noffsinger Chapter 107 The Clues of Incense and Divine Path
Chapter 107 The Clues of Incense and Divine Path
Chapter 107 The Clues of Incense and Divine Path
The civil judge, the military judge, and the Black and White Impermanence, who were not present in the county city god's palace, all appeared.
They both looked up at the large seal beside the City God.
One corner of the seal had turned from black to gray, which looked quite strange.
"What happened?" the judge asked.
The city god's voice boomed like thunder, his rage reaching the heavens: "An evil, unorthodox deity has usurped the authority of the city god of Zhangnan County!"
The several underworld deities were all astonished.
Evil worship and wild gods have existed since ancient times, but very few have been able to usurp the authority of the true gods; most were wiped out before they could gain any real power.
The City God activated his seal, and the black and red light illuminated the appearance of the Pine and Willow Water God Temple.
There is nothing else.
"They ran so fast, and hid so well!"
The city god withdrew his seal and stepped back into the golden statue, his somber voice emanating from him: "I have already informed the city gods of neighboring counties to be on high alert."
It's not that he didn't want to manage it, but that after his power was stolen, he couldn't manage it even if he wanted to.
Only when the usurper, the evil ancestor, and the wild god are brought back to their bones can an opportunity be found to obliterate them.
However, Mingxiu Prefecture is too far from Zhangnan County, and the power of the incense gods would be greatly limited if they fought across borders.
Otherwise, the City God would surely go there in person and tear that audacious wild god to pieces.
At this time, Chu Xun had already left the Songliu Water God Temple.
After the City God's Seal was repaired, it flew autonomously toward the City God Temple, carrying with it numerous underworld magical artifacts.
Chu Xun followed behind, wanting to see how the City God Temple was doing now.
At the same time, he glanced at his own information.
Fire Control 25829/30000: Can generate a considerable flame and has a certain ability to control the flame temperature. As expected, the City God is worth five thousand points.
In addition, there are civil and military judges, night patrol gods, and numerous underworld messengers.
This battle caused the Fire Control skill to jump from a few thousand points to almost reaching the level of advancement.
It's just that the Day-Wandering God didn't come, otherwise we could have added even more.
A moment later, Chu Xun arrived at the City God Temple with the seal.
Looking into the temple, I saw that all the statues except for the Day-Roaming God were broken into pieces, and the ground was a mess.
The temple keeper was alarmed, ran over to take a look, and immediately felt as if he had lost his parents.
Last year, the statues of Wu Pan and Ye You Shen were destroyed, so new ones were made and put back in their place.
How come everything is ruined this year?
"Good heavens, what on earth has happened?!"
The City God received many offerings, and even though the statue was destroyed, a blurry figure quickly reappeared in the original golden spot.
Chu Xun could clearly feel that he was in his element here, with everything in the City God Temple in his view.
The newly reborn City God opened his eyes, stood up, and bowed to Chu Xun.
"Homage to the City God of Zhangnan County, Your Excellency."
Chu Xun's expression was strange. He knew very well that he was no immortal.
The City God was only so polite because he held power.
He immediately returned the greeting with clasped hands, and asked, "Does the City God know the meaning of the two characters 'Xuan Yu'?"
The City God's body trembled slightly, as if something was amiss.
He immediately stopped and said, "Xuanyu is the ancient god of swamps and wetlands. Now no one worships him and he is little known."
If you search through all the ancient books, you can naturally find it.
But who would bother looking for an ancient incense god who is no longer worshipped?
Chu Xun was taken aback. He thought those two words were Liang Simiao's alias or the name of a priest.
Unexpectedly, it was an ancient incense god.
"What is the meaning of covering Xuan Yu with your name?" Chu Xun asked again.
If Xuan Yu is also a City God, then it's easier to understand.
But now it seems that the two are not the same kind of divine office, which is puzzling.
The City God's body trembled slightly again before he replied, "I don't know, perhaps the immortal has misjudged."
Did I misread it?
Chu Xun did not agree with this answer.
They immediately summoned the large seal and examined it again.
To everyone's surprise, the seal indeed only contained Liang Simiao's name, with no other characters visible below.
Chu Xun frowned deeply; he was certain he couldn't have been mistaken.
Otherwise, why would they suddenly use words they've never heard of before?
Why can't we see it now?
"Could it be because the seal has been fully restored?"
It seems to be the only possibility.
it's wired.
"Does the Immortal have any other questions?" the City God asked.
Chu Xun shook his head, telling him to continue absorbing the incense offerings to recover, and then left the City God Temple.
On the way back to Songguo Village, Chu Xun was still troubled by the previous problem.
What could it mean if the names of two different clergy members overlap?
"Name overlap — Hidden —"
He muttered to himself, then suddenly remembered something, abruptly stopped, and turned to look at the City God Temple.
If there's something that absolutely requires one name to cover another, what could it be?
Four words popped into Chu Xun's mind.
