Chapter 17 The dilapidated temple, the lost divine words, all the way south, along the border...
Yan Chao traveled south, enjoying the scenery along the way. It took him four or five days to arrive. This time, he wouldn't be as disheveled as he was last time.
Speaking of which, Shiyue is adjacent to the former Yez, where spring is in full bloom all year round and all kinds of flowers are in bloom. Both men and women in Shiyue consider it beautiful to wear flowers in their hair, so Shiyue is also known as the Garden Country.
Five hundred years ago, a massive earthquake struck Shiyue. The earth churned and surged, its power reaching as far as the Central Plains. In Shiyue, the epicenter, birds and beasts scattered, the earth cracked, houses collapsed, and the people were driven into the earth's depths. The earth closed up, and all was silenced.
A new country has now been established on this land. The beauty of the past is gone, but new customs still reflect old habits.
Yan Chao traveled to the desolate outskirts of the city and found a long-abandoned dilapidated temple in a secluded corner. Upon approaching it, he discovered that it was a temple dedicated to the God of Spring. The deity enshrined inside was not the current God of Spring, but the previous one, who had been a man of the State of Shiyue in his previous life.
This temple is small, not even comparable to a local earth god temple. The plaque of the Spring God Temple above it has only the single character "Spring" hanging in mid-air, which could fall down at any moment and hit a "lucky" passerby who is taking a break. It's unlikely that anyone would deliberately wait for it to fall.
Directly below the plaque was a pile of dark, dirty things, motionless, which looked like a dusty and moldy stone block.
Yan Chao stood at the door for a while before stepping inside. As she passed the "stone block," it suddenly moved, and a pair of eyes suddenly lit up from the dark mass, staring straight at her. It turned out to be a person.
Before Yan Chao could react, there was a "rip" sound, and the plaque above slammed onto the "stone block".
Yan Chao darted back into the inner hall. The attack had been so sudden she hadn't had time to react. She was just about to check on the "stone block"—though it was just a piece of rotten wood, its weight was not to be underestimated. Suddenly, the "stone block" leaped to its feet, raising its arms and shouting, "I've fallen from grace! I've become a god! Hahahahahahahahahahaha! I've become a god! I've become a god!!!"
Yan Chao rubbed his temples and, seeing that he seemed to have no external injuries, said, "He really has extraordinary bones, but I'm afraid his brain was damaged."
The man danced wildly in the open space, his movements completely chaotic, laughing hysterically as he danced. His movements were so exaggerated that he shook off the mud and grime covering his body.
Yan Chao stood on the inside, looking at the lump of mud that had been thrown in, and then at the threshold where someone had sat and made a dent. He frowned and muttered, "Mo Mo, that guy is even darker than you! But he won't just sit here like that forever, will he?"
Why would anyone deliberately wait to get hit?!
The man jumped for a while, then suddenly stopped, his upper and lower body level, muttering something that sounded like some kind of incantation. When he stood up again, only the whites of his eyes were visible, and he repeated his previous words, "I've become a god! God has fallen! God has fallen! I've finally become a god!!!" As he spoke, his limbs changed, his hands and feet flipped backward, his head tilted forward, and his neck stretched longer and longer, making him look extremely bizarre.
Yan Chao stared at the thing that resembled neither a human nor a ghost. Seeing that it didn't move for a moment, he thought to himself, "Others look up when they go out and see good fortune, but for her it's looking up and seeing a ghost? No, it's looking down and seeing a ghost. It seems I'll have to look up next time."
Seeing that the ghostly thing was becoming more and more bizarre, she couldn't tell what it was. Although it hadn't done anything dangerous yet, she couldn't be sure what it might do later.
Yan Chao took a pill out of his bag, aimed it, flicked it with two fingers, and put it into his mouth.
The ghostly thing moved for a while, then slowly came to a standstill.
Yan Chao breathed a sigh of relief and stood there for a while to observe. Just as he was about to go and see what it was, he suddenly heard a crisp sound and the ghostly thing broke in two. Lianxi and Yaoxu appeared behind him.
