Chapter 67 Anger, fueled by resentment, gives rise to countless karmic retributions.
How could this be? How could the reason be so absurd? They racked their brains, they schemed and plotted, they wanted to kick out anyone who might affect their faith, and they wanted to win back the favor of the Goddess of Incense. Unexpectedly, the problem turned out to be with the incense itself.
What about everything they did before?
Only now do they realize that perhaps when Tianxiang Niangniang went missing, they were running around like headless flies, trying to find a reason. Blinded by anxiety, the answers they found might not even be correct.
Is all of this just a case of being blinded by a single leaf?
“No wonder. I knew that even if the faith of the Heavenly Fragrance Goddess weakened, her connection with us was gradually declining. How could she have lost contact with us overnight like this?”
"So it was a problem with the incense..."
At this moment, Shui Linglong suddenly stepped forward and said, "Go and get the incense from the warehouse."
"A few days ago, a heavy snowfall collapsed the roof of the warehouse, and the snowmelt soaked all the incense stored inside, rendering it unusable. We had no choice but to rush to purchase new incense..." A disciple from the Incense Hall standing to the side pondered, "Could it be that our incense-seeking task was too urgent, causing the craftsmen to rush out incense of poor quality, which is why it became ineffective?"
Looking into Shui Linglong's eyes, she dared not steer the conversation toward conspiracy theories. After all, with Xu Qiubai gone, Shui Linglong's style had become increasingly decisive and ruthless, and she acted with an iron fist. No one wanted to provoke her at this time.
A disciple brought the remaining incense from the warehouse, placed it on the table, and whispered, "Senior Sister, the incense has arrived."
Shui Linglong picked up the two sticks of incense on the table and examined them. Sure enough, the two sticks of incense had subtle differences in color and fragrance. This latest batch of incense was missing a certain scent, perhaps one of the ingredients was missing.
So that's where the problem lies. Shui Linglong knew that the recent upheaval at Xingxiang Hall must have been orchestrated by someone, but she didn't know exactly where they started.
Now, she finally knows.
The disciples of Xingxiang Hall standing to the side picked up the incense on the table to compare them and gradually discovered the differences.
"The color of this incense is different."
"Aged and new aromas are definitely different, but who knows if the difference is due to the age or something else?"
"Smell this; they all smell different."
"That's true. But we usually only focus on burning incense. Once the incense is lit, all that's left is pungent smoke and fragrance. I rarely pay attention to what the incense looks like before it burns."
"Still not careful enough..."
"..."
Amidst the rustling of voices, Shui Linglong placed the incense back on the table and asked, "Who is in charge of this procurement?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the crowd fell silent.
This needs to be investigated and those responsible held accountable.
The incense hall has suffered such a major incident this time. Whether it's the damage to its reputation, the potential loss of its incense offerings, Elder Xu Mei's abdication, or Xu Qiubai's departure from Kunlun, all of these issues will fall on the shoulders of the person who made the purchase. He will have to bear all the consequences.
Knowing this, no one dared to speak, fearing that if they knew even a little bit of the inside story, they would be implicated and expelled from Kunlun.
At this moment, someone in the crowd whispered, "I remember that Mingying was in charge of this batch of incense."
Before she could finish speaking, the person beside her anxiously interjected, "It wasn't me, it really wasn't me! I wouldn't have the guts..."
The man was startled by his loud voice: "I haven't finished yet. You were in charge of this batch of incense, but you took leave during that time, saying you were going to go out of the mountains with your friends. Do you remember who you entrusted the task to back then?"
It is wrong to abandon one's post, and it is also wrong to enter the wrong incense shop, leading to its decline, but obviously the latter is much more serious than the former.
Mingying thought for a moment and then said decisively, "I did have some personal matters to attend to at the time, so I had to find someone to cover for me... I remember that person often covered for the disciples of Xingxiang Hall, she seems to be..."
“Dongtang,” Shui Linglong said, uttering a name.
“Yes!” Mingying quickly added, “Yes, it’s Dongtang!”
Shui Linglong curled her lips into a smile: "It seems that the truth behind this matter is already quite clear."
The disciples of Xingxiang Hall exchanged glances, realizing that Dongtang was nowhere to be seen in the crowd. Dongtang hadn't been in the main hall of Xingxiang Hall recently, but instead had been focusing on staying at the medical clinic at the foot of the mountain. The rest of the time she was with the members of the Tongmenghui, and rarely had contact with other disciples of Xingxiang Hall.
