Lanruo Temple

  Listening, Lin Xu suddenly remembered some things vaguely. It seems that this ghost story comes from Pu Songling's classic supernatural novel "Liaozhai Zhiyi", and later was remade by Xu Ke into a series of films called "A Chinese Ghost Story".

  In Pu Songling's story, the haunted Lanruo Temple is located in a certain place in Jinhua, Zhejiang. Xu Ke's film sets it in a completely fictional Guobei County. As for Lin Xiang, who had lived in that world for over 20 years, the authentic Lanruo Temple was actually located in a famous temple in Shanxi. Little did Lin Xiang know, this Lanruo Temple had somehow ended up right under his nose, only over 200 miles away. This distance was already close enough; with Lin Xiang's physical strength, he could run there and back in just a few hours. That tree demon really seemed to have the audacity to stir up trouble at the foot of the mountain god!

  Although that's the case, Lin Xu was still a 9-to-5 insurance agent not long ago. Even if he had inherited the divine position of Huo Mountain God, he couldn't be considered to have any earth-shattering divine powers at present.

  A novice mountain god who has just started to learn and practice, if he really wants to confront that old monster with years of experience, it's hard to say who will be the one to be defeated.

  No matter what kind of cultivation system or method is adopted, the only standard that leads to the same goal is achieving immortality. Any path that cannot achieve this ultimate goal of immortality can be confirmed as a mediocre and inferior one, no matter how flowery it sounds. In Lin Xu's view, the Way of Gods is undoubtedly a bright and great path, because gods are actually a group of working-class people serving the cyclical operation of the system between heaven and earth. Although this statement may sound too straightforward, stripping away the halos given to the gods by human legends and myths, their roles are nothing more than that.

  As for the origin of gods, it can be said that it is complicated or simple. Generally speaking, there are roughly three situations.

  The first type is the pre-heavenly true saint born in the midst of chaos, many of whom have a lifespan longer than that of heaven and earth themselves. They possess great power from birth, and any one of them can shake the heavens and stir up the winds with just a stomp of their foot or a sneeze.

  The second type is the acquired immortal who has transcended himself, such as the Eight Immortals widely spread among the people, which belongs to this category of typical examples. There are also the deified gods of faith, such as the famous figures Confucius and Guan Yu. This kind of god, when they were in the world, had never cultivated spiritual powers, was purely a mortal, but after death, got a lot of incense and condensed their willpower into a golden body, plus their own true spirit not being extinguished, naturally became gods.

  No matter what their origins were, as soon as they ascended to the throne of gods, they immediately had divine powers bestowed upon them.

  It's just like fish are born to swim and birds instinctively fly towards the blue sky, but as for how powerful the skills that these gods have mastered are, it's not even worth mentioning.

  Lin Xu, originally an ordinary person, inherited the legacy of the previous Mount Hua God and was reborn into a god through sheer willpower. To say nothing of his seniors, the True Saints and Heavenly Sages, he couldn't compare to them even if he took the shortcut of becoming a god through faith. As a mountain god, it's no problem for him to take care of some small demons, given the insurmountable gap in their levels. However, when it comes to facing off against those old demons with hundreds of years of cultivation and countless kills, it's not something that can be easily predicted.

  After a long time of daydreaming, Lin Xu finally remembered that he was supposed to be talking to his subordinate, so he snapped back to reality and said:

  "By the way, Huo Mountain has been without a mountain god for so many years, why doesn't Heaven intervene?"

  Upon hearing this, the two deputy generals were so humiliated that they almost shed tears, it can be seen that they have been resentful for a long time, but had no chance to express it.

  At this time, Bi was still somewhat wary of Wang Liang's authoritative position in the heavenly court and seemed to be holding back his words. Zhang Xin, who had a more straightforward personality, bluntly said:

  "Returning to the great lord, since the chaos of the ancient times, the heavenly court has been sending fewer and fewer envoys down here. Alas, with or without the heavenly court, what difference does it make..."

  Before Zhang Xin finished speaking, Lin Xu couldn't help but interrupt him halfway and interjected:

  "What's going on with the Desolate Wasteland shattering? Tell me about it in detail."

  "This is a long story, but thinking back to the beginning of chaos, when the clear air rose to form heaven and the turbid air sank to form earth..."

  Lin Xu listened patiently to the two subordinates' narrative, and he had a preliminary understanding of some things that should be considered common sense.

  The so-called Primordial World was originally a reference to a mythical primordial continent. The Primordial World is said to be boundless and endless, with an early True Saint once being curious about its size. He flew in one direction for 100,000 years without finding the edge of the world, demonstrating just how vast the Primordial World is, exceeding the understanding of ordinary people.

  The origin of the Desolate Era is also a huge mystery, and according to one of the most widely spread versions, the Desolate Era was formed from the incarnation of a powerful being from the Giant Clan. Later on, this world that should have lasted forever suddenly broke apart for some unknown reason.

