Chapter 305: Temporary Overseas Office of the Underworld

Due to the gunfight, the police arrived quickly. After the weakened Hong Xiuquan consumed some of the "Taishui Zhican Pill" secretly prepared by Li Rentai, he regained some strength and made a phone call to the headquarters of the American Exorcism Investigation Department, and the police then left.

It is quite reasonable for exorcism to be conducted like a gang shootout; furthermore, Hong Xiuquan transformed into a black angel, which ordinary people could not see, but all the exorcists in the San Francisco area witnessed this battle.

"Ancestor!" Li Rentai was very confused about Xu Jia taking Hong Xiuquan as a disciple. This ancestor acted boldly, casting off the old and unconventional, making them all feel that it was "rebellious and a collapse of rites and music."

If one were to say the Buddhist school occupies the African market, that would be one thing, but the various sects of the Daoist school are "clear in their love and hate"; they don't like Africans, so they don't like black people, and there are plenty of people who openly express discrimination.

Could it be that our Lingbao Teaching Altar hasn't even been built yet, and we already have a black senior fellow apprentice? Named Hong Xiuquan, with the Daoist name Taiping Heavenly King? American Black Dragon Great Mage?

"We disciples and grand-disciples have received the ancestor's wonderful methods, which is the ancestor's favor, or perhaps our merit and practice are insufficient, and our virtuous teachings have not accumulated, but you taking him as a disciple, and us then bowing to him as the Second Ancestor... it is truly..."

Xu Jia thought to himself, if he were not around, the person with the highest seniority in Tongtian Temple would be this Hong Xiuquan. For many Chinese to bow to a black man, it truly is somewhat "forgetting one's origins."

So he said to them: "Although he has obtained the Register and methods, he is an external disciple, following the path of the Yeh Teachings, and is not of the same lineage as you. He manages his cathedral, and you manage your Tongtian Temple. His public identity is a priest and bishop, and you are Daoists; naturally, there is no reason for kneeling and showing reverence."

"Whether it is cultivation or doing things, the most important point is to grasp its spirit and look at its form. You take the form too seriously. Did you not see that this poor Daoist took him as an external disciple in order to make big moves within the Yeh Teachings?"

"Moreover, don't say that you look down on black people; black people in America also look down on the Chinese. You should be good at cooperation. You are good at devising strategies, and black people are good at charging into battle. Only by borrowing strength to strike can there be a longer-lasting future."

Li Rentai felt much more relaxed upon hearing that he was not above them.

This was human nature after all. If there really were such subversions, with a Black Dragon riding on the head of a Yellow Dragon, I fear many people would have a mental breakdown. Being an external disciple, placed within the Yeh Teachings, a time bomb within the American national body—they could accept this much more easily.

It is a pity that one needs to restrain the flattery, otherwise they would have long since clamored, saying things like "peerless in strategy," "divine calculations," or "a Zhuge reborn." But even so, these disciples had already conceived seven or eight plans in their minds, which could be used to conduct great business in America by leveraging the identity of Hong Xiuquan as a black Christian bishop, such as contracting and opening churches in various places, then turning the churches into "headquarters," substituting one thing for another...

In short, these things are not difficult.

"Many years ago, this poor Daoist had a Magic Tool, the Jiazi Gold Coin Sword, which was a national fortune vessel woven from pure gold coins issued in limited quantities each year during the sixty years of China. Where is it now?"

"After the ancestor achieved Feathered Ascension, those Magic Tools and objects all went to China. The ancestor's relatives inherited a portion, but since that side does not allow physical Daoist fields and requires cremation, the disciples suggested keeping them in the Tongtian Temple."

"If the ancestor wishes to recover the Magic Tools from his lifetime, we will wholeheartedly make a trip back to the country to see if we can bring them out."

