A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 122 Python or Crocodile? Neither, it's a Dragon!
Three Gorges, Xiajiawan.

The sun was setting, its last rays casting long shadows on the earthen walls, much like the soybean paste indispensable at every meal. Wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys of each household, tempting the mouth.

The children from the rural middle school laughed and joked all the way, surrounding the newsstand wanting the latest story collections and comics, or surrounding the fried chicken strip stall, each taking out 5 cents to buy together.

In a home-based barbershop on the street, the buzzing clippers in the barber's hand couldn't drown out the children's laughter.

Xia Zhenghong chatted with the barber with a smile: "Uncle Li, now that you've finished working on my head, shouldn't you be eating? Xiao Xuan is still eating chicken strips."

Xiao Xuan is Uncle Li's child. You can see him through the window. The residents of the town know each other well and can easily recognize each other at a glance.

Uncle Li glanced outside briefly and said, "I've told you so many times, but you won't listen! If you buy food now, how will you eat later? You have to give me a beating before you'll listen."

“Hey, hey.” Xia Zhenghong brought up his profession: “You can’t talk about corporal punishment in front of me, the homeroom teacher. It’s not allowed now.”

Uncle Li chuckled and didn't argue back. Everyone in the village admired Xia Zhenghong, this college graduate who returned to teach in the township after graduation, and everyone respected him.

After cutting his hair short, Uncle Li beckoned Xia Zhenghong over to rinse off the hair clippings: "I've remembered what Zhenghong said. Is it alright if I don't give that little brat any eggs today?"

"Not eating one egg can't be considered corporal punishment."

“Eggs…” Xia Zhenghong casually wiped the stray hairs from his face, his thoughts drifting away. If Uncle Li had changed the food, he would definitely have said that the child was growing and shouldn’t eat too little.

But when the topic of eggs came up, Xia Zhenghong remembered that the village had been serving eggs with every meal recently.

It's not that all the residents of Xiajiawan love to eat eggs or have any related egg-eating customs.

Instead, it's the newly built old temple in the town that the temple administrator gives out eggs for free every now and then.

This made Xia Zhenghong somewhat worried.

Xia Zhenghong is a worldly person, so it's easy to understand why he would offer free eggs to attract customers at the opening of a supermarket.

Why would a temple give away eggs for free? It's one thing for a foreign religion to attract people by giving away eggs, but judging from the appearance of the temple, it's at least a local religion. Don't they know that giving away eggs is useless?
When they stop sending them out, who will still go?

What truly worried Xia Zhenghong was that he contacted several friends in the city and heard more information.

The old temples are expanding rapidly, with more than 30 temples already built around towns and counties near the upper reaches of the Three Gorges.

Moreover, every temple would give out eggs for free. Even many elderly people who were still able to walk a long way knew about this and would go to different temples to collect two portions of eggs, even if it meant having someone take them across districts.

This action made Xia Zhenghong even more worried. The old church had invested so much money and treated so many people to eggs; the more he thought about it, the more likely it was for some ulterior motive.

Could they be cheap, low-quality, or defective eggs bought wholesale? Or is the old temple planning to run a pyramid scheme and using this trick to attract people?
To prevent his fellow villagers from falling victim to the virus, Xia Zhenghong personally collected the free eggs and found them to be fresh and free of any food safety issues.

A few days ago, Xia Zhenghong visited the old temple in Xiajiawan again. It is estimated that the old church must have spent a lot of money. The large temple has been initially built by hardworking workers.

The temple administrator was a man dressed like an urban elite with a slightly strange accent. He preferred sashimi, but apart from that, Xia Zhenghong couldn't find anything wrong with him.

Xia Zhenghong also specifically inquired about the doctrines of the Old Days Religion. The administrator of the Old Days Temple truthfully replied that the core doctrine is to follow the Old Days and explore the starry sky.

This is the most unique core of religions. Other religions would say that gods still exist and that as long as you have faith, they will bless you.

The Old God religion is unique in that it clearly tells you that God has left and is no longer on this planet. We believe in the Old God in order to follow them in exploring the stars.

This made Xia Zhenghong's head buzz. The universe and the starry sky?

