I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 219 The Earth Dragon Turns Over, the Statue Collapses
"The ground is shaking!"

"The tile fell down!"

Someone shouted, their expression filled with fear, "Could it be that the earth dragon has turned over?"

Upon hearing this, all the worshippers in the temple rushed out and gathered in the open space, staring in fear.

"Help me—"

"A natural disaster is coming!"

The magistrate's attention was immediately drawn to him, and he didn't bother to question Jiang Langjun. If it was true that the earth dragon had turned over under his rule, that would be a disaster.

The temple was shaking, and the ground was trembling.

The magistrate stood outside, looking around anxiously. He saw the offerings of fruit and incense on the high platform fall down.

The temple keeper cried out in surprise.

"My offering of fruit!"

"It's just fruit, we can buy a few more, stop nagging."

The magistrate was extremely anxious, fearing that the earth might truly rise up again, and what would happen to the disaster-stricken people and the houses and fields that needed repair... He did a quick mental calculation, but dared not think about it further. He hurriedly summoned his servants and gave them a few instructions.

while he was speaking.

The incense burner on the high table suddenly fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

The temple keeper clutched his chest, heartbroken.

"My incense burner, the incense of the deity..."

The magistrate then remembered the matter of the deity, and he casually said:
"If it really is an earthquake, you should quickly pray to the gods to protect my Yuqian County. If something serious happens, thousands will die or be injured... Hey, are you crazy? Why are you running into the temple? Don't you value your life!"

Inside the palace.

The temple keeper lifted the incense burner, hissed as he looked at the ashes and broken incense sticks scattered on the ground.

He looked up at the high platform, where even the statues were swaying, and he felt worried.

"Click...click...click..."

A series of faint crackling sounds rang out.

Right in front of the temple keeper, more than a dozen statues of gods swayed with the ground, and cracks appeared on their heavily painted bodies, winding upwards.

"Click..."

The temple keeper watched intently, barely daring to breathe, for fear that a gust of wind might cause the statue to crack even more.

Had he known this would happen, he would have used more money from incense offerings to sculpt golden statues for these disciples, which would have been much more sturdy and wouldn't have cracked like this with the slightest tremor...

How can he possibly make amends for this?

The cracks were getting bigger and bigger.

The temple keeper was anxious, so he turned around and went outside to find some bamboo poles and soft cloth to put on.

He had just been holding a few poles and propping himself up in front of the platform, with some clothes in his hands. He didn't care about respect anymore and was about to place them under the statue of the god.

"Dangdang!"

The entire statue instantly lost its balance and fell from the high platform.

Broken porcelain scattered all over the ground.

A shard flew past the temple keeper's feet—it was a pair of wide-open, angry eyes. Fifth Prince punished the wicked, hating evil as if it were his enemy; no evildoer in the world could escape his discerning gaze.

He was startled.

Suddenly, a large hand appeared behind him, grabbing the temple keeper and dragging him out of the temple. The magistrate, followed by a group of servants and worshippers, glared at him angrily.

"You don't want your life?"

The temple keeper opened his mouth.

"Dangdang!"

"Bang--"

One after another, the sound of breaking and shattering came. No sooner had he left than statues of gods rolled down from the high platform on both sides of the golden statue of the God-King, breaking and shattering.

The roof beams collapsed and broke, and dust kept falling, landing directly on the golden statue of the deity in the temple.

A thin crack gradually appeared on the head of the golden statue.

"Crack, click..."

Bricks and tiles kept falling down, and the documents and donation boxes inside rolled out, scattering copper coins and silver fragments all over the ground.

The magistrate gripped the temple keeper's arm tightly, afraid he would barge in again.

The statue, right in front of them, crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

It collapsed and shattered.

A cloud of dust rose from the ground. The temple keeper slumped to the ground, utterly dejected: "It's over..."

The magistrate was even more frightened than him. It was just a temple; if it was damaged, it could be repaired. But if it was a real earthquake, with the city walls and houses sinking into the ground and the shaking incessant, who knew how many people would die.

Several dozen more breaths passed.

The worshippers squatted on the ground and waited quietly for a while, but there was no sound.

They breathed a sigh of relief, plopped down on the ground, patted their chests, and slowly exhaled.

"It's stopped! The earthquake has stopped!"

"Phew, look at that scene, it's terrifying..."

"This is terrible! How could the earth dragon turn over? The main beam broke and crushed the statue of the deity. Luckily, it didn't hit us. It's not easy to escape with our lives."

The worshippers were still shaken and discussed the matter amongst themselves.

The magistrate regained his composure.

He summoned his servants.

"You two go and look around first, see if there are any casualties, and how serious the injuries are."

He then said to the other two, “Come with me and go outside to see which places have been affected by the disaster.”

The servants obeyed.

The magistrate, filled with worry, went out on an inspection tour with two servants.

The three of them were stunned when they stepped out of the temple.

Outside the temple.

Some people were sitting on rocks drinking water and eating flatbread, while a couple with their child were walking along the road enjoying the spring scenery. The child was running around catching dark insects and showing them off to his parents like a treasure.

The magistrate paused, then quickened his pace and asked the couple.

"You didn't dodge just now?"

The couple looked at the official strangely. The woman nudged the man with her arm, and her husband said:
"There was a loud noise coming from the temple just now. They're holding a ceremony for the gods today. We don't know what happened, so we're just waiting outside and playing with the kids."

The husband asked cautiously.

"But what's wrong with coming today?"

The magistrate was puzzled.

"Didn't you feel the earthquake just now?"

The husband scratched his head. "What earthquake?"

The magistrate looked the family up and down, his expression relaxed. Even the child showed no fear, which made him somewhat skeptical. A moment later, two servants came over and whispered:

"They really didn't know about the earth dragon turning over."

The magistrate was puzzled.

"Could the earthquake have been designed to destroy the temple? What kind of strange thing is that?"

After he finished speaking, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Didn't he just hear and talk about a lot of those strange things?

He hurriedly returned to the temple, squeezed through the still-frightened worshippers, and searched around. He went from the entrance of the dining hall where the group had been to the ruins in front of the main hall, and then circled around other places, but still could not find any trace of the group.

Really gone?
Clinging to a sliver of hope, the magistrate grabbed the still remorseful and heartbroken temple keeper from the ground and asked:
Where is Jiang Langjun?

The temple keeper shook his head blankly.

Magistrate: "Do you know where they went?"

Temple keeper: "How would I know?"

……

……

Outside the temple, on the mountain path.

Birds perched on the branches, chirping softly every now and then. A distant tremor and cloud of dust startled a flock of birds, which took flight in a flurry.

The land leads the way.

As soon as the temple began to shake, the group left the temple and followed the local earth god up the mountain.

Li Bai and Yuan Danqiu spoke in hushed tones for a while, watching Jiang She's retreating figure on the mountain path. Finally, they couldn't contain their curiosity any longer.

Yuan Danqiu asked aloud.

"Has the magistrate met with you before, sir?"

【Ask for monthly ticket】

(End of this chapter)