Xu Jia nodded: "My Magic Tools include the Jiazi Gold Coin Sword, the Five Directions Dragon Shape Flag, the Soul-Collecting Jade Gourd, the Five Elders Seal... I cannot remember the others clearly. If they can still be found, then bring them back. After so many years without ritual refining, I do not know if the younger generation has inherited them."

"I estimate the Jiazi Gold Coin Sword is long gone; those were achievements of gold, and a set of Jiazi at that..." Xu Jia sighed: "Those Magic Tools looked more like the Righteous Path; the Magic Tools I need to refine now are all of the Evil Sect."

Having said that, Xu Jia shook his head: "The flesh and blood Divine Nature of the Cannibal Sect leader still has some use. This poor Daoist can use his five internal organs to separately enlighten the corresponding small Demon Gods, constructing a stable Five Prisons Daoist Field, which can be used for future disciples to separately pass through the Five Prisons and obtain the Hook-Order."

"The remaining parts can be directly used to transmit the Hook-Order to some disciples according to the previous method."

"This key, which was hanging on the old demon's neck, is the manifestation of the concept of entering his Dharma Realm Manor. I will transmit a method to you; enter it, and there is a core within the manor. Mastering it allows you to master the entire Dharma Realm Manor. Using this manor as a core, you can prepare to transform it into a Blessed Land. Although you are not Earth Immortals or True Persons, and only have the achievements of Ghost Immortals, you can also exist for a long time within the manor."

"These trivial matters do not require this poor Daoist to take action. Although there are some vengeful demons and butcher ghosts inside, you should also practice. The Hook-Order has the ability to hook souls; there is no reason for you to be afraid of ghosts."

Li Rentai and the others nodded repeatedly.

Afterwards, Xu Jia made arrangements one by one, placing the five internal organs of the cannibal leader Hannibal into five jars, each filled with salt to prevent decay. Furthermore, salt also has the power to dispel evil. He pointed out the spirituality of the Five Elements small Demon Gods and hooked out the Lushan Five Prisons illusion. Suddenly, there were layers of demonic shadows and gusts of yin wind.

Before long, a phantom crawled out; it was the Five Prisons Judge. As soon as he came out, he felt something was wrong: "Where did you bring me? Is this still under the rule of the Heavenly Court?"

Then he saw Xu Jia and was very respectful: "So it was a summons from the Heavenly Master."

Xu Jia waved his hand: "Judge, there is no need for such formalities. This poor Daoist set up this Hell not specifically for summoning, but just to establish a gateway so that my disciples can have a chance to practice by passing through the Five Prisons and obtaining the Hook-Order."

The Five Prisons Judge stroked his chin and said: "If it were just a few spots, I would do the Heavenly Master a favor, but to obtain spots stably, there must certainly be a threshold."

"This poor Daoist understands. For the underworld to record the lowest Ghost Immortal official register, first, one must accumulate good deeds and Yinyuan, and second, it is best to have practiced during one's lifetime, or if one can ferry one hundred evil ghosts, one can also obtain it directly. I just don't know if you accept these Red-Haired Ghosts and Golden-Haired Ghosts."

The Five Prisons Judge calculated with his fingers: "I accept them. As long as they are ghosts, I accept them. Under the rule of the Heavenly Court, there are also deities from other mythological systems, maintaining a certain degree of autonomy, but one must still insist on assimilation."

"Although this place is not under the rule of the Heavenly Court, recently many people have been burning paper money, including foreign currency like US dollars and British pounds, which can also be of some use. It's just that it's too far away, and the underworld's transport vehicles cannot easily be sent overseas to receive them. The Heavenly Master establishing a sect overseas and assimilating the people of barbarian sects is also a work of immeasurable Merit."

Xu Jia took the opportunity to ask: "This poor Daoist observes the signs of the heavens; this world has a trend of rising in dimension. Where is it going to be promoted to?"

"The various types of human races in this world indicate that at least three different world civilizations have merged. Perhaps the fusion period has ended, and the promotion has begun. This is not strange."

