Shennong Dao Master
Chapter 315 - 4: Second Ring Mission, Yin God Control?_2

Chapter 315: Chapter 4: Second Ring Mission, Yin God Control?_2

"Just as I thought." Zhao Xing slightly smiled.

Then he looked at the second part of the task.

[Second Task: "Temples of Anping Prefecture"]

[Location: Anping Prefecture]

[Military Realm Intelligence: Anping Prefecture is located west of Datong Prefecture. Since the establishment of Jiutian Yingyuan Mansion two hundred years ago, there have been numerous legends of mysterious spirits and immortals among the people. The common folk have spontaneously built Yin God temples, setting up spirit platforms at home for worship. The offerings are not only for the spirits of the Human Clan but also include spirits of exotic beasts.]

[Below is the specific list of temples, totaling 52, covering the origin of the temples and the main range of worship, significant events of Yin Gods over the past two hundred years. Please proceed to Anping Prefecture to investigate each temple and handle their fate.]

"Folk temples?"

Upon seeing the second task, Zhao Xing couldn’t help but frown.

This matter was far more troublesome than the "Inspection Divine Might Army" task.

Because this involved the "Yin God System" of the Great Zhou.

The Yin God System was an extremely important part of the Fortune Dynasty, even arguably its foundation.

Enjoying incense offerings after death, with the Yin soul eternally present in the world, resting with the country, was the dream of all officials.

This was more than just leaving a name in history books.

Because as long as the Yin God continued to receive incense and offerings, the dynasty did not perish, they could exist indefinitely.

Equivalent to another form of immortality!

Being ennobled and appointed as a general was actually not difficult for the strong, nor was it the ultimate goal.

Being canonized as a Yin God and enjoying the incense offerings for ten thousand generations was the greatest temptation!

Because during this era, there was a mainstream belief that death was not the end, being forgotten was. If one could become a Yin God, one could wander freely in another world!

Thus, the Great Zhou flourished with ritual and worship activities.

Zhao Xing received this type of task in his past life and understood its difficulty.

"Even daring to tamper with the Yin God System, Emperor Jing during this period indeed had great ambition." Zhao Xing thought.

Each role was filled with a person, the position of Yin God was also limited and could not be infinitely canonized.

From the Grand Ancestor to Emperor Wen to Emperor Jing, more and more Yin Gods had been canonized.

The requirements kept increasing.

Among them, the Grand Ancestor Dynasty and Emperor Wen periods had the most canonizations.

Founding contributors couldn’t be left uncrowned. After building the country, many strong individuals reached the end of their lives without enjoying much prosperity; they couldn’t be left ill-fortuned even after death, right?

Additionally, the sects and Taoist schools had their conditions for submission, including that each Taoist school should have one or more second-grade Yin Gods. This was one of the conditions for their submission.

For example, Master Li Fire, who was a first-grade Yin God, had established a Dao body that had existed since before the Zhou Dynasty and could influence the laws of the land in the nineteen states.

The senior members of the Li Fire Taoist School could even summon the established Dao body of their master to confront enemies, immensely powerful.

Other Yin Gods, like Divine Travel Dai Zong, had lower statuses.

Toiling grimly to deliver messages in the army without much in return, like Huang Chengzhi issuing four hurry-up-and-march orders in a day, Divine Travel Dai Zong might just curse twice and refuse the task.

But Master Li Fire, if you borrowed the Dao, you had to repay it later, with a much higher status.

"The collapse of the Yin God System was the final straw for the Great Zhou." Zhao Xing recalled the past mission situation.

Those clay idols jumped down from their altars, fierce and malevolent, demanding offerings from the people.

Plus, countless Mao Gods emerged. Zhao Xing encountered Yin Gods demanding "road tolls" every ten miles on a task.

Some even demanded the sacrifice of maiden girls.

"Originally, the Yin God System could effectively guard against lawlessness, leaving no place for offenders to hide. But later, a family would nurture a Yin God, marking the era of powerful families privately raising Yin Gods, fully capable of shielding from the court’s Yin God’s detection. Committing murders and thefts without any evidence left..."

"Emperor Jing’s stinginess wasn’t without reason; if opened too wide, there would hardly be any spots left for his descendants when he died. However, stinginess didn’t cure the root cause; even the establishment of the Heroic Spirit Hall did not meet the demand."

"It was quite reasonable for me, the Minister of Agriculture, to receive such a task."

"After all, Ministers of Agriculture could also invite gods, and on this list, they were gods of the Minister of Agriculture type."

"Priest professions could invite gods of the Ministers of Agriculture to possess them, equating to having the spells of the Minister of Agriculture. The profession of the Minister of Agriculture was deeply linked to the Yin God System."

"Moreover, this was the foundation of the Great Zhou. If brought to the battlefield under harsh conditions, gods could be invited to set up altars and perform rituals for rain, with the assistance of Yin Gods."

"Yin Gods on the battlefield could gather souls, protect soldiers from disasters, and extend life."

