This god is really evil

Chapter 100: Xuantian Fuzun's New Apostle
Qinghe County, Wanling Temple.

There are five major temples in the entire Qinghe County, enshrining the five major gods.

Although it was the coldest time of the year, the Wanling Temple was crowded with believers and the incense was burning brightly.

In addition to the main hall of the Lord of All Spirits, there are a large number of small shrines distributed in the Temple of All Spirits. Many of the shrines contain some spiritual tablets and statues, but these statues are actually various small animals, among which mice, snakes, hedgehogs, weasels and so on are the most common.

Next to the magnificent main hall of the Lord of All Spirits is a slightly smaller temple, which is magnificent and has even more exquisite carvings than the main hall. Inside is a huge statue of a god with a fox head and a human body. He is wearing a long robe and sitting cross-legged with his eyes squinted and his mouth slightly raised, revealing two canine teeth, which is very lifelike.

Instead, more believers came to this side hall to kowtow.

At this moment, in the square in front of the side hall, there was a man wearing a fur vest, tattoos on his arms, and a big beard. He was kneeling there motionless, his forehead touching the ground, and his eyes slightly closed.

The believers around him walked around him, with some surprise in their eyes.

It was because this man's attire looked exactly like a shaman from the lineage of the Lord of All Spirits.

Among the followers of the Lord of All Spirits, shamans have a lofty status, serving as a bridge of communication with the various spirit mediums and even the Lord of All Spirits.

How could a shaman kneel here for so long?
According to the people in the Temple of All Spirits, the shaman had been kneeling there for two days, motionless, as if he had grown there!
It’s so cold, are you going to freeze yourself to death?
As everyone was discussing, an old man dressed in the same shaman costume walked out of the side hall. The wrinkles on his face were like dense ravines. He came to the kneeling young shaman, sighed, and said:

"Aole, get up, the Immortal Lord doesn't want to see you."

The man who was kneeling for a long time was Ao Le.

Aole's body trembled, and his tightly closed eyes slowly opened, his eyeballs were full of bloodshot, and he said:

"Is it the Immortal Lord's intention, or yours? Great Shaman Mu Yuan?"

Mu Yuan shook his head and said:

"Since I am the chief shaman of the Temple of All Spirits, what is the difference between the Immortal Lord's opinion and my opinion? Do I dare to go against the Immortal Lord's wishes?"

As he said this, he was about to reach out and pull Ao Le up.

Aole held tightly to the colorful stripes on Mu Yuan's shaman robe with both hands and pleaded:
"Great Shaman, although I am not the deity worshipped in Qinghe County, I am still a member of the Wanling Lord after all. My Tao heart is damaged and I don't want to ask the Immortal Lord to repair it. I just want to ask the Immortal Lord a question in person."

Mu Yuan's face darkened and he said grimly:
"Aole, I am here to advise you only because you hold an official position in the Sitianjian, and I cannot watch you die in this Wanling Temple for nothing. A useless person like you who has been abandoned by the Wanling Lord and whose Taoism heart is covered with dust, what qualifications do you have to see the Immortal Lord? The Immortal Lord is an immortal god under the Wanling Lord, and his status is so honorable!"

A hint of disappointment flashed again in Ao Le's already dim eyes.

"But it's not impossible..." Mu Yuan smiled and whispered, "Liu Yunhe's new student, your Si Tian Jian's spiritual officer Li Yan, is said to be a natural born chosen by God? This kind of figure is favored by the Immortal Lord. You just need to bring Li Yan here and persuade him to join my Wan Ling Lord. The Immortal Lord will be overjoyed and will naturally meet you."

Ao Le was startled, raised his head and looked at Mu Yuan deeply with an expressionless face.

Mu Yuan paused, then said with a smile:

"This is a great thing for you, me, and Li Yan! He can't practice cultivation, so what difference does it make to him which sect he joins? Those Confucian saints are not even gods, and I don't know how long they have been dead. If it weren't for the fact that these Confucian scholars could help with government affairs, His Majesty would have labeled Confucianism and Taoism as heresy!"

"When you can bring the chosen one here, the Immortal Lord will see you..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Ao Le snorted coldly and turned away without even looking at him.

Mu Yuan said anxiously behind him:
"Think about it carefully! Do you want to be abandoned by the Lord of All Spirits for the rest of your life and become a useless person, or do you want to serve the Immortal Lord well and ascend to the great path of glory!"

But before he could finish his words, Ao Le's figure disappeared at the gate and left completely.

Mu Yuan narrowed his eyes, snorted coldly, and said to himself:
"The things that the Immortal Lord wants are all there is in Qinghe County. Do you really think you are a nobody? If you don't send it to me, it will be beyond your control when I go to get it..."

……

"So, the Si Tian Jian doesn't have much work to do on weekdays?"

In the study of the Imperial Observatory, Li Yan sat on Liu Yunhe's armchair, put his boots on Liu Yunhe's large desk, flipped through the local customs in his hand, and chatted with Wang Wenshu.

Today is the day for the two "Jishiu" of Xuanzhengyuan to be held at the Yuhuahui.

