Chapter 291 Who are you, King of the West?
[Without a Dharma image...how can there be divine power from incense?]

[The strange behavior of the monkey makes you feel confused and fall into deep thought...]

【As a senior and diligent person who has practiced the method of visualization for two lifetimes, you have a relatively deep understanding of Shinto practice: Incense has never been a problem, because the people in the world are endless. As long as you gain worship, incense is equivalent to an inexhaustible "endless energy." 】

[The real difficulty of Shinto is one and only one, and that is to condense the Dharma image! ]

[If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't work. The logic is clear and straightforward, so the entry threshold of Shinto is extremely high. 】

[As long as one has achieved the state of a Dharmadhatu, no matter how miserable one is, he is at least a wild god or an evil god. If he can get some incense from foolish men and women, he will be able to look down on ordinary people! ]

[So the Dharma image is the real core of Shinto practice. Theoretically speaking, without the Dharma image, there is no practice, and it is impossible to use incense and worship... This is an indisputable fact, because if you can use incense without the Dharma image, then there would be wild gods flying around in the world long ago. ]

[But in the case of this strange monkey, this iron rule was broken. Although it had no Dharma image, it still gathered the power of incense...]

[You were puzzled, but you didn't say anything. You just encouraged the monkey and told it to wait and see what happened and not to panic... If anything goes wrong, you will take care of it!]

[Your calmness and comfort made the monkey feel relieved, and then he retreated nervously and excitedly, and began to study the various wonderful uses of divine power...]

[It retreated peacefully, but you paid attention to this strange incident because it further demonstrated the monkey's weirdness! ]

[The monkey originally carried many mysteries that you have never been able to solve: such as its extraordinary intelligence, its ability to speak human language, its ability to read minds... and the fact that it could tell at a glance that you were the protagonist.]

[As a strange monkey that is already full of mysteries, it is not difficult to understand that it now has the privilege of having divine power without using a Dharma image... But what is the reason behind this series of strange things? ]

[You know very well that no matter what strange things the monkeys show, they are just appearances, and the reasons behind these strange things are the real key points.]

[It’s just that your current level is too low, and you are still unable to see the reason behind it...]

【…】

[Next, you privately checked the believers' attitude towards the monkey... The result is the same as you thought. Ever since you let the monkey show up as a "disciple of the god" last time, the believers have noticed its strangeness.]

【According to the simple idea that "a dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse's son will dig holes", they naturally regard the monkey as a god. While worshiping you as the "main god", they also offer it some incense as a "subordinate god". 】

[It was precisely because of these few sticks of incense that the monkey was able to gather his divine power...]

[After thinking about this, you did not stop it. Instead, you specially appointed the monkey as your companion deity in front of the believers during the meeting, and openly shared the incense with it! ]

[The reason for being so generous is, of course, to help it achieve immortality. After all, you promised to help it find a method of immortality that can be popularized to all monkeys and their descendants. It is unreasonable to promise too much without giving it some actual benefits.]

【Secondly, it is your consideration for the long-term strategy for the future. 】

[As your wedding date is getting closer, it won’t be long before the “Western King Divine Religion” expands to the county. When the business grows in the future, there will definitely be a lot of marching and fighting, and even fighting with monks! ]

[And you are determined to use the King of the West in your previous life as a negative example, and have already decided on a development strategy of hiding behind the scenes as a black hand boss in order to avoid being attacked by the "box weapon".]

[In this situation, you certainly can't risk exposing yourself to others, so you urgently need a loyal and powerful super fighter. ]

[Obviously the monkey meets your requirements. Once it grows up with the incense, it can protect you from wind and rain and deal with external challenges! ]

[This is an investment, and also a win-win deal: the monkey gets the tiles he dreamed of, and you get the powerful double-flower red stick, and everyone has a bright future...]

[This great kindness moved the monkey so much that he almost shouted, "Master, your kindness is not enough!"]

【…】

[At the age of seventeen, you subdued the mysterious monkey and nurtured it with incense and divine power, training it to become a double-flowered red stick of the "Western King Divine Religion" in order to achieve a prosperous future! ]

[That year, you reunited with your wife from your previous life, started a family and established a career in the presence of your parents, and officially became an adult with an independent family.]

[And you secretly swear that you must make up for the regrets of your previous life in this life and give your parents and wife a better life than in your previous life...]

[After getting married, you immediately obtained your parents' consent and took your newlywed wife to the county town you had been longing for.]

[When you arrived in the county town, you disguised yourself as an ordinary person as planned, running around in various industries in the city to seek a happy life for this new family. You are a typical good husband and a good man! ]

[But secretly, you are the god and leader of a local cult, firmly controlling more than 6,000 people in dozens of villages, all of whom are your loyal followers.]

