Ji Xiang listened to the girl's prayers, her tone carrying a sorrow for her homeland.
It was not sorrow for the present era, but sorrow for the Song Dynasty.
"Song Dynasty generals?"
To Ji Xiang, although the Longevity Palace was doing evil, the Song Dynasty had always been filled with benevolent and righteous individuals. It was a pity that the emperors were almost all unmotivated, coupled with the powerful influence of civil officials. Generals could not hold their heads high, and the rule of "good men do not join the army" began from the Song Dynasty.
"The scholar-officials and the emperor governed the world together, resulting in power gradually corrupting into the hands of civil officials. The Song Dynasty did not kill scholar-officials, nor did it confiscate their property or exterminate their families. Since there was no threat to their lives, people would gradually degenerate in corruption. Officials increased in number and increasingly lost their moral integrity..."
"In the late Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party was powerful, and the principle was the same."
"The benefit was in the early stages, adding intellectuals to the country and improving the social environment... The harm was in later generations... But if the military generals had too much power, the final outcome would only be a repetition of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period."
Ji Xiang muttered a few words in his heart and saw the girl return to her statue, making no further movement.
"A female general of the Song Dynasty, and one who is more fondly remembered... Mu Guiying?"
The most famous figure Ji Xiang could think of was the Yang family's female generals. Although Mu Guiying herself was a fictional character, it was normal for a deity to be born from the prayers of the masses and countless incense offerings when possessing a statue and borrowing the wishes of the people.
"I remember, when I was in Shuntian Prefecture, the storytellers on Tianjie, in their books, had 'Records of the Northern Song Dynasty'. This was compiled during the Jiajing era and published in the early Wanli era, a biography of heroes from the previous dynasty..."
"This is also the origin of Mu Guiying."
Many famous fictional characters in later generations generally appeared during the Ming Dynasty. During this period, a large number of storybooks, novels, and operas emerged, creating countless legendary figures in the fictional world, who were widely recognized by the public. By the Qing Dynasty, these fictional characters already had many temples and enjoyed incense offerings from later generations.
...
When the fifth rooster crowed, the girl descended from her statue and bowed before the Zhenwu statue.
"Today, I shall manifest according to the world's needs. There are demons harming the county, and I shall eliminate them with my法 (fa - law/method)."
"Heavenly demons, heretical paths, ghosts, and spirits, see me as blood, and transform into purple dust!"
She recited a passage from the Zhenwu incantation, then took some silver fragments and copper coins from the merit box, though the amount was not large. She then took some of the incense from the Zhenwu statue, but only the surface layer.
However, this still alerted Ji Xiang, who withdrew from his cultivation and happened to see her leaving the temple dressed in armor.
"Yesterday, when she entered the temple, she was wearing the common attire of a Ming Dynasty man. The second time she manifested, she was in a red robe. Today, she is wearing armor... What kind of armor is this?"
Although Ji Xiang's previous body had read extensively, he was beyond the scope of identifying some of the armor from previous dynasties. Moreover, this armor was merely protective gear, not a spiritual treasure or artifact that was displaying its divine power. The name of the Inner Scenery Divine Tablet had not manifested.
This iron armor was dark blue, smooth and bright enough to reflect hair, and was strung together with musk deer hide as straps. It looked soft, thin, and tough.
It did not seem to be armor that ordinary people could wear, but its specific form was completely different from the famous mountain-patterned armor of the Song Dynasty.
Not long after the girl left, the door opened, and the temple caretaker entered.
In ordinary temples, the caretakers would stay overnight. They were usually people who had lost their families or had no homeland, and having nowhere to go, they managed the temple. However, this caretaker seemed to have a home to return to, and he did not stay in the temple at night, perhaps out of reverence for the girl's divine power.
When the sun rose the next day, the caretaker found that the newly hired workers had not come to work at the temple on time, and many chores were piling up, and the courtyard had not been swept.
The caretaker waited for a while, and when he found that the workers hired yesterday still hadn't arrived, he immediately understood and could only shake his head:
"These people are indeed greedy for money. They came here in the middle of the night. Within two days, they will probably die."
The pilgrims who came to offer incense heard about this matter and discussed it. In the past, when the temple master manifested, he had indeed shot dead a scholar who spoke disrespectfully. Although most pilgrims had not witnessed it themselves, they recounted it vividly when bragging to each other.
"I know, that scholar was writing lewd poems in the temple at the time."
"You're mistaken, that was King Zhou."
"You're also wrong, that's just a plot from 'Investiture of the Gods'."
"I have a question, did the Shang Dynasty have the official position of Commander?"
