Conferred God: Got cramped at the beginning

Chapter 990 The Decision, the Ministry of Finance's Troubles

Within the heavens, all things have a lifespan, and even immortals and gods are no exception! This is an ironclad law of the Great Dao; even those who live long and carefree lives will eventually reach their end.

The cultivation system comprises four realms and fifteen stages, which define the lifespan and the path to transcendence for living beings:
The Transcendent Realm: Before ascending to immortality, even the most powerful dragons and phoenixes can only live for eight hundred years. Beings in this realm still struggle between birth and death in the mortal world.

Fairyland: Shedding one's mortal form and ascending to the celestial realm, one can glimpse the limit of lifespan—eternal life!
Those ten thousand years, seemingly long and boundless, were enough to witness the rise and fall of dynasties and the changing of the world, but ultimately they were not eternal.

The ten-thousand-year limit hangs like a sword over their heads, urging those in the fairyland to seek even greater breakthroughs, or they will eventually return to dust.

The Dao Realm of Taiyi: Only by crossing that profound and mysterious barrier, touching the Great Dao, condensing the Dao Seed and reaching Taiyi can one break free from the ten-thousand-year limit and enjoy true immortality! When the Dao and the body are united, the Dharma moves with the mind, and lifespan is no longer a shackle.

Since Ao Bing killed the First Emperor in the human world, the river of time has flowed on and on.

When the Qin dynasty lost its throne, numerous warlords vied for it; the Han dynasty rose and fell three times before finally collapsing.

After ten thousand years of strife and bloodshed, the glorious Tang Dynasty finally came into being.

The years that have passed here are far more than a mere ten thousand years.

That was the passage of tens of thousands of years!

During this long period of time, most of the "sinful immortals and evil gods" who were thrown into the heavenly prison or imprisoned in various immortal mountains, blessed lands, and desolate netherworlds for violating the heavenly rules and laws of death have long since exhausted their seemingly long lifespan of ten thousand years in the dark and sunless cages!
Only those who reach the Taiyi realm and truly possess the merit of immortality can endure this long period of imprisonment!

These Taiyi are the "protagonists" who, under Ao Bing's cinnabar brush, have the "honor" of being dragged to the execution platform.

Their backgrounds are incredibly diverse, encompassing almost every corner of the world.

There are humans, demons, and dragons.

What kind of rogue cultivators are they?

There are countless sects and factions.

Furthermore, many of them are even related to the lineage of the sages.

The Chan sect's branch, the Jie sect's lineage, Buddhist disciples, and so on, all emerged in great numbers!
During the long period when Ao Bing was in seclusion and Yang Jian held judicial power, if it weren't for Yang Jian's illustrious reputation as the third-generation direct descendant of the Chan Sect, wielding a three-pointed double-edged sword and personally leading his subordinate grass-root gods, it would have been impossible for him to act.

He could also mobilize the Arctic Exorcism Institute established by Ao Bing to arrest people everywhere.

Those "sinful immortals" who are related to the sages and their lineage cannot possibly be captured and brought to justice!

The obstruction, whether overt or covert, from his mentors, colleagues, and even related forces is enough to leave ordinary judicial officials helpless.

Even so, despite Yang Jian's best efforts, he only captured and imprisoned the tip of the iceberg!
Many more people from the three religions and Buddhism who broke the precepts had already been "cleaned out" by their own sects before Yang Jian's heavenly soldiers and generals arrived!

Of course, this is not entirely about covering up. In fact, among the four great sage lineages, apart from Buddhism, the rules of the Human Teachings, the Jade Laws of the Chan Teachings, and the strict precepts of the Jie Teachings are no less stringent than the Heavenly Rules! They may even be more stringent!
Those in charge of the sects were swift and decisive in their actions. Disciples who violated the precepts often met their end before the Heavenly Court could intervene.

Only Buddhism! It is unknown whether it originated from the ancient Buddha's saying, "The sea of ​​suffering is boundless, but turning back is the shore; lay down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot," which has been intentionally or unintentionally misinterpreted and abused by later generations!
It seems that a simple "I know I was wrong" or "I repent" can erase all past sins, blood feuds, and karmic consequences!
The phrase "become a Buddha on the spot" has become the ultimate method for escaping punishment and whitewashing oneself.

This has also made Buddhism, under its outward appearance of peace and compassion, an invisible haven for certain filth and evil! Some demons and evil cultivators with great wicked power can transform themselves, put on robes, chant Buddhist mantras, and even stand in front of the Buddha with a grand presence, enjoying the worship and offerings. If you try to touch them, all sorts of Buddhas will come to dissuade you.

