I was a charlatan in India

Caravans began entering the city.

Inside were other merchants' goods, as well as Dana's stones and empty boxes.

He had to maintain the appearance of still buying goods so that everyone would feel secure following him into the water and even help him consume the goods outside the city.

There is no doubt that this matter has flaws.

Since he can bring goods in, why doesn't he clear out the batch outside the city?

However, those who can quickly grasp this point are not Dana's target customers.

There are so many fools in the world, why bother fighting with smart people?

He sat upright in a large, specially made chair, pondering his escape route while waiting for the next buyer to come to him and help him sell his goods.

Dana was obese, and sitting in a regular chair was very uncomfortable for him.

So after arriving in Varanasi, I immediately ordered this item. It's filled with the finest materials, and the size and height are extremely comfortable.

Every item in the room was crafted to his liking, and he cherished every corner of it.

I don't know when I'll be able to settle down on this trip, and I'm afraid I won't have any comfortable days for a long time.

During this period, he had countless thoughts of taking a chance.

What if I guessed wrong?

If it turns out to be just a false alarm, wouldn't we have wasted our current lives for nothing?

He's not young anymore; if he had children, he would probably have already retired and started his retirement life.

and……

But he ruthlessly extinguished each of these thoughts, forcibly suppressing them.

Dana doesn't believe in luck.

His gaze finally settled on a glass wine jug from distant Rome.

Even a single ray of sunlight can refract a mesmerizing brilliance.

This was a treasure he had acquired at great cost, through three layers of intermediaries, and every time he caressed it, he felt as if he had transcended this filthy city.

now……

He sighed and pushed the wine jug further away.

If I keep looking, my resolve will waver.

"Sir, another merchant has arrived with gifts."

The servant spoke in a rather relaxed tone.

The house has been receiving a lot of visitors lately, which means the master is doing very well, and their future seems bright as well.

"Okay, let him in."

Dana took a deep breath and put on a smile again.

The Saraswati family.

Vasudiv slowly and deliberately heated the fruit syrup.

The full moon festival is just around the corner.

Judging by the timeline, the goods from Vasudiv should be arriving by now.

Ever since he reached an agreement with Surya, Vasudif has been looking forward to the festival every moment.

Once the Vaishya merchant had sold his goods, they immediately pounced on him and devoured him whole, one bite at a time.

Then, find some people to take over the goods and quickly take control of the market.

From then on, Saraswati was able to operate around Dana's legacy, which also provided him with a source of income outside of religion.

In this way, the long-cherished wish of revitalizing the family can be considered to have been fulfilled in his hands!

The only thing that bothers me is not having a son...

Alas, although the child in my daughter's belly is an illegitimate one, if it is that young master Suliye's, it won't be considered a disgrace to the family.

I hope it's a boy.

He heated the fruit puree until it was evenly cooked before calling a servant: "Go and take this to Mina."

"Yes, sir."

Mina's place.

She could no longer serve Linga.

This child is growing much faster than during a normal pregnancy.

She was already seven or eight months old when she was born, and in just a few days, she was already close to giving birth.

His body became extremely heavy, making even breathing difficult, let alone kneeling down in worship.

"Heaven, forgive me."

Mina remained devout.

However, Shenhe could not hear it, and the real Shiva would not care either.

She moved the gold-inlaid jade linga to her pillow.

Fortunately, it is luxurious enough, unlike the crudely made lingams of the lower classes which have an awkward shape. It is not unreasonable to use it as a decorative piece.

Come to think of it, this was sent by the merchant who originally intended to marry her.

Mina had secretly seen what he looked like; he was fat, old, and ugly, and utterly repulsive.

He couldn't accept marrying such a guy.

However, recently her father seems to have stopped urging her to get married, so something must have happened.

Indeed, everything was the lira of the Great Heaven, and everything was within the Great Heaven's arrangement.

Mina could hardly imagine that her great heaven was gleefully tormenting a few unfortunate monks.

Because Shenhe discovered something.

Whenever these monks fall into pain and their spirits waver, the golden light that erodes the power of their ascetic practice will ripple slightly, even slowing down the rate of erosion.

It seems that this method can be used to strike at the source of the golden light.

However, when their followers suffer, they will contribute their efforts to ascetic practices, which is completely contrary to the Buddhist practice.

It seems that there are distinct strengths and weaknesses among these different belief systems.

If one has sufficient knowledge of religion, one might be able to roughly determine the origins of the other party by observing the nature of their power.

Shenhe pondered whether his own arduous cultivation had any weaknesses.

His reasoning was largely correct.

The personality, power, and weaknesses of most deities are closely related to their believers.

Often, it is not God who cultivates believers, but believers who bring God to fruition.

Their beliefs and spiritual practices will be reflected in the gods and Buddhas.

For example, these eminent Buddhist monks always pride themselves on being calm and composed. If their mental state is disrupted, it will naturally affect the Buddha and Bodhisattvas they worship.

Of course, the Buddha had more than just a few disciples, so their influence was quite limited.

However, Shenhe is a special case.

He is a human being, and in addition to the feedback from his followers, he also has his own personality, so he is not completely influenced by his followers.

And the change in his attitude that he has been so concerned about recently stems from this.

Shiva's followers...

No, I should say that all the believers in this godforsaken place are completely insane and incredibly boastful.

Many people feel that their lives are over, so they try their best to elevate their gods, creating a noble yet indifferent character for them, and identifying themselves as part of the gods' game.

I just love how the heavens treat me like I'm not human, how they ruthlessly torment me, and how they cruelly play with all living beings!

This is true divinity!

Therefore, as the number of believers increased, the Shen River was gradually eroded by these things.

Although he wasn't exactly a good person, in modern times he would be considered a successful manager and a top-notch employee.

Moreover, he belongs to the type who is responsible to his own people, and strictly speaking, he is a good leader.

Logically speaking, it's utterly unreasonable for someone to steal from believers, deceive them, or even treat them as resources to contribute to their own spiritual practice.

But these ideas just naturally came to him.

Even just now, he was thinking about whether to design some more painful gameplay.

For example, having believers with paronychia play a durian soccer match...

This idea was so natural and so reasonable that it seemed to be the result of his rational thinking and the best solution for accumulating the power of arduous cultivation.

But he didn't find it strange at all, and didn't even think the thought was chaotic or out of place.

In principle, this change is inextricably linked to the expectations of the believers themselves.

Because the local believers are just that crazy, it's hard to say whether some of their ideas belong to Shenhe or come from those unfortunate believers.

This is nothing to a deity born from the faith and will of believers.

But it's terrifying for Shenhe.

It's even more terrifying than the Buddha's light that's currently troubling him.

Because believers subtly erase the persona of "Shenhe" and mold him into a true deity.

Chaos, power, sublimity, and madness.

The Shen River has already acquired divinity.

Although he had already realized something was amiss, but...

not enough.

Without integrating and understanding these clues, it's impossible to grasp the essence of the problem.

It is likely that in the near future, he will lose his self-awareness and become a degraded version of Shiva who calls himself "Shenhe".