The couplet on the door was quite intriguing, and Chen Shi couldn't help but take a second look.
"The heavens and the earth are all reflections of me. Seeking gods and ghosts is not as good as seeking oneself. People struggle in the world; when can they achieve this? Achieving this would mean transcendence, right?"
He climbed the steps and entered this strange ancient temple.
The temple had a sandy texture, making it feel unreal, as if a slight touch would cause it to crumble.
Inside, there was a faint incense aroma. Chen Shi looked around and saw that the temple was supported by two pillars without any decorations. The floor was made of ordinary blue bricks, and the walls were plain brick with white plaster, lacking any murals.
When he touched the wall, his hand passed through it.
The pillars and floor were the same.
"This temple isn't a real temple; it's some kind of illusion. Strange, how did I end up in an illusion?"
He was puzzled. Had he really encountered something supernatural?
In front of him was an incense burner, two feet high and four feet wide, without incense, just full of ashes.
In front of the incense burner was a vermilion door frame, six feet high and about five feet wide.
The door frame was empty, holding a divine altar.
The altar was empty, without a statue.
"This altar is just like mine. I don't have a divine fetus, and it doesn't have a statue."
Chen Shi looked around but didn't find anything else.
"How do I leave this strange place?"
As soon as he thought this, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes and unknowingly left the mysterious small temple, returning to his body.
Chen Shi opened his eyes and saw that he was still standing under the tree, not having moved at all.
He was astonished, looking around, realizing that the temple he had seen was non-existent, like a dream.
"Little Shi, were you daydreaming?"
Scholar Zhu asked curiously, "You were standing here motionless. Want another incense stick... wait, why is there a temple behind your head?"
Chen Shi was startled: "There's a temple behind my head?"
"There's really a temple! A lonely temple with only a main hall and two pillars in front!"
Scholar Zhu was astonished, "It's where your divine altar used to be! Wait, where's your divine altar? It's gone!"
Chen Shi was even more shocked. The temple Scholar Zhu described was exactly the one he had seen in the illusion.
And the temple had taken the space of the divine altar, so where did his altar go?
Scholar Zhu quickly said, "Turn around slowly, let me take a look!"
Chen Shi turned as instructed, letting him examine the temple, feeling uneasy.
He regretted coming back home just to pay respects to his grandfather, godmother, and Scholar Zhu, and to visit Granny Sha, only to encounter such an incident!
He already lacked the Divine Fetus Stage compared to others. If the altar disappeared, wouldn't he be missing two stages?
Missing two stages, how could he compete with his peers?
Scholar Zhu sighed in relief, smiling: "The altar is still there, inside the temple... wait, how am I in the temple? How am I sitting on the altar?"
He exclaimed repeatedly.
Chen Shi widened his eyes as Scholar Zhu, who had been hanging from the crooked willow tree, vanished, leaving only an empty noose!
And Scholar Zhu's voice was coming from behind his head!
Scholar Zhu, panicked, yelled: "Little Shi, get me out of here! This temple is too strange!"
"I don't know how to get you out either," Chen Shi was also a bit panicked, having never experienced anything like this.
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he tried to activate the small temple like he would his altar. The temple lit up, the altar inside glowing with divine light, and Scholar Zhu was bathed in it. He opened his mouth, his tongue extending three to five feet long, scaring Heiguo, who was napping under the tree, into jumping up and running away with its tail between its legs.
Chen Shi was also startled by the tongue, quickly stopping the activation.
Scholar Zhu finally felt his body was his own again, sweating profusely, and quickly said: "Little Shi, I'm sitting on your altar in the temple. How do you feel?"
Chen Shi, upon hearing this, carefully sensed: "It feels like there's another me, like another me is sitting behind my head, helping me regulate my True Qi and operate my techniques!"
He activated the Midnight Demon Slaying Sword, forming a sword gesture with his hand, and Scholar Zhu exclaimed, involuntarily following with the same gesture.
Chen Shi activated the sword qi, and Scholar Zhu followed suit. The sword qi's power surged, slicing through the air, reaching a hundred feet away!
Chen Shi was stunned. The distance of this sword qi had increased by twenty percent compared to before!
And the power was also twenty percent greater!
With such power, who needs to use a golden core?
Moreover, with Scholar Zhu sitting in the temple's altar, he felt his True Qi flowed more smoothly and calmly, unlike the previous violent state.
But when the qi and blood erupted, the explosive power was even more terrifying!
