Chapter 600 - 273: What Is the Demonic Dao? (Part 2)
Blood River Demon Venerable opened his mouth.
Imagine?
Imagine the market? Imagine?
Brother, you might be overestimating me a bit.
"It seems you can’t quite imagine it."
Lu Wenwu shook his head with a touch of regret.
Given the current state of development in the Cultivation Realm, Blood River Demon Venerable might find it hard to grasp the concept of "capital devours people," let alone understand "capitalism" or the "cyberpunk era."
The method of killing people invisibly and lightly manipulating the lives of countless mortals is far more horrifying than demon cultivators using flying swords to kill.
Just kidding, no way to make money faster than this!
"It seems it’s still too early to discuss these things with you. Your social civilization structure hasn’t developed to that level, unable to imagine things you haven’t seen before."
"Let me tell you something simple and shallow. What do you think about wars between mortal nations?"
"War?" Blood River Demon Venerable was taken aback, "It’s not good. Wars between mortals affect production and drastically reduce the number of young and strong men. After a large-scale war, the ’harvest’ of the next few years will be affected."
"So, that’s the reason you always use powerful force to forcibly mediate mortal wars?" Lu Wenwu asked with a smile.
Blood River Demon Venerable nodded: "Yes, although war brings short-term gains, in the long term, it isn’t beneficial to population growth, and the number of mortals is extremely important to us."
Not sure if it counts as some kind of hellish joke.
Because population is too important to the demonic dao, ever since Blood River Demon Venerable gained control over the entire demonic dao, they’ve sustained more mortals in a smaller territory, far exceeding the Righteous Dao.
In order to prevent "reduction in yield" and for progress in cultivation, most demonic cultivators under the rules set by Blood River Demon Venerable try to provide some help to mortals, forcibly eliminating wars.
Apart from those demonic cultivators who are particularly picky about bones and body aspects during harvest, most demon cultivators choose elderly mortals.
Just like raising chickens.
Fattened hens and roosters are kept to continue breeding offspring, while older hens that can’t lay eggs can be slaughtered directly for meat.
For the Righteous Dao, this doesn’t matter—just let them roam free.
For the demonic dao, the number of mortals is directly related to whether they can break through to the next major realm and live several hundred years longer, hence they pay extra attention.
This unique social state is hard to evaluate.
Not necessarily a joke, but definitely hellish, and very satirical.
Lu Wenwu said indifferently: "You, this Demon Venerable, your understanding of ’war’ is still too shallow. Or rather, you’re completely unaware of the vast benefits hidden in war."
"Those who achieve great things don’t bother with trifles; you must have heard this before. To achieve great things, first the vision must be grand. Yes, you do see further than the average demon cultivator, but you’re still not looking far enough."
"Not long ago, I told a demon cultivator this phrase—cast a long line to catch big fish. Without entering the tiger’s den, how can you get the tiger’s cub?"
"Have you heard of a term—religion?"
"Religion?" Blood River Demon Venerable looked bewildered, "Do you mean those so-called... belief rituals in mortal nations?"
"Related, somewhat similar, but not exactly the same," Lu Wenwu said. "Mortals are often short-sighted, follow the crowd, blindly. Religion is used as a torch to guide mortal thoughts."
"For example, suppose you create a religion, let’s call it... Prenatal Teachings. First, you fabricate an ’Immortal God,’ proclaiming its omnipotence, then create several miracles to prove the existence of this Immortal God, making mortals believe."
"You should know, mortals wouldn’t believe an Immortal God without cause; there must be something they seek through worship. At this point, you need to preach something like—sincerely worshiping the Immortal God will fulfill your wishes, following religious disciplines daily will accumulate merit, and if enough merit is accumulated, you’ll enjoy everlasting bliss after death."
"Can it be done like this?" Blood River Demon Venerable was dumbfounded, "Will mortals really believe this?"
Lu Wenwu shrugged: "If I told you to work hard, I could take you to ascension, given my status, would you believe it?"
Blood River Demon Venerable suddenly fell silent.
The credibility of the contemporary Dragon Emperor, coupled with the prestigious name of the Dragon Race, is simply invincible.
If the Dragon Emperor says he can bring him to ascension, he would truly believe.
Similarly, in the Cultivation Realm, if a Divinity Transformation Cultivator wants to deceive a mortal, the mortal would undoubtedly believe.
To put it bluntly, religion is purely painting grand visions for believers.
No one can prove this grand vision doesn’t exist, but they can falsify it to trick others into believing it might exist.
Just forge some evidence to make a portion of people believe the vision exists. Early believers driving later ones, a large number of people will be influenced by crowd psychology and start believing.
What if it turns out to be true, right?
Lu Wenwu continued: "Once you construct the framework of religion and the belief in an Immortal God through a series of biographies, it’s time to set the rules for everyday follower behavior."
"For instance, followers need to have more children; having children brings great merit, the more the merrier. If you can have fifty children, your soul will ascend to the Immortal Realm after death, entering the realm of the Immortal God, enjoying eternal bliss and such."