"The Heavenly Court's previous salvation efforts were all like this. Three or four broken small worlds with insufficient resources and potential were merged, similar to merging villages and towns to integrate resources." The Five Prisons Judge gave an answer based on his own experience and understanding: "Doesn't the underworld do the same, grouping five hundred Desire Realms under the jurisdiction of one small Hell?"

Xu Jia asked about Huang Zhenren again. The Five Prisons Judge said that Huang Zhenren had accompanied the Five Sacred Mountains Mansion Official to inspect other worlds and would need some time before he could return to the small Hell.

Immediately after, a temporary office for the small Hell was established overseas in this world, striving to incorporate the current state of America, which lacks an underworld, into the jurisdiction of the underworld. If the cycle of reincarnation could be sorted out and brought under the jurisdiction of the underworld in the American Dharma Realm, this would also count as a work of Merit for Xu Jia.

Before this, as many foreign souls as possible were to be collected, and as much paper money burned by foreigners as possible was to be converted into currency circulating in the underworld, to be used in exchange for opportunities to pass through the Five Prisons (with a certain degree of leniency), ensuring that Xu Jia's disciples could obtain the Hook-Order through this stable method.

After negotiating with the Five Prisons Judge, Xu Jia refined another Human Skin Magic Banner and used bones to refine some miscellaneous small Magic Tools, letting them arrange them in Hannibal's Dharma Realm Manor. He then picked some disciples and grand-disciples to directly register their Hook-Orders, only then dissipating his consciousness and sitting back on the altar.

Then his consciousness returned to his original physical body, and amidst the kneeling and chanting of the disciples and grand-disciples, he completed the withdrawal of his spirit.

"Waiting for that world, once the overseas Tongtian Temple altar is built, we can let them continuously offer grain, which can solve the urgent need."

Xu Jia was confident in the means, ability, and financial resources of those disciples.

As long as they used the name of this black man, Hong Xiuquan, to call for something like protecting the world's impoverished and starving population, they could raise a large amount of grain.

Their charity over there is fake charity; what is donated is not as high as the unpaid wages and benefits. When it reaches Xu Jia here, it is real charity, truly and genuinely delivered to the mouths of the disaster victims.

Putting away the Raw Rice Bowl, sacrificing to the Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable in exchange for grain was basically a waste. It was not that Xu Jia had any selfish motives; what if it were an Evil Sect trap?

The grain in the granary had not yet reached the point of exhaustion. Previously, the Golden Toad had hoarded a lot of low-priced grain to maintain stable grain prices. Landlords had also taken out large amounts of grain for cash to play this stock market game for a period of time, enough for the whole county to eat for a year and a half. But after the number of disaster victims increased, and they had to provide disaster relief and carry out projects, this grain was consumed extremely quickly.

When mid-March arrived, the weather cleared up for a few days, but by April, it rained continuously for more than half a month, nearly twenty days of rain.

It wasn't until before the Grain in Ear, approaching May, that the sky cleared and the Qi became pure. However, Xu Jia could see that from this moment on, until the autumn, I fear there would not be a single drop of natural rain. His own side was not afraid; if there was too much rain, he had no way to drive it away to clear the sky, but if there was little rain, the Shunji Little Dragon King could immediately make it rain.

The common people only then began to sow, completely missing the spring, and started farming directly from the summer. Farming in the summer and maturing in the autumn, it grows faster, the weather is more favorable, and the creation is more harmonious. It can mature in three months; by then it would be August. Even if they could rush to plant another batch of seedlings in August, given the current celestial phenomena, I fear there would be a cold wave before November, with the south like the north, and the north like a cold wasteland.

By then, if it hadn't been harvested, it would freeze to death. They could only switch to planting other things, or beans, or cold-resistant winter wheat. In any case, it was impossible to waste several months of time.

After the reclamation of winter and spring, more than five thousand mu of fertile land had been added around Poyang, and the green seedlings were growing very well. It was believed that it would certainly be a granary with a bumper harvest and increased production.

