucheng Temple.

During this process, he naturally read through the list of temple officials, big and small. Zhao Xing vaguely felt the name Wei Hong was familiar, but for the moment couldn't recall.

To show respect, Anping Prefecture's Temple dispatched a squad of priests to act, having Zhao Xing follow this squad of priests in handling affairs.

The next day, when he got the roster, Zhao Xing saw a name on it called Wei Xuancheng, and his brow immediately jumped.

"Hiss, so it's him. Another fierce one encountered—are they all rushing here to eat from the bowl of the Miao-Suppression War?"

Zhao Xing looked at the roster, speechless.

Wei Hong was nothing much; his Rank 4, at most he reached Senior Rank 3 later, and that was as an Imperial Tomb Priest, with no real power.

But his little brother Wei Xuancheng became Chancellor during Wu Di's reign!

This man's greatest achievement was reforming the 'Yin God System.' He personally wielded the knife on the 'Destroy Sects, Abandon Temples' policy, solving Wu Di's trouble of yin gods gradually becoming too numerous.

Of course, his end was also miserable. In Emperor Yuan's reign after Wu Di, Wei Xuancheng's tomb was dug up, he was removed from the ancestral temple, and he was even dragged out from the Yin Realm.

Whipping the corpse and whipping the soul, the soul flew away and scattered—this man had died precisely under his own correct policy.

"Why does Lord Zhao keep looking at me?" The person sent by the temple the next day to receive Zhao Xing was Wei Xuancheng, though at this time he was merely an Assistant Seventh Rank priest.

Wei Xuancheng came from a great clan, arrogant toward superiors yet respectful toward inferiors; the higher one's status, the less he cared, while toward common folk at the bottom he was exceedingly courteous.

At this time Wei Xuancheng was only thirty years old, yet he was already an Assistant Seventh Rank, and with an elder brother who was a proper Fourth Rank—truly a future without limit.

"Lord Wei's appearance resembles an old acquaintance of mine; I was momentarily lost in thought, I pray Lord Wei will not take offense." Zhao Xing cupped his hands in a bow.

In truth he had only been dazed for a second, but priests were extremely sensitive to stray thoughts, so he hurriedly found a reason to gloss over it, tightly locked his mind, and thought no more.

Wei Xuancheng did not mind either; after all, he was not much older than Zhao Xing—one could say they were both young men.

"Lord Zhao, please."

"Lord Wei, please."

Zhao Xing and Long Xiao followed Wei Xuancheng aboard a flying boat, first arriving at the Fucheng temple.

Then they paid respects to the side-hall priest in charge of leading the team this time, the official Sixth Rank lower official 'Gong Ming'.

Following along with thirty-two priests, including Wei Xuancheng, they boarded a 'Cloud Rain Tower Ship'.

The method for completing the following task is as follows:

Gong Ming will bring Zhao Xing to fifty-two folk temples.

At each location, Zhao Xing will give his opinion on the disposition of the folk temple: remove or keep.

He will stay inside the Cloud Rain Tower Ship and not go down.

The Fucheng priest will then carry out the actual handling.

It will not necessarily follow Zhao Xing's opinion.

If Zhao Xing's recommendations are adopted more than half the time, he passes and may be rated C. If adopted seventy percent, he may be rated B; if adopted ninety percent, he may be rated A.

"This task is not hard to say, yet not easy to say either; it is nothing more than two choices—remove and keep."

"You may try your luck; even if you only say one word, remove or keep, so long as your final recommendation matches the temple's action, you pass."

"Even if you are completely ignorant of temple affairs, suppose your luck is good and you guess correctly twenty-six times in a row, you can still pass." Wei Xuancheng sat accompanying him in a private chamber; he was the one responsible for relaying messages and explanations to Zhao Xing.

"If your opinions are substantive and adopted by Lord Gong, even if you guess wrong a few times, so long as the discrepancy is not great, your rating can still be raised by one tier. Does Lord Zhao understand?"

"Yes, many thanks to Lord Wei for the guidance." Zhao Xing cupped his hands.

In other words, this Gong Ming was the same as Qiu Mingyi—he had great autonomy in the matter of grading him.

After waiting two quarter-hours aboard the tower ship, the first location was quickly reached.

Wei Xuancheng first stepped out of the private chamber, then went and returned.

"The first place has arrived. Lord Gong asks me to inquire of you: how should the Yan Guang Temple be disposed of?"

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and said: "It should be removed, the temple torn down, and its Golden Body destroyed!"

Wei Xuancheng said: "Do you have anything else to say? If not, I will go report back."

