Reincarnation Girl Becomes Immortal

Gradually, people of name and reputation within the church rushed to this place. Upon entering and seeing the demonic figure on the front seat, they stopped in their tracks and stood at the very edge of the room, not daring to go any further.

Before half of the people had arrived, the man who had previously ordered the dismantling of the statues brought over with a few others.

They first respectfully greeted her, and then walked to the altar and together lifted up the unevenly shaped statue of Shaoxi.

Just as they were about to carry the statue away, Xi Heng suddenly spoke:

“It’s too much effort to carry it together. You can smash the statue here and each take a small piece with you.”

Chen Xiang, who was in charge, paused for a moment, glanced at the incense masters and deputies of the Jingming Sect branch altars around him, and said nothing.

He gritted his teeth and slammed the statue of Taixi onto the hard, solid stone floor.

boom--

The resounding boom of the catapult's projectiles hitting the city wall yesterday echoed here, startling the nearby Jingming Sect leaders into shouting and sighing.

Many of them wanted to yell and scold, but seeing Xi Heng sitting at the front, they kept their mouths shut in order to save their own lives.

Dust was flying everywhere in the center of the main house.

The statue shattered into several pieces, and a charred head rolled a few times before coming to a stop, swaying.

He picked up the head with one hand and tucked it into his bosom.

After a moment of stunned silence, the others picked up the remaining pieces, lowered their heads to avoid eye contact with anyone, and stepped heavily out of the room.

The air felt even heavier and quieter because of the broken statue.

People stood there, speechless, staring at the few remaining fragments on the ground.

A moment later, another group of people arrived at the main house.

Once the number of people indoors reaches fifty or sixty, no more will be added.

"Are all the officials with positions in the church present?" Xi Heng asked, glancing around the room.

Wang Xun, the first to defect to her during the previous battle, stepped forward and responded:

"Reporting to the Demon Lord, there have been some missing people from the altar in the past two days. Specifically, the East Hall Master Mu Bingdong, the West Deputy Hall Master Ning Chengliang, and the East Hall Master led sixty people to escape from Jinshi during the battle last night... The West Hall Master was killed by you, and the North and South Hall Masters are still working for you in the sect. However, the North Hall Master is currently guarding the sorghum fields outside the city and is not in the altar."

Xi Heng listened briefly but didn't pay much attention. He only asked about the current structure and organization of the altar and how many people were left.

The other party answered honestly:

The Jingming Sect began proselytizing three months ago. Prior to that, it had one altar master at the Jinshi Altar and four major halls, each with a hall master.

The head of the hall has four incense masters under him, and each incense master has four deputies under him. Each deputy is in charge of fifteen believers who have joined the hall.

The four branches together have 960 ordinary believers, but not every deputy has a full complement of subordinates, so the total number is actually only 700 or 800.

Including the incense masters and their deputies, along with other ritual personnel, servants, cooks, literate people who copy and spread the doctrines, and various other miscellaneous people, there are actually more than a thousand people in the entire Jingming religious altar.

But after these two days, hundreds of members of the sect were killed by Xi Heng, a group of others fled, and some have returned to secular life.

Now, there are fewer than five hundred people left in the entire teaching community.

Most of the people who stayed behind were simply afraid that if they separated from their former allies, they would fall into hell after death, just as Xi Heng had said. None of them had any ideals or beliefs.

As a result, they all looked lifeless and almost numb.

They dared not utter a sound when they saw the idols they worshipped being smashed.

After briefly learning about the current situation of the sect, Xi Heng nodded.

Even if it's a stagnant, decaying place, at least no one in the community will dare to deliberately cause trouble.

Next, she asked the people below to introduce themselves, explaining who the hall master was, who the incense master was, and what the other positions did.

“I am Wu Lian, the leader of the South Branch…” they replied one by one, their voices trembling slightly.

“My name is Fan Liang. I am the granary manager in the temple. I know a little about abacus and I am in charge of the temple’s money and provisions.”

"..."

“I am Lianxiu, and I have about ten literate people under my command who copy the teachings every day… The task of compiling the Great Dark Heavenly Venerable's doctrine, which you instructed me to do the other day, is also under my management.”

When they reached this person, Xi Heng raised his hand to stop them from introducing themselves and asked:

"How's the writing going?"

"Please spare my life, sir!" The man knelt down in a panic, pulling a scroll from his wide sleeves.

