Sword from the Immortal Mountain

Chapter 66: Ghost Cult, Scapegoat
When talking about the Ghost Cult, Taoist Yun Cheng was so indignant that he almost started cursing.

The temple master secretly glanced at Chen Jin and coughed dryly: "Yun Cheng, you told me last time that there was a Taoist in the Taoist temple who had a conflict with the Ghost Spirit Sect. What happened?"

Yun Cheng quickly replied, "That time, we were going to perform a ritual for the Song family in the city, but the Song family was deceived by the Ghost Spirit Cult and chose them instead of us. Another time, we were going to invite a household god for the Zhou family. Everything was going well and we were about to invite the god, but the next day, the master of the Zhou family suddenly said that the household god we invited from the Taoist temple was not effective, so they turned around and used the Ghost Spirit Cult's one."

Upon hearing this, the temple master asked, "Did you randomly invite household gods to other people, thus ruining their reputation? That Chu Hong is like that, and it really pissed me off."

He looked very angry:
"In recent years, I have been concentrating on cultivation and let you be the abbot of the Taoist temple. At that time, I told you to strictly abide by the laws of Taoism and not to oppress the people or engage in fraud. But you accepted those half-baked Taoists and neglected to discipline them. I don't know how many dirty things they did outside."

Yun Cheng's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said, "The Taoist temple recruited those Taoists because they all have formal certificates of ordination. Using them to do things is also to increase the temple's manpower and strength, and to make it easier to spread the reputation of our Five Internal Organs God and make the incense more prosperous... In fact, I have repeatedly warned them, but those Taoists will inevitably take on some private work in private. If the water is too clear, there will be no fish."

The temple master sneered: "This is called swindling and cheating to enrich oneself."

In front of Chen Jin, he scolded his disciples with some acting element.

After all, the last time Taoist Chu went to Chenze Township to sell fake peach charms, he invited the wrong family god to Chen Liang's family, which made Chen Jin feel resentful and caused a series of troubles afterwards.

Although Chen Jin may no longer care, he still needs to express the right attitude.

Yun Cheng didn't dare to argue anymore: "Master is right, I did something wrong."

The abbot sighed and said, "As the eldest disciple, you are so absorbed in worldly affairs that you neglect your studies. You should know that for cultivators like us, great power should belong to ourselves. Only when we are strong in cultivation can we be better than anything else. You are putting the cart before the horse by doing this."

Yun Cheng knelt down with a thud: "I am a dull disciple and have failed Master's expectations."

The master glanced at Chen Jin again and waved his hand: "Hurry up and get up. I know you are doing this for the foundation of the Taoist temple. Then tell me about what the Ghost Spirit Cult did."

Yun Cheng said, "Master, you don't know that the methods of the ghost sect are extremely extreme. For example, they pretend to go to people's homes to tell fortunes and blood disasters. Others don't believe them, so at night they will set up an altar to perform rituals and send little ghosts to scare and bite people. In this way, people will believe them and pay them to perform rituals. What's more, they will directly curse people and claim that if they don't worship ghosts, their families will be in turmoil or even destroyed."

The temple master was furious when he heard this: "How is this evil and unorthodox practice different from evil spirits?"

Yun Cheng said: "But they hold a divine license issued by the government, and it is a high-level license, which allows them to spread the law across borders, travel with gods, and divide the sects, etc."

"That's ridiculous. If you guys meet, won't you expose them? Won't you fight?"

"We fought once, and the Taoist Ma in question didn't win the fight and suffered a great loss. Master, I thought you were in seclusion, so I didn't dare to disturb you. I thought about joining forces with my second junior brother to talk to the other party and get back at him. But the Taoist temple has been busy these days, so we have been delayed."

Hearing this, Chen Jin probably understood the meaning:
There are conflicts of commercial interest between Yunshan Temple and the Guiling Sect, and conflicts have occurred there.

The business that both parties are competing for is naturally the business of wealthy families and local gentry.

It's basically big business.

Among them, Yunshan Temple is a local force, which has been operating for many years and is quite famous; while the Ghost Spirit Sect is a newly emerged force, and it seems that it has infiltrated from other places and is ambitious. As a result, the two sides naturally cannot coexist peacefully.

Competition for business and competition for incense are inevitable.

However, the Ghost Spirit Cult’s practices were unruly and they would use any means necessary to achieve their goals, which caused Yunshan Temple to suffer a setback.

After a moment of hesitation, Chen Jin asked directly, "Yun Cheng, you said that the Ghost Spirit Cult is good at refining scapegoats for people. How do they do that?"

Yun Cheng replied, "It is said that this scapegoat is one of the three great magic arts of the Ghost Spirit Sect. It is a secret that is not passed on and outsiders have no way of understanding it. I only know that after the scapegoat is refined, it can eliminate disasters and calamities for people, and even save their lives. With this scapegoat, a person has two lives. Therefore, it is highly sought after by those powerful and wealthy people. No matter how much it costs, they must refine one. However, the success rate of this method does not seem to be high. I am not very clear about the specific details."

The temple master said coldly: "No wonder the Ghost Spirit Cult has developed so rapidly. If this scapegoat is really so magical and can cancel a person's life, those high-ranking officials will be able to do anything."

Yun Cheng echoed, "When people become rich and powerful, they cherish their lives even more. Master, I heard that the Ghost Spirit Cult developed from the prefectures and counties. It's coming with great force, so we must be more prepared."

The temple master snorted coldly: "He worships his ghost, I worship my god. If they go too far, there is nothing to say, just fight it out."

Chen Jin asked again: "Have these ghost followers established a sect altar? Where is it?"

Yun Cheng shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of them yet. There aren't many of them coming to Genshui County, and their identities are well hidden, and their whereabouts are strange. They only show up to do things when they have set their sights on a certain target, and they are elusive."

Chen Jin nodded slightly: "Didn't you just say that you wanted to find them and talk to them? If you find them, please let me know and I will go with you."

Yun Cheng immediately said, "I couldn't ask for more."

I was thinking that this was a good opportunity to take a look at the background of this sudden guest official and his powerful abilities.

The master of the temple couldn't understand why Chen Jin was so interested in the Ghost Cult and the scapegoat, but if he took action himself.

The overall situation has been determined.

In the next few days, Chen Jin lived in the inner courtyard. He carried the master of the temple up the mountain at night to collect the evil spirits and fire energy. During the day, he entered into a state of meditation and practiced martial arts, eating and drinking as he pleased.

The food that Yunshan Temple provided to him, the supreme guest official, was really good. One of the dishes was a local specialty, mountain spring shrimps, which could greatly replenish yang energy.

At this rate, it won’t be long before Chen Jin can advance to the third level.

During this period, after returning home, Chen Min followed Yun Ning back to the mountain, began to formally learn and practice, and took the Taoist name "Yun Min".

She told Chen Jin that the news of his joining Yunshan Temple had shocked the entire Chenze Township. The villagers said that a golden phoenix had flown out of Chen Abu's humble home, and from now on, prosperity and wealth were just around the corner...

(End of this chapter)