Chapter 54 Blasphemy 3. Trouble.
"Shen Mingxin?"
Chu Shenxiang's pupils shifted slightly.
The person who ventured into the deep mountains that night was none other than the young master of the Shen family, who had visited the temple just a few hours earlier and had frightenedly called him "brother."
Unlike several hours earlier, this time the young master was all alone on the mountain, without any relatives or attendants accompanying him, which was rather strange.
His expression was blank, his eyes were unfocused, his long hair was unbound, and he wore only a thin red shirt over his nightgown, which was also disheveled and hung crookedly on his shoulder, as if it might fall off at any moment. When he walked, his steps were fast but stiff, not like someone who was awake, but rather like someone who was sleepwalking.
Chu Shenxiang had no idea that his adopted brother had such a problem.
Of course, knowing or not knowing doesn't matter. Mundane affairs, whether humble prayers or greedy desires, are no longer relevant to him.
As for incense offerings, he doesn't care whether they want to or not.
Although in this world, gods are not immortal, when incense offerings cease and faith collapses, gods become weak and eventually perish. Furthermore, many gods, for reasons unknown, suddenly go mad over the long years. According to Chu Shenxiang, many powerful demons are transformed from wild gods after they have gone mad. Therefore, most gods care a lot about incense offerings.
At least the rumors circulating within the five kingdoms, along with the warnings from heaven and earth received by Chu Shenxiang, say this.
But Chu Shenxiang didn't care.
Although he no longer had the desire to kill himself, he was also indifferent to life and death. Life and death are nothing but emptiness; what difference does it make?
Chu Shenxiang thought so.
His heart was calm as he stood high on the altar, watching the young master who had entered the deep mountains.
Unaware of anything amiss, Shen Mingxin wandered like a ghost through the deep, dark forest, across the rugged mountain path, and into the temple gate and the main hall.
He left the few remaining stars and moonlight behind.
He didn't enter the small, now unlit temple, but was suddenly swallowed up by an even deeper darkness.
Shen Mingxin took off her shoes by the door and walked barefoot onto the icy cold floor tiles, step by step.
Upon reaching the prayer cushion, he suddenly seemed to lose his strength, his knees buckled, and a vivid expression suddenly appeared on his face.
This vividness contains a touch of trembling, a touch of pleading, and a touch of enchanting springtime passion.
passion?
Chu Shenxiang's indifferent gaze narrowed slightly.
How could there be...sexual feelings? Did I see things wrong?
Chu Shenxiang was suspicious.
But what followed clearly showed him that he had not misjudged anything.
Shen Mingxin arrived in a daze, kneeling on the prayer mat beneath the altar with an even more devout and gentle posture than before. But this time, he neither kowtowed nor lit incense. He simply raised his porcelain-like fingers, looked up at the dim and gloomy shrine, and undressed himself inch by inch.
Layer upon layer, tender red and snow-white, the clothes are like flowers that wither in autumn, petals falling and piling up on slender ankles.
The worshipper emerged from his philandering ways.
He was like a snake emerging from a deep forest, naked and alluring, coiling around the offering table and entering the shrine, grasping the statue's feet and legs with his cool and soft fingers and arms.
"elder brother……"
Shen Mingxin nestled against her, her face radiant with a gentle and submissive expression, a look she was showing for the first time.
The idol should not be moved.
He seemed aggrieved, a hint of arrogance flashing in his eyes. He opened his red lips and bit the left hand of the statue, which was not holding a lantern and was hanging down to one side.
Stone is hard and cold, without any softening or warmth.
Shen Mingxin, however, was completely unaware. After biting down hard to vent her anger, she quickly offered her soft tongue in a comforting kiss.
It was as if they were afraid of offending someone and incurring punishment.
The palm remained unresponsive.
Shen Mingxin's painted eyebrows and eyes became even darker, revealing a greedy look.
He climbed upwards along that palm, insatiably, and began to move using the nine ugly black arms.
Her long, soft, black hair rippled like waves, wrapping around the young man's slender neck, delicate white arms, smooth shoulders and back, and supple waist, still damp and sticky with the scent of mountain dew.
From bottom to top, from feet to lips, this slender, lean, young adult body truly climbed up like a snake.
Shen Mingxin's eyes were unfocused and vacant, her face smiling and full of affection. Her forehead rested on the chest of the statue, her wrists intertwined and hooked around the statue's shoulders and neck, her waist and hips leaning lightly against the statue's raised right arm.
There were also two jade chopstick-like legs that, whether by coincidence or not, were bent and hung between those menacingly spread black stone arms. At first glance, they did not seem to be actively entangled, but rather captured.
The white and black colors are intertwined, and the fleshy legs are squeezed as if they are being pinched.
"elder brother."
He called out again.
