Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

Chapter 295: Kind-hearted Great Shang Monarch and Ministers

You can question the abilities of the Shang officials, but you cannot question their vision and knowledge.

After receiving the power of incense and vows, they simply tried it once or twice and immediately realized its magical effects and gave it extremely high praise.

"You now know the wonderful effects of acquired merit. What do you think? Can you replace the living sacrifice and become the new sacrifice?"

After the ministers had discussed it, Ao Bing finally asked.

"This……"

The ministers seemed a little hesitant. Burning incense and making vows were certainly good, but they were still inferior to living sacrifices.

The essence of the human race's flesh and blood contains the marks of creation of the saints and the innate marks of countless gods and demons. There are not many treasures in the world that can compare with it.

It was ok to change to Xuanhuang Merit, but the acquired merit was really worse. Therefore, facing Ao Bing's inquiry, they were inevitably a little reluctant and didn't want to agree.

"Everyone, there is something I need to remind you. Sacrificing your own people alive is not a long-term solution. Even if humanity does not approve, the fate of the human race will repay you."

"Emperor Yu's attitude has confirmed the reaction of the human race's destiny. They hate living sacrifices. If you continue to do this, you will sooner or later be backlashed by the human race's destiny and end up miserably."

"Compared to this, using incense and vows to replace living sacrifices will not have this problem. Not only will it not be backfired by the human race's luck, but it will be blessed and go further in the future."

Seeing that everyone was hesitant, Ao Bing struck while the iron was hot and explained the pros and cons to them.

"What Long Bo said makes sense."

After hesitating for a long time, one of the nobles finally changed his attitude and agreed hesitantly.

Ao Bing was right. Acquired merits were indeed not as good as the essence of flesh and blood of human beings, but they also had their own advantages, which was that there were no future troubles.

It sounds simple, but this alone outweighs all the advantages of living sacrifice.

Why did princes and nobles have to accept living sacrifices from their descendants after their death?
To put it bluntly, they are unwilling to perish and want to achieve enlightenment after death. That is why they try every possible means to forcibly stay in the netherworld and are reluctant to reincarnate.

But they were unable to attain enlightenment while they were alive, let alone after death, when it would be even more difficult.

For this reason, they had no choice but to imitate the ghosts and gods from all directions, collecting the essence of human flesh and blood to improve their cultivation, trying to be reborn from death and achieve the great way.

I have to say that this is indeed a good way to become stronger. But it is undeniable that this is not the right way, but the wrong way.

No one cared about it before, so it was nothing.

But now, with the changes in human nature, people's wisdom has gradually opened up, and they value life more and more. The evil way of living sacrifice, which takes people's lives for no reason, has become a bit of an eyesore and must be eradicated.

The incense and fire gods, as well as the great catastrophe of the Conferred Gods, were actually created to eradicate this way.

The ministers of the Shang Dynasty were restricted by their status and might not understand these deep-seated issues. But they could see the situation clearly and knew that with the emergence of incense and vows, it was inevitable that the way of living sacrifice would be gradually replaced by it.

The essence of the way of incense and burning gods is to protect the people, while the essence of the way of living sacrifices is to slaughter the people.

One side guards and the other side kills. This is a fundamental contradiction and there is no possibility of reconciliation at all. Therefore, only one of the two sides can stay, and a war to the death is bound to break out in the future.

As for who will win in the end, the result is not difficult to guess.

Since ancient times, evil has always been unable to defeat good. The way of living sacrifice is an evil way, while the way of incense and gods is a righteous way. Therefore, no matter how much advantage the way of living sacrifice has, it will eventually be destroyed.

The princes and nobles performed living sacrifices not because they loved killing, but in order to continue living and become stronger.

Knowing this, it is very obvious what choice the princes and nobles should make between the way of living sacrifice and the way of incense and burning. They will definitely choose the way of incense and burning.

The way of living sacrifice that had made them stronger before had now completely turned into an evil way, and it was only a matter of time before it was destroyed. Therefore, if they continued to choose this way, they would be doomed to be buried with it in the future.

The princes and nobles did not want to die, so they could only choose the way of worshipping gods with incense and burning candles. Even though this way was not as good as the way of living sacrifice, it could allow them to continue living.

Of course, it can also make them continue to become stronger, but the effect is not as good as the method of living sacrifice, but it is safer.

"The world is changing, humanity is changing. Since the way of living sacrifice is no longer tolerated by humanity, then as part of humanity, we certainly cannot go against the trend."

"Then listen to what Long Bo said and replace the way of living sacrifice with the way of incense and burning."

Knowing that the situation was hopeless, the ministers present no longer hesitated and echoed the sentiment.

"So good!"

"However, your agreement is not enough. We also need the agreement of all the princes in the world."

Seeing that the ministers no longer objected, Ao Bing nodded with satisfaction. Then he turned to face Emperor Xin and said to him:
"Please, Your Majesty, issue an order to summon all the princes to Chaoge to discuss this matter!"

This is the disadvantage of the feudal system. If you want to promote something, you must not only convince the central government, but also the local governments. Only in this way can it be implemented throughout the country.

Otherwise, if we only convince the central government but fail to convince the local governments, then if we push forward rashly, it will inevitably cause local turmoil. At the very least, the local governments will stop paying tribute, and at the worst, they will raise troops and rebel. On the contrary, if the local governments take the lead, they will also be attacked by the central government, which will be very troublesome!

