Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 925 - 763: Official Divine Ranking (Seeking Monthly Passes and Subscriptions)

Chapter 925: Chapter 763: Official Divine Ranking (Seeking Monthly Passes and Subscriptions)

On July 25th, there was a small discussion in The Court.

Early in the morning, Li Xuan ran out from the Xuanwu Gate north of the Forbidden City, then took a long detour, pretending to have just hurried from his residence, entering the palace with the rest of the ministers through the south gate.

Yu Jie, who had already returned from the grasslands, Quan Dingtian, and Wang Wen, among others, watched the radiant Li Xuan in speechless amazement.

They all thought, do you really think you’re fooling anyone? Who here doesn’t know that once you entered the palace yesterday, you didn’t come out for the entire night!

It’s only because the Jianguo Princess, who now holds the reigns of power within the palace and state, is a spinster and has made many sacrifices for the country; otherwise, they would have certainly accused Li Xuan of the crime of ’defiling the palace’.

Before the death of Jingtai Emperor, it was well-known that the Princess had feelings for Li Xuan.

However, Prince Xiang and the Empress Dowager, among others, impeded their union.

The ministers present were not rigid conservatives, and though they despised him in their hearts, they could only turn a blind eye to the situation.

As the ministers reached the Jinluan Palace and the court session began.

The first topic of discussion caught everyone by surprise. Daxueshi Wang Wen initiated the petition, "Recently, the ’Xuanhuang’ has spread among the people, with believers already numbering six or seven million. The Qintian Bureau has determined that this deity is not an Evil Spirit but can summon Heavenly Soldiers and Generals to the mortal world.

Now that the Liudao Division and Xiuyiwei largely depend on the Divine Power of this deity, I request The Court to grant an early canonization or make arrangements for disposition."

Upon hearing this, Li Xuan was startled and looked at Wang Wen with some surprise.

He thought to himself, isn’t this usually oppositional Daxueshi giving him an assist today?

"The Xuanhuang Emperor? I have also heard of him," said Yu Hongshang, still unaware that Li Xuan was the Xuanhuang Emperor. She fell into thought, "Xiuyiwei reports that this deity has appeared over the past year, with followers concentrated in the northeast. He claims to be the Supreme of the three realms, yet his divine name is not found in any scriptures and not passed down in any historical records.

However, judging by his actions over the past year, he indeed appears to be a righteous deity of fortune and virtue. This deity uses the ’Xuanhuang Response Sutra’ and the ’Ten Commandments of Xuanhuang’ as his divine doctrine, assisting the immigrants in Liaodong to fight against demons, and he is benevolent and generous. Xiuyiwei in Liaodong has a junior officer whose mother, due to her devout faith, was granted the Divine Skills to expel evil three times in one year."

Minister of Rites Hu Ying also stepped forward, "Your Highness, I have paid attention to this deity and have read both the ’Xuanhuang Response Sutra’ and the ’Ten Commandments of Xuanhuang’. The former is basically a replica of the Daoist ’Supreme Responding Sutra’, and to put it simply, the ten commandments state: one must not kill without reason, two must support oneself by one’s own labor, three must take only what one deserves and not be greedy, four must not engage in wrongful sexual conduct, five must not deceitfully mislead others, six must not create conflict, seven must not use harsh language towards others, eight must not steal, nine must not rob, and ten must not be overly credulous. All these are words that lead people to goodness.

The key is that this deity can often demonstrate miracles, which is why the faith has spread so rapidly. In my opinion, what Daxueshi Wang said is reasonable, The Court should either act early to dispose of this deity or grant him canonization soon. The so-called ’great affairs of the state are in sacrifice and military’, offering sacrifices to a righteous deity would be beneficial to the nation."

Minister of Punishments Yu Shiyue stroked his long beard, "Recently, personnel in the Ministry of Punishments have often relied on the Divine Power of the Xuanhuang Emperor. If The Court could grant canonization to this deity, it may help to eradicate the miasma of demons across the land."

Chen Xun considered the issue from the perspective of ’restraining Buddhism’, "Your Highness, granting canonization to the Xuanhuang Emperor at this time can serve to strike at Buddhism."

He had previously disagreed with The Court’s overly harsh policy on restraining Buddhism, but now that The Court was proceeding with it, it was imperative to make a success of this endeavor.

Yu Hongshang noted the ministers’ consensus in favor of canonization.