Then, in a blasphemous act, he locked the clay and stone sculpture, searching for the blurry face, and kissed it directly.
"elder brother."
"elder brother……"
"elder brother!"
The sleepwalking-like murmurs and calls grew louder and louder, each one more urgent than the last.
That once clear voice was now completely hoarse, filled with a sweet and excited tone.
Feeling the tighter and more trembling gripping her body, Chu Shenxiang's furrowed brows finally trembled almost imperceptibly.
Two hundred years of diverse experiences and observations naturally include matters of the heart.
Chu Shenxiang had witnessed countless love affairs.
There are mortals, couples engaging in marital relations, and lovers having affairs; there are demons, fox spirits bewitching people, and wild ghosts digging out hearts; and there are birds and beasts, wild cats fighting, and snakes and insects entangled.
But seeing it is just seeing it.
This is indeed the first time I've been a protagonist in something like this.
For two hundred years, he has been insulted, beaten, slashed with knives, chopped with axes, smeared with animal excrement, buried underground in mud and rocks, and enshrined in a magnificent shrine, wiped and worshipped every day.
He had encountered both good and bad things, but this young master of the Shen family was the first to dare to treat him like this.
Although his true form is not this tall new statue, but rather the small stone statue hidden within it, he has become a god. After twelve years of being immersed in his aura, the new statue has long since merged with his divine sense, becoming one with him.
The statue is him, and he is the statue.
He could sense the suppleness, smoothness, trembling, and entanglement that the idol could perceive.
He was even more perceptive.
The flesh, the temperature, the rich yet serene incense—all permeated his five senses and his consciousness, making them crystal clear.
But he did not move.
Why did he make that move?
He just watched, watching Shen Mingxin caress, hug, and entwine, tears streaming down her face, her cheeks flushed, again and again, until she reached her limit.
The idols were ashen, the mortals were white and greasy, their faces pious, their clothes profane.
The deep darkness of night surged violently all around, trying to suppress this madness and taboo within the temple, but in the end, it was pierced by a sharp cry.
Shen Mingxin fainted and could no longer hold on. She slipped and fell, her arms came apart, her body tilted, leaving only dark stains on the ground.
Chu Shenxiang lowered his eyes and glanced around, with only one thought in mind: the statue he had just cleansed with divine light tonight, making it even purer than jade dew, had become dirty again.
"So it was evil."
He said in a low voice.
Yes, it is filthy.
From the water stains left by Shen Mingxin, Chu Shenxiang sensed something unusual.
That's the evil aura possessed only by highly skilled demons. If it weren't revealed, even the most powerful god wouldn't be able to detect it. Now that it's been revealed, it has nowhere to hide.
Shen Mingxin must have offended someone somewhere, been targeted, and become corrupted by evil. His deep-seated desires were driven, leading to what happened tonight.
"She's clearly terrified of me, yet her desires are for me..."
Chu Shenxiang looked at Shen Mingxin, scoffed, and her dark blue eyes were empty, reflecting nothing.
The next moment, his eyelashes drooped, his eyes closed, and he simply fell asleep.
The filth within the youth remained, and he was still slumped to one side. His idol was filthy, even covered in dampness, but he paid no attention to it at all. It was as if he had only watched a play that offered a slightly different experience. After watching it, he gave a lukewarm evaluation and then left, without being touched by the joy or anger in the play.
In the spiritual sea, humanity clamored again, filled with shame, indignation, and pity.
Chu Shenxiang couldn't hear clearly, nor did she want to. Her consciousness sank, and she disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Inside the dark little temple, the statues of gods had a restrained radiance, and there was nothing particularly remarkable about them.
The night over Wangqiu Mountain returned to silence once more.
The moon hides and the stars fade, the mountains grow ever colder.
Before we knew it, the hours of Zi and Chou had passed, and the hour of Yin was approaching. A few dark clouds appeared in the sky, and then more and more gathered, and slowly it started to rain.
The rain intensified, the tiles of the small temple rattled crisply, and a chill crept over the threshold and into the open temple door.
Shen Mingxin, lying in the shrine, shrank back, but remained unconscious. She only frowned and subconsciously burrowed into the statue's embrace.
But a statue is just a statue, not a living person, so where does it get its warmth?
Shen Mingxin curled up between the black arms, shivering and chattering, her soft white skin gradually turning bluish from the loss of warmth.
A cold wind blew in, making the temple door creak and bang, and also making Shen Mingxin shiver violently from the cold.
His lips were pale, his eyes were tightly closed, and he instinctively hid behind the statue. But no matter how he hid, the chill did not lessen, clinging to him like a leech.
After an unknown amount of time, he stopped trembling, and his body became stiff and cold, more like a stone statue than a stone statue itself.
The sound of raindrops.
The youthful aura gradually faded.
