Xi Heng looked at the perfect body on the mural, then looked down at his own body, and always had an indescribable feeling.
She quickly shook her head and went around the first stone wall, but there were more behind it.
For example, there are pictures of the Dark Sky Mother blowing away the raging fire covering the earth, pictures of her raising her hands to hang the sun and moon in the sky, pictures of the angels creating the Dark Sky, pictures of the angels giving birth to humans, and pictures of her ruling the first human kingdom long afterward...
There are a total of five huge murals lined up in the courtyard, each of which is exquisite and extraordinary, like the murals of the imperial palace that showcase the style of the Dark Sky Sect. I wonder how many hours and efforts were spent on them.
"They look quite serious." Xi Heng looked at them one by one and commented casually.
Walking past this wide mural, there are scriptures engraved on several stone pillars at the back:
"The Great Dark Heaven, whose grace extends to all religions and all classes, and benefits all beings and all realms."
"The Great Dark Heavenly Mother of Huayan, with the majesty of a phoenix, the two energies of yin and yang, the unity of heaven and earth, with three dragons on her head and two arms hanging from her body. The dragons are divided into the middle and the auxiliary, and the world is governed by desire and color."
"The Supreme Mother of Darkness in the Ten Directions and Three Worlds, the Most Holy Mother in Heaven, the Most Holy of Holy Ones!"
Obviously, during the time that Xi Heng was away, the teachings of the Dark Sky Sect did not stagnate and develop. The teachings and the image of the Mother of Heaven have become increasingly perfect, and more able to fool ordinary mortals.
After walking around the area with inscribed stone pillars, passing the attendants' quarters and the parade ground, Xi Heng arrived at the former office of the Goddess of Red Sky.
When she occupied Mingzhu City before, she lived here for a few days and read many books about immortals in the study, so she knew its internal layout.
Xi Heng walked around a huge pine tree and saw that the door was open.
Among them was a priest of the church who was dressed in a purple robe with snake patterns and a twisted crown on his head. He was dressed solemnly and in a strange manner.
He held a golden wheel in his hand, knelt on a cushion, and whispered to the statue of the Great Dark Goddess.
As for the appearance of the statue in the front, apart from its perfect figure and the surrounding snake-shaped decorations and precious objects, it is somewhat similar to Xi Heng.
The face of the statue is divided into two halves. The left cheek with closed eyes appears holy and loving, while the right side with open eyes appears severe and cold.
After a casual glance, Xi Heng stepped into the room.
The footsteps made a clear sound on the stone slabs in the room, causing the person in front to turn around immediately.
He was stunned for a moment, then let out a sigh.
"Your Highness the Saint... Just as the rumors outside said, you are back."
The Dark Sky Sect's High Priest said in a steady voice, "I don't know when Your Highness will return, so I didn't go to greet you. Please forgive me."
"The person you need to greet is not me." Xi Heng said calmly:
"In about ten days, the fleet heading east will return, with another Merciful Saint on board. You need to prepare etiquette to receive her and enshrine her as the head of the sect in front of all the sect members."
"Another Saint?" The priest didn't quite understand and just guessed:
"Could it be that Your Highness really found the Great Dark Sky on the sea and brought back a demon lord from there?"
"Great Dark Sky? I think so." Xi Heng shook his head: "However, this saint is not the Great Dark Sky demon, but the Red Sky Goddess who once ruled the Pure Bright Sect... In short, she is the saint of the Dark Sky Sect."
"..." The powerful high priest of the Dark Sky Cult, who was now like a cult leader, was silent for a moment, and finally said, "Yes, Your Highness."
"You have been running this business with all your heart for so long, but now I ordered you to be under the management of another person. Do you have any complaints?" Xi Heng asked curiously.
"The development of the sect is all for the sake of Your Highness's grand ambitions." the other party said.
He understood that he was just a servant of the devil, not the true leader of the Dark Heaven Religion.
With the powerful strength Xi Heng had demonstrated before, he could be easily wiped out with just a thought and replaced by another person.
Besides, since I know that my master is going to seize the throne and is the Princess of Zhao, who has great power, I naturally have to follow him closely so that my future will be brighter.
"That's right." Xi Heng wanted to use both kindness and force: "Bring me a piece of paper, and I'll teach you another spell."
"Thank you, Your Highness." The high priest invited her to come to the long desk on the side.
Xi Heng proudly drew up a user guide for Jinggu Bian and threw it aside casually.
"Prepare a room. I want to rest here for a while until the Red Sky Goddess comes..." She thought for a moment and said, "By the way, bring me a copy of the doctrine that has been compiled now."
