Thanks for the invitation, I just entered the chat group after traveling through Under One Person.

Chapter 224 They Descended to Earth
Su Yun returned to her original little villa and watched the projection on the screen, also sharing it in the chat group to watch the show with everyone.

Su Heng scoffed at the behavior of these wild gods and arhats, saying, "But they've got a pretty clever plan. They thought they could use us to establish their authority and cover up their underhanded methods. Unfortunately for them, they've chosen the wrong target."

Master Qingyuan gently stroked his staff and shook his head slightly: "Buddhism is a place of compassion, a place to save people, but it has been defiled by these wild gods. Although they are just clowns to those enlightened monks, such behavior has truly tarnished the reputation of Buddhism."

Lin Yuanfeng flicked the remaining fragments of the golden statue off his hands and snorted, "Who cares about the reputation of Buddhism? Anyone who dares to lay a hand on us will have to pay the price."

The vengeful spirits gradually dissipated, and the points of light in the sky also faded away. Qi Luo put away his Ghost Domain, dusted off non-existent dust from his body, and said, "They got off easy this time. If I wasn't in such a hurry to deal with these guys, I would have tortured them properly."

After greeting the patriarchs of various sects, everyone departed, leaving behind only the ruins of Fusang, now a desolate wasteland.

The projection in front of Su Yun was slightly different from the live stream footage of Gao Yushan. After things settled down in Japan, there wasn't much content to stream, so Gao Yushan ended her broadcast. Meanwhile, the people in China poured their enthusiasm into their cultivation practices.

The projected image in front of Su Yun showed scenes of various wild gods, disguised as gods, stealing the faith of humankind. The Severed Heaven-Earth Connection was like a seal, imprisoning them within the inner world.

The power of faith within one's own world is a real force that did not reach the true realm of Journey to the West, as the immortals there do not need this power. Thus, for thousands of years, the power of faith of generations of people has remained in the human world, in the sculptures of various gods and Buddhas.

The accumulated power of faith over such a long period of time is like a treasure trove for the wild gods—an extremely rich wealth. Even those who have attained immortality in orthodox Buddhism and Taoism, whose minds are relatively free of flaws, are likely to be moved by it.

However, these guys don't dare to openly plunder the power of faith. The current situation is that they are using their own methods to secretly harvest the power of faith.

These wild gods dare not act as recklessly as they did in ancient times, mainly because the current cultivation world is vastly different from the past. In ancient times, the separation of heaven and earth had not yet been implemented, and the rules of heaven and earth were chaotic. Wild gods, relying on their powerful strength, could do almost anything they wanted.

However, now that the connection between Heaven and Earth has been severed, the Buddhist and Taoist sects have risen to prominence, possessing immense power and profound foundations. Many of their practitioners are highly skilled and capable. If the wild gods openly commit evil deeds, they will inevitably face a joint attack from the Buddhist and Taoist sects.

It is conceivable that, given the arrogant attitude of these wild gods in ancient times, those who attained immortality through Buddhism and Taoism must have initially been regarded as a lowly group.

The cultivators who guided the emergence of Buddhism and Taoism were almost all avatars of powerful figures from various realms. Therefore, these wild gods would likely have been severely beaten in the inner world. Otherwise, so many wild gods wouldn't have sought refuge in Buddhism; Taoism simply has a higher entry barrier.

Furthermore, the mortal world today has a large population and its inhabitants are becoming increasingly intelligent, no longer as ignorant and easily controlled as in ancient times. With the development of the times and the spread of various ideas and cultures, while mortals still hold reverence for gods and ghosts, they are no longer blindly superstitious.

If the evil deeds of the wild gods become too blatant and cause panic and resistance among mortals, it will inevitably lead to even greater trouble, which is why the wild gods are somewhat wary of them.

So the wild gods found another way, choosing more covert and ingenious methods to commit evil. They no longer appeared in a ferocious and terrifying guise, but instead disguised themselves as revered gods and Buddhas, exploiting mortals' piety towards religious faith to do evil in secret.

The images projected by Su Yun showed that the wild gods who were putting on airs and secretly stealing the faith of gods and Buddhas in various places were already among the most audacious. Most of these statues of gods and Buddhas belonged to the temples and monasteries of various powerful sects.

The founders of these sects are still alive. Isn't this just fleecing them? Once discovered, given that immortals and gods can appear now, they will inevitably be hunted down.

Most of the less daring wild gods typically exploit the faith of deities like the Earth God and City God. For example, in some remote mountain villages, wild gods might disguise themselves as the Earth God and steal souls in dreams. Or they might infiltrate small Taoist temples, posing as Taoist novices. While Taoist priests hold ceremonies to pray for blessings and ward off disasters for believers, these wild gods secretly use evil magic to disrupt the spiritual energy of the ceremony.

