Journey to the West: From Fish-Chasing Boy to the Boundless Heavenly Venerable of the Golden Palace

"Give me your life!"

In the dead of night, a white-clad female ghost with long, wildly dancing hair and hooked fingers, whose voice sounded like sandpaper polishing a rusty kitchen knife, slowly approached step by step.

"We...we haven't offended you."

An elderly couple huddled in a corner, their faces showing both fear and grievance.

They were honest and kind people who never made enemies, so why did they attract evil spirits to their door?

"I don't care! I'm a demon, do demons need a reason to eat people?!"

The white-clad female ghost gave a cold snort and made a move to pounce on her.

"Hey!"

At the critical moment, a thunderous roar erupted, and a golden-armored deity bathed in golden light descended from the sky. Holding a short bronze staff, he glared angrily.

"I am the gatekeeper! My duty is to protect our homes and ensure our safety. What evil spirit dares to cause trouble here!"

"Gatekeeper? Ah~! It's actually the renowned Heavenly God Gatekeeper! Could it be the Gatekeeper who guards this house?! No way, I'm going to eat that old couple! I'll fight you to the death!"

The white-clad female ghost was momentarily confused, and after babbling incoherently, she suddenly let out another roar and pounced straight at the ghost.

"You're courting death! You're asking for it!"

The golden-armored general snorted coldly and raised his staff to strike.

"what!"

With a scream, the white-clad female ghost was sent flying.

"Damn it! With the gatekeeper here tonight, I may not succeed, but I'll be back!"

In the darkness, the mournful howls of the white-clad female ghost gradually faded into the distance.

The elderly couple, embracing each other, trembled all over until all the sound outside went out. Only then did they gradually come to their senses and hurriedly kowtow to the golden-armored god.

"Thank you, God, for saving us! Thank you, God!"

"I am a gatekeeper, responsible for protecting the home and its inhabitants. There's no need for thanks. If there's nothing else, I'll... take my leave?"

"It's alright, it's alright, anyway, the female ghost has been driven away."

"That's not right, old man!"

The old woman suddenly realized what was happening and pulled the old man along.

"That female ghost said she'll come back. What will we do if she comes back?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

The old man then remembered and hurriedly kowtowed to the Golden Armored God General again, along with the old woman.

"They say you should help someone to the very end, and see a Buddha to the Western Paradise, so let's pray to the gods to save us."

"Ahem, saving you is actually not difficult. You just need to set up an altar for me at home, burn three sticks of incense morning and evening, and worship me every day. If the female ghost returns, I will come to your rescue."

"To enshrine a shrine?"

The elderly couple exchanged a glance and nodded again.

"Yes, yes, yes, we will definitely take good care of the ancestral tablets. We'll do it at dawn!"

The elderly couple discussed where to set up the altar at dawn and what to prepare, but they couldn't figure it out for a while. They wanted to ask the golden-armored general, but when they looked up again, he was nowhere to be seen.

[Drive away evil spirits and perform the duties of a gatekeeper once, experience points +2!]

Outside the courtyard, a notification sound rang out, and Li Yue couldn't help but smile slightly.

"grown ups."

Seeing Li Yue emerge, Qianqian called out and flew over from a distance, looking at him expectantly.

"How was my performance? Was it realistic enough?"

"Well."

Li Yue glanced at Qianqian and gave a casual comment.

"A bit over the top."

"Really? I think I'm doing pretty well."

Qianqian frowned slightly and turned away.

He tried extending his claws, then put on a fierce expression, and tried it several times, muttering to himself in thought.

Looking at Qianqian honing her acting skills, Li Yue couldn't help but shake his head with a smile. He hadn't expected that she would have a performative personality, no, a weird personality.

"Alright, acting skills and such can be learned through practice. Next up."

He called out to Qianqian and flew straight to the next house.

Qianqian dressed up as a ghost to scare people, and Li Yue appeared out of nowhere. They were busy all night long, only stopping when the rooster crowed at dawn.

Li Yue remained entwined in the door frame, while Qianqian, a ghost afraid of sunlight, hid under the roots of an old locust tree nearby.

