If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 12: Zou Qing, the God of Land
"Pong!"

Another cloud of gray-white smoke rose from the ground. This time, it was no longer empty inside, but instead contained a three-foot-tall old man.

The little old man was holding a cane and spinning rapidly like a top being whipped.

It was like a drill bit coming out from the ground.

After emerging from the ground, he slowed down and finally stabilized his body completely.

After standing firm, the white-bearded old man immediately prostrated himself before the Taoist Qingsong, just like General Guan. More precisely, he prostrated himself before the purple gold medal "As if I were here in person" in the Taoist Qingsong's hand.

His attitude was as respectful as a son meeting his father.

Taoist Qingsong flipped his right hand, and the token as big as a plate and as thick as a palm disappeared.

He looked the old man up and down, sneered, "Even his clothes have changed, no wonder."

General Guan looked up at the old man and saw that he was dressed very similarly to the previous "Prime Minister of Shaqiu Kingdom".

She also wore a leopard skin skirt, wrapped around her body, revealing half of her shriveled chest.

He was the cavalry commander of the Great Shu. The Great Shu was officially called "Western Shu" in the Qin Dynasty, and there was another Shu Kingdom located to the east of the Liusha River, called "Eastern Shu".

Both East Shu and West Shu were descendants of the nobles who once looked south to the "ancient Shu land" of China. Following the order of Emperor Qin, they brought their chariots and common people and migrated thousands of miles to the west to expand their territory and establish their own.

Logically speaking, East Shu is located east of the Liusha River, closer to the Chinese nation, and its civilization and education are better than those of "West Shu".

But a great scholar of Wenhuiguan actually changed into the clothes of Shaman, let his hair down and wore his clothes on the left side, and converted to Shaman?

It's not just a matter of changing clothes.

General Guan vaguely understood something.

Sure enough, Qingsong Dao Tong didn't even give the old man a chance to explain himself. He didn't even let him speak. He directly ordered, "Where did you hide Sha Manyu? Hand him over immediately."

"Your Excellency the Envoy, I have never hidden Sha Manyu." Zou Qing, the land god, tilted his head to look at the scroll on General Guan's waist, his wrinkled old face showing sincerity, "The Shadow God Picture of Sha Manyu was drawn by me personally.

The news about her in the dunes was also collected by me and passed on to Master Lingguan. I am devoted to Daqin and have never forgotten the kindness of His Majesty the Human Emperor!"

General Guan subconsciously touched the scroll inserted in his belt, and his doubts about its origin were finally answered at this time.

"Devoted to the Great Qin" Qingsong Taoist boy is still five feet tall, and still has a chubby baby face, but this time his cold eyes swept over the land god, and even General Guan beside him felt the suffocating oppression and coldness.

"Zou Qing, before you sent out the Shadow God Map, you might have had the thought that you were still a subject of the Qin Dynasty and wanted to serve the Emperor.

I guess that by then you will still be wearing the tall hat and wide belt, and the robes of a scholar from the Great Qin Dynasty."

The old face of the land god Zou Qing twitched a few times and he buried his head even lower.

Taoist Qingsong glanced at the shrine built by Sha Manyu and sneered, "Sha Manyu worshipped the Emperor of Heaven, the Taoist Ancestor, and the Western Buddha, but it was you who ate the tributes and absorbed the incense of Sha Manyu.

Since he enjoyed the incense of Shaman, he naturally assumed the duty of protecting Shaman.

As a result, you betrayed Shaman.

On that day, I observed the stars at night and vaguely sensed something strange about the Dune Kingdom. I immediately sent a spiritual officer to ask you for information about the Dune Kingdom. You sold Sha Man Yu without hesitation.

After selling her, you should soon suffer the backlash of the incense, and even the Sand Dragon Vein will roar at you angrily.

At that time, you began to understand that you had established a relationship of mutual dependence between you and the "Dune Kingdom".

Shinto is a vassal of humanity.

If you are damaged, it will not affect the Dune Kingdom at all. However, if the Dune Kingdom declines, you who accept the incense from the Dune Kingdom will suffer a heavy blow.

The more incense you eat, the closer the connection, and the heavier the backlash.

Even the smoke that summoned you just now could not hide the smell of incense, which shows how greedy you are. You don't know the cause and effect and the source at all. You are confused and accept everything that comes to you. You chew it with big mouthfuls. "

Initially he had no plans to come to the dunes himself.