Even after being imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, these sinful immortals and evil spirits who were related to the sages and their lineage still received very good treatment. Few of the prison guards or the immortals and gods outside dared to mistreat or offend them.

—Over the past tens of thousands of years, every time Yang Jian passed through the Heavenly Prison and saw these disciples, he even felt a little regretful.

He believed that he should not have captured them and taken them back to the Heavenly Prison, but instead should have notified the leaders of the three religions so that they could "rectify their own conduct".

As a result, in the following period, some members of the three religions, after committing crimes, and some even "clever" ones would voluntarily surrender themselves to the authorities and hide in the imperial prison in order to evade punishment according to the rules of their sects...

Therefore, when these people were brought out of the prison, some of them even thought that after their fellow disciples' activities outside, their sins had been absolved and they could walk openly between heaven and earth.

"Could it be... that my sect has finally smoothed things over and cleared me of my guilt?"

"Is it because of Master/Grandmaster's mercy that I was saved from this cage?"

"Finally, we can leave this awful place openly and honestly?"

The thoughts of those gods and immortals surged.

But in the next instant, I heard the sound of the execution platform being pulled.

Then they saw the figure casually picking up a vermilion brush and marking names one by one in front of the execution platform. One by one, those sinful immortals and evil gods collapsed!
"I didn't expect that after all these years, Ao Bing, you still enjoy personally slaying those sinful immortals."

With a flick of the vermilion brush, a figure slowly appeared on the execution ground and sat down beside Ao Bing.

Upon seeing this revealed figure, the members of the Jie Sect on the execution ground couldn't help but wail in despair.

Phrases like "Uncle Zhao" and "Grandmaster Zhao" kept coming in.

The newcomer was none other than Zhao Gongming, a disciple of the Jie Sect, the chief deity of the Ministry of Finance, and the True Lord of the Dragon and Tiger Mysterious Altar. He was a renowned and powerful figure in the world, whose name had even spread throughout the five directions of the universe.

One of the reasons for his fame is that he sorted out the monetary system of Heavenly Gold, Earthly Silver, and Human Copper in Pantian, and after using it to measure the value of all things, he made a firm decision to push this system outward and cover the five directions of the world in one fell swoop.

In this way, he could absolutely ascend to the heavens in one step and directly become a saint by taking advantage of this opportunity to attain enlightenment!
However, his actions were too arrogant and disregarded the creation of the world.

If it weren't for the intervention of the Supreme Pure Spiritual Treasure Celestial Venerable, Zhao Gongming would have perished from the backlash of the four great worlds, let alone unified the monetary system of Pantian...

After this ordeal, Zhao Gongming was severely weakened and had no choice but to remain in Pantian, firmly holding his position as the chief god of the Ministry of Finance.

As a result, the deities in the four directions who were related to wealth gained power and authority, and each began to perfect the value rules within their respective realms.

Not long after he sat down, Zhao Gongming coughed lightly a few times.

That was the backlash he suffered after his attempt to extend the power of the God of Wealth to the four corners of the world, and then the power was torn apart in the four corners of the world.

Even though tens of thousands of years have passed, the hidden wounds caused by the backlash have not yet healed—clearly, the creation of the four great worlds, after the manifestation of the God of Wealth's authority, realized the weight of that authority and thus intentionally taught Zhao Gongming a lesson. At the same time, it was also in this way to see if the Gods of Wealth in their respective worlds could surpass Zhao Gongming in the power of wealth.

“These immortals and gods have existed for tens of thousands of years.”

"In their cultivation process, there will be as much gratitude as there is hatred."

"Plus their messy relationships and backgrounds..."

"If I don't personally oversee this execution, but instead entrust it to someone else, who in this world can withstand the backlash that follows?"

Ao Bing glanced at Zhao Gongming beside him, but his hands did not stop moving in the slightest.

"So, Brother Gongming, did you come to this Execution Platform to plead for your disciples and followers?"

After saying these words, Ao Bing paused slightly with his vermilion brush before continuing to draw inscriptions.

On the execution platform, countless heads fell with each rise and fall of the guillotine.

As countless sinful immortals and wicked gods perished, the boundless primordial energy of heaven and earth poured down from the heavenly court to the mortal realm like rain.

As the rain poured down, even people could see through the raindrops a terrifying and ominous bloody light behind them.

Consequently, the Buddhist ritual of water and land that liberated countless souls, as well as the imperial examination, were tinged with an ominous aura.

"If I have truly come to plead for mercy, would you be willing to make an exception?" Zhao Gongming coughed.

"Open the net?"

