Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 120 Incense Shinto
The old man in white hid in the shell and could clearly feel the cracks appearing on the shell.

His face couldn't help but change slightly. He didn't expect Lu Zheng to have such great strength that he could actually destroy his defense.

The old man quickly released his divine power and controlled the shell to move on the ground, not wanting Lu Zheng to continue attacking.

Lu Zheng put away the iron hammer, a corner of which had been broken, and stood directly on the big shell. The righteous spirit enveloped him, eliminating the divine aura emanating from the shell.

Then he took out the Taishi Jian and Dong Hu pen and wrote quickly.

Lin Ancao was frightened by the wind, and the general drew his bow at night.

Pingming looked for Baiyu, but he was not in the stone ridge.

After the poem was written, a white light became brighter and an iron bow appeared in Lu Zheng's hand.

He drew his bow and shot the arrow, which hit the crack that had just been created.

"Click..."

The crack widened again.

In a flash of light, the arrow turned into strands of righteous energy, quickly poured into the shell, and attacked the old man with a sharp aura.

The old man was frightened and quickly used his supernatural power to respond.

Lu Zheng took advantage of the situation and did not stop. When he raised his hand, a hazy and illusory river flowed around his body.

Lu Zheng only had a thought, and the righteous energy turned into a river, rushing into the shell.

For a moment, the old man felt like the surging river.

He was clearly a river clam that had become a god, but facing the rolling waves, he felt suffocated, as a powerful repressive force swept over him.

"Uh……"

The old man couldn't help but groan, and quickly mobilized the divine power in his body to deal with it.

"Sir, do you really want to fight me to the death?"

The old man was shocked and angry. He felt that if he continued like this, he would be killed.

Lu Zheng's expression was indifferent. "Fight to the death? You are not worthy of it."

The old man was furious when he heard this. Seeing that his own divine power was gradually weakening, he made up his mind and performed a spell with one hand.

Suddenly, the two shells shone with golden light.

Lu Zheng took light steps and quickly jumped off the shell.

The two shells suddenly broke apart and slashed towards Lu Zheng with violent force.

At the same time, the old man turned into a golden light and flew to the other side, escaping like a cicada.

Lu Zheng acted quickly, a talisman hung in the air, glowing brightly to block the flying shells.

Another long rope came as fast as a meteor, and in the blink of an eye it wrapped around the old man and tied him up tightly.

It was just an ordinary rope, but it was imbued with the power of Wen Bao and temporarily became extremely extraordinary.

"thump……"

The old man who was originally in the air suddenly fell to the ground and kept twisting on the ground, but found that his own divine power was imprisoned and he could not use any strength.

He was horrified and wanted to jump up and run away.

Unfortunately, Lu Zheng did not give the old man such an opportunity.

Lu Zheng came up to the old man in a flash, bent down and lifted him up.

He clenched his other hand into a fist and punched the old man hard.

"boom!"

The old man was hit in the abdomen by a punch. He immediately bent over in pain, opened his mouth and gasped for air, unable to make a sound.

After a few punches, the old man was beaten to tears and screaming.

"Good man, please let me go. If there is anything, we can discuss it slowly..."

Lu Zheng turned a deaf ear to him and raised his hand, and a mountain appeared in his palm.

This time, the old man's supernatural power was restrained, and he had no shells to protect himself, so he was hit hard.

The old man was almost unable to breathe due to the overwhelming pressure from the mountain, and his divine power was slowly fading.

Feeling the loss of his own spiritual power, the old man's face changed drastically. This was a power that he had cultivated with great difficulty.

"No, you can't. You're killing God!"

The old man was extremely panicked. If he lost his divine power, he would be nothing.

"If you let me go, I'll give you anything!"

"I'm God, you can't do this!"

"You dare to disrespect God, you will be punished!"

"Please, let me go..."

……

The old man wanted to struggle but couldn't, so he could only beg for mercy, and finally he started cursing and talking nonsense.

Lu Zheng had a calm expression. Feeling that the time was right, he threw the old man to the ground.

The old man collapsed to the ground, exhausted, his eyes dull and lifeless, having long lost his former brilliance.

In just a short period of time, he went from being a majestic god who was high above everyone else to a weak, frail, and miserable man.

Most of his Taoism skills were lost, and the divine power in his body was almost exhausted, with some demonic energy leaking out.

The reduction in Taoism cannot be made up by taking a few breaths of spiritual energy.

The old man was stunned, unable to accept the reality for a moment. Lu Zheng took out his sword and patted the old man with it.

The stimulation of the cold sword blade made the old man shrink his head, and his eyes moved slightly as he looked at Lu Zheng with complicated emotions in his eyes.

Lu Zheng said, "There are some things I hope you can tell the truth about, so that you can avoid some pain."

The old man lay on the ground motionless with his lips trembling.

"How did you learn the way of Shinto practice?" Lu Zheng asked.

Hearing this, the old man grinned and said quietly, "You want to learn? How about I teach you and you let me go? I can give you this place. Those people are very pious. If you practice Shinto here, you will make rapid progress."