With the land god watching secretly, not to mention that Guan Huchen has clairvoyance, even if he arranges an ordinary general to come, it will probably be foolproof.

But Sha Manyu ran away.

Either there is something wrong with Guan Huchen, or there is something wrong with the land god.

When he arrived at the dunes and personally observed the stars, feng shui and dragon veins of the Dune Kingdom, Qingsong Taoist suddenly realized.

He used to laugh at the barbarian saints, saying that they were not saints, because the favor of heaven was with China, while the barbarians were not favored by heaven, and even if a saint was born, he would not be able to grow up.

In fact, there is one more thing he didn’t say: God helps those who help themselves.

Heaven's favor can be earned through hard work.

Sha Manyu and the Dune Kingdom have already been somewhat blessed by heaven at this time.

If everything goes well and disasters turn into blessings, it means God's blessing.

Even the land god who was conferred an imperial title by the Qin Dynasty suddenly realized the "secret of heaven" at the critical moment, and secretly surrendered to the barbarians with the noble status of a Chinese scholar, abandoning his civil clothes and changing into barbarian clothes. If this is not the blessing of heaven, what is?
If he had not held the order of the Human Emperor, which was equivalent to the Human Emperor suppressing it personally, Sha Manyu and the Dune Kingdom would have almost escaped this disaster.

But no matter how great the favor from heaven is, can it be greater and stronger than the favor from the Human Emperor?
The Chinese Emperor is half of the sky, and the will of the Emperor is stronger than the will of heaven!

"My Lord, I have been here for three hundred years since I came to the Xisha Islands. I have not had a full meal for a single day in the past three hundred years. The Shaman people do not worship the God of Land, let alone a temple for the Land.

The little god was hungry but had no food, thirsty but had no drink, and without a roof over his head. He had to endure the wind, sun, scorching summer and cold winter.

Sometimes he would encounter presumptuous goblins and be forcibly summoned away, forced to do the work of a slave, collecting wood for fire, pushing the mill and pulling the cart, which was even harder than the tenant farmers the little god had experienced when he was a mortal.

Sha Manyu built a shrine not only to worship the Taoist Patriarch, the Emperor of Heaven and the Buddha.

She could not write, but she dictated the sacrificial text, clearly stating that it was to pay respect to heaven and earth and to worship the righteous gods.

In other words, she opened up sacrifice to all the righteous gods of heaven and earth.

I didn’t steal the offerings from the Taoist Patriarch and the Emperor of Heaven. I was already one of the righteous gods who enjoyed the incense, but I just had a bigger appetite.”

It is reasonable that after being hungry for too long, one's appetite becomes a little bigger and one swallows all the incense.

The big appetite is just the beginning, the key is "betraying the Qin Dynasty and sheltering Sha Manyu".

The old landowner hesitated for a moment, but finally admitted honestly, "Your Excellency is indeed a master of the Zhengyang Palace, and you can see the problem of the little god at a glance.

When I was alive, I also heard the saying that "incense is poisonous".

But it was not until I tried it myself that I understood the benefits and poisons of incense.

Xiaoshen once held a high position in the Eastern Shu Kingdom and served in the Legalist Academy of the Daqin Wenhui Hall for three years. He witnessed the prosperity of the world and enjoyed beautiful women and rare delicacies.

Compared to incense, beauties are like dry bones, fragrant cars are like torture instruments, and delicious food becomes dirt.

As delicious as incense is, it is also as poisonous.

It has been three hundred years since I was deified by the emperor, but I have only been enjoying the incense of the Shaman for three years.

Three hundred years of hard training could not offset the backlash caused by three years of incense burning.

I can’t bear it at all, and I can’t resist.”

The old land god sighed with a complicated expression, and then hurriedly expressed his loyalty, saying: "But my lord has really wronged me. I really did not hide Sha Manyu on purpose, because, because..."

He hesitated and couldn't spit out the words.

The more curious Qingsong Dao Tong was, the more impatient he became, and he shouted, "The Emperor's order is here, and you still dare to act treacherous! The Qin Dynasty has made you a god, so you are the land god.

No matter how bitter and cold it is here, can it be more bitter than the endless cycle of reincarnation, or more painful than the torture in the eighteen levels of hell in the underworld?

The Human Emperor can save you from reincarnation and punishment in the underworld with just a word, and can also send you to eternal damnation with just a word.

