Of course, he would never say this out loud. However, it was no wonder that Nanfeng and Fuyao's faces changed drastically when they heard about the Silver Butterfly. They must have suffered at the hands of the Silver Butterfly Lord along with the two priests they served.
A priest asked, "Your Highness, when you met Hua Cheng, what did he do to you?"
The tone of his voice clearly sounded more like a question like, "Are you missing an arm or a leg?" Xie Lian replied, "I didn't do anything, it's just..." At this point, he was at a loss for words, pondering, "Just what? I can't say they just hijacked my bridal sedan and led me all the way." After a moment of silence, he finally said, "They just broke the maze set by the female ghost Xuan Ji on Yujun Mountain and led me inside."
The priests were all puzzled and silent. After a while, one of them asked, "Everyone, what do you think?"
Just by hearing the voice, Xie Lian could imagine the priests shaking their heads and spreading their hands:
"No opinion, absolutely no opinion!"
"I don't know what he wants to do. It's creepy."
"No one can figure out what Huacheng is trying to do..."
Despite being told what a wicked mischief Hua Cheng was, Xie Lian didn't find him particularly frightening. Honestly, he felt Hua Cheng had been helpful this time. In short, this was the fulfillment of his first prayer after ascending back to heaven.
It was said earlier that all the merits from fulfilling the vows during this trip to Junshan would be counted on him. Although the official remembered to fulfill his vows after a long time due to his daughter's death, and it was with sadness that he made the vows, so the merits were inevitably discounted, but after adding it all together and making various concessions, the 8.88 million merits were almost there. Xie Lian was free of debt and felt relieved. His heart was as clear as the sky, and he felt comfortable and happy. He was refreshed and decided to be a good god. It would be best if he could become half friends with all the priests. Although the spiritual formation in the upper heaven was quiet, it was busy and there was a lot of shouting. Usually, when the priests were in a good mood or saw something interesting, they would talk about it in the formation and make a few jokes. Although he couldn't tell who was who, he listened silently. But he couldn't just keep silent forever, so after listening for a long time, he would occasionally say something gentle:
“It’s really interesting.”
"I read a beautiful poem and wanted to share it with you."
"A very effective little secret to treat back and leg pain, I would like to share it with you."
Sadly, every time he sent out these carefully selected and beneficial messages, silence would fall within the spiritual formation. Eventually, Ling Wen could no longer bear it and privately said to him, "Your Highness, although the messages you sent out within the spiritual formation are all excellent, even a priest hundreds of years older than you wouldn't send them out."
Xie Lian felt a bit depressed. He wasn't the oldest, but why was he, among all the other priests, like an old man who couldn't keep up with the younger crowd? Perhaps it was because he'd been away from the heavens for too long, remaining isolated and ignorant, unconcerned with the outside world. He couldn't be saved, so he just let it go. He let it go, and his depression subsided.
But there's still a problem: up to now, no one on earth has built a new temple for him. Perhaps there is, but since the heavens haven't found it, there's no record of it. Even the land god has a temple, after all. For a priest who has ascended to the heavens three times, he still doesn't have a temple or a single devotee. This is truly embarrassing.
However, the embarrassment was only felt by the other priests; Xie Lian himself felt okay. And one day, on a whim, he suddenly thought, "If no one wants to offer sacrifices to me, then I should probably offer sacrifices to myself."
The priests didn't know how to respond.
Who the hell has ever heard of a priest offering sacrifices to himself?
What's the point of being a God being so miserable!
Xie Lian was already used to the silence whenever he spoke, and thought it was fun to entertain himself in this way. Once he made a decision, he jumped down to the human world again.
This time, he landed in a small mountain village called Puqi Village.
It was called a mountain village, but in reality it was just a small dirt slope. Seeing the lush green mountains, clear waters, and endless rice paddies, Xie Lian thought, "I've landed in a great place this time." He looked again and saw a crooked, dilapidated house on the small dirt slope. He asked around, and the villagers all said, "It's abandoned, ownerless. Occasionally, homeless people go in to sleep there for the night, just letting them stay as they please." Didn't that suit him perfectly? He approached.
As he approached, he realized that the cabin looked shabby from a distance, and even more so up close. Two of the four corner pillars were probably rotten. The wind blew, and the whole house creaked, looking as if it might collapse at any moment. However, this was still within Xie Lian's acceptable range. He took a quick look inside and began to clean up.
