Xie Lian asked, “Really? How do you know?”
Hua Cheng was about to speak when Pei Su, his words stuttering, stretched out his trembling fingers and began writing on the ground. Out of inexplicable respect, everyone gathered to watch him as he scribbled the words "battle form." After he finished, as if draining his last bit of strength, he clenched his fist and fell still.
Hua Cheng looked up and said, "That's right. The Rain Master's guardian mount is a black bull transformed from the golden beast at the gate of the Rain Master Kingdom's royal temple. It normally walks steadily, leaving no trace, but once engaged in battle, it changes form. Therefore, these hoof prints are different in shape from ordinary bull hoof prints and are much wider."
Pei Ming said, "Your Excellency the Ghost King has an astonishing amount of information."
Hua Cheng pointed at the mark on the ground and continued to say to Xie Lian, "Brother, look."
Xie Lian leaned over to take a look and said, “Hmm, as expected… these hoofprints appeared suddenly, so I guess their encounter with the enemy was also quite sudden.”
Hua Cheng said, "Yes. And the hoof prints are very deep, which shows that the enemy is not simple. The bull is struggling with the enemy here, and it has been pressed more than two inches into the ground."
The two simulated the battle scene. Pei Ming, unwilling to be outdone, said, "But in the end, it ended in a draw."
Xie Lian said, “Not bad.”
There was no trace of blood or ghostly aura around. It seemed that they bumped into each other here, exchanged a few quick and fierce moves, and then each found that the other was a tough nut to crack, so they both gave up.
Hua Cheng informed them that the easterly direction had changed, and the group continued westward, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Soon, a very tall, strange building appeared on the roadside. From a distance, it looked far more imposing than the other houses. Even with several walls and parts of the roof collapsed, it still made one look up. Xie Lian couldn't help but pause and asked, "What is this place?"
Hua Cheng only took a glance and said, "The temple of the Wuyong people."
Pei Ming held Pei Su's arm and dragged him along, asking, "How did City Lord Hua know this was the temple?"
Hua Cheng said: "Because it's written on it."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked up and saw a row of enormous characters carved into the stone beam in front of the building's gate. Although there were some strange scratches from the wear and tear of time, the characters were still quite clear.
However, after a moment of silence, Xie Lian said, “It is indeed written above, but…”
But I can’t understand this text at all!
He had never expected that even this wouldn't faze Hua Cheng. He said to Xie Lian, "This line of text essentially says, 'His Royal Highness the Crown Prince descends upon the world with light, eternally watching over the land of Wuyong.' It's just eulogistic nonsense. Brother, look, don't two of the last few characters look a lot like 'Wu' and 'Yong'?"
Hearing the words "Your Highness," Xie Lian's expression shifted slightly. He took a closer look. Sure enough, while the text resembled a child's drawing, with circles and curves interspersed with strange symbols, the shape and strokes of the characters "Wu Yong" were quite similar to the characters he was familiar with, as if they were some kind of variant. Pei Ming said, "City Lord Hua can actually decipher even this ancient language, lost for thousands of years. I'm truly impressed."
Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow and smirked, "I spent ten years in Tonglu Mountain. I could do a lot in a month. If I can't even decipher a single language after ten years, what's the point of staying in this world, right?"
Even the top ten civil gods in the Upper Heaven might not dare to say such a thing. As a martial god, what could Pei Ming do? He could only fake a smile and say, "Perhaps."
Xie Lian exhaled softly and said, "Luckily, Sanlang is here."
Hua Cheng said, "I can only roughly decipher some of the simple Wuyong texts. If you encounter something difficult, I can only ask my brother to help me figure it out."
Xie Lian blushed, "This... I'm definitely not as good as San Lang at this. But, is the deity worshipped by the Wuyong Kingdom also their Crown Prince?"
Hua Cheng crossed his arms and said, "I think so."
Xie Lian frowned in thought, then said, “Since my master knew about the Crown Prince of Wuyong, he should also know that he had ascended. But why did he tell me that the Crown Prince was ‘dead’?”
Hua Cheng said, "There are three possibilities: First, he truly didn't know; second, he lied; third, he didn't lie. The Crown Prince of Wuyong is dead, but not in the sense of 'dead'."
Pei Ming said, "If the Emperor were here, perhaps we could ask him if he knew this country or this person."
Hua Cheng said, "That's not necessarily true. The Wuyong Kingdom disappeared over two thousand years ago. Compared to it, Jun Wu is just a young man. We're even a generation apart."
Jun Wu ascended approximately 1,500 years ago. He was a renowned general during a turbulent era, later proclaiming himself king and, after several years, achieving immortality. As the Supreme Martial God, ruling for a millennium, his origins were well known. The "generation gap" Hua Cheng referred to was referring to the "generation" of the celestial realm.
Today, the Heavenly Court, with Jun Wu as the supreme leader and composed of hundreds of priests, belongs to one generation, and the one before this generation is another generation.
Just as dynasties come and go in the mortal realm, so too do the heavens undergo "dynasties." Although the process takes a very long time, the essence is the same: new believers replace old ones, and new gods replace old gods.
