Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 101 Destroying Mountains and Temples, Reclaiming the Righteous Path! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

When Zhou Yi arrived at Sanlizhuang, he saw the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams symbol neatly pasted on the temple entrance. People passing by would unconsciously quicken their pace, completely unaware of the dilapidated wooden door and the statue inside.

Zhao Wei parked the flatbed truck carrying the excavator at the entrance of the village committee and strolled over to check the site. The alley outside was quite spacious, and the eight-wheeled truck could be used to transport construction waste.

The two removed the wooden planks from the temple door and went inside.

Zhao Wei clicked his tongue and said as he looked at the magical artifacts displayed inside:
"You left your stuff here last night? Aren't you afraid someone will find it and take it?"

Zhou Yi took out a talisman that could cover the sky and the sun from his bag, pasted it horizontally on the eyes of the statue, and then put away all the items he had left behind last night, such as the money sword, the seal, and the compass.

Zhao Wei was somewhat confused:
Why are you blindfolded?

The Book of Changes says:

"To prevent the statue from cursing the people nearby when it's being dismantled later."

Zhao Wei laughed heartily:
"Isn't this just like slaughtering livestock? They blindfold them before slaughtering them to prevent them from making false accusations in the underworld... I never thought that demolishing this kind of temple was based on the same principle as slaughtering livestock. I've learned something new."

Zhou Yi shook his head:

"Livestock can be reincarnated in the underworld, but this thing doesn't deserve to go. We'll make it turn to ashes in a bit."

After inspecting the site, Zhao Wei called a familiar eight-wheeler driver and asked him to find two trucks to come and transport the construction waste.

Just then, Du Chunyi rode over on his electric scooter, carrying a contract from the village committee. The contract stated the total cost of demolishing the land temple: 30,000 yuan.

Zhou Yi brought the official seal and documents of Hunyuan Palace, signed the contract on the spot, and said that he would issue the invoice as soon as possible to facilitate the village's accounting.

After signing the contract, Du Chunyi transferred 30,000 yuan to Hunyuan Palace's corporate account.

Zhao Wei asked:

"These local temples are registered with the Religious Affairs Bureau. Can they be demolished?"

Du Chunyi is very cunning:

"The application I submitted this morning is to rebuild the land temple, not to demolish it. I asked around and found out that if there are no cultural relics or historical sites, rebuilding it should be fine."

After saying that, he looked at Zhao Wei and asked:

"Master, are you superstitious about transporting the dead? The house of Shi Xiangu is at the very end of the alley, and it's now a complete ruin. We want to move it out, but none of the excavators in the village dare to take the job."

His words immediately struck a nerve with Zhao Wei:
“Others may be afraid of this kind of thing, but I’m not. My excavator is unrestricted. If you need any jobs like this in the future, just come to me.”

The next eight cars wouldn't arrive for a while, so Zhou Yi took advantage of the lull and smashed the clay statue to pieces with a large iron hammer.

Since it involves cutting down mountains and destroying temples, it must be done thoroughly.

He tapped and knocked, and found that there were many gray-white hairs in the head of the statue, which he guessed were from the Stone Fairy.

This sorceress had wicked intentions when she was building the temple. She sculpted the statue in her own image and even added her own hair... She thought it would increase her divinity, but little did she know that the statue was absorbing her yang energy. In addition, she had a jade plug from a dead person on her forehead, which made her look neither human nor ghost.

Zhou Yi took out a talisman to extinguish evil spirits and burned all the hair off.

After completely smashing the statue, he overturned the offering table, broke the incense burner, and dismantled everything that could be dismantled in the temple.

Once we finish these tasks, the eight-wheeled trucks responsible for clearing construction waste will be arriving soon.

Zhao Wei drove the excavator over, first wiping the "No Taboos" sign with a clean white towel, then swinging the mechanical arm at the small temple, dismantling the gate and lifting the roof, having a great time.

Hearing the commotion, many villagers gathered around. Some were puzzled, fearing that demolishing the temple would affect their own feng shui.

This is where the importance of the village head becomes apparent.