She then asked Li Xuan, who had remained silent beside her, "What does Prince Fenyang think?"

Naturally, Li Xuan hoped for canonization by The Court, as it meant that he could reap benefits from the Dragon Qi of the Jin Dynasty.

For example, Ao Shuying, who was granted the title ’Immortal Master Shuide’, held a position in the Heavenly Court equivalent to that of ’Marshal’ or ’Devaraja’.

The Dragon Qi she drew from Jin amounted to the faith of a million followers, enough to sustain her deity status.

Dragon Qi is, in essence, the aggregation of the will and thoughts of people, and is purer than the divine power from faith and incense.

If granted the title of ’Great Emperor’, Li Xuan estimated he could receive divine power from faith amounting to at least three million people.

In the future, with the growth of the population of the Jin Dynasty and the expansion of its territory, this would continue to increase.

As for the title of ’Heaven Emperor’, Li Xuan could not even fathom but estimated it to be no less than ten million.

However, the real benefit of this canonization was not in the Dragon Qi, but in the official recognition and endorsement by The Court.

This meant that the Local officials wouldn’t obstruct the spread of the Xuanhuang Emperor’s faith, and the common people could worship him without worrying that they were venerating an Evil Spirit or demon.

Yet, although Li Xuan was inclined to be canonized, he could not manipulate The Court to confer the title upon the Xuanhuang Emperor based on his own position and power.

This was against the rules and would create hidden problems for the future.

He could only keep a poker face, appearing indifferent, "I have no opinion, canonization or not is fine with me."

Yu Hongshang looked at him with slight confusion. She knew that it was Li Xuan who had been zealously promoting the faith of the Xuanhuang Emperor in the Liudao Division.

However, she did not dwell on it much further, "Then we shall ask the Ministry of Rites to draft the canonization decree, and the Qintian Bureau along with Taichang Temple to choose an auspicious day to notify Heaven and Earth and hold the canonization ceremony. The current issue is, what rank should be granted to this deity? He claims to be the Supreme of the three realms, so that would be the honor of a ’Heaven Emperor’ —"

"That’s not acceptable!"

Before Yu Hongshang could finish, Daxueshi Wang Wen immediately interjected to stop her, "Your Highness, ever since the Great Ancestor, The Jin Dynasty has revered the Haotian Emperor as the Supreme Deity of the three realms. This is the tradition of our ancestors; how can it be so easily changed?

Moreover, although the Xuanhuang Emperor possesses great Divine Skills and limitless Divine Power, he has just recently arisen and his background is not clear. How can we simply allow him to define his own status? In my opinion, The Court should only grant him the title of ’Great Emperor’ this time."

Ever since the time of the three emperors and five sovereigns, the title of Heaven Emperor has changed many times.

There are clear records dating back to the Zhou Dynasty that revered Haotian as ’Heaven Emperor’.

Subsequent classics such as Shangshu, Book of Poetry, and Records of the Grand Historian all contain such references.

"The Book of Songs · Greater Odes of the Kingdom · Sovereign Indeed" mentions, "Sovereign is the High Deity, His splendor overarches below. He observes the four directions, to seek none that are not His people."

It was not until Great Qin unified the six states and demoted the Haotian Emperor, turning instead to worship the heavenly emperors of the four directions: Yellow, White, Blue, and Red.

During the Han Dynasties, Emperor Gaozu of Han added a Black Emperor outside the four emperors, thus establishing the Emperors of the Five Directions.

During that period, Wang Mang usurped the throne and attempted to demote the Emperors of the Five Directions, amalgamating Haotian and Taiyi, yet ended in failure.

After the end of the Han Dynasty, ’The Yellow Heaven had perished.’ The Court then acknowledged Haotian as the Heavenly Emperor, while the Emperors of the Five Directions were reduced to the rank of great emperors.

During the era of the two Zhao dynasties, Taoism flourished, and an attempt was made to combine worship of Haotian with the ’Jade Emperor’ they had concocted. Within the ’Four Extremes,’ including the ’Ziwei Emperor of the North, Changsheng Emperor of the South, Taichi Heavenly Emperor, and Qinghua Emperor of the East,’ they sought to replace the ’Six Venerables’ and the ’Five Directions,’ but faced strong opposition led by the forces of Confucianism and the four ’Heavenly Masters’ within Taoism.