In order to survive, the old man thought about negotiating terms with Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng said calmly: "Do you think it is necessary for me to practice Shinto?"

The old man understood that Lu Zheng’s methods were extraordinary, and he was afraid that he would not switch to practicing Shinto.

But he still said: "You should be a Confucian or Taoist scholar... Confucianism and Taoism are not bad, but it is not easy to practice. How can it compare to Shintoism? Practicing Shintoism can easily achieve immortality!"

In the way of the gods of incense, if there is enough incense offered, one can indeed attain immortality.

But throughout history, how many gods have been able to receive the incense and offerings from the people for a long time and remain popular?

Even the righteous gods canonized by the imperial court will eventually decline and disappear.

What's more, a wild god cannot last long.

The old man lives here to practice cultivation, and is only supported by the people in the village. His upper limit is not high, and it is probably only slightly better than the path of demon cultivation.

He can't even achieve immortality himself, yet he still wants to deceive others.

Lu Zheng was unmoved. "I just want to know how you came up with this method."

Upon hearing this, the old man could only say, "I was originally a clam monster in the Changchuan River. I happened to find a scroll of silk in a Hebo Temple in the river. It contained the method of practicing the divine way. I tried to learn it, and then I became what I am now..."

"Hebo Temple?" Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly.

The old man nodded and said, "It should be a temple left over from the previous dynasty, but it was flooded a long time ago. If you look for it now, you probably won't be able to find it. That was forty or fifty years ago, and I can't remember the exact time."

Lu Zheng asked, "It's just a scroll of silk book, nothing else? Where is the silk book?"

The old man said, "There's only a scroll of silk book, nothing else. As for the scroll, I've destroyed it, but I still remember its contents. If you want to know, I can write it down for you... but you have to promise to let me go."

Lu Zheng said, "I remember that the river gods of the previous dynasty didn't have the custom of sacrificing young boys and girls, right? Why are you sacrificing living people?"

During the ancient dynasty, when Shintoism was at its peak, human sacrifice was also prohibited.

"This……"

The old man wanted to say something but hesitated. He wanted to speak but didn't dare to.

Seeing this, Lu Zheng put the tip of his sword against the old man's eyebrows and then pierced his skin.

The old man felt a sharp pain and said quickly, "It's recorded in the silk book!"

"Speak." Lu Zheng said indifferently.

The old man stumbled and said, "I don't know whether the previous dynasty used living people for sacrifice, but the scroll clearly states that using people as sacrifices would gain more incense and spiritual power, and would also make the people more pious and offer more incense."

"Huh? Why does human sacrifice make people more pious?" Lu Zheng asked puzzledly.

The old man couldn't help but say, "They can even offer living people as sacrifices. If it happens once, there will be a second time. Over time, those people will naturally be reverent and pious to the gods, and the incense will become even more prosperous."

"Sacrificing people to instill fear and awe in others, thereby deepening their faith?" Lu Zheng pondered.

"That's about right..." the old man said weakly.

Lu Zheng said coldly, "It's not easy to make the people truly pious to you and offer human sacrifices. How did you do it?"

"Just use the method written in the silk book." The old man whispered.

"What method?" Lu Zheng's eyes were sharp.

The old man said in fear, "If you let me go, I will tell you."

"Ok?"

Lu Zheng's eyes turned cold. He was a prisoner under the sword, so how could he dare to negotiate with him?
The next moment, a weak scream echoed in the cave.

"I said, I said..."

The old man was bleeding profusely and begged for mercy repeatedly, telling his story.

It turned out that when he first came here, he found a prestigious elder in the village, demonstrated his skills, and took out some pearls to deceive and win over people's hearts.

After that, the Qingyi people in this village had one more god who began to protect them.

This mountain and the pond outside became the sacred and forbidden areas of the mountain village.

At first, the old man only wanted some livestock as sacrifices.

In return for the sacrifice, he would also bestow pearls so that the people in this mountain village could live a prosperous life and be more self-reliant.

After a while, he bewitched the elders of the tribe and asked them to bury their dead members in the pool to help them reincarnate and enjoy happiness.

After that, the old man went even further and asked them to prepare young boys and girls as sacrifices every year to serve him.

The family of the clan elder holds special sacrifices, which have been passed down from generation to generation for decades, and their status has been consolidated because of their service to the gods.

In order to consolidate their own status, the clan elders would naturally not disagree with the old man's request.

As the family became wealthy, they no longer had to offer children from the village as sacrifices. Instead, they would use their money to buy people from outside to perform sacrifices.

Of course, everyone knew that this kind of thing was strictly prohibited by law, so it was naturally kept secret, and other families in Qingyi Village did not know about it.

Nowadays, many young people in the village have never even seen the old man in person, but the elders always talk about the old man's strength and occasionally give money to help the villagers.

The entire village had no doubts. Everyone had received benefits and protection from the gods, and they all worshipped the old man as a true god. Their faith was deeply rooted.

(End of this chapter)