"Why not! It's written there, so it must be true!"
"Isn't Li Jing a Tang Dynasty general in the Temple of War? He was a Duke of the Tang Dynasty!"
"What, couldn't the Shang Dynasty have Li Jing?"
The pilgrims came from different backgrounds, but those who came early in the morning were generally wealthy people. After all, ordinary people had to go to work early, and only those who didn't have to work would come to the temple to offer incense and show their piety.
Ji Xiang, inside the statue, listened to these pilgrims, who were all rich and noble, discussing the plot of "Investiture of the Gods", and couldn't help but mutter again.
"The trend of people reading novels in this Great Ming Dynasty is truly enthusiastic. 'Investiture of the Gods'... This book seems to have a very significant influence on the common people."
Ji Xiang was thinking about important matters.
The name Biyou Palace originated from "Investiture of the Gods", and this seemed to be decreed by the patriarchs of the Shangqing sect. To match the story's content, they even specifically gave the Qingping Sword to the master of Biyou Palace to lead the Shangqing sect.
"Would something happen if I named my sect or disciples according to some of the names in 'Investiture of the Gods'?"
"Or, would it be easier to gather incense and wishes this way?"
His thoughts drifted, and he suddenly recalled the divine and ghostly arts used by the Japanese pirates on the Korean battlefield, which he had heard about in the Forbidden City.
"The Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit Collection, a book that also had a major impact in Japan..."
"The patriarchs of the Shangqing sect would not do anything useless. Creating a Biyou Palace specifically to match 'Investiture of the Gods' must be for some major event."
"The three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, the three teachings of Chan, Jie, and Ren, the Heavenly Master of Longhu, Shangqing of Maoshan, Lingbao of Gezao... the three mountain sects."
Ji Xiang felt that these things were related, but when he pondered them, they all seemed to exist independently, without a clear connection.
He still needed to obtain more information.
He needed information that could link these clues together; that was the key.
This must be related to the grand path of the dynasty that the immortals in the Inner Mountains were planning.
With the flourishing incense, the merit box was soon filled with copper coins and silver fragments again.
Soon, the old foreman who came to work at the temple told the caretaker that the workers hired by the caretaker a few days ago, the ones who did odd jobs, had all developed large sores on their backs, with unstoppable pus. Their families were spending a lot of money to hire doctors in the city.
"There are highly skilled physicians in Qiantang County, but when they heard what they had done, they dared not help them."
The old foreman's tone was full of sighs. A moment of greed had led to such a fate. It was truly a pity for these strong young men.
The caretaker snorted: "If you can't control your hands, you'll suffer the consequences now."
The old foreman laughed: "You're still speaking sarcastically. Aren't you afraid that the families of those young men will come here to cause trouble?"
The caretaker: "My words are harsh, but if they had money, they wouldn't have come here to steal these merit coins. Since they don't have money, and their families are not wealthy, they are all poor laborers trying to make a living everywhere. They are idle and came to me for work. I took them in and gave them some tasks in the temple. As a result, they offended the deities themselves and were punished. Even if the magistrate of Qiantang County were here, I would be in the right."
The old foreman: "Is the magistrate also afraid of divine punishment?"
The caretaker: "Not necessarily. I heard that these officials are not very reverent towards matters of gods and ghosts. A few times when I went to the yamen to handle affairs, I always felt a special aura floating around, I couldn't quite describe it, it was like the aura of incense but somewhat different."
The caretaker did not understand cultivation, but having been in contact with the aura of incense for many years, he himself possessed some divine qualities, able to perceive the existence of the Ming Dynasty's imperial power, which meant he was no longer a mere mortal.
Ji Xiang listened to their conversation and understood where he was.
So this was Qiantang County in Hangzhou.
The famous Lingyin Temple was located here, no wonder there were no evil spirits causing trouble, but instead a scene of prosperity and peace. With such a great Buddhist temple guarding this place, those earth immortal-level demon kings would not dare to approach.
The old foreman was still chatting with the caretaker. He looked at the Zhenwu statue and said:
"By the way, Zhenwu has manifested."
The caretaker was surprised: "Zhenwu manifested?"
He looked up at the statue, and the old foreman explained: "Those workers said that when they took the merit box last night, they were laughing and joking, saying that Lord Zhenwu was a great rich man, and that there were thousands of Zhenwu temples throughout the Great Ming Dynasty. Taking a little wouldn't matter. They also said that if Lord Zhenwu really cared about this incense, he should move and take it back! And guess what happened? Zhenwu's eyes suddenly shot out light, and with a single 'hiss', they turned and fell to the ground!"