  There are over 20 relatively reliable theories about the specific cause of the fragmentation that have been passed down through history. If we also count those less reliable rumors, there must be over a thousand. In other words, this is a classic unsolved mystery. The unresolved mysteries surrounding this event go beyond just the unclear reasons for the fragmentation; even the timing of the fragmentation cannot be accurately determined. To put it simply, any topic related to the Primordial World is bound to be a confusing and inexplicable mess if investigated thoroughly.

  With the help of two deputy generals, Lin Xu reluctantly made up a lesson on common sense in the mythological world. He rubbed his temples with a tired expression and said:

  "Who's in charge down here... oh, I mean before we lost contact with Heaven."

  Lin Xu realized that the question was wrong and corrected it in time. The two subordinates, however, were very respectful to this trusted mountain god and replied:

  "Reporting to the great lord, the Heavenly Court has always been managed by the Three Pure Ones, Four Sovereigns and Thirty-two Heaven Emperors. They often dispatch officials to descend into the mortal world to supervise affairs. The mountain spirits, land gods and city gods have always belonged to Hou Tu, who is under your jurisdiction. It's just that we haven't seen any heavenly envoys descending into the mortal world for a long time."

  These things were almost identical to Lin Xu's conjecture, he nodded and said:

  "Let's recall again, when was the last time Heaven sent someone down?"

  "...three hundred years ago, when the previous mountain god was summoned to a meeting, it was the last time."

  Hearing the answers of the two subordinates, Lin Xu couldn't help but feel a sense of unknown crisis, as if there were thorns on his back. He immediately thought that this might be the instinctual response of the gods to any threat to their own life safety.

  Lin Xuan fell silent for a long time, pondering the hidden message in the news, and finally chose to change the subject, saying:

  "Wasn't Mount Huo originally inhabited?"

  At this time, Bi raised his hand and said to Zhang Xin:

  "In response to your question, Master, our Mount Hua stretches over three thousand miles from east to west and several hundred miles from north to south. There were many hunters and mountain dwellers living in these mountains originally, but since the previous Mountain God is no longer around... those demons have become more and more rampant in devouring humans, and they don't even have any self-restraint; even those who didn't die all escaped to outside the mountains."

  Upon hearing this, Lin Xu calmly sat in his seat of honor and said in a steady tone:

  "So you're saying that if we don't get rid of those man-eating demons, even if we can find people to come here, they definitely won't be able to stay, right?"

  "Great sir, you are wise indeed, it is just so."

  These two sang and harmonized, like the deputy generals of the Hummer brothers, in the more than 300 years when the former Mount Hoshan god was not in this mountain, they could only barely maintain the situation of the mountain god temple, it is indeed a loyal and admirable vanguard. However, from this, it can also be seen that the independent handling ability of these two is not very good. The two thousand Yin soldiers led by the two deputy generals and other personnel under the Mountain God Temple were defeated and fell to the present state, it's really heartbreaking!

  I believe that any normal person can understand this: Lin Xu and his two subordinates, although loyal, are only capable of following orders. If you want Zhang Xin and Wang Liang to come up with a good solution to improve the situation, it's indeed a difficult task for them.

  Lin Xu knew early on that he couldn't hope for the easy and beautiful life of being a shopkeeper, and he didn't feel particularly disappointed. He nodded and said:

  "Alright! I'm going to prepare for battle, what good advice do you have?"

  Upon hearing this, Deputy General Zhang Xin and Wang Liang exchanged a complex glance, then spoke in unison:

  "Sir, this matter may require further consideration."

  Lin Xu was after all a newcomer, and he didn't know much about the situation in this new world. In many places, he had to rely on the work experience of these subordinates.

  The vast knowledge that former Huo Shan deity poured into Lin Xu's consciousness was like stuffing an entire set of encyclopedias into a small student's arms.

  Although in theory the contents recorded in the book are all-encompassing, limited by the user's own understanding ability, how to learn to use these materials correctly is still a huge problem.

  The low-born Earth God and the Heavenly Gods serving in Heaven have many differences, one of which is that the Earth God is allowed to raise private soldiers, which can be counted as part of the regular quota. This is also one of the benefits enjoyed by the Earth God. In contrast, the source of the Yin soldiers under the Earth God's command must be resolved on their own, and the Heavenly Court will not provide any assistance.

  Generally, Yin soldiers are mainly transformed from the souls of dead soldiers or fierce ghosts who do not want to enter the underworld. The more brutal and tyrannical the ghost was in life, the better it will be transformed into a Yin soldier after death. After being washed in the transformation pool in the mountain god temple, the yin soul is immediately transformed into a yin soldier with a semi-substantial body, from which it becomes fearless of sunlight and can walk under the bright sky, although its strength will be greatly reduced, but it is much stronger than not being able to see the light.

  Take these two deputy generals in charge of the mountain temple, for example. They were originally wild ghosts and wandering spirits picked up by the previous mountain god from the battlefield. After several baptisms and hardships, they have achieved their current glory today.

  After a detailed explanation by two subordinates, Lin Xu also understood the severe test he was facing. This matter cannot be relied on others, and soon he made up his mind to start from today, wandering around the mountains and forests, capturing the lonely souls and wild ghosts roaming in the wilderness.