Inner Demons

Chapter 92: Guna La the Black Demon Fairy

"All of you are Temple Keepers and Daoist Temple Masters. You must worship deities. But I don't need to tell you that you already know in your hearts—whether most of those are true gods and whether they have spiritual energy."

"You see, the situation in the religious circles near my Weicheng is like this: your family worships the Dragon King, my family worships Lord Lao, and his family worships a Mountain Goddess. The people of Wang Family Village are accustomed to worshipping the mountain god, and the people of Niu Family Hamlet like to worship the Dragon King—but what's the reality? They all ask for similar things. But if someone from Wang Family Village goes to Niu Family Hamlet and accidentally sprains their ankle and wants to pray for a quick recovery—oh dear, is this your Dragon King? What if the Mountain God I worship gets upset?"

"This causes losses, right? So friends, it's very necessary for us now to transition to a more professional operating model. What do I mean by more professional? It means the same brand, expanded scale—let's unite the religious circles near Weicheng and worship only one god."

"This way, you'll have the same god in Wang Family Village, and you'll still have this god when you go to Niu Family Hamlet. A sense of familiarity will naturally arise, both families will benefit, and the future is so beautiful... Ah, you speak."

The only one who dared to interrupt him at this point was Shi Kuizi. She sat at the same table as Old Daoist Liu, and they had exchanged a few words in private earlier. It was unclear what Old Daoist Liu had said to reassure her—at this moment, while everyone else was dutifully holding their tongues, listening to Li Yunxin speak... she raised a question.

"Yun Xinzi... fellow Daoist." She stood up and bowed respectfully as Taoist priests do, "I can vaguely understand what you're saying. But... most of our temples and Daoist temples have existed for a considerable time. After a long time, perhaps several generations in the vicinity have been worshipping this one temple or Daoist temple. Even if we follow your suggestion and change the deity, the local believers..."

"Alright, alright, that's indeed a problem." Li Yunxin gestured downward with his hand. After a brief thought, he sighed, "But friends, think about another problem. There are Immortals in the world. The Two Saints, for example. Not to mention the Two Saints, those cultivators of the Profound Realm and True Realm are all more advanced than mountain spirits and wild beasts."

"And then there are the Black and White Yama Kings, who are truly legitimate Immortals—why don't people worship them? Because—they're useless!" Li Yunxin spread his hands and tilted his head, "Worshipping the Two Saints, the Two Saints won't come to help them find a lost chicken. Worshipping the Yama King, he'll still take your life when it's your time. So, being too aloof and out of touch can lead to this problem."

"But if you worship those mountain spirits and wild beasts, although they may not always grant your wishes, they do occasionally do one or two human-like things, and that makes them popular. Therefore, in reality, our simple and lovely villagers are all very sincere pragmatists. Of course, I can understand this—when you can barely eat enough, who has the energy to talk about philosophy?"

"So there's no need to worry that they won't worship just because the deity changes. Even if you change to Guna La the Black Demon Fairy and say your temple isn't a temple but a Demon Fairy Castle—as long as they feel comfortable and hear someone say that the Black Demon Fairy has manifested her power, after a while, if you ask them to chant 'Balala Energy' when they worship, they'll obediently comply.""Cough... Fellow Daoist Yun Xinzi, this Black Demon Fairy..."

"Don't mind those details—that's an Ancient Revered God, it's not surprising if you haven't heard of it," Li Yunxin said quickly. "So I already have a pilot unit here—Daoist Hunyuanzi's Dragon King Temple. Originally, it had a statue of the Wei River Dragon King, but we replaced it with the positions of The Great Accomplished Crown Prince Jiawen and Great Accomplishment Dragon Maiden—on the first day, the villagers' response was quite good! Right—how much did we earn last month?"

"Uh... we haven't reached a month yet. But the incense income so far... is three taels of silver. That's twice the amount from two months ago," Old Daoist Liu replied properly.

Li Yunxin spread his hand: "So friends, look, fame and fortune! I know what you're worried about—but I personally draw those divine positions for you—they genuinely possess spiritual energy. Not only do they have spiritual energy, but they also clear the mind and protect the home. Once the Weicheng religious community reaches such a consensus—to worship these two deities—it will be like transitioning from extensive production to intensive production, isn't that wonderful?"

The wild Taoist priests exchanged glances, but no one spoke first.

In reality, they all understood Li Yunxin's methods—the paintings he produced should have been eagerly sought after by people.

But now...

He seemed to have some grudge with Fairy Lingkong. Although this Daoist Yun Xinzi appeared young and promising, with a deep background. But since it was a fight between two tigers, these ants... where would they find the courage to get involved?

Li Yunxin sighed, "Think about it, friends, I'm a reasonable person—and I'm thinking for the good of our Weicheng religious community."

Seeing his tone soften, a Taoist priest tentatively said, "Fellow Daoist... Alas, in fact, calling you a fellow Daoist is already presuming too much. But to be honest, your current situation... Alas, we plan that this matter can perhaps wait—until your affairs with Fairy Lingkong are sorted out later..."

As he spoke, many people finally showed expressions of agreement.

"Is that so?" Li Yunxin lowered his head and rubbed his hands, then quickly raised them again, a smile on his face, "Then I can understand. For example, thoughts like 'maybe if we use his things, we'll anger Fairy Lingkong'—because high-level cultivators are inherently temperamental, right?"

The Taoist priest quickly nodded: "Yes, yes, that's exactly it."

"But the problem is... I am also a high-level cultivator of the Manifestation Realm, friends," he spread his hands helplessly, "I stand here, smiling at you, saying, 'Come and join.' And you say, 'Sorry, buddy, your prospects are uncertain right now, we don't really want to'—I'd feel awkward and lose face too."

"...Aren't you afraid of my temper?"

When he said that with a smile, no one spoke again. The hall instantly grew cold.

Lingkongzi was humorless, and one couldn't see her expression, thus adding three points to her mysteriousness in people's minds.

But the impression of Li Yunxin was preconceived—at first, he was the "Daoist disciple" by Old Daoist Liu's side, speaking gently and courteously. And now—one could still see his facial expressions and hear his tone of voice, and his personality... was very much like a normal person.

Compared to cultivators of the Intent Realm or Illusory Realm, he seemed even more like a normal person.

Therefore, their awe of him, also because of his playful words just now, diminished even further.

So when Li Yunxin said those words again, they suddenly realized, as if waking from a dream... Ah.

Perhaps... he would have a temper too...

At that moment, they saw Li Yunxin put away his smile and draw something in the air with his finger—

The body of "Pei Juezi," which had been restrained and unable to move in another corner of the hall, instantly softened and deflated, like an empty sack!

A black mist struggled and roared in mid-air, being drawn out of the body's seven orifices, and then collected into Li Yunxin's sleeve—throughout the entire process, he did not move, merely watching everyone present with his gaze.

That sound... everyone heard it.

It was utterly mournful!

A chill... slowly crept up everyone's spine.

"So I do have a temper. For example, I was just annoyed—but you are the old man's friends, so I had to take it out on him—I literally ripped this ghost out of the Human Skin Bag. This experience... is probably similar to being flayed," Li Yunxin was silent for a while, then a smile reappeared on his face, "Now, have we reached a consensus? I mean... changing those things you worship?"

No one spoke.

Li Yunxin then raised his wine glass, looking happy: "Good. Then, friends, to our friendship—cheers?"

After two or three breaths of silence...

The wild Taoist priests... finally raised their wine glasses as well.