Chapter 143 My temple does indeed have one beneath it...

The barrier of the Xuanxiao Sect has been broken, and the trapped ghosts and spirits can regain their freedom.

However, among Yun Tianjiao and his group of five, one is the former Ghost King, one is a ghost spirit who now possesses the Ghost King's Ghost Core, and one is a top-tier vengeful ghost who emerged from the Tower of Sorrow. With these three present, as long as they do not speak, how could these ghost spirits dare to make a move?

Seeing pairs of eyes looking at them expectantly, Yun Tianjiao spoke first: "In any case, you are no longer alive. Even if you had great grievances in your lives, the judge will judge you. After you leave, do not cause trouble elsewhere. Go directly to the Netherworld, where you can either continue to live and cultivate, or drink the Meng Po soup to be reincarnated. The choice is yours."

Zhiwei estimated the number of ghosts in the barrier and felt there were at least several hundred, if not a thousand. She was about to say something, but seeing that Yun Tianjiao had already spoken, she shut her mouth.

Seeing that Shen Qiongzhi and Zhiwei seemed to have no objection to Yun Tianjiao's words, the ghosts bowed and knelt before heading to the Ghost Realm to report.

Zhiwei had been keeping a close eye on the Ghost Realm Token hanging from her waist, and sure enough, it soon began to flash.

He sighed almost imperceptibly.

This is a sign that a ghost is sending him a message.

Yun Tianjiao naturally noticed that Zhiwei's Ghost Realm token had lit up. Seeing that he hesitated to look at it, he asked, "Why don't you look?"

Zhiwei had no choice but to pick up the token, but he used a silencing spell so that only he could perceive the message inside.

Yun Tianjiao became even more curious, worried that something had happened to the Ghost Realm. "What exactly happened?"

Zhiwei glanced at the person next to her, then leaned closer and whispered, "It's Xiao Yan."

Yun Tianjiao asked, puzzled, "Xiao Yan? What does he want with you?"

Zhiwei coughed awkwardly and said, "Too many ghosts went down at once, almost bursting his judge's hall. These ghosts have all been dead for hundreds of years, with many grievances and complicated, outdated files. They can't keep up with the registration and trial, so Xiao Yan specially sent a message to scold people."

Yun Tianjiao: "..."

Zhiwei added: "The insults were quite vulgar, so it's best not to release them."

Yun Tianjiao looked at Zhiwei with great shame. "It was my oversight. I didn't consider the workload on Lord Xiao's side. Tell him that I will personally apologize to him when I get back."

Gong Xin, the Divine Lord, seemed to have reverted to his usual style, his eyes half-open, his thoughts wandering, and he did not pay attention to the movements of Yun Tianjiao and Zhiwei.

Zhu Jing noticed the worry in his eyes and asked, "What is Venerable Gongxin thinking?"

Gong Xin snapped out of his daze, turned around, and saw Zhu Jing staring intently at him. He then voiced his concerns: "The barrier that Mo Bei has set up is already so difficult to deal with. I wonder what level of strength he actually possesses. I'm worried that if he wants to do evil, no one will be able to stop him."

Shen Qiongzhi asked, "What is the Divine Lord Mo Bei doing now?"

Gongxin Divine Venerable said, "The Heavenly Venerable Lin Shen is dead, and the Divine Venerable Kenian has also perished. If I were Mo Bei, I would definitely seize the time to receive the pilgrims from Lin Shen and digest Kenian's divine essence at the same time."

Hearing that her brother's divine essence would be devoured and digested by another person like food, a surge of overwhelming hatred rose in Shen Qiongzhi's heart, and she wished she could grind Mo Bei to dust.

“Let’s go to the Heavenly Realm now and fight that Mo Bei to the death!” Shen Qiongzhi suggested.

Zhu Jingdao said, "Mo Bei, the God of War, is a man of deep cunning. His current cultivation level is unfathomable. If we go there rashly, we will only be wiped out."

Shen Qiongzhi wasn't acting entirely out of emotion. She analyzed, "If we follow the prediction of the Divine Lord Gongxin, his eagerness to accept worshippers from Lin Shen indicates that with his current strength, he's not confident enough to fight against everyone. Besides, he has always had an excellent reputation; even those who aren't his worshippers are willing to offer incense to this God of Joy during festivals. Since he's already determined to gather worshippers, the number of worshippers must grow very quickly. And as the number of worshippers increases and the incense burns brighter, his strength will only grow stronger day by day. We can't wait any longer!"

“Miss Shen makes a good point.” Gong Xin nodded in agreement.

Shen Qiongzhi finally started to find this Rat Immortal Farmer more agreeable.