Du Chunyi gave a grand introduction to the Book of Changes, repeatedly emphasizing that he was the only Taoist priest in the county with a certificate of ordination. He also instructed everyone that if they wanted to consult a Feng Shui master, they should seek out someone with a certificate issued by the state, and not those who were halfway through their practice or were practicing crooked and unorthodox methods.

The villagers laughed, saying, "Why don't you just read out Shi Xiangu's ID card? There's no need to beat around the bush like this."

With the village chief's endorsement, the demolition of the temple went very smoothly, and many people even invited Zhou Yi to their homes for tea and to visit, clearly wanting to consult on feng shui.

Zhou Yi did not agree:
"Today is the day of the demolition of the shrine of filth, so it's not a good day to visit homes. If you need anything, you can call me another day, or come to Yunwu Mountain in Yunwu Town to find me."

At this point, Zhou Yi realized that he should print some business cards.

This will save you the trouble of memorizing phone numbers repeatedly. You can also print the WeChat ID on it so that people with social anxiety who don't like making phone calls can communicate via WeChat.

After everyone had noted down the phone numbers, Zhou Yi, having nothing else to do, strolled over to see the ruins of Shi Xiangu's house.

The original five-story building has collapsed. It is said that it was built too luxuriously, resulting in a lot of flammable materials on both the upper and lower floors. If it had not been luxuriously decorated, the house would not have burned down.

It can only be said that when Shi Xiangu used the guise of a sorceress to swindle and deceive, her fate was already sealed.

The collapsed ruins, coupled with firefighters searching for bodies, made the scene even more chaotic than a forced demolition site. Zhao Wei estimated that it would take a whole day to clear all the debris.

After wandering around the alley, Zhou Yi returned to the site of the temple demolition. The small temple had been almost completely demolished. Du Chunyi looked at the intact bricks and felt a little sorry for it.
"Master Zhou, can these bricks be used when rebuilding the Earth God Temple?" Zhou Yi shook his head:

“They can’t be used anymore. We need to buy new bricks. Bricks used in shady shrines are considered to be contaminated on a metaphysical level. They can be used to build dog kennels and pigsties, but people shouldn’t use them, as it will affect their luck.”

Upon hearing this, Du Chunyi no longer felt bad and said that he would have all the bricks taken away by dump trucks. The village didn't lack these bricks, so he didn't want to get involved in this bad luck.

A truckload of rubble was loaded and carried away from Sanlizhuang by an eight-wheeler to a landfill site for construction waste.

Zhou Yi opened the Chinese almanac on his phone and began searching for a suitable date to start construction.

The construction of a land god temple is subject to strict regulations. Construction must begin on the day of breaking ground, and there are also specific rules regarding the size of the temple and the expression of the deity statues.

The most important point, and the one that raised Zhouyi's suspicions last night, is that the small earth god temples in the village usually don't have doors; to be precise, they only need an eave.

The Earth God originated from the God of Soil and Grain, and is the most basic deity in the pantheon. He is most closely related to the lives of ordinary people and is called the God of Fortune and Virtue in Taoism.

Such a deity cannot be separated from the people, so there is no need for a grand gate, and the venue does not need to be luxurious. A cramped space is fine, as this will allow him to better listen to the people's voices.

Because there are no doors, it is best to use stone carvings for the statues of the Earth God in the temple, so that even after being exposed to wind and sun, the Earth God will still look down on the people under his rule with a smile.

After consulting the I Ching for several days, I found that there were no auspicious days for starting construction in the next two days, so I can only wait.

Du Chunyi also hoped things could stabilize for a few days, because he had just heard that the land temple was going to be rebuilt, and many people in the village had sent him messages and made phone calls, expressing their desire to donate money.

Donating money to repair the temple would bring blessings to future generations, and with the Stone Fairy causing chaos in the village, everyone wanted to spend money to get rid of the bad luck.

Since the money was to be donated to repair the temple, a stele should naturally be erected. Therefore, Du Chunyi planned to wait and count the number of donors before finding someone to carve a stone tablet.

When the small temple is consecrated, a stone tablet will also be erected so that the villagers can also receive incense offerings.