After transplanting the seedlings, except for a portion of people maintaining these original rice fields, the others were still divided into production brigades to continue reclaiming wasteland. After reclaiming the wasteland, they planted; they were not afraid of the time being late, as long as they could harvest before winter came, everything would be fine.

The Jiangnan West Circuit was like this, and other southern regions were much the same. Everyone happily began to farm, but they did not know that the south would not see a single drop of rain for the next five or six months.

Conversely, the north entered a summer flood, with more rebellions, and the northern barbarian tribes invaded. The war was exhausting, the imperial court could not come up with money to fight, and they suffered heavy losses one after another. The barbarians looted a large amount of grain and wealth, set fire to villages, and carried out unrestricted massacres...

This caused the common people to lose confidence in the imperial court. Farmers did not dare to plant even if they had land, and they fled south one after another to escape the famine and avoid the ravages of war.

The northern disaster victims crossing south further increased the pressure on grain and public security in the south.

However, the Poyang model was spread out. Many county magistrates and officials in various places who wanted to do practical work also began to organize refugees to reclaim wasteland.

It was just that many of them only wanted to use the refugees. Soon after the refugees finished reclaiming the wasteland, the local powerful clans would occupy it on the spot, and reporting it to the yamen was also meaningless...

With such accumulation of public grievances, it soon ushered in an outbreak. In one month, Xu Jia heard reports of seventeen or eighteen uprisings and riots by refugees in other places.

Of course, local powerful clans colluded with the government and still had the ability in the local area, so most of the riots ended with successful suppression.

A centipede dies but does not stiffen; this current weather condition is only the first year. Wait until the second, third, or even fourth or fifth year, and one will see that the "National Fortune has perished," the state can no longer be sustained, and ninety-nine percent of the common people under heaven will be unable to survive.

Why is it that every Heavenly Disaster inevitably drives Land Annexation? With annexation happening once a year, after three years, the land of local powerful clans will expand like a snowball. A large number of farmers will go bankrupt. They become increasingly smug, yet they do not know that this only hastens their demise. A landslide or a tsunami will sweep across the entire dynasty, and all resources will count for nothing; everything will have to be redistributed.

Xu Jia can feel the surging within it, as layers of Tribulation Qi accumulate until they crush everyone.

All Xu Jia can do is begin recruiting "militia," which is to say local civilian armed organizations, from among the refugees and the local good citizens.

Xu Jia's goal is to reach five thousand men in three years, and at the same time, Shanju Guan has also begun to recruit a second batch of Daoist acolytes from among the refugees.

The first batch was recruited from good families; there are not many seeds left to recruit from local good families, so it is better to recruit directly from the Poyang refugees.

Once this batch is ready, they will also be sent over there to replace a portion of the first batch that went to Luzon, bringing them back here to serve as officers for the militia, and then formally training them as Daoist soldiers and in battle formations.

These were all written by Xu Jia into his plan one by one, but doing all this requires grain.

Fortunately, the first batch of grain arrived very quickly; it was not because the altar had been built at Amelika Tongtian Temple, but because Sun Bao and his fleet, after transporting the population from Luzon, traveled all the way to Southern Yue, Annam, Siam, and other places to purchase twenty ships of grain.

Originally, they could have sold it on the road, and they were even inspected by the Cao Gang several times, but Sun Bao believed this was "merit from following the dragon," and one must not abandon the greater benefit for a small profit; he wanted to be enfeoffed as a marquis and gain a title. After all, having seen cannons and Firearm, Sun Bao believed that whoever claimed the throne under heaven would surely be decided by this Heavenly Master Xu. He was the type of mysterious figure in storybooks who assists an emperor in reaching the summit.

The twenty ships of grain truly relieved Xu Jia's urgent need, and also made Xu Jia take notice of this Sun Bao and keep him in mind.

(End of this chapter)