Chapter 699: An Invitation from the Old Town Head
As for whether the Evil Spirit that appeared in the small town was eradicated by the Spiritual God, it was obvious without even asking that it couldn't have been. Although this Spiritual God hasn't yet achieved godhood, his strength and status have already reached an extremely high level. It's almost impossible for a powerful being like him to have the leisure to come here and exorcise ghosts for villagers.
Unless he happened to pass by coincidentally and was also a warm-hearted individual, such a possibility was remote. Yang Haoran simply didn't believe such a thing would occur.
His sole purpose in questioning the old town head was to extract more information from his mouth.
The old town head didn't conceal anything regarding Yang Haoran's question. He chuckled and responded to Yang Haoran.
"Naturally, our God wouldn't descend upon our impoverished, remote town. Furthermore, at that time, no one in our town believed in him, so it was even less likely for him to appear here. The divine envoy who came to our town to resolve our troubles was a Spirit Master, also a devout follower of our God. It was precisely because this divine envoy intervened that the Evil Spirit in our town was eradicated, and peace was restored. Otherwise, who knows how many more people in our town would have died at the hands of that Evil Spirit."
Upon hearing this, Yang Haoran felt no surprise, for he had long suspected that a Spirit Master would be involved in this matter. His internal conjecture had merely been confirmed by the old town head, so he wasn't surprised in the least.
Though inwardly unsurprised, Yang Haoran feigned a look of astonishment, for the role he was currently playing demanded it.
"So it was a Spirit Master who resolved your troubles! They are indeed experts at dealing with ghostly entities. With a Spirit Master intervening, the ghostly entity truly met its match."
Therefore, not only did he not mention the Yin Division, but he even praised the Spirit Masters, his words clearly dripping with flattery towards them.
His words pleased the old town head immensely. The old town head chuckled, and even the way he looked at Yang Haoran subtly changed, becoming softer. It was as if, in an instant, he found Yang Haoran much more agreeable.
"If you are interested, Officer, you can also believe in our God. Then you, too, will receive our God's protection, granting you a protective umbrella in these chaotic times."
The old town head laughed heartily and then spoke. His meaning was clear: he wanted to pull Yang Haoran onto their boat, to make Yang Haoran a believer of the Spiritual God.
As an Emissary of Death, the Death God was the deity he was obligated to worship, and indeed, the only deity he needed to worship. Yet, he was not a devout believer.
Initially, he would dutifully offer incense to the Death God Statue every day, as per tradition. But gradually, all his energy became focused on the pursuit of power and the fulfillment of his ambitions. He didn't know how long it had been since he personally paid homage to the Death God Statue in his home, or how long since he had offered his own faith to the Death God.
Although the Death God Statue still stood in his villa, and there was a designated area for Death God worship, these duties were now handled by Xiujuan and Xiao Kang. Yang Haoran himself hadn't performed such rites for a long time.
As an Underworld agent, he hadn't even managed to play the role of a Death God believer well, yet the old town head was inviting him to switch his faith and henceforth worship the Spiritual God. Hearing the old town head's words, he couldn't help but find it amusing.
If the old town head knew that the Spiritual God worshipped by their entire town wasn't a true deity at all, but merely a Spiritual practitioner striving to become a god, Yang Haoran wondered what he would feel. In Yang Haoran's estimation, there would probably be at least some disappointment.
Though he inwardly dismissed the old town head's invitation, Yang Haoran didn't let his true feelings show on his face.
The old town head had just mentioned that the one who resolved their town's troubles was a divine envoy. If he could find this divine envoy, many problems would resolve themselves. To find this divine envoy, he still needed to start with the old town head.
"Heh heh, I never used to believe in anything mystical or supernatural, so I never worshipped any deities. But now, having gained a new understanding of this world, perhaps I truly should embrace some kind of faith. It's just. . . I wonder if this Spiritual God can truly protect his believers?"
Upon hearing Yang Haoran's words, the old town head grew a little anxious. The other villagers at the table also stopped their jovial chatter, put down their chopsticks, and looked at Yang Haoran with somewhat unfriendly expressions.
Seeing this, Yang Haoran quickly offered an explanation with an ingratiating smile.
"Please don't misunderstand, everyone. I was merely curious, with absolutely no intention of blaspheming the Spiritual God."
With Yang Haoran's explanation, the villagers present finally looked a bit more amiable. Judging by their reactions, if Yang Haoran's explanation hadn't been satisfactory, they likely would have aimed their homemade guns at him again.
"Officer, if the Spiritual God hadn't chosen our town, the divine envoy wouldn't have appeared. If the divine envoy hadn't appeared, our town would be finished by now. Please don't be offended by my bluntness, Officer, but if there hadn't been a divine envoy to eradicate the ghost for our town, what do you think we would have done? Were we supposed to wait for your Administrative Council to come and help? Not to mention that the Administrative Council can barely protect itself these days, even if they truly wanted to help us, we probably wouldn't have survived until that day."
The old town head's words were remarkably direct. If the world hadn't changed, and if he hadn't found faith, he would never have dared to utter such remarks in the past. After all, he was once a local official, earning his living under the Administrative Council; how could he have dared to speak such treasonous words?
Moreover, in his eyes, Yang Haoran was an Administrative Council official, making it even more impossible for him to speak such words directly to Yang Haoran's face.
"The old town head speaks wisely. I do represent the Administrative Council on this trip, but judging by the current situation, I have indeed arrived late. " Yang Haoran said, a look of shame on his face.
"It's excellent that Officer can think that way! From this, one can tell that Officer is not an unreasonable person; you are very perceptive. " The old town head said with a smile.
"I'm different from some people; I'm very perceptive and reasonable. By the way, what are the requirements to become a believer of the Spiritual God? " Yang Haoran asked.
"There are no requirements at all! As long as you offer incense to the Spiritual God Statue once a day, on time, and pray devoutly to the statue, you are a qualified believer and will certainly receive our God's protection. From your words, Officer, are you preparing to become one of us?"
The old town head had discerned something from Yang Haoran's words, and so his gaze towards Yang Haoran softened once more.
"I'd like to, but I can't stay in your town indefinitely. I still have many matters to attend to. Besides, I don't have a Spiritual God Statue, so even if I wanted to offer incense and worship, I wouldn't be able to."
Yang Haoran's face was etched with regret, and his tone was full of lament.
"Haha, Officer, you don't need to worry about that at all! As long as you wish, we can go to the temple right now and procure a statue for you. Then, all you need to do is take our God's statue back and offer incense to it. As long as you are devout enough, you will surely receive our God's protection in the future, your life will be smooth sailing, you'll rise quickly in rank, and be free from illness and disaster! " The old town head roared with laughter, appearing very pleased.
Hearing the old town head's words, Yang Haoran felt a chuckle bubbling up inside, because what the old town head said made no difference at all.
What did he mean, 'as long as you're devout enough, you'll receive protection'? If you didn't receive protection, and your life wasn't smooth sailing, then they'd just slap you with the label of 'not devout enough,' and that would be that.
Yang Haoran wasn't foolish enough to expose this point. The moment he heard the old town head's words, a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.
"It's that simple? " Yang Haoran asked, double-checking in disbelief.
"It's that simple. There aren't many rules when believing in our God. As long as you're devout enough, nothing else matters."
The old town head smiled as he spoke. At this point, he stood up, grabbed Yang Haoran's arm, and continued.
"Come, I'll take you to the temple right now. Once you become a believer of our God, we'll be family."
Yang Haoran didn't refuse, allowing the old town head to pull him along towards the Spiritual God Temple.
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