Underworld entries, starting with ghost stories.

Wu Qing stared intently, observing carefully, and indeed he could see details of night birds taking flight and wild beasts fleeing.

Of course, it was dark at night, and unless you were extremely careful, you wouldn't notice it at all.

However, he doesn't need to pay attention to these things.

Because of the "I need to verify the card" skill, it told him that groups of Maitreya followers were gathering over there.

He waved his feather fan and gave Liu Heita and Su Dingfang an encouraging look.

It means that it's really good that you were able to notice these details.

Encouraged by the gaze of this mysterious and powerful sage, Liu Heita and Su Dingfang straightened their backs considerably.

They quietly approached in that direction, and along the way, Liu Heita and Su Dingfang had further discussions and discovered more details.

They looked at Wu Qing, seeking his approval.

Wu Qing continued to gently fan himself, saying nothing, and looked at them with encouraging eyes.

The two, who had received his silent encouragement many times, were invigorated.

Liu Heita and Su Dingfang were both future famous generals, but at this time they were still too young.

Wu Qing believes that as long as they are given more silent encouragement, they will be able to grow into great talents.

As for himself, there's really nothing he can teach them... He can't pass on the "I need to check the license" technique to them.

At this moment, Wu Qing himself was also very excited.

It's all Ailian's fault.

Fortunately, he was on horseback with his robes spread out in front of him, so no one noticed.

He quietly pressed down on his beloved sister Ailian... "Don't move anymore."

Ailian became much more well-behaved, simply twirling gracefully around the pillar.

Wu Qing thought Ai Lian was a bit mischievous.

It's just that this place isn't suitable, otherwise I really wanted to whip her.

They gradually approached the valley ahead.

They dismounted, had two men watch over them, and the others slipped away further.

Soon, they took cover on the hillside and looked out into the valley.

But there were thousands of people gathered there.

These people did not light torches, but sat quietly under the moon.

In front of them was a wooden platform, and around the platform were piles of timber.

On the stage, many women and children sat quietly, numbering in the hundreds.

In the center there is a carved wooden lotus platform, on which sits a woman.

The woman was about thirty years old, with her upper body bare, wearing a lotus crown, and a solemn expression, waiting for more believers to arrive.

The woman was holding a glowing bead in front of her chest.

The bead was the size of a goose egg, and it emitted a mysterious light under the moonlight.

Consequently, although the woman was naked from the waist up, her entire body radiated a sacred white light. Thousands of people around looked at her as if she were a deity.

"What is this?" Dou Xianniang whispered. "A Buddhist ritual?"

Su Dingfang shook his head: "The Maitreya sect cannot be considered a normal Buddhist sect at all. They believe in the 'Maitreya's Descent to Buddhahood Sutra' and firmly believe that Maitreya Buddha will soon descend to the mortal world and lead everyone to get rid of suffering."

"Because the doctrines of Maitreya Buddhism are not based on orthodox Buddhist scriptures, the teachings of Maitreya Buddhism differ in each dynasty."

"The Maitreya sect during the Northern Wei Dynasty was the most extreme, believing in killing to rebel. Killing one person made one a Bodhisattva of the first stage, and killing ten people made one a Bodhisattva of the tenth stage. It not only encouraged the killing of monks and nuns from other sects of Buddhism, but also encouraged fathers and sons to kill each other and relatives and friends to slaughter each other."

Dou Xianniang clicked her tongue in astonishment: "There really is such a sect? It's too bloody and too ignorant."

Liu Heita's expression changed: "Why are they piling up so much firewood next to that wooden platform?"

A bad feeling arose in their hearts.

"Qing-ge'er, what should we do now?" Dou Xianniang looked at Wu Qing. "There are too many of them, and these kinds of people are never reasonable."

The others also looked at Wu Qing, wanting to know what else he could do in this situation.

No matter how powerful they are, they can't save the people on the stage from being surrounded by thousands of people.

If they were just ordinary refugees, they could still be forcibly dispersed on horseback.

But the atmosphere in the valley was really too strange.

Those Maitreya devotees sitting on the ground were as quiet as the dead.

They stared with fervent eyes at the naked woman on the stage, shrouded in a mysterious light.

The believers who joined in batches sat silently without saying a word.

Even the women and children on the wooden platform surrounded by firewood were as still as corpses.

Aside from some children, there were also eyes filled with fear.

More than anything, it was a kind of silent, yet strangely intense fervor.

Wu Qing stared at the beads in the woman's arms and suddenly said, "I've heard that Song Zixian has sorcery and can transform into a Buddha."

"This is also the main reason why he was able to gather a large number of believers in a very short period of time."

Su Dingfang said, "There are indeed such rumors, but we don't know if they are true or false. Perhaps they are just some tricks used by martial arts practitioners to deceive the people."

Wu Qing said, "That woman on stage is glowing. Can you tell what trick she's using?"

Dou Xianniang, Liu Heita, and Su Dingfang stared intently.

The woman on the stage was indeed radiating a dazzling white light.

This light was extremely dazzling at night, making her, who originally looked like an ordinary village woman, appear like a celestial maiden descended from heaven.

Dou Xianniang shook her head and said, "I can't see anything."

Wu Qing pointed: "The key is that bead; it's not an ordinary bead."

Using the authentication function, he saw the inscription hanging on the bead:

—"The Sui Hou Pearl!"

The "Sui" in Suihouzhu does not refer to the Sui Dynasty, but rather to the Sui State during the Spring and Autumn Period.

According to legend, the Suihou Pearl is one of the two great treasures that can be compared with the He Shi Bi. There has been a saying since ancient times that "whoever obtains the Suihou Pearl and the He Shi Bi will be richer than a country".

Of course, because the He Shi Bi was later made into an imperial seal, it became even more valuable to some extent, so much so that many people in later generations only knew about the He Shi Bi and were unaware of the Sui Hou Pearl.

It seems that the woman herself doesn't know any magic.

However, the Suihou Pearl possessed a certain amount of spiritual power, and the woman used this luminous illusion technique through the Suihou Pearl to make her look like a celestial maiden.

Wu Qing had already learned through Ai Lian's perception that this world possessed spiritual energy.

However, spiritual energy is extremely scarce and cannot be used for cultivation at all. Or rather, no matter how much one cultivates, one can only produce some silly tricks.

But such tricks are enough to deal with these people living in dire straits.

Wu Qing had no intention of criticizing the public's ignorance.

In their desperate situation, they could not see the future at all, and therefore they were particularly eager for the so-called future Buddha.

Ultimately, in this era, powerful clans monopolized all knowledge, and they spent hundreds or even thousands of years keeping the people ignorant.

It's like the common people at the bottom of society are destined to live in the mud, and then when they are needed, they are criticized for being covered in mud.

This condescending attitude is inherently ridiculous.

Wu Qing narrowed his eyes slightly.

He cannot stand idly by in the face of this situation, but it is undoubtedly too late to enlighten the people now.

It seems we can only break through ignorance with ignorance, and break through illusion with illusion.

"Isn't it just a matter of illusion magic?" He stroked the snake's head, smiling without saying a word.