But she's been quite the celebrity lately. Apart from Xingxiang Hall, all the other disciples in Kunlun can recognize her name. She and her allied group are well-known. The other Kunlun members even joke that Xingxiang Hall is doomed to fail sooner or later. Since her medical skills are so superb, she should just establish her own clinic in Kunlun. That way, she can treat their patients and won't be a burden on Xingxiang Hall anymore.
"She's really done all sorts of bad things. It seems she's been plotting for a long time and wants to leave Xingxiang Hall. Maybe she deliberately bought this batch of bad incense to ruin Xingxiang Hall so she could leave as soon as possible," someone said.
Surprisingly, she had quite a few supporters.
As Shen Cangyu watched all this, he suddenly felt that their attack on Dongtang was remarkably similar to their attack on Xu Qiubai.
When they were in front of Xu Qiubai's house, these people wore the same expressions. They looked at Xu Qiubai with undisguised disgust, wishing they could devour his flesh and blood, and that he would be cast into hell for eternity. Only after Xu Qiubai was finally driven out of Kunlun did they show expressions of relief.
But how many of those people were truly harmed by Xu Qiubai?
What kind of deep hurt must they have caused to hate him so much?
The current situation is also like that.
Shen Cangyu inquired about Dongtang's information. After Dongtang came to Kunlun, she remained unknown, and few people remembered her name or her appearance.
Until the incense offerings at Xingxiang Hall declined, she suddenly became famous because of her medical skills, Shen Qingyan's medicine, and the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance).
Once someone becomes famous, their face becomes clear.
Shen Cangyu saw this comment on the live stream, and she felt it was very true. She couldn't deny that the comments were often highly subjective, but sometimes they also expressed incisive truths.
Dongtang is the best example. Before she became famous, no one talked about her name, whether on Kunlun or in the novel's comment section.
But now that her story has reached its climax, more and more people are starting to talk about her. Similarly, with fame comes indignation. As she becomes more famous, the number of people in Kunlun who inexplicably hate her also increases.
Just like now, as soon as someone mentions that Dongtang is the culprit behind the malfunction of the incense at Xingxiang Hall, a barrage of criticism against her emerges. They keep looking for her mistakes and trying their best to prove that she is indeed a great villain.
It's as if by doing this they can stand on a moral high ground, since they are attacking a bad person, they won't feel guilty, and they can do it with a clear conscience.
It's unclear whether they are adept at changing their stance based on the prevailing winds, or whether the identity of the culprit behind this is simply unimportant to them.
Some people simply enjoy the thrill of attacking others, while others are adept at pleasing others to better integrate into the group and avoid becoming the next target.
The act of launching a campaign against someone is a powerful tactic in itself, and those who are good at guiding public opinion can manipulate popularity to a great extent and turn other people's popularity into their own power.
Shen Cangyu looked at Shui Linglong. Although she was standing in the noisy crowd, her eyes were particularly calm, as if she had not been affected by the emotions of others.
At this moment, Shui Linglong seemed to notice Shen Cangyu's gaze. She looked in Shen Cangyu's direction and smiled at her.
"I've already demonstrated to you how to use popularity to deal with your enemies. Have you learned it now?"
Shen Cangyu realized that none of these people who gained the ability to glimpse the secrets of heaven through the power of faith were simple characters.
Was Lady Tianxiang the same?
Tianxiang Niangniang holds the secrets of heaven and can see the laws governing the operation of things and what will happen in the future. Does she know that there will be problems with the incense offerings at Xingxiang Hall? Does she know that many followers of the Five Evils are eyeing the treasures on her body?
If she truly possessed the ability to see into the heavens, she should have known all of this, yet she neither warned her followers nor intervened to stop it.
Did Lady Tianxiang truly believe in destiny, concluding that her fate was unchangeable and therefore she refrained from intervening? Or was all of this merely part of her plan, including her own?
Where is Dongtang?
"Not at the clinic."
"What about the Tongmenghui? Have they been contacted?"
"The Tongmenghui doesn't have any base. They usually meet in the canteen, but now the meals are long over, there's no one left inside..."
Where could that person be now?
What was that sound?
