It's been a long while since I last walked around the Sect, even before I went to the centre of the universe.
There were… Quite a number of changes that I had not been aware of…
First thing I noticed was the giant statue of me that had been erected in the Grand Courtyard, positioned in such a way so that it looked like it was watching over the entire courtyard.
I pointed at it, "What is that?"
Sect Master Qing smiled, "Why, it's a statue of you of course, Master Lin."
"Yes… I can see that… But why is there a statue of me in the Grand Courtyard?"
"Ho ho ho! Master Lin is the first Master to not only ascend to the highest point of existence as Origin, but have aided eight of your disciples to ascend to Godhood as well. If that is not a worthy enough feat to warrant a statue to be made to commemorate you, then I don't know what anyone else would need to do to get one. You are the pride of our Heaven Sect, after all!"
Ugh… I guess if he put it like that, there's nothing else for me to say.
I then realised there was a small structure below the statue and I quickly realised it was a shrine.
"Ok… What is that?"
"A shrine for you of course, Master Lin."
"Why is there a shrine for me?"
Sect Master Qing stroked his beard, "Master Lin… It is normal to pray to Gods, yes?"
I blinked at him, "Err… I suppose?"
"And you are technically above the Gods, yes?"
Ah… I see where this is going.
I sighed, "But you know that I won't really receive any prayers or even answer prayers, right?"
"Ho ho! But you already have, Master Lin! Even if you did not know it, you have already influenced the lives of many of our Sect members! A good number of them have been inspired by you while others who were in bad places learned of your benevolence and found new paths in life for themselves! To them, you are worthy of their prayers and devotion!"
Umm… Ok…
Now that I think about it… Logically speaking, I am technically a god too… So I guess it wouldn't be weird for people to start worshipping me…
Oh no…
I spun to face Sect Master Qing, "Please don't tell me that there's a religion around me?"
"Ah… Hmm… I would say that there isn't a religion made around you, Master Lin."
Oh good, I don't know how I'm supposed to face my disciples if I knew that some people decided to make a religion out of me.
My disciples might even think I've let my position get to my head if something like that happens… Like who would even go and make a religion of themselves? I definitely don't want to be mistaken for a narcissist.
Oh wait a minute… I just got an idea.
"Hey, Sect Master Qing… Since my disciples have all ascended to godhood, wouldn't it make sense that they have their own shrines too? They are technically local gods since they ascended here, weren't they?"
Sect Master Qing stroked his beard thoughtfully, "Hmm… Hmm… That is very reasonable. Is that Master Lin's will? Shall we also make shrines for your disciples as well?"
"Of course, let's do that!"
"Ho ho! Very well, I shall tell the people involved about Master Lin's decision!" He laughed before walking out of the courtyard.
I figured that since my disciples put in all that hard work to ascend to godhood, they deserve some recognition too! That's why let's start a religion for them and make them real gods!
"Ara, ara? This is pretty ironic though~" Iris commented, appearing out of thin air beside me.
I turned to her, "What do you mean?"
"Ufufufu~ Nothing, Master~ But I just think that your other disciples might feel quite conflicted about this~ Oh, actually I think they would just adapt to it. Ufufufu~ This would definitely be interesting~ Is Master planning to tell your disciples about this?"
"Hmm… The way you said this is making me a little concerned so perhaps I should tell them about it… I guess it would be quite awkward if I were to do this without their knowledge after all?"
"Ufufufu~ I'm looking forward to that~"
She then disappeared again, presumably to return back to the centre of the universe.
This might come as a shock to everyone but Iris had chosen to stay behind as well because she also had something to do. She wasn't willing to tell me and I didn't want to pry either.
Though from our earlier interaction, it's clear that she was still keeping an eye on me.
Now that I'm alone again… What should I do?
Lian Li, Elaria and Tsuki are still busy writing their story so I decided not to go find them for now.
Instead, I continued my walk through the Sect and looked around to see just how much things have changed since I last remembered.
Well… It didn't really take long since I found out that they not only made that giant statue of me in the Grand Courtyard, they also scattered various smaller statues and even paintings of me all over the Sect…
It got to the extent that I wouldn't be surprised if some newbie came here and thought I was the founder or the current Sect Master of this Sect.
Seriously, why did you guys have to go this far? It feels like I'm obsessed with myself or something and made you guys do this for me…
Ugh… But I have to admit that they were all perfectly done though… They did not try to embellish my features or anything like that and kept the creations as close to my features as possible.
Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
I guess now I can expect the same treatment to be done to my disciples, maybe they can even make some kind of belief for them regarding their domains.
Like Lian Li could be seen as a patron for childbirth or something since her domain was Conception after all.
Hmm… Maybe I should discuss this with Guiying and ask her if it's possible for her to induct my disciples as official gods of the empire or something?
She did make me head of this country's ruling religion, whatever it was.
Ironic that I don't even know anything about it… But putting that aside, I should be able to do it for my disciples right?
Yeah, let's do that! I'll go find her right now!
