After more than two hours of discussion, the participants in the online meeting finally reached a tentative consensus, though they were still fiercely debating how exactly to convert.
"I absolutely disagree with issuing an official order for all citizens to convert. This would not only be undignified for the state but could also be counterproductive. After all, everyone knows the current level of public trust in the government, due to actions taken over the past few decades. The state's credibility is practically zero now, perhaps even negative. The more we demand the public do something, the more they might suspect we want to harm them. Therefore, this conversion must be guided slowly through unofficial public opinion; we cannot expect a complete reversal in one go."
The Alliance Leader first stated his difficulties and stance. This wasn't entirely his fault, as the loss of trust wasn't a sudden development. It was entirely the result of previous leaders and certain corporate giants doing too many things that harmed the public, and crucially, these actions were exposed, leading to the people's distrust. So, his words weren't an excuse but a reflection of objective reality.
Everyone present understood this and didn't blame him. Lanong, the media magnate, quickly spoke up, "The worship of the Sun Goddess has been difficult to spread in our country, and that's partly our fault. Our major media outlets, along with key online information platforms, jointly placed restrictions on information related to the Sun Goddess. However, our intentions were good at the time; we were afraid the so-called Sun Goddess wasn't real and might be something that misled people. Therefore, if we now lift those restrictions and increase our publicity a bit, it should have some effect. While it might not be possible for everyone to convert to Sun God worship in a short time, guiding a portion, or perhaps one-third of the population, to convert should be achievable, without significant issues."
"I have a rather unrefined idea," a governor proposed, offering a suggestion bolder than any before. "Is it possible to merge the worship of the God of Light and the Sun Goddess? Think about it, light originates from the sun. If the God of Light is an incarnation of the Sun Goddess, wouldn't people find it much more acceptable? Even the existing God of Light temples wouldn't need to be demolished and rebuilt. They could be slightly modified and reused. Furthermore, the clergy of the God of Light temples would avoid unemployment and could simply convert. What do you think of this plan?"
Good heavens, while others were merely proposing conversion, this person was planning to subvert the worship of the God of Light entirely, eradicating it completely. However, upon closer consideration, his ancestral lineage made sense. His family inherited a part of the Dark Knight bloodline, and when the God of Light's temples still had some Light Knights, they had caused considerable trouble for his family, nearly wiping them out. So, why wouldn't he kick them while they're down now?
"Uh... isn't that a bit inappropriate..."
"Unless the Church of the God of Light agrees, this matter is impossible to implement, and the probability of them agreeing is extremely small, practically negligible. If we were to do this, it would mean a complete severance of ties, and if the Church of the God of Light also joins the opposition, our plan would become even more difficult to execute."
Concerns were immediately raised regarding this drastic plan. In previous years, they would usually invite the Pope of the God of Light's Church to their private meetings. The fact that they hadn't this time implicitly conveyed the underlying sentiment. However, the idea of completely eradicating the Church of the God of Light still made many hesitant and unwilling to support it.
"I say, when have you all become so indecisive? Do you really think the mass conversion won't have a significant impact on the Church of the God of Light? Won't the old Pope try to stop it or do something? Would he really allow the Sun God's religion to spread and do nothing? It's going to be a confrontation regardless. What's the difference between a slow confrontation and a direct one? In my opinion, we might as well go all out. Ideally, we'd provoke the Pope of the God of Light into a corner, making him act irrationally. At that point, we might not even need to act ourselves; he could be struck down by the Sun Goddess's divine punishment."
Mais sneered, tearing away all pretense, essentially telling everyone that this wasn't a matter that could be resolved through negotiation and compromise. Worship was inherently a zero-sum game. From the moment they conceived the idea of conversion, the conflict with the Church of the God of Light became irreconcilable. Hesitation and embarrassment were paths to self-destruction. A swift and decisive strike, cutting out the roots, was the only way forward.
"Exactly. If we're going to do it, let's do it thoroughly. As for negotiating with the Church of the God of Light, I think it's completely unnecessary because they will absolutely refuse. Therefore, instead of negotiating with them, it's better to negotiate with the Sun God's religion. Let them cooperate with us. We'll abandon most of the clergy of the God of Light, and all the existing God of Light temples in the country will be handed over to the clergy of the Sun God's religion to manage. Then, we won't have to do much. We can simply let the people of the Sun God's religion confront those of the God of Light. We'll just watch from the sidelines. Or, at most, we'll control public opinion to lean towards the Sun God's religion. This will definitely be much easier than our previous plan."
As everyone discussed, the conversion plan became more perfect, and the effort and actions they needed to undertake became increasingly less. Finally, they devised a core plan where the clergy of the Sun God's religion would actively compete for worship. After all, the bishops of the Sun God's religion needed a certain amount of merit to be promoted to archbishops, and evangelism was considered a great merit. They likely wouldn't refuse. Thus, after settling on the plan, the Alliance Leader immediately notified their national representative in Winterguo, at the Sun God's Temple, to represent him and negotiate this matter with the Saintess of the Sun God's Temple. If agreed, they would bring back dozens or hundreds of clergy from the Sun God's religion.
The result was that Ding Yun naturally agreed. After all, it wasn't a bad thing. As for the Temple of the God of Light and the God of Light himself, there were no gods in this world. The few remaining primordial god embryos were taken away by wizards for research or refined into high-grade potions in the ancient era. Therefore, they were purely false gods. Moreover, even if they were real, Ding Yun wouldn't be afraid. The competition for faith was inherently a life-or-death struggle, and perhaps in the future, she would even have to compete for faith with her companions from the same origin universe who had also chosen the Law of the Sun.