Fried Salted Fish
Chapter 263 Creation of the Gods
"The visitor is not friendly," was the first thought that came to the weeping-faced man's mind.
"Who is this person?" was the second.
"What power is this?"
"Is this the Law Following Words?"
With just the word "Sit," his body felt as if it were no longer under his control. An irresistible force pressed him down, forcing him to sit on the altar, to be transformed once more into a wooden and clay sculpture, devoid of all autonomy.
"You, it's you! Thank you for saving my life!"
Liu Zimin recovered from that suffocating sense of helplessness. The power within him reasserted itself, revealing his cultivation at the Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown realm.
This was the orthodox cultivation of a sect with a lineage. The Xishan Daoist Academy might not be considered a famous sect throughout the entire world, but in the vicinity of Yingtian, it was a leading force in the cultivator circle.
Among the younger disciples, those with superior talent reaching the Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown realm was not surprising. In those sects renowned throughout the world, the most talented disciples might have already cultivated into Earth Immortals at this age.
If it weren't for the fixed number of twelve years in cultivation, perhaps those in the Yellow Court realm and the Innate realm would emerge endlessly.
The Shen family father and daughter were also at the entrance of the hall, watching the scene before them with utter bewilderment.
"As the Instructor of the Southern Academy of the Directorate of Education, I have visited half of the seventy or eighty temples in Yingtian Prefecture, and this Tianxu Temple is no exception. But this great hall... I never knew there was a great hall here...!"
"Since ancient times, what deity has been enshrined here?"
Shen Chong couldn't understand. Although this temple was small, its incense had always been abundant because it enshrined the generals who died in battle here at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. But now, there was an additional great hall, and judging by the layout, it seemed that this was the true main hall.
The incense offerings given to the gods could be replaced by others. These things had been learned, more or less, from strange tales in the market, ghost and god novels in folklore, or from the mouths of passing cultivators. There were quite a few wandering souls and wild ghosts who possessed this ability, but they were not gods, and they did not dare to enter any temple to eat incense.
Moreover, there were very strict rules. If the incense smoke floated straight up, they could not eat it. Only if the incense smoke drifted crookedly could it enter their mouths.
Therefore, some temples also enshrined incense-offering boys. The role of these boy gods was to suppress the wind. Without wind, the incense smoke would float straight up and not be taken advantage of by wandering souls and wild ghosts.
However, something even more incomprehensible to Shen Chong occurred.
He saw Ji Xiang slightly open his mouth.
In an instant.
All the floating, golden incense energy in the hall surged towards Ji Xiang like flowing clouds and rosy mists, and he inhaled it all through his mouth and nose, leaving not a trace behind.
On the high platform, the weeping-faced deity was also dumbfounded.
Incense...
Was eaten!
This wasn't a matter of him not being in his rightful place, but of someone making him sit down and unable to stand up in front of him, and then eating up all his incense.
In that instant, it seemed as if a vibration from the void reminded him, reminding him of the past.
He, too, had once been like this, eating the incense of other deities!
He who eats the incense of others will eventually be eaten by others?
He was a god, a folk god worshiped by thousands of households. Although now, his temple had long been destroyed in the turmoil of the past, and his existence had transformed from a god of the past into a wandering soul, but... after the turmoil, there would inevitably be reconstruction, and the alternation of prosperity and decline was a cycle of the world.
Even if the rebuilt temple no longer enshrined him.
As long as he still existed in the temple, he could use this great incense to reshape his divine body.
Just a little bit would do.
There was no need to block the path of the god who came later.
But such borrowing of incense would naturally arouse the suspicion of the temple's incense keepers.
In the past, there had also been some wandering cultivators, or Jianghu Daoists, or traveling monks of the Buddhist sect, who discovered his origins and existence during the time when he was recovering his strength. They either set up altars, used talisman water, or used the power of Buddhist vows to try to expel, shatter, or convert him.
No matter what he said, no matter how he explained his origins, these cultivators did not believe him.
But this was originally his temple!
Could it be that after thousands of years, not only had his temple disappeared, but he was not even allowed to eat a portion of the incense of the god who came later?
So those people died, thanks to all sorts of unbelievable divine powers, and also because their own cultivation was not up to par.
After that, there were no more worries.
