Work Prophet
Chapter 80 - 41 Adapting to Local Customs and Playing It by Ear

Chapter 80: Chapter 41 Adapting to Local Customs and Playing It by Ear

Although there is a certain appeal in taking revenge on the spot.

But in the end, Li Yu decided to give up this tempting thought, firstly because he couldn’t bear to watch two lives just vanish before his eyes, especially being slaughtered like cattle and sheep for sacrifice, and secondly, Li Yu also realized this might be an opportunity for him.

He thought about proselytizing in Green Field and was lacking an entry point, just as real estate companies need a show home before they start selling.

However, the Silver Moon Church had been rooted here for over a thousand years and had immense influence among both nobles and commoners.

If Li Yu were to adopt conventional methods, it wouldn’t be easy to recruit his first followers, but now he had another option.

Through the earlier dialogues of the lizard people, Li Yu could draw two conclusions: first, these lizard people worshiped a god named Sosokus; second, Sosokus possessed the ability to resurrect, and because these lizard people witnessed his resurrection, they firmly believed him to be Sosokus.

With this in mind, Li Yu decided to go along with what they were saying.

The man named Onund with an authoritative and robust voice should be the leader of these lizard people if there are no surprises. Li Yu decided to do him a favor first by saving his daughter.

And as soon as Li Yu opened his mouth, all the lizard people who had been chattering quieted down.

But this silence lasted only a moment, then an even more fervent cheer burst forth from among them, the decibel level approaching that of a concert attended by tens of thousands, forcing Li Yu to endure another round of Sosokus bombardment.

He felt as though his eardrums were about to burst.

Li Yu quickly scanned the crowd and found that there were far more lizard people than he had imagined, numbering over a thousand. Perhaps due to the harsh environment of the swamp, over seventy percent were young adults, with the rest mainly children and very few elders.

Li Yu noticed a tall and burly lizard man whose gaze filled with both surprise and gratitude when looking at him.

He guessed this must be that Onund, the leader of these lizard people.

Li Yu then gestured with his hands to quell the cheering of the lizard people.

"I am not Sosokus," he declared.

As he uttered these words, the atmosphere of joy came to an abrupt halt, and once again, all surrounding noises vanished, the silence so profound that the drop of a needle could be heard.

Smiles froze on the lizard people’s faces, gradually turning to confusion, then back to ferocity.

However, this was something Li Yu needed to clarify; otherwise, he would be busying himself for nothing, essentially promoting Sosokus.

But since Li Yu dared to say this, he had, of course, already thought about how to answer what followed.

Ignoring the hostility around him, Li Yu continued, "My true identity is that of a Prophet, a messenger of God in the mortal world. My deity’s name is Saturday, though, of course, different people have different names for Him. As far as I know, you call Him Sosokus, but in truth, Sosokus is merely an incarnation of Saturday."

The missionary process is just like this, full of adapting on the fly and conforming to local customs.

This was the conclusion Li Yu reached after reviewing the history of several major religions in the world these days.

Take for example Buddhism, which has gained significant momentum in our country; compared to its place of origin, it has become quite a different thing. It wouldn’t be right to say it’s out of character, but it could almost be considered fan fiction.

Christianity has undergone numerous reforms and now exists in thousands of versions. Even the New Testament on which it relies was created based on the Old Testament; it is, in itself, a form of sequel.

Marx once said that everything is constantly developing and changing.

Religion is certainly no exception. To maintain its life energy, it must change according to the environment, evolve, let go of its pretensions, and actively integrate with the local culture and customs.

Those who cling to the old ways will inevitably be eliminated by the times.

Li Yu deeply agreed with this principle, which is why he didn’t mind adding an incarnation of Sosokus to Saturday. If necessary, he could also continue to add other incarnations to Saturday in the future. After all, a god is inherently manifold.

Having multiple identities is quite reasonable.

However, looking at the lizard people, it was apparent that they were utterly confused.

They didn’t understand how Sosokus, the deity their tribe had worshipped for thousands of years, had become just one incarnation of Saturday.

If this were any ordinary time, trying to change their views and get them to accept that Sosokus and Saturday were one and the same would no doubt be extremely difficult.

Even after witnessing Li Yu’s miraculous rebirth, shaking their faith was not something Li Yu could accomplish with just a few words.

Taking into consideration those sects in Li Yu’s universe that involved significant reformation and reinterpretation of doctrine, division and bloodshed were almost inevitable.

But now was a very special moment.

In addition to the two points mentioned above, Li Yu also drew a third conclusion from overhearing the lizard people’s conversations, which was the most crucial reason why he decided to propose the concept of two-in-one, attempting to directly convert these lizard people from followers of Sosokus to worshippers of Saturday.

Li Yu didn’t give the lizard people more time to think before he continued, "My Lord Saturday has heard your prayers, which is why He sent me to save you."

At these words, many of the lizard people’s eyes lit up.

They had no idea that the cunning human had just eavesdropped on their conversation, so they naturally believed that this entity called Saturday had indeed received their prayers for Sosokus. This seemed to also verify that the two were indeed the same entity.

Of course, what was more important was that they realized there was finally hope for themselves and their tribe.

Even though they had slaughtered several villages and repelled the evil rabbitman lord’s guards, none of the lizard people were naïve enough to think that they had already won the battle.

Even if they managed to capture Teacup Castle and kill all members of the Arias family, they couldn’t possibly secure this lush land because the other great nobles of the West would never allow such a thing to happen.

Once Marquis Kuren decided to dispatch troops after the autumn harvest, with just over a thousand individuals in their pitiful tribe, there was no chance they could withstand the elite forces of the various noble families.

In front of those well-equipped half-beast warriors, they were no different from the militiamen they had just killed, who had fled in terror.

What was even more fatal was that they could not retreat back to the swamp as they had done before.

For them, this was the darkest moment for their entire race, with no glimmer of life in sight, until this man appeared and told them that he had a way to save them.

The lizard people suddenly felt that Sosokus could indeed be Saturday.

No, that’s not right, Sosokus had to be Saturday!