Chapter 3: I Come to This World to Open Up the Path of the Gods

  As soon as it dawned, Wang Er brought incense and offerings and came to worship under the big willow tree.

  This time I knew it was serious, every move was cautious and trembling. As soon as the incense was inserted, he quickly kowtowed and knocked his head, "thud thud" sounded, although it was just a land god, but still managed to knock open the skin on his forehead, bleeding.

  Right in the middle of prayer, suddenly a bright light appeared before his eyes, and he found himself in a certain place. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a large hall.

  He only saw Fang Ming wearing a traditional official uniform, sitting in the middle, looking around with a radiant gaze, very dignified and majestic. On either side of him stood two men, who were none other than the black and white evil spirits from last night's dream. At once his legs went soft, and he fell to the ground on his knees, repeatedly crying out: "Grandfather, spare my life! I know I was wrong, and I won't dare do it again!"

  Fang Ming smiled slightly and asked: "When you say this, are you sincere?"

  Wang Er knocked his head like pounding garlic: "Sincerity, sincerity!"

  "Since you have shown a willingness to repent, I will spare you from capture tonight. Instead, I sentence you to build a temple for this deity and sculpt an image of the god's body. Will you submit?"

  Wang Er cried out in distress: "Our family is poor and humble, I fear we cannot succeed. I hope the honorable gods will show us mercy."

  Fang Ming said: "The temple doesn't have to be big, just a few feet will do. Although the statue is precious, it can be made of mud."

  Wang Er had no objection at this time, and he was grateful: "Thank you, noble god, I will build a temple for the noble god."

  As soon as the words fell, it suddenly brightened in front of him, and he returned to under the willow tree. Knowing that something supernatural had just occurred, he hastily kowtowed again and completed various rituals. He then hurried back to the village to prepare for the construction of a temple.

  Fang Ming smiled, secretly thinking that the five strands of divine power he had spent earlier were not in vain. It was only because Wang Er's vital energy was already weak and he was extremely afraid of him that he could use this technique of having a daytime hallucination. He thought to himself that it wouldn't be long before he would have a temple and a divine body, and his heart felt greatly pleased.

  It's already March 14th before I knew it.

  Under the willow tree, a small temple has been added. The temple is only about one square meter in size, but it is extremely delicate. Inside the temple is a mud statue of a god wearing traditional Chinese clothing, and the face of the statue bears a 30% resemblance to Fang Ming.

  After the execution of Wang Er, the villagers became even more reverent towards the land god, and incense was constantly burning in front of the temple, with people coming to worship from time to time.

  Fang Ming stood inside the temple, sizing up his surroundings, and was very satisfied.

  On that day, Wang Er returned and immediately prepared for the temple affairs. He was also skilled in carpentry, so he found a good piece of wood and started working on it.

  He spent another ten cents and asked the village's mud sculptor to make a sculpture of him. He only remembered three-tenths of his face, but the traditional Chinese official uniform was deeply impressive.

  The official positions of the Daqian government were divided into nine grades and eighteen ranks. Below them, there were also non-mainstream officials, including four types: Dianshi, Si Li, Ling Li, and Yidin.

  Typical history is the first among officials in the county, with extremely heavy power. If combined with the six bureaus, it can almost set aside the county order. Moreover, it can be inherited for generations, while the county order is only one term every three years. Therefore, in rural areas, there are many people who do not recognize the county order, but no one does not recognize the typical history.

  Fang Ming knew that he was now just a minor deity, and if he were to receive sacrifices in the attire of a county magistrate, it would actually harm his aura. Therefore, it was better for him to wear the attire of a historian. Moreover, he could use the prestige of being a historian to intimidate the foolish commoners, which was very convenient.

  As expected, after the temple was set up on the sixth day of the first month, the incense fire grew stronger every day. The divine power in his body had already gathered into a hundred strands, condensed into a ball, and his physical body was no different from that of ordinary people. However, he still couldn't appear in the world.

  He was building the temple when he entered a dream and gave instructions, telling Wang Er to make the temple foundation solid, and since the temple was very small, a few people could move it around, waiting for later use.

