Honestly, Yu Ziqing had never imagined that the White Sun Evil Sacrifice would ride the wave so quickly. It had only been a few days, yet they had already revised their scripture, printed it into booklets, and distributed them to their lowest-level believers.
In this world, with that kind of execution, what couldn't they do? Even if they had claimed territory and founded a nation, spending several hundred years building up their foundations before eventually counterattacking Great Qian, they might not have been entirely without hope. Why insist on walking an evil path?
Thinking of how Hungry Ghosts had previously reported that people had approached the Locust tree forest, and that some had even tried approaching Jinlan Mountain from places not surrounded by the forest, Yu Ziqing more or less understood. These fellows hadn't rewritten the scriptures out of thin air—they had actually conducted field investigations.
They had mixed up Zhang with Li, but done so with sound reasoning and solid evidence. They were quite skilled at it. After all, the true experts here definitely wouldn't dare come at this stage.
They shouted everywhere that this was their Holy Mountain. The higher-ups wouldn't believe them and wouldn't dare come, while the people at the bottom who believed them couldn't come either. There was no way to disprove it, so whatever I said would be true.
The more Yu Ziqing thought about it, the angrier he became. He had been sitting at home, yet a wok had fallen from the sky. Unfortunately, for him, this wasn't an ordinary wok.
What if quite a few impoverished commoners truly believed such words without question? What if they really starved to death? That deep-rooted, devout faith wouldn't vanish after they became Hungry Ghosts. Instead, it would cause the King of Hungry Ghosts and the White Sun Holy Mother to overlap.
By then, in the hearts of those Hungry Ghosts, the King of Hungry Ghosts might be the White Sun Holy Mother, and the White Sun Holy Mother might be the King of Hungry Ghosts.
This wasn't merely riding the wave or snatching attention. They were trying to dig up Yu Ziqing's roots from the very foundation.
If Yu Ziqing starved to death even once in the future, the awakened, mindless King of Hungry Ghosts might be treated by the White Sun Holy Mother as an extremely powerful ownerless shell. Using the arrangements they had begun making now, they could pry open a crack, then use the devout faith of some lower-level Hungry Ghosts as a bridge to truly merge with the King of Hungry Ghosts.
By then, he, Yu Ziqing, would be completely screwed.
These Dao-worms would gnaw away from the very bottom, bit by bit, until they devoured this new Dao.
These evil paths posed little danger to the Divine Dynasty. In this world, great power belonged to the individual. The Divine Dynasty controlled all the upper-level power and resources, so the odds of overthrowing it from the bottom could be ignored.
But they were dangerous to Yu Ziqing.
"Cècè, talk more with that Miss Gu Tianxin. She thoughtfully sent us information. It can also be viewed as a test, but this is an open scheme. Now that we know some things, we can't pretend they don't matter.
"Make some preparations. Next, we may have to go to Great Zhen."
"Uh, Young Master, didn't we discuss this before? Wouldn't Great Li be the most suitable?" Cècè was somewhat stunned. Why had he suddenly changed his mind? Had all that discussion been for nothing?
"Keep in contact with Great Li. We can't cut it off. It's just that we're going to Great Zhen now.
"There are Dao-worms trying to parasitize our Dao and replace us. I understand better than anyone that they really have a chance of succeeding. How great that chance is no longer important. What matters is that those bastards really might pull it off.
"These audacious fellows have already dared to send some lackeys to operate nearby. What else would they not dare to do?
"They're different from the Divine Dynasty. The Divine Dynasty doesn't dare take risks because it has too much in its hands. It occupies the heights, and any major change carries the risk of making it fall from those heights.
"But compared with the Divine Dynasty, these bastards have nothing except their lives. Those who go barefoot don't fear those wearing shoes."
Yu Ziqing's face was grim. He wasn't afraid of dying. He was afraid that these evil paths would discover his identity. With his strength, he might not even be able to commit suicide.
He was afraid that after he died, these evil paths would occupy his Dao, occupy his body, occupy his name, kill his close friends and relatives, and then do things he never wanted to do.
That would truly be dying with his eyes wide open.
Now, when the parasites began trying to parasitize him, he could only act decisively and find a way to kill them.
Otherwise, once the parasites had entered his body and fused with his flesh and blood, it would be too late.
Understanding Yu Ziqing's meaning, Cècè was overjoyed.
"Young Master, do you mean you're willing to walk the Hungry Ghost Dao?"
"I don't have to walk this path. All of you can walk it. But outsiders absolutely cannot take it from me, nor can they take it from you."
Cècè immediately performed a grand salute, bowing joyfully and willingly.
Even though Yu Ziqing was currently in human form, he could completely cultivate the Hungry Ghost Dao alongside his other cultivation. Moreover, he was the only living human so far who could cultivate the Hungry Ghost Dao in human form.
The drawback was that he was not currently in a Hungry Ghost body. The myth of the Dao Creator advancing one rank a day was out of the question.
The advantage, of course, was that his identity was right there. His progress would be much faster than that of ordinary Hungry Ghosts. Even though no cultivation method for the Hungry Ghost Dao currently existed, Yu Ziqing could slowly deduce one based on the imprint once branded onto his soul. That would still be faster than the instinctive cultivation of ordinary Hungry Ghosts.
And, to be precise, without making too absolute a claim, he would almost certainly not make a mistake.
He also had the Dao-sense of the Spirit Refining Dao, and Old Yang even had a method for cultivating the Ghost Dao in human form, which he could use for reference.
Walking an unprecedented path himself truly wasn't impossible.
In the time that followed, Yu Ziqing continued planting trees on one hand. No matter what, he had to surround the "Holy Mountain" first. He couldn't let anyone steal his old home. Countless Hungry Ghosts lived there, and as long as no true powerhouse came, no one could force their way through this several-hundred-li Locust tree forest.
