It was already dusk when Fang Jian returned to the Earth God Temple on Qingping Mountain. Having dealt with the flower demon, Fang Jian felt very happy.
"Although my position as the God of Land is small, not just anyone can order me around!" Fang Jian lightly dusted his robe and was about to return to the Land Temple. However, he caught a glimpse of several figures flashing on the path at the foot of the mountain and walking towards the Land Temple.
Fang Jian was very familiar with two of the shadows. After a brief thought, he stood there waiting.
Soon, five figures floated in front of the land temple. It was a dark and windy day, and there were gusts of cold wind in front of the land temple.
"Old Hou, Old Liu." Fang Jian called out, and the five figures immediately looked over.
All five of them had pale faces and gray eyes, but two of them were different. They were wearing official uniforms and white pointed hats. In their right hands, they held a staff and in their left hands, they grasped a chain hook.
The other three were wearing long white robes, with disheveled hair and pale faces. The chains and hooks in the hands of the other two were hooked on these three people, preventing them from escaping.
Hearing Fang Jian's call, the two men holding ghost staffs and iron hooks floated in front of Fang Jian and said in a sinister voice, "Where has the Earth God gone to be at ease again?"
Fang Jian smiled faintly and said, "Four Thunder Gods from the Thunder Department have come down to catch monsters, and asked me to go and help."
The man on the left said, "No wonder there's all this wind, thunder, and rain today. It turns out the masters from the Thunder Department are hunting monsters."
The man on the right stared at Fang Jian for a while, then suddenly said, "Could this monster be the same one that threatened to burn down the Earth God Temple three days ago?"
Fang Jian glanced sideways and said to the man on his right, "Ghost Messenger Hou, being too smart will bring bad luck."
It turns out that these two are the ghost messengers from the underworld who are responsible for collecting souls in Yangxia County. One is named "Ghost Messenger Hou" and the other is named "Ghost Messenger Liu". They are both old acquaintances of Fang Jian... old familiar ghosts.
The ghost messenger smiled grimly, then pointed at the three ghosts behind him and said, "God of Land, check the books. After checking the books, we will go back to report."
This is the rule. After all, the land god is a righteous god who protects an area. If the ghost catches a soul in the land god's territory, of course he has to check with the land god.
Fang Jian took out the land book, walked up to the three of them and said, "Say your names."
When the three ghosts saw the God of Land, they immediately knelt down and kowtowed, crying out, "Lord of Land, please have mercy on me! Lord of Land, please have mercy on me!"
Fang Jian, holding the land book in his hands, spoke up upon hearing this: "What mercy do you offer? Your lifespans in this world have ended, and your souls will return to the underworld. Good deeds will be rewarded, evil deeds will be punished. The virtuous will cross the bridge and drink the soup, entering the cycle of reincarnation to enjoy happiness. The wicked will be judged and cast into the eighteen levels of hell to be punished... Well, quickly, tell me your names."
Upon hearing this, the three of them couldn't help but tremble and report their names and places of origin:
"Zhang Xiao'e, from Shanghe Village."
"Gu Eryang, from Xiahe Village."
"Ding Shanxiu, from Dingjia Village."
Fang Jian flipped through the land register and found the information of the three people one by one. He read out: "Zhang Xiao'e, whose fortunes were few in this life, died at the age of twenty-seven. Gu Eryang, died at the age of forty-six. Ding Shanxiu, died at the age of sixty-eight."
After saying this, Fang Jian turned to Ghost Officers Hou and Liu and said, "It has been verified."
Ghost Catcher Hou and Ghost Catcher Liu nodded, then stepped forward and raised their ghost staffs to drive the three people away. Then Ghost Catcher Hou waved the ghost staff in his hand, and suddenly a rugged road appeared in the mountains and forests to the right of the land temple.
"This is the road to the underworld, let's go." said the ghost Liu Chao and the other two.
Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately burst into mournful cries and were unwilling to leave. Especially Zhang Xiao'e, she kept looking back and crying in an extremely sad voice.
Upon seeing this, Ghost Officer Liu immediately raised the ghost staff in his hand and beat the three men severely, making them scream in pain. Finally, Ghost Officer Hou and Ghost Officer Liu pulled the three men with the soul-catching rope and drove them into the Yellow Springs Road with the ghost staff.
"Old Hou, Old Liu, come and have a drink when you have time." Fang Jian greeted them casually as he watched the Yellow Springs Road gradually disappear.
The two ghost messengers turned around and gave Fang Jian two infernal smiles across the Yellow Springs Road.
...
Back in the three-meter-long sanctuary within the Earth God Temple, Fang Jian finally relaxed on a bamboo chair, humming a song: "I want to learn from the gods, to ride a crane to the sky, to turn stone into gold, it's wonderful beyond words..."
"Huh?" While humming, Fang Jian noticed that there seemed to be movement in his 'Immortal Official Jade Disc'.
So he raised his right hand and summoned his "Immortal Official Jade Disc" from his soul. It was a square, warm jade seal, very exquisite and gorgeous, with fairy light shining on its surface.
At the top of the jade seal, there is a jade statue of Qilin, and at the bottom of the jade seal, there are a few lines of small characters engraved: The Jade Emperor has ordered the creation of the seal of the ninth-rank land god of the Yuan Dynasty.
This is the Immortal Official Jade Disc bestowed upon an Immortal Official by the Jade Emperor after receiving the Celestial Scroll. This Jade Disc not only contains the corresponding spells, but also records the Immortal Official's deeds, merits, and the power of incense offerings.
Fang Jian invested his spiritual thoughts into the Immortal Official's Jade Disc, and saw that it was divided into two pages, the left page was the page of merits, and the right page was the page of incense.
The incense and vows on the incense page are very abundant, but the merits on the merit page are very thin.
I saw that there were only 1,200 merits on the merit page, which was Fang Jian’s two-year salary.
As the lowest-ranking ninth-rank immortal official, he only received a monthly salary of 50 merits. This was because immortal officials were different from others. They guarded a region on behalf of the Jade Emperor, and this was their job. No matter what they did, no merits would be bestowed upon them. They could only receive merits from the monthly salary from the Heavenly Court.
Unlike other practitioners or immortals, as long as they do good deeds, they will be rewarded with merit.
The power of incense and vows is different. It is only possessed by immortal officials and priests, and comes from the faith of mortal beings.
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