"We've never done this before, and with only two days, we couldn't write more than a few words. We just copied down what you said the other day and added some words of praise. We don't even know if it's clear or not..."

"Bring it here," Xi Heng said.

She had no hope for the literate people in this cult; they were mostly just copying scriptures and couldn't even be considered scholars.

"Yes!" The man stepped forward, his legs trembling.

Xi Heng took the scroll and unfolded it.

The first half of the paper was similar to what I had said before, but as I looked further down, I saw something new.

The scroll was covered in messy writing, clearly indicating that it had been edited and deleted countless times.

After numerous revisions, the sentences were still out of order and contained typos. Xi Heng had no choice but to half-close his eyes and softly read them aloud based on his own understanding:

"It is said that when heaven and earth were first created, there were no people. It was the Heavenly Mother who gave birth to messengers, who then gave birth to mortals. The mortals multiplied and gathered into families, and the families united to form a nation, and life continued endlessly."

"In ancient times, the four poles of heaven and earth collapsed, the nine provinces shattered, the sky could not cover the earth, and the earth could not support the sky. Flames were endless and never extinguished, and ferocious birds and beasts ravaged the people. The Great Dark Heavenly Mother, out of compassion, forged two giant stones to mend the sky, slaying the black dragon that was gnawing at the roots of heaven and earth. She used the dragon's tendons to bind the giant stones to the sky. One stone was yellow and became the sun, and the other was silver and became the moon..."

"But the fire on earth never went out, so the Heavenly Mother used her breath to gather the fire to the far continent at the end of the boundless sea, and thus the realm of fire came into being."

"After millions of years, a white pure fire gathered at the center of the Flame Domain. That is the Pure Fire Venerable. Because he was driven away, he hated the Dark Goddess. So he deceived the world by saying that the Great Dark God was an evil god who wanted to steal the worship of the world from the Goddess as revenge."

"People should not believe in the Pure Fire Bright Venerable. The Great Dark Heaven is the mother of all beings. Do not be harmed by evil and turn away from the Heavenly Mother, for this is unfilial..."

……

Chapter 71, Reduced to ashes

After reading the doctrinal scroll for a few minutes, Xi Heng nodded slightly.

This group of literate people seemed to have pledged allegiance more thoroughly than other believers. Without her prompting, they intentionally belittled the Pure Fire Venerable and elevated the Great Dark Heaven.

The scroll below reads: "The Dark Goddess created musical instruments called sheng, se, and xun, and is the deity in charge of music."

Later, the Heavenly Mother defined the systems of nation-states and sacrifices for mortals, and was the deity of rites and the state.

In addition to what Xi Heng said earlier, the Great Dark Heaven is the mother of life and the god of nature who created all things, and now the Great Dark Heaven has several honorary titles.

"It's ok."

Xi Heng closed the scroll and tossed it back, looking down at the troubled scholar below: "Make some more revisions and additions, and then, in seven days, hold a grand ceremony in the city. At that time, read this doctrine to the people of Jinshi City."

"Yes! Yes, sir." The other party breathed a sigh of relief and retreated with the scroll in his arms.

Wang Qiong, standing nearby, reminded him:

"My Lord Demon, the Zhao army seized the city yesterday, and the city is now under increasingly tight control. It would be best not to start preaching so openly so as not to provoke the soldiers."

"What are officers and soldiers?" Xi Heng scoffed coldly. "Go ahead and do it."

The other person swallowed hard, mustered their courage, and continued speaking:

"Our Dark Heavenly Sect is no longer the powerful Pure Bright Sect it once was. We have no reputation among the people, so even if we were to hold a grand ceremony, there wouldn't be many participants..."

"That's easy." Xi Heng turned his gaze to the grain depot manager below and asked:

"How much money and food does the church have left?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, the grain that the Jingming Sect previously plundered and extorted is enough for the sect to use for two months, and the estimated amount of money is close to ten thousand taels."

"That's not much."

Xi Heng shook his head.

When she was emperor, the treacherous officials confiscated more than ten million taels of silver from her home, enough to support hundreds of these small religious sects.

"Ten thousand, ten thousand taels of silver isn't enough..." The grain depot manager below was stunned.

Xi Heng ignored the other party and directly gave the order: "Jinshi City has experienced several battles in recent days, which has not only delayed the farming season but also damaged various industries in the city. Last night, half of the central city was burned down. Now there are many refugees in the city. Starting tomorrow, the Dark Heavenly Sect will go to the city to distribute porridge to the refugees. As for the government troops, I will handle the negotiations."