The villagers were surprised to see someone actually staying here, and they all gathered to watch the excitement. The villagers were incredibly welcoming. Not only did they give him a broom, seeing how thoroughly he cleaned, they also gave him a basket of freshly picked water chestnuts. The skins had been peeled, and each one was white, tender, sweet, and juicy. Xie Lian squatted at the doorway of the shabby house, finished his meal, and with his hands clasped together in a state of bliss, he decided to call this place Water Chestnut Temple.
There was already a small table in the Puqi Temple, which could be used as an altar after a few wipes. Xie Lian busied himself with work, and the villagers who were watching were even more surprised to see that this young man was actually trying to turn a small Taoist temple into something special. They asked, "Who are you going to worship in this temple?"
Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, “Well, this temple worships Prince Xianle.”
Everyone looked confused: "Who is that?"
Xie Lian said, “I…I don’t know either. It seems to be a Crown Prince.”
"Oh, what do you do?"
"Probably to keep safe." And collect junk at the same time.
Everyone eagerly asked, "Then does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince manage to attract wealth and treasure?!"
Xie Lian thought to himself that it was good enough that he didn’t owe any money, and said softly, “Unfortunately, it seems that’s not possible.”
Everyone gave him advice, saying, "You should become a water worshiper. He'll bring in wealth and fortune! He'll definitely be a big hit!"
"Or we can offer sacrifices to Master Lingwen! Maybe our village will produce a top scholar!"
A woman said shyly: "Um... do you have... do you have that..."
Xie Lian kept smiling and asked, "Which one?"
"General Juyang."
“…”
If he really opened a Juyang Temple, I'm afraid Feng Xin would shoot an arrow from the sky immediately!
After a rough cleanup of the Puqi Temple, Xie Lian still needed some incense burners, stick holders, and other miscellaneous items. But he had completely forgotten the most important thing—the statue of the deity. He put on his bamboo hat and headed out the door. Oh, and there were no doors. Thinking about it, he realized that the house must be renovated, so he wrote a sign and placed it at the door: "This temple is in danger of collapse. We sincerely seek kind-hearted people to donate money to repair it and accumulate merit."
He left the house and walked seven or eight miles to the town. What was he doing there? To make a living, of course, so he went back to his old trade.
In mythology, immortals don't need to eat. Actually, that's hard to say. While the gods can certainly draw their spiritual energy directly from sunlight and rain, the question is—while they can, who would actually do that? Why would they do it?
Some priests, due to their cultivation methods, require their internal organs to be kept clean. They absolutely cannot touch the greasy food of mortals. If they do, they will suffer from vomiting and diarrhea, just like mortals who eat poisonous insects and dirt. However, it's not that they don't eat food, but they only eat magical fruits and birds that grow in pure lands and have the effect of prolonging life and enhancing magical powers.
But Xie Lian didn't have that problem. Cursed and shackled, he was no different from a mortal, able to eat anything. And thanks to his battle-hardened past, he couldn't die from any food. Whether it was a month-old steamed bun or a pastry with green hair growing on it, he could definitely handle it. With such a formidable physique, he actually managed to make a decent living while collecting scrap. Compare that to the fact that opening a temple costs money, while collecting scrap makes money. Truly, ascending to heaven is worse than collecting scrap.
This man was handsome and had an air of immortality, which gave him an advantage when collecting scrap. Soon, Xie Lian had collected a large bag. On the way back, he saw an old ox pulling a cart piled high with straw. He remembered that he seemed to have seen this cart before in Puqi Village, so he thought they must be going the same way. He asked if he could give it a ride. The cart owner raised his chin, indicating that he could get on. Xie Lian climbed on board, carrying his large bag of scrap. Once he sat on it, he realized that behind the pile of straw, a person was already lying.
The man's upper body was hidden behind the haystack, his left leg propped up and his right crossed, as if he were resting his head on his arm, taking a nap. He looked quite relaxed and contented, and Xie Lian envied his relaxed posture. The pair of black boots, tightly fitted against his slender, straight calves, were quite pleasing to the eye. Xie Lian recalled what he had seen under the veil that night on Yujun Mountain, and he couldn't help but take a few more glances, confirming that the boots didn't have a silver chain hanging from them. He wondered what animal skin they were made of, and thought, "Whose young master is this, out for some fun?"
The cart lurched along the road. Xie Lian, his bamboo hat slung over his shoulder, pulled out a scroll and prepared to read. He'd never paid much attention to the rumors circulating outside, but after so many disappointments, he figured he'd catch up. The cart lurched for an indeterminate amount of time before passing through a maple forest. He looked up and around. The lush green fields, the vibrant maple leaves, the wild mountain charm and the refreshing aroma of grass were so captivating that Xie Lian couldn't help but be slightly startled.