Not only would he take the incense of the god of later generations, but even the existence of the god of later generations would become his puppet.
There was nothing to be embarrassed about, nothing to feel sad about.
It turned out that his past had long died with the deaths of those people in the past. How many times had this Yingtian Prefecture been reduced to ruins and rebuilt over thousands of years? He was just lucky that he had not completely become a wandering soul in this great turmoil. Fortunately, there were still people building temples, and fortunately, there were still people offering incense, even if the object of worship was not him, it had brought him a glimmer of hope.
Therefore, incense was extremely important.
It must not be obtained by outsiders. As long as he controlled the incense, the shell condensed by the god of later generations could be replaced by him, and he could change many identities and continue to exist in the world.
Divine power would not weaken again, but would gradually increase.
When his strength became stronger, as long as he didn't want this true hall to manifest, absolutely no outsider would be able to enter.
And now.
This cultivator before him.
Dared to eat his incense!
"You're courting death!"
He shouted loudly, but his buttocks seemed to be glued to the seat. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't stand up. Fighting while squatting was too embarrassing. Feeling that his arms were no longer restrained, his two hands instantly became huge and long!
His arms snaked out, pressing down.
Then they were broken and turned into incense energy, disappearing without a trace.
Ji Xiang said, "I have no interest in eating the arms of an incense god. All I need is your statue, and the one in the side hall. As for you..."
"General Zuo Shou."
"You are the essence of wandering souls gathered from ancient times, aren't you? Your voice is like that of a giant tiger roaring and crushing stones, and the heavens and earth do not accept you. Your experiences are quite rich, because many wandering souls have merged with you, and those fragmented memories have become a part of you."
"Among the folk gods, you belong to one of the Eight Extremes Gods, born from the mutual induction of the hearts of human gods."
"You yourself are a god born from wishes, so you are quite adept at using wishes."
"But you have done many evil things, killed many people. It's probably time for you to die now."
On the altar, the weeping-faced man revealed a look of shock.
Apart from King Lu and the others, it had been a long time since anyone had spoken his true name.
His arm had been broken in an instant. General Zuo Shou looked at Ji Xiang's calm and serene face, as if he had just finished a satisfying meal, and a great terror suddenly rose in his heart.
Destroying incense and eating the incense of others were definitely not actions on the same level.
Destroying incense was easy: destroy the temple, destroy the statue, destroy the divine soul, and everything would dissipate, leaving the wishes nowhere to attach themselves. But eating incense meant that the object of worship had been changed in an instant.
Many thoughts, and attacks on living beings.
Moreover, evil deeds with the Demon King.
A terrifying sense of oppression suddenly rose in his heart.
Once demonic thoughts arose, he was no longer a righteous god.
He who dares to meet the Demon King without kowtowing!
This sense of oppression suddenly caused his own incense to overflow, which greatly terrified General Zuo Shou.
But there should be nothing to fear!
"I don't know what strange spells you used!"
"You black-robed demon Daoist!"
"But I am a god at the level of an Earth Immortal!"
"Even if I just sit here, you can't kill me..."
Ji Xiang's voice reached his ears.
"All evil gods who seize folk temples and receive the incense of the people."
"Be executed."
Ji Xiang slightly opened his mouth and exhaled a breath, and a white light floated out. It was the Violet-Gold Pill Sword.
With a turn of brilliance.
The pill sword circled the god's head, like a fleeting shadow of light, happening in an instant!
General Zuo Shou's head separated from his divine body, flying below the altar. A wisp of incense energy had been cut off, and could no longer coalesce!
Along with the statue, a deep sword mark appeared on its neck!
The god's head landed, and Ji Xiang pointed his finger, and immediately a burst of Yuanqi wrapped the god's head. Then, he beckoned to the Shen girl and said:
"Let this god's head be your toy, take it as a target for the Golden Light Charm."
The little girl had just entered the door of cultivation, and was very curious about everything. Because she had opened her wisdom early, she was not too afraid of matters of life and death. Especially since General Zuo Shou's head had not actually died, and still retained consciousness, showing a look of fear, unlike the stiff and numb face of the dead.
Shen Yixiu suddenly felt a little sad and said to General Zuo Shou, "You are so pitiful."