Xi Heng planned to read through the doctrines in his spare time to see how the Great Dark Sky Sect had developed in this regard.
The other party compliments and responds.
……
After a day of rest.
Early in the morning, Xi Heng got up, washed, put on his coat, then sat at the long desk and opened the secret collection of the Dark Heaven Sect covered with exquisite leather.
The descriptions in the first few pages of the doctrine are still the words she said at the very beginning, such as the Dark Sky Mother gave mortals flesh and wisdom, embraced all things and gave birth to all things, followed the nature of human nature, etc.
The scriptures in the following pages are mostly derived from these items.
After talking about the various gifts that the Dark Sky Mother gave to mortals, there were various mythological stories related to the murals that Xi Heng had seen before.
The Dark Sky Mother gave birth to the heaven and earth, slew the black dragon to repair the sky, blew away the eternal fire and moved away the raging water.
The waters turned into the ocean, leaving land for humans to reproduce and thrive.
When mortals get married, they form a country, and the Great Dark Sky Mother is the first king of all mortals in the world.
After a hundred years of toiling for mortals, the Mother of Heaven finally returned to the Heaven of Darkness to rest.
But during the thousands of years of rest, the human kingdom fell apart, from a big country that ruled the world to dozens of small and large countries.
Today, among dozens of countries, there are two most powerful ones, namely Da Zhao and Yan Meng Kingdom in the north.
The Mother of Heaven cast her gaze over from the distant dark sky, and seeing the mortals she created falling apart, she felt only sorrow and pity, so she sent the Merciful Saint to Great Zhao, to end the current chaotic world of disputes and return to the unified prosperity of ancient times.
As Xi Heng was reading, his voice suddenly stopped and some black lines appeared on his forehead.
"Isn't this clearly saying that the Dark Sky Sect will revolt in the future?"
If she were sitting on the throne now, after seeing such doctrinal scriptures, she would definitely send troops to wipe out the relevant sects.
But for some reason, even though the doctrines have been compiled like this, Chu Xiao, now the emperor of Da Zhao, still does not pay any attention to it.
"Perhaps it's because there are already many rebel forces in various places now, and they can't take care of the Dark Sky Sect, which has not taken any actual action yet..."
Xi Heng made a random guess and continued to flip through the pages.
The following pages are filled with endless worship and praise of the Mother of Heaven, veneration of the Great Dark God, and description of the Pure Land where believers will go to enjoy all blessings after death, and the eighteen levels of hell where heretics and unbelievers will fall.
There is less description of paradise and blessings, but the environment of hell and various criminal laws are written in great detail, which makes Xi Heng feel a little uncomfortable when reading it.
If an ordinary person saw these, he would probably feel a chill down his spine and feel nauseous.
After reading these, the last thing written is the divine power of the Dark Mother.
The Dark Mother has seven divine names, the first of which is the Great Dark Mother, whose duty is to nourish all living beings and embrace all things.
The second is the Goddess of Peace and Joy, who is in charge of wars. She also dominates the life and souls of mortals, judges good and evil, and saves the souls of the dead.
The third is the Sun and Moon Mother, who governs the yin and yang, the noble and the humble, and eliminates disasters and resolves problems.
Then there are Jade Bowl Goddess, Indra Goddess, Life-Saving Goddess, Treasure Goddess...
These seven honorable names also include gods from other sects, explaining that the righteous gods from other sects are just small faces of the Great Dark Sky Mother.
Only by combining all the gods that have been praised for thousands of years can the vague figure of the Great Dark Sky Mother be vaguely revealed.
"Isn't this a bit too much?" the girl said to herself.
"But it seems that other sects have the same doctrines... It shouldn't lead to religious wars or something like that, right?"
After reading the entire doctrine, Xi Heng was quite satisfied with it.
The teachings are complete and the terms are not too complicated. One of the sentences, "The grace extends to all kinds of people, and benefits all beings" also covers everyone.
But... there is still one sentence missing.
Xi Heng casually flipped through it again, then held the cover with both hands and closed it with a snap.
With this doctrine, she went around two or three flat streets again and found the high priest Chen Xiang, who is now the most powerful person in the Dark Sky Sect.
The other party was processing various scrolls and documents on the desk in the main room of the headquarters as usual.
Xi Heng approached and disturbed him without any scruples, and slammed the doctrine directly on the table, making a loud bang that made the other person tremble all over.
"Your Highness..." The high priest tried his best to keep his voice steady and asked, "But is there any problem with the doctrine that needs to be changed?"
