Chapter 9: Merit and Virtue

  May 1st, Qing Shan Village.

  It was the time of the grand festival, especially when deciding to offer sacrifices to the land god temple. The villagers arrived early at the scene, and saw that the offerings were already prepared, and the temple was built well, imitating the small temple in Qingyu Village, which had a few similarities.

  The time had arrived, and with a single order from Village Zheng, the craftsmen carefully placed the Land Temple on the altar. Village Zheng stepped forward, lit the first incense stick, bowed respectfully, and the other villagers followed suit, starting their worship, the incense smoke swirling upwards.

  Fang Ming also arrived early, and at this time, he furrowed his brow: "Only 6,000 strands of divine power were extracted from the altar, but the divine seal and aura are still unchanged, what's missing?"

  He originally wanted to use this matter to expand his divine position, and also take the opportunity to change his predestined fate, in order to carry the aura of fortune, but unexpectedly, the divine talisman only refined his divine power without changing anything.

  Fang Ming furrowed his brow, if he couldn't ascend to a higher divine position, wouldn't all his efforts be in vain? In the future, he would only remain a minor deity forever, which was not what he desired. Was it because there weren't enough believers? He decided to return and stir up the same thing in Da Chang village, to see the effect.

  At this time, the sacrifice was over, and the villagers of Qing Shan Village thought that with the protection of the land god, they would no longer have to suffer as they had in the past. They couldn't help but burst into tears, starting with just a few people, then spreading throughout the entire village. The villagers all rushed to kowtow and worship at the temple of the land god, and Fang Ming was deeply moved to tears.

  Fang Ming suddenly felt a change within himself and meditated on his own aura. At this moment, he made a discovery. He saw that the aura around his head was surrounded by a thin layer of golden light. His intuition told him that this was the aura of human virtue. The golden light slowly seeped into Fang Ming's original white aura, which suddenly burst open, and a white aura with a hint of red emerged from within. The golden aura instantly expanded, absorbing the white aura. As the original aura moved, the white aura began to change, gradually turning pink and eventually becoming a red aura.

  Finally, the red and white gas on top of his head surged, and the gas in the golden seal had one half, with one third being red. Fang Ming's body also changed accordingly, originally all white divine power inside, now under the influence of the gas, unexpectedly one third began to condense, forming a red divine power, the red divine power surged and churned, wrapping around the divine job token, after a moment the red dispersed, a new token was generated, Fang Ming took a look and immediately understood: "From 8th rank land god position, governing Qingyu Village, Qingshan Village", suddenly feeling connected to the Qingshan Village region.

  Suddenly, another piece of information entered Fang Ming's mind, which was a new divine technique called "Divine Fist Technique". It allowed devout followers to borrow divine power, increasing their strength several times over for a short period of time, but leaving them weak for several days afterwards.

  Enlightenment dawned on him. He recalled the phrase from his past life: "One fate, two fortunes, three Feng Shui, four accumulating virtues, five reading books." The virtues mentioned here refer to human virtues and heavenly virtues. As long as it benefits humanity, human virtues will be bestowed upon him, and this virtue has great power, which can turn calamity into good fortune and change one's destiny. As long as he continues to protect the people and support humanity in the future, he will naturally continue to acquire human virtues, changing his own destiny, constantly improving, and gaining aura.

  In this world, the rules are that one's fate and status are tied to their official position. Since Fang Ming is in this world, he will also be affected by it, and the gods' positions are no exception. Therefore, one's fate can influence their divine power, helping to purify it, and with a higher level of divine power nourishment, advancing the Divine Seal is a natural process. At this moment, Fang Ming has clearly understood his future path, has found direction, and cannot help but laugh loudly, extremely delighted.

  Qingyu Village, Land Temple precincts, Grand Hall.

  "Congratulations, sir! Congratulations, sir!" He Dong and Wang Liu Lang bowed deeply.

  This is congratulating Fang Ming for spreading his faith to Qing Shan Village. They feel that today's adults are more majestic, profound and heavy-hearted, making their own hearts tremble involuntarily.

  "No need for thanks, but this is indeed a joyful occasion, let's have a grand feast today!" He ordered the feast to begin.

  Everyone was overjoyed.

  Fang Ming knew that things that could be obtained at any time would not be cherished, so he usually only sent out some ordinary village food such as mantou, which was also a condensation of divine power and could replenish divine power, allowing his subordinates to live forever, but the taste was very average.

