Gensokyo Detective, but surrounded by Shura Field

But the war never stopped; instead, it intensified with the strengthening of Chu Bai's aura.

Eventually, all the foot soldiers on both sides were exhausted, collapsing onto the ground covered in wounds.

The duel between the military commanders ended with a narrow victory for the Taoist warrior.

“How shameful! I shall go and strip him of his clothes!”

After declaring his intention to punish the enemy general, the Taoist warrior also collapsed from exhaustion.

The battlefield was awash with blood, showing no trace of Taoism's detachment or Buddhism's generosity.

If Chu Bai hadn't intervened, this battle alone would have resulted in at least thirty to forty deaths and forty to fifty serious injuries.

Even with its rapid development, the Human Village only has a total population of over 100,000.

Even without mentioning real wars, just these small-scale village brawls, if they continue like this, it won't be long before Gensokyo's population collapses.

“Indeed, we need to find a way to stop this.”

Chu Bai thought for a moment and sent Akyuu back to the Hieda household:

“Xiao Hei, protect Akyuu here and try to preserve as many lives as possible in the war.”

“I'm going to Myouren Temple and the Divine Spirit Mausoleum to talk to those two religious leaders.”

“Okay.”

Xiao Hei nodded, then added after a moment of thought:

“Be careful on the road. If you encounter difficulties, call my name, and I will sense it.”

“Got it.”

Chu Bai responded and, without further delay, quickly flew into the sky.

Myouren Temple was the closest, and Chu Bai planned to meet with Saint Byakuren first before visiting the Divine Spirit Mausoleum in the Little Immortal Realm together.

However, unexpectedly, when he entered the main hall of Myouren Temple for discussions,

in addition to the monks of Myouren Temple, the two cultivators from the Divine Spirit Mausoleum were already sitting there…

————

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Chapter 259: Chu Bai: I have a plan to bring the Human Village back from the brink of darkness!

Chu Bai was already very familiar with the people of Myouren Temple.

After all, he had a relatively close relationship with Saint Byakuren, having visited many times, and they had even launched an incident together.

So when he entered the main hall, no yokai went to report; they completely treated him as one of their own.

But his sudden entry startled everyone in the room.

It was unclear what they were originally discussing, but when Chu Bai pushed open the door, the harmonious atmosphere was instantly shattered.

One of the Taoist immortals overturned the table and instantly summoned a talisman:

“You yokai monks, I am irreconcilable with you!”

On the Myouren Temple side, Ichirin also summoned her stand, Unzan, striking a Jojo pose:

“You Taoist hypocrites, we're the ones who should be angry!”

Like lighting the fuse of a powder keg, the atmosphere in the room instantly became tense.

Only Chu Bai weakly raised his hand:

“Um… I seem to have come at a bad time?”

“...Chu Bai?”

Saint Byakuren was the first to react.

Seeing that it was Chu Bai, she visibly sighed in relief:

“Namu-san, scaring ourselves…”

“Alright, everyone, put away your weapons for now.”

Saying that, she closed the door again and added another barrier.

The two Taoist immortals, after hearing Chu Bai's name, also visibly lowered their guard.

“You're that evil god… cough, the famous magician Chu Bai?”

The one speaking was an immortal Chu Bai didn't recognize.

This girl was wearing a long robe, with two large ears standing upright on her head, and a pair of headphones hanging beside her ears, dressed very trendy and fashionable.

Facing Chu Bai, a stranger, she greeted him very generously:

“I'm Toyosatomimi no Miko, the leader of Taoism in Gensokyo and the true master of the Divine Spirit Mausoleum.”

Chu Bai smiled and nodded:

“Miss Toyosatomimi, hello…”

“...My family name is Toyosatomimi; I'm Japanese, not Chinese. If you don't mind, you can just call me Miko.”

Facing Chu Bai, a powerful individual with no religious affiliation, Toyosatomimi no Miko was very enthusiastic, not hiding her intention to win him over.

As for the other immortal, Chu Bai was very familiar with her; it was Qing'e, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

“Long time no see, little brother Chu Bai.”

Ho Qing'e waved with a smile, then said somewhat resentfully:

“I told you to come visit the Divine Spirit Mausoleum, but I've been waiting and waiting, and you still haven't come to see me.”

Chu Bai was a little embarrassed:

“I was coming. I sensed in the dark that you were visiting Myouren Temple, so I rushed over to see you…”

“You're lying! When you saw us just now, you clearly had a surprised expression!”

