Infinite Professions

Chapter 356 - 186: Red Lotus

Though nature is peculiar and the Primordial Spirit Qi is sparse, it is, after all, a Middle Thousand World, with its status set high, naturally vast in area. Like this Jinyang Prefecture, spanning tens of thousands of miles, encompassing hundreds of counties, countless towns and villages, though called a prefecture, it is almost like a nation.

The vast land is not convenient either. Ordinary people rarely leave their county in a lifetime, let alone enter the prefecture or go to the capital.

Qinghe County is over three thousand miles from Jinyang Prefecture, already in its heartland. Even so, the carriage and horses take more than a month for a round trip.

Previously, Shen Hex entered the prefecture for an exam, arriving instantly on a white horse because the horse was a Divine Dao Dharma Artifact, with divine power to traverse Yin and Yang. Now, Song Wu, Song Ying, and the others don’t have such conditions, so they must honestly drive the carriage and urge the horses.

After several days like this, the group, weary from the journey, no longer felt the ease and leisure they had at the start.

"How far are we?"

"Almost there, follow the map Dad... the Land God drew, just over a thousand miles, and we’ll be able to see Jinyang City."

"Over a thousand miles more..."

In the carriage, Song Wu sighed helplessly, and Song Ying also smiled wryly.

Though they have developed Inner Strength, unlike common people, the carriage’s jolts still left them physically and mentally exhausted, not to mention it carried over ten corpses and dozens of human heads.

Luckily, Shen Hex cast Divine Art to prevent the corpses and heads from decaying and enhanced the horses’ strength. Otherwise, this journey would be even more torturous.

"Third Brother, Fourth Brother, it’s getting dark. Should we find a place to stay?"

A Strongman serving as a coachman asked aloud.

"Stay?"

Song Ying looked down at the map in his hand: "Twenty miles ahead is a Red Lotus Temple, where we should be able to lodge."

"Red Lotus Temple?"

Song Wu murmured, then paid no more mind: "Dad’s map should be correct; let’s stay there for one night."

"Alright!"

"Giddy up!"

...

Several carriages sped on, finally reaching the Red Lotus Temple before night fell.

"Oh!"

Seeing the Red Lotus Temple, Song Wu exclaimed: "This temple is impressive!"

"Indeed impressive!"

Song Ying nodded, finding it peculiar.

And above them, Shen Hex rode on a white horse, gazing into the distance with an inexplicable expression.

Ahead lay a temple, within it countless pavilions and buildings, numbering over hundreds, with several grand halls. Though the night was early, the lights glowed brightly, displaying a splendid scene, unlike ordinary temples.

Approaching, all pavilions were covered in tricolor glazed tiles, gleaming as though new. Behind the temple gate, before the Grand Enlightened Hero Hall, was a vast plaza a hundred feet wide, paved with white stone, centered by a golden statue of Wenshu riding a golden lion, surrounded by Pharmacist, Buddha Amitabha, and the Trikaya. Painted and gilded, at the stage’s entrance, five hundred Arhats were cast in gold and copper, all vividly lifelike.

The grandeur left Song Wu and others feeling akin to country folks entering a city, a bit intimidated.

Luckily, there was a Guest Monk in the temple, seeing their carriages arrive, who immediately came out to greet them: "Amitabha Buddha, are you gentlemen here to offer incense?"

Everyone looked at each other, and finally, the clever Song Ying stepped forward, hands together, speaking to the Guest Monk: "Not to deceive Master, we are travelers passing by, wishing to stay at your temple for the night!"

Saying this, he produced a bag of copper coins.

"Amitabha Buddha!"

The Guest Monk chanted the Buddha’s name, directly accepting the money bag, weighing it slightly, then looked at the carriages and horses, finally speaking: "This temple opens its doors to convenience, please follow me."

He led the way, not towards the front but through a side gate, arriving at a remote wing room, inside was a large shared bed: "There’s a privy and a well in the back, please help yourselves, but do not walk about heedlessly and disturb the holy ground of our Buddhist Sect."

Song Ying immediately assured: "We won’t, we won’t!"