Suddenly, the statue inside the shrine trembled slightly and abruptly opened its eyes.
The clothes scattered on the ground fluttered up, as if they were alive, and spread their sleeves to help Shen Mingxin up, putting them on his body. In the blink of an eye, he was dressed neatly, exactly as he had been when he arrived.
Inside the incense burner, a pinch of incense ash began to wriggle, twisted twice, and quickly condensed into a white cat the size of a palm.
As a wisp of divine sense descended, a dark blue color appeared in the white cat's dull eyes, and a flowing blue pattern rapidly condensed on its forehead. It was intricate and sacred, yet also carried a strange sense of chaos. If an ordinary mortal stared at it for too long, he would probably go mad.
The white cat jumped down from the incense burner and grew taller in the wind, instantly becoming the size of a fierce tiger.
It took a couple of steps, stumbling and unsteady, as if it was getting used to its limbs.
After taking a few steps, he walked as usual, came to Shen Mingxin who was being supported by his clothes, picked him up, and ran out of the temple gate.
Just then, the rain stopped, and a ray of morning light appeared on the horizon. The white cat carried Shen Mingxin, swiftly passing through the forest, covering dozens of feet in a single step, almost as if flying.
At this speed, they soon arrived in the county town.
The white cat silently leaped over the city wall.
At dawn, many households had already lit their stoves, and wisps of smoke rose into the air, a stark contrast to the chaos of the past two hundred years, a scene of peace and tranquility had emerged.
The white cat glanced at the scene without showing any emotion, then quickly ran through the alley.
One of the early-morning vendors glanced back, froze for a moment, and then cried out in terror, "A tiger! A tiger!"
The night watchman emerged from the alleyway, yawning. "What tiger? Talking in your sleep this early in the morning! The city gates aren't even open yet, how could a tiger get in? Stop making things up, just give me a bowl of wontons, and after I eat that, I'll have gotten through another day..."
As the night watchman spoke, he pulled down a bench that hadn't been put down yet and plopped down on it.
The vendor paused, then said, "I can't get in today, but last night..."
The night watchman glared at him: "You came in last night, and after a whole night, do you think I'm still alive? Hurry up and cook the wontons!"
The vendor couldn't think of anything to argue with. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if the sky was really blurry and he was seeing things.
After all, it was just a white shadow, and it flashed by so quickly... No matter how powerful the worm is, can it be that fast?
"Hey, Wang Er, have you heard? The Grand Preceptor of Shenzhao Kingdom is coming to Beizhu, and he'll be passing through our Yu County..."
The night watchman suddenly started talking.
"The Grand Preceptor of Shenzhao Kingdom?" The vendor immediately abandoned his doubts about the tiger and looked at the night watchman. "That's a great figure who received divine guidance from the Heavenly Venerable Xuming of Shenzhao Kingdom. Why is he in Beizhu?"
"It's said to be related to hunting demons and eliminating evil gods and deities. They're even recruiting disciples. Tell your son to get ready..." The watchman looked like he was imparting secrets.
"Taking disciples?"
The vendor was startled. Taking advantage of the absence of customers, he quickly pulled over a long bench, sat down next to the night watchman, and started chatting.
As dawn broke, more and more people appeared on the streets. Vendors set up their pots and pans, old servants wandered through the streets and alleys, dockworkers waited to leave the city, and soldiers, with sleepy eyes, pushed open the heavy city gates.
As the first rays of sunlight fall, accompanied by the dull creaking of wood, a day begins in Yu County.
In the Shen family compound in the east of the city, the white cat avoided the active servants and leisurely landed in the courtyard named Mingyuan.
The owner of Mingyuan was a late riser, so while the other courtyards were bustling with activity, this one remained dark and silent.
The white cat stepped inside without disturbing anyone, went straight to Shen Mingxin's bedroom, and placed her on the bed.
Her coat and shoes came off on their own, and the blanket was lifted up, wrapping Shen Mingxin, who had rolled in, completely in place.
In front of the bed, directly opposite the head of the bed, there is also a small statue of Shen Xiangjun.
This is the real stone, and it has absolutely nothing to do with Chu Shenxiang. Of course, if he wanted, and had enough power, he could easily create countless clones and send a wisp of his divine consciousness into it.
But he didn't want to.
As soon as it put Shen Mingxin down, the white cat was about to disappear. It looked at Shen Mingxin, and at the last moment, its dark blue eyes sank. It raised its tail and swept it across Shen Mingxin's brow, helping to remove the evil from his body.
Chu Shenxiang didn't want to relive what happened last night.
"trouble."
With a sigh of emptiness, the white cat vanished.
The maid on night watch was asleep in the outer room. She vaguely heard something, was startled, got off the bed, and carefully pushed open the door to the inner room.
