"Religion is a matter of freedom, but one must understand the true meaning of faith!"
Truth and Goodness!
"Think about how sincerely you believe in the existence of gods and immortals, but what have you done? What have the immortals and gods you believe in made you do? If it's for good, for your family, for yourself, for others, and for society as a whole, then that's true goodness; otherwise, it's a cult, a demonic cult, and is that still a god?"
"Stop being so stubborn! You're not fools. Think about what you've done!"
"As for whether the gods you believe in are real or not, you have had doubts in your hearts. It's just that people are reluctant to give up what they have already invested in material and spiritual things, so they stubbornly and one-sidedly choose to believe. In fact, who among you has special abilities? Who has mastered them? Stand up and demonstrate for everyone!"
"Think about your past life, whether it was the happiness of your family or your interactions with neighbors and colleagues at work; and look at what it's like now? What have you done, and what have you gained!"
"Is this what God wants you to be like?"
"Can this make you a god?"
"It will only drive you astray and turn you into villains despised by millions."
It's unclear who first let out a piercing scream, but then the crowd erupted in a cacophony of noise.
People started discussing it. Some were talking to those around them, blaming themselves; others were accusing the other of leading them into this scam and deceiving them; some, increasingly regretful, simply sat down and cried; still stubbornly clinging to their delusion, they began to vehemently criticize Xu Zhengyang, and not content with that, they also started cursing other people in the crowd who were beginning to repent.
"Nonsense! I'm about to become an immortal!"
"I can communicate with the gods, I have X-ray vision, and I possess the internal energy cultivation technique of the 'Turtle Kung Fu'..."
"How can you weak-willed people compare to my sincere pursuit of the Dao, which is about to shatter the void..."
However, the believers surrounding these people soon asked them to perform.
Hmph, ha, hey...
There's absolutely nothing to it.
"We must keep a low profile; how can we casually reveal our extraordinary skills?"
"I disdain showing it to you..."
They were met with furious stares and loud, angry shouts.
It is unclear who first became enraged and struck, but the believers, already filled with remorse and extreme anger, immediately began to beat them to vent their frustration.
Officials immediately picked up loudspeakers to remind and advise everyone not to act impulsively and not to hurt anyone...
Xu Zhengyang turned to the two officials beside him, whom he did not recognize, and gave them a few instructions. Then, turning back to them, he said calmly without exerting any force, "Everyone, be quiet. Stop making a scene. It's time to go home... Um, everyone, maintain order, cooperate with the police investigation, sincerely repent, and confess your mistakes."
"Don't worry, most of you have been misled and are victims. We won't hold you too accountable."
"Alright, everyone, please line up properly..."
The sound wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears with crystal clarity amidst the buzzing, chaotic noise.
Soon, police officers and government officials from the public security department came over with loudspeakers to remind everyone to come over for investigation and questioning.
The ghost messengers arranged by Li Haidong possessed the representatives of the organizers and began to maintain order, persuade, and organize the crowd.
The protesting crowd began to leave the scene in an orderly manner under the arrangement of relevant personnel, and went to accept the investigation.
Xu Zhengyang breathed a sigh of relief, politely declined interviews from several reporters, and then, protected by security personnel, turned and walked back. The organizers who led the disturbance would naturally be interrogated by the security department.
The matter here has been basically resolved.
The development and outcome were better than expected.
Senior leaders and security officials breathed a sigh of relief, secretly admiring and feeling helpless.
If a deity hadn't intervened, how could such an unfavorable situation have been turned into an advantageous one so easily and strategically?
It is obvious that those foreign media reporters had received advance notice before arriving here.
Judging from the initial situation, regardless of today's outcome, it is bound to cause a great sensation around the world. In the capital, the political center of the country, ordinary people are gathering to protest. How big of a reaction will this cause? If someone adds fuel to the fire and deliberately tries to smear it, then we will be in an even more passive position.