"Heh, not bad."

A quick glance at the notifications from last night revealed fifty or sixty experience points, and Li Yue couldn't help but chuckle again.

In this world, there are all sorts of swindlers and cheaters. Some fool people, some fool ghosts, and who would have thought that even gods could be fooled.

Even though it was just him and Qianqian putting on a show, they still managed to gain experience points.

Li Yue originally only wanted to get some incense, but he never expected such an unexpected surprise.

If they continue at this pace, and he and Qianqian work a little harder at night, they can probably raise the gatekeeper to level five in a month!

"They're here."

As he was pondering this, wisps of incense smoke surged in from all directions, and Li Yue immediately perked up and began to inhale.

Compared to the previous few days, the number of incense sticks has increased, which is due to the increase in believers of the Five Gods.

As the incense smoke continued to be absorbed, golden threads condensed, and Li Yue's golden body became half fuller.

About an hour later, after the incense offerings had been consumed, unlike usual, wisps of incense began to drift from the town again. These were the offerings made by the people who had been frightened the night before, who had just set up a shrine and were now offering incense.

[Menlanggong received a small amount of fruit as an offering, and gained 2 experience points!]

At the same time, notification sounds occasionally occur.

When setting up a shrine for the first time, in addition to the incense burner, some food offerings are always placed on it. If the conditions are better, even three kinds of sacrificial animals will be prepared.

Li Yue smiled again, and as a result, his level increased even faster.

"My lord, why are you laughing?"

Qianqian's voice came from under the old locust tree.

"None of your business."

Li Yue responded calmly, and then spoke again.

"By the way, I was just about to ask you, in this situation in the town, don't the city god and the local earth god care?"

"What's going on?"

"Naturally, it's a situation where evil spirits are everywhere and demons roam freely."

"So this is what you mean, sir. I'm used to it."

Qianqian smiled and continued.

"This town has land, and the county has a city god. It's not that they don't care, but that they can't."

"Why can't they control it?"

"That's a long story. I heard it from other old ghosts, going back eighty years. Eighty years ago, there was a one-horned ghost king..."

Next, Qianqian explained it to Li Yue in a vivid and detailed manner.

Eighty years ago, a one-horned demon king came to Chechi Kingdom. He neither ruled the mountains nor harmed the villagers; instead, he caused trouble for the gods.

However, he also possessed great magical power, and within a few days, he suppressed the city gods and local deities one by one.

Furthermore, it was declared that within the territory of Chechi Kingdom, no ghost or monster would be subject to the jurisdiction or control of the City God or the Land God!

"As a result, the surrounding ghosts and monsters flocked to the area, and their numbers grew larger and larger, which is why Chechi Kingdom is what it is today."

"Such a thing actually happened."

After hearing Qianqian's explanation, Li Yue was puzzled again.

What's the point of this one-horned demon king?

Suppressing the local deities and city gods is blatant defiance of the Heavenly Court. Taking such a great risk must mean they have some ulterior motive.

But according to Qianqian, the One-Horned Ghost King neither consolidates his power nor seeks wealth, and he rarely even shows himself. It's hard to see what benefits he could possibly gain.

"never mind."

Whether the One-Horned Ghost King has ulterior motives or is simply bored, it has nothing to do with Li Yue.

As the saying goes, "a fall into a pit, a gain in your wit," being outmaneuvered by the little yellow dragon this time made Li Yue deeply realize the power of orthodox deities in cracking down on illicit worship.

Fearing the City God and the Earth God, he originally intended to act cautiously and live a life of ignominy.

Now that the City God and the Earth God have been suppressed by the One-Horned Ghost King, he has no more worries and can go all out and make a big splash.

As for whether he might be mistaken for a legitimate deity and accidentally harmed by the One-Horned Demon King, it's unlikely.

After all, a dignified Ghost King wouldn't be so confused as to not be able to distinguish between proper and improper worship.

"snort."

Thinking of this, Li Yue let out a heavy snort and looked towards the Tongtian River.

He could sense that his physical body was still in the Tongtian River, completely intact.