The officers and generals who currently occupy Jinshi City are related to her by blood, so it shouldn't be difficult to obtain permission from them to do this good deed and to conduct simple missionary work.

"Distributing porridge?" The crowd below looked surprised.

Giving porridge to refugees? Is this something demons should do?

It's a terrible thing that such precious grain was given to disaster victims for no reason.

Demons and monsters commit evil deeds... that doesn't seem wrong, does it?

"You won't do it?" A hint of murderous intent flashed in Xi Heng's eyes.

"Yes! How could I not? I'll obey the Demon Lord's orders!" The grain depot manager trembled and hurriedly replied.

He could still tell whether food or life was more important.

"Spread your doctrines while distributing porridge and recruit young and healthy people into the church, claiming that those who join the church will not have to go hungry. As for how to train new people, you hall masters should all know."

“After one month, the number of people in the teaching staff must exceed one thousand, or I will hold you accountable.” After saying this, Xi Heng turned his gaze to the woman on the other side.

She was a slightly plump woman who was in charge of the miscellaneous tasks and kitchen staff in the church.

"Everyone else, if you have nothing to report, go back and do your own thing. You stay."

Those around looked at the woman with pity, breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately left the main house.

Only the fat woman remained, trembling as she said, "What are your orders, sir? I'll do it right away..."

"Make me some dishes and bring them to me." Xi Heng waved his hand.

She had been hungry all day.

……

In the following days, Xi Heng first went to the temporary general's mansion in Jinshi City, and went directly to his relative, who was a martial arts master, to ask him for an official document so that the good deeds that the Dark Heavenly Sect was going to do could proceed more smoothly.

The process went smoothly. She simply expressed some pity for the refugees in Jinshi City, and Zhao Wanli immediately wrote an article with a loud laugh, and then ordered the soldiers not to delay the distribution of porridge and other charitable acts in the city.

When Xi Heng brought the official documents, the other person suddenly gave her a strange look, as if they had seen through something, and said something cryptic to her:

"This humble general has high hopes for Her Highness the Princess."

Xi Heng tilted his head, not quite understanding.

But it didn't matter; the goal had been achieved. She then took the official documents and left the general's mansion, returning to the Dark Heavenly Sect's headquarters.

After handing the official document bearing the general's seal to the steward in charge of distributing porridge, he casually strolled around the entire temple courtyard.

The statues of the Pure Fire Venerable and the anchor-like crosses have all been reduced to a pile of fragments of varying sizes, stacked in a corner of the yard.

Seeing that the order had been successfully carried out, Xi Heng fulfilled his previous promise and allowed the ordinary man named Chen Xiang to take over the position of chief priest.

Afterwards, she went to the study behind the altar and saw many literate people discussing matters of doctrine. Xi Heng gave some casual pointers and then ended her first day of work as the leader.

Tomorrow, the Dark Heaven Sect's porridge distribution points will open in the outer city.

The thick millet porridge wafted its aroma, attracting countless refugees to line up.

The Dark Heavenly Cult dispatched a dozen or so people to maintain order. These refugees were thin and weak, with pale and bluish faces, and had little strength to cause trouble. Everything proceeded peacefully.

The refugees numbly took their bowls, filled them with porridge, and drank it.

The porridge in the large pot had run dry, but the refugees continued to line up one after another.

Xi Heng sat on the eaves, gazing at the scene below, silently pondering how to create a peaceful and prosperous world where everyone has enough to eat.

"If the porridge runs out today, come back tomorrow!" shouted the steward in charge of distributing the porridge.

Many of them looked pale and thin, and it seemed they wouldn't last much longer.

Xi Heng shook his head and said, "Cook another pot."

The grain depot manager was stunned and stammered, "This..."

"Say one more word and I'll chop off your head."

"Yes! Yes! Quickly bring a few more bags of millet!" The dozen or so people in the porridge shop got busy again.

While the porridge was being cooked, Chen Xiang, who was in charge of missionary work and recruiting people, stepped forward:

“We are followers of the Dark Heavenly Sect. We have come here to distribute porridge and save lives on the orders of the merciful Holy Maiden.”

While people waited, he repeatedly proclaimed: "The Great Dark Heaven is the mother of all living beings and the lord of all religions."