General Zuo Shou blinked his eyes. His head was being suppressed by Yuanqi, and he couldn't use his magical powers. He couldn't believe that he, a divine general equivalent to an Earth Immortal, had been killed in an instant.
"No... impossible."
"I was killed?"
Shen Yixiu nodded. General Zuo Shou's face changed from astonishment to rage!
"I was killed?!"
"I... so pitiful!"
Liu Zimin opened his mouth wide on the side, watching the Shen girl touch the head of the divine general, slightly frightened: "Little girl, this guy is not pitiful at all! He just wanted to kill me!"
"I don't even know him! This kind of god, no... he's a wandering soul! That senior said it just now! He's not a god at all!"
"I am a god!"
General Zuo Shou was already in a rage. Hearing this, he was almost furious, but without a body, and with his head controlled by the surrounding Heaven and Earth Yuanqi, he had no way to move at all.
"When I was a god, your ancestors were not even born! I have seen this Yingtian Prefecture broken three times and rebuilt three times! How old are you! You damned guy who is not affected by wishes, why, why did you break free from the influence! If I had just killed you, I would have..."
The Shen girl suddenly interrupted: "You are so pitiful."
"You are a gathering of wandering souls, aren't you? The things you see are all memories of wandering souls, right?"
"You are a god, but who exactly are you? Why are you a god, yet you want to kill people?"
General Zuo Shou angrily said: "Is this little girl mocking my current state!"
"When I was protecting the people as a god, your ancestors didn't even know where they were!"
"I don't need the pity of mortals! After the people I protect die, the new people forget me. I'm just using incense to restore my existence, and they shout and kill me."
"Mortals have no memory, and mortals are the most ignorant of good and evil. If someone treats them a little better, they say it is good and feel it is right. If someone treats them badly, they feel it is evil and want to kill them all."
"There's no need to pity me, because you don't deserve it either. There are too many gods like me in this world! I've heard of foolish people who burned down a temple because they fell ill after worshiping in it; I've also seen petty villains who summon gods to appear in temples, but then restrain them and use them to serve their own purposes!"
"I am now working for others, and since it is a mixed bag of evil deeds, it is expected that I would end up in this situation. I just didn't expect it to come so suddenly!"
The Shen girl said, "But you have still protected some people, so you were once a good person."
"Killing people is wrong."
General Zuo Shou stopped talking, just laughed angrily, and then closed his eyes to wait for death. The Shen girl also chanted the Golden Light Charm. The faint golden light was only at a rudimentary level, and she still needed to use the talismans on her body to cast it. The power was very small, perhaps not even enough to kill ordinary little frogs stained with a bit of demonic energy.
This debate did not seem to have a conclusion.
Liu Zimin shook his head again and again on the side.
"Who cares about your past? Why should others know about your past experiences? All I know is that I almost died, and you're not a good person now, that's enough."
General Zuo Shou's head saw bursts of white smoke.
White smoke rushed out of Ji Xiang's body.
Then, himself and the divine position... no, it should be said, his soul and the "folk god identity" he had cultivated for thousands of years, were completely separated.
He was surprised, confused, and then fell into complete fear.
Not only him, Liu Zimin was also dumbfounded, only the Shen family father and daughter did not understand.
"What is he doing?"
"This, this is shaping the spirit, shaping the spirit? How can a cultivator possibly do this?!"
Liu Zimin widened his eyes.
At this time, Ji Xiang used the Tongtian Clear Smoke to capture the folk god identity from the statue and condense it into a divine position.
At this time, Ji Xiang did not yet know that the divine positions created by the immortals in the Changbai Mountain area with the help of a certain Heavenly Palace in the Inner Mountains and Rivers were actually very similar to this temporary divine position created by the Tongtian Clear Smoke.
With the divine position in hand, the next step was to use incense to shape the spirit.
And General Zuo Shou had become a wandering soul. His head soon began to turn into nothingness and disappear, like black and white smoke. His eyes, until the last moment before disappearing, were still looking at the newly appeared "god."
That was another self.
Shaped by incense, the spirit given by this black-robed cultivator, the appearance was exactly the same as his, but without that fierce heart.
And the bursts of power on Ji Xiang's body finally allowed him to remember what existence was related to before his death.
"The Demon... is shaping a god..."
"This kind of thing..."
"How is it possible..."
His soul drifted away and vanished, leaving only that incredible echo.