As expected, Ao Bing responded immediately to Zhao Gongming's probing.

"I was thinking, when this execution takes place, should I ask you, fellow Daoist, to call all your disciples and grand-disciples from the Ministry of Finance over to watch?"

“They might even have them sign a few names themselves,” Ao Bing said.

His words made no attempt to conceal his dissatisfaction with the money-grubbing officials in the Ministry of Finance.

Zhao Gongming was speechless in the face of Ao Bing's dissatisfaction, his heart filled with bitterness.

Zhao Gongming attained enlightenment through the methods of wealth and resources—if we divide the path of enlightenment into pre-heaven and post-heaven.

Therefore, the way of acquiring wealth is undoubtedly the way of acquired knowledge.

It was born out of the need for trade among all living beings, and manifested itself to harmonize the resources of all things and facilitate civilization.

In essence, it is the manifestation and extension of the concept of "reducing the surplus and supplementing the deficiency" in the operation of heaven and earth at the level of human economics!
Its core lies in measurement, circulation, and allocation, which can be regarded as another manifestation of the pinnacle of swordsmanship—using value as the blade and circulation as the trajectory to cut through chaos and establish order.

In this respect, Zhao Gongming can be said to have truly received the true teachings of Shangqing Sword Dao.

But this is also the fundamental contradiction in the way of wealth!
It embodies the supreme concept of "the way of Heaven is to take from those who have more and give to those who have less."

However, its existence is based on the realistic logic of "human nature is to take from the poor to give to the rich"!

And those who control and operate it are precisely "people" with selfish desires and limitations.

Thus, in the practice of the Way of Wealth, the two diametrically opposed concepts of "taking from the surplus" and "giving to the surplus" are constantly being pulled, swayed, and distorted at their core!
Meanwhile, the wealth gods in the Ministry of Finance, who operate the path of wealth, are either actively or passively tilted between these two extremes due to their respective ideologies and the influence of the forces behind them.

From the perspective of the entire universe, if the value of anything changes even slightly, the resulting waves will turn into a raging torrent that engulfs countless people!
It is precisely because of this that after Zhao Gongming attained enlightenment, the gods of wealth in the Heavenly Court became the immortals and gods who had the greatest influence on the situation of heaven and earth!

Ironically, despite having such an influence on the situation of heaven and earth, the Heavenly Court has never developed a set of heavenly rules specifically for those gods of wealth.

The same dereliction of duty, if we only consider the dereliction of duty itself, the dereliction of duty by the God of Wealth is basically no different from that of other gods and immortals.

However, when it comes to the impact of dereliction of duty, and the turmoil it causes, the consequences of the dereliction of duty by the Gods of Wealth in the Ministry of Finance are many times greater than those of the dereliction of duty by other gods!

After Yang Jian punished some of the Gods of Wealth for dereliction of duty, the Gods of Wealth in the Ministry of Finance came up with new tricks.

They weren't derelict in their duties... they were just 'occasional oversights'.

After all, they are 'humans', not machines; they cannot maintain complete concentration forever...

Therefore, when they occasionally made a mistake, even Yang Jian could hardly do anything to them.

They don't even need to be negligent... just a few rumors are enough to shake up the boundless wealth between heaven and earth and affect countless living beings!
Ever since Ao Bing went into seclusion and Zhao Gongming attained enlightenment, the gods of wealth in the Ministry of Finance have been the biggest source of internal turmoil in the Heavenly Court.

At every gathering in the Lingxiao Palace, immortals and gods would propose that the power of the gods of wealth should be suppressed—but each proposal ultimately came to nothing!
To this day, the location of the Ministry of Finance has even become a central hub for the power struggles within the Pan Tian Daluo!
Almost all the Great Luo Immortals sent their disciples to study the methods of wealth and then enter the Ministry of Finance to use those methods to balance the heavens and earth... The enormous profits that circulate within the Ministry of Finance, which can be manifested in numbers, are enormous profits that even Great Luo Immortals and even Saints cannot ignore!

“Brother Gongming, I have heard that the officials in the Ministry of Finance are all driven by profit, and they all prioritize profit over righteousness.”

There's even a saying that if you uphold righteousness, you can't uphold profit.

"But is that so?"

Ao Bing spoke slowly, a chilling killing intent flashing across his face.

Zhao Gongming's expression immediately became extremely solemn.

He knew that Ao Bing's question was no casual conversation.

This concerns the very foundation of the Way of Wealth and Money, and even more so, the future direction of the Heavenly Court's order.

What lies hidden is an even greater storm than the Journey to the West!
(End of this chapter)