Chapter 39: True God, Evil God (Seeking monthly votes, seeking follow-reads, seeking chapter comments)

After Xu Jia's father left, Xu Jia headed toward the Fox Immortal Hall.

Niu Congcong had gone to host a banquet for those two shamanesses and spirit mediums, so only four foxes were there practicing. Seeing Xu Jia, they all joyfully said, "Master Xu!"

Xu Jia did not need these formalities from them and asked, "How is your cultivation going?"

Hu Jinhua said, "Reporting to Master Xu, Bu Tang, Du Xiu, and the others have all already entered the gate."

"After Master Xu subdued the Mountain God, the Spirit General Luejue Shen can now mobilize the Mountain Forest Primordial Qi within the Dharma Realm. Coupled with the Dharma Realm's characteristic of enhancing wisdom, our one day of cultivation is worth ten days in the past, and it saves even more time, especially when practicing magic arts."

Xu Jia nodded: "The Primordial Qi of Jijue Mountain is average. Once the Evil Qi is combed through, it will barely count as a propitious land."

"If the Fox Immortal Hall can govern a township and assist the common people, gaining their gratitude, the thoughts of the masses will gather. This is the proper Divine Immortal Dao method I am teaching you."

Xu Jia had previously only explained how to form connections with disciples and set up the hall, but had not yet explained the rules of the Divine Path, so he now spoke to them about it properly.

"The Incense Fire of the masses is mixed and is mainly divided into two types: one is Desire Thought, the other is Wish Thought."

"Desire Thought is wanting to achieve great things with little effort, hoping for pies to fall from the sky, or daydreaming. This kind of thought is poisonous to deities and should not be fulfilled; otherwise, it is easy to fall into the ranks of Evil Gods. However, these Desire Thoughts can be used to refine fierce soldiers, Yin demons, and some Nightmare Techniques."

"Wish Thought, on the other hand, is a thought of light, a thought of hope, and a thought of blessing. This thought is the simple thought of the common people, without any mixed desires."

"However, even this kind of Wish Thought cannot be used directly; it still hinders cultivation."

"What we can use is when the common people make a wish, have their wish fulfilled, and then come to fulfill their vow. This will form a Wish Power Money in the Dharma Realm, which is Dharma Money."

"Dharma Money has the effect of making wishes come true. It can directly increase your Dharma Power and can also enhance the power of your magic arts and Divine Abilities."

"Righteous thoughts that have not yet had their wishes fulfilled can be used to construct a Daochang, which is Righteous God Spiritual Light. If there are cultivators who know how to observe Qi, seeing these spiritual lights, they will not harm you, knowing that you are not Evil Gods who cultivate the desires of the masses."

"Even if they insist on harming you, it will damage their Merit. This is a Houshenfu, and after accumulating fame, you may even receive an imperial decree from the court and become a True God."

Xu Jia had worked in the Underworld for many years and knew a great deal about the affairs of ghosts and gods.

Like the paper money burned in the human world, very little of it is useful. Only the ingots folded by direct relatives themselves, which entrust "Wish Power" and the hope that their relatives below will live better, can manifest as currency circulating in the Yin world.

A Daoist's "Jade Emperor Money" generally entrusts the Daoist's thoughts, combined with the recitation of the Jade Emperor Precious Proclamation. It is the manifestation of the Jade Emperor's compassionate divine power, used to pay wages to Yin soldiers and fierce soldiers, allowing them to spend it in the Yin world, the Dharma Realm, and some "Ghost Markets," but it is not applicable to ordinary ghosts.

As for the "extra-staff personnel" of the Underworld—those who do "ghost and god business" but are not ghosts or gods and have no divine registry, such as Hell jailers—they are not on the True God list, but the Yin soldiers and ghost generals under the Ghost King who work for the Underworld are all suitable for using Jade Emperor Money.

And "Wish Power Dharma Coin" is the currency of deities; it is formed entirely by believers making and fulfilling vows, and it has no Cause and Effect or karmic debt.

Therefore, if some people make a wish and the wish comes true, but they do not go to fulfill the vow, they will be recorded by the ghosts and gods as "owing a debt and not paying it."

This is "owing an Yin Debt." Often, they are glorious at first, but once their ten-year luck runs out, the ghosts and gods will send people to collect the debt.

It is fine if it is a True God; they might just record a bit of karmic debt against you, causing the wealth you earned to vanish in the blink of an eye, but at least they let you enjoy it for a few years, so it is not a total loss.

It is a disaster with an Evil God, because Evil Gods like "usury." They not only make your wealth vanish but also cause your family to be destroyed and your descendants to all be burdened with debt.

The most famous "Evil God of Yin Debt" in the previous life was the Five Manifestations God, also known as the "Five Thoroughfares God." Once you made a wish, you were burdened with debt.

