The Merit Welfare Lottery looked like a money-making scheme, but it also offered demons and mortals a way forward. The prizes included not only immortal pills and fruit, but cultivation methods as well, making up for the lack of opportunities for mortals and demons to attain immortality and the Dao.
But that was not its most formidable feature. The Welfare Lottery's true trump card was education without discrimination: no distinctions between races, no concern for your origins or background, and no questions about whether you had once committed heinous crimes.
The moment this thing appeared, it gave every living being a chance, a hope they could actually see. Past mistakes did not matter; there was no greater good than recognizing your faults and correcting them. All you needed to do was good deeds. If you wanted merit to buy lottery tickets, you had to cultivate it. This perfectly matched the Buddhist principle that the sea of suffering was boundless, but turning back brought you to shore.
This way, any living being with aspirations would voluntarily do good deeds. Put bluntly, the jackpot was a hook. If you wanted it, then get to work.
Some Demon Kings might look down on it. They were powerful, and what they sought was not necessarily attainment of the Dao, but freedom. The vast ranks of lesser demons, however, were surely different. Compared with their enormous numbers, the number of Demon Kings was negligible.
Add the Human Tribe, and this was a massive population. The Demon Tribe was scorned by the Buddhist School and looked down on by immortals, leaving them no choice but to take shortcuts. Yet once the lottery appeared, ordinary lesser demons had something to strive for. This was even more formidable than Ksitigarbha's Great Vow not to become a Buddha until