Chapter 396: Chapter 251: Heavenly Flowers Rain Down, Golden Lotuses Emerge (Part 2)
Especially since Fang Zhen possessed such a large army and a formidable battle record.
This opening quickly grabbed the audience’s attention, stirring their curiosity, passion, and a host of other emotions. It perfectly set the stage for the content to follow.
Fang Zhen saw the looks on the faces of the people below and chuckled softly.
He knew that many among them would think he was too arrogant, that he had overstepped his bounds. ’But so what?’
As long as the nobles below didn’t dare to argue or object to his face, they could only grumble internally. ’And what good would that do?’
As long as Fang Zhen kept up his verbal assault, it wouldn’t be long before their mental defenses crumbled, and they began to accept the ideas he was implanting in their minds.
This opening of Fang Zhen’s had an origin.
When it came to this kind of lecture, many people would immediately think of success gurus like Chen Anzhi or Brother Xiao. Some might even recall Brother Xiao’s classic catchphrase, "Applaud if you understand," and the scene that accompanied it.
But those were all second-rate success gurus.
When it came to the field of success coaching, the modern-day grandmaster had to be Anthony Robbins.
To be precise, he wasn’t the true originator; after all, there were people like Carnegie before him, and one could even trace the lineage back to Bacon.
But to call Anthony Robbins the apex predator among success coaches, the undisputed king of the field today, would be no exaggeration.
This man was a truly world-class master of success. He had trained countless Hollywood stars, Olympic champions, sports icons, political leaders, American presidents, and various other national leaders and high-level figures. He enjoyed a global reputation, and he wasn’t just a con artist—the man genuinely had substance.
Fang Zhen had simply adapted Anthony Robbins’s opening monologue.
It wasn’t that he was a student of Anthony Robbins; he just couldn’t be bothered to put much thought into the opening and simply lifted it.
In any case, the opening didn’t really matter. The truly effective elements were the brute-force hypnosis, his persuasion techniques, and the Voice of Source Power.
It seemed to be working quite well so far. He had seized the initiative with his powerful opening.
Fang Zhen saw that the nobles below seemed to have been stunned by his powerful opening.
Quite pleased, Fang Zhen controlled his voice and rhythm, beginning the true process of indoctrination and hypnosis.
He was confident in the content of his speech.
...
「Three hours later.」
Inside the church, Fang Zhen was still speaking.
His voice was like the morning bells and evening drums—magnetic, melodious, and resonant. It rose and fell with a powerful cadence, washing over the listeners like incessant waves, driving their emotions and senses.
In the beginning, the nobles in the church had been wary, suspicious, hesitant, and filled with other negative emotions. But now, after three hours of his lecture, after being subjected to continuous brute-force hypnosis and successive waves of brainwashing, very few could maintain their composure.
They were completely swept up in a state of frenzied emotion.
As Fang Zhen’s voice rose and fell, the nobles erupted in shouts, cheers, and roars of frenzied zeal. Their emotions spiraled into a state of extreme passion and fanaticism. Reason had vanished, their mental defenses were gone, and they continuously absorbed every new concept Fang Zhen presented.
Fang Zhen, however, remained perfectly composed. He continued his lecture, his voice rising and falling with a powerful rhythm and cadence, while inwardly observing the nobles.
’This method of combining brute-force hypnosis with persuasion, using the Voice of Source Power to vibrate my vocal cords as I speak... it’s truly devastatingly effective.’
Back in his youth, he had studied scriptures for a time to increase his wisdom. He never came to believe in any religion; strictly speaking, it was difficult for someone like him to trust in one. A person who could see the essence of religion at a glance could never truly believe. It was just like how the Pope or a Sect Leader is often the calmest, most pragmatic individual in their own faith.
But when he read the scriptures describing the Buddha’s sermons—which began with "Thus have I heard"—he would encounter descriptions of flowers raining from the heavens, golden lotuses springing from the earth, and the Buddha’s light shining brilliantly.
He had never quite understood it.
But this scene, right here and now, made Fang Zhen finally understand what those scriptures were really describing.
It meant the speaker was so good, their delivery so powerful, that they had sent their audience into a state of hypnotic imagination. The Buddha’s light, the heavenly flowers—they were all illusions seen by the mesmerized listeners.
At this point, Fang Zhen felt he didn’t even need to speak of profound truths. He could probably recite the *Three Character Classic* in the language of the Zambein Kingdom and still hypnotize the nobles below. He could make them weep with tears of ecstasy, feel as though they had encountered a rare, ultimate truth, and believe that Duke Fang Zhen would lead them from suffering to joy, to transcend the mundane world.
The nobles’ thoughts and emotions had been profoundly affected. From now on, their every thought and feeling would be exactly as Fang Zhen anticipated, yet they would still believe these ideas were their own.
Although no drastic change was visible yet, as time passed, today’s lecture would gradually mold these nobles into the state Fang Zhen required. They would become the reliable framework and mouthpieces for the development of his domain.
In truth, it wasn’t just the nobles who were affected.
In the church, besides the nobles, there were also the soldiers guarding the building and preventing them from leaving. Some of Fang Zhen’s own confidants were also present, such as Tahar Matthew and Agatha, who were at the back to support Fang Zhen and maintain order.
