“You…”
Xiao Feng’s heart trembled, and he solemnly responded, “Yes!”
Xiao Feng withdrew.
Realist Tianyi once again picked up the kettle, the drops of water condensed from the power of pure incense falling onto the spiritual plants, sliding down the branches and leaves, flowing over the small fruit, like a human being, with all its facial features.
The human-shaped fruit rippled with a clear light, then disappeared again.
“War, death, the incense born of fear is the purest. I was wrong before…”
Realist Tianyi gently stroked the small fruit, muttering to himself:
“When we meet again, don’t be too surprised….
Xie Qi!!!”
……
Time flies like an arrow, and in the blink of an eye, spring passes and winter arrives, and all things are covered in silver.
A year has passed.
Whoosh~~~
The wild wind sweeps across thousands of piles of snow, and snow flutters and scatters among the mountains, sometimes soaring into the sky, sometimes rustling down.
The great commotion makes it impossible for many hibernating beasts to sleep peacefully.
On the other hand, many City Gods have fewer worries. Every day, in addition to carving mountain peaks and earth veins according to An Qisheng’s orders, there is nothing else to do.
Every day, they gather in their caves to discuss Xuan and Dao.
An Qisheng bestowed qi seeds, allowing them to break free from the shackles of incense, but in exchange, they were bound to the mountains. Fortunately, they had long been accustomed to this kind of life. At this time, they had many friends to accompany them.
They didn't have to pay attention to worldly affairs, didn't have to worry about ghosts hurting people, didn't have to worry about the amount of incense, and didn't have to worry about the threat of the Tianyi Sect.
Compared to before, it was much more comfortable.
Except for the violent fluctuations that occasionally came from Mount Taiji in the very center of the mountains.
On this day, the City Gods were having a small gathering at Pei Yuanhua’s residence. Before the wine on the red clay stove had warmed up, they heard bursts of rumbling sounds rolling past, and the snow on the peaks fell rustling.
The wild wind rose again.
Making the City Gods secretly startled again. Although they had seen such fluctuations many times, they still couldn’t calm down.
This aura was too strong, even getting stronger and stronger, making their hearts tremble, as if facing an abyss.
However, although Pei Yuanhua and others were startled, they didn't show it much.
But one City God jumped up and almost ran away. When he ran to the entrance of the cave and saw that none of the City Gods were moving, he smiled sheepishly.
“Brother Zheng, don’t panic. This is the Realist refining his techniques. Just get used to it.”
Pei Yuanhua and others didn’t mean to laugh at him either, and comforted him with a smile.
This City God had just come from outside the mountains. To be precise, he had just arrived today.
Not only him, but at this time, there were many City Gods in this cave who came from outside Liang Province. Of course, City Gods don’t leave their province, so their ability to leave the province naturally meant they were already wandering ghosts.
In the struggle between the Tianyi Sect and the Yin Si City Gods, many City Gods could not escape because their temples and statues were destroyed, and their incense was cut off.
Pei Yuanhua, Sun Qi and other City Gods asked An Qisheng for many ‘qi seeds’ to invite those City Gods who had lost their positions to the Taiji Mountains, to prevent them from turning into evil spirits and harming the world.
At this time, almost every one of the three hundred and eighty-four mountains in the Taiji Mountains had a City God stationed there.
“The Realist’s divine power is unfathomable, truly hard to bear.”
City God Zheng gave a wry smile and sat down.
Although he had not yet seen that Realist, he couldn’t help but feel awe after hearing what his colleagues said.
The City Gods had been trapped by incense for countless years, and they hadn’t stopped thinking about breaking free from the shackles of incense, but there were few successful people, and they were all coincidences, and the conditions could not be replicated.
Like this kind of large-scale transformation of City Gods into earth deities, it was truly unheard of and unseen.
You must know that the mountain gods and land gods of the past also relied on the power of incense and vows to exist, not like them now, truly rooted in the earth veins and mountains.
Whoosh~
While the City Gods were talking, the air currents whistled, and Sun Qi stepped into the cave, his face solemn.
“Brother Sun has worked hard all the way, please take a seat quickly.”
The City Gods all stood up to greet him.
Sun Qi waved his hand, his face沉凝said, “The matter is much more serious than I imagined.”
“What do you mean by this? Hasn’t the battle between the Tianyi Sect and us stopped?”
Pei Yuanhua was slightly stunned, and the smiles on the faces of the other City Gods also disappeared.
“That’s true, but many City God Temples have been destroyed after all, and no one has rebuilt the statues…”
Sun Qi sighed:
“More importantly, after this incident, many City Gods are disheartened.”
The City Gods looked at each other, speechless.
Speaking of this battle, the City Gods’ losses may not be greater than the Tianyi Sect’s, but once the truce is over, the City Gods’ hard days will really begin.
The sealed City God Temples, the destroyed statues, and the incense that is difficult to continue after being cut off have all become problems facing the City Gods.
More importantly, because of the intervention of the Great Qing Dynasty, many City Gods have become disheartened and unwilling to protect humans anymore.
If the temple is down, it can be rebuilt, if the statue is broken, it can be re-carved, but if the heart is scattered, it cannot be reunited.
“Are we going to let them be disheartened? If they don’t have incense, they will die. Do they not want to live?”