"Now the four lords are powerful, and the strong branches are weak, so they may not obey the orders of my great merchant."

Emperor Xin pondered for a while and said.

It was easy for him to issue orders, but whether the princes would listen or not was another matter. If it was beneficial to them, they would definitely listen. But if it was not beneficial to them, they would either not listen or listen selectively.

"This is the right way. With the great Shang monarch and his ministers setting an example, how dare the princes of all directions not listen?"

"Whoever dares not to obey is a traitor. Your Majesty can command all the princes in the world to attack him together to defend the righteous path."

Ao Bing said murderously that abolishing the practice of living sacrifice was his merit, and for this, he even offered incense and offerings.

If he still fails to accomplish this after paying such a huge price, then he will suffer a great loss. Therefore, no matter who it is, as long as they dare to stand in his way, they must be eliminated by him.

If ghosts and gods stood in his way, he would kill them.

If the princes stood in his way, he would destroy their states!
"Okay, let's do as Long Bo said."

Emperor Xin was also a warmonger. Hearing Ao Bing say so, he no longer hesitated and issued an order to announce the content of today's discussion to the world.

He also ordered the princes from all directions to come to Chaoge to discuss the matter, and he seemed determined to abolish the practice of live sacrifice throughout the world.

Seeing this, the king and his ministers did not stop it because it was meaningless. If the princes of the four directions agreed to this, there would naturally be no war.

If the princes of the four directions oppose this matter and still insist on carrying out the way of living sacrifice, then they will undoubtedly be on the wrong path and completely go against them. In this case, even if they don't want to fight, they will have to fight.

The way of incense and fire and the way of living sacrifice are destined to be incompatible. They joined the way of incense and fire, but the princes from all directions did not. Their positions became antagonistic, and they were bound to fight in the end.

After Emperor Xin finished speaking, the court meeting was dispersed. All the ministers in the palace returned home and summoned all their clansmen to discuss everything that had happened in today's court meeting.

Even though they promised it at the court meeting, it is still unclear whether they are really willing to convert to the Shinto religion in the end, because they still need to convince their own clansmen.

Without the support of the tribesmen, all the promises made by these ministers will be nothing but bullshit.

As for the opinions of the underground ancestors, as long as all the tribesmen are convinced, their opinions will not be important.

After all, the power of sacrifice lies in the hands of living people like them. As long as they reach a consensus, they can use whatever they want as sacrifice.

Even if the ancestors below are dissatisfied, what’s the use? Can they still climb up?

The ancient method of communication was not as backward as imagined. The court meeting had just ended, and Emperor Xin's order had already been passed on to all the princes through the secret treasure.

Soon, more forces learned about the changes in the Shang Dynasty. Soon, the matter became known to everyone in the prehistoric world.

After receiving Emperor Xin's order, the princes from all directions did not react yet, perhaps they were weighing the pros and cons.

But another group closely related to them, the ghosts and gods worshipped by the Shang Dynasty, were so angry after hearing the news that they cursed loudly:
"Bastard!"

"You shameless kid, you are untrustworthy and you are destroying the bridge after crossing it!"

It is no wonder that these ghosts and gods are so angry, because by doing this, the Shang Dynasty has indeed violated the alliance that was originally signed with them.

At that time, at the end of the Xia Dynasty, Shang Tang made an agreement with the ghosts and gods of the four directions that if they helped Shang to conquer the world, they would be worshipped as gods and sacrifices would be offered to them continuously.

Faced with Shang Tang's proposal, the four gods agreed and really helped the Shang Dynasty gain the world. Afterwards, Shang Tang did not break his promise and really worshipped them as gods and offered sacrifices to them with the whole country's strength.

This is why the Shang Dynasty was in a trend to worship ghosts and gods. If you get their help, you must give something back.

But today, Emperor Xin, a descendant of King Cheng Tang, blatantly tore up the agreement and decided not to offer sacrifices to them anymore. How could the ghosts and gods from all directions accept this?

Swearing is the least of their worries. If they were not afraid of the Nine Cauldrons, they would have already rushed to Chaoge with all their rage.

Of course, the so-called breaking of the agreement was in the eyes of the four ghosts and gods. From the perspective of the Shang Dynasty, they did not break the agreement.

They just changed the offerings, but did not abolish the worship of ghosts and gods. They are still worshiping them. How can it be considered as breaking the agreement?

On the contrary, in the eyes of the Shang Dynasty, by changing the sacrifice from living people to incense, they were actually saving the ghosts and gods from all directions.

God's will shows that the way of human sacrifice is an evil way, and if one continues to do it, he will inevitably die.

It was out of concern for the safety of the ghosts and gods of the four directions that the Great Shang Dynasty changed the sacrifices in an attempt to bring them back to the right path, fearing that they would go further and further down the evil path.

This feeling is truly touching. When the ghosts and gods from all directions heard about it, they did not thank them, but instead cursed them and even slandered them for breaking the agreement made by their ancestors. How could this be possible?
Anyway, no matter what the ghosts and gods of the four directions think, the king and his ministers of the Shang Dynasty all believe that what they are doing is for the good of the ghosts and gods of the four directions.

If they don't appreciate it, then that's right and they don't know how to appreciate a good person!

(End of this chapter)