He didn't even know whether it was considered feudal superstition or modern science. As for the other doctrines of the Old Japanese religion, they mostly guided people to do good, to believe in gods, and thus to safely survive the inevitable end of the world.

This is all normal; many religions talk about the end of the world, such as God washing away the sins of humanity with a great flood.

Xia Zhenghong wouldn't dismiss this emerging religion based on this alone, but he still felt there were problems, though he couldn't uncover them yet.

"Uncle Li, are you still going to collect the eggs from the old temple?"

While rinsing away the remaining sticky hairs, Xia Zhenghong asked a question.

Uncle Li chuckled as he mentioned it: "Why wouldn't we take something that's free? At most, we'd just go to the temple to pray. In the old days, temples didn't even require us to spend money on incense and candles."

"Just go in and say 'May the Heavenly Venerable of Heavenly Blessings be born in the Mysterious Yellow Mountains,' it won't take much effort."

"Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun..." Xia Zhenghong was unfamiliar with this local deity's name, but he couldn't find any clues online: "Uncle Li, do you really believe in this Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun?"

"Well," Uncle Li said nonchalantly, "whether you believe it or not, there's no harm in offering a prayer. What if it really works?"

Xia Zhenghong nodded in understanding; he thought so too. This strategy of giving out eggs was simply not going to attract devout believers.

Once the egg business stops, I estimate no one will go to the old temple anymore.

The former temple administrators should have been well aware of this, yet they still insisted on doing it. What were they after?

Completely baffled, by the time he came to his senses, his hair had already been rinsed, and Uncle Li had even used a hairdryer to quickly dry it.

Xia Zhenghong paid and left, walking on the asphalt road that had been paved a few years ago. Listening to the children's joy and smelling the aroma of food from the streets and alleys, he continued to ponder the true purpose of the old religion.

"……run……!"

"Huh?" Shouts came from ahead. Xia Zhenghong looked up and saw another villager running towards him with a look of fear on his face.

He was running as fast as he could, shouting something under his breath.

"Run! There's a dragon!"

"Dragon King! The Dragon King has come ashore!"

Xia Zhenghong, who had received a modern education, suddenly became serious. His scientific values ​​allowed him to calmly assess the world. How could there possibly be dragons in the world?
It must be that the villagers saw some kind of creature and mistook it for a dragon, causing the misunderstanding.

That direction is the direction of the river. Are there dragon-like creatures living in the water? Pythons? Large crocodiles?
No matter what kind of wild animal it is, it could endanger the villagers.

Xia Zhenghong immediately chimed in, shouting, "Fellow villagers! There might be a large python or a large crocodile! Children, go home, close the doors and windows tightly, and find something handy to use as a weapon!"

The villagers who had run over were panting heavily. Upon hearing Xia Zhenghong's words, they jumped up in anger: "No! No! It really is a dragon! Several stories tall!"

As if to bear witness for this fellow villager, a long, melodious dragon's roar came from afar.

"Roar~!"

That loud and clear voice chilled the hearts of all the villagers. Many people's legs went weak on the spot. After recovering, they grabbed their children and ran home as fast as they could.

　Thanks to 20240421091915767, 杰杰.ad, 成曰, 有事没事要找事, 观戏三千, 我的女婢叫丽塔yldr, 20230304095836173, 20220404145808760, 锅包柚, 20210614160346502, Qd懒猫, 一个无名看书强者, 桃园一诺, 银星会, 火红的往生堂, 轻扬的风狂, 浅笑心柔, 20240921215306047, 20210725113226370, 我本凡人_Ca, and 2022092712 1103713, Zhi Chu, Listening to the distant sound of bagpipes, Forgotten People_Ab, Live On_Ac, Lazy Youth, YTY.dB, The Stars Are Not the Same as Last Night_Ca, Approaching, Night Owl's House, 20190621173133335, Night Feather Butterfly, Leisurely Cultivating Dream Dust, 20230109193438461, King's Disdain 139, 20230120084330615, 20210725113226370, Zhao Xudong, 20230526164525402, ①苆_._Following Fate, Who Are You Keeping Watch for? Thank you for your votes, everyone! OvO
　　
　
(End of this chapter)