In order to build up momentum for the achievements of the Xuan Zheng Yuan, Xiao Chucai had already started promoting it a few days ago. He even had some anti-evil cavalrymen beating gongs all the way to Weizi Town and several villages. The entire county was already packed with people who had come to watch the fun.

Not many people came from Weizi Town. After all, they had just seen Master Ji being skinned alive a few days ago, so they had seen the world.

Xiao Chucai even took advantage of this opportunity to mobilize a lot of connections and forcibly took over all the Yuhuasui cases in the county, without allowing the Imperial Observatory to interfere in the slightest.

Li Yan, the acting manager, was too lazy to take care of it. In the past two days, he had not even taken care of the ordinary matters of exorcising evil spirits.

Hearing Li Yan's question, Wang Wenshu shook his head and said:

"Master Li, what you said is not right. What do you mean by business? What we at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau want is peace and tranquility, right? Of course, the less business we have to deal with, the better. Besides, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau is mainly dealing with heretics. Even if ordinary people encounter small evil spirits, they would prefer to seek help from the temples of the five great gods."

"Whether you believe in any of these, the Bu Ran Temple, the Ming Palace, the Dao Palace, the Tai Yi Palace, or the Wan Ling Temple, or even all of them, as long as you pay enough silver as a token of gratitude, one of the shaman masters will come to exorcise the evil spirit."

Li Yan raised his eyebrows and asked:

"Aren't the temples of the five great gods under the jurisdiction of the Xuanzhengyuan?"

Wang Wenshu said quickly:
"The Xuanzhengyuan's management is based on consultation, not orders. Sir Li, you only know one side of the story. Let me explain in detail..."

The temples of the five great gods are more like temples of powerful forces.

They do not engage in production and do not pay taxes. They rely on donations from believers and, during years of famine, they buy up land on a large scale. Half of the farmland in the entire Qinghe County belongs to these five major temples.

In addition, these five major temples can also form their own temple soldiers, the so-called guards, and each has several hundred people.

It is like this everywhere in the world.

The imperial court is simply unable to manage it, and even the current emperor has to frequently issue imperial decrees to give concessions to these temples.

The world of Great Qi was more like a country ruled jointly by the imperial court and the five temples.

Wang Wenshu said this, turned around and looked around to make sure that no one else was present, then whispered:
"Speaking of which, there has always been a joke among the people that our Great Qi is 'one dynasty with six courts', one Great Qi court plus five small courts."

Li Yan nodded slightly, then asked:
"Are these five great temples all similar? Are there no differences between them?"

Wang Wenshu smiled and said:

"The Palace of Life controls destiny and only accepts high-ranking officials and nobles. The Palace of Taoism worships the Taoist master. The Palace of Taiyi strengthens the body and blood. The Temple of Untainted seeks to be spotless and transcend the mundane world. The Temple of Ten Thousand Spirits has the most believers, after all, there are many immortal masters under the seat of the Ten Thousand Spirits Master."

After a pause, Wang Wenshu continued:

"I don't know about other places, but the Wanling Temple in Qinghe County is the strongest among the five major temples, because there is an immortal master enshrined in the temple. The immortal master is in charge of Qinghe County and ensures peace in the area."

Li Yan nodded and said, "Thank you for your advice." At the same time, his mind was racing.

The political system of the Great Qi is really too weird.

It can be said that politics and religion are integrated, but these five major temples are independent systems and do not interfere with each other.

Speaking of a secular regime, the Emperor of Da Qi and even the entire court had to worship the five major gods, and even half of the world was divided up by these five major temples.

Weird, weird, weird.

But one thing is certain, that is, any dictatorial emperor will not tolerate other forces sharing power with him.

Even if it’s a god!
I just don't know what the Emperor Gao of the Great Qi is planning?
After chatting with Wang Wenshu for a while, Li Yan took the two detectives out for a stroll on the street.

The streets of the county town were now crowded with people, most of whom came to watch the execution of the evil cult leader at noon.

Two "chief priests" plus a dozen evil followers were what Xuan Zhengyuan gained this time.

Just looking at the scale of the publicity, those who didn't know would think that he had captured the high priest and saint of the Yuhua Society, as well as several thousand followers.

Li Yan was not disgusted by this. Xiao Chucai did a good job in publicity.

The Sitianjian should also be like this.

Old Liu was too aloof in the past and neglected these necessary things.

Even though they fought desperately with the Yuhua Society in Weizi Town and killed the Yuhua Saint, a chief priest and several thousand followers, the momentum was not as great as the capture of a dozen people by the Xuanzhengyuan. Outside Weizi Town, not many people knew about it.

Public opinion is a position. If you don’t occupy it, others will.

The whole county was bustling all day long, just like Chinese New Year. Xuan Zheng Yuan and Xiao Chucai also made great appearances. As the hero who captured the two "chief priests" of Yuhua Society, Niu Ma, a captain of the Imperial Guards, also went up to the execution platform wearing a big red flower and was highly praised. Everyone in the entire Qinghe County knew about this Lord Niu Ma.