Over time, believers may unconsciously develop an excessive dependence on the Taoist temple, continuously donating money and offerings of faith. The wild gods, in turn, can use this to amass a great deal of wealth and spiritual power.

These wild gods employ a variety of methods, all of which are extremely secretive. They cleverly exploit the faith and ignorance of mortals to secretly draw power from them.

While Yi Qing and the others were unaware of the power dynamics among the immortals within the inner realm, Su Yun saw it all at a glance. Buddhism and Taoism held absolute dominance, Taoism possessed superior high-level combat power, and Buddhism led in the number of immortals.

In this world, Mi Er primarily depicts matters of Taoism, but that doesn't mean Taoism is more widespread. Aside from a few major sects, Buddhism is more prevalent in the secular world. Even within the world of supernatural beings, there are numerous branches and sects of Buddhism; for example, the Vajra Without Leaks sect, to which Dou Hong, the leader of the Thirty-Six Thieves, belongs, is a typical branch of Buddhism.

"Non-leaking" is a Buddhist term. "Leakage" is another name for afflictions, meaning leakage. "Non-leaking" refers to Nirvana, Bodhi, and all things that relieve worldly afflictions. The Vajra of Non-leaking can also be shortened to "Dharma of Non-leaking." "Non-leaking" is the cultivation of one's nature, while "Vajra" is the cultivation of one's physical body, and it is also a means to pursue the dual cultivation of nature and body.

The Wulou Vajra sect also has a patriarch who is protected by a lineage. This patriarch is named "Wulou" (meaning "without leakage"). He was a Tang Dynasty monk, originally surnamed Jin. He was a prince of Silla (Korea), whose birth and death dates are unknown. He crossed the sea to China and intended to travel to India to seek Buddhist scriptures, reaching as far as west of the Pamir Mountains. He can be considered a second-generation "Tang Monk" (a Tang Dynasty monk from the Tang Dynasty).

One night, Emperor Su of Tang was in Lingzhou when he dreamed of a monk, who was golden in color and chanting the name of Ratnasambhava. The next morning at court, he asked his attendants about what he had seen in his dream. Someone reported, "There is a Silla monk named Wulou in Baicao Valley of Helan Mountain. He often chants the name of Ratnasambhava Buddha and has a remarkable talent for it."

The monk Wulou was a master from the same period as the monk Bukong mentioned earlier. The story of Tang Sanzang in Journey to the West is basically based on the monk Xuanzang, with the stories of monks Wulou and Bukong added to it.

The Taoist sects weren't all composed of Taoist masters like the founders of various schools; there were also those like Lin Lingsu of the Shenxiao Sect who achieved immortality but whose hearts were not pure. However, relatively speaking, their numbers were much smaller.

But then a Taoist priest appeared on a mountain in a scenic area that wasn't particularly famous. He wore a half-worn lotus leaf Taoist hat, the crown ribbon casually tied with green vines, and a few strands of snow-white hair slipped from his temples, but two wild jasmine flowers, picked from who-knows-where, were attached to the ends of his hair, and a faint smell of wine could be detected.

The Taoist robe he wore was a faded moon white, but the collar and cuffs were embroidered with dense green coin patterns. Upon closer inspection, the copper coin patterns seemed to flow slightly with each step, as if real coins were strung together under the fabric.

What's unfathomable is the aura surrounding him—he clearly looks like a seasoned veteran of the streets, with even a few wine stains and incense ash on the hem of his clothes.

He had an air of being neither celestial nor worldly, making people both want to worship him and unable to help but wonder if he was some old scoundrel who had just stolen money from a tavern and sneaked out. This kind of temperament was somewhat similar to that of Qingyuan Daoist in the transmigrator team.

"That Lin Lingsu has really mastered the art of 'borrowing momentum'," the old Taoist suddenly chuckled, conjuring a mirror with a wave of his hand that reflected a scene a thousand miles away. In front of a newly built Taoist temple, worshippers lined up in a long queue, and the statue of "Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun" enshrined in the hall had slightly upturned eyes.

Zuo Ci suddenly murmured, and the bronze mirror in his sleeve reflected hundreds of places across the land where incense burned brightly. Half of them had the aura of wild gods or unorthodox cultivators surging within them: "Back then, when I slew the white snake and teased Cao Cao at Tianzhu Mountain, it was just for fun. But these younger generations..."

"This guy... must be Zuo Ci. As expected, all the Taoists from the Three Kingdoms period who were legendary but didn't get involved in the struggle for power became immortals," Su Yun thought to himself, looking at the old Taoist in the picture.

Su Yun recalled the story of Zuo Ci recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "Back then, he fished for perch and took ginger from Shu at Cao Cao's banquet. He seemed to be playing around in the world, but in fact, he was planning every step. Now that he is causing trouble in the secular world, he is probably more difficult to deal with than a wild god."

(End of this chapter)