  When subordinates have merits, they are rewarded with wine and meat. When there is a great joy, a banquet is opened, with chicken, duck, fish and meat, everything is available, and subordinates become more loyal and diligent in their work to seek rewards.

  The banquet began immediately, He Dong and Wang Liulang led their subordinates to raise their cups in a toast: "Good health to our host!"

  Fang Ming nodded, raised his cup and drank it all up, then ate a few more bites of food. Seeing that everyone was somewhat constrained, he said, "No need for too much courtesy, let's eat while it's hot!" He then got up and went into the back hall.

  At once everyone started moving, and this let loose even more. He Dong and Wang Liu Lang still paid attention to their image, but the others were in a heated scramble, the atmosphere was lively and intense.

  He Dong took a bite of his food, narrowed his eyes and sighed: "People all think that after death they become nothing, but it's even more terrifying. We were lucky to have met our master!"

  "Wang Liu Lang replied: 'So we should be more diligent in our duties and repay our lord!'"

  Everyone responded in unison and raised their cups to drink up.

  Fang Ming, however, used Earth Escape to arrive outside the village. A thread of red divine power swirled in his hand, and he played with it continuously. After some thought, the divine power transformed into a red light that enveloped his hand. Fang Ming swung his fist, feeling that it was roughly the same as when he used white divine power, only with slightly greater might.

  He thought of the divine art, had a little epiphany, and looking at a stone on the ground, he tried to lift it with his hand, but couldn't lift it up, however the stone moved. Fang Ming was overjoyed, changed his target, this time it was a withered branch, his hand moved, and it was lifted up. At this moment, if there were villagers passing by, they would see a withered branch floating strangely in mid-air.

  After picking up the withered branch, the divine power was consumed very quickly. In about a dozen breaths, the red light was exhausted, and the withered branch fell to the ground. Fang Ming was overjoyed, knowing that the red divine power had the effect of interfering with reality. Although it took ten threads of white divine power to condense one thread of red divine power, and its consumption was great when used, this was different from being helpless. If others were determined not to care about him, Fang Ming would have been powerless. But with the red divine power, he also had power in the mortal world!

  Fang Ming had long discovered that the world was in a state of great disorder. It had been over two hundred years since the Great Founder of the Dahan Dynasty rose to power from Guanzhong and swept across the land, establishing the Dahan Dynasty. The imperial court's power had been declining day by day, and the signs of regional warlords were already apparent. Although the current emperor had the heart to revive the dynasty, he was unable to do so due to his incompetence. This was also due to the fate of heaven and the growth of the population, which had outstripped the available land.

  Once a natural disaster occurs, there will be refugees. The Son of Heaven would drive the refugees out of the pass and order each state to settle them down. He also recruited a large number of people from Guanzhong who had no land or little land, sent them to the barbarous and desolate land of Jiaozhou, and ordered them to open up wasteland for cultivation. Moreover, he gathered heavy troops within the pass, with trusted generals in command. As a result, the land within the pass was very stable.

  However, the people of other states were dissatisfied and resentful, and with the addition of evil spirits causing trouble, they had no choice but to grant military power to each state, ordering them to suppress the unrest. Many generals took advantage of the situation to deceive their superiors and subordinates, privately recruiting soldiers and gathering famous scholars, gradually increasing their power and influence. Among them were secretly members of the Taoist sect.

  In Fang Ming's view, in a decade or so, the world will be in great chaos. At that time, the vassals and towns will be divided, attacking and killing each other for decades, reducing the population by 70-80%, leaving land to support a new dynasty, which can last for several hundred years.

  When the time comes, Wen Changfu will also be unavoidable. If luck is bad, it becomes a battlefield. The warlords come and go, cutting off several times, killing thousands of miles without smoke, and the white bones on the side of the road are just normal things.

  The Way of God originated from the Way of Man. If all men are gone, can Fang Ming still live a good life? It is necessary to prepare for the rain, this power that interferes with the world of the living, has come at just the right time.

  At the same time, it is also possible to deploy forces in the Yang realm to prevent ideological attacks. As for Yin realm affairs, naturally there are people like Wang Liu Lang who will take action, and if not, there is still Fang Ming Town to rely on. However, if someone from the Yang realm were to forcefully destroy a temple, then it would be necessary to rely on Yang realm forces to defend against it. Ordinary villagers are likely unable to be relied upon, so one can only cultivate their own strength, but also cannot be too strong, lest they arouse suspicion from the authorities.