The caretaker was also surprised: "Is that true? Speaking of which, during the day yesterday, the statue of Zhenwu did seem more divine than before, and the temple's incense was very strong..."
The old foreman suddenly realized: "The temple's incense suddenly became strong yesterday, is that why?"
He also looked at the Zhenwu statue and sighed: "After so many years of worship, Lord Zhenwu seems to have noticed our small temple. It's just a pity that the temple's master still doesn't have much incense."
The caretaker glared at the old foreman: "Alright, don't say such things carelessly. Stop. The temple master is a petty person. Be careful she shoots you with an arrow."
The old foreman chuckled: "She has manifested and saved me before, so she won't shoot me."
The caretaker snorted: "The temple master protects our small area, while Lord Zhenwu governs the Great Ming Dynasty. It's normal for his incense to be strong. You go and get busy."
The old foreman responded and left, while the caretaker began to offer three sticks of incense to the girl's statue.
The blue smoke curled upwards, and the caretaker bowed sincerely a few times, then resumed his shrewd demeanor, attracting pilgrims and loudly publicizing what had happened last night.
As expected, after the news of Zhenwu's suspected manifestation spread, the number of people who came to offer incense before the Zhenwu statue increased significantly compared to the previous day.
In the incense burner before the girl's statue, there were only a few sticks of incense, while before Ji Xiang's Zhenwu statue, the incense burner was filled with so many long and short incense sticks that they could be used as torches. The place was filled with smoke, like smoking opium.
"The momentum is too great. I only scared those mortals last night, and I didn't expect these people to immediately start worshipping me frantically. In comparison, the temple master seems to manifest often, but not many people worship her... It's probably because she shoots people to death with incense arrows whenever she feels like it, which makes people afraid to worship her."
"How can one get incense this way? Pilgrims are guests. Heavenly deities may not care about a little loss of incense, but as a local deity, one relies on incense to exist. With so little incense, even with immense magical power, one might not be able to unleash even half of it."
"By the way, she also said earlier that she was going to subdue demons and eliminate monsters... Could it be that she is also responding to a pilgrim's prayer and manifesting according to the world's needs?"
Ji Xiang pondered, not knowing what kind of demon the girl was going to deal with. She left before dawn and returned late at night.
Besides, what kind of pilgrim would run into a den of demons every day for no reason?
"Don't tell me, there are cultivators colluding with demons..."
Ji Xiang had seen too many such things that his first reaction to the appearance of demons was always that there were internal traitors among the human race.
The Mi Long Casino, the Golden Mountain Water Mansion, and other similar incidents were all like this. Divine generals or cultivators colluded with demons, and even cultivators within various major sects had internal traitors. The demons were actually driven by them, while they themselves appeared to be celestial beings.
The Peacock Ming King's saying of the confusion of good and evil was very fitting for the current situation.
As the day passed, the incense became even more abundant than the previous day. Ji Xiang felt that he would soon recover his form and spirit, and even gain a large amount of incense replenishment. With the incense replenishment, he could purchase another fifty to sixty catties of talismans to scatter for fun.
Moreover, due to the abundant incense replenishment, Ji Xiang's main body of incense began to increase in cultivation, and at the same time, by continuously absorbing the vital energy of this world, the realm of his physical body also began to loosen, allowing him to continue advancing to higher levels.
"Incense cultivation is of great benefit to my main body, and it also gradually strengthens the physical body. Mortals cannot withstand incense, but cultivators can unleash strength far exceeding their current realm by borrowing incense. Incense and wishes are pursued by countless people, and some can even transform from mortals into cultivators by borrowing incense..."
"Compress, compress! My realm is constantly compressing, then cultivating, then releasing!"
"When the Lingbao Heavenly Venerable taught me the Jade Purity Hidden Scripture, I had already entered the stage of Five Qi Towards the Origin. Now, I am close to forming the Golden Core... I am about to succeed..."
Ji Xiang relied on repeatedly falling and rising in his realm to temper the foundation of his vital energy and realm. This made Ji Xiang's realm extremely stable. Even if someone used poison or spells that harmed cultivation to attack Ji Xiang, Ji Xiang would not easily have his current realm taken away, and could even directly resolve it without being affected.
The Inner Scenery Divine Tablet emitted a faint light, and Ji Xiang reached the peak of the Five Qi Towards the Origin.
The three flowers on the top of his head and the five qi in his chest were all complete.
Ji Xiang's eyes were filled with dense vital energy, and even the Zhenwu statue became more divine!
"I will form the Golden Core. After today, my actions will be like wind and thunder, and I will enter the realm of Earth Immortal!"