The Sims: I Open the Immortal Path for All Beings

Chapter 516: Chapter 464: Entering the Temple for Rituals, The Emperor Probes

After all, the Incense Fire God Refining Skill that leverages the Power of Incense Fire for cultivation is beneficial for all officials of the Great Ming imperial court. Almost all officials have practiced this skill.

However, no matter how large the temple for worship is, the number of accompanying worshipers it can accommodate is limited. It’s impossible for everyone to participate.

The position of accompanying the worship is of great importance. It concerns every official’s cultivation and the promotion of their Divine Position. Even Yan Weizhong would not dare to make a decision lightly without the emperor’s decree.

After all, if there’s the emperor’s decree, he wouldn’t mind being scapegoated. He wouldn’t fear backlash or resentment from others because the emperor would shield him.

But if he made a decision hastily, he would not only provoke jealousy from his colleagues but also lose the emperor’s protection.

Zhu Houji took the memorial scrolls and reviewed the plans thereon. Yan Weizhong sat down on a chair, solemnly waiting for the emperor’s decision.

This plan seems straightforward, requiring only to pick suitable locations to erect temples within the current territories of Great Ming.

However, the matter is not so simple. Besides the vast territories of Great Ming, just the sheer number of temples required by each state-river network is a astronomical number. Once the number of temples is settled, people need to be dispatched to inspect local geographic conditions and select spots before confirming their suitability.

This is a massive project. In the past, even setting aside the difficulty of the task, just the depletion of labor resources and the grandeur of the project would have encountered opposition from countless officials.

But now, not a single official opposes this plan since it was proposed. Instead, this plan passed unanimously without any obstruction from officials of any departments.

Because all officials understand that these temples can absorb faith incense, which is the very thing that the Great Ming Divine Dynasty and they who seek longevity need most urgently.

“Temples are tentatively divided into three grades. Three-grade temples select a few First-Class officials for accompaniment, two-grade temples select a few Second-Class or above officials, and one-grade temples are limited to selecting Third-grade or above officials to accompany.” said Zhu Houji, putting down the petition scrolls.

He had already made up his mind about this. He would take much of the power of ecense faith from the temples for himself, leaving part of it in the original temples for the officials of each province to control, using it as a precaution. The rest would be allocated to these accompanying officials.

Of course, he would not use all the collected Power of Incense Faith for cultivation. Instead, he would take a portion of it as a form of salary, distributing it to these officials, thus ensuring better control over the Divine Dynasty.

In Zhu Houji’s view, the Power of Incense Faith is just like the taxes Great Ming collected every year. It’s even more convenient than the annual tax collection. After all, people could hoard taxes privately, but for the Power of Incense Faith, all he needed to do was develop a thought with his Yin Spirit, and he could clearly calculate the Power of Incense Faith produced by each temple.

As long as he held this Power of Incense Faith in his hands, he would effectively control the entire Great Ming Divine Dynasty. Unless someone could snatch the Directory of the Golden Book and Jade Scroll, no one could shake his position.

“I shall follow your Majesty’s inclination.” Yan Weizhong nodded in agreement.

“By the way, it seems to be missing one person in this list of accompanying worshippers?” The emperor suddenly said.

As he flipped through the list of worshippers for the temples, he suddenly noticed a discrepancy. The name of the person he had in mind did not appear on it.

There was one person missing!

Yan Weizhong was startled by this oversight. It was inconceivable that such an error could occur, especially since he had supervised the matter personally. However, if the emperor said there was someone missing, then there was undoubtedly someone missing. He hastily knelt down, “Your servant is terrified, please enlighten me, Your Majesty.”

“Where is the position for the National Teacher?” Zhu Houji asked with a frown.

How could the National Teacher’s position for worship be missing?

Hearing Zhu Houji mention the National Teacher, Pei Xuanjing, Yan Weizhong was taken aback, and realized his oversight.

Originally, he believed that the master-disciple relationship between the emperor and Pei Xuanjing was merely superficial. Plainly because during the time Pei Xuanjing acted in Imperial City, he undoubtedly caused the royal family to lose face. Regardless of his merits in promoting the Divine Dynasty, possessing a copy of the Golden Book and Jade Scroll in his hands would inevitably cause the emperor’s apprehension.

If the emperor’s cooperation was initially reluctant, now he entirely has the qualifications to be on an equal footing with Pei. Despite his inability to entirely sever ties with Pei, he has the rights to ignore Pei on some matters. Therefore, he initially overlooked this, not wanting to offend the emperor. But it seems now that things are not as he expected.

Yan Weizhong felt a hint of surprise in his heart, but remained composed, listening to what the emperor had to say.

“The accompanying worship position is reserved for the National Teacher. Where there is a temple of mine, there is the National Teacher’s accompanying worship.”

In Zhu Houji’s view, since Pei Xuanjing taught him this skill, and Pei also follows the Cultivating Three Ways Simultaneously approach, this skill must be vastly beneficial for him too.

Therefore, he should share part of this Power of Incense Faith with Pei without needing Pei to remind him of it. Otherwise, it would mean that he was incompetent at handling affairs.

Of course, he also had another test, which was to see whether Pei Xuanjing would use this Power of Incense Faith. If Pei used it, all would be well, but if refused or neglected it, then he would need to think deeply about it.

“Yes!”

Yan Weizhong was astounded, but dared not show the slightest hint of it on his face. He responded respectfully.

“Accompanying worship? Me?”

Pei Xuanjing expressed surprise when he heard this news.

“Indeed, you can consider this as a friendly gesture from His Majesty, showing that he currently has no intention to turn against you.” Gu Ji said with a smile.

He was sent by the emperor to convey this message to Pei Xuanjing, and he also wanted to thank Pei Xuanjing for helping him in the past.

It should be noted that although a Divine Position can be obtained by Fourth-grade or higher officials, only those with Third-grade or higher capability could bear and refine the Divine Position to maximize its power.

It was Pei Xuanjing who personally intervened, helped him to enter the Third-grade Grandmaster Realm. Although it was only an imitation, for Gu Ji, it was a significant gain that allowed him to better bear the power of the Divine Position.

“Haha. Mr. Gu, you’re good at playing dumb.” Pei Xuanjing chuckled. He fully understood the implication behind Zhu Houji’s move.

While it radiated good intentions and signaled that he did not intend to break their cooperation, wasn’t Zhu also testing him, to see if he was also practicing the Incense Fire God Refining Skill?