Pei Yuanhua frowned.
If people don’t have the five grains, they will die, and if the City Gods don’t have incense, they cannot live. Incense is a necessity, not something that can be given up.
What's more, the relationship between the City Gods and humans is only maintained by incense. Where is there any affection to talk about?
If the City Gods don't need incense, how many would be willing to protect humans?
Conversely, if humans have a better choice and don't believe in you, what can you say?
He absolutely doesn’t believe in being disheartened.
“That’s what they said, but they didn’t tell me the specifics.”
Sun Qi’s face was quite bad:
“Everyone, please gather here for now. I’m going to ask the Realist for guidance.”
After saying that, he cupped his hands and left the cave.
Hearing him say it so seriously, the other City Gods no longer had the mood to drink, and immediately followed him out in a hurry.
A mighty group of people came to the foot of Mount Taiji.
A year had passed, and Mount Taiji was still the same as before. An Qisheng had never made any repairs, and naturally no one dared to make decisions for him privately.
When the City Gods came here, a yellow dog was lying in front of the mountain, lazily basking in the sun.
A small red fox was coiled on its back, constantly grabbing its fur. The dog and the fox got along very well.
A year had passed, and this yellow dog had become more and more majestic. From a distance, it looked like an ancient beast. Its gentle snoring made the City Gods feel oppressed.
Involuntarily, some City Gods felt envious. It was just a dog, but by following a good master, it had also obtained good fortune.
“Venerable Huang, we wish to see the Realist.”
Sun Qi did not dare to be negligent and cupped his fists in greeting.
The yellow dog lazily opened its eyes and glanced at the City Gods before closing them again.
Sun Qi breathed a sigh of relief before leading the City Gods forward.
Pei Yuanhua found it interesting. Sun Qi was not like this before, but after a fight, Sun Qi suffered a great loss, and then his attitude became respectful.
It’s not shameful to lose to a dog, but it’s shameful to lose and not admit it.
The little red fox curiously looked at the City Gods going up the mountain, its eyes rolling, a little envious.
It had never been up the mountain before.
The mountains were covered in white snow, but there was no snow on Mount Taiji, not even a trace of moisture. The grass and trees were all green, and the flowers were blooming, as if spring had arrived.
Halfway up the mountain, in front of three thatched huts, An Qisheng was sitting cross-legged on a reclining stone, his eyes slightly closed.
In front of his knees, a Dao sword floated, slowly rotating around him, occasionally making a pleasant light sound, as if it had spirituality, feeling the heaven and earth.
“Realist.”
Sun Qi bowed slightly.
Since the battle with Realist Tianyi, his attitude towards An Qisheng had become more and more respectful.
It was not only because of his cultivation, but because An Qisheng had done what he wanted to do but couldn’t, and he admired him in his heart.
Just like he lost to the yellow dog, he would bow every time he saw it and call it Venerable.
But when facing Realist Tianyi, he dared to directly scold him as being worse than a beast.
Whoosh~
An Qisheng raised his hand and took the Dao sword.
He slowly opened his eyes, and a five-colored light flashed in his eyes.
“Realist, this time I went out…”
Sun Qi didn’t beat around the bush and directly said what he had seen and heard along the way, and the request:
“I beg the Realist to bestow qi seeds to gather the City Gods of the world, otherwise, if this continues, the Yin Si will collapse, and City Gods will inevitably transform into evil spirits. Coupled with the newly born evil spirits, I’m afraid that the tragedy of the ancient ghosts walking in the daytime will reappear soon.”
The other City Gods also bowed.
In ancient times, the ten evil stars of Huangtian rampaged between heaven and earth, creating demon kingdoms, and all spirits were their rations.
At that time, the world was filled with resentment and yin ghost energy. All living beings would inevitably transform into evil spirits after death. There were more ghosts than people in the world, and countless living beings were almost extinct.
It was not until Lord Youming came into being that there was a real human law.
However, at this time, Lord Youming had disappeared for only a little over a thousand years, and the world faintly showed a trend of disintegration again.
Some people were happy to see this happen, but some people were absolutely unwilling to see it.
Sun Qi was the latter.
An Qisheng quietly listened to Sun Qi’s narration. Naturally, he would not say that he knew everything Sun Qi had seen and heard.
After he finished speaking, he said:
“Do you think that if I gather the City Gods of the world, these City Gods will be willing to protect humans again?”
A year was enough for him to sort out the many secrets of this world.
The Yin Si City God system established by Lord Youming was undoubtedly not perfect, but it was relatively complete.
The City Gods are born relying on incense, and humans contribute incense in order to obtain the protection of the City Gods. Binding the City Gods avoids them raising humans like cattle and sheep.
After all, compared to the Yin Si City God system, the power of humans is too insignificant.
He could certainly gather the City Gods of the world, but how would the City Gods who do not need incense care about the life and death of humans?
“I…”
Sun Qi wanted to say ‘I will’, but he hesitated when the words came to his lips.
Because everyone knew that this was impossible.
There was only a naked coexistence of interests between ghosts and gods and humans. If there was no incense connection, which City God would care about humans?
“However, the matter of these City Gods must be resolved.”
An Qisheng looked at the sea of clouds and said slowly:
“However, before resolving it, I have to see the one who should be in charge of them…”