Yan Chao's eyes lit up, and he waved to them, saying, "Lianxi, Jiangyu, long time no see!"
Lianxi, Yaoxu, and Yanchao exchanged a smile and said, "Peach Blossom, it's been a long time."
Yan Chao then stepped forward to examine it and found that the ghostly thing was completely unrecognizable. Its internal organs, along with blood, were spilling out, and the stench of blood made people wrinkle their noses. Its mouth was split open across its entire face, revealing a terrifying smile. Its eye sockets were sunken, and its eyes were bloodshot and about to bulge out. Although only the whites of its eyes were visible, it was still clear that it was looking at the sky, giving the impression of dying with its eyes open in disbelief.
Lianxi looked at Yan Chao with concern in her eyes and asked, "Are you alright?"
Yan Chao smiled and said, "I'm fine. I just gave him a pill to immobilize him. Luckily you arrived in time, saving me the trouble of figuring out how to deal with him. But, is he a ghost?"
Lianxi said, "It's a human. He must have been poisoned by some kind of poison, which caused his body to mutate."
Yan Chao squatted down to check, and Lianxi tried to stop her, but she smiled back, indicating that she was fine.
She dipped a handkerchief in the blood that had flowed out, smelled it, and said, "It's not just a physical mutation; their behavior is also insane."
She examined the exposed internal organs again, then casually touched them with a dry twig, which instantly turned to dust. Sure enough, the exterior looked fine, but the inside was already empty.
This poison is quite interesting. It not only causes people to lose their minds and mutate, but it can also maintain normal function while consuming internal organs. If it encounters external force, it will shatter upon contact.
Lianxi stretched out a hand to her and said, "Get up, this thing is dirty."
Yan Chao stood up, looking somewhat troubled, and said, "We just finished dealing with one person afflicted by a Gu curse, and now another one is poisoned. It seems this trip won't be easy either."
Yao Xu said, "Don't worry! As long as the three of us are together, nothing is a problem."
Lianxi said, "He's right."
Yan Chao smiled and said, "That's true, after all, our statuses are different now." After speaking, she realized that it was just the two of them this time, and asked, "Where's Yizhuo?"
Yao Xu said, "Last time was both scary and tiring, so I let it rest at Happy Old Home. I won't bring it out this time."
Upon hearing this, Yan Chao sighed and said, "I miss it. But," she paused for a moment, then added, "without a tuft of fur to help you carry those treasures, we probably wouldn't be able to eat the food you cook."
Lianxi chuckled softly but didn't say anything.
Yao Xu then realized what was going on and said, "Oh, oh! So that's what you were planning! If Yicuo Mao knew, she would be heartbroken! Besides, I'm very expensive!"
Ever since he won the selection in Yezi last time, he has raised his own value and rarely shows off his skills. But in reality, apart from himself, the only person who has ever eaten his cooking is Lianxi. So his value doesn't hold up in Lianxi's eyes, and raising his value is as good as not raising it at all.
"Is that so?" Yan Chao said with a regretful look, "That's such a pity. I tried to recreate the dish you made last time. Although it wasn't as good as yours, it still received rave reviews. Everyone said that the person who researched this dish is extremely skilled. I was thinking of learning a few more dishes from you this time, but since you've said so, there's nothing I can do."
After saying that, Yan Chao turned and walked into the temple.
Yao Xu hurriedly chased after him, calling out as he went, "Hey, no, don't go! I was just kidding!" He was overjoyed that someone recognized his cooking skills, and he couldn't afford to lose such a rare newcomer.
Lianxi followed at the back, laughing helplessly a few times.
The three entered the temple, where the walls were mottled, the incense was burnt out, and the statue of the deity was now only half of its body. If it weren't for the stone flower coiled at its feet, who would have thought that this was the same deity who was like spring rain nourishing all things?
Yan Chao saw that there was only a pot of incense ash on the incense altar. Fortunately, he found a broken incense stick under the altar, so he put it into the incense altar and lit it. He then took out a few dried apricots from his bag and placed them on the offering plate. He bowed three times to the statue of the god.
