Although the scene was reluctantly maintained, it was still evident that many members of the Li Clan behind Li Mubai were somewhat fearful, and the families of the hundreds of Flower-Scattering Celestial Maidens were also quite anxious, fearing that coming here might anger the Divine Buddha, losing their protection.

These were the ones who came; some people didn’t even come. Despite the Flower-Scattering Celestial Maidens entering dreams to reveal the truth and Li Mubai issuing forceful orders, a significant number still refused to come, even vehemently denying any connection, claiming that none of their wives, daughters, or sisters had died because of this.

Evidently, the life of a female family member was far from sufficient for them to abandon their faith in the Buddhist Sect.

People were fearful and uneasy.

Only Li Mubai remained unchanged in expression, holding incense respectfully before him, leading the crowd in bowing and worship.

"Thank you, Divine Monarch, for presiding over justice, eliminating demons, and saving our wives, daughters, and sisters from calamity!"

The words were solemn, the incense was offered, but there was little Wish Power, and even the fortune above seemed to waver and drift away.

Clearly showing where people’s hearts lay.

Inside the temple, Shen Hex sat high, completely unconcerned.

The roots of faith are deep and cannot easily be changed overnight.

But it doesn’t matter, he has both the time and means to change it gradually.

Although the Buddhist Sect’s methods are not lacking, competing with him would require a massive input of Divine Power.

Without sufficient Divine Power to support, even if both sides have comparable methods of governing the people and spreading the Dao, they cannot compete against him who possesses Professional Power.

This is the advantage of "cheating," the other side can only use their heritage to compete with him.

But this heritage, even for the Buddhist Sect, is not something that can be matched easily.

Moreover, the methods of governing the people and spreading the Dao might not even be equal between the two sides.

In this incense battle with limited conditions, as long as the Buddhist Sect doesn’t flip the table and cause trouble, Shen Hex is fully confident of winning; it just takes a little time.

If the Buddhist Sect does flip the table...

Then let them flip it.

If the sky falls, there are taller ones to bear it. The bigger the commotion, the more turbulent the waters, the more advantageous it is for his development.

Opportunities are sought in danger; as a small god without background or foundation, seeking development requires extreme measures.

Otherwise, when the world competes for the dragon, and chaos ensues in all directions, even if you want to act extremely, you cannot. Without enough strength, you’ll be crushed by the True Dragon’s momentum, forced to either bow and scrape or be ground to dust.

Neither is what Shen Hex desires, so he must compete now, even if it means taking some risks, he must not fear retreat, nor remain stagnant.

Less idle talk, let’s focus on the present.

This time, with troops against the Red Lotus Temple, Shen Hex reaped great rewards.

The floating wealth and whatnot are not mentioned, the most important is the Red Lotus Temple’s orthodoxy.

Under the Buddhist Sect’s management, although not a ruler of a region, it still had the authority to govern a region. The City Gods, Mountain Gods, and Earth Gods in the surrounding dozen counties were all struggling under its oppression.

Now Shen Hex has replaced it, inheriting its orthodoxy, he can legitimately develop belief in the surrounding counties, becoming a second Red Lotus Temple.

With this foundation, advancing to Fifth Grade is almost a matter of time, just needing some time and a bit of official maneuvering.

This is the growth of the foundation.

Besides that, there are also gains in information.

This time, Shen Hex infiltrated the Red Lotus Realm by utilizing some Immortal Dao means through Divine Power, concealing his aura and even hiding his form, entering the temple as a mortal, then following Zhu Xiaolian into the Red Lotus Hell Map.

Although ultimately discovered by the Black-faced Evil Spirit guarding the Hell Map, it demonstrates the sharpness and ingenuity of Immortal Dao means, able to infiltrate the Deities’ Magic Realm to such an extent before being discovered.

Of course, this also relates to the Venerable Red Lotus’s lack of preparedness.

In the Magic Realm, although the Deity is the ruler and can control everything under its dominion, the Venerable Red Lotus is just a Sixth-Grade Deity, with only the Cultivation of Immortal Dao Divinity Transformation, asking him to constantly be aware of everything under his rule is somewhat unreasonable.

Generally, he would only sense during changes in the Magic Realm or external invasions.

Like Shen Hex, concealing his aura and transforming into a mortal, he could bypass his warnings and infiltrate the Magic Realm.

Although, it’s just a warning, if a face-to-face encounter occurs, he would still detect anomalies, after all, the method of concealing aura is Immortal Dao means used through Divine Power, not pure Mystic Sect Techniques, which would inevitably have flaws and loopholes after being utilized.

The method of concealing aura and the Combat Technique are similar; the power of the Sacrificial Demon Slaying Sword was greatly weakened, causing him to take considerable effort despite having the Earth Golden Body, to slay the Venerable Red Lotus.

If it were not for the Divine Body, but an Immortal Dao Cultivation Body, Shen Hex would not have spent so much effort in killing him.

This is the difference in systems, the flaw of using means, which must be addressed next, or to seek a Divine Dao Skill, using Divine Techniques against Divine Techniques, without using Immortal Martial means again.

Besides these, this trial also allowed Shen Hex to meet the mysterious Lord of the Jinyang Mansion.

As the Lord of Jinyang Mansion Divine Dao, the Jinyang Mansion Lord has remained reclusive for years, even neglecting political affairs, delegating many powers to the Civil and Military Judges, allowing them to manage affairs. He only appears during the Divine Dao Imperial Examinations and official appointments, where he confers the Divine Seal to new officials.

This is highly unusual.

Since ancient times, authority and name should not be entrusted to others!

The Divine Dao is even more so; if the power is lost, over time, even if the subordinates do not develop rebellious thoughts, they will be influenced by incense, wish power coercion, eventually becoming independent deities, replacing him.

Thus, the Jinyang Mansion Lord should not be doing this.

Yet he did, which led to many rumors, claiming he had been a deity for too long, deeply poisoned by incense, forced to delegate power to others to mitigate the effects of incense wish power. Some even say he wishes to enter reincarnation, to be reborn in the mortal world, using re-cultivation methods to rid the incense poison.