But things took a bizarre turn, and now the whole world saw it clearly and was certain that it was a cult!
Isn't this a heavy slap in the face to those hostile countries that are preparing to make a big fuss about this, as well as those forces that are gloating and want to kick someone when they're down, and those forces that are secretly manipulating cult organizations?
Without Xu Zhengyang!
Obviously, no one can achieve such a result!
Because no one can make those who have been misled and confused, especially the organizers who have turned against them at the last minute, suddenly change their minds.
Xu Zhengyang became famous...
That righteous and impassioned speech, though not particularly sophisticated, made those stubborn and misled believers repent and submit on the spot, obediently confessing their mistakes and feeling remorse.
His image and his remarks were captured on camera by foreign media.
Some hate him, some respect him, and some doubt or admire him.
Regardless of the circumstances, Xu Zhengyang has become an overnight sensation.
The intelligence agencies of various countries, which were already closely monitoring Xu Zhengyang, were increasingly shocked by his abilities. Based on the circumstances at the scene, many details were simply incomprehensible.
He definitely has the superpower to manipulate people's minds!
This is an extremely dangerous person.
...
In handling this incident, most of the ghost messengers from city god temples across the country were urgently mobilized. Under the arrangement of Li Haidong, Su Peng, and Hu Zhixin, the captain of the ghost messengers in the capital, strict control and arrangements were made in all aspects.
Those who are meant to possess will possess, and those who are meant to steal will steal.
In any case, we will do our utmost to ensure that a similar incident never happens again in the capital.
Of course, some of the more outstanding ghost messengers, under Li Haidong's unified guidance, mastered how to proceed next.
They began to exert long-term control over the bodies and minds of the minor leaders, forcing them to follow the steps arranged by Xu Zhengyang and the authorities, engage in exchanges of experiences with some believers, and accept interviews from foreign media reporters.
As for what to say, Li Haidong had given him some pointers, so of course he would be able to speak flawlessly.
Under normal circumstances, possession by a ghost should not last more than two hours, because ghosts are yin and humans are yang. If the time is too long, either the yin energy will invade the human body, or the yang energy will backfire on the ghost.
Therefore, Xu Zhengyang repeatedly instructed Li Haidong and his subordinates to make sure to inform the ghost messengers and to carefully time the process.
In addition, Xu Zhengyang carefully analyzed each step and then gave instructions to Li Ruiqing. Li Ruiqing then instructed them to divide the time slots for each of the Dao Immortal Cultivation leaders to do their tasks, stipulating that they should stop within an hour and a half at most. Of course, this amount of time was sufficient to achieve a satisfactory result.
As for the rest of the time, we've locked them up, so what are we afraid of them saying?
Ignore them.
However, this shouldn't last too long, at most two days.
Because when the ghost messengers are not possessing a body, they are not idle. After being dragged away from the body, they are responsible for "educating" the person.
With the special assistance and support from Xu Zhengyang, the security department finally obtained more clues.
At Xu Zhengyang's suggestion, various regions began arresting key suspects.
After these people were arrested, Xu Zhengyang was able to arrange for Li Haidong and the others to split up and carry out "education" on them one by one.
Volume Seven, Emperor Chapter 363: Decisiveness is Key
Perhaps, aside from Xu Zhengyang, the only remaining deity in the Three Realms, there exists some kind of unseen divine will in the endless universe?
After all, in the distant past, when those primordial gods existed, they eventually either transformed into spiritual energy and spread throughout the universe, becoming a mysterious force; or they ventured into the endless universe to find new places where life existed, in order to achieve the goal of eternal existence.
To put it bluntly, it had some of the characteristics of fleeing famine.
Xu Zhengyang is now very annoyed and suspicious that there might really be some divine force at play, and that so-called fate is hindering his progress.
The Heavenly Laws that govern human destiny have countless loopholes and cannot be completely perfect; they will only be imposed to alter or control a person or thing after a deity has judged their fate. This is the same authority Xu Zhengyang had when he was a judge, granting people the power to determine their destiny.