When Yan Chao turned around, she noticed that the two of them were also bowing with her, so she asked, "Why are you bowing as well?"
Lianxi said, "I bow with deep respect in my heart."
Yan Chao asked, "Do you know who he is?"
Yao Xu said, "He was the Spring God revered by the world, and also one of the Four Sons of Tianji. It's just a pity..."
"It's a pity that the once revered God of Spring is now just like this dilapidated temple, everything has changed."
Yan Chao turned to look at the statue, his eyes filled with desolation.
Lianxi sneered and said, "What people believe in is not the person who becomes a god, but the position itself. Nowadays, there are very few old temples in the world that still have incense offerings."
This Spring Goddess came from an ordinary background, but she was quite capable.
The four sons of Tianji were either crown princes or chivalrous knights, while he was just an ordinary gardener. He had a handsome and refined appearance and treated people with a gentle and kind demeanor, but in reality, he was a soft-hearted but deadly blade.
He was familiar with the plants and herbs in the world and was good at using them to make medicine. When he and his three brothers were investigating cases, they often used the medicine he made to save many people and also identified many rare poisons.
But his specialty is growing flowers.
In the past, heavy snows were frequent, and spring never came, leaving the land barren and the people suffering greatly. At that time, he cultivated a flower with extremely strong vitality that could bloom even in the frozen soil. This flower has thick, long stems and round, spiraling flowers that grow upwards, like a tenacious and upward-striving life. He named this flower "Ji Chun Chao" (寄春朝).
Unexpectedly, once this flower appeared, the wind and snow receded, and he ascended to become the God of Spring.
According to the above rules, the ascension of the seasonal gods must correspond to the season in which they ascend. Spring is the first of the four seasons. When he ascended, the other three positions were still vacant. They should have ascended one after another, but because his magical power was so strong that he could represent all four seasons, he was given the title of God of Spring and ruled over all four seasons. This was unprecedented.
People are grateful for his contributions, and even after he retired and disappeared, there are still temples and monasteries in the world that worship him. Even after a new god of spring took the throne, his reputation never diminished.
As times change, hundreds of years have passed, and people today have long forgotten those old stories. His palaces and temples have gradually declined as people have forgotten them.
Without the faith of believers, although his cultivation level has reached the stage of Blessed Life, his magical power will be greatly reduced, making him no different from a wandering immortal. He has gradually faded from the eyes of the world, and when his soul departs and his life ends, he will be completely forgotten.
Lianxi asked, "Peach Blossom, why are you bowing?"
Yan Chao smiled and said, "The God of Spring symbolizes new life and hope. Isn't that what life is all about? Since I have something I hope for, I naturally have to worship the God of Hope."
Yao Xu asked, "By the way, Peach Blossom, what was that person outside just now?"
Yan Chao said, "His brain was probably damaged by the smash. He kept muttering 'became a god' and 'fell from godhood.' I bet he's not the only one with a damaged brain."
Lianxi raised an eyebrow and said, "Whether it's bad or not, we'll find out once we go and see."
The three left the Spring God Temple and walked for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. As the sun was about to set, they arrived at a town called "Shengchun".
The name sounds auspicious, and one might expect a scene of blooming flowers and harmonious joy. In reality, it would be an exaggeration to say that it was lifeless and chaotic.
Stepping into Shengchun Town, even though it was a clear and crisp autumn afternoon, it felt like stepping into the dead of night, with a chilling and eerie wind blowing, making one's heart tremble.
The vegetation along the way was withered and lifeless. Every ten steps along both sides of the road, there was a flag. The flags were black with white stripes, and in the center was a dark red figure wearing a feathered crown, holding the sun, and breathing fire from a gaping maw. The wind blew the flags, and a faint metallic smell filled the air.
This figure was actually drawn with human blood!
And there were at least a hundred such flags!
Lianxi took down a flag, sneered, and said, "Looks like you were right, there's more than one person with a broken brain."
The two stepped forward and saw that the white stripes on the flag were not embroidered with auspicious clouds or lucky patterns, but rather with the words "bestowed upon the gods of heaven" on a background of auspicious patterns.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
