"An order..." Worry showed in Lang Yue's eyes.
While buying groceries recently, she had heard that a church had been built in the civilian district.
"How many orders worshipping some beast or stray god has the Federation torn down over the years? It's been cracking down hard on all kinds of faiths."
Besides, religious orders were far too dangerous. There were plenty of cases of people being brainwashed and losing themselves in them, their families destroyed and their lives ruined. Such things were not uncommon even among the rich and powerful.
"The Netherworld Judgment Order is different." Tang Ziran shook his head gently.
Worried that her husband really had fallen under its spell, Lang Yue tried to persuade him. "How is it different? Even if they aren't asking their followers to give anything now, and are actually offering these benefits themselves, doesn't that just mean they're after something even bigger?"
"No," Tang Ziran explained. "That's not what I meant by different."
He kept her in suspense with a mysterious air. "Do you know who the purple-robed bishop in charge of this church is?"
"Who?"
"Our Aolai City's previous administrator, the one who's already retired."
Lang Yue was startled.
The administrator was the highest-ranking leader of the local Federation authorities.
Even retired, he still represented the Federation's dignity. If he joined some cult, the Federation certainly would not stand idly by.
"And it's not just here," Tang Ziran continued. "The neighboring city, and even Eastsea City, the biggest city in our East Sea region, both have churches. The black-robed bishop there is also a retired administrator."
"The Federation is backing this?" Lang Yue asked in surprise.
"Almost certainly." Tang Ziran nodded.
One might have been a coincidence, but what about two, three, or even more?
Even if it was not the intention of the entire Federation, it had to be the work of some powerful figures whose hands and eyes reached the heavens.
"Anyway, the Federation's official website recognizes their legal rights," Tang Ziran said. "The rest isn't something ordinary folk like us need to worry about."
"That's true." Lang Yue nodded gently.
As long as it was legal.
"Dad," Tang Wulin asked curiously, "what's the Netherworld Order?"
"It's a group of people who believe in a god," Tang Ziran explained to his son.
"Gods really exist!" Tang Wulin's eyes sparkled with a child's innocence and longing.
"Dad isn't sure either," Tang Ziran said.
The statue they worshipped could only be made out as a young man wearing a ceremonial robe and a crown, but its face was blurred, like a cloud of mist.
"Why are you telling Linlin all this?" Lang Yue said.
Tang Ziran chuckled. "Actually, I think the Netherworld Order is pretty good. Its teachings, especially, are very different from those orders that cropped up throughout history, playing at gods and ghosts while cheating and swindling people."
"Oh?" Lang Yue was curious.
"Ahem." Tang Ziran cleared his throat. "There are four tenets in all."
"Yin and yang have their order; the fruits of deeds are brought upon oneself. Cultivate amid the mortal dust; merits and faults are recorded in the ledger. Revere death, but fear neither life nor death. Look inward to judge oneself; uphold righteousness outwardly to judge the world."
"It means the worlds of the living and the dead are connected, and everything has its cause and karmic consequence. A person's life is a journey of cultivation. The Yanluo Heavenly Son has a ledger that records a person's entire life. The good someone does receives its corresponding reward, and the evil they commit receives its corresponding punishment."
"Followers shouldn't fear death itself, but they should revere the order and justice behind it. Death merely sums up the results of this lifetime's cultivation. True fear comes from knowing you've done wrong. If you stand straight, you needn't fear a crooked shadow."
"Followers must take facts and the law as their basis, reflect on their own words and actions every day, and pass judgment on themselves. Within their own abilities, they should act as guardians of order."
Tang Wulin blinked as he listened attentively.
After hearing this, Lang Yue's opinion of the Netherworld Order improved considerably. "It really is different from those other orders."
It did not demand that followers sacrifice themselves to serve a god. Instead, it taught that good would be rewarded and evil punished, promoted justice and order, and guided its followers toward goodness.
What were they after, then?
Rather than an order devoted to a god, it felt more like something the Federation had established to improve the current state of society.
"I remember..." Lang Yue recalled the leaflet someone had pressed into her hands while she was buying groceries. "The leaflet seemed to say that if you went to the church every afternoon to reflect and repent, you could collect eggs, rice, flour, oil, and meat."
"That's right." Tang Ziran nodded gently.
"Then I'll go tomorrow too," Lang Yue said.
Even a few eggs would save them a little on expenses.
"Me too, me too!" Tang Wulin raised his little hand. "I'll go with Mom after school tomorrow."
The warm little family of three enjoyed their dinner.
Somewhere beyond the three of them's awareness, a golden crystal core streaked with a trace of sinister blood-red quietly awakened. A strand of a God King's Divine Sense, which did not belong to this body, stirred along with it.
Far away.
Inside a church.
Several full-fledged followers in white robes handed out eggs, rice, flour, oil, and other basic necessities to residents who had come for the evening's self-reflection and repentance.
In the church hall.
Several plainly dressed men and women knelt before a statue of a god wearing a ceremonial robe and a crown. Those looking to shirk and cheat let their minds wander through all sorts of thoughts, merely going through the motions. Those who revered the god humbly reflected and repented according to the teachings.
In a higher-dimensional space imperceptible to mortals, several exceedingly faint, almost transparent strands of faith-born thought slowly emerged from those humble, repentant followers. Like fireflies, they quietly slipped into the boundless, unknown void.
Such scenes were not confined to this church alone. In the major cities along the eastern coast, similar faith-born thoughts continually arose in every church of the Netherworld Judgment Order. These thoughts were extremely weak, like individual droplets in the ocean. Though seemingly insignificant, they shared a common destination in the unseen realm. Gathering together, they gradually formed a substantial stream of faith that flowed slowly through the void.
Amid the vast ocean woven from the thoughts of countless living beings, this stream might have seemed tiny and unremarkable. But unlike the other thoughts that drifted with the currents and eventually dissipated, this stream of faith had a clear direction, flowing unwaveringly toward a single destination.
It was an independent realm formed from dense, ink-black mist, standing out in this ocean of thoughts like a floating, solitary island. The stream of faith surged into the ink-black mist and mingled with it,
Tempering itself and gradually condensing into a brilliant gleam of gold, utterly unlike the surrounding dark hues, that shone within the ink-black mist.
Deep within the hazy mist, the phantom of a god wearing a ceremonial robe and a crown slowly came into view. His eyes, closed for untold ages, finally opened.
Xu Qingjia, whose consciousness had entered the Divine Domain, gazed at that brilliant gold. With an instinctive stir of his thoughts, the incense of faith automatically slipped into his Martial Soul-the divine manifestation.
"Incense Shaping."
In Mingdu.
Xu Qingjia opened his eyes as he meditated and cultivated.
A wisp of faith-born incense merged into the divine manifestation, bringing a clear sensation to his heart-he was drawing ever closer to "completion."
At the same time, countless voices as faint as buzzing insects sounded in his ears. They were extremely quiet, yet carried an immense volume of information that left Xu Qingjia's head buzzing. His current Spiritual Power was not yet sufficient to process so much information.
Just then, the Book of Life and Death in his Sea of Consciousness opened without being summoned. Its ancient pages fluttered open, swallowing the entire torrent of information like a whale gulping down a hundred rivers. Countless new names appeared from nowhere on its blank pages and were imprinted one after another. The clamor at his ears vanished with them, like smoke dispersing and clouds scattering.
When mortals had thoughts, the god would know.