Many conjectures would receive their answers in due course.
While Lu PingAn was filled with doubts and hesitation about the future, rounds of arguments were erupting elsewhere.
"How dare he?! This is separatism, this is contempt for law and discipline, this is dictatorship!" Criticism and condemnation were unavoidable.
Information traveled quickly these days, especially regarding the movements of the various True God Churches.
Within Wanjing, there was actually a dedicated Religious Affairs Department. Independent of the intelligence agencies, it was a powerful intelligence organization. Given the actual strength of the True God Churches, it was an organization packed with high-tier extraordinaires.
Because of its extreme sensitivity, it was also a key target for infiltration into the authorities by many True God Churches. In a sense, it was also the source of official intelligence leaks—or perhaps it had, in substance, become a bridge for the two sides to test and contend with each other.
Generally speaking, even when a True God Church intervened in a region, it would merely carve out a patch of land to play with on its own, and everything would be done beneath the "surface."
Lu Mouren, however, had directly gone after administrative personnel, legal provisions, even the military and local security forces, fundamentally changing how an entire region operated. To put it somewhat inappropriately, those above did not truly fear corruption or dereliction of duty below; those could always be treated. But once you began opposing the existing order, they had to consider whether you intended to raise the banner of rebellion.
"I think there's no problem with it. He hasn't concealed his objective at all—he simply wants to change the status quo. Besides, do you really think there's anything left that cannot be changed? Too many of our old mechanisms have fallen behind the times."