Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 586-596: Empty Clouds

"Master is here!"

This sound made the other four rats turn around and look in the distance towards the sky, following the gaze of the rat who brought joy.

Amidst the churning clouds ahead, Lin Beixuan, dressed in black robes, rode the clouds in a grand manner.

Seeing this scene, the Five Rats couldn't help but recall the first time they met Lin Beixuan.

They only thought about finding a place to live in the mortal world, but who could have imagined that not only have they returned to the secular world, but the person who saved them has also grown to a terrifying level.

Back then, Lin Beixuan's strength hadn't even reached the Open Mansion Realm, but now, he has killed more than two Great Mortal Gods.

Such a dramatic difference left the Five Rats stunned, their eyes fixed on Lin Beixuan's approaching figure.

"Master!!" the five rats shouted in unison.

At first, they liked to call Lin Beixuan "Tangling" because that's what people usually call "Zishu" (a type of rat). Later, they felt that the word "Master" sounded more affectionate.

As Lin Beixuan drew closer, the five rats displayed a variety of expressions: some were excited, some were adoring, and some were terrified.

The Wealth-Bringing Rat looked at the pair of eyes staring at it, and felt a little uneasy.

After a struggle in his mind, the Wealth-Welcoming Rat leaped out from among his brothers, knelt in front of Lin Beixuan, and grabbed Lin Beixuan's clothes with both hands.

"Sir, I was wrong! I shouldn't have engaged in usury; I shouldn't have abandoned my beliefs for short-term gains!"

The Wealth-Welcoming Rat cried its eyes out, denouncing its own corruption.

Lin Beixuan lowered his head, raised his eyebrows slightly, and placed his hand on the head of the Wealth-Welcoming Rat.

"Snapped!"

Before the lucky rat could even rejoice, it trembled all over at Lin Beixuan's next words.

"There's no need for that. Just follow military regulations."

Upon hearing the words "military regulations," the other four rats' eyes widened in surprise. As the eldest, the Blessing Rat quickly stepped forward to try and dissuade them.

"Master, although Yingcai has broken some rules, please forgive it this time for its loyalty to you!"

At this moment, even the gluttonous rat came out and prostrated itself before Lin Beixuan, hoping he would show mercy.

Seeing this, Lin Beixuan couldn't help but chuckle, shaking his head and saying, "In your hearts, am I really such a heartless master?"

Jiang Xishu immediately beamed with joy: "Master doesn't intend to punish Fourth Brother anymore?"

The Beiming Army has strict military regulations. Although there is no explicit prohibition against manipulating the exchange of merits, it has been stated that merits are the foundation of the Beiming Army's merit exchange system, and anyone who tries to tamper with this will be dealt with severely.

The matter of the Welcoming Fortune Rat has crossed a red line. If we really take action against it, not only will my strength be crippled, but I will also be expelled from the territory of the Northern Underworld Army.

Lin Beixuan looked at the Wealth-Welcoming Rat, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

"Now you know it was wrong?"

His tone wasn't harsh, yet it gave the Five Rats an inexplicable sense of pressure.

"Master, Yingcai knows he was wrong!"

The money-welcoming rat hesitated and lowered its head, burying it deep in the ground.

Lin Beixuan said coldly, "You should know my temper. The Beiming Army has developed to its current state through the merit system. This matter has shaken the foundation of the Beiming Army. If it is handled according to military regulations, you should be expelled from Luozhou now."

"But considering that you only traded your own merits and did not involve too many people, I can give you a chance to turn over a new leaf."

Upon hearing this, the Wealth-Bringing Rat excitedly raised its head: "Thank you, sir!"

"Don't thank me yet." Lin Beixuan waved his hand, then looked at the other rats.

"Since you knew in secret what the Wealth-Welcoming Rat was doing but did not stop it, then you shall all be punished."

The mice exchanged glances, willingly accepting their punishment.

Lin Beixuan said calmly, "As for the severity of the punishment, we'll discuss that when we return."

"I need you to take me somewhere."

The Wealth-Welcoming Rat immediately bowed and scraped, acting like a lackey: "Master, just tell us where you want to go, and we'll take you there if we know the answer."

Lin Beixuan glanced at the Wealth-Welcoming Rat.

"Kongyun Temple".

Just those four simple words left the Five Rats stunned on the spot.

Kongyun Temple, one of the twelve zodiac deities, is the temple of incense offerings made by the old man Kongyun, the rat. It was a place where they used to offer incense and light lamps to pray for blessings and good fortune.

"Master, are you going to see Lord Kongyun?" The Blessing Rat hesitated and said, "Lord Kongyun has a rather eccentric temper, you might not be able to get used to it."

Lin Beixuan didn't even look at the Wealth-Welcoming Rat; he simply raised his hand and flicked it on the head.

"What? Are you afraid you'll lose face when you meet your old master under your new one?"