Yun Tianjiao said, "No matter what, let's go down the mountain and take a look. Back in Ji'an Township, the local Marquis of Ping'an had already begun to build the Mo Bei Temple. Let's go to other prefectures and counties to see if the situation is the same. At least we can get a rough estimate of Mo Bei's current strength."

With no objections from the others, Yun Tianjiao summoned the Vajra Pestle and carried everyone away from Xuanxiao Gate, flying eastward.

During this time, Zhiwei's token kept lighting up, but Zhiwei stopped paying attention to it afterward.

Shen Qiongzhi suddenly remembered something she hadn't had time to ask before. Now that she was sitting on the vajra with nothing to do, she said, "Zhu Jing, there's something I've never quite understood."

Zhu Jingruan said softly, "Yes, Qiongzhi, you go ahead and say it."

Shen Qiongzhi looked at the Divine Venerable Gongxin beside her and asked, "When everyone entered your memories earlier, wasn't it you who assigned each person's role? Why did everyone only realize that he had become the futon in your memories when the Divine Venerable Gongxin spoke up?"

Upon hearing this, the others also looked at Zhu Jing, clearly sharing the same question.

Zhu Jing's doubts were no less than anyone else's. She shook her head and said, "Actually, I don't know either. Even when I wanted to pull you into my memories, it was because some unseen force directed me to do it subconsciously. As for what happened to you after you entered my memories, and who you became, I have no control over that."

"It seems that there is the power of Heaven guiding us," Yun Tianjiao said thoughtfully.

Shen Qiongzhi's first reaction was to look at Zhiwei, because he was the most knowledgeable among them. However, she quickly remembered something and shifted her gaze to Gong Xin.

Compared to this ancient deity, Zhiwei could only sit at the children's table.

"Goddess Gongxin, is there truly a Heavenly Dao in this world?" Shen Qiongzhi asked.

Gong Xin nodded, but his expression was somewhat solemn. "The power of the Heavenly Dao has always existed in legends. It is said that the power of the Heavenly Dao will only appear and contend with the world when a world-destroying force is generated. It is not surprising that Immortal Lord Zhu Jing is transformed from the Heavenly Pillar and is influenced by the power of the Heavenly Dao."

Shen Qiongzhi murmured, "A power that can destroy the heavens and the earth... When I broke through the Tower of Sorrow back then, I should have been considered a very ominous creature, but I didn't even alarm the Heavenly Dao. How ferocious must this so-called power that can destroy the heavens and the earth be!"

“Not only you, but even when the Ghost King was born back then, there was no scene like this today.” Gong Xin said, glancing at Zhiwei.

When Yun Tianjiao heard Shen Qiongzhi mention the Pagoda of Sorrow, he also thought of something and asked Zhiwei, "Zhiwei, how did you eventually get into the Pagoda of Sorrow?"

Zhiwei said, “I have the Ghost King’s Ghost Core on me. After the black leopard that it was attached to died, its ghost essence remained. At the time, I didn’t know who threw my ghost essence into the Pagoda of Sorrow. Now that I think about it, I’m afraid Mo Bei was worried that his identity would be exposed, so he trapped me in the Pagoda of Sorrow. But he didn’t know that I didn’t see him at all at the time and thought that it was Xi Yuan who threw me into the Pagoda of Sorrow.”

For a moment, everyone fell silent. At this moment, they had reached a consensus: this so-called world-destroying power was probably none other than the God of Ink Sorrow.

Devouring the divine essence of other deities was something that had never been heard of or seen before.

Yun Tianjiao sighed, "It's fortunate that you chose to ascend as a man, Zhu Jing, and spent many years as a wandering immortal without going to the Heavenly Realm to report for duty. If Mo Bei knew that you were Yu Si Ran, I'm afraid he wouldn't have kept you alive until today."

Zhu Jing seemed to find the atmosphere too heavy, and jokingly said, "Perhaps it's because I was transformed from a Heavenly Pillar, that I have divine assistance in the dark, making me very difficult to kill."

Sure enough, everyone smiled and fell silent for a moment before flying away on their vajras.

...

Due to the influence of the Xuanxiao Gate's barrier, most of the cities near the Xuanxiao Gate were abandoned. They finally stopped when they saw a slightly more prosperous city and disguised themselves as merchants to enter the city.

Many temples within the city had been demolished and rebuilt. As they passed one of them, Yun Tianjiao saw a plaque carelessly discarded on the ground. Pushing aside the scattered rubble and pieces of wood, he saw the four characters "Tianzun Temple" clearly written on it.