Impersonation!
Yes, if an ordinary person wants to impersonate someone else, all they need to do is replace the person.
But the incense gods are different; they are not ordinary people, and even if they are replaced, they will leave traces.
Just like the stone said, once incense is offered, a trace will be left.
This mark is his name!
Even the ancient gods who are no longer worshipped are no exception!
"The City God is said to be Liang Simiao, but he has actually been replaced by the ancient incense god Xuan Yu?"
"That's why his name has the characters 'Xuan Yu' on it. But after the seal was repaired, the characters 'Xuan Yu' disappeared, leaving only Liang Simiao's name."
"Everyone will think Liang Simiao is the City God!"
The more Chu Xun thought about it, the clearer it became, but his expression grew increasingly grim.
If you guess right, that's not necessarily a good thing.
This means that the ancient incense god, who was originally unworshipped, stole human merit and occupied a divine position that did not belong to him!
Chu Xun subconsciously thought of Tang Shijun. Back in the capital, Tang Shijun had been personally received by the capital's civil judge because of his great merits.
At the time, I also asked the judge how people with great merit would be dealt with.
The judge said that one could choose to be reborn into a good family or remain in the underworld to serve.
At that time, Chu Xun only thought that if Tang Shijun stayed in the underworld, they might have to face each other in the future, which would be really bad.
Looking back now, it was far from bad!
Could it be that, like Liang Simiao, someone stole his merits and impersonated him to take his place as a deity?
If that's the case, where are the real people like Liang Simiao and Tang Shijun who have made such great contributions?
Does it still exist?
Or perhaps—the imposter silenced him.
"No wonder they hate the usurper so much; it's not just about who receives the incense offerings, but also about the unspeakable secrets hidden within!"
Chu Xun's gaze darkened; he was going to the capital city.
Let's see what's going on with Tang Shijun!
"We must not be hasty. If the ancient incense gods could truly steal human merits and impersonate others, it was not something they did alone."
Chu Xun didn't know much about the incense and religious practices.
But one thing is certain: such a huge event must be backed by an extremely terrifying background.
He had only saved Liao Shouyi, yet he had violated heavenly rules and incurred karmic retribution.
It's impossible for someone who stole merit to still be alive and well without anyone backing them up.
"What a magnificent set of heavenly rules!"
"What a meritorious deed!"
"The older generation doesn't want to die, so they're resorting to this kind of trick, huh?"
Chu Xun took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the urge to immediately go to the capital to investigate Tang Shijun's situation.
Having just seized the power of the City God in Zhangnan County, going to the capital now would easily alert the enemy and arouse suspicion.
Without looking at the City God Temple again, Chu Xun turned around and quickly returned to Songguo Village.
As before, they gathered the essence of metal and condensed the essence of Ren water.
When it's time to forge iron, forge iron; when it's time to eat, eat.
A year later, the divine authority appeared once again.
The city gods of two neighboring counties led the underworld forces to attack.
However, their strength is weakened when they fight across different realms.
With the intervention of the City God of Zhangnan County, Chu Xun hardly needed to get involved.
Thus, the year passed without any major incidents.
This continued for the next three years.
In the sixteenth year of Chongming, the refugee army that had been desperately resisting in the capital city was finally breached.
Huang Qi and Qi Songren each led several thousand remaining soldiers to retreat. Liao Shouyi did not pursue them, but instead led his troops back to the southwest.
Ma Huai'an in the southwest has declared himself king and is colluding with the Wu Kingdom to frequently invade.
If he doesn't go back soon, they'll attack.
Zhang Jingheng personally led his troops to welcome back the fleeing Emperor Chongming.
Upon returning to the capital, Emperor Chongming showed signs of aging.
Although the rebel army was defeated, the entire Jing Kingdom understood the true meaning of the saying that water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it.
With the implementation of the national policy, there are no longer any obstacles.
Emperor Chongming ordered that Zhang Jingheng be granted the title of Duke Protector of the Nation, bestowed with the Nine Bestowments, and granted him direct access to the Imperial Study.
In the summer of the seventeenth year of Chongming.
Having safely navigated yet another manifestation of divine authority, Chu Xun was already used to it.
After suffering losses multiple times, the city gods of the two neighboring counties did not come to harass them again that year.
For several years, neither the prefectural city god nor the capital city god came.
Chu Xun became even more certain that the "cross-border protection mechanism" between the incense gods was quite powerful.
The City God, who reigns supreme in Kyoto, might not be so powerful if he travels thousands of miles to Zhangnan County.
After all, the people here worship the City God of Zhangnan County, not the City God of the Capital —
I've heard of it, but I'm not familiar with it.
The heat of summer.
Chu Xun was hammering and forging meteorite iron in the courtyard.
Although the quality of this meteorite is high, it has still reached its limit.
Several years ago, it became impossible to absorb any more metallic essence.
