Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

Chapter 294: Want to spread the incense and the way of the gods
Ao Bing did not notice the changes in Emperor Xin. At this moment, his mind was attracted by another thing.

Judging from the attitudes of his ministers, as long as he is tough enough, he will be able to replace the offerings to the four gods and ghosts.

After all, compared to replacing the offerings to their ancestors, the price they have to pay is smaller when replacing the offerings to the gods and ghosts of the four directions.

It is not impossible for him to make concessions and agree to replace the sacrifices to the four gods and ghosts without having to completely break off relations with Emperor Xin.

As for becoming enemies with the ghosts and gods of the four directions, although this is a problem, it is not a big problem. With the combined strength of the Nine Provinces, it will not be difficult to put down the chaos of ghosts and gods.

Not to mention, with Ao Bing around, the ghosts and gods from all directions may not be able to cause trouble.

After thinking about it carefully, Ao Bing could basically conclude that if he just wanted to replace the sacrifices to the four ghosts and gods, it would be fine as long as he was tough enough.

But if you want to replace the ancestral offerings, it is not enough to just take a tough attitude, you also have to promise some benefits.

This benefit is incense!

As long as the method of collecting incense and offerings is passed down and the power of incense and offerings is used instead of living people, the ancestor worship faction will make concessions and agree to change the offerings.

But there is a problem here, that is, now is not the best time to pass down the incense and god way as Ao Bing imagined.

In his opinion, the best time to pass down the incense and gods would be after the Conferred God Killing Tribulation was over and the City God system was fully established in the prehistoric world.

At that time, even if other forces understood the mystery of incense, they would not be able to compete with him.

But now the words of the incense god are passed down, so that other forces can be aware of the mystery of incense in advance and make arrangements in advance.

If he loses the initiative, Ao Bing will undoubtedly have many more powerful enemies in the future who will compete with him for incense.

Of course, passing down the incense and the way of the gods in advance is not without benefits. It is hard to say whether it can save the Shang Dynasty by abolishing the ritual of human sacrifice, but it will definitely make him gain the favor of humanity and the worship of countless creatures.

From this perspective, passing down the incense and the way of the gods in advance may not be a bad thing.

This is a question of trade-offs. It is to take the risk of disrupting the deployment, pass down the incense and the way of the gods in advance, save countless lives, and then gain the favor of humanity and the sacrifices of the human race.

Or continue with the original plan, watch countless lives being sacrificed, give up the favor of humanity and the sacrifices of the human race, and wait patiently for the best opportunity to come.

Both options have their pros and cons, so Ao Bing was very hesitant and didn't know which one to choose.

At this moment, Ao Bing suddenly heard the wailing of sentient beings being sacrificed alive. It was this moment that forced him to make up his mind.

The benefits you get are the benefits. The benefits you expect are just a bunch of shit, like the moon in the mirror or the flower in the water, which you can see but cannot touch.

The future is changeable and unpredictable. If he continues to wait, how can he guarantee that he can wait for the best time? After all, the present prehistoric world that he has messed up is very different from the prehistoric world he knows.

If you continue to wait, the probability of waiting for the best opportunity is 50-50, but if you pass on the incense and become enlightened now, the probability of getting benefits is 100%.

Ten birds in the bush are not as good as one bird in the hand. Why think so much? Get the benefits in front of you first, otherwise you will end up with nothing.

Thinking of this, Ao Bing's determination became stronger, and he retorted:

"Many people are dissatisfied with the living sacrifice, especially Emperor Yu, who hates it deeply."

"Emperor Yu appeared earlier and saw the disciples of Jiejiao accepting human sacrifices. He was immediately furious and sent them all to the calamity."

"Even the disciples of Jiejiao are like this, let alone outsiders."

"The use of grains and meat as sacrifices instead of living people is something that cannot be changed. If the ghosts and gods of the four directions are dissatisfied, let them ask the Nine Cauldrons first and see if they will pay attention to them."

"As for the dissatisfaction of our ancestors, I would like to ask everyone present, who is greater, Emperor Yu or your ancestors?"

"Emperor Yu wants to abolish the ritual of living sacrifice. What are they going to do? Oppose Emperor Yu and denounce him as a sinner who has brought chaos to the nine states?"

Ao Bing did not mention the benefits first, but first raised the banner of Emperor Yu and blocked all their reasons with just one sentence.

The one who wanted to abolish the ritual of human sacrifice was Emperor Yu, and for this reason, hundreds of Jiejiao disciples have been included in the list. If the rest of the ghosts and gods are sensible, they should take the initiative to give up using living people as sacrifices in order to seek a glimmer of hope for survival.

If they still refuse to reform and do not repent, then their death is not a pity. Ao Bing does not mind killing them all to end their misfortune.

"His~~"

"I see!"

"No wonder the Jiejiao ghosts and gods no longer accept our sacrifices recently. It turns out that Emperor Yu appeared and severely punished them."

As soon as Ao Bing finished speaking, several people suddenly realized something. It turned out that hundreds of years ago, some Jiejiao disciples no longer accepted sacrifices from the Shang Dynasty.

The Shang nobles did not know the reason and thought they had offended them in some way, so they kept apologizing.

Now after hearing what Ao Bing said, they finally understood the reason. It was not that they did not want the sacrifice, but that Emperor Yu did not allow them to have it.