Xu Jia taught: "Your Divine Abilities are low, so you must not accept big wishes, such as helping people get rich. This is Desire Thought. Because you do not have the Wealth God Authority, if you forcibly help them get rich, you will easily be polluted by Desire Thought and become an evil object."

"With your Daoist Practice, you should just fulfill some trivial matters, such as commoners wishing to find lost items, or if they are possessed by evil and wish for your help. These concrete wishes can be solved personally, thereby obtaining Wish Power Dharma Coin."

Hu Jinhua nodded, but her eyes suddenly realized: "No wonder those who occupied wild temples before were all crazy, saying things like Incense Fire is poisonous. It seems they didn't distinguish between them and absorbed them indiscriminately, refining both righteous thoughts and desire thoughts, and without fulfilling them..." Xu Jia nodded: "Exactly. That is why the smaller the temple, the more efficacious it is, while larger temples are more cautious. True Gods do not manifest their power indiscriminately; they need to judge based on Cause and Effect and retribution, and on cultivating Merit. They have their own departments to assist in operations."

"Small temples and wild gods do not understand this and fulfill wishes indiscriminately. As a result, the karmic retribution is revealed later, and everything falls into chaos. Seeking short-term gains and quick success rarely ends well."

"However, if you want to be famous and make things easier, you still need the Wealth God Authority. Just wait until I refine the Golden Toad Dharma Artifact in a few days, and once you have gained a firm foothold in this township and small matters are efficacious, you can slowly begin the work of helping the poor accumulate wealth."

"When all is said and done, this is still what the common people in the world seek the most."

Having gained knowledge of the Divine Path and knowing how to carry out future work while avoiding potential mistakes, Hu Jinhua was increasingly grateful and nodded repeatedly: "Many thanks for Master Xu's guidance."

After finishing his guidance, Xu Jia drank some tea and asked again: "How is the search for Fox Immortal Hall disciples going?"

"I went to three families last night, but only subdued two. There was one who seemed a bit like an Evil Sect follower, so this disciple did not dare to let her enter the gate."

"Tell me about it."

Hu Jinhua then carefully recounted what she saw last night, especially the matter of Liu Wenpo.

"Cooking and sacrificing human victims? A Suppression Infant Spirit Tower?" Xu Jia keenly sensed something was wrong: "This Longevity Sect must have problems. You must keep a close eye on her and inquire about her past in the surrounding area."

"Our strength is still weak now. If it really is an evil sect, I fear we cannot meet its edge directly, but we cannot leave it alone either. This township is our base camp, and since we have just started, we must handle it properly."

Xu Jia said: "I have sent the war eagle out to find the whereabouts of the evil Daoist. Otherwise, she would be better at finding out the secrets of the evil sect, but now I can only trouble you more."

Hu Jinhua shook her head: "It is no trouble, but that Evil God's Curse Power is strange, and that tower suppressing the Infant Ghost is chilling."

Xu Jia said: "This Infant Ghost is actually nothing to fear. I will teach you a Transcendence and Dissolving Evil Ritual, and you can try to perform the transcendence."

"I previously served in the Underworld, and there is an unwritten rule in the Underworld: any practitioner in the mortal world who transcends one hundred resentful ghosts can obtain the position of 'Yin Office Walker'."

"If you can secure this walker position, you will barely count as extra-staff in the Underworld and can accumulate Yin Merit."

Hu Jinhua calculated how many one hundred resentful ghosts were and asked carefully: "Do lonely ghosts and wild spirits not count?"

"Lonely ghosts and wild spirits naturally do not count; only evil ghosts, resentful ghosts, and fierce ghosts count."

Xu Jia said: "Lonely ghosts and wild spirits have no obsessions and do not disturb the order of Yin and Yang, so the Underworld turns a blind eye to them. Furthermore, they dissipate easily on their own."

"Only those resentful ghosts, evil ghosts, and fierce ghosts who refuse to reincarnate, do not report to the Earth Deity, and are not judged by the City God... those who violate the order of Yin and Yang and even harm people are included."

"I don't know how many of these Infant Ghosts qualify. If they all qualify, that will save a lot of effort."

Xu Jia then carefully explained the Transcendence and Dissolving Evil Ritual to Hu Jinhua. This ritual has a deluxe version requiring forty-nine people, a standard version requiring fourteen people, and also a single-person version.

It mainly consists of some "melodies," which are chants sung like songs.

Xu Jia taught her to sing for a while, and as a result, he summoned the Jijuezi Mountain God, Luejue.

Xu Jia suddenly realized: "Every trade has its master; this Luejue is more suitable for the position of Yin Office Walker than you."

(End of chapter)