"Ahem, of course not." The Lucky Rat coughed twice, pretending to cough.

Isn't that shameless!

They had decisively abandoned Elder Kongyun and chosen to rely on Lin Beixuan, never imagining that they would see each other again.

In fact, after returning to the mortal world, they had sensed the call of the old man Kongyun more than once, but none of them left.

After all, being free and unrestrained by Lin Beixuan's side, who would want to go back to burning oil for lamps?

However, just then, after calming down, the Wealth Rat patted its chest without hesitation.

"Sir, I know the way. Let me make amends by taking you there."

As it spoke, the Wealth-Bringing Rat ran over to the Joy-Bringing Rat and patted it on the shoulder.

"Good brother, you'll help me, right?"

Jiangxi the mouse looked surprised for a moment before nodding.

Lin Beixuan ignored the little squabbles among the five rats and simply urged them, "Hurry up, I'm in a hurry."

Upon hearing this, the five rats no longer hesitated, exchanged glances, and nodded.

The long-lived rat somehow took out half a stick of incense, lit it, and stuck it in the ground.

The praying mouse crouched before the incense, muttering something under its breath, its chant unknown.

The Wealth-Bringing Rat closes its eyes, its whole body radiating golden light, and a pure power emanates from it, transforming into a beam of golden light that shoots towards the Wealth-Bringing Rat.

The beam of light was not very powerful; rather, it served as a landmark to guide the way.

The auspicious rat rubbed its palms together continuously, and a rich red halo appeared in its palms, slowly rising.

The Lucky Rat used its fingers as a brush, drawing a door in front of it, guided by a halo of light like smoke.

The golden beam of light struck the door precisely at the moment it took shape.

"boom!!"

In an instant, a deafening roar of colliding energy resounded, and the gate, imbued with the power of the Five Rats, opened wide, tearing open a spatial rift.

As Lin Beixuan watched this scene, his nose twitched slightly. The moment the door opened, he smelled an unusual scent of incense.

At this moment, the Luckily Rat said, "Master, please!"

Lin Beixuan raised an eyebrow and stepped into the doorway.

Suddenly, he felt the space in front of him distort, and the rich aroma of incense transformed into clocks that were spinning rapidly, ticking away.

Immediately afterward, he noticed the five rats shrink and jump onto his shoulder. The Wealth-Welcoming Rat's eyes shot out golden light, directly hitting one of them that was constantly moving.

Lin Beixuan immediately felt his body being pulled by some kind of force. He could have easily gotten rid of the influence of this force on his body, but he did not. Instead, he let the force take him to a mysterious and unknown region.

"call--"

A gentle breeze blew by, and Lin Beixuan's feet were already on unfamiliar land.

The place looked somewhat desolate, with withered leaves covering the ground. Several old trees stood not far away, their thick roots emerging from the soil as proof of their age.

Lin Beixuan raised his head slightly, and an ancient and solemn temple stood before him.

Compared to the Tiangang Temple, this temple appears to be much older, with every brick and tile seemingly imbued with the scent of time.

Stone steps covered in green moss, beams and pillars blackened and cracked, old gray-brown tiles mottled and worn...

What Lin Beixuan found most peculiar was the ever-present smell of incense in the air.

Despite the dilapidated appearance of the place, it seems that many people still offer incense here.

"Where is this?" Lin Beixuan asked, puzzled.

"One Hundred Thousand Mountains!"

The Wealth-Bringing Rat jumped off Lin Beixuan's shoulder, sniffed around, and said, "The location is accurate. It seems we didn't make a mistake."

The Ten Thousand Mountains are a mysterious place located in the southwest of China, belonging to one dynasty yet not belonging to another.

There is no plain here. If you climb to the top of the mountain and look into the distance, you will find that all you can see are hills of all sizes.

The people living here have been called the Ling Clan by successive dynasties.

Similar to the barbarian tribes of the northern frontier, the Ling tribe in the Ten Thousand Mountains also has many tribes.

These tribes each had their own beliefs, unlike the barbarian tribes who uniformly worshipped their wild gods.

"I never imagined that the temple of the Rat would be located in the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

Lin Beixuan slowly walked towards the ancient temple in front of him.

He could sense that although this temple did not emit any divine power fluctuations, it was just like the Tiangang Temple, which looked ordinary on the outside but actually contained great secrets inside.

The Five Rats followed Lin Beixuan, their hearts filled with trepidation.

Because when they returned to this familiar land, the mark deep within their hearts that had once been covered by Lin Beixuan's mark began to waver.

Lin Beixuan also noticed the abnormality of the five rats. His divine power transformed into threads and silently wrapped around the five rats.

The moment he pushed open the temple door and stepped into the shrine, the panel suddenly started to jump.

You have entered a special area: the Temple of the Empty Clouds.