"That's not a problem." Xi Heng said naturally, "But we need to add some explanation to the part about the Pure Fire Sect and their Pure Fire Master in the doctrine."
"Add it?"
"In the future, the Dark Sky Sect needs to merge with the Pure Fire Sect. You can write that although the Pure Fire Master hates the Dark Sky Mother because he was driven away, the merciful Sky Mother believes that the Pure Fire also developed consciousness because of her driving, and is her offspring just like mortals and angels, so she tolerates and accepts him and crowns him as her Holy Son."
“……” The high priest felt it was a bit ridiculous, but he didn’t dare to say more.
Obviously, Xi Heng was the first one to criticize Jinghuo Mingzun, but now Jinghuo Mingzun was picked up by her again and turned into the Holy Son of the Great Dark Sky Sect.
For him, a man who firmly believed in it, it was really hard to understand.
"The Heavenly Mother was merciful. The Pure Fire Master was moved by her and respectfully transformed into a ball of fire in the Heavenly Mother's hand."
Xi Heng didn't pay much attention to the other party's reaction and continued:
"When you meet the Scarlet Sky Goddess later, you can call her the incarnation of the Pure Fire Master."
Even if there really is a Pure Fire Master worshipped by the Goddess of Red Sky in the world, he is not in her realm, so she can edit him at will without worrying about the consequences.
"Yes... I will arrange to supplement the doctrine right away." The high priest agreed with difficulty.
"Do your best. After you're done, I'll teach you a fire method that originated from the Pure Fire Master."
The high priest was stunned for a moment, then nodded stupidly.
The girl yawned, waved her hand, and returned to her room to rest.
……
Ten days later, Xi Heng sat under the big locust tree in his own yard, sipping his afternoon tea and reading a book on military strategy, preparing himself and waiting to put it into practice on the battlefield in the northern border.
In late spring, clusters of tiny white flowers drooped from the branches of the locust trees, like popcorn.
"I really want to eat popcorn... but unfortunately there seems to be no corn in this world." She could only use the osmanthus cakes on the table as a substitute.
The warm and fragrant floral tea falls on the lips, making the mood become more peaceful.
But the next moment there were several knocks on the door, disrupting her afternoon tea time.
bang bang,
"Come in." Xi Heng said.
A moment later, a maid who had been serving her meals came in stiffly and said softly, "Your Highness, the High Priest has heard that there seems to be a fleet approaching the eastern coast."
"Is Chen Fenghuo finally getting there... so slow."
During her stay here, the maids around her remained nervous and reserved, fearing that one of them would accidentally offend her.
But she thought, she shouldn't be that dangerous, right?
She is not a big evil person who kills everyone she sees. She is even kind-hearted from time to time.
Xi Heng asked the maid to leave, then put on a veil to cover his face and went to the distant coast.
The morning mist on the sea had not yet dissipated, and countless followers of the Dark Sky Sect were crowded together. At a glance, the entire port was crowded with people.
A pyramid-shaped sacrificial platform stood in the center of the port. It was made entirely of blue-gray stone bricks, with fire pillars burning everywhere around it. Dark red carpets hung down from all sides of the platform, with obvious dark gold snake patterns embroidered on the surface.
The high priest was standing on a high platform, looking at the fleet shrouded in white fog slowly approaching in the distance.
"Start the grand ceremony and welcome the Saint." He said to the person next to him.
"Start the sacrifice! Welcome the saint!" The other person was a martial artist who had practiced internal skills, and his loud shouts could be heard throughout the entire port.
There were shouts coming from all directions, repeated five times in a row.
Drum sounds and singing were heard all around, and the fire pillars were added with firewood painted with various talismans. The believers led a big horse and eight castrated sheep and walked around the altar.
If a castrated ram falls behind the team, others will slaughter it immediately, and a skilled butcher will quickly skin and debone it and put it into a bubbling pot to stew.
Every time an organ is removed, the butcher holds it high and shouts out the name of the organ, along with its five-element title.
When most of the goats were slaughtered, the believers lined up, drank a small sip of the thick white broth and bowed their heads in worship, in order to show their reverence for the various gifts that the Great Dark Sky Mother had given to mortals.
The led horse and the remaining two or three castrated sheep circled around the altar again and again, and were finally led back, representing that there is life in death.
"so slow."
Xi Heng, however, did not care much about the sacrifice. He just kept looking at the fleet slowly approaching in the mist on the sea.
I could clearly see it a long time ago, but I still couldn't get there after half an hour.
