The competition was on the third day, but the actual fighting took place the night before the competition!
Shen Qi certainly didn't want to make a move on this day, because if the competition was tomorrow, almost anyone could predict that he would make a move on this day.
But Shen Qi had no choice, because dealing with the Chen Household father and son for intelligence would take a whole day!
Just as he had expected, the Chen Household realized that Chen Qing was suspicious and decisively sided with the Xiao Household. The Xiao Household accepted the Chen Household's allegiance and provided them with some information about traps!
"This is the location the Chen father and son mentioned," Seventh Master Shen said, pointing to the map. "The location points directly to the most prestigious Three Stars Temple in the capital. This is a sect of sorcerers who rebelled against demons a thousand years ago, advocating the three stars of Heaven, Earth, and Man. It was also the sect to which many aristocratic families pledged allegiance during the uprising of our Great Jin Dynasty, and it was the state religion!"
A Li nodded. Back then, the previous dynasty had completely degenerated into the Demon Dynasty. Many military and sorcerer families rose up in rebellion and joined this sect that claimed that humans were the greatest. Later, the King of Qin's legitimacy was questionable and his reputation plummeted. This sect's power also accounted for a large part of that.
Although the sect's members are now mostly concentrated in Heavenly Capital and rarely appear in public, the imperial court still built the most magnificent Daoist temple for this sect. The statue of the human race alone is three zhang tall, making it a spectacular attraction in the capital.
It is said that many aristocratic families opposed the conversion of this temple into Ghost Temple. However, according to intelligence, the emperor was very persistent and ignored the opposition, even the opposition of his own confidants. The Zhou, Yang, and Qing families, who were loyal to the royal family in the past, were all suppressed and wiped out of the capital. Although it was not an official decree to exterminate them, everyone knew that it was the emperor's power that did it.
Although those three families were not noble families, they were first-rate military families who had followed the Xiao Household for a century and were true confidants. Their family members served in the Imperial Guard for many years.
As a result, this ruthless emperor wiped out those three families without hesitation.
Whether judging from external intelligence or from what Chen Baiye brought back, this temple must be extremely important!
"What did Chen Baiye remember saying?" Shen Qi asked, frowning as he looked at the blueprints.
"Just as I recall, the emperor intends to use the Three Stars Daoist Temple as bait to lure you into making a move and test your strength!"
"Is that really the case?" Shen Qi looked at the map, his expression grave.
"You doubt my abilities?" A Li yawned.
"I have no doubt about your abilities, but you must remember one thing: you were personally delivered to the emperor by the emperor himself."
A Li: "."
"The emperor is different from the Chen Household father and son. He knows of your existence. Given that, do you think he would give the Chen Household father and son any real information?"
"Forehead"
"Senior Shen Qi, do you think the Emperor did it on purpose?" Chen Ying asked, frowning.
"It all depends on their calculations," Shen Qi took a deep breath. "They know A Li exists, and they must also know that the Chen father and son have come to our side and their memories will be completely exposed. In this situation, whether what they give us is real or fake depends on their calculations. It might be fake, just to lure us away from targeting the Three Stars Temple. It might be real, meaning they've figured out that we'll also take advantage of the fact that A Li's information has been leaked."
"A series of interconnected rings, a series of interlocking rings—it all depends on which side has the better strategy."
"You're making me dizzy," A Li said, speechless.
Chen Ying frowned. "What should we do then? Time is running out."
It was already night, and Chen Qing's duel with Wutu Gu was only a few hours away!
"Let's think about it first, there's no rush," Shen Qi said calmly. "It's almost certain that the most important Ghost Temple is among the four largest temples in the capital. Although the Three Stars Temple is of great significance, its incense has never been very popular. The reason is simple: this temple is symbolic. The King of Qin eliminated the common people's fear of demons back then, and the significance of this temple has long since faded. The people only know that occasionally some martial artists and sorcerer families go to worship, but they don't know why they worship. The threshold for worship at this temple is also very high. In terms of the number of people, it's practically an empty shell."