It was not until Jin Dynasty expelled Meng Wu and unified all under Heaven.

The reason Confucianism venerates ’Haotian’ is first that Confucianism respects antiquity.

This Haotian Emperor indeed represents the legitimate order since the Three Dynasties.

Secondly, they vaguely guessed that the ’Haotian Emperor’ was no longer ruling, and they all thought it was best that there was no reigning Heavenly Emperor. Why seek a patriarch for themselves?

At this moment, Li Xuan could not help but give Wang Wen a sideways glance.

He thought to himself that success was due to this man, as was failure.

However, his expression remained as indifferent as ever. He knew that for himself, as the ’Xuanhuang Emperor,’ to instantly achieve the venerable status of Heavenly Emperor was absolutely impossible.

Even if Wang Wen did not intervene, Chen Xun, Yu Jie, and others would strongly oppose it.

Having obtained the title of ’great emperor,’ Li Xuan had already partially achieved his goal in leading the prohibition of Buddhism.

※※※※

After leaving the palace, Li Xuan returned to the Tianxingtai space.

Then, inside the courtyard resembling a palace compound, he stared blankly at the mountains of gold, silver, jewels, and numerous medicinal materials.

Part of these treasures originated from the confiscation during the suppression of Buddhist temples, while the rest came from the sacrifices of believers.

"Qianqian and I have calculated it, the total is now 98 million taels," reported Dugu Biluo, holding the account book and coming up to Li Xuan: "However, this is a conservative estimate. It’s difficult to assess the medicinal materials from Buddhism; Qianqian and I both estimated on the low end. Congratulations, Your Majesty, the funding for the third ’Solar Furnace’ is now in place."

Li Xuan, however, frowned, "Just over 90 million? Is that all?"

He sighed lightly, "Let it be, I gave a double discount, attacking Buddhist temples was nearly free, loss is inevitable."

Dugu Biluo then arched her delicate brows, "I’ve done the calculations, even considering the wear and tear on the musket rifles and battle armor, as well as the cost of opening the Western Heavenly Gate, you’ve made a pure profit of 46 million this time, Your Majesty. How can you speak of loss?"

Actually, most of the money was spent on the ’Western Heavenly Gate.’

The Tianxingtai space is located at the site of the Western Heavenly Gate from the three ancient Heavenly Courts.

The remnants of this Western Heavenly Gate allow the locating of prayer calls for ’Heavenly Soldier Spell’ from the believers, enabling his heavenly soldiers and generals to descend at any location in the mortal world.

Of course, the divine power required for this ’descent’ is also immense.

However, Tianxingtai’s ’Solar Furnace’ can provide a continuous supply of energy.

The only expense they need to bear is the cost of various materials required to repair the ’Tiamen Array’ located to the east of Tianxingtai.

So even giving a double discount, they were actually profiting.

This just shows how ruthless Li Xuan’s pricing was—

If one were to consider the political account, Li Xuan would end up profiting even more from this ordeal.

"But if I haven’t earned enough, it’s a loss. It’s still far from enough." Li Xuan continued to shake his head and sigh, his mind sinking into contemplation: "Biluo, what if I now introduce ’prepaid discount’ or ’membership with recharge’ services, do you think my followers would accept it?"

He believed he must use the internet mentality to expand his income.

"What?" Dugu Biluo looked at him in astonishment, wondering what exactly ’prepaid discount’ and ’membership with recharge’ were.

As she was about to ask for clarification, ’Jianxing Divine General’ Fu Youde came over.

"Your Majesty, according to today’s tally, we have seven injured heavenly soldiers and seven sets of Black Gold Divine Armor damaged."

It’s impossible for the heavenly soldiers and generals to descend to the mortal world without any loss, but the rate of casualties was far lower than everyone had expected.

A joy that couldn’t be suppressed emerged on the face of ’Jianxing Divine General’ Fu Youde: "Your Majesty, the flintlock musket rifles with runes performed exceptionally well in combat, if we could now equip some rune cannons as well, the effect would be even better."

When Fu Youde was first appointed as the Jianxing Divine General, his consciousness was slightly rigid.

Being tainted with Yesha (malevolent spirits) and obsessions, his initial thoughts were quite simple.

But as time passed and his True Spirit returned to its place, Fu Youde’s thinking became more flexible and increasingly resembled that of a living person.