[Temple Encyclopedia Unlocked; Information on the Temple of the Mortal Lord - Kongyun Successfully Unlocked.]

[Kongyun Temple: The place where the old man Kongyun, the patriarch of the twelve zodiac deities, sits in meditation, witnessing the passing years and gazing upon the human world.]

Seeing the information on the panel, Lin Beixuan knew he had come to the right place.

Kongyun Temple is very simple, with only one small main hall. Pushing open the door and walking in, you enter a courtyard. Looking across the courtyard, you can see a rat-headed human-bodied deity in the hall, dressed in coarse linen clothes and leaning on a cane.

Lin Beixuan glanced around and found it to be different from the bustling scene he had imagined, similar to the Tiangang Temple.

The objects here lack any sense of soul, making it seem somewhat desolate.

However, the area was fairly clean, indicating that it is regularly cleaned.

"Squeak..."

Just then, the door to a side room next to the main hall suddenly opened, and a tall, thin old man dressed in a short gray cloth came out.

The old man, holding a duster, looked at Lin Beixuan with a hint of surprise in his cloudy eyes.

Then, his gaze fell on the five rats at Lin Beixuan's feet.

"Ah……"

The old man suddenly laughed, but his tone was somewhat cold.

"I thought it was someone who had returned, but it turned out to be a few wild spirits who didn't want to guard the temple."

Upon hearing this, the Five Rats looked somewhat embarrassed.

"What? You've already left, why are you coming back now?"

As the old man spoke, he walked to the statue and used a duster to clean the dust off it.

The praying rat coughed twice, hopped forward, and skillfully picked up an oil jug from a corner of the main hall, adding some oil to a lamp that was about to go out.

The old man glanced at the Blessing Rat: "When you left, you were still at the Refining Spirit stage, but you've returned at the Core Formation stage. It seems your new master treats you very well."

After saying that, the old man put down the duster, dragged out a wooden stool with a missing leg from the corner of the wall, and wiped the stool surface with his sleeve.

"Are the guests here to burn incense?"

"The incense in the temple is on the third tier of the offering table. Would you like to burn tall incense or peace incense?"

Lin Beixuan's gaze fell on the old man's hands, which had prominent knuckles and were covered in calluses.

He got straight to the point: "I'm looking for Old Man Kongyun."

The old man paused as he wiped the stool, his wrinkles piling up at the corners of his eyes like ripples on a lake.

"Guest, you flatter me. Lord Kongyun is a god. How could I, a mere mortal, possibly meet him? It is the statues in the temple that are truly efficacious. If you have any wishes, you may simply offer prayers to the statues."

After hesitating for a while, the Wealth-Welcoming Rat jumped out and said, "Old Chu, you should go do what you're supposed to do. My master has important business with Lord Kongyun."

Upon hearing this, the old man's cloudy eyes turned red, his ears elongated strangely, and wisps of hair, like clouds, began to grow on his neck.

"I am the temple keeper of the Kongyun Temple. Is there anything I cannot say or ask?"

"Now that you've followed a new master, have you forgotten who blessed you in the first place, allowing you to achieve what you have today?"

In the old man's eyes, he had completely regarded the Five Rats as traitors who betrayed their master for personal gain.

He seemed to be more than he appeared; when angry, his body revealed inhuman characteristics, making him appear like a monster in human form.

The Wealth-Bringing Rat wasn't in a good mood at the moment. Its body suddenly swelled up, and its golden fur stood on end, making it look like a fierce golden lion.

"You don't understand anything at all."

"I don't understand?" The old man grinned, his cloth clothes tearing apart inch by inch, the loose fur around his neck covering his entire body, transforming him into a giant rat with long ears, the size of a water buffalo.

"Think you've become capable? Then let me test you."

As it spoke, the long-eared giant rat suddenly pounced on the Wealth-Welcoming Rat.

The Wealth-Bringing Rat was smaller than the Long-Eared Giant Rat. Although it had already formed its core, it was completely suppressed by the Long-Eared Giant Rat in terms of magic and quickly fell into a disadvantageous position.

Seeing this, the long-lived rats and others joined the battle and began to fight the long-eared giant rat.

Lin Beixuan was surprised to find that the long-eared giant rat seemed to know all the techniques used by the five rats, and its use was more advanced than that of the five rats. One rat was not at a disadvantage in fighting the five rats.

At the same time, he also discovered that such a large group of rats were fighting in the temple, which should have been completely unaccommodating.

However, the space inside the temple seemed to stretch and expand continuously as the rats fought, and no matter how they fought, the temple's buildings would not be damaged.

Lin Beixuan ignored the battle between the five rats and the long-eared giant rat, and instead strolled to the statue, plopped down on the prayer mat, looked up into the statue's eyes, and spoke softly.

"I'm sure Your Excellency knows why I've come. Why don't we find a place to have a proper chat?"

(End of this chapter)