“That's because you've become even more beautiful, which surprised me.”

Chu Bai, with his high EQ, lied without changing his expression.

Then, without giving everyone time to retort, he immediately changed the subject:

“So, the two major factions of Buddhism and Taoism can actually be in the same room peacefully?”

“Are you secretly discussing something, like… the direction of the war in the Human Village?”

Speaking of this, everyone immediately became gloomy again.

Toyosatomimi no Miko's tone was melancholic, and even her ears seemed to droop:

“It's been discovered…”

Because Chu Bai wasn't a believer,

and also because of his independent status, everyone didn't deliberately hide it from him:

“In short, the trend of the war has exceeded our control.”

“If this trend continues, our believers on both sides will be killed and injured, and the number of faiths will be greatly reduced.”

Chu Bai raised a question:

“Then why don't you jointly come forward to stop the war?”

“If it's Miko, who holds the leading position in Taoism, and Byakuren, who holds the leading position in Buddhism,”

“if the two of you simultaneously issue a declaration of ceasefire, shouldn't the war in the Human Village be stopped?”

Saint Byakuren shook her head:

“It's not that simple.”

“Although we are the leaders of the religions, because the believers are too fanatical, we have become highly regarded but ultimately controlled.”

“If we suddenly issue orders that violate the wishes of the believers, such as a declaration of ceasefire, our own position will be questioned instead.”

“Not to mention the effect, the faith we gain will definitely be greatly reduced.”

Myouren Temple's second-in-command, Kumoi Ichirin, agreed:

“And our secret meeting cannot be discovered. If the believers know that their respective leaders secretly negotiated, it will also seriously undermine their faith.”

Obviously, compared to the civilian casualties caused by the war, the religious leaders were more concerned about their respective faiths.

In the face of the upcoming war trend, the high-level leaders of Buddhism and Taoism also reached a rare consensus—

they must stop the war and not affect the position of Buddhism/Taoism in the hearts of believers.

“This is really… a very tangled problem.”

Chu Bai rubbed his chin, falling into thought.

The leaders of Buddhism and Taoism had the same goal as him.

Everyone wanted to stop the war and instead adopt more peaceful methods that wouldn't exhaust their resources to compete for religion.

But the believers, whose minds had been influenced, were obviously too fanatical.

Once they disobeyed the believers' thoughts, even if they only briefly reached a consensus,

the believers would probably express their dissatisfaction and then question their faith.

“Chu Bai, quickly use your invincible brain to think of a solution!”

Ho Qing'e issued a request for help.

Because Chu Bai's intelligence was very high, and he was also the only male, the girls all looked at him with anticipation.

Under everyone's gaze, Chu Bai pondered for a moment and slowly opened his mouth:

“I have three strategies, upper, middle, and lower, that can bring the Human Village back from the brink of darkness.”

Ho Qing'e directly interrupted:

“Just tell us the middle strategy. Anyway, the upper strategy is definitely too hasty, and the lower strategy is definitely too slow. The only function of the two is to set off the benefits of the middle strategy.”

Chu Bai was immediately choked; she made a good point.

“The middle strategy…”

“Since the villagers in the Human Village are killing each other, deeply trapped in the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism,”

“why not reshape a new religion and develop a new force?”

“And this new religion is an evil religion that is simultaneously at odds with both Buddhism and Taoism and is extremely domineering.”

This strategy immediately made Toyosatomimi no Miko, who was good at politics, light up:

“The best way to resolve conflicts between two sides is to establish a common enemy?”

“That's right.”

Chu Bai took over:

“The created evil religion must be strong enough to make the villagers panic enough and be impossible for a single religious force to contend with.”

“Under this sense of crisis, the conflict between Buddhism and Taoism will naturally gradually fade.”

“Everyone will also focus all their attention on the newly emerged enemy.”

“In this way, even if Buddhism and Taoism cease fire, the believers will not be dissatisfied.”

“And you religious leaders can take advantage of this opportunity to use the evil religion as a negative example and make an agreement——”

“In the future, anyone who uses the name of religion to engage in war, kill innocent people indiscriminately, and spread the flames of war… then the residents of Gensokyo can attack them together.”

Second Auntie's eyes lit up:

“If so, both Buddhism and Taoism will be on the side of righteousness. Even if they return to a competitive state after the war, they will definitely not reignite the war.”

“Because whoever acts first is the one who is in the wrong.”