"Then I take my leave; if you need anything, find someone at the front monk’s quarters."

The Guest Monk, still skillful, left with a word and withdrew from the room.

"This monk seems accustomed to such tasks,"

Watching him leave, Song Wu muttered.

Song Ying smiled: "What’s strange, temples outside operate like inns, some even offer loans at interest."

"That makes sense,"

Song Wu nodded, then looked around, jokingly said to the others: "Otherwise, how could there be such a large temple?"

"Such talk shouldn’t be spoken,"

Song Ying lowered his voice: "Beneath the eaves, the gods are above!"

Saying this, he pointed upwards.

Seeing this, Song Wu also became solemn, promptly changing the topic: "Let’s have some dry food, quickly wash up and rest; we still have a journey tomorrow."

"Yes, yes!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, busily settling in.

Shen Hex remained outside, not dismounting, standing in the courtyard.

In just a moment, red light flashed as a group of people appeared, walking in mid-air—a force of monk soldiers, covered in red light and carrying sticks, looking quite formidable.

They descended into the courtyard, saw Shen Hex, then shifted their gaze towards the carriages parked by Song Wu and his followers, noticing the dozen corpses and the wooden box filled with heads inside. Their expressions changed dramatically, forming a stance to encircle Shen Hex: "Where are these ghosts from, daring to disturb the pure holy ground of the Buddhist Sect?"

"You’ve misunderstood!"

Shen Hex’s expression didn’t change; he simply revealed the Divine Dao Golden Light: "I am the Land God of Little Huang Village. Recently, evil ghosts and bandits attacked our village from the mountains. We defeated them along with the villagers. We now bring the bandit leader’s body and severed heads to the Prefecture City—not ghosts or monsters."

"Hmm!?"

The leading middle-aged monk frowned as he looked at the Divine Dao Golden Light displayed by Shen Hex, then at the corpses of the Five Immortal Sorcerers inside the carriages. With suspicion, he put away his stick: "Even so, you should not tarnish the sacred ground of the Buddhist Sect. You should camp outside the temple."

Shen Hex smiled: "These bandits are of the demon ilk; their bodies might attract ghosts and monsters, so I came to the temple seeking shelter. If it’s a problem, we will leave immediately."

"Hmph!"

Upon hearing this somewhat provoking remark, the middle-aged monk snorted coldly: "Only stay here, do not wander around. Leave promptly tomorrow morning!"

With that, he led the monks away.

Shen Hex smiled faintly, watching them leave.

Red Lotus Monk Soldiers!

For so many years, although unable to act freely in Little Huang Village, Shen Hex had gathered a lot of information through the Yin Ghosts, including about the Red Lotus Temple.

In this world’s Divine Dao, there are divisions among the Daoist, Buddhist, Confucian, and Legalist Sects, the Three Religions and Nine Schools.

Daoist Sect worships immortals, Buddhist Sect worships Buddhas, Confucian Sect worships saints, and additionally includes various sages from the Hundred Schools of Thought.

However, whether immortals, Buddhas, or saints—in essence, they are all Ghost Gods in this world, relying on Incense Fire Source Power rather than nature’s spiritual energy for cultivation.

Therefore, the Three Religions and Hundred Schools are all part of the Divine Dao in this world.

Land Gods, Mountain Gods, Water Elders, and City Gods, nominally belong to the Celestial Court but are actually influenced by the Three Religions. The Nine Grades of the Divine Dao’s hierarchy include the literary touch of Confucian masters, integrating ancestral worship and nature worship, along with some Daoist and Buddhist concepts to achieve the current Divine Dao Official Body.

Overall, the Celestial Court and the Three Religions are all True Gods, yet they have competition.

Land Gods, Mountain Gods, Water Elders, and City Gods often vie with Daoist Temples and Buddhist Temples for incense.

But both sides are True Gods, belonging to an equal relationship; no one is greater than another, so this competition is restricted. Extreme measures like breaking mountains or destroying temples are not allowed, nor is mutual aggression among Divine Beings; it can only be through governance and teaching at the human level to compete for incense.

Simply put, no fights or killings—only competing business capabilities, to see who is more effective and wins people’s hearts.

