Hyper-Dimensional Player

Chapter 806 - 69: Establishing the Divine Path, Proving the Emperor Position (Part 3)

But aside from these two people, most of Duncan's attempts ended in failure.

For example, in HePu County, when Duncan appointed a local god of the city, he chose a person of considerable virtue. However, his soul could not merge with the godhood of the city, either because there was no legendary level, or his cultivation did not meet the threshold for ascending to city god.

There are many such examples, including Duncan's recent failure to appoint the river god of the West River.

Even if Duncan forced a title on them, they couldn't bear it, and were unable to gather any incense offerings, let alone merge with the godhood.

A thankless task.

Duncan could achieve it at all costs, but the cost would outweigh the benefits.

"Lu Shanjun succeeded, probably due to his cultivation level."

"It might also be related to the legendary level."

"Others were unknown to the common folk, so they couldn't accept this suddenly appearing deity."

A normal person wouldn't worship a god they've never heard of.

The divine path requires a name.

Whether it's a notorious name or a virtuous one.

These past months, Duncan hasn't just been in the palace playing with women; he's been doing a fair amount of legitimate work too.

Take the example of the Guangxi region.

Duncan appointed sixteen city gods, but only half successfully merged with the divine throne and truly took responsibility for the local city temples.

Among these appointees were former Daoists, officials, and even ordinary people. Virtue did not necessarily lead to a successful merger with the divine throne, nor did cultivation. However, those with great spiritual reputations in the community often succeeded in merging.

Cultivating the divine path requires legendary status.

The second test is about good and evil.

Actually, good and evil aren't crucial; it's not that only good people can be deified. Duncan had some notorious individuals appointed as martial officials under the city gods, and they successfully merged with the godhood on the spot.

Roughly equivalent to enforcers in the Underworld.

They merged the same day and started receiving incense offerings, capturing many wandering spirits by the next day.

In short,

The people recognized their notorious names and believed these names could intimidate sinister spirits. Some of these individuals even had both notoriety and the reputation of gallant heroes, and enjoyed even greater incense offerings after death than the city gods did.

This person was someone Duncan closely watched.

Named Lu Jun.

If he succeeds in cultivating the Incense divine path, Duncan plans to promote him from martial official to city god, as long as his divine status can ascend. That would complete Duncan's tests on the ascension structure of the divine path cultivation system.

Back at an abandoned temple, when the Ox-head wanted to subdue that ghost general, it was probably the same path: martial official, sinister god, fearsome reputation.

As long as such a fierce ghost is subdued, it counts as a strongman in the Underworld.

However, what Duncan has been doing lately is not widely known. It's only known that this emperor reveres rituals, but matters of the nation involve nothing but war and worship, mere expenses, and not considered significant.

Duncan eradicated illicit rituals, incorporating all ritual systems into state management.

"Divided by province and county."

"Setting up a city god system throughout the mortal realm, gradually replacing some functions of the Underworld in the world."

"Like the local police station."

"This plan is feasible."

"However, the incense of a single county cannot foster a true god, at most a four-star ghostly deity."

There are so many empty divine thrones in the heavens.

If the divine path cultivation system is viable, then for at least a thousand years, there would be no shortage of ascending channels. As for future developments, Duncan is only responsible for the overall view. If things go well, it's fine. After all, times create heroes, and someone achieving great things when the time is right is normal.

If things don't go well,

Duncan will unleash a massacre, and even all the gods and Buddhas in the sky would have to be cleared, making room for the successors.

As always,

Even if you're a god, if you don't do the job, there are plenty who want to.

The Duke of Thunder could be surnamed Zhao, Li, or Bao; as long as someone does the Duke of Thunder's job, his origin and surname do not matter.

The same principle applies to other divine thrones.

As for the Five Ghost Emperors, if you can do it, then do it. If not, step down early.

So Duncan doesn't care about the mortal throne at all. Everything he does is to set the order for the beings in the realms and six paths, and the mortal realm isn't even that important since as long as people have enough to eat, they can develop gradually.

The divine path goes first as a trial, and then implementing the celestial path for those reclusive powers who mostly just want freedom and no duties, so it's not difficult to arrange.

In the future, with the help of a divine path system, he can ascend to the emperor position and open a semi-plane for the celestial path, like creating a Penglai Wonderland by splitting the space.

Returning to the main topic.

Once the city god system is formed, Ox-head and Horse-face will have to check in with the city god when capturing souls.

Furthermore, Duncan plans to replace the Underworld enforcers with the city god martial officials, from whom they would directly escort souls to the Ghost Gate, covering the mortal realm portion.

This essentially supports local beliefs and weakens the influence of Buddhism after its introduction.

Those wandering ghosts and spirits often can't even harm anyone, not daring to go near vital and strong people, at most manifesting as ghostly flames at night. If the Underworld is too busy to handle them, the local city gods and deities, who are more familiar with the area, can handle small tasks, and it wouldn't be hard for the appointed martial officials to catch some wandering spirits.

"Once this is resolved, we can equip them with magical artifacts."

Duncan's figure drew closer to the South Sea as he pondered on how to equip the city god martial officials with magical artifacts, like soul-capturing shackles and irons. Normally, refining these is impossible, but perhaps by placing proper weapons in the hands of deities' statues during incense offerings, some makeshift magical artifacts could maybe be created for them.

Currently, all this is still in the testing stage.

The emperor's old business, managing politics and religion as well.

Religious reformation is imperative.

Duncan is quite adept at this, though he has to adapt to Eastern rules. He wants to perfect the entire incense divine path system and bring the Underworld under surveillance, which can't be accomplished in a short time.

The mortal realm can be entrusted to Li Fengji and others for management.

But affairs of the Underworld,

he must handle personally.

Once current tasks are finished, Duncan might need to make a personal trip to the Underworld to investigate what's really going on there.

Why are so many restless spirits wandering the mortal realm without being reincarnated?

These spirits often aren't capable of much harm either.

Without the possibility of reincarnation, many wandering spirits simply fade away after decades, with very few managing to become fierce spirits. This constitutes a minor branch of the celestial path known as ghost cultivation, and very few manage to become ghostly immortals.

Currently, Guangdong and Guangxi are the pilot areas, and if successful, the plan could be implemented throughout the entire empire's territories.

It also signifies the creation of an alternative upward path outside the mortal life course.

If incense offerings flourish, this will allow merits and blessings to be integrated into the system, offering contributors an extended posthumous life—not too long, maybe thirty to fifty years. But setting up heavenly estates for this requires opening semi-planes, which currently isn't feasible. For Duncan to achieve this, he needs to control the Underworld.

All of this serves one purpose: to redefine the order of the three realms and six paths.

To this day,

Duncan still hasn't figured out how to sever the Three Corpses, so he must find another innovative path to attain the way.

......