[Since entering the city, you have started the ambitious cause of spreading faith as planned...]

[It's still the same old routine. You first found a lot of hooligans in the city, and then brainwashed them with the Blood God Son. Before long, you had hundreds of crazy fans, and your preaching career achieved a breakthrough! ]

[Amidst the countless cheers of "loyalty" and "favor", your eyes twitched: There is definitely something wrong with the underlying code of this Blood Godson, and it's a big problem. Brainwashing is fine, but what the hell is going on with the built-in voice pack...]

[But you didn't care too much about this little side effect. After you conquered this group of "social idlers" and "flexible workers", you gave them a "divine order": from now on, not only must they turn over a new leaf, but they must also spread the teachings of the Western King, advocate loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness, and be law-abiding citizens! ]

[Everyone enthusiastically received the oracle...]

[After completing this simple first step, you will retire and no longer reveal your true identity to others. All your commands and training of believers will also be transferred from offline to online, and you will only contact people through dreams.]

[It’s fun to show off in front of others and show off, but you have learned from past experiences and you choose to hide: a fragile Shinto monk cannot withstand the attack of a box of weapons...]

[You just don't believe it, you can still fail with this kind of hideous fighting style? ]

[Hide! Just hide and it's all over!] [……]

【Next, everything goes as you expected. 】

[The brainwashed hooligans quickly began to turn over a new leaf: those who gambled stopped gambling, those who drank alcohol stopped drinking, those who were involved in pornography stopped... For a time, the county's public security improved greatly! ]

[This change left the people in the county government totally confused: the sun rose from the west? ]

[I don’t understand, I don’t understand…]

[However, this is also a good thing for the county government. Without these idle people causing trouble, the county magistrate and the runners can worry less.]

[But... they don't know what kind of changes are brewing behind this abnormal incident...]

[A sect called "Xiwang Shenjiao" quietly spread among the people. ]

[It started as a county seat and then radiated to surrounding counties. The development speed is very fast! ]

[But somehow, this sect, which was supposed to expand rapidly, took the initiative to slow down its expansion, so that its influence was limited to five or six surrounding counties for a long time...]

【Day after day, year after year. 】

[With your tireless efforts in nighttime literacy campaigns, your roots have grown deeper and deeper in these five or six counties, gradually turning them into an iron-clad stronghold.]

[From peddlers and hawkers to ordinary people in the countryside, to scholars and gentry from all over the country, and even government officials... your shadow can be seen everywhere! ]

[The county magistrates only knew that the public security in their jurisdiction was very good, with people not picking up things on the road and leaving their doors unlocked at night...]

[However, occasionally there are people in the government who notice the problem, but in the end they either know how to be practical and act like clay puppets, or they try to suppress or report it beyond their capabilities, and then they are arrested and served by the Blood God Son! ]

[You gradually have a solid foundation and become the uncrowned king of this place...]

【…】

【Nine years have passed in a flash.】

[Over the past nine years, you have worked hard to build a good family business, and raised a pair of children with your wife. Apart from having an extra son, there is no obvious difference between the two lives.]

[You have always lived in the county town as an ordinary person. Even though the whole city is full of your loyal followers, you never reveal your identity and talk and laugh with them as usual every day...]

[Until you were thirty-five, the county government suddenly began to urgently collect taxes and recruit young men to serve as county soldiers, and then the prices in the city gradually rose! ]

[This familiar scene makes you sigh inexplicably: What was supposed to come has finally come...]

[That year, the famous rebel organization "Five Emperors" rose up. The five kings from the east, west, south, north, and center raised their armies respectively, and used magic to coerce the people in the countryside, and attacked cities and seized territories everywhere! ]

[The government troops were defeated! ]

[The government troops were defeated again! ]

[Our army was defeated! ]

【…】

At this critical moment, the young Western King, who had just announced his uprising, was ambitiously leading his fellow disciples to form an uprising army.

Standing in a village, the King of the West looked at the bewildered villagers and could not help but puff out his chest proudly:

"I am the true God who has descended to the world. I have infinite magical powers and abilities. As long as you follow me and join the army, you will have everything you want in the future!"

In the mind of the young King of the West, recruiting soldiers and buying horses was a very simple matter. Once the name of the true god was announced and he showed his power in front of people, wouldn't the foolish men and women bow down to him?
In fact, he was ready to be cheered...

Unexpectedly, the villagers just looked at each other in bewilderment, and then boldly asked:

"I wonder how the power of the Lord God compares to that of the King of the West?"

"Of course I am more..."

Wait a minute? !

The King of the West subconsciously said half of his boasting, and when he reacted, he was stunned:

"Who are you talking about?"

"King of the West, he appears in our dreams every day. I just saw him yesterday!"

"..."

……

(End of this chapter)