  Fang Ming was deep in thought when he suddenly had an epiphany, recalling the Western gods of his past life. The Western gods were also self-made and independent, with no system suppressing them from above, they explored on their own and took responsibility for their own gains and losses. At that moment, he felt that there was something to be learned from this.

  The Western gods divide their followers into: unbelievers, shallow believers, ordinary believers, devout believers, fanatical believers, and saints. Fang Ming only took the first four levels. In his view, fanatical believers and saints are equivalent to destroying divine wisdom, just walking corpses, equivalent to killing souls, greatly damaging merit, Fang Ming did not take them. At the same time, these two types of believers were too hot-headed, like a raging fire that burned everything to ashes before extinguishing itself. They were double-edged swords, easy to hurt others and oneself. Suddenly deciding afterwards not to promote fanatical beliefs, when necessary, he would even have to take action himself to cool down the followers in order to preserve them for the long term.

  When the believer reaches a certain level of devotion, they can be promoted to Temple Knight, receiving an extra daily dose of red divine power to nourish their body and soul, as well as being granted the Divine Strike technique, giving them strength, drawing inspiration from Western priests and holy warriors.

  Of course, the cost is not small, and it's easy to attract attention, so we can't have too many, one or two per village is enough. At critical moments, they can play a leading role, and villagers will naturally gather together to protect their faith. However, we also need to tone down the divine revelation, making it impossible for the temple masters to make rash moves, let alone use the divine strike technique at will.

  As for directly copying the Western way of organizing a holy warrior team and so on, that would be considered treasonous, and seeking death is not done in this manner.

  East of Qingyu Village.

  Li Dazhuang was piously kowtowing to the Land God in his home, ever since he prayed for a son in front of the god and the god showed his spirit, he became a devout believer, every day he must respectfully worship.

  Fang Ming smiled slightly and activated the Dream Ferrying Divine Ability.

  Li Dazhuang's eyes blurred, and he arrived at the Land Temple Hall. He had experience and was not surprised, but still very excited. Seeing Fang Ming, he immediately kowtowed, "Boom boom" sounded, saying: "Thank you, Earth God, thank you, Earth God, I wanted a child for a long time, thanks to the Earth God's manifestation, I can fulfill my wish."

  Fang Ming's expression remained unchanged as he said, "Li Dazhuang, I have a task for you."

  Li Dazhuang immediately said: "Whatever the Land God wants, just give me an order, I'll risk my life to get it done for you!"

  Fang Ming smiled and said, "No need for that, just let you help me with the temple's chores, tidy up the offerings every day and sweep the temple!"

  "What's so difficult about that? Many people can't even get it, I'll definitely make it happen. Thank you, Lord of the Land, for your blessing!" Li Daizhuang bowed again with gratitude.

  Fang Ming nodded and said, "Since you're a temple guardian for me, you should also have some divine powers. Now I'll grant you the Divine Fist Technique. Remember not to use it lightly, nor can you reveal it in front of people casually. Otherwise, there will be great disaster!" With a finger pointing, a thread of red divine energy transformed into a talisman and entered Li Dazhuang's body.

  Li Dazhuang's eyes lit up again, and he returned home, looking at the image of the land god in front of him, and bowed down, saying: "I obey the divine command of the land god!"

  Fang Ming saw that Li Dazhuang had a joyful expression, but he didn't shout loudly or immediately try out the divine strike technique. Knowing that this person's character was indeed steady and reliable, he couldn't help but feel very satisfied.

  In his view, the divine talisman in Li Dazhuang's body is a receiver. When Li Dazhuang uses the divine strike, he silently recites the incantation, and the receiver sends out a signal. The divine being receives the signal and can send divine power to this channel. The receiver receives the divine power and immediately transforms it to enhance physical quality. This is the secret of the divine strike. Each time the divine strike technique must consume a thread of red divine power; white divine power does not interfere with worldly power and cannot be used.

  Of course, the highest authority of Shendafu is still in Fang Ming's hands, so every day can secretly send divine power, quietly nourishing believers, making their ears and eyes clear, and greatly increasing their physical strength. Suddenly decided to continue observing, if this experiment is successful, then it can be used by Wu Xinling afterwards.