"We naturally dare not object to Emperor Yu's words. We can accept the matter of changing the offerings to ghosts and gods. But the matter of changing the offerings to our ancestors still needs to be discussed."

"It is said that we should treat death as life. After the death of our ancestors, we sacrifice them with living people to maintain their glory in life, so that they will not be left without anyone to serve them and feel uncomfortable in the underworld."

"If we change the offerings and our ancestors lose their glory, how will we, the descendants, feel?" "Our ancestors are suffering in the underworld, while we are enjoying happiness on earth. This is a violation of filial piety. Even Emperor Yu cannot stop us from being filial."

After Ao Bing raised the banner of Emperor Yu, the effect was very obvious. The god-worshiping faction retreated immediately, not daring to offend Emperor Yu on behalf of ghosts and gods.

But only the god-worshiping faction retreated, while the ancestor-worshiping faction remained unmoved. After all, they had the great principle of filial piety to uphold.

Moreover, the most important thing is that offering oneself as a sacrifice to ancestors is considered to be a very honorable thing by businessmen and is often done voluntarily.

That’s right, when other vassal states offered sacrifices to their ancestors, slaves were used as offerings, but it was different in the Shang Dynasty, where the main offerings were made by nobles.

Small sacrifices are for minor nobles, and large sacrifices are for major nobles.

Not to mention outsiders, even Emperor Xin shook his head when he saw it and wanted to abolish it. But the ancestor worship faction was too fanatical, and Emperor Xin's words were useless.

Now it seems that not only Emperor Xin’s words are ineffective, but Emperor Yu’s words are also ineffective.

Of course, this is mainly related to the fact that Emperor Yu has passed away and his descendants are incompetent.

If Emperor Yu were still alive and his descendants were still the overlords, then no matter how fanatical the ancestor worship faction was, they would calm down in front of Emperor Yu.

"You can use pottery figurines that resemble humans, or paper figurines. Although pottery figurines and paper figurines are dead objects, if they carry the thoughts of living people, they can be transformed into puppets for people to use after being sacrificed."

"Although not as good as a living person, it is definitely enough to serve others."

Ao Bing's expression remained unchanged as he helped them come up with a replacement method. If they just served people, puppets could completely replace living people.

Although there is a saying that the first person to make clay figures for burials will have no descendants in later generations, it should be considered in light of the situation at the time. Due to frequent wars in the Spring and Autumn Period, the population was seriously insufficient, so the system of human sacrifice was gradually abolished.

It was at this time that some people created human-like pottery figurines to replace living people for burial.

After hearing about this, Confucius was worried that burying people with clay figurines would lead to the revival of the gradually abolished system of burying people with the dead.

After all, how can a terracotta figurine compare to a living person? That’s why people say that the first person to create terracotta figurines will have no descendants.

But Ao Bing's current situation is different, as the ritual of burial and living sacrifice is at its peak.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, using pottery figurines instead of human sacrifice was considered a step backward, but in this era, it is a great progress.

When future generations hear about this, they will only admire Ao Bing's brilliant ideas instead of mocking him.

"The terracotta figurines are nothing but dead objects, how can they compare to living people?"

The ancestor worshipping nobles refused without any hesitation. This was normal, because the so-called living slave sacrifices were to let them go down to serve the dead ancestors, which was a lie.

Their real purpose, like that of ghosts and gods, is to extract the essence of human blood in order to improve their cultivation.

The deceased ancestors of the nobles are actually no different from ghosts and gods. The only difference is that ghosts and gods are foreigners and have no descendants to bully the human race.

However, the nobles can do this but cannot say it. They always have to embellish it a little and give it high-sounding reasons to make their actions seem so noble.

"I have a method that can gather the thoughts of all living beings, transform them into acquired merits, and strengthen the soul. I would like to use this method in exchange for a different sacrifice from you. How do you think?"

Knowing that he couldn't convince them without offering real benefits, Ao Bing no longer hesitated and told them about the incense and the gods.

"what?"

"Is there such a method?"

"Don't lie to me, Long Bo!"

Everyone present was shocked when they heard this, and then they all asked Ao Bing to confirm its authenticity.

"Acquired merit, also known as incense and vows, I will give each of you a strand. You can experience its benefits for yourself and you will know whether I am lying to you or not."

Not wanting to waste any more words, Ao Bing took out a ball of refined incense power and distributed it to everyone.

"This is indeed the thought of all living beings, but it is even purer, without any distractions, and has been sublimated, like the light of the primordial spirit, condensed and not dispersed."

"How is this done?"

"In ancient times, it's not that no one wanted to use the thoughts of sentient beings to practice. However, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't eliminate the distracting thoughts, and finally they had no choice but to give up."

"Long Bo's methods are indeed extraordinary. He was like this when he revived Tongtian Lake before, and he is also like this when he is refining the thoughts of all living beings now."

"It really can strengthen the spirit, and there are no side effects."

"Except for not being able to improve cultivation, the power of sentient beings' wishes is similar to merit. No wonder Long Bo called it acquired merit. It's really incredible."

"It is said that the innate spiritual energy is wonderful. In my opinion, the will of all living beings can completely replace the spiritual energy and provide the cultivators with what they need for cultivation."

　Continue tomorrow!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)