However, Chu De did not stop collecting the essence of gold. Instead, he spent a lot of time constantly forging new longswords and storing the essence of gold in them.
I played one game a day, and now I've accumulated hundreds.
At this moment, the extraterrestrial meteorite has undergone more than twenty repeated hammering and forging processes, reducing its volume by 10%.
Both its toughness and strength are much higher than before.
"Chu Chen".
Qi Ermao, with a full head of white hair, came in from outside, carrying his grandson Qi Yulin.
Five-year-old Qi Yulin struggled to jump off him and greeted Chu Xun, "Hello, Uncle Chen."
""
Then he ran to the crows on the eaves and waved, "Crows, crows, come quick!"
He opened his pocket, revealing a handful of roasted soybeans.
The crows perched on the eaves, lazily glancing down at the scene, showing little interest.
Instead, field mice from the vegetable garden, weasels from the house, and a few rabbits hopped and skipped over.
Although Qi Yulin was somewhat disappointed that the crows wouldn't play with him, he quickly cheered up again when surrounded by weasels and rabbits.
Qi Ermao chuckled and reached for a stool to sit down.
Looking at Chu Xun, who was putting the meteorite iron back into the furnace to heat it up, he asked curiously, "You've been hammering this iron for seven or eight years now, haven't you? What are you planning to make?"
"Didn't I say I'd forge a sword?" Chu Xun said.
Qi Ermao couldn't understand why it would take so long to fight with a sword.
Judging from this situation, it might take at least ten or eight years before a sword embryo can be forged.
"Your Aunt Qiaohua's old leg pain has flared up again. She's in so much pain that she's pounding the wall. Her life has been very hard."
"That bastard Zhang Erzhu, I don't know when he secretly tore off some new cloth and made a new set of clothes, and then he came to show off to me."
"Our village's land should yield a good harvest this year. Several years of bumper harvests have made other villages extremely envious."
Perhaps it's because he's getting older, but Qi Ermao has become increasingly fond of nagging in recent years.
He especially likes to come to Chuxun to talk about things in and around the village.
Chu Xun would occasionally respond with a few words, but when he was too busy, he would just listen to what Chu Xun had to say.
Qi Ermao didn't care whether he heard him or not, and just kept talking to himself.
Chu Xun walked over, and the weasels surrounding Qi Yulin quickly helped him move a stool.
I picked another radish from the vegetable garden, washed it clean, and brought it over.
Qi Ermao stared wide-eyed at the weasel: "Where's mine?"
The weasel blinked, ignored him, and ran back to Qi Yulin to get some fried beans.
Chu Xun smiled and broke off half of it, handing it to Qi Ermao, who took it and took a big bite.
"Your radishes are so delicious, so juicy and sweet. How come I can't grow them?" Qi Ermao said.
Chu Xun, of course, wouldn't tell him that he often used magic to water the radishes, which naturally made them different from others.
At that moment, the sound of horses' hooves drew closer.
Soon, a messenger entered from outside: "Which one of you is Mr. Chu Chen?"
Chu Chen stood up and said, "That's me."
The messenger took a letter from his bosom and presented it with both hands: "This is an urgent message from the capital."
"Hard."
Several weasels hurriedly went to pull up radishes, without washing them, and ran over to tug at the official's trouser leg.
The messenger had come more than once, and he quickly bent down to hug the radish, saying, "Thank you."
He dared not accept the money, and Chu De was also unwilling to let people come for nothing, so he would give them a few radishes to eat each time they came.
Even after visiting several times, the official couldn't help but marvel at the flock of crows on the eaves.
"Whose letter is this?" Qi Ermao asked curiously.
"It's from Minister Zhang," Chu Xun said.
"Him? —" Qi Ermao said, "You should call him Uncle Zhang. 'Minister Zhang' sounds too formal."
Chu Xun pretended not to hear, but it was really difficult for him to call Huan'er "cousin".
Unwrapping the letter, I found a single sheet of paper inside with just six words written on it: "My mother is critically ill. Come quickly."
Qi Ermao, munching on a radish, asked curiously, "What does it say?"
Chu Xun didn't hide anything and showed him the letter.
Qi Ermao was taken aback and quickly stood up: "Is Auntie unwell?"
Lin Qiaoxi was quite young when she married Zhang Sanchun, but she is now nearly seventy years old.
When he was taken from Pingshui Town to the capital city many years ago, his health was already quite poor.
It's already remarkable that they've managed to endure for so many more years.
Chu Xun accepted the letter and said, "I have to go to the capital."
"Go ahead, go ahead," Qi Ermao said.
He would like to go if he could.
When Lin Qiaoxi lived in the village, they always had a good relationship.
However, Kyoto is too far away, and not only do I have to take care of my grandson, but the fields are also about to be harvested.
Watching Chu Xun go back to her room to pack her things, Qi Ermao couldn't help but sigh.
He touched his full head of white hair and muttered, "I wonder how many more years I have to live."
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