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

Just after Chen Shi (7-9 AM), a crowd had already gathered outside Shen Qingzhu's courtyard, pushing and shoving each other.

Regardless of age or gender, everyone was craning their necks and staring intently into the doorway, their eyes wide with eagerness.

Li Yue had just finished incense offerings when he moved the desk to the center of the courtyard, arranged the items one by one, took out a chair, and then got up to open the door.

"It's open! It's open!"

As soon as the courtyard gate opened, a group of people rushed in, each one eagerly crowding around Li Yue.

Li Yue settled into his chair, gently tapped the table, and uttered two words in a low voice.

"queue."

"Me first! Me first!"

After another round of scrambling, it took a quarter of an hour before a queue could finally be formed.

There were at least fifty or sixty people, lined up from inside the courtyard all the way outside, and more people kept joining at the end of the line.

Li Yue then raised his head and glanced at the man in front of him, whose face was sallow, whose eyes were full of sleep, and whose gaze was lifeless.

"What do you want?"

"A stroke of good fortune in love! Scholar Shen, please grant me another stroke of good fortune in love!"

The man rubbed his hands together, his face full of anxiety. He showed no shame whatsoever in front of so many people.

"What did you call me?"

Li Yue's face darkened, and his voice suddenly dropped several decibels.

"Ah? Oh, Shen Taizhu."

The man then came to his senses, quickly changed his form of address, and then lowered his head slightly, speaking respectfully.

"Please speak to the Five Gods and grant me another stroke of good luck in love."

"Bring me the peach charms."

"Yes, yes, I've always carried it with me."

The man hurriedly pulled a wooden plaque from his pocket and respectfully handed it to Li Yue.

Li Yue didn't take it, and the man chuckled twice before holding it in his hands.

It's about the size of a palm, made of ordinary peach wood, and the workmanship is quite rough. There's a blurry mark on the front and the character "拜" (bow) on the back.

Li Yue nodded and continued.

"Do you still remember the rules?"

"I remember, I remember!"

The man nodded vigorously, making a solemn promise.

"I burn three sticks of incense every morning and evening to worship the Five Gods and the Gatekeeper, the two deities of our worship sect. I worship them every day without daring to slack off in the slightest."

"Well, if you want divine blessings, the first thing you must do is be sincere. I will tell the Five Gods what you are asking for."

Li Yue nodded, picked up the auspicious ruyi from the table, and touched it on the man.

With that one movement, the man felt a jolt of relief, as if he were blessed with good fortune.

His face lit up with joy, and he turned to leave.

He had only taken two steps when he suddenly remembered something, so he quickly stopped, bowed to Li Yue, and said with a smile.

"Once I have good luck in finding a romantic partner, I will definitely make offerings to the Five Gods to express my gratitude."

"Um."

Li Yue waved his hand, signaling the next person to step forward.

This time it was a gaunt old woman with a sharp and mean face, who was asking for good fortune.

After asking and giving some instructions, Li Yue tapped the auspicious symbol with his finger.

Then he waved to signal the next person to come forward.

"What are you doing?"

Outside the alley, several passersby, unaware of what was going on, looked at the long queue and couldn't help but ask a question.

"I'm praying for blessings from the gods."

The person in line looked ahead impatiently and casually replied.

"A blessing from the gods?"

The passerby looked puzzled and couldn't help but chuckle.

There are no gods or immortals in this world.

"Isn't that Shen Qingzhu's house? I know him. He's just a poor wretch. How did he become a god?"

Then someone else spoke up, their tone full of mockery.

"You mustn't be disrespectful to Shen Taizhu! You lot are courting death and have angered the gods, bringing down punishment. Don't let it drag us down with you!"

I didn't want to talk to them much, but now I had to explain, and besides, queuing was boring.

"Shen Taizhu was originally a scholar, but a month ago, he was enlightened by a deity and is now a Taizhu of the God-Worshipping Cult, possessing the ability to communicate with spirits and deities!"

"Communicating with spirits?"

Several passersby looked at each other, puzzled.

"This worship of gods is quite something."

"I'll teach you properly today, considering it an opportunity for you."

An elderly woman in the group gave a soft hum and spoke carefully.

"The God-Worshipping Sect currently has two deities: the Five-Tong God, a seventh-rank official, who is in charge of wealth and marriage; and the Doorkeeper, an eighth-rank official, who is in charge of protecting the home and ensuring its safety. As long as you enshrine their shrines at home and burn incense and worship them daily, you can pray for their protection and receive blessings."

"Blessings? Are they effective?"

"Extremely effective!"

"I don't quite believe it. You've probably been tricked by Shen Qingzhu and given him money for nothing."

"Hehe, you common folk, how could you possibly know the level of Shen Taizhu? He doesn't take a single penny."

"It's free!"

Several passersby exchanged glances, and then couldn't help but join the end of the line.

They'll take advantage of anything that's free.

"You don't sincerely worship, yet you expect blessings from the gods. Your peachwood charms are now confiscated!"

Just then, a shout was heard from the courtyard.

Immediately following was the sound of a woman crying and pleading.

The people in the group exchanged bewildered glances, and couldn't help but scoff. They deserved it for not following the rules of the worship cult. Trying to fool the gods? They were courting death.

They couldn't help but feel a surge of pride, believing that their daily worship would surely bring them divine blessings.

Two hours passed, and the sun was already setting in the west.

That's all for today.

Li Yue spoke up and, without further ado, kicked out the people still queuing in the courtyard.

Those people queued for ages but didn't get a turn, and they were filled with frustration, but dared not utter a single complaint.

I just kept thinking to myself that I must come earlier tomorrow.

Clang!

Li Yue closed the courtyard gate again and moved the tables and chairs back into the house.

After a short rest, wisps of incense smoke drifted in from all directions.

As expected, the incense offerings to General Iron Anchor have almost died out, but the Fish Chaser Boys are still going strong, with a few dozen sticks of incense maintaining the tradition.

In contrast, the number of worshippers at the Wutong God Temple is increasing day by day, and now there are at least four or five thousand worshippers.

In addition, there is the gatekeeper, who has three or four hundred worshippers.

In total, there are about five thousand incense offerings.

Two waves a day, which means nearly 10,000 incense offerings.

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

……

[The Five Gods received a small amount of sacrificial meat as an offering, and gained 5 experience points!]

……

At the same time, notification sounds occasionally occur.

Looking at his ever-increasing experience, Li Yue smiled slightly.

This trick really worked.

With no hope of passing the civil service exam for the time being, and not being able to stay idle even after stopping studying, a month ago, Li Yue, posing as Shen Qingzhu, falsely claimed to have been enlightened by a deity and established this worship cult.

Having lost his physical body, the Five Gods' ability to "turn stone into gold" was banned, but he could still use his "Good Fortune and Misfortune" ability.

The terms "auspiciousness" and "misfortune" refer to good fortune and bad luck.

As a seventh-grade magical artifact, it can borrow fortune from the future, that is, pre-draw future luck.

With a flick of the wrist, some people made a fortune, while others won the heart of a beautiful woman. So, before long, a large number of believers gathered and lined up in long queues in front of Li Yue's door.

As for these people's good fortune being exhausted and only bad luck remaining, that's none of Li Yue's business.

Those who indulge in unethical practices will not receive blessings; if they wish to gain something for nothing, they must bear the consequences.

"With the number of believers increasing, we really need to plan things out properly."

After absorbing the incense, the golden body was filled a little more. Li Yue pondered for a moment, then took out paper and pen and began to write and draw.