005 “Blessing from Heavenly Official” Chapter 4

☆, Chapter 4 Three Living Treasures Talking about Juyang Palace at Night

“Anyway-”

Xie Lian said: “Let’s talk about business first. You all know what I came to the north for this time. Then I won’t start from the beginning…”

Both of them said: “I don’t know.”

“…”

Xie Lian had no choice but to take out the scroll and said: “Then I’d better start from the beginning.”

It is said that many years ago, he got married to a couple in Junshanxia. The couple was very loving. The groom waited for the bride-to-be team to come, but after waiting for a long time, the bride did not arrive.The groom was anxious, so he went to the bride’s natal family, but his father-in-law and mother-in-law told him that the bride had already left.The two families reported it to the police and searched everywhere, but they still disappeared. Even if they were eaten by wild beasts in the mountains, they would still have some arms and legs left. How could there be any reason for them to disappear out of thin air?So inevitably some people suspected that the bride herself was unwilling to marry and had colluded with the bride-to-be team to run away.Unexpectedly, a few years later, another couple got married, and the nightmare reappeared.

The bride is gone again.However, this time there was nothing left.Everyone found an uneaten foot on a small road.Looking at the fracture, it looks like it was torn open by fangs.

From then on, it was out of control.In the nearly one hundred years since then, a total of seventeen brides have disappeared in the Yujunshan area.Sometimes they live peacefully for more than ten years, and sometimes two people disappear within a month.A terrifying legend spread quickly: There was a ghost groom living in Yujun Mountain. If he fell in love with a woman, he would abduct her on her way to get married, and then eat the bridegroom.

This matter could not have been reported to heaven originally, because although seventeen brides were missing, there were thousands more who were safe and sound.Anyway, I can’t find it, and I can’t save it, so I can only make do with it.It’s just that there are fewer families who dare to marry their daughters to this area, and local newlyweds don’t dare to make a fuss about their marriages.But it is this seventeenth bride whose father is an official.He doted on his daughter very much. Hearing the legends here, he carefully selected forty military attachés with extraordinary bravery to escort his daughter to the wedding, but her daughter still died.

Now this ghost groom has stirred up a hornet’s nest.The official could not find anyone in the world to do anything about it, so he got angry and united with a group of officials and friends to perform a series of rituals. He also followed the instructions of the master to open a warehouse to help the poor, which caused a storm in the city. Only then did he finally alert the priests above.

Otherwise, it would be almost impossible for those tiny mortal voices to reach the ears of the gods in heaven.

Xie Lian said: “That’s basically it.”

Because the two people looked very uncooperative, he didn’t know whether they were listening or not.If you didn’t hear it, you had to tell it again.Nan Feng raised his head and frowned: “What do the missing brides have in common?”

Xie Lian said: “There are poor and rich, beautiful and ugly, wives and concubines, in a word: no rules. There is no way to judge what the taste of this ghost groom is.”

Nanfeng said “hmm”, picked up the tea cup and took a sip, seeming to start thinking.Fuyao, however, didn’t even touch the tea that Xie Lian pushed to him. He kept wiping his fingers slowly with a white handkerchief. While wiping, he said with a cold expression: “Your Highness, how do you know it must be a ghost groom? This is not certain. No one has ever seen it. How do you know whether it is a boy or a girl, old or young? Are you taking it for granted?”

He smiled gratefully and said: “The scroll was summarized by the civil servants of Lingwen Palace, and the ghost bridegroom is just a popular name. However, what you said makes sense.” After saying a few more words, he looked out the window and said: “The sky is getting dark, let’s go first.”

The three of them left the shop for the time being.Xie Lian wore a bamboo hat and chatted while walking. He found that the two young military attachés had very clear ideas. Although they looked unkind, they were unambiguous in their discussions, which was quite gratifying.After walking for a while, he suddenly realized that the two people behind him were not following him. He looked back in confusion, and found that the two people were also looking at him in confusion.Nanfeng asked: “Where are you going?”

Xie Lian said: “Looking for a place to stay? Fuyao, why are you rolling your eyes again?”

Nanfeng asked again: “Then why do you want to go to the barren mountains?”

Xie Lian often sleeps in the open on the street. He can find a piece of cloth and spread it out to lie down overnight. Naturally, he prepares to find a cave to light a fire. After being reminded by him, he realizes that Nanfeng and Fuyao are both military attachés under the God of War. If there is a Nanyang Temple or Xuanzhen Temple nearby, they can go in directly, so why sleep in the wilderness?

After a while, the three of them found a shabby earth temple in a very inconspicuous corner. The incense was broken and the dishes were broken. It looked very deserted. It worshiped a round and small stone earth temple.Xie Lian called a few times. This land had not been worshiped or called out for many years. Suddenly, he heard someone calling him. He opened his eyes and saw three people standing in front of the temple. The two bodies on the left and right were covered with a layer of aristocratic light like a nouveau riche. He couldn’t see their faces clearly. He jumped up in fright and said tremblingly: “What do you want to do with these three immortal officials?”

Xie Lian nodded and said: “No need to ask. I just want to ask, is there a Chenghuang Temple nearby that is dedicated to General Nanyang or General Xuanzhen?”