In the county town, there were various opera troupes, peddlers, jugglers, monkey trainers, people selling magic pills, and so on. It was so lively that even the screams coming from the execution ground could not be heard.

Li Yan also went to the street to join in the fun, drinking, listening to books and music, and eating various local specialties. It was really lively. He also bought a few mechanical toys, which were said to be brought by the Western Region caravans.

The feathered demons were all skinned to death by the afternoon, but the excitement did not stop until the evening curfew.

It was almost midnight, and the county town, which had been bustling all day, was already tired and asleep. In the night, Li Yan came out of his own courtyard, jumped onto the eaves, and with the strength of the tendons and bones realm, his body was as fast as lightning. He passed through the halls and alleys, dodged the patrolling constables and night watchmen, and quickly came to a small house near the city wall in the north of the city.

Zou's Restaurant.

Pushing open the door and entering the dilapidated restaurant, Li Yan turned over the iron pot on the stove and pulled open the partition underneath, immediately revealing a secret passage.

It was the secret passage that Yu Pianran took to leave the city.

After entering the secret passage and running for a while, we reached the end.

Li Yan came out from the other end of the secret passage and found that he had arrived at the bank of Qing River.

To be fair, the Yuhua Association is doing quite well in Qinghe County.

Yu Pianran is indeed a management talent, but it's a pity that he is unlucky.

After running forward for a while, the dilapidated Bu Ran Temple appeared.

Li Yan slowed down his pace, breathing heavily, and walked step by step to the front of the Bu Ran Temple. He listened to the noise inside, then pushed the door and walked in, arriving at the main hall.

Before he could speak, Yu Pianran had already floated down in his robe, her pretty face full of anxiety, and said:
"Holy Son, you... you are finally here! It is already midnight, I was really worried, I thought you were discovered by those lackeys of the court, and met with an accident..."

Li Yan was panting at this time, looking extremely tired, and forced a smile:

"Today, the two priests were tortured in public and have passed away... I was watching the execution and my heart was broken. The two priests did not reveal my identity until their death. They are truly heroes."

Hearing this, Yu Pianran looked gloomy and started crying again.

Li Yan sighed, took out a brocade box from his arms, handed it to Yu Pianran and said:

"Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission, High Priest. I have stolen Liu Yunhe's secret treasure!"

Yu Pianran trembled all over, took it with both hands, and after opening it, she saw a palm-sized metal box inside.

This metal box is extremely ingenious, and has a nine-square grid lock on it. It is exactly what Li Yan bought at the market today. It is similar to an early combination lock. I don't know how to set the mechanism, so it cannot be opened at all.

Li Yan scratched his head and said:
"I don't know how to open this thing, so I'll have to trouble the High Priest. I also stole a pill from Liu Yunhe's study and brought you some food."

As he spoke, he handed over a porcelain bottle and a food box.

"High Priest, I cannot leave the Imperial Observatory for too long, for fear of being discovered. Now that I have brought the things, I will go back first." Li Yan said as he put down the food box and clasped his fists. Before Yu Pianran could react, he had already walked out of the door of the Bushan Temple and ran into the darkness.

Yu Pianran was a little stunned for a moment, but still turned around to look at the pill and the metal box in his hand.

Things have come to this point, and the Son of God has taken a huge risk. She must use these things as soon as possible, otherwise the other party's hard work at the risk of his life will be in vain.

In the porcelain bottle, there was a Qi and Blood Pill. It was of little use to her now, but it could strengthen her Qi and blood, and at least keep her warm.

I guess the Saint herself can't practice, and doesn't quite understand these elixirs. She doesn't know that what she needs most now is actually the Soul-Nourishing Pill. But this is already great.

Yu Pianran then looked at the metal box. She had seen this kind of ingenious and sturdy metal box before. They were all made by skilled craftsmen from the Western Regions. This box alone cost dozens of taels of silver. It was obvious that it contained something extremely important to Liu Yunhe.

Fortunately, this is not that difficult for a metamorphosis warlock.

She held her breath and concentrated, trying to feel the direction of the mechanism, immersing her mind in it, and summoning the final inspiration.

A feather immediately flew into the keyhole, explored for a while, and pushed open the mechanisms one by one.

With a "click" sound, the metal box opened, revealing a square folded copybook of calligraphy. The majestic energy on it burst out and attacked her!
Yu Pianran retreated violently, but was still blasted away.

There was blood at the corner of her mouth. She struggled to get up and thought to herself that it was a close call.

This is apparently a piece of calligraphy that embodies Liu Yunhe's great spirit. It will actively attack when encountering evil spirits.

Fortunately, her inspiration has been exhausted and she hasn't recovered much yet, otherwise, it would be hard to say.

He immediately gathered all his evil powers, carefully opened the copybook, and immediately saw the vigorous and powerful words "震邪".

Inside the copybook was a yellowed booklet that looked antique, with traces of smoke and fire, and even some human ointment:
[Ritual of taking refuge in the Infinite Mysterious Heavenly Blessing]

(End of this chapter)