  Fang Ming walked around the temple again and found that it was about two mu in size, with a main hall, a backyard, and wing rooms on both sides. Suddenly, his face lit up with joy.

  After the temple was completed and received incense, a change occurred inside, opening up a small space that could accommodate Fang Ming. Moreover, there were spiritual wonders within. Originally, Fang Ming had to consume a thread of divine power every day, but in the temple, he only consumed one thread every two days, making him exclaim in wonder.

  Fang Ming knew that although this space was similar to a Dongtian, it was far from it. This place should be the domain of the gods, existing with the temple, and if the temple is destroyed, it will perish. A Dongtian, on the other hand, is more like a half-plane in the Western world, and it won't cause trouble even if the connection point is damaged.

  This realm actually only occupies a small area in the mortal world, but in essence, it is Fang Ming himself who has shrunk down to enter it. It's just that this realm has its own spiritual aura, making people unaware of it.

  But with the law domain in place, it will eventually have its own heavenly realm, and even grow into a world. With this thought, a fierce flame appeared in Fang Ming's eyes.

  After so many days of exploration, he had a general understanding of this world.

  This world has no underworld, humans and ghosts live together.

  The county town is the prefecture, with official aura and imperial aura enveloping it above, and the county military barracks suppressing it below. In between, there are also the ancestral auras of various aristocratic families that have been worshiped for hundreds or thousands of years, protecting them from evil spirits, making it the most stable place.

  The villagers who work outside live in tribes and jointly worship their ancestors for self-protection, which is generally safe.

  The villagers are most bitter about this, so their greatest wish is to have an official position and thus obtain the protection of official power. Next is being able to live in the city.

  Unfortunately, this world has a threshold, similar to the Jin Dynasty. Officials are also selected from among the sons of aristocratic families, and below them, the sons of humble families are watching with envy. Don't underestimate the humble families, they are the small landowner class, not comparable to the common people who can be measured by their food rations. The scholar-officials control books and restrict the spread of knowledge. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to become an official and enter the system.

  The ancestral spirits of this world are more like earthbound spirits, bound by a large amount of incense and vows in the temple, almost equivalent to prison. They have only simple uses for divine power, no divine positions, and naturally no multiple divine powers.

  In general, the Shinto of this world has taken shape, and the foundation is even more solid, but it lacks the most critical divine seal.

  Being able to come to this world is a great fortune, a great opportunity. In his heart, Fang Ming silently said, "I have come to this world to open the path of the gods!" As soon as this thought emerged, he suddenly felt a tremor in the heavens and the earth. Savoring it carefully, however, there was nothing, as if it were an illusion.

  Fang Ming didn't care about it either, his mind was already made up. He sat down cross-legged, quietly circulating his spiritual energy, waiting for the right moment.

  As night fell, the wind seemed particularly strong, and the villagers of Qingyu Village couldn't help but pull their quilts tighter on their beds.

  Fang Ming waved his hand and divine power hid the temple away, it had been like this for several nights before.

  After so many days of erosion, the village's protective aura is on the verge of collapse. If we don't break through tonight, there will be a grand ceremony to replenish it tomorrow, so the day the village falls will be tonight.

  Fang Ming had made preparations earlier, and during the daytime when the crowd was worshiping at the Land Temple, he secretly gave each person two strands of divine power to protect their bodies. Fortunately, there were not many followers, only thirty or so people, which was enough to ensure safety for the time being, and would come in handy later on.

  At this time, the ghosts had gathered, led by a big man with a scar on his face, looking extremely ferocious.

  "Since we're born to be heroes, let's die as heroic ghosts! Brothers, once we take down this village, we can eat our fill and then pursue the enemy, taking down Qing Shan Village and Da Chang Village. We'll surely rise through the ranks and then join forces with the Ghost King, never to be outdone by mortals again!"

  The ghosts responded with a loud roar, the morale was extremely high, and they immediately began to attack the light curtain. After just two waves of charging, the light curtain shattered, and the ghosts cheered loudly.

  When the light screen shattered, all the people in Qingyu Village were shocked awake, each with a sense of great disaster approaching.