"The most popular temples are the Guanyin Temple and the Confucius Temple. One is for praying for children, and the other is a sanctuary for scholars from humble backgrounds. Both are extremely popular, and the worshippers are all ordinary people. The last temple is the Martial Temple. The martial spirit is very strong in our Great Jin Dynasty. The sons of noble families, especially those from military families, will go to the north to accumulate military merits after they come of age. This is a huge group. Even vassal families, as long as they have blood in them, rarely do not go to the north to train. Family elders and women and children often pray for the safety of their husbands or children at the Martial Temple."
As Shen Qi spoke, he drew the conditions on the blueprint. "In terms of visitor flow, the Guanyin Temple has the most visitors, since praying for a child is a basic need. However, the Guanyin Temple is the least pure, with the lowest entry barrier. As for faith, everyone is just hoping for a lucky break. According to the Jiangnan Divine Path Style tradition, the quality of faith is the worst."
Upon hearing this, Chen Ying immediately understood. During her three years in Jiangnan, Chen Ying had come into considerable contact with the concept of faith. In Jiangnan, all sorts of deities were now seeking faith. People in the city worshipped door gods, and merchants at sea worshipped Sea God, all contributing their faith for profit. The more sincere one's faith, the more Power of Faith the deity would receive.
However, faith also varies in quality, and the higher the quality of Power of Faith becomes.
This is also why the Battle God Xu Hu's strength increased the fastest; those who believed in him were all soldiers, and soldiers' strength would increase rapidly. When they believed in him again, the quality of their faith would obviously improve.
In comparison, merchants who believe in door gods and farmers who believe in Mountain God are much less authentic in terms of quality.
If the Power of Faith here is the same as that of the Divine Path Style in Jiangnan, then Guanyin Temple, despite having the largest number of visitors, should be the worst in quality. Not only are the people praying for children generally of lower quality, but their loyalty to the faith is also much lower. This is because many people, after successfully praying for a child, will at most fulfill their vow and rarely continue to think about it. In contrast, Martial Temple, which prays for peace, is not even in the same league in terms of loyalty.
"In our Jiangnan, although scholars and their descendants lack power, the quality of their faith is significantly higher than that of ordinary people, and even comparable to some high-ranking military generals. This should be related to fortune. If this place is like ours, then the quality of the Confucius Temple wouldn't be much worse."
Shen Qi nodded approvingly, then added, " The Three Stars Temple has the fewest visitors, but those who go to worship are mostly older generation military generals and old sorcerers, of extremely high quality. This doesn't mean it's unimportant. If it weren't important, the emperor wouldn't have made an example of several powerful families that had followed the Xiao Household for many years just to demonstrate his resolve."
"After all that talk, which one is it?" A Li asked impatiently.
"Split up and destroy everything!" Shen Qi said decisively.
"Huh?" This surprised both A Li and Chen Ying.
"Senior, didn't you say you didn't have enough manpower?" Chen Ying asked, puzzled. "Why not concentrate our efforts on destroying one place? Dispersing our forces like this will only make things worse."
"If we concentrate our forces in one place and get outmaneuvered, we'll lose everything. Right now, both sides are trying to figure out which place it is. They want to lure us in, and we want to guess their intentions, but no one is sure. After all, we know each other inside and out, and it's possible that one side will outmaneuver the other. Since that's the case, let's not count on it!" Shen Qi took a breath and said, "They can't gauge our strength either, so the place where they set the trap must have used all their strength. In that case, the defenses of the other three places will be weak."
"Would destroying the other three locations be of any use?" A Li frowned. "Didn't you say the key was only one location?"
"There's one key point, but I think all four temples are crucial!" Shen Qi said in a low voice. "Each of the four temples has its own characteristics. If they were in Jiangnan, the Power of Faith in each temple would be considerable. The fact that the other side used special power to suppress Ao Zhen must have been extremely difficult. My personal guess is that if any one of these four temples were gone, they wouldn't have enough power to trap Prince Ao Zhen!"
"Alright!" The two Yaksha nodded solemnly, "Sir, tell us, where do you want us to attack?"
Shen Qi fell silent for a moment, then looked at everyone. Their expressions were also somewhat grave, because according to the analysis just now, one of the four locations must be a dead end!