Tu Tu did not dare to neglect and said: “This, this, this…” He counted his fingers and said, “There is a Chenghuang Temple five miles away from here, and it is dedicated to, yes, General Nanyang.”

Xie Lian clasped his hands together and said, “Thank you very much.” The land was blinded by the two spiritual lights next to it and quickly disappeared.Xie Lian took out a few coins and placed them in front of the temple. Seeing some residual incense scattered nearby, he picked them up and lit them.During this period, Fuyao rolled his eyes and Xie Lian almost wanted to ask him if his eyes were tired.

Five miles later, I saw a City God’s Temple, standing brightly on the roadside.Although the temple is small and well-organized, it is bustling with people coming and going.The three of them concealed themselves and entered the temple. The statue of the Nanyang Martial God wearing armor and holding a bow was enshrined in the temple.

When Xie Lian saw this statue, he said “Hmm…” in his heart.

In a small rural temple, the statues and paint of the statues can be said to be crude. The overall appearance is quite different from the Feng Xin himself in Xie Lian’s impression.

However, it is a common thing for the priests to have statues of gods that are shaped out of shape.Not to mention mom doesn’t recognize them anymore, some priests don’t even recognize their own statues when they see them.After all, few master craftsmen have actually seen the priest himself, so they are either too beautiful to look out of shape, or too ugly to look like. They can only identify which priest it is by relying on specific postures, magic weapons, attire, etc.

Generally speaking, the richer the place, the more the statues are in line with the priest’s wishes.The poorer the place, the poorer the taste of the craftsmen, and the more miserable the statues.Nowadays, only the statue of General Xuanzhen is in better condition overall. Why?Because everyone’s idols are ugly when they are ugly. Regardless, if he sees that he has been molded to look ugly, he will secretly break it and have it remodeled, or express his dissatisfaction in a subtle way through a dream. As a result, if things go on like this, the great believers will know that they must find a master who can make them look good!

The entire Xuanzhen Palace is just like their general, very particular.After Fuyao entered the Nanyang Temple, he had been commenting on the Nanyang statue for an hour. It had a distorted shape, vulgar color, poor workmanship, and strange taste.Xie Lian saw that the veins on Nanfeng’s forehead were slowly popping up, and he thought about quickly finding a topic to talk about. He happened to see another girl come in to pay homage. She knelt down devoutly and said warmly: “Speaking of which, Nanyang Zhenjun’s home court is in the southeast. I didn’t expect that you are so popular in the north.”

People built temples and palaces to imitate the heavenly palaces, and the statues of gods were reflections of the priests themselves.The temples gathered believers, attracted incense, and became an important source of magic power for the priests.Due to various reasons such as geography, history and customs, people in different regions usually worship different priests.On his own territory, a priest’s magic power will be at its strongest. This is the home field advantage.Only for a priest like Emperor Shenwu, who has followers all over the world and has temples in all directions, it is completely meaningless whether he plays at home or not.The temple of his general is also popular in the off-home field, which is a good thing. Nanfeng should be proud, but looking at his face, it is very bad.Fuyao on the side smiled slightly and said: “Not bad, not bad, deeply loved.”

Xie Lian said: “But I have a question, I don’t know…”

Nan Feng said: “If it’s ‘I don’t know whether to talk about it or not’, then don’t talk about it.”

Xie Lian said: “No. What I want to say is ‘I wonder if anyone can answer it’.”

However, he had a feeling that something bad would happen if he said this, so he decided to change the topic.Who knows, Fuyao said leisurely: “I know what you want to ask. You must want to ask, why are so many female believers coming to worship?”

This is exactly what Xie Lian wanted to ask.

There have always been fewer female believers in the Martial God line than male believers, with the exception of him eight hundred years ago.However, the reason for the exception is very simple, just two words: good-looking.

He knew very well that it was not because of his high moral standing or extraordinary powers, but just because his statues and palaces were beautiful.Almost all of his palaces are royal buildings, and the statues of gods were carved with his face by top craftsmen with superb skills from all over the country.Moreover, because of the saying “the body is in the world, the heart is in the paradise”, craftsmen often like to add some flowers to his statues, and also like to plant them into a sea of ​​flowers and trees.Therefore, at that time, he was also nicknamed “Corolla Martial God”.The female believers like the beauty of his statue and the flowers in his palace, so they are willing to come in and pay homage to him just for this reason.

However, ordinary martial gods are often portrayed as serious, ferocious, and cold-blooded because of their murderous aura. When religious women see this, they would rather worship Guanyin or something like that.Although this Nanyang statue had nothing to do with the murderous spirit, it was further away from the good-looking side. However, there were almost more female believers than male believers who came to worship, so he was quite surprised.

Nanfeng obviously didn’t want to answer this question, so he said to Fuyao, “Shut up! You have the time to think about business.” Fuyao said “ha” and was about to answer. At this moment, the girl finished her prayers, stood up to take the incense, and turned around again.

At this turn, Xie Lian pushed the other two people.Both of them were very impatient. When he pushed them, their expressions changed as they took a closer look.

The author has something to say: There is no typo in the title.