But what about this god?
The divine artifact, Heavenly Law, wouldn't secretly sabotage Xu Zhengyang now; the Nine Provinces Record is even less likely to do so.
So now...
Ah, that's just fate!
Xu Zhengyang had no choice but to accept his bad luck.
As a god, he had never been so troubled.
The outbreak of the "Dao Xian Gong" cult incident coincided with Xu Zhengyang's promotion to one of the Four Imperial Star Lords. Furthermore, driven by personal ambition, he forced the Nine Provinces Records and Heavenly Laws to recognize him as the temporary emperor of the Eastern Azure Heaven Court. Upon returning from the capital, in order to accelerate the complete eradication of the Dao Xian Gong, Xu Zhengyang, leveraging his authority as the Gouchen Star Lord, convened a meeting of the State God Palaces, redeploying the state god palace institutions across the country.
As one of the Four Imperial Star Lords, and temporarily holding the divine office of the Emperor, he no longer needs to go back and forth to various places to establish City God Temples.
All you need to do is draw a circle on the map created by the Records of the Nine Provinces with a stroke of your vermilion brush.
Alright, the City God's Office is established!
All that's left is to arrange for officials to go there and take up their posts.
So simple and easy to implement, Xu Zhengyang naturally didn't hesitate to wield his brush and ink, establishing City God Temples on a grand scale. First, he established City God Temples throughout the country, with Li Haidong in charge, holding the city scrolls, allowing him to remotely command various regions and expand the ranks of ghost messengers. This made things much easier to solve.
In addition, in countries located within the jurisdiction of the Eastern Azure Heaven Court, a City God's Office must also be established.
However, due to insufficient divine power, and because it is not yet possible, it is best to proceed slowly.
However, just as Xu Zhengyang was fully expanding the network of the City God's government agencies, something unexpected happened.
In the later stages of the "Dao Xian Gong" incident, with the involvement of ghost messengers and officials from the state god's office, a severe crackdown and investigation were launched. They also cooperated with the government in a series of propaganda campaigns, exposing the truth that the Dao Xian Gong cult deceived the public, defrauded them of money, and was remotely controlled from abroad, causing harm to the country and its people. This shattered the public's hope for divine intervention, making them realize that there is no god in this world, and there is no need to expect anything.
In this way...
The newly built state god temples and city god temples in various places were plagued by famine.
The people who had been misled by "Taoist Immortal Arts" have awakened and no longer believe in it; those who had never believed in Taoist Immortal Arts but only in the existence of gods in the dark have also stopped believing; even more so, a large portion of the people who had personally experienced some strange events, as well as those of other religious beliefs, have also abandoned their faith in the existence of gods.
At first, Xu Zhengyang was unaware of the danger of running out of food.
When the divine power supply was insufficient, he thought it was simply because the followers of the Daoist Immortal Cultivation Sect had disappeared, and the expansion of the City God's Palace institutions required too much divine power, thus leading to the shortage. This was alright; gradually, as more and more new City God's Palace institutions began to operate normally, he would continue to enjoy a life of luxury as before.
However, when the Records of Kyushu clearly reminded him that the number of believers had declined in recent years, Xu Zhengyang suddenly realized the truth.
Isn't this a case of undermining the very foundation of the economy?
Who did it?
Enraged, Xu Zhengyang immediately contacted the Heavenly Laws and demanded, "What the hell are you doing? Without enough faith power to maintain it, let alone repairing the damaged Heavenly Laws, it's uncertain whether your damn Heavenly Laws can even continue to exist..."
The Heavenly Decree's reply was rigid: There was no trickery involved. Humans are the masters of all beings, the only ones with the spiritual energy of creation, and have the right to choose whether or not to believe.
The Records of Kyushu also offered words of comfort: This matter is indeed unrelated to the Heavenly Laws.
Xu Zhengyang was puzzled!