If you dare to forget even this, Xiaodao can help you restore your memory. "

He did not take out the Emperor's Order again, but activated the power of "Emperor's Envoy".

The spiritual consciousness entered the body of the land god without any obstacles and instantly controlled the "Xisha Xinmohao" land talisman at the core.

"Master Taoist, please spare my life! I can't. I am a humble servant. I am a slave of the Great Qin. I can never repay the kindness of His Majesty the Emperor." The land god howled miserably and kowtowed repeatedly.

"It seems that my memory recovery technique is really effective." Qingsong Taoist said with a smile.

"It's effective, very effective. The Taoist priest has great magical powers and great power. I remember everything and understand it completely." The land god's mouth was so bitter as if he was chewing feces.

"I didn't hide Sha Manyu because there was no need. With that group of useless Western Shu barbarians on the sand dunes, they couldn't catch her at all. Instead, they were fooled by her."

General Guan, who was watching the show on the side, got angry.

He stood up, pointed at the old man and cursed: "Asshole, who are you calling a barbarian? The king of my Great Shu is a royal relative, and you, the people of East Shu, are barbarians."

The land god Zou Qing looked up at him, then glanced at Qingsong Taoist Boy secretly, and finally moved his lips a few times without saying anything.

Qingsong Taoist didn't say anything either.

East Shu and West Shu have always disliked each other.

Back then, the Human Emperor arranged them on both sides of the Liusha River and never expected them to live in harmony.

The Li family, a royal family of Western Shu, and the Ba family, a royal family of Eastern Shu, had been enemies for thousands of years in ancient Shu. How could they live in harmony with each other with such a deep blood feud?

How dare we be harmonious?
"I have observed the stars and made calculations before. Although Sha Manyu's life star is flickering unsteadily and she is clearly intending to escape, she wants to leave the sand dunes but has not succeeded. She is still on this land now." said the Taoist child Qingsong.

The old landowner was stunned for a moment, and replied, “I don’t know how to observe the stars, but I know exactly what Sha Manyu wanted to do when he left the dunes.

She didn't just have this thought today.

Ever since the servants started paying attention to her and Shaqiu, she had never concealed her desire to leave the Shaman tribe and go out to seek immortals and learn the way of Taoism.

If it weren't for my efforts in secret, no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to find her."

The Taoist boy Qingsong asked curiously, "What great effort did you make in secret?"

The old land god showed a smug and flattering smile on his face, and said, "Sha Manyu longed for immortality and wanted to become a powerful man who traveled to the North Sea in the morning and Cangwu in the evening. When he was young, he was weak and didn't dare to leave home alone.

When he grew up a little, he was still afraid of the wild monsters outside, so he often used his eloquence to encourage the Shaman warriors to go out and learn skills from a master and become a true immortal.

She almost succeeded several times.

Although the servants have little ability and magical powers, they can pretend to be demons and stir up wind, clouds and black smoke to scare them, which is very simple.

Sha Manyu tried to travel far away several times, but was scared back by his servants within a day or two each time.

As time went by, she became more and more frightened, and the Sand Barbarian warriors she had encouraged became completely discouraged and no longer paid any attention to her.

Qingsong Dao Tong looked strange, "Are you trying to take credit from me?"

"I dare not. I am just happy to serve you, my lord, the Great Qin, and His Majesty the Emperor." The old landowner bowed his head.

——If you hadn't messed around, the dragon vein under the dune might not have been developed, and you're still taking credit for it, idiot! You deserve the backlash of the incense, your involvement with the Sand Man is so deep, the backlash before was just an appetizer, wait and see if you die miserably or die by a thousand cuts.

Taoist Qingsong had a blank expression on his face, but in his heart he thought of the old land god as a dead man, or rather a dead ghost, because he had died three hundred years ago.

"Why did you stop her from going out to seek immortals and ask for the way?" Guan Huchen couldn't help but ask.

He thought that the old landowner stopped Sha Manyu for her own good, to prevent her from dying in the wilderness.

Traveling is difficult, and finding immortals is even more difficult. It is very easy to encounter jackals, tigers, leopards, mountain goblins and wild monsters.

Especially in the desert of sand dunes, there are no immortals at all. One has to walk thousands of miles to get to Shu. Even in Shu, there are only human immortals. He has lived for more than 40 years and has never met a real immortal. What the hell is a mere sand barbarian thinking!
But the old landowner was obviously blocking the way, not out of pity for her life.

(End of this chapter)