The business capabilities of the Red Lotus Temple are strong; they have believers in over a dozen counties, hundreds of towns, and numerous villages, with most offering their faith to the Venerable Red Lotus. Claimed to be a disciple of Wenshu, they had surpassed the Seventh Grade, becoming a Sixth Grade True God of the Buddhist Sect.

A Sixth Grade True God, ranked Tier Seven; in the Immortal Dao Cultivation System, they are considered a Venerable of Divinity Transformation.

With this stature, their authority, with the Red Lotus Temple at the core, reaches over a dozen counties and hundreds of towns, suppressing those County City Gods greatly with their diminishing incense day by day.

Very miserable!

But their misery brings glory to the Red Lotus Temple, which not only built this grand temple but also cultivated a force of Red Lotus Monk Soldiers.

In this world, there are Deities, and Deities have Daoist Soldiers.

Deities can use divine power to activate all things, creating various supernatural existences.

Daoist Soldiers are among them!

Deities use divine power to activate Yin Souls, consecrating them as Dharma-Protector Daoist Soldiers.

These Daoist Soldiers can be cultivated in two ways: one is brute force with divine power, and the other is through wish power offerings.

The former needs little explanation—just brute force; as long as you have enough strong divine power, you can cultivate any Daoist Soldier.

But general Deities lack this capital, so mostly they adopt the latter, cultivating Daoist Soldiers through wish power offerings.

Because in this world, belief has power—the moment a deity creates a certain image, ensuring it has devoted faith at a certain level, various divine techniques will emerge.

Take Shen Hex’s Yellow Turban Warriors as an example: Shen Hex described to the villagers of Little Huang Village that the Yellow Turban Warriors have two main characteristics: great strength and imperviousness to weapons.

As long as Little Huang Village faithfully believes, constantly offering such incense fire wish power, with relatively little cost, Shen Hex could cultivate Yellow Turban Warriors with vast strength and imperviousness to blades.

Furthermore, with the accumulation of wish power and the strengthening of faith, the power of these Daoist Soldiers would continue to rise—initially a thousand-pound strength may become ten thousand, hundred thousand, even billion-pound strength.

This is what Daoist Soldiers are, a major method for Deities in warfare.

Of course, you can forcefully enact a "monotheistic" model, focusing all incense fire wish power on oneself, but this means personally handling many affairs with potential belief problems.

It’s like eating meals—always having some side dishes, changing it up is necessary. If every meal’s the same dish—or worse, no dish at all, just plain rice—you would eventually grow sick of it.

A polytheistic system, varied forms, can fully utilize belief, preventing waste and loss.

Shen Hex’s Yellow Turban Warriors were like this, and so were the Red Lotus Temple’s Red Lotus Monk Soldiers, who serve as Buddha Soldiers under the Venerable Red Lotus. They number three thousand, all transformed from deceased monks of the Red Lotus Temple, reportedly each possessing Dragon-Slaying Tiger-Subduing strength, the ability to walk on water and spit fire, with Divine Techniques like Red Lotus Celestial Fire, cleansing the world and exterminating demons.

The leading middle-aged monk just now is likely one of them, though a Daoist Soldier, their divine power nears Tenth Class, comparable to a typical village Land God.

If the rumors are true, the Venerable Red Lotus commanding three thousand such monk soldiers, they are indeed a major weapon against foes, forming formations and collaborating with the Master of Soldiers Divine Beings, wielding Great Divine Techniques.

Not just True Gods, even demons and monsters would often cultivate Daoist Soldiers, exhibiting a wide variety of functions.

This visit to the Red Lotus Temple by Shen Hex, under the pretense of seeking lodging, was primarily an excuse; he mainly aimed to see the Red Lotus Daoist Soldiers and explore the Buddhist Sect’s depths, since they would be future competitors.

Upon seeing them now, indeed their grandeur is extraordinary.

This further solidified Shen Hex’s desire to cultivate soldiers.

Daoist Soldiers, soldiers of the Dao, gathering collective force—a method very suitable for developing power, absolutely worthy of Shen Hex’s research and investment.