If someone wanted to fly in and entered the Qi Refining forbidden ground, facing an entire village of Body Refiners and countless Hungry Ghosts surrounding the place, the scene would certainly be interesting.
A month later, Yu Ziqing set off for Great Zhen with Cècè and Wu Shuangge.
Before they had even left the Wasteland, a streak of light descended from the sky. It was a new letter from Gu Tianxin to Cècè.
It was an expensive letter that required burning at least eighty or ninety thousand spirit jades. Every time Old Yang saw one, he had to curse her for being wasteful.
With that money, they might as well rent a Kun You from Great Qian. It wasn't as if the letter contained any secrets. An ordinary Kun You wouldn't need anywhere near that much money to deliver a letter.
If they could figure out a Kun You's preferences, stroke it comfortably against the grain, and get it to help for free in private—or take on a long-term private job at a cheaper rate—it might not be impossible.
But burning a high-grade communication flying sword every time?
Damn it, what a spendthrift.
"Young Master, Tianxin says she has returned to Great Li. The situation in Great Zhen isn't very stable, and Great Zhen has no intention of following Great Li's example and widely practicing benevolent governance. The White Sun Evil Sacrifice is quite active there. They might cause something major."
When Cècè reached this point, she glanced at Yu Ziqing's expression before continuing.
"Also, they revised their scriptures again. Combined with their constant charity, their believers are growing quickly. Along Great Zhen's southern border, believers already dare to parade through the streets in broad daylight."
Yu Ziqing's expression didn't change. He nodded.
"Write back and say that after spring begins, we'll visit Great Li. Also, she brings you a small gift every time she sends a letter. You should return one as well."
Yu Ziqing flipped his hand and took out the Alms Sacred Artifact, then retrieved a jade bottle and poured half a bottle of Sweet Dew into it.
"Take a bowl that people often use and spread rice across it until it's full. Add a few drops of Sweet Dew, insert three sticks of incense, form the Alms Seal, and recite the Alms Mantra. It can accumulate good merit, calm one's own resentment, and transform the demonic thoughts in one's heart."
"Young Master, is that... really necessary?" Cècè was somewhat puzzled. This gift was extraordinarily valuable.
After all, no method for giving alms to Hungry Ghosts had spread yet.
This method had also been created by Yu Ziqing as the result of lowering the threshold for giving alms as much as possible. According to Yu Ziqing's idea, he wanted to lower the threshold until even mortals could give alms to Hungry Ghosts who had opened their mouths.
And giving this return gift was, to a certain extent, also equivalent to telling the other party some information.
"There has to be an exchange for there to be friendship, and it prevents people from looking down on us. You should understand these social graces better than I do. You're only overthinking because of me.
"Don't worry about it so much. Leaving everything else aside, even if it's merely the friendship between close female confidantes, you should still give her a proper return gift."
"Thank you, Young Master." Cècè bowed slightly in thanks.
The jade bottle flew away with Cècè's letter.
The contact with Great Li definitely couldn't be severed. At least for now, everyone was getting along quite happily.
The information they had been told over there was already considerable, and they were continually burning money to maintain this connection.
Fairly speaking, while she didn't know that he was Yu Ziqing or who he truly was, the fact that she could do this already showed tremendous sincerity in making friends.
To put it another way, it was like having a wealthy female friend who spent hundreds of thousands on postage every time she contacted you, attached a gift worth hundreds of thousands, and included a large amount of precious intelligence that money couldn't buy.
Meanwhile, on this side was merely the maid of a tyrannical young master from a remote mountain village.
If that didn't count as sincere friendship, then Yu Ziqing truly didn't know what did.
Yu Ziqing read the letters every time. Of course, he wasn't peeking.
He wasn't stupid. How could he fail to see that, setting aside her other motives and thoughts, Gu Tianxin sincerely wanted to be friends with Cècè?
He had never intended for Cècè to remain by his side forever as a tool-like housekeeper. He was actually very happy for Cècè to have a friend.
As for the taciturn Wu Shuangge who was always following them, forget it. That fellow still couldn't speak clearly even now.
If not for the aftereffects of hunger still lingering, he wouldn't have brought this stubborn donkey along no matter what.
As for why Er Han hadn't been brought, one reason was that this fellow was too conspicuous. He was practically a Joy Lantern Priest baiting device. Not a single Joy Lantern Priest who discovered him could force themselves not to turn him into a White Robed Dao Soldier.
Another reason was that the Village Chief had said this fellow could do nothing except Body Refining. He couldn't even slightly restrain his aura. His Body Refining was also too weak. Until he reached the Body Transformation Realm, or even the Supernatural Realm, he wasn't allowed to leave.
The other villagers had been caught in the same crossfire. Those who only foolishly practiced Body Refining had to honestly work and cultivate until they reached a certain realm. Otherwise, even if they dug mines until they died of old age in the village, they were not allowed to leave.
Old Yang had wanted to come along, but his cultivation had reached a critical stage and he couldn't travel. In the end, they set off light, with only Yu Ziqing, Cècè, and Wu Shuangge, who insisted on following them.
This party certainly wouldn't attract attention.
They followed the border between the Wasteland and Great Li northward, entering Great Zhen.
Yu Ziqing immediately sensed that the atmosphere was completely different.
A road had been forcibly trampled into existence, and people could be seen all along it, migrating toward Great Li.
Yet along the way, they could still occasionally see a mortal believer trying to brainwash commoners and lure them away.
After entering Great Zhen for eight hundred li, Yu Ziqing sensed that something seemed wrong.
The scene here already resembled the early stages of the disaster that had once struck the Wasteland.
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