"Great sinners can also protect a region. Mortals merely need to offer a little tribute to gain peace. How many people do you think uphold justice and eliminate demons? Those young ones who roam the martial world, how would they know if the people in power are living beings or monsters?"
"The truly powerful all seclude themselves for cultivation. How many would manifest in the mortal world? Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators flee upon seeing me. It's only those greenhorns who have just emerged, who only possess the realm of manifesting divine abilities, that dare to cause trouble and make a fuss on my territory, believing themselves to be acting on behalf of heaven. Not only do I not kill them, but I also help them."
"Because they kill some minor demons, they believe they have helped the local populace. But after they leave, I unleash stronger demons. The people won't resent the demons for this; instead, they will resent the chivalrous heroes who helped them."
"Human resentment stems from humans, not from demons or monsters, because humans can reason, while demons and monsters cannot. Without their protectors, mortals will fare even worse."
Fire Lord felt a chill creep up her spine. "So, all nine prefectures and twenty-five counties under your rule are like this?"
Prince Lu chuckled. "Otherwise? I'm telling you this only to put your mind at ease about working for me."
"As for who truly supports me behind the scenes... you jest. Most acting representatives in the inner realm do not easily reveal the forces behind them."
"It's a customary practice. It seems you're not very familiar with this. Your cooperation with me is the cooperation of those behind us, not between you and me. Therefore, you don't need to worry about anything while working for me. I won't kill you, nor will I harm you. I will even help you. You contribute your efforts, and I'll help you consolidate your influence. We both benefit when we cooperate, and both suffer when we part ways. So please, don't do what you did when you assassinated my imperial brother, breaking into my royal mansion at the fourth watch to set fires..."
"If we turn against each other, it means the group behind us has fallen apart."
"We are all pawns, but we are also all striving on the path to the Great Dao. We all have wishes we want to fulfill. And to fulfill wishes, one must pay a price. Therefore, we are driven by others, but this is merely borrowing their strength and the general trend."
"Everyone has a weak moment. Clinging to others is necessary, otherwise, in certain predicaments, one cannot escape. And you will never know how powerful you will become after growing."
Prince Lu cautioned Fire Lord and gave her an address.
He asked her to go to that region and help a temporary ally of theirs.
"He has only recently pledged allegiance. I fear he might have second thoughts. If you don't mind the long journey, please help me keep an eye on him, and also lend him a hand. This righteous god might not yet know that some paths, once entered, cannot be turned back from."
"The Dao heart must be firm. Go and help him, perform some acts of killing to solidify his Dao heart."
"Oh, right. Some things have happened there. The local populace is not worshipping him in some places, but has brought in Guan Gong. Destroy the statue of Guan Gong. Do not allow 'False Guan Di' to appear."
Fire Lord looked at the name written there, which was Prince Lie Jie.
And what Prince Lu referred to as 'False Guan Di' was a type of righteous god. Among the various divine positions, it ranked thirty-sixth, the very last.
False Guan Di was not Guan Di himself, but a brave and virtuous ghost. Responding to the will of the people, if it could consume the offerings before the statue of Guan Gong, it would qualify to become False Guan Di.
After becoming False Guan Di, it would also act on behalf of Guan Di. However, its divine power... after all, it was a substitute, a temporary worker of the thirty-sixth rank. One shouldn't expect too much. It was good enough.
Therefore, the death rate for the divine position of False Guan Di was quite high. After all, its divine power was low, unable to contend with great demons. Even slightly more powerful ghosts could overturn its altar.
Moreover, the south was prone to licentious worship, and the practice of worshipping evil gods was rampant...
"Who is this Prince Lie Jie...? I've never heard of this righteous god."
Prince Lu said, "A brave youth who died at the hands of Zhang Shicheng during the late Yuan Dynasty. The local people, lamenting his bravery, built a temple for him. For over two hundred years, he was worshipped, and many Daoist cultivators passed by. He was long ago reported to the divine system and achieved the position of a righteous god."
Fire Lord: "So, this is a ghost god who was saved by the wishes of the people before his soul had completely dissipated? That is truly special..."
Fire Lord's brow remained furrowed. Seeing her expression, Prince Lu smiled and extended his blood-stained finger, drawing two lines on her forehead:
"Beautiful women shouldn't frown. It's too unsightly. Go now."
Fire Lord dared not speak further, but she thought to herself that this prince could linger in the Forbidden City for over a decade before leaving, meaning someone within the Forbidden City must have been looking out for him. It turned out the waters within the Forbidden City had always been deep, but those lurking within the Forbidden City simply didn't care about the emperor's life or death.
It turned out that if the emperor died, a new emperor could succeed him. No matter who took over, she herself would never succeed.
Fire Lord realized that from beginning to end, even from her father's cultivation of the Yellow Heaven scripture, her entire life had been like that of a manipulated puppet, performing a series of self-righteous farces!
Emperor Wanli was indeed fond of killing, and those people would not stop her from killing him.
But after killing him, she would likely have to go down to accompany him.
"This Prince Lu is actually a person of the Innate Realm. Truly, like Jiang Taigong fishing, those who are willing are hooked. I am that fish!"
Fire Lord cursed inwardly. She pondered that when she became powerful, she would burn them all to charred corpses.
Moreover, Prince Lu's previous appearance, with his sharp fangs and claws, was unlike that of ordinary Yin Demon ghosts. Instead, it possessed a majestic and awe-inspiring power, clearly not an external evil spirit, but some kind of righteous divine being. Yet, the person who invoked the divine position acted with such evil sorcery, which was truly puzzling.
Fire Lord was also very curious. After all, if those who practiced evil sorcery could invoke righteous divine positions, then she wouldn't have needed to invoke 'Ling Xiao Nu' and then painstakingly obtain the imperial conferment ceremony from Emperor Wanli. She could have directly invoked the Fire Virtue Star Lord and stormed the Forbidden City that very moment.
But on second thought, what was so surprising about this? Those who cultivate the righteous path must undergo trials from all the demon kings, while those who cultivate the evil path often avoid these trials, using sorcery to bypass them. Therefore, they were a step weaker compared to those who practiced the righteous path.
However, since they had already cultivated the evil path, their methods were naturally incredibly strange. This prince, being able to use evil sorcery while in the body of a righteous god, was likely a special kind of evil sorcery to avoid the 'Ten Demons and Nine Tribulations' and the heavenly lightning tribulations.
Even she herself, after obtaining the title of a national righteous god, was it not also to avoid the 'Ten Demons and Nine Tribulations'?
The Daoist school had the Ten Demons and Nine Tribulations, Buddhism had the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, and even among the more righteous folk magic traditions, there was the saying that those who commit many evils will surely perish.
Cultivating magical arts requires cultivating the mind, but human greed is boundless. There are always ways to deceive heaven and bypass these trials, but doing so means one can never achieve the realm of ascension through "one's own" strength.
"Beneath the light of the sun and moon, there are many sordid and dark deeds!"
As she pondered, she threw herself into a stick of incense. The flames flickered intensely, and then the light dissipated, disappearing without a trace.
————
On the Grand Canal, the water vapor was misty, and the east was showing the pale white of dawn.
The sky was about to break, and crows cawed incessantly.
Ji Xiang had cultivated for several days and nights without daring to relax. At this moment, flowers manifested above his head, his aura solidified, and his physical body advanced to the Sixth Divine Ability Realm.