When he was young, he cultivated at Huangji Monastery, a place nestled in the mountains. The mountains were covered in maple forests, radiant as gold and blazing like fire. This scene inevitably brought back a flood of thoughts and memories. He gazed for a long moment before lowering his head to resume reading the scroll.
The first thing I saw when I opened it was a line of words that read:
Prince Xianle ascended three times: God of War, God of Plague, and God of Rags.
“…”
Xie Lian said, "Well, actually, if you think about it carefully, there isn't much difference between the God of War and the God of Tatters. All gods are equal, and all living beings are equal."
At this moment, a chuckle came from behind him, and a voice said, "Really?"
The young man said lazily, "People naturally like to say that all gods are equal, and all living beings are equal. But if that were true, the gods and immortals wouldn't exist at all."
The sound came from behind the straw stack on the cart. Xie Lian glanced back and saw the young man still lazily lying there, with no intention of getting up. He probably just casually interjected, then smiled and said, "You have a point."
He turned back and continued to look at the scroll. It was written at the bottom:
Many people believe that, as the god of plague, Prince Xianle's handwriting or portrait has the power of a curse. If it is posted behind someone or on the front door of a house, it will bring bad luck to that person or household.
“…”
This kind of comment makes it difficult to tell whether it is talking about God or ghosts.
Xie Lian shook his head, unable to bear to read any more of the comments related to him. He decided to first learn about the various priests in the current celestial realm, so as to avoid being confused about who was who and being disrespectful. Remembering that a villager had mentioned the Water Master earlier, he looked up the comments about the Water Master and came across this sentence:
The Water Master has no crossing. He controls both water and wealth. Many merchants keep a Water Master statue in their shops or homes to protect their wealth.
Xie Lian was a little puzzled. "If he's the Water God, why does he also control wealth?"
At this time, the young man lying behind the straw pile continued, "When caravans travel to trade and transport goods, they mostly travel by water. So before setting off, they always go to the Water God Temple to burn a stick of incense, praying for a safe journey and promising to do so upon their return. Over time, the Water God gradually came to control wealth as well."
This was actually specifically to clear up his confusion. Xie Lian turned around and said, "Is that so? Interesting. This water master must be a very powerful high priest."
The young man sneered and said, "Well, water across the sky."
Judging from his tone, he didn't seem to take the priest seriously, nor did he seem to be saying anything kind. Xie Lian asked, "What is Shui Hengtian?"
The young man said leisurely, "Whether a boat crosses the Yangtze River or stays depends entirely on his words. If you don't pay him tribute, he'll capsize. He's quite arrogant, so they nicknamed him Shui Heng Tian. It's similar to General Ju Yang or General Sweeping the Floor."
High-profile priests often have nicknames, both in the mortal realm and in the heavens. These nicknames are often associated with Xie Lian, the laughingstock of the Three Realms, the famous eccentric, the unlucky star, the homeless dog, and so on. Generally, using nicknames to address a priest is considered extremely disrespectful. For example, if someone dared to call Mu Qing "Sweeping General" to his face, Mu Qing would fly into a rage. Xie Lian remembered not to address him like that and said, "I see. Thank you for your explanation." He paused, finding the young man's conversation amusing, and added, "My friend, you know quite a lot despite your youth."
The young man said, "Not much. I have some free time. I just look around when I have some free time."
Among the common people, one could find a vast array of mythological pamphlets everywhere, filled with stories of gods and ghosts, ranging from grand grudges to trivial matters, some true and some false. It wasn't surprising that this young man knew so much. Xie Lian put down the scroll and said, "Well, my friend, you know a lot about gods, but do you know anything about ghosts?"
The young man asked, "Which ghost?"
Xie Lian said, "Blood Rain Visits the Flower City."
Hearing this, the young man chuckled twice and finally sat up. He turned his head, and Xie Lian's eyes suddenly lit up.
The young man, about sixteen or seventeen, was dressed in red maple leaves, his skin white as snow, and his eyes bright as stars. He glanced at him with a sidelong smile. He was exceptionally handsome, yet there was an inexplicable wildness in his expression. His black hair was tied loosely, slightly askew, making him look extremely casual.
As they walked through the fiery, vibrant maple forest, maple leaves danced and fell, one landing on the young man's shoulder. He blew gently, knocking the leaf off. Then he looked up at him, half-smiling, and said, "What do you want to know? Just ask."
The author has something to say: The princess who was banished from heaven for posting middle-aged and elderly emojis and chicken soup, met her husband who hid his equipment and disguised himself as a newbie! (Get lost!
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