"Hey, what a fine sign! It's still usable. Even if the Heavenly Venerable is replaced, won't the Heavenly Venerable Hall still have these same words on the plaque?" Gong Xin, who was always frugal, felt a pang of heartache seeing the carelessly discarded sign.

"Hey, you're obviously an outsider, you don't understand the rules of the Heavenly Realm!" The foreman, who was watching the craftsmen work in the temple, turned around when he heard Gong Xin's words, and commented with a profound and inscrutable expression, "Let me tell you, there are many intricacies involved here. We can't ruin something important just to save a few bucks!"

The newly appointed deity, who had been lingering in the Heavenly Realm for hundreds of years, paused for a moment, looked back at the attire, and humbly asked, "Young man, may I ask what the rules are in the Heavenly Realm?"

The attendant sized up Gongxin from head to toe, and seeing that the other party looked honest and unassuming, he began to lecture him with great enthusiasm: "Hey, if you ask me, you don't seem to be doing very well. You probably don't worship gods much, do you? And you don't pay attention to matters of ghosts and gods?"

Gong Xin raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the Heavenly Pillar Baby Zhu Jing, the ominous Shen Qiongzhi, the Ghost King who had transformed into a Divine Venerable Zhiwei, and Yun Tianjiao who possessed the Ghost King's Ghost Pill...

He wasn't good at lying, so he simply said, "I can't say I haven't looked into it; I do know something about it..."

But the man waved his hand impatiently, "What you know is definitely unreliable and useless! If you really want to broaden your horizons, you'll have to listen to me!"

Gong Xin paused for a moment, then said in a good-natured manner, "I would like to hear the details."

Having received enough emotional value, Xingtou was willing to continue: "Haven't you heard? Our Celestial Venerable of the Heavenly Realm recently perished! Good heavens, that day was truly... all the candlesticks and incense in all the Celestial Venerable temples under heaven went out at once, and the statues of gods cracked in the middle! People were filled with panic!"

Lin Shen has existed for hundreds of years, and the people of today have indeed not experienced the demise of the Heavenly Venerable, nor even the demise of the Divine Venerable. Although Kenian has perished, he has been through many tribulations in the mortal realm and has long since lost his followers, so naturally no one pays attention to him. As for the death of the Divine Venerable Fu Luo, it has been a hundred or two hundred years since then.

The attendant continued, "At first, everyone thought this was the end of the world. The Celestial Venerable was gone, wouldn't the sky and earth collapse? Later, the Joyful God Mo Bei God Venerable took the initiative to appear and reassure everyone not to panic. The Celestial Venerable unfortunately perished and did not leave any offspring to inherit the position. According to the rules of this Heavenly Realm, one of the God Venerables will be chosen to become the new Celestial Venerable."

"Even so, everyone was still skeptical. But after a while, they found that the sun rose as usual every day, it rained when it was supposed to, thundered when it was supposed to, and daily life was not affected. So they gradually calmed down and stopped being afraid of the Heavenly Venerable's fall. People gradually began to pay attention to which deity would become the next Heavenly Venerable."

Zhu Jing asked curiously, "So, which deity do you think will become the next Heavenly Venerable?"

"Is there even a question? Of course it's God Venerable Mo Bei! They wouldn't choose God Venerable Yu Li, who's in charge of women's childbirth, would they? As for that newly promoted God Venerable Qing Yuan, his qualifications are too shallow..."

They completely overlooked the new god Gongxin.

Shen Qiongzhi glanced at Gong Xin and said, "Why can't God Gong Xin be one? He's the God of Agriculture!"

"Gongxin God Venerable?" Xingtou shook his head like a rattle-drum. "No, no."

Gong Xin was finally ignited with a competitive spirit. "Why can't he? He's the God of Agriculture, and his fate is tied to the survival of the people."

The man said, "Just because Gongxin is the god of agriculture, think about who his worshippers and followers are? They are all poor people who toil in the fields for a living! How much money can they afford for incense? And how many of the wealthy go to the Gongxin temple to kowtow and pray? It has to be the god of joy. From emperors to beggars, who doesn't want to be happy?"

Gong Xin recalled his pilgrims and fell silent.

Shen Qiongzhi was furious and sneered, "Even if what you said makes some sense, what does that have to do with you ruining the plaque? Even if Mo Bei, the God of War, is chosen as the Heavenly Venerable, can't this Heavenly Venerable Temple still be used? Why do you have to tear it down and rebuild it? It's all a waste of the people's hard-earned money!"

"Of course it has to be demolished! The next Heavenly Venerable has not yet been chosen. Since no one has been chosen, Mo Bei God Venerable is still Mo Bei God Venerable, so naturally the Joyful Temple should be built! When Mo Bei God Venerable really becomes a Heavenly Venerable, then this temple can be demolished and replaced with the Heavenly Venerable Temple."

