281: Chapter 79: Pretending to Be a God and Playing Tricks, Yet Ruthless and Cruel 281: Chapter 79: Pretending to Be a God and Playing Tricks, Yet Ruthless and Cruel That year, many people were superstitious.
Sometimes, even they themselves couldn’t clarify which immortals they believed in, but regardless, you had to believe in something; otherwise, if everyone else believed and you didn’t, you’d seem very out of place.
The Western missionaries’ statement that the People of Ming had no faith was inaccurate.
The indigenous religious beliefs of Ming Country, in terms of systems and schemes, were very mature, creating a rather intense atmosphere, just different from the belief methods of the Foreigners.
This was more akin to sending gifts to leaders during festivals; although the leaders didn’t care much about your trivial gifts and couldn’t remember who had given what, they definitely remembered who hadn’t given a gift…that kind of mentality.
Immortals and Government Officials were no different; each governed their own domain.
If you did nothing and just boasted that you were God, all-knowing and all-powerful, and that everything they had was given by you, so they should believe in you…that would be like the Emperor elevating yourself too high, and the common folk wouldn’t feel anything tangible.
Serving the Emperor was the business of Government Officials; what did it have to do with me?
Therefore, the spread of the orthodox Catholic Sect in the inland areas of Ming Country was not as fast as some more relatable, niche factions like the Holy Clothes Society or the Baptist Church.
Even though all bear the Cross, the internal differences could be as vast as between Sichuan Cuisine and Cantonese Cuisine.
Moreover, although they also held the Bible in their hands and spoke of God, if you listened carefully, you would find out that what the Priest said was all White Lotus Sect stuff.
This kind of local-foreign hybrid new-generation sect spread terrifyingly fast in rural towns and villages.
It was like an online novel; the more grounded and brainlessly thrilling the story, the more popular it became…
In the neighborhood, regardless of wealth, every family had an altar for incense offerings.
It had never been heard that any Immortal Family was more noble than another.
If you talked out of turn and stirred up trouble with the Immortal Family, they might even blame you.
As a result, after Li Fugui established a ritual altar at his home, suddenly he got tough.
The brothers of the Great Luo Sect went around with weapons, knocking on every door, notifying that starting from that day, all households must take down any altar of any Immortal Family, no matter the size, to avoid disrupting the feng shui of his home’s altar.
If you nodded and agreed, that was fine.
If you dared to utter a word of dissent, they would beat you up mercilessly and, before leaving, they would issue a stern warning that if they saw anything displeasing after three days, no one should blame them for being ruthless!
Listening to the neighbors’ discussions, Wang Yunxiao was puzzled.
How had these people suddenly become so bold?
Hadn’t they heard of my name, Wang Yunxiao…
Of course, once people genuinely have been brainwashed by religion, indeed you cannot reason with them as their minds are contaminated, twisted into a different species.
The way people communicate meant nothing to them.
Meng Wei borrowed a handcart, and Wang Yunxiao took out some money from his pocket, asking Dumpling to accompany her to the hospital.
Although they often used her courtyard, because of the proprieties between men and women, unless necessary, Cui Xiaoying and her daughter seldom interacted with Wang Yunxiao and his brothers.
Only Dumpling, who was responsible for cooking, was more familiar with them.
With Meng Wei’s incompetent demeanor, if it were someone else, she probably couldn’t even make herself understood.
Saying she’s incompetent might indeed be a bit harsh.
Describing a girl, shy would be a more appropriate term.
Eldest Miss Li was just a girl who wasn’t very shy.
After settling Cui Xiaoying, Wang Yunxiao was preparing to go with his brothers and the neighbors to confront Li Fugui, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Mumu and Little Gourd lurking in the distance, peeking around, making his scalp tingle.
What are you coming to watch?
How can I perform normally with you here?
Did he even care about the persona he had so painstakingly built up?
Wealthy people are really capricious, aren’t they?
He could only steel himself and pretend he hadn’t seen anything.
A noisy crowd arrived at Li Fugui’s doorstep and when Wang Yunxiao took a good look, he thought, what the hell, this guy is even more of a caricature…
His door was adorned with a strip of white paper, a three-level altar was set up in the courtyard, and a brother wrapped in hemp was dancing on the altar, swinging a sword and ringing bells.
There was even drumming for music below, clanging away energetically.
Wang Yunxiao was utterly baffled and turned to ask a neighbor, “Did someone in his family die?”
The neighbor was also confused, “It’s just him in Li Fugui’s family, his mother died a couple of years ago, who is he worshipping?”
Though it’s a rule in the Jianghu World that the deceased should be respected and funerals undisturbed, that doesn’t mean you can beat someone up, go home, hold a funeral, and claim you’re in the right, does it?
Wang Yunxiao initially wanted to kick in the door, but considering international…
no, angel investors were watching, he felt too embarrassed to overdo it and instead stood at the door and shouted loud, “Li Fugui!
Come out!”
Right after he yelled, there was immediate silence in the courtyard.
The brother dancing on the altar looked down and sneered, “You are Wang Yunxiao?
Facing the grand procession of our ancestor, and you don’t hurry to kneel and worship!”
What the heck is this “grand procession of our ancestor”?
Wang Yunxiao looked around, besides him, there was no one else and couldn’t help but ask, “What ancestor are you?”
Seeing that, the brother gnashed his teeth, his face turning red and his ears crimson, trembling all over as if he had a stroke, stomped his foot three times, his long sword combusted without wind, and his eyes bulged like brass bells.
“Haha—Heavenly Venerable Great Luo’s grand procession is here, you mortals unaware of heaven’s design, failing to heed the decree of the Immortal Master, even daring to resist stubbornly, this is unforgivable, deserving death a thousand times!”
After reciting his lines, he opened his mouth to take a deep breath, threw his head back and spat out a fire cloud, countless flames burst into furious blaze, falling from the sky and scaring the neighbors into fleeing in all directions.
Wang Yunxiao noticed that the color of the flames was off, which made him immediately cautious, but with the neighbors behind him, there was nowhere to hide, in desperation, he grabbed his collar and yanked hard, tearing the clothes off his body and swinging them towards the fire falling from the sky.
My brand-new clothes!
This was their first wear!
As soon as the flames touched the clothes, they burned even more fiercely, this definitely wasn’t a mere trick, but an attempt to deadly harm him!
Wang Yunxiao caught the flames and threw them on the ground, stomping on them several times, but no matter how hard he stomped, he couldn’t extinguish them and nearly got his pants burned.
Just then, the main door of Li Fugui’s house opened, and about a dozen men with white cloth wrapped around their heads rushed out, wielding sticks and clubs, beating anyone they saw without a word.
Three or four of them charged specifically at Wang Yunxiao, their wooden clubs coming down hard on his head.
Wang Yunxiao couldn’t dodge in time, took a blow to the shoulder, and felt a heart-piercing pain.
These weren’t the thin wooden sticks like hoe and rake handles but were the solid hardwood “water-fire sticks,” the kind used by government officials, each weighing over ten pounds and classified as lethal weapons.
Cui Xiaoying took a hit on the head with one of those sticks and was down for the count right then.