Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

Chapter 304: Human and Heavenly Ways
When the people of Kyushu are in trouble, if the disciples of the Western Church can stand up and save the people from the water and fire, they can not only gain faith, but also complete their preaching, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

However, in order to do this, Ao Bing's consent is needed. After all, he is the founder of the incense and fire way. Without his consent, it is not easy for the Western religion to collect incense in the East.

"Anyone who has made contributions can have a temple built for him."

"If the disciples of the Western Religion can quell the evil and save the people from danger, then no one in the Nine Provinces will stop you from preaching."

Ao Bing could tell what Amitabha was planning, but he didn't care much about it.

The acquired merits started with him, and the way of incense and burning gods was opened by him. He is the true ancestor of incense and burning gods. In the future, if anyone practices the way of incense and burning gods, no matter what their background or origin is, they must worship him as the ancestor.

His share of incense is indispensable during every festival.

In addition, the most crucial thing is that although Ao Bing is preparing to pass down the method of collecting the power of incense and vows, he is not planning to pass down the method of purifying the power of incense and vows into acquired merits.

Although acquired merits originate from the power of incense and vows, they are the product of their sublimation. Not only are they purer, they also possess some of the mysteries of the great way.

No matter how hard others try, they can only remove all the impurities in the incense and vows and turn them into the purest spiritual light, but they cannot sublimate them into acquired merit.

Only Ao Bing, using the energy of the gods as fire and burning incense and vows, can sublimate it into acquired merit.

It can be said that this is the benefit of Ao Bing being the ancestor of incense. Between heaven and earth, he is the only one who can refine acquired merits.

And as long as he still has the method to sublime the power of incense and vows into acquired merits, it doesn't matter whether the incense and vows are passed on to outsiders or not, it will not affect him at all.

In other words, precisely because he has mastered the core method, the wider the incense and fire Shintoism spreads, the more beneficial it is for him, and everyone is working for him.

Unless those forces that are entrusted with the teachings of the gods of incense and fire can withstand the temptation to elevate the power of incense and fire into more mysterious acquired merits.

Otherwise, no matter how much incense and vows they collected, they would all eventually be sent to Ao Bing, asking him to sublimate them into acquired merits.

This is also why Ao Bing dared to teach outsiders the way of incense and gods. If you can't resist the temptation of acquired merit, you will be controlled by him.

He can resist the temptation of acquired merit, but because the effect of pure incense and vows is not as good as acquired merit, he will be far inferior to Ao Bing in competitiveness.

On the same basis, whoever uses better resources will naturally develop faster. How can a person who grew up eating dirt be better than a person who grew up eating meat?

"Everyone has the right to kill evil demons. We, the Western sect, have come to the East to eliminate the demons and we swear not to coexist with them."

After receiving the reply from Ao Bing that he allowed them to preach, Amitabha immediately expressed his position righteously.

This is the deal. From now on, the conditions for Western religions to preach in Kyushu will be completely bound to eliminating demons and defending the way of Taoism.

No matter where the evil spirits are causing chaos, once the Western Church gets the news, it cannot ignore it and must send disciples to solve it. To do this, no matter how much it costs, it will not hesitate.

If this condition is violated, the Western religion will suffer a backlash in fortune and will no longer be able to preach in Kyushu.

"Please Lord Long pass down the way of the incense god and help our ancestors transform into incense gods to resist the invasion of the four evil gods."

After Ao Bing reached an agreement with the Western Church, the princes present got the chance, stood up one after another, bowed to him, and begged him to pass on the teachings of the Church.

Although Ao Bing had promised them before that he would pass down the teachings of the gods, as the saying goes, the Dharma cannot be passed down lightly, so it is impossible to wait for Ao Bing to take the initiative, right?

They still have to show the right attitude. This is not only a respect for Ao Bing, but also a respect for the incense and the gods.

"Okay, since you are willing to eliminate the evil gods for all living beings, then I can't be stingy. I will teach you the way of incense and fire to help you quell the chaos of the evil gods and protect the people."

Ao Bing did not make things difficult for the crowd. He immediately recited the divine words and passed on to them the method of practicing the incense and fire divine way.

In fact, the practice of the incense and fire Shinto is not much different from the traditional practice of immortality. It just changes the spiritual energy into the power of incense and fire.

In addition to this, there is also an on-call method to respond to believers.

Of course, Ao Bing did not pass down the most crucial secret method in the Shinto system, which is to combine the power of incense and vows with the essence of mountains and rivers to condense Shinto talismans.