"You, you're wasting people's money and resources! Do you think this is like children playing with mud? You think a pee can build a sand tower? You think you can just stomp on it if you don't want it anymore?" Shen Qiongzhi cursed angrily.

The man shook his head and said, "What do you know, you little girl? This is the prefect's order. It's not just our prefecture; other prefectures and counties are doing the same. Which official doesn't want to curry favor with the future Heavenly Venerable? Especially in this chaotic world, all the powerful figures want the Heavenly Venerable's protection to vie for the throne! It's just dismantling some timber and stones and spending some money. If you offend the future Heavenly Venerable, that's a serious matter!"

"Bah! How many people are starving to death these days? Such extravagance, treating the people's money like dirt, this kind of person still wants to be emperor? Keep dreaming!" Shen Qiongzhi looked like she was about to bite someone, and was forcibly dragged away by several people.

"Hey! Let me go! Did you hear what nonsense that man was spouting? We've encountered so many beggars on our way into the city, and this prefect is doing nothing but grand construction here! He's tearing down buildings and rebuilding them... Let me help him experience life and death, or better yet, life and death!"

Shen Qiongzhi was already a vengeful and easily angered ghost, and now her resentment had been aroused even more.

Yun Tianjiao said, "Forget it, we can't blame that person. He's just an ordinary citizen and can't make decisions on his own."

"Sister Tianjiao, I dare say that this is definitely orchestrated by the God of Ink Sorrow! He's only concerned with his own lineage, regardless of the lives of mortals!"

The group found a restaurant and sat down. Zhu Jing looked out the window and saw that nine out of ten people's clothes were patched and tattered, and everyone looked pale and sickly. There were also many children who looked to be only five or six years old, begging in groups along the street.

A look of pity appeared in her eyes, and she sighed softly, "No wonder the power of Heaven has appeared. I have been here before. It was a well-known and prosperous place. If even this place has become like this, what about those places that were originally barren?"

The waiter then brought over the restaurant's menu.

They didn't need to eat anything; they came here to order food to help the beggar children outside. But after ordering seven or eight dishes, they were told that they were all sold out.

"Then what exactly do you have?!" Shen Qiongzhi was furious again.

The waiter smiled wryly and said, "We've sold out of fish and meat. You must be from out of town. Since last year, we've been rationing meat dishes here. If you want meat, you'd better come early, because there won't be any meat left after noon."

Not wanting to make things difficult for the waiter, Yun Tianjiao said, "Then give us twenty steamed buns."

Seeing that the group was well-dressed and, being from out of town, unfamiliar with the local market, the waiter, not wanting to cause trouble, quickly reminded them, "We do have steamed buns, but they're not white flour buns; they're a mixture of cornmeal and sorghum flour."

Yun Tianjiao died tragically in several lifetimes, yet he was always destined for great wealth and honor, completely unaware of the market situation.

It was still the Venerable Gongxin who spoke up, asking, "Will it scratch your throat when you eat it?"

The waiter said, "No, it's just that the taste can't compare to that of plain steamed buns."

"That's good. Give us twenty, we'll take them with us."

The waiter took the money Zhiwei handed him and happily went to the kitchen. He hadn't seen such a generous customer in a long time. In the area, someone who could buy twenty steamed buns in one go was considered wealthy!

A group of people were waiting for their steamed buns, and for a moment no one spoke.

It wasn't until Yun Tianjiao broke the silence that he said, "We must stop Mo Bei as soon as possible, otherwise I'm afraid a human tragedy of exchanging children for food will soon occur."

Zhiwei's Ghost Realm Token had been quiet for a long time, but now it lit up again.

He wasn't in the mood to listen to Xiao Yan's cursing, so he simply sealed the token away.

The steamed buns at the restaurant were all steamed early in the morning, and soon twenty steamed buns were served.

Yun Tianjiao and his group went out with the steamed buns. The little beggars who had been waiting nearby rushed out in a swarm, their eyes looking like those of vicious wolf cubs.

"Hey, don't grab it! It's for you guys, what are you trying to steal?! Hey! You little brat, why are you biting people!"

Shen Qiongzhi volunteered to distribute the steamed buns, but unexpectedly, she was bitten by a little beggar who was eager to snatch the buns, which made her stomp her feet in anger.

"These little brats, are they crazy? They don't know what's good for them!"

Gong Xin watched the little beggars scatter and run away, clutching their steamed buns, seemingly lost in a distant, unbearable memory.

He said, almost to himself, "When people are driven to the brink, they are no different from wild beasts."

