The temple priest spoke, and some Taoist disciples brought out the cracked faces of the two original statues. The Heavenly General looked and confirmed they were indeed the same as the original statues, though they had been broken into seventeen or eighteen pieces.
The Heavenly General of Jiā Líng Hóu fixed his divine eye on the statues, then turned to examine the temple priest, Tián Fēngyǔ, of this Divine Official Temple with his divine eye. However, the priest allowed him to look freely. In the Heavenly General's divine eye, the person before him showed no anomalies; his spiritual power was abundant, but it was only equivalent to the fourth realm.
Jiā Líng Hóu asked, "Are you the Earth Bright God?"
Tián Fēngyǔ replied, "Reporting to the Heavenly General, my divine form indeed represents the Earth Bright God of the Underworld, equivalent to the fourth realm of cultivation, Fetal Breath. However, I have recently achieved a minor breakthrough and am preparing to re-establish my position."
Luò Sīgōng, standing nearby, snorted, "Perhaps you've been sleeping too well at night recently, hence your 'minor breakthrough'!"
Tián Fēngyǔ, the temple priest, maintained an awkward yet polite smile.
"Why must you say it like that, sir? I sleep soundly at night, which allows me to cultivate with a clear mind during the day."
"Hmph! Not diligent at all."
Luò Sīgōng said to him, "I know a young Taoist who is like you. He is now an official in the capital. People like him cultivate all night and feel refreshed the next day. You are already in the Fetal Breath realm, yet you only awaken as if from a dream when outsiders enter. If we were here to kill you, you wouldn't even know how you died."
"Moreover, the Earth Bright God is an Underworld deity. While other Underworld deities are active at night, you sleep at night! It's truly strange. It seems guarding the temple has made you too comfortable!"
Tián Fēngyǔ chuckled, "You are right to admonish me, sir. It is my negligence, my negligence! But although I am an Underworld deity, I am not required to be active at night; I only need to guard the temple. Naturally, I must cultivate during the day to make greater progress."
Luò Sīgōng looked at the priest's fawning expression. He truly seemed like a standard official, not someone with any hidden agenda. He then looked at Jiā Líng Hóu, but the Heavenly General also shook his head, indicating that the priest showed no signs of anything unusual. He was indeed a clerical Taoist official, with no peculiarities.
The strangest thing in the temple now were the two statues, but the explanation provided by the priest was also reasonable.
The Precious Illumination Divine Eye was not a surveillance camera and did not possess playback functionality.
Luò Sīgōng said to Tián Fēngyǔ, "Take us to the Hall of Cultivating Virtue."
Tián Fēngyǔ, the temple priest, naturally agreed. The Jin Yi Wei Heavenly Soldiers arrived at the Hall of Cultivating Virtue, where the Great Emperor of Mount Tai and the Empress of Mount Tai's Gentle Brilliance were enshrined. This Empress deity was initially a divinity conferred by Emperor Zhenzong of Song during the Song Dynasty. The extra wives of the Five Great Emperors were all bestowed by him.
Of course, these statues were built during the Yuan Dynasty, not from the Song Dynasty.
The Empress wore a phoenix coronet, embroidered robes, and a ceremonial cape. Beside her were two statues of palace maids attending the emperors, each holding a sun fan and a moon fan. In front of them were two statues of young girls, one holding a mirror and the other a cloth.
In the Hall of Cultivating Virtue, the candles were lit. At this dim dawn hour, looking inside from the hall entrance, the statues appeared even more majestic and divine. Yet, for some reason, as a Heavenly General and a true divinity, he felt a sense of inexplicable wrongness about this hall.
Perhaps it was the incompatibility between the attributes of Heavenly Generals and Underworld deities?
The thought flashed through Jiā Líng Hóu's mind for only a moment before he dismissed it. After all, he had interacted with many Underworld personnel in his work, and there were Underworld officials in the Imperial Prison. He had never felt anything strange.
"I feel something is wrong. Commander, do you feel anything uncomfortable?"
Luò Sīgōng glanced at the hall, then at the sky, and shook his head. "I don't feel anything out of the ordinary, but the appearances of these statues do bear some resemblance to the priest's Taoist disciples."
Tián Fēngyǔ smiled, "That is only natural. Statues are made to resemble people, but they cannot be carved to look exactly like them, as that would be taboo. Therefore, they only have a partial resemblance. If you walk around the temple, you will always see people who bear some resemblance to certain statues."
"Besides, all the disciples here are male Taoists, and there are no female Taoists. In the Hall of Cultivating Virtue, among the attendant statues, there is only one young boy; the others are palace maids. To say a man resembles a woman is not a compliment."
Jiā Líng Hóu's divine eye remained active, scanning the surrounding statues. Although the statues of the boy and the palace maids did not receive much incense, they were attendants. Therefore, residual traces of floating incense divine residue were normal and did not arouse his interest.
Looking at the two main deity statues, the Precious Illumination Divine Eye shone with divine light. Both statues were very majestic, with no changes. The incense flow was not reversed, and the condensed divine forms were complete, not showing the state of fractured divine forms of the previous two statues.
The only issue he detected was that the gaze of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai's divine form seemed to be fixed on the ground rather than diagonally forward, and his eyes looked sleepy, while the gaze of the Empress of Mount Tai's Gentle Brilliance was slightly raised.
Was it a problem with the carving of the statues?
Jiā Líng Hóu frowned, but finding no anomalies, he could only report back and have the place watched.
After everyone left the Hall of Cultivating Virtue, the eyes of the statue of the Empress of Mount Tai's Gentle Brilliance, a wooden and clay sculpture, stiffly and strangely rotated twice. The movement was swift and carried a clear hint of amusement!
Meanwhile, the eyes of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai had completely closed, and the lacquer on his face had begun to crack, shedding some dust.
...
Emperor Wanli and Jī Xiàng did not enter, remaining at the entrance to observe. Jī Xiàng wanted to go in, but Emperor Wanli forbade it, truly fearing something might happen.
Of course, Jī Xiàng's thought was that if the Heavenly Gate General couldn't handle any issues they discovered, his going in would be futile.
At this moment, Jiā Líng Hóu, Luò Sīgōng, and Tián Fēngyǔ, the priest of this Mount Tai Temple, came out together to pay their respects to Emperor Wanli.
"Has anything unusual been discovered?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is nothing unusual."
Jiā Líng Hóu said this, then added, "However, for Your Majesty's safety, it is still not advisable to enter."
Emperor Wanli had initially planned to walk around inside. Hearing Jiā Líng Hóu say this, he felt reassured.
It seemed there was still something unusual, but it couldn't be detected, hence it appeared normal.
"Temple priest, have you received any strange worshippers in the past few days?"
"For example, followers of the Yellow Heaven Sect? Or any strange individuals shouting slogans like 'Yuán Dùn' or 'Yè Huǒ'?"
"Also, any beautiful women, exceptionally beautiful ones."
Emperor Wanli narrowed his eyes with a dangerous glint. Tián Fēngyǔ said fearfully,
"Reporting to Your Majesty, absolutely not! The worshippers who come here to offer incense are mostly praying for longevity and blessings, hoping to avert disasters and calamities. I truly haven't seen any new faces these past few days."
"The busiest time for offering incense at this Mount Tai Temple is on the third day of the third lunar month each year, which is the birthday of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai. But it is now the sixth month, and the number of people offering incense is not large. It is easy to tell familiar faces from strangers."