Taoist priest goes to America

Chapter 95 I Want to Join the Church

Chen Chengyan was supporting his wife's shoulder when he heard Li An speak. He paused for a moment, then looked up.

When he entered the store, his attention was entirely focused on his wife and daughter, and he didn't even notice that there were other people in the store.

Suddenly a strange man appeared, wearing a dark red suit jacket, and asked him what the cult leader looked like.

Chen Chengyan looked at Li An with a wary and confused gaze.

"Who are you----?"

"My name is Li An, and I'm a friend of your father's." As Li An spoke, he tilted his head towards Chen Houde and gave him a wink.

Chen Houde stood a few meters away, holding his still sobbing granddaughter. When he saw Li Anshi's expression, a hint of doubt appeared on his old face.

But having lived for over sixty years, he was quick to read the room and immediately nodded in agreement, mumbling a "hmm" before turning and walking into the shop with his granddaughter in his arms.

"I just heard you mention the cult leader," Li An said, his face showing a longing, like a believer who couldn't contain his excitement but tried hard to remain polite.

"To be honest, I've recently heard a lot of people talk about the Vajrayana religion, and I also watched the video of the leader—the one who lost an arm and had it grow back. It was so shocking."

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"I've been looking for a way to join the church, but I don't know how to make an introduction. I've happened to meet you all today; could you please introduce me?"

Su Jingxian reacted much faster than Chen Chengyan. When Li An said the words "introduce to the church", she jumped up as if she had been electrocuted. Her speed was so fast that even her husband did not have time to react.

She was just muttering and pulling at her hair, but now she's rushed up to Li An, grabbing his right hand tightly with both of hers.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you for being willing to join the church, that's wonderful, really wonderful!"

Su Jingxian's voice was shrill and trembling, her eyes were red, and her face was still wet with tears, but she grinned into an exaggerated smile.

That smile was so genuine it sent chills down your spine. Just a moment ago, someone was yelling and pulling their hair, and in an instant, they were smiling as if they had won the lottery.

While thanking Li An, Su Jingxian shook his hand up and down, completely unaware that the cuts on her own palms from the glass were still bleeding.

As she shook hands, blood and shards of glass were smeared all over Ang Lee's hands.

Ang Lee glanced down at his hand, which was covered in red and purple smears, but did not pull it away.

Su Jingxian followed his gaze and belatedly realized what she had done. She felt embarrassed and quickly pulled her hand back, frantically pulling at her loose hair with her blood-stained fingers.

"I'm so sorry, my hands are covered in blood, I've made a mess for you, haven't I? I'm so sorry."

Chen Chengyan quickly pulled out a pack of tissues from his pocket, took out a few sheets and used them to wipe the blood and glass shards off Li An's hands, apologizing and thanking him repeatedly as he did so.

His tone shifted between apology and gratitude, making him sound somewhat incoherent.

"Mr. Li, thank you so much! You've really helped us a lot!"

He carefully pinched the shards of glass out of Ang Lee's fingers with a tissue, and a tired smile appeared on his dark and thin face.

"My husband and I have been trying to recruit friends to the church. We've asked everyone we could. We just need one more person to join so we can move on to the next level of contribution points."

"But everyone avoids us, they don't answer our calls, they won't open the apartment door, even my college roommate blocked me. You're willing to join the church today, that's better than anything, really, better than anything."

Ang Lee withdrew his hand, which had been wiped clean: "What are contribution points?"

Chen Chengyan crumpled up the blood-stained tissue and stuffed it back into his pants: "It's for points to exchange for elixirs in the church. The Qingfan Sect has several kinds of elixirs, and the Three Pure Ones Buddha Water is just the most basic one."

"Oh, is that so? I also want the elixir. How do I get contribution points?" Li An asked earnestly, his face showing a look of deep longing.

There are several ways to earn contribution points, the easiest being to recruit others to join the membership. You get 800 contribution points for each person you recruit.

"If you recruit more than three people, starting from the fourth person, you'll get 1000 points for each additional person recruited. Mr. Li, you're the fourth person we recruited! Thank you! Thank you!"

Are there any other ways to obtain it?

"Yes, the most common way is to offer incense money, which costs thirty dollars each time. Offering incense money once allows you to draw a fortune stick. The fortune stick has a contribution score on it."

"Most of them are 10, 20, or 30, occasionally you can get 50, and when you're really lucky you can get 100, but I've never actually seen anyone get 100, I've only heard about it from other people."

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Ang Lee pointed to the pool of liquid on the ground that was still glowing. "How many contribution points does that bottle of Three Pure Ones Buddha Water cost?"

Chen Chengyan smiled wryly. He stared at the mess for a long time, reluctant to look away, before sighing and announcing the number: "15000."

"These contribution points, if converted to money, cost us at least 20,000 yuan, and we still had to get up early every day to bathe and burn incense."

Li An thought that it would take a considerable amount of time to accumulate 15,000 points, and with this window of opportunity, he could free up his resources to deal with the leader of the Qingfan Sect.

Ang Lee looked towards the old man holding his granddaughter deep inside the paper shop.

Chen Houde was gently patting the little girl's back, coaxing her in Cantonese. The little girl had stopped crying, but was still sobbing, burying her face in her grandfather's shoulder and refusing to lift it up.

Old Chen's paper craft shop is his stable source of goods and connections in New York. If Old Chen goes bankrupt because of his granddaughter's accident, this supply line will be cut off.

Therefore, the affairs of the Qingfan sect were never trivial matters from the very beginning.

However, Ang Lee also had his own selfish motives. From Yuzu's words, we know that Qigu's ability is to split flesh and blood, which proves that he can obtain the abilities of superhumans who can drive corpses.

If the cult leader's demonstration of a severed arm regenerating in the video is real, and not some editing effect or illusion, then he is a superhuman with healing abilities.

What Ang Lee currently lacks most in his skill set is recovery skills.

The bullet hole in his chest still throbs with pain. If he could obtain the cult leader's regenerative abilities, his survivability would leap to a whole new level.

Instead, superhuman zombies retain their abilities from when they were alive, essentially giving their zombie servants an extra healer.

Moreover, this Qingfan sect is clearly a cult; exchanging over 20,000 US dollars for a vial of blue potion is no different from outright robbery.

The cult leader is supreme and his word is law; his followers worship him and dare not question him in any way.

The fanaticism of religious believers has reached a certain level, and this couple is a living example of that.

Ordinary believers like Su Jingxian and Chen Chengyan seemed to have their judgment sucked away, like walking corpses pouring money and time into a bottomless pit.

And the source of all this was that young cult leader who wore a mix of red and black kasaya and Taoist robes, and whose eyes seemed to be both Buddha and demon.

For someone from such an organization, killing high-ranking church officials posed no psychological burden for Ang Lee.

"When is the earliest we can see the cult leader?" Li An asked anxiously.

Chen Chengyan lowered his head and thought for a moment, "I'll arrange it for you in a few days, within three days."

"We are official believers with recommendation qualifications, and we can help newcomers apply to meet the leader," Chen Chengyan said with certainty.

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"I'm familiar with the process. I just need to fill out a form and submit it. Don't worry, Mr. Li, you've helped us so much. I'll definitely get this done for you."

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