Yun Tianjiao then noticed that the Ghost Realm Token hanging at his waist had also lit up.

Zhiwei frowned slightly upon seeing this. He felt that even if Xiao Yan harbored great resentment, he wouldn't go so far as to harass Yun Tianjiao just because he couldn't connect to his token.

"I'm afraid something really happened in the Ghost Realm."

Yun Tianjiao immediately checked the message on the token, and his expression changed.

"What's wrong?"

Yun Tianjiao looked at Zhiwei: "General Youwei has been captured. The people of Guiyu said that the one who did it was like a god."

Zhiwei and Yun Tianjiao exchanged a glance, and immediately thought of the same thing.

Zhiwei: "Youwei is skilled in construction."

Yun Tianjiao: "It was Mo Bei who captured You Wei. He wants to build as many temples for himself as possible in the shortest amount of time!"

Yun Tianjiao was deeply impressed by General You Wei's architectural talent. Back then, in order to promote Zhiwei, she had asked General You Wei to build a thousand temples for Zhiwei in just three months, which enabled him to successfully obtain the qualification to participate in the Ascension Tournament.

Shen Qiongzhi said urgently, "No, we must stop Mo Bei! If he really succeeds and absorbs so much incense power, I'm afraid there will be no one in the world who can deal with him."

Zhiwei shook her head. "Based on my understanding of General Youwei, he will absolutely not yield to Mo Bei."

Yun Tianjiao was startled. "If General You Wei resists to the death, wouldn't his chances of survival be slim?"

After a moment's thought, Zhiwei said, "Let's go to the Mobei Temple in the Heavenly Realm first. Although General Youwei is not warlike, his strength should not be underestimated. Right now, Mobei has many things to do, and I'm afraid he can't keep an eye on General Youwei all the time. He will definitely find a place to imprison him first. And there are not many places in the world that can imprison Youwei."

No one dared to delay any longer and immediately set off for the Heavenly Realm.

On the way, Zhu Jing suddenly asked, "Sister, are you on good terms with that Yu Li God?"

Yun Tianjiao was taken aback. "Why did you suddenly think of asking this?"

Zhu Jing looked worried. "That female deity has been staying with God Mo Bei all along. I wonder how she is doing now."

Ever since learning the true face of God Mo Bei, Yun Tianjiao had been thinking about Yu Li. She even secretly prayed that Yu Li wouldn't notice Mo Bei's strangeness so quickly, so that she could stay safe by Mo Bei's side.

But she could also hear the underlying meaning in Zhu Jing's words—

She was worried that Yu Li would betray them again and become an accomplice of Mo Bei, the God of War.

"Good people are always protected by heaven. Lord Yuli will be alright." Yun Tianjiao was both comforting Zhu Jing and reassuring himself.

The speed of the vajra was pushed to its limit, and they returned to the celestial realm in less than a day.

But when everyone returned to the Heavenly Realm, they were all taken aback.

Less than a month has passed since they left this place, and the Heavenly Realm is no longer the same Heavenly Realm they left behind.

The once abundant spiritual energy vanished, replaced by omnipresent demonic energy. The entire celestial realm was shrouded in a layer of misty black fog, resembling a demon's lair.

At the source of all the overflowing demonic energy, the place where the demonic energy was most concentrated, was Mo Bei's temple.

Without hesitation, everyone flew towards the Temple of Ink Sorrow. Upon entering the temple, they discovered that there was also a dungeon beneath it.

Yun Tianjiao said to Gong Xin, "So it's common for gods to build dungeons under their temples? There's one in the Lin Shen Palace, where Zhu Jing was imprisoned, and now there's one in the Mo Bei Temple too. Surely this isn't standard practice for all deities?"

The Divine Venerable Gongxin paused for a moment before saying, "There is indeed an underground palace beneath my temple."

Everyone turned to look at him, and several gazes suddenly became incredibly sharp.

Gong Xin hurriedly explained, "However, my underground palace is a granary, filled with seeds of various grains!"

This is indeed very much in line with the style of the Divine Lord Gongxin...

The four withdrew their gaze and then entered Mo Bei's temple dungeon.

Compared to the ingenious mechanisms inside the Lin Shen Hall, the dungeon of the Mo Bei Temple was wide open at this moment, without any restrictions. It seemed that Mo Bei no longer cared about being discovered.

Yun Tianjiao's mood grew heavier and heavier. They had just passed Yu Li's temple, which was completely empty. To be precise, there wasn't a single person to be seen in the entire celestial realm, not even the celestial maidens and servants.

Upon entering the depths of the dungeon, they indeed found a person imprisoned there—General You Wei.