The girl didn't notice anything unusual about the Zhenwu statue. She walked in front of her own statue, leaped forward, and her figure suddenly vanished before Ji Xiang's eyes. But Ji Xiang knew she had returned to her divine seat.

Clay and wood sculptures, nourished by the incense of the people, give birth to the qi of folk deities. Through the power of wishes, some spirits are born, and many folk deities in the mortal world come into being this way.

"Some are mountain spirits and wild monsters that have been enlightened, some are born from incense and wishes, some are ghosts that replace the deity, and some are cultivators and mortals who obtain a newly born divine position and transform into deities."

"This girl doesn't look much like her statue, and seems quite young."

Ji Xiang cultivated quietly. Since the temple master hadn't discovered him, he would reveal himself to thank her after he finished cultivating using the incense.

In the mortal world, it's impossible to plan perfectly or be certain of everything. A cautious heart is necessary. Although Ji Xiang was still confident in his ability to kill the girl, he should still be careful.

Like when he killed the Yingsun Heavenly Lord of Biyou Palace and the Greatly Manifested Glorious Light Dharma Lord.

Ji Xiang pondered how he had watched the fight from the sidelines for so long, then quickly killed the opponent, but in the end, he was hit by the Telepathic Great Art due to a small mistake, forcing him to damage his form and spirit, and take shelter here for a few nights.

Even the smallest thing could lead to a mishap.

This time, he was really 98% sure, which was as good as courting death.

The moon was bright, the stars were sparse, and the night was quiet.

The lake breeze blew, and he could hear the sound of the surging waves lapping against the shore. Ji Xiang judged that there was a large lake nearby.

The temple doors were still open, and the few workers who had left in the evening had indeed returned.

They were overjoyed to see the temple doors wide open, and whispered to each other:

"The temple keeper said that the deity in this temple often appears, and no one dares to steal the money from the donation box at night. I think that's just to scare people. The temple doors are wide open, and no one has come in at all. Even if someone did, it would probably just be the night watchman."

"That's right. I believe in gods and ghosts, but I've never seen the deity in this temple perform miracles. Her incense is less than even the Zhenwu Lord next to her."

The workers gathered in front, reaching out to grab the donation box. The box was heavy with copper coins, and even some pieces of silver. Clearly, there were wealthy people in the area who didn't lack money, which made the workers very happy. They shouted out in the temple, "A small fortune!"

"The Zhenwu Lord's incense is really flourishing. Look, there's even silver in here!"

The worker holding the box was overjoyed. One of the other workers looked up and saw the Zhenwu statue's eyes staring down at them. He shuddered and said hesitantly, "We can't take it all. We have to leave some for Grandpa Zhenwu."

The worker holding the box was unhappy and laughed, "Grandpa Zhenwu won't blame us! Throughout the Great Ming Dynasty, Zhenwu's incense is everywhere. Even the Emperor worships him, so Lord Zhenwu is the real tycoon. How could he care about a little money in this temple?"

"Now that the donation box is in my hands, if Lord Zhenwu really cares about this money, come on, let me take the money out of the box and see if Lord Zhenwu will snatch it back?"

"If this statue moves and snatches it back, then I'll give all this incense money back with both hands, and even add two more copper coins."

Ji Xiang heard everything clearly from inside the statue and felt displeased.

Although temple keepers and workers stealing incense money wasn't uncommon, including abbots in Buddhist temples using incense money as private money, this was not surprising in any era. However, Zhenwu the Great had become a local tyrant in the mouths of these young workers, making Ji Xiang almost shake his head.

What, you're attacking local tyrants and landlords, and you've attacked the gods?

Your salary isn't high, so you go to your boss. You take the incense money from Lord Zhenwu's temple, and call it Lord Zhenwu is an old rich man. This made Ji Xiang very unhappy.

*Dong!*

The eyes of the Zhenwu statue suddenly shone with light, scaring the workers!

"My God!"

The worker holding the donation box was so frightened that he fell to the ground, and the donation box rolled to the side. The other workers saw the instigator suddenly falling to the ground like a madman, and quickly went to help him. The instigator worker pointed at the Zhenwu statue, trembling and shouting, "It's lit up, it's lit up! Grandpa Zhenwu's statue is lit up!"

The worker was now terrified. He had just boasted that if the statue cared about this money, it would reach out and snatch it back. As a result, the statue's eyes immediately flashed!

The second worker, who had suggested leaving the silver, said, "Look! There are gods three feet above your head! Let's put some silver back, lest Lord Zhenwu punish us!"

After speaking, everyone hurriedly put the pieces of silver back on the altar and kowtowed to the Zhenwu statue, saying:

"We'll only take the copper coins, this silver is all yours. It's just that we're a little short on money. When this difficulty passes, we'll definitely bring you the best roasted chicken and wine to show our respect."

While kowtowing, another worker muttered, "What does being short on money have to do with taking money?"

Money is always scarce.

However, just as they finished tidying up and were feeling that the temple was a bit evil, and were about to leave quickly, their front feet had just stepped out of the temple door when their back feet stopped.

The girl's voice stopped them:

"This is my temple. Do you think you can come and go as you please?"

This time, she appeared wearing bright red clothes, in a male attire. When she entered the temple earlier, she was wearing Ming Dynasty clothing.

But regardless of her appearance, her attire was completely different from her own statue.

The workers turned around and saw the girl bending her bow and nocking an arrow. Several arrows flew out, instantly shooting the workers to the ground, who were wailing in pain. But after a while, they realized that the donation box in their hands had disappeared.

The girl was still standing in the temple, and the arrows on the workers' bodies had also disappeared, but the feeling of pain was extremely clear.

Now they knew that the temple master had performed a miracle, and they scrambled away.

The girl's arrows were wrapped in the power of incense. Ji Xiang's inner vision divine tablet saw that it was a kind of incense poison. Mortals have inferior destinies and cannot withstand large amounts of incense. Once hit by an arrow, they would become ill.

The donation box appeared in her hand, and then she threw it in front of the Zhenwu statue, and then carefully stared at the Zhenwu statue again:

"It seems that it's not that the spirit borrowing my incense has left, but that the Zhenwu statue has gained a trace of power from the incense of the people."

"That's good. Receive more incense. In a few days, I'm going to fulfill a worshipper's wish, perform a miracle to exorcise demons, and need to use this bit of your power."

"Zhenwu subdues demons. After the reopening of the Great Song Dynasty, we must not let these demons occupy our great rivers and mountains."