"Without understanding the Yin God System, one would not even know which deity to worship!"

Zhao Xing carefully reviewed the task content but couldn’t help but frown a little.

"Working as an official under Emperor Jing was truly difficult, doing the work of ten people, a real packhorse." Zhao Xing complained in his mind.

"Priests must know how to invite gods of all professions, Ministers of Agriculture must understand the Yin God System, and Mechanical Masters of the Mechanical School had to assist the Minister of Agriculture in opening mountains and digging rivers, combating natural disasters."

"Officials were truly utilized to their fullest under his reign." After some internal grumbling, Zhao Xing began carefully sorting out the task.

Hard to deal with, but it must be dealt with!

Nothing could shake Mr. Zhao’s determination for eternal life!

[Yanguang Temple: Sixth-rank Yin God]

[Location: Hongyuan County, Pingjiang County in Anping Prefecture]

[Military Realm Intelligence: Yan Guang was a native of Pingjiang County, born in the 233rd year of Yong’an, participated in establishing Jiutian Yingyuan Mansion in the third year of Dingxin. His high official position while alive was the upper eighth-grade ’Pingjiang Du Shui Si Zheng.’]

[In the 58th year of Dingxin, Yan Guang died of old age in office. After diligently managing water affairs for a Jiazi, he was rewarded by the court, posthumously granted the title of Third Rank Pingjiang Earl, and esteemed as a distinguished official.]

[In the 60th year of Dingxin, the Yan family erected an ancestral shrine for Yan Guang, where commoners occasionally came to worship. In the 65th year of Dingxin, many local people spontaneously built temples for him. In the 89th year of Dingxin, Yan Guang’s memorial tablet was brought out of the Heroic Spirit Hall and enshrined in the Pingjiang Reef Fortress Temple. In the 143rd year of Dingxin, Yan Guang’s Yin soul received incense offerings and ascended to the Seventh-grade Yin Soul Realm.]

[In the 195th year of Dingxin, during the flood in Pingjiang, the Yan family carried out extensive charitable deeds, setting up porridge stalls and constructing bridges. Yan Guang manifested for the first time, assisting then Pingjiang County Minister of Agriculture Supervision, ’Wang Ze,’ perform Nong Family spells to quell the flood.]

[In the 198th year of Dingxin, Yan Guang manifested for the 49th time. With grand incense offerings, he ascended to the secondary sixth-grade Yin God.]

[In the early years of Jingxin, Yan Guang manifested for the 376th time...]

[In the Tenth Year of Jingxin...]

Although the second task comprised only 52 temples, the ranks of the Yin Gods were not low, the worst being seventh-grade, and the highest at upper sixth-grade.

Mainly because if a Yin God’s status was too low, they couldn’t manifest. During this period, seventh-grade was the minimum threshold for manifesting and intervening in the mortal world.

Of course, these weren’t officially canonized deities. Even if they manifested, their powers were limited.

They were considered "false gods."

They couldn’t achieve the level of Duke Donghu or Caoxi, who could sever Blood Spirit Venerable’s soul clone. Blood Spirit Venerable, at least a third-grade Primordial Soul Realm, had the ability to "split their soul for offerings and then nourish the main soul."

The intelligence from the Military Realm was hundreds of times more voluminous than before.

For an average person to analyze something useful from all this information was extremely difficult due to the overwhelming complexity.

If one did not understand the Yin God System, they would be utterly confused, not knowing what the court intended with this task.

"Analyze the problem fundamentally." Zhao Xing began thinking from the perspective of the Military Realm, even Emperor Jing.

"Anping Prefecture is a border prefecture, like Datong Prefecture, located south of Pinghai State, with several tributaries of Cangjiang and Lanjiang flowing into its territory."

"It also contains numerous significant military towns."

"In the Grand Ancestor period, the Yin God System had too many openings. The folk’s independent deity worship had several precedents of becoming official, which slowly diminished and was restrained only during Emperor Wen’s reign. Emperor Wen deliberately controlled public opinion to prevent powerful families from manipulating public sentiments to raise deities."

"There are numerous instances of wild gods becoming official. Along with the establishment of Jiutian Yingyuan Mansion, many people achieved meritorious deeds, granted titles and fiefs, and the circulation of legends proliferated. Thus, the border regions gradually spawned this phenomenon of spontaneous worship of wild gods."

"However, it would be hard to say there were no descendants of Yin Gods behind this, pushing the trend. Take Yan Guang, for instance, the intelligence repeatedly mentioned the Yan family. If the Yan family had no influence, I wouldn’t believe it, nor would the Military Realm."

"The nature of these wild gods, though not as severe as Evil God heresy, given the imminent major battle against the southern barbarians, everything prioritized military readiness. How could these unstable factors be tolerated? Moreover, there were those worshipping exotic beasts as gods, clearly influenced by the Southern Barbarian Tribes."

Eventually, Zhao Xing concluded: "These are evil deities and heresies; they must be eradicated!"