Sometimes, a god's decline is not because he was demoted for doing something wrong, or because a more powerful priest appeared, but simply because people's lives and minds gradually changed and they no longer needed him.
For example, a priest who was in charge of horses must be doing well in his time, because people couldn't travel without horses and carriages, and who wouldn't want their horses to be strong and healthy and travel safely? Therefore, he would be worshipped by many people.
But if one day, mortals discovered something completely new that could run faster than horses, and this new thing became people's first choice for travel, the incense offerings to the horse priest would surely become increasingly deserted. Priests like these, fleeting like shooting stars, are the vast majority.
This form of decline is the most brutal, as it's nearly impossible to reverse. Unless the priest leaps from the heavens, returning to a mortal form, and embarks on a new path of cultivation, ascending once again as a brand new god, he's doomed to watch his own slow decline and eventual disappearance. However, not everyone possesses such courage or luck.
This is how the immortals and gods of the previous generation declined. Some also say that it was because they caused a big mess and fought a melee, so they all died. The details are unverifiable and unimportant.
Because, hundreds of years later, Jun Wu suddenly appeared and opened up a new era of gods in heaven. Moreover, after him, a large number of new generation priests emerged one after another to fill the vacancies of believers and gradually formed the stable heaven today.
In other words, unless there is a priest who is more senior than Jun Wu with 1,500 years of experience, it is unlikely that he would know how all traces of the ancient country of Wuyong and the gods they worshipped were quietly wiped out.
The group walked over the half-collapsed wall and entered the dark hall. After only a few steps, Xie Lian noticed something was amiss.
He originally thought that the darkness inside the hall was due to the lack of sunlight and windows. However, the more he looked around, the more strange it seemed. He walked to the wall, lightly traced his finger across it, and then brought it to his eyes. He couldn't help but say, "This is..."
Hua Chengdao: "Black."
It’s not that the light is dim, the walls of this huge temple are actually completely black!
Hua Chengdao: "From what I've seen, almost all the temples in Tonglu Mountain are like this."
The sight was horrifying. What kind of temple would have its walls painted this hellishly black? Just looking at it was terrifying. How could one truly worship the gods here?
Pei Ming asked, "Are all of them like this? Have they been left out for too long and rotted?"
Xie Lian said, “We just passed by other houses, but they weren’t this dark. Logically, these houses should all be of the same age.”
As he spoke, he continued to gently touch and explore the temple's walls. Not only were they a terrifying black, but they were also uneven and craggy, like a woman's disfigured face, covered in gruesome scars and incredibly hard. Xie Lian's heart stirred, and he said, "This temple has been burned."
Pei Ming asked, "Why do you think so?"
Xie Lian turned around and said, “Originally, the walls of this temple were covered in murals. They used a special pigment, a very thick layer. After the fire, it turned black, and some of it melted and deformed. After solidifying, it had this bumpy, hard texture.”
Pei Ming said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince knows a lot. I, Pei, admire you."
Xie Lian rubbed his brows, coughed lightly, and said, "This...isn't anything to be admired. It's just that many of my prince's palaces have been burned down before, and this is the effect."
“…”
Hearing this, everyone fell silent. Xie Lian then thought of something else and said, "And that stone beam outside! The inscriptions of praise carved into it have many scratches on them. It doesn't look like ordinary wear and tear; someone must have scratched it with a knife."
Pei Ming frowned and asked, "Why do you do this?"
Hua Cheng said coldly: "Because I don't admit this statement."
Xie Lian said, “Yes. It’s the same as smashing the plaque.”
Ban Yue was stunned for a moment and said, "So, this temple was set on fire by the people of Wuyong themselves?"
There was a pause. Just as Xie Lian was about to speak, he heard Pei Ming ask, "What does this mean?"
Xie Lian turned around and saw Pei Ming holding up his left hand. A scorpion-tailed snake was clenched in its jaws, stabbing him repeatedly with its sharp tail. Ban Yue was about to kneel before him again, saying, "I'm sorry, I'm covered in snakes..."
Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He pulled her back and said, "Banyue, don't make a habit of kneeling down and apologizing to others at every turn. General Pei, how did you get bit by her snake?"
Pei Ming raised his hands and said with a dark face, "How should I know? I just put my arm around her shoulders and that's it."
Xie Lian asked patiently, “Then why did you put your arm around her shoulder, General Pei?”
"..." Pei Ming seemed to have just noticed and started to think about this problem. After a moment, he said, "It's just a habit. In such a dark and gloomy place, isn't it common sense to put your arm around a woman's shoulders and comfort her not to be afraid?"
Ban Yue said: "I'm sorry, I'm not afraid."
"..." Xie Lian understood. This was just a tragedy caused by Pei Ming's unconscious itching. Pei Ming finally pulled the scorpion snake off, but his left hand was already swollen. He said, "Give me the antidote quickly."
Ban Yue said, "I'm sorry, I've run out of the Shan Yue grass."
Xie Lian said, "It's okay, General Pei, you're a priest. The swelling will go away in a moment." He turned back and continued studying the wall. Suddenly, his eyes swept across a dark patch of wall and froze in an instant.
He said, "Everyone, come and see, there is still a face in this wall!"
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