Psychics don't die from gunfire

Chapter 802 Exclusive Faith
Does such behavior deserve to be called "faith"?

Relying on psychic powers, they manipulate others' thoughts and control their minds, turning love and hate, and all emotions, into buttons to be switched on and off.
[Consensus] is nothing but a false religion; [Dayuan] is the true faith.

"—The power of faith."

Song Shi pondered.

Shinto was once prominent in the Eastern Continent, with many followers. However, due to various drawbacks and personal choices, it gradually declined. For example, even if Shinto were to return to its most prosperous period, he would still scoff at it and would not go there.

Although he hadn't eaten pork, he had at least seen pigs run. Song Shi was indeed not an expert in this area, but over the years, he had seen all sorts of people and had gained considerable knowledge in this area.

As the owner of the giant corporation [Dust Contract Generation], the other party possesses billions of views and wields immense influence. He has numerous devout followers who are attentive day and night, and has accumulated over many years... If I'm not mistaken, that strangely shaped aerospace mothership is Zenryusha's [Beacon of Faith].

The "living saint" Upton O'Neill, whom I met during my travels through the Vanpusta Empire, had only a mid-fourth ring psychic power. However, thanks to the blessing of the "Beacon of Faith" "Fidas Cathedral," his strength increased dramatically, and he was able to exchange a few blows with me, who was at the peak of the fourth ring.

When it comes to the power of faith, the Vanpusta Empire is far superior to Zenryusha, firstly because of its profound technological expertise and secondly because of its millennia-long strategic planning and accumulated experience. However, the latter only had one Zenryusha.

The empire's faith power is indeed abundant and powerful, but it can't compete with the sheer number of people it has.

The title of "Living Saint" requires extremely high levels of faith and merit from believers. Those who have received it throughout history have all been extraordinary individuals with great perseverance. Yet, even so, the empire still manages to produce several "Living Saints" in each generation!
In addition, the six Holy Spirits, cardinals, saints, and the Pope all occupy high positions in this belief system. Regardless of their subjective intentions, they inevitably cause the dispersal of the power of faith. Apart from His Majesty the Emperor himself, no one can mobilize the power of faith throughout the entire empire at once.

In contrast, Zen Ryūshin is different; it is enjoyed by one person alone. People love Zen Ryūshin, and only Zen Ryūshin.

I'll focus on this one area.

"Tsk, there's still too little information." Song Shi clicked his tongue. "Textile Machine, I'm ordering you to quickly develop a battle replay system. I need to study this battle carefully. With so little information right now, there's not much to see."

The textile machine is silent, cool and doesn't say a word.

“Zenryusatsuna has a very limited record of taking action.” At this moment, a voice came from behind Song Shi. Without turning around, he saw Chakro Vaughn, who rubbed his face and said in a deep voice, “In my memory, Zenryusatsuna herself almost never takes action. The last time she officially made a move was probably during the Sky Data Tower campaign.”

"How old is she?" Song Shi asked. "Give me some inside information."

“I don’t know either.” Chakro was not annoyed by the interruption and answered truthfully: “The Dust Contract Generation monopolized the information and media channels and had a strong control over the dissemination of information. There must be thousands of different versions of the news involving Zenru Setsuna himself.”

He pondered for a moment: "I think he's probably not young."

As expected of being ranked number one among the top ten unsolved mysteries of corporate alliances, it's certainly not easy to figure out.
Song Shi sighed regretfully and gestured for the other party to continue.

“I have seen the video,” Chaklo said. “Zenratsa’s performance was of a very high standard, extremely high.”

This is already extremely high praise.

In this battle, Zenryusha clearly didn't go all out, still holding back some trump cards. However, for a psionicist of Chaklo Vaughn's caliber—roughly the second-ranked psionicist in the Corporate League—gaining a glimpse of his true power was not difficult. Zenryusha's accumulated strength had finally been unleashed, a truly astonishing feat.

"If it were you, who would win and who would lose?" Song Shi asked bluntly.

“I think she’s no less impressive than Dwight Brooks that day,” Chaklo said steadily, one hand resting on his side. “But we’ll only know who wins and who loses after the fight.”

Song Shi smiled broadly.

The two temporarily set aside the "enlightened one" and began to talk about other things.

After decisively defeating Matthew Toyn, Zenryusa hovered its space carrier and began advancing, reclaiming the Enterprise Alliance territory previously occupied by the Empire. Apart from this, there were no other major moves for the time being.

As for the Vanpusta Empire, after losing Grand Master Matthew Toyn, the [Spirit Candle] Knights, responsible for the main attack, quickly changed their strategy, constantly shifting their battle lines back and choosing to maintain a stalemate. It seems this stalemate will continue until Matthew Toyn recovers or the Empire dispatches new high-ranking combatants.

It won't work in the short term.

Because Matthew Toyn's injury is very troublesome.

Both belong to the path of "consensus," but Paddy Morse of "rebirth of the mind" seeks outward, thus substituting his own mind for the mind of heaven, and has the great power to reshape reality at will. But Zen Ryusei is different. She is the most orthodox one who seeks inward, so she can manipulate the thoughts of others and even influence the cognition of millions of people with ease.

According to the customs of the Eastern Continent, this all-pervasive method, when used for good, is called "Buddha," and when used for evil, it is called "Heavenly Demon."

Similarly, Cleveland Anton, known as "Iron Pulse," had severed his own arm, and because of the True Spirit "Annihilation," it was extremely difficult to regrow it. It could only be done painstakingly, taking a long time to painstakingly rebuild it. Ultimately, the only cost he paid was time, with no technical difficulties.

Zenruchatana's fifth-level "Consensus" is different. The injuries she inflicts are endlessly destructive. It can be said that every thought of the opponent will be tainted with aftereffects, deeply hidden and lurking. To completely see through and eliminate them is extremely difficult. After all, even great supernatural beings who have attained the Buddha's level have fallen victim to this.

During the battle at the Sky Data Tower, Shen Jue, the head of the Enlightened Ones' intelligence department, was a fourth-ring [Consensus] with the title "Heavenly Demon's Conversion." He was always a master at manipulating others in this regard.

However, he only had a brief encounter with Zenryusha before he was forced to disintegrate on the spot because he was not confident that he could eliminate the aftereffects. He had to start over from the second ring and has not yet fully recovered.

"Our primary task right now is to deal with the repercussions of the open-source 'Based Reality Technology,' and I will take charge of that." Chaklo projected a map onto the spinning machine to discuss the details: "Song Shi, you don't need to worry about these things. You should remain in the Eastern Continent Republic's resettlement area and gradually erode its peripheral forces. When the time is right, we will then attack its homeland. There's one more thing you need to pay attention to."

Song Shi and Cha Keluo both fell silent.

They exchanged a glance, and simultaneously a black communication message appeared on their respective personal terminals.

—The Science Ethics Committee's "Doomsday Letter"?!

(End of this chapter)