The inner room was dimly lit, with calming incense burning. The young master was asleep, and nothing seemed amiss.
"This calming incense must really be effective. It's rare for the young master to stay awake all night and sleep so soundly."
The maidservant thought for a moment, then left and slowly closed the door.
A morning breeze slipped through the slightly ajar window, and a clump of incense ash beside Shen Mingxin's bed gradually dissipated in the wind.
...
Shen Mingxin felt as if she were trapped in a strange dream.
In his dream, he was walking in complete darkness.
The darkness stretched endlessly, sticky and repulsive to him. He desperately tried to get out, but his legs were weak, his vision blurred, and he could barely breathe, feeling as if he were about to die on the spot.
Just when I was feeling helpless, a light suddenly appeared in front of me.
Floating on the water, it resembles a white lotus, surrounded by nine black pythons.
The black python was terrifying, but Shen Mingxin couldn't care less. He longed for that glimmer of light, his heart filled with intense desire, and he desperately ran towards it.
When they could no longer run, they crawled, crawling into the damp, cool water, crawling into the light of the lamps.
With the light, everything was indeed alright.
As the cold and suffocation subsided, his body gradually warmed up.
Shen Mingxin had been fighting against the darkness for a long time and was exhausted. Once she felt a little better, she wanted to fall asleep.
Suddenly, the nine black pythons surrounding the white lotus lamp moved. They transformed into nine arms, grabbed his limbs and neck, and began to grope him.
Faced with such a terrifying and bizarre scene, Shen Mingxin thought he should be panicked, but in reality, he was delighted rather than frightened in his dream.
He met those arms, their postures alluring, their breath soft.
He reached deep into those arms.
Soon, the python-like arms parted slightly, revealing the face of a handsome but unfamiliar man.
"elder brother……"
He called him, his voice filled with tenderness.
Shen Mingxin couldn't believe that this was a sound that could actually come from his mouth.
The man was colder than the pool of water; he just stared at him, neither speaking nor moving.
Shen Mingxin, however, seemed to adore his aloof demeanor, and with a devout, pilgrimage-like reverence, tilted her head back and kissed him, sucking and licking him with the utmost tenderness.
He turned into a puddle of water in the man's arms.
They clung on and on, wanting and wanting, and even in the end, when they had nothing left, they still couldn't let go.
The man remained completely at Shen Mingxin's mercy, showing no other reaction except for a certain area that Shen Mingxin could entangle herself with.
Shen Mingxin was unwilling to give up, calling his name and biting him again and again. Later, whether it was a hallucination or not, the man finally moved.
His eyes, which had looked down upon all living beings, lowered and landed on him, neither too lightly nor too heavily, indifferent and ruthless, as he uttered a single word: "Trouble."
As soon as the two words were uttered, the man's face and the moving black arm vanished instantly.
Shen Mingxin slumped down, and in a daze, he looked up and saw a statue in front of him, with black arms wrapped around its body and holding a lotus lantern.
This is his sworn brother.
Shen Mingxin recognized him.
The light from the lotus lanterns shone on the face of the deity, making the previously indistinct features clear. The contours of the face were exactly the same as those of the handsome and aloof man from before, except that the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, hinting at a sinister and eerie look.
Shen Mingxin's pupils contracted sharply as she was momentarily terrified by an immense, distorted fear. She kicked her limbs violently and suddenly woke up.
Upon waking, Shen Mingxin felt as if her soul had returned to her body, instantly regaining all her senses.
He felt his body was both cold and hot, and it ached terribly, especially his waist, which felt like it was broken.
"Lark...Lark!"
Shen Mingxin mumbled incoherently.
His eyelids felt heavy as if they were filled with lead, and his throat was extremely dry and painful, as if it were stuffed with a knife. He thought he was calling out to the maid, but in reality, his voice was barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.
No one answered.
Panting, Shen Mingxin struggled to open his eyes, stared at the bed curtains for a moment in a daze, then got up, wanting to get out of bed.
But as soon as his feet touched the ground, his legs went limp like noodles, and he collapsed with a thud.
This caused him to fall onto the shoes beside the bed. The shoes were sticky, and it seemed to be... mud?
But aren't these the new shoes I brought last night?
Shen Mingxin was in a daze.
"Young Master!"
The maid heard the noise and rushed in: "What happened to you? Why did you fall..."
Before she could finish speaking, she reached out and touched Shen Mingxin's arm, the scalding heat instantly penetrating through her nightgown.
The maid was alarmed and cried out urgently, "Quick, come in quickly! Young master has a fever!"
A series of footsteps.
"Go and call someone here quickly!"
This was the last sound Shen Mingxin heard before he fainted; it came from his head maid, Qing Gui.
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Author's Note: Chu Shenxiang: I am a ruthless wild god.
Shen Mingxin: [Pitiful]
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