  Muramasa ōei was sixty-five years old, his face turned pale, and he gathered his family saying: "This feeling... can't be wrong, the village altar has a problem, there must be an evil spirit haunting us, great disaster is upon us." As soon as these words came out, everyone in the house turned pale.

  "No... it can't be, then... but it's a disaster, a calamity for the village" Da'er Wang Qiao's voice trembled.

  "There's nothing else to say, Erqiao, go and bring out the donkey, Daqiao, hurry up and take Qing'er away. Leave a line of descendants for our royal family. Remember, run towards Qingxi Village, don't look back, don't stop!"

  "Father……" Wang Qiao knelt down in agony, tears streaming down his face. But he was still driven out of the door, riding on a donkey, looking at his six-year-old nephew in his arms, gritting his teeth, cracking the whip, the donkey let out a long cry, and rushed into the darkness, his hand unknowingly clenched with blood.

  Wang Ying leaned against the door, gazing at that faint figure in the distance, silently praying "Ancestors bless and protect our Wang family's last spark of life!"

  Suddenly, a gust of yin wind hit my face, and a white light flashed on my body, bouncing off. Before I could react, several more gusts of yin wind struck me, and with a blood-curdling scream, I fell to the ground. A dark energy flashed, leaving behind only a desiccated corpse.

  The family was shocked, and then they only heard strange laughter coming from afar, with a dark aura rushing up...

  The entire Qingyu Village has fallen into a desperate situation.

  Wang Er woke up, borrowing the starlight to see that there were already several lights on in the village, and he felt a chill wind blowing against his face. He heard the miserable cries of his neighbors, and his heart was chilled. His legs were weak, and he almost fell down. In his heart, there was only one sentence repeating over and over:

  "Horde of Ghosts Slaughter Village".

  This deep-seated terror that lurked in the hearts of the villagers made him break out in a cold sweat, and with a forced sense of courage, he stood up, wanting to run away from the village as far as possible.

  At this time a black air rushed up, "bang" a sound, and then bounced off, still faintly transmitting the painful cry.

  Wang Er's body flashed with divine power, and he suddenly gained enlightenment, rushing to pay homage to the east of the village.

  "Thanks for the protection of the land god."

  He felt strength in his legs again and, without further hesitation, ran towards the east end of the village.

  All the way, he met many villagers and saw familiar faces from the past become dry corpses after being overwhelmed by black air, which made him stumble several times, cutting his hands and bleeding.

  But at this time, who could think of these things, just crawl over, three steps and two steps to the big willow tree, it was a shock.

  In front of the temple, a large crowd of people knelt down, and upon closer inspection, almost all the followers were there, as well as more than 30 villagers, their faces still pale with shock.

  Wang Er also quickly knelt down and silently prayed: "Earth God, please save our village!"

  Fang Mingwei took a quick glance and found that the followers were all there, after all, ghosts are afraid of hard power, they have better targets elsewhere and won't die fighting with the followers.

  Adding up the total number of villagers, there were sixty-seven people, knowing that they already occupied half of the village at this time, a thought flashed through his mind, and he began to cast the "Enter Dream" spell.

  The villagers suddenly found themselves in a grand hall, where they saw Fang Ming wearing official attire, sitting high above them, exuding an aura of majesty. They immediately knelt down and begged: "Land God, please save our village from this crisis!"

  Only the clear and jade-like voice above said: "This god has the responsibility of protecting the earth, and will do his best. However, there is one thing that is difficult to understand, I am not your village's regular deity, so I cannot save the people in your village."

  Only one person came forward and bowed, recognizing him as Su Hu from the second largest household in the village. He asked: "May I ask the revered deity, how can I become the chief deity of our village?"

  "Move my temple into the village and place it on an altar, you can decide this matter by yourselves."

  As soon as the words were spoken, everyone in front of them was dizzy again. Looking around, they were still kneeling in front of the land temple. They remembered that Wang Er had seen a god when he worshipped a few days ago and thought it was just idle talk, but unexpectedly it really happened.

  He recalled the last words of the Land God and couldn't help but look at each other in dismay.