This is the method of deifying. Like the secret method of sublimating acquired merits, it is the foundation of the God Emperor's career. It must be firmly held in one's own hands and must not be handed over to outsiders.

"The incense and fire way is indeed mysterious. It seems similar to the immortal way, but in fact, there is a big difference."

"The mainstream cultivation methods today, whether it is the Xuanmen Immortal Path, the Western External Path, or the Demonic Path, all emphasize retreating from the world to practice, integrating with the heaven and earth, and specializing in the way of heaven and earth."

"But this incense and fire god way goes the other way. Not only does it retreat from the world, but it also wants to enter the world, polish itself in the mundane world, and gain insight into the wonders of heaven and man in the hearts of millions of people."

The princes in the hall were immersed in the sermon and couldn't extricate themselves, but the disciples of the two religions were different. While listening to Ao Bing's sermon, they subconsciously compared the incense and fire religion with the system they practiced themselves.

Then they were surprised to find that the incense and Shintoism was completely contrary to the mainstream.

While all spiritual practice systems emphasize retreating from the world and severing causal ties with the outside world, it alone advocates entering the world and establishing causal ties with all living beings.

"This is the true way of cultivating the human way. Other systems all come from the heaven and earth, and they are self-sufficient, and finally transcend the heaven and earth. Only this method comes from all living beings, and finally transcends with all living beings."

Soon, the disciples of the two religions realized the essential differences between the Taoism of Incense and Fire and other cultivation systems.

This way does not cultivate the way of heaven, but only the way of man, and lives and dies with all living things. Unlike other systems, which seek the way of heaven and want to be detached, the purpose is not to live and die with heaven and earth.

"Is everyone like a dragon?"

"Although this path is good, it is not suitable for us. It is extremely difficult to help one person transcend, let alone help all sentient beings transcend together."

"The aspirations of Shinto are too great. Even if one reaches the end and has power comparable to that of a saint, it is still difficult to transcend. In the end, one will be burdened by all living beings and perish in an infinite number of calamities."

Coming back to their senses, the disciples of the Chan sect could not help but shook their heads. While they admired Ao Bing's courage, they were also worried about the future of the Xianghuo Shendao and were not very optimistic about it.

To save all living beings in the world, everyone can transcend, everyone can be free, and everyone can reach the other shore. This is the purpose of the incense and fire way, which is very ambitious and can be called the first in ancient and modern times.

Even when the two saints of the West made forty-eight great vows in succession in order to become saints, they only said to save all sentient beings in the West, and did not dare to say to save all sentient beings in the prehistoric world.

But although the incense and worship rites established by Ao Bing did not say so, they expressed this meaning.

Even though they disliked Ao Bing in their hearts, the Golden Immortal of the Chan Sect could not help but sigh in their hearts that Ao Bing's spirit was indeed rare in ancient and modern times, especially above the two saints in the West. However, admiration did not affect their pessimism about the future of the incense and fire way.

Considering them, the Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect, no matter their background, fortune, or origin, they are the best in the world.

But even so, it is still extremely difficult for them to transcend, and they have not seen any hope so far.

Even with their background, it is like this, let alone those mortals who are nothing. The path to transcendence will only be more difficult and more dangerous.

However, the incense and fire gods have to protect countless mortals like this to transcend, so that they can all reach the other side and escape the great calamity of heaven and earth. This is countless times more difficult than everyone being like a dragon, and it is simply impossible to do.

Since this cannot be done, the future of the incense and the Shinto is not difficult to foresee.

No matter how prosperous one is, even if one can be compared with saints, one cannot transcend and will eventually die under infinite calamities and be buried with heaven and earth.

Being burdened by all living beings, it is impossible to escape the fate of destruction. This is the future outcome of the incense and Shinto.

"It's a pity that the human dragon didn't switch to practicing the incense and fire way. If that were the case, it would be great."

The Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect saw clearly that although Ao Bing was the founder of the Incense and Fire Sect, his main practice was still the Immortal Way, and he did not switch to the Incense and Fire Sect, which made them feel very regretful.

If Ao Bing had turned to practicing the Taoism of incense and fire, his fate would have been basically foreseeable. No matter how brilliant and talented he was, it would have been difficult for him to transcend in this life. He would not be able to be immortal like a saint and would ultimately not escape the fate of destruction.

Admittedly, although it is difficult for them to transcend, compared to Ao Bing who has turned to practice the way of incense and fire and has no possibility of transcending, they still have a chance of transcending.

"This incense and fire path is tailor-made for our Western religion."

"The great aspiration of our Western religion is to save all sentient beings in the West, so that everyone can attain transcendence, and then make the West achieve unprecedented prosperity."