This situation was like...
He was pondering a suitable analogy when Scholar Zhu suddenly said: "It's like having a primordial spirit behind your head, helping you regulate True Qi, stimulate qi and blood, refine golden cores, and perform spells, right?"
Chen Shi said: "I haven't cultivated to the primordial spirit stage, so I don't know what it's like."
Scholar Zhu sighed: "What I just described is the wonder of the divine fetus. When a True God descends and grants a divine fetus, the cultivator receives the True God's blessing. With a divine fetus, it's like having a primordial spirit at lower stages, making regulating qi and blood, refining elixirs, and practicing spells much easier. And the power of spells and techniques is much stronger than before."
Chen Shi murmured: "So the divine fetus is so powerful..."
"The blessing of a True God allows a cultivator to have a divine fetus, helping them to quickly reach higher stages, a crucial step for great achievements in cultivation."
Scholar Zhu's voice came from behind him, saying, "Obtaining a divine fetus is a critical step for significant progress in cultivation. But..."
His tongue slipped out again, muttering: "Isn't it only a True God who can grant blessings? How did I become a divine fetus?"
He felt it was utterly absurd. How could one give themselves away to become someone else's divine fetus?
He had been hanging on the tree just fine, so how did he end up as someone else's divine fetus?
"Scholar, don't panic. Let me think of a way!"
Chen Shi's eyes lit up, and he took out three incense sticks, quickly lighting them. "I remember there's an incense burner in the temple. Since there's an incense burner, it must be for offering incense! If I place these three incense sticks in the burner, maybe you'll be able to come out!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a large hand reached out from the small temple, grabbing the three incense sticks—it was Scholar Zhu's hand.
Heiguo watched from a distance, and when a hand suddenly appeared from the back of Chen Shi's head, it scared the dog, thinking its young master was revealing his true form, and it dared not approach.
This scene was indeed quite frightening.
In the temple, Scholar Zhu just wanted to grab the incense, but he saw his arm stretching longer and longer. From his perspective, his arm suddenly extended several feet.
This change puzzled him, and he could only say that this small temple was quite strange.
He didn't dwell on it, inserting the three incense sticks into the burner, as the incense smoke curled up and drifted towards him.
Scholar Zhu inhaled the incense aroma, feeling refreshed and invigorated, much more comfortable than when he was hanging on the tree.
He even sensed the incense aroma rapidly transforming into extraordinary power, gathering within him, shaping a true form!
He was astonished—this was the legendary creation of a god!
The so-called creation of a god was different from shaping a god with extraordinary power.
Extraordinary power, under the people's thoughts, takes form, shaping into different appearances.
These forms have shape but no substance, invisible to the naked eye, untouchable, possessing power but unable to manifest.
But creating a god is to transform the spirit into a deity. For example, in ancient times in the Divine Central Land, there was a mortal named Nezha who died tragically. His mother, grieving his early death, crafted a golden body and a statue for him, allowing his spirit to attach to the statue, receiving incense from the people. Over time, Nezha gained divinity.
This is creating a god.
The premise of creating a god is first having a decree.
A decree can be imperial, where the emperor bestows godhood. Or it can be from other deities, where gods bestow godhood.
Only these two types are true creation of gods.
But how could a small temple possess the means to create a god?
Does this small temple have imperial power, or does it have deities, capable of creating gods?
Scholar Zhu was truly puzzled.
Chen Shi asked: "Scholar, can you come out now?"
Scholar Zhu tried to get up from the altar but felt as heavy as a mountain, unable to rise, especially after absorbing the incense aroma, he felt even heavier, as if his bottom was glued to the altar.
"Still can't!"
Scholar Zhu said, "When you were in a daze earlier, did you also enter the temple? How did you leave?"
Chen Shi said: "I just thought of leaving, and I left. You try."
Scholar Zhu tried repeatedly but still couldn't leave the altar. Suddenly, a thought struck him: "Could it be that only when you think of it, I can leave?"
Chen Shi tried thinking about it, and suddenly the crooked old tree shook. Chen Shi quickly looked, seeing Scholar Zhu hanging on the noose, swaying back and forth like he had just been hanged.
Chen Shi breathed a sigh of relief.
Scholar Zhu also sighed in relief, saying: "Little Shi, how did this temple come about?"
Chen Shi said: "I don't know either. I was just offering incense to my godmother, planning to ask you about some knowledge, and suddenly..."