Zhao Xing nodded and said: "Not only this one place—this official's attitude toward all fifty-two temples in Anping Prefecture is the same: remove these folk temples."

"There are three reasons."

Wei Xuancheng gestured with his hand: "Please speak."

"First, among the folk temples privately established in Anping Prefecture, although some cannot be called evil gods or licentious worship, and have even occasionally performed meritorious deeds, over two hundred years the cost of maintaining the Yin spirits' advancement has already been enormous."

"According to the Great Zhou's Yin Spirit sacrificial system, even proper gods have annual sacrifices, monthly sacrifices, seasonal sacrifices, and daily sacrifices; Yin spirits not within the imperial court's canonization require even more sacrifices."

"This official is not versed in temple affairs, but is rather skilled in mathematics, and may calculate an account for Lord Wei and the lords of the various temples."

"Taking Yan Guang Temple as an example, to advance over two hundred years, it must maintain a ten-year great sacrifice and yearly minor sacrifices."

"In years of great sacrifice, daily sacrifices are required—four times daily, each requiring the three-sacrifice rite: ox, sheep, horse, silk, jade wares, bronze wares, totaling one hundred and sixty items."

"Even if sacrificial offerings can be reused, in one year offerings must still be made one thousand six hundred and ninety-five times. The remaining fifty-one temples, though not as powerful as Yan Guang Temple, this official has calculated that these fifty-two temples together require thirty-four thousand four hundred and fifty-three offerings per year."

"At every monthly sacrifice, guards must also be hired to carry the god-image through the streets, along with temple celebrants, household retainers, and musicians—each procession must number no fewer than three thousand people, reaching one hundred thousand person-mobilizations per year."

"Whenever there is a procession, the faithful commoners will buy incense, paper money, and even toss copper coins into the merit box. One hundred thousand person-mobilizations, even at only ten coins each, is already over a hundred thousand taels—and in fact this number would only be higher! Even the military realm cannot tally it."

"And this is only one year, only mentioning those privately established temples. Anping Prefecture also has proper gods canonized by the imperial court! If the commoners do not believe, so be it; but if they believe, they would rather live in poverty themselves than fail to support and revere their deities."

"Over two hundred years, these fifty-two temples have drained the people's strength across generations—how to count the hundreds of millions? And have the beneficiaries truly been the common people?"

"Even if those Yin spirits performed so-called meritorious deeds, why must wild gods do them?!"

"Draining the people's strength, overstepping authority and serving private interests—this is the first reason they should be destroyed!"

Zhao Xing's voice rang out with force; after Wei Xuancheng heard it, a flash of fury immediately passed through his eyes.

These words suited his tastes perfectly!

Originally he had not thought through so much, but Zhao Xing's enumeration with numbers instantly made Wei Xuancheng's fury blaze.

Indeed, how extravagant the waste!

Spread over a single generation of commoners it might not be obvious, but accumulated over these two hundred years, the numbers are staggering. Zhao Xing's words cut to the heart: where there is waste, there are beneficiaries—who are the beneficiaries?

Of course, the great families and clans!

They are like borers clinging to the commoners' bodies, ceaselessly sucking blood.

There are always common folk who are deluded by these people without knowing it, giving their hard-earned money and even singing their praises.

Zhao Xing, worthy of being a Si Nong, took the angle of finance as the basis for handling, and instantly moved Wei Xuancheng.

Wei Xuancheng bowed with clasped hands: "Lord Zhao's analysis is penetrating to the bone, pouring pure cream over Xuancheng's head—please accept my bow."

"I dare not; these are merely wild and arrogant words. If there are any errors, I pray Lord Wei will forgive me." Zhao Xing hurriedly rose and returned the courtesy.

In truth, everything he said was the correct policy that Wei Xuancheng would later present to Wu Di in the court.

Of course, at present, these words were not as extreme as Wei Xuancheng's later ones.

Wei Xuancheng was the sort who would even reform the imperial tombs; he proposed the 'Five-Temple System'—that is, after five generations of descendants such as the Emperor, palace consorts, commandery princesses, and Commandery Princes, they need no longer be worshipped; if worship is to be done, one should go worship at the Son of Heaven's temple.

Zhao Xing was still holding back; compared with the bold and sweeping reforms of the later Wei Xuancheng, his words now were nothing more than a single needle.

Enough to pierce Wei Xuancheng's heart and the priests of the divine temple, but not so excessive as to seem over the top.

"Please continue, Lord Zhao, with the second and third points." A glint flickered in Wei Xuancheng's eyes — he very much wanted to know what other unique views Zhao Xing still had.

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