"Master Zhou, how much would it cost to repair a temple and bring in the statues of the deities?"

Du Chunyi's question stumped Zhou Yi:
“Building a temple is simple. We can hire a construction team, pick out people who are lacking the element of earth in their Five Elements, and then we can start construction. The construction cost should not be high. However, the statues of the gods are not cheap if you want to be particular about them.”

Du Chunyi said:
"Then I'll tally up the amount of donations. Let's do what we can, without being extravagant or wasteful, but also without being stingy. We'll leave the details to Master Zhou."

Zhou Yi readily agreed, planning to measure the size of the site for building the temple after the cleanup was completed, and then determine the size of the land temple and the height of the statues based on that measurement.

There weren't many ruins left of the small temple; a few truckloads cleared it all away. Zhao Wei even dug up the foundation, leaving not a single brick behind.

After arranging everything, Zhou Yi picked up a ruler and began measuring the dimensions.

Several villagers came to help. They inquired about the size of the temple and learned that the road they were occupying would be cleared. Everyone was very happy and said they would donate money to the new temple.

After the measurements were completed, Zhao Wei drove an excavator to clear the ruins of Shi Xiangu's house. Zhou Yi greeted him and drove back to Yunwu Mountain, planning to use a computer to create a simple rendering and finalize the style of the temple.

Although Du Chunyi entrusted everything to me, it would be better to let them see the style of the temple beforehand, since they are the client and should be respected.

As for the issue of the statue... Zhou Yi originally planned to ask Uncle Ming to solve the problem. There wasn't enough time to make a stone statue, so he decided to make a clay statue first. However, he felt that with Uncle Ming's personality, he would most likely take more than half of the donations from the people of Sanlizhuang.

Forget it, I'd better not get too involved with this old guy.

While deep in thought, Zhou Yi recalled that Gongsun Da Niang had prayed before the gods in Hunyuan Palace, and each time she had a wish.

For example, when she first returned home, she was worried about being beaten, so she complained to the Emperor of the Eastern Peak. Then the head of the troupe suddenly suffered a stroke, and the father of the county magistrate who ordered her to drink with him fell into a latrine and drowned.

After that, her prayers were answered every time, and the gods seemed to have a special fondness for this bright and cheerful girl.

"Since Aunt Gongsun's prayers worked, why don't I give it a try?"

With nothing to lose, Zhou Yi decided to try his luck at the Zhongtian Palace. The Zhongtian Ziwei Emperor seemed to be a relatively easy-going deity, and even if he said something wrong, the emperor probably wouldn't hold it against him.

Having figured this out, Zhou Yi took the offerings and strode to the Zhongtian Hall. He placed the incense and candles, and respectfully bowed to the statue of the Ziwei Emperor.
"I recently need a stone statue of the God of Fortune carved by a legitimate craftsman. I would like to ask the Great Emperor Ziwei to guide me and let me know who to contact to solve this problem..."

After the prayer was finished, a gentle breeze blew by, and then nothing happened.

That's it?

It seems I'll have to figure out a solution myself.

As Zhou Yi walked out of the Zhongtian Palace in disappointment, in the Kaiyuan World of the Tang Dynasty, Granny Gongsun, who was taking a nap, suddenly sat up, wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and stared wide-eyed:
"No way, a deity actually appeared in my dream? What is that stone statue of the God of Fortune?"

The girl rubbed her eyes and suddenly remembered the story of the river works rebellion at the end of the Sui Dynasty:
"Don't underestimate this stone man just because he has only one eye; once this thing appears, the world will rebel... Could it be that the immortals are hinting at this fairy to start a rebellion?"

------------

Just letting you guys know, starting tomorrow, June 4th, the update time will be changed to noon. We won't be updating at night anymore because if we update at night and it gets blocked, it won't be resolved until the next day. It's not as convenient as updating at noon. If you have any questions, I can contact the editor anytime.

I'll only update twice today for now. I'll take a break and update more later. I wish everyone good health, and don't be like me, constantly taking medicine.

(End of this chapter)