She was already seriously ill and could only wait to die in the drafty lobby.
On her deathbed, she looked up at the statue of a deity whose features were no longer discernible and prayed that God would grant her liberation.
She fell into a deep sleep, and when she woke up, she found that she had fully recovered.
She sat up in surprise and found herself in an unfamiliar environment. Everything was different except for the statue next to her.
The house was completely renovated and was comparable to those bustling temples.
She pinched her face hard, felt the pain, and then carefully walked out of the lobby, supporting herself against the wall.
Just then, a mysterious voice sounded from behind.
"You are my follower?"
The priest was taken aback, wondering who was speaking.
She turned around and saw a middle-aged woman standing in the middle of the lobby, staring at her.
Her face has soft features, like jade polished by time, radiating a warm luster.
His eyes were as deep as the night sky, sparkling with wisdom and compassion, as if they could see into the depths of the hearts of all things in the world.
Her figure was elegant and upright, like an ancient tree that had weathered many storms and remained standing despite the vicissitudes of time.
Her hands were fair and slender, with her fingertips gently touching, as if she were always ready to bestow blessings and relieve suffering upon all living beings.
She wore a pure white kasaya, as pure and flawless as a lotus flower.
All of this overlaps with the idol.
"Who are you……"
The priest stared blankly at the woman before him, and it took him a while to find his voice.
"I am the god you have always been watching over."
The god approached the priestess step by step, and with each step she swayed gently, her robes seemed to emit a faint golden light.
"God has appeared to us?"
The priest murmured, and then the ethereal voice of the gods echoed in the hall.
"I have fulfilled your wish, so you must keep your promise."
The priest remembered the promise he had made to the idol on his deathbed and did not hesitate.
From then on, the priests became the "masters" of the temple.
Tang Nian listened, unsure of what to say.
She had thought that this so-called god was some immortal on Kunlun Mountain, but when she saw the statue, she really couldn't figure out which one it was.
Hearing the priest's description, she became even more certain of her guess.
This is a false god.
The immortals on Kunlun Mountain all cultivated themselves to become immortals, and the word "god" originated from Kunlun. As for the kasaya (Buddhist robe), it is something that only Buddhists wear.
Taoism and Buddhism have always kept to themselves, so how could there be a god who has dabbled in both?
At that moment, the priest's voice suddenly stopped, as if an invisible force had choked him.
The light in her eyes gradually dimmed, as if her spine had been crushed by a heavy sense of guilt.
She shook her head, her voice low and pained: "I am not worthy to remain in this temple. I have defiled its purity and brought shame upon it."
Tang Nian frowned slightly, keenly sensing that things were far more complicated than the priest had made them out to be.
She gently changed the subject, her tone soft yet undeniably firm: "Please tell me, who else was present when those three people died?"
"No, no one."
The priest's body trembled slightly; he seemed to be trying his best to hide something.
But Tang Nian's gaze was sharp, as if it could see through all lies.
She repeatedly pointed out the flaws in the priest's words, each key point like a sharp blade, cutting through the priest's inner defenses.
The priestess remained silent, her gaze shifting as if searching for a way to escape.
Tang Nian waited quietly, her patience like an endless deep sea, making the priest feel suffocated by the pressure.
In the end, Tang Nian was defeated.
Ordinary methods failed to pry the priest's mouth open, and the trick of using the people to coerce him had already been used last time.
Now that she knew it was related to priests and temples, she wasn't in a hurry.
She sighed and stood up.
But in that instant, hidden by the wide sleeves, the priest handed her a letter.
Tang Nian looked at the priest with some surprise, but saw many complex emotions in the priest's eyes.
For a moment, Tang Nian didn't know what she was thinking.
However, she silently accepted the envelope, turned around and walked out of the room toward the temple gate.
This time, the priest did not stop her.
He simply stood in front of the door, watching Tang Nian's departing figure.
...
The snow was still heavy at the foot of the mountain. Tang Nian randomly found a tree, stood under it, and opened the envelope.
The handwriting in the letter was somewhat blurred, but every word revealed the priest's inner struggle and pain.
She touched the paper; the ink on it wasn't completely dry yet.
Tang Nian read it word by word, as if she could hear the priest's inner voice echoing in her ears.
This false god has long forgotten that he once had a temple dedicated to him.
However, he was drawn by the powerful faith of the priest during her prayer and intervened to save her.
The price the priestess paid for coming back to life was that she was bound to the temple.
For the temple to regain its former glory and for the gods to have more spiritual power, it must be supported by the power of faith.
She needs faithful followers.
She told the priest that the temple's splendor was closely related to her life.
If the temple is destroyed, she will return to her previous state.
But there is a difference: even if she returns to being seriously ill, she will not die.
Whether her immortality was a blessing or a punishment from God remains unknown.
But priests alone are not enough; we must find a way to gather a group of believers.
God's gaze turned to the people below the mountain.
She came up with a plan: to create panic in the city and then have the priest resolve the situation.
Seeing this, Tang Nian couldn't help but sigh.
It's pitiful for those ordinary people, who have to worship and make offerings to false gods who create chaos for generations.
This panic was certainly no ordinary matter, so the gods set their sights on the snow demons in the city.
There was originally a snow demon on a snow mountain not far from the prefecture. The snow demon fell in love with a mortal, so she concealed her identity and married the mortal.
Originally, no one knew about all this, but God discovered it.
This god, for the sake of his own incense offerings, actually killed the snow demon's mortal husband and framed the then county magistrate.
Having suffered such a great shock, how could the snow demon possibly discern the flawed lies?
This marked the beginning of her conflict with the county.
Since it was the prefectural magistrate who did it, she will make the entire prefecture pay with its life.
She brought down a heavy snowfall during the hottest days of summer.
The priest was still struggling with whether he should continue to aid and abet the evildoer since the god had done such a thing.
But she had no other choice; for the sake of all the people in the city, she had no choice but to agree to God's request.
Little did she know that God did this not only for her obedience, but also because she discovered that the people's fear could increase her spiritual power.
With God's help, the people were no longer afflicted by the cold, and the snow gradually stopped.
What they didn't know was that the gods valued not only the power of faith, but also the snow demon's body.
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