Building a Temple

"Build a temple?"

Prime Minister Yan Hui was taken aback, unable to fathom the Crown Prince's intentions.

The other ministers attending court also looked at one another, all wearing baffled expressions.

Building a temple was actually a highly sensitive matter.

Temples were used to gather Thought Power—either to gather Merit or to gather incense offerings.

The latter was more commonly seen in remote places, where certain mountain and water spirits would feed on incense offerings and enjoy worship. Generally, such places were far from the emperor's reach, their influence limited; no one bothered with them, nor could they be managed.

Sometimes, it was even a matter of each side taking what it needed.

But the former was strictly forbidden.

Stealing the world's Merit and coveting divine rank—punishment by Heaven, destruction by Earth!

Here, "punishment by Heaven and destruction by Earth" was far more than a curse; it had been an ironclad law of Southern Jambudvipa for countless years.

In ancient times, a Divine Envoy from the west had delivered a decree to Nandan Continent: those who stole Merit and coveted divine rank would be destroyed.

Any state that sheltered those who stole Merit would be destroyed along with it.

Throughout Southern Jambudvipa's history, no fewer than a hundred states had been annihilated for sheltering those who stole Merit—or on the trumped-up charge of doing so.

When a deity raged, Heaven and Earth changed color; mountains split and seas were severed.

They could freeze an entire region or scorch land for ten thousand miles.

Before deities, even the most powerful states were no more than a single blow away from collapse.

In Southern Jambudvipa, the Heaven Punishing Bureau was responsible for investigating those who secretly gathered Merit. It was a transcendent organization that inspired fear wherever it was mentioned. Even states