“But the aspirations of this Xianghuo Shendao are even greater than those of my Western religion. They want to save all the living beings in the world and transcend with them.”

"It's so shocking!"

Unlike the disciples of the Chan school, Amitabha, as a disciple of the Western school, felt as if his Ren and Du meridians were opened after learning the specific methods of practicing the Incense God Way, and countless inspirations appeared in his mind.

Because Shintoism and Western religions were so similar, he only needed to make slight changes to create a practice system that was unique to the West but was also based on the power of incense and vows.

In fact, Ao Bing's incense and fire Shintoism was originally copied from later Buddhism. In the original history, the first person to study the magical effect of incense and fire was Amitabha.

He created Theravada Buddhism based on the power of incense and vows, and then opened up the Western Paradise, becoming the founder of Buddhism.

After him, Duobao reincarnated into the West and became Tathagata Buddha. He founded Mahayana Buddhism, suppressed Hinayana Buddhism, and replaced Amitabha Buddha to become the new supreme leader of Buddhism.

That is, starting from the Tathagata Buddha, the teachings of Buddhism began to change.

It is no longer about making the West prosperous, nor is it about saving oneself from liberation through the Hinayana Buddhism. Instead, it is something much more grand, to save all people from the sea of ​​suffering and to bring them all to the other shore.

The so-called incense and fire Shintoism is essentially the Buddhist achievements stolen by Ao Bing from later generations. It has the same origin as Western religion, but it is several versions more advanced.

When Amitabha saw it, he was shocked, because this was exactly what he had thought of and what he had achieved, and it was the result of further extension on this basis.

"Mr. Long, the way of incense and fire is indeed mysterious."

"But in the incense and fire Shintoism you taught, although there is a method to eliminate the distracting thoughts of sentient beings and purify the incense and fire power, there is no method to condense the incense and fire power into acquired merits. I wonder why this is the case?"

As time passed, the princes who were in the process of enlightenment woke up one after another, and soon, some of them couldn't wait to ask Ao Bing.

They admitted that there was indeed nothing wrong with the incense and fire worship taught by Ao Bing, but it was missing a key method, which was to condense the power of incense and fire into acquired merit.

With the wisdom of the princes, how could they not guess that Ao Bing deliberately concealed this method, but they were happy to pretend to be confused.

After all, this method was extremely important. If they could get it out of Ao Bing by pretending to be confused, they would undoubtedly make a lot of money. On the other hand, even if they couldn't get it out, they wouldn't lose anything.

"Without this method, can the incense and fire Shinto be practiced?"

Ao Bing did not answer the princes' questions, but asked in return.

"Of course I can. The incense and fire god way taught by Lord Long is extremely perfect. Although there is no method to condense acquired merit, the purification method contained in it is enough to eliminate all distractions in the incense and fire vows."

The prince replied honestly.

The power of vows of all living beings is refined by the incense, and most of the distracting thoughts in them are burned away. After that, the power of vows is refined again according to the purification method taught by Ao Bing, even if all the distracting thoughts in the power of vows cannot be completely eliminated.

If you absorb it at this time, it will not harm your soul and will not interfere with your own intelligence.

However, although the effects of such incense and vows are comparable to spiritual energy, they cannot be called acquired merits. They cannot make up for one's own defects, repair one's foundation, strengthen one's heritage, and even more so, they cannot be used to refine precious treasures.

It would have been fine if the princes had never seen the acquired merits, but now that they have seen them, they are naturally very dissatisfied with Ao Bing's behavior of holding back.

"As long as it works."

"The method of sublimating the power of incense and fire into acquired merit is the most fundamental authority of the incense and fire god. You are neither my direct descendants nor my direct disciples. Why should I pass this method on to you?"

"It's like the authority in your hands. Would you give it to outsiders for no reason?"

Ao Bing nodded and answered truthfully. He said frankly that his relationship with them was limited and he was not close enough to share authority with them. He could only pass on the incense and the way of the gods to them, which was the limit.

"In that case, we won't force it. But I still have one question for Lord Long. If we want to obtain acquired merit, what price do we need to pay?"

Upon hearing this, the princes immediately gave up their plan to get something for free. If they continued to speak with the intention of getting something for free, and Ao Bing asked them to hand over their princely authority, what would they do?
If he agreed, he would become Ao Bing's vassal.

They disagree. If they can refuse Ao Bing’s unreasonable demands, then Ao Bing can naturally refuse their unreasonable demands as well.

But even though you can't get anything for free, you still have to continue to strive for acquired merits. The worst that can happen is you have to pay a higher price.

(End of this chapter)