At this point, he paused, quickly turning to look at the stone tablet godmother. The stone tablet godmother was still half-buried in the roots of the old willow tree, just like before, with no change.
Incense smoke curled in front of the stone tablet, drifting towards it.
But in the past, whenever Chen Shi offered incense, the stone tablet would glow along the words "Grandmother" and "Deity," but this time there was no blue glow. It was as if the power accumulated in the stone tablet had suddenly been exhausted.
"Could it be that the godmother blessed me?"
Chen Shi was stunned. He had been worshipping the godmother for over two years, and the stone tablet had never shown any signs of activity. Now, suddenly granting him a small temple, could it be that the godmother had manifested?
He touched the stone tablet, trying to sense the spirit of the godmother, but all he felt was a vast emptiness, with no other consciousness.
"Scholar, do you know the origin of the stone tablet godmother?" Chen Shi asked, looking up.
Scholar Zhu shook his head: "I don't know. When I came here in despair and hanged myself on the tree, the stone tablet was already here, never having moved."
"How long ago was that?" Chen Shi asked.
"About a thousand years ago," Scholar Zhu wasn't sure.
Chen Shi was taken aback. He thought Scholar Zhu had been hanging for decades, but it turned out he had died a thousand years ago!
This meant the crooked old willow tree and the stone tablet godmother had existed a thousand years ago!
So, how long had the crooked old willow tree and the stone tablet been around?
Chen Shi looked at the Yellow Soil Hill beneath his feet.
Could it be that even in the era of the True King, this tree and this tablet had already existed?
The Yellow Soil Hill was made of kaolin, used specifically for making porcelain. This Yellow Soil Slope could be traced back to the end of the True King era.
If the True King wanted to build a kiln factory, why pile the kaolin here instead of near the kiln factory?
Clearly, it would be closer and more convenient to take soil from beside the kiln factory.
"Why did the True King pile the kaolin here? What is hidden? Why did the True King bury it? Why has no one tried to dig up this soil slope for thousands of years?"
Chen Shi looked towards Heavenly Yang Mountain, wondering how many ancient secrets were still buried within this ancient mountain range.
"The godmother gave me this small temple for a significant purpose!"
On his way back to the village, eating a watermelon he had stolen from Old Lady Wuzhu's field, Chen Shi pondered, "But my altar is hidden in the temple. After the rankings are announced, during the grand ceremony of divine descent, can a True God still grant me a divine fetus... I'm inexperienced; I should ask Granny Sha. Maybe she knows."
He rode the wooden cart left by his grandfather, called Heiguo, and together they went to Hillock Village. Granny Sha wasn't home, and her whereabouts were unknown.
Chen Shi ventured into the mountains to ask Granny Zhuang, but Granny Zhuang's knowledge was even less than Scholar Zhu's, leaving her unable to provide an answer. She said, "I only sense a sacred and extraordinary aura, solemn and majestic, but I've never seen such a temple."
Chen Shi went to ask the great black serpent of Mysterious Mountain. The serpent's gaze was deep, staring at the small temple behind his head. After a long while, it said, "Its origins are vast and indescribable."
Chen Shi asked further, but the great black serpent, though seemingly knowledgeable, said nothing more.
Throughout the journey, Heiguo remained silent, seemingly fearful of the small temple behind Chen Shi's head.
Chen Shi found Heiguo's behavior odd but didn't think much of it.
The place wasn't far from the Mountain Lord Temple. The mason had already repaired the temple, so Chen Shi decided to visit and see if the Mountain Lord's divine form had taken shape.
Outside the main hall of the Mountain Lord Temple, he had left a Soul-Bewitching Talisman. Chen Shi removed the talisman and entered the main hall, only to find that the extraordinary power within the temple had become extremely faint. The divine form in the altar was mostly formed, with a bull-headed human body sitting on a yellow tiger, but both the divine form and the tiger were blurry, as if they could collapse at any moment!
"The extraordinary power in this temple is insufficient to solidify the divine form!"
Just as Chen Shi thought this, the divine form and yellow tiger in the altar suddenly vanished!
Chen Shi was stunned, then quickly realized and rushed to the wooden cart, rummaging through it to find a mirror.
He looked into the mirror and saw a small temple floating behind his head, incense smoke curling within. Inside the altar, a bull-headed human figure sat, with a fierce tiger at its feet, which suddenly jumped down with a thunderous roar!
Chen Shi steadied himself.
"Oh no, I have a divine fetus now!"
End of Chapter.