A loud knocking sound came, like the sound of a bell, but the source of the sound was not far away, just above the crowd.
They looked up at the end of the steps, which led to the First Hall.
As the bell tolled, the ground seemed to shake, and their expressions changed drastically: "How can there be a bell in the Xingxiang Hall?"
Yes, there is no bell in the incense hall, and there is nothing else in the first hall except for temples and statues.
They took off running uphill.
The steps were crowded with people holding lanterns. The light from the lanterns spread outwards, only to be blocked by the dense crowd, turning into long, thin, undulating black shadows on the ground, like ghosts constantly emerging from the ground.
The tolling of the bells grew more frequent, like drumbeats, pressing down on the footsteps of the people.
The crowd surged onto the first hall, and light rose from the platform. With a crisp clang, they saw the statue of the Goddess Tianxiang smashed open, its scriptures and internal organs scattered all over the ground.
Seeing this scene, their faces turned deathly pale.
"Is she crazy? How dare she..."
Dongtang dropped the hammer, pushed aside the flowing stream of scriptures, and dug inside the statue, muttering repeatedly, "Where...where is the treasure..."
"Dongtang, stop right now!"
"what are you up to?"
Dongtang ignored the crowd behind her and desperately dug books and bamboo slips out of the statue.
People dropped their lanterns and ran towards her, trying to stop her actions. Even though the faith in the Goddess of Heavenly Fragrance had waned, they could not tolerate her statue being desecrated in this way.
Dongtang suddenly stopped what she was doing. She felt the cold touch in her hands and finally smiled: "Found it."
She took the object out of the statue and looked at it under the light. It was a transparent and clear bead, shining with an unusually bright light. The material of the bead was unknown, and she didn't know what kind of mineral it was made of, but the bead was full of rich spiritual energy. Anyone who saw it would know that it was no ordinary item.
"This is the treasure that Amitabha was talking about, right?" Dongtang stared at the bead in her hand with fascination. Amitabha said that this bead was the source of Tianxiang Niangniang's ability to see the secrets of heaven. As long as one could obtain this bead, one could master the full power of seeing the secrets of heaven and see all the things that would happen in the future.
"Put it down!" shouted the Xingxiang Hall disciple who rushed in front of Dongtang, trying to snatch the spirit pearl from her hand.
Dongtang suddenly looked up at him.
In an instant, the disciple's face turned deathly pale, and the black veins in his neck throbbed. He stared wide-eyed at Dong Tang in disbelief: "What...did you do to me?"
The disciples behind him wore the same expression, clutching their heads and howling in pain.
"What's this?"
"My head hurts so much, why is this happening!"
A struggle of willpower raged within someone as they forced themselves to stay rational and looked at Dong Tang, saying, "She must have used some kind of...evil magic...demonic cultivator, she's a demonic cultivator!"
Their eyes turned black, their hearts pounded, and all the evil desires that were born of anger surged forth from their bodies. All the anger that had arisen from their past complaints, blames, attacks, and condemnations now transformed into boundless power, flowing forth from within them.
Shui Linglong looked at the disciples around her who were being controlled, her face grave.
She also felt the power of anger, but her anger was not strong, so her mind was not controlled.
She is indeed adept at manipulating people's hearts because she can clearly see everyone's emotions. She has long since stripped herself of the seven emotions and six desires, which is why she can better control them and avoid their influence.
Controlling other people's emotions is her tactic, but she got to where she is today through her own abilities. Every step she took in the past was open and honest, without any regrets. She is very clear about what she will gain and lose with each step, so very few things can affect her emotions.
Now, Dongtang has joined the Five Evils, arousing the anger and desire in the hearts of the disciples of Xingxiang Hall, influencing them with evil magic, and turning their anger and desire into her own power.
This was indeed unexpected for Shui Linglong. She had always believed that everything was under her control, but this time she had miscalculated. Shui Linglong hadn't expected Dong Tang to be so bold, willing to expose herself to go all the way.
Looking at the black aura that shrouded the entire First Hall of Xingxiang Hall like dark clouds, Dongtang raised her hand, her sleeve falling down to reveal a black beaded bracelet on her wrist. As she raised her hand, a vortex appeared in her palm, drawing in a continuous stream of black aura into her body.
She closed her eyes and recited in her heart.
Driven by resentment, countless beings are born.
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