Novel Full Chapter 522 The City God
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Three days later, at the City Divine Temple halfway up Qiluo Mountain, Chen Mu stood at the entrance of the main hall, surveying the entire temple courtyard.
In front of the gate, the ground was neatly paved with blue stone slabs, and a three-legged, two-eared copper incense burner first caught his eye.
Three or five pine and cypress trees were planted on both sides of the courtyard, each followed by a moon gate leading to two small courtyards on the left and right.
Chen Mu had already explored the place yesterday, and the rooms in the courtyard were fully furnished with furniture of every description, yet there was no sign of life.
He glanced left and right, then looked up at the cloudless blue sky. Chen Mu walked past the incense burner and headed straight for the main gate.
Under the gate tower, there stood an armored general on each side, one holding a stick and the other a mace, both with a stern expression.
Looking through the open main gate, there were no steps or stone paths nearby, and no white clouds or green mountains in the distance, just a hazy mist.
Chen Mu adeptly maneuvered the Yin Spirit Divine Power into the armored general statues.
The next moment, the white fog swirled, and a huge, semi-transparent arc-shaped water screen appeared in the air outside the gate.
The light and shadow on it kept changing, revealing a City Divine Temple identical to the one behind it on the water screen.
The difference was that there was a stream of people coming and going inside the temple on the screen, men and women, old and young, all dressed differently, lining up to enter the main hall to burn incense and pay respects, bustling with activity.
And as he directed the Yin Spirit Divine Power, the screen kept changing, allowing him to observe every part of the temple without any dead angles. Even the surrounding green mountains and the town below could be roughly viewed by adjusting the closeness of the image.
Moreover, as the images changed, the diverse sounds also shifted, giving him a sense of being on the scene.
“Interesting…” Chen Mu adjusted the screen with interest and continued to watch.
“It’s just a pity that I can’t leave this temple.” After a while, Chen Mu fixed the content of the water screen to an overhead view of the inside of the City Divine Temple, then sat cross-legged on the threshold, collecting information through the water screen in front of him while shaking his head and sighing about his situation.
The water screen showed the real scenery inside the Luandu County Town God Temple, whereas the temple he was in was a small Cave Heaven created by a Thousand Li House within the confines of a pouch.
Through several days of observation, Chen Mu had almost confirmed that this small Cave Heaven was hidden inside the statue of the Luandu County Town God.
He had tried many times, but neither Flight nor Escaping Earth allowed him to leave the divine statue’s small Cave Heaven.
The surrounding area had a barrier similar to that of the Thousand Lanterns City Cave Heaven, with boundaries that seemed just within reach yet were forever untouchable.
“Am I really going to guard this City Divine Temple for a hundred years?”
The mere thought of a boring, prison-like life ahead made Chen Mu involuntarily scratch his head.
“No wonder nobody wants the job of being a Living God.”
Previously at Ghost Gate, he was pulled away from Le Dian by a special force and ended up in a daze at the City Divine Temple in Qiluo Mountain in Luandu County.
The temple was newly built, and there was no Living God within the divine statue. He came here with the Divine-Sealing Pact, and even though most of its qi was concealed, it was still detected by the Dao field barrier, and he was forcibly pulled into the statue to become a Living God.
“Where did those seven pulling forces come from?”
“Was it Qian Huan’s doing?”
“Or was it that cyber Meng Po causing trouble?” Chen Mu frowned in deep thought.
He always remembered the look that Divine Monarch Meng gave him before he left the Netherworld.
“Did she discover that I knew the secret of Yin Spirit’s origin? So she purposely trapped me here?”
“Or was it just the leak from Li’s Substitute Peach Stiff Technique that got me a hundred-year sentence to guard the City God Temple?”
“Can’t figure it out…” He had been recalling his previous experiences over the last three days, hoping to find some clues, but to no avail.
“I don’t even know where exactly Luandu County is, and though there is some Earth Spirit Vital Energy, it’s rather thin and inadequate to support Qi Cultivation for immortality.”
“Waiting a hundred years to leave the divine statue and then search for Earth Spirit Vital Energy to condense the Divine Orifice, the daisies would have wilted.” Chen Mu couldn’t help shaking his head: “I can only try to see if the scripture inside the main hall is of any use now.”
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In the Divine Statue Cave Heaven, inside the City Divine Main Hall.
A jade statue of a god in wide robes and a high crown sat solemnly in the middle of the main hall, his facial features bore a five or six parts resemblance to Chen Mu, with a serious and majestic expression.
In front of the statue was a long incense table, with a copper incense burner in the middle. The incense burner was empty, yet there was a continuous stream of green smoke wafting from it.
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A faint aroma filled the air, and with just a light sniff, Chen Mu felt his heart clear up, and the slight gloom that had clouded his mood quickly became calm and peaceful.
“To think they’ve gone to such lengths to keep a Living God content in captivity,” he mused.
“The hall is equipped with special incense for soothing the mind, and they’ve arranged a full home theater at the entrance. Tsk! Interesting…” Chen Mu chuckled to himself, turning his head to look at both sides of the hall.
Eight steles, each as tall as a man, stood divided on either side of the hall, mysterious scriptures carved upon them.
Over the past few days, he had carefully compared the City Divine Temples inside and outside, through the water screen at the entrance.
The layout of courtyards, structure of buildings, arrangement of tables and chairs, and so on were all exactly the same. Only the scriptures on the steles of the hall were different.
The steles outside were inscribed with excerpts from the Root Scripture, while the ones inside the Divine Statue Cave Heaven bore the Lingbao Pivot Scripture.
The Root Scripture was a widely circulated scripture that he had seen before in the wilderness of Da Liang, and he had even earned a fair sum of copper coins by copying it. But he had never heard of or seen the Lingbao Pivot Scripture before.
“I just hope there isn’t a trap hidden in here,” Chen Mu hesitated in front of the stele.
Having concocted the East Pole Longevity Scripture that could lure the Heavenly Demon Spirit Seed, he had grown quite wary of these arcane texts with unclear origins.
“Forget it, let’s give it a try. I don’t fancy spending a hundred years in jail.”
He guessed that these scriptures must be standard for a Living God, and even if there was a problem, it shouldn’t be too significant.
And throughout these three days, he hadn’t been idle. Although he hadn’t dared to recite the entire text, he had nonetheless pondered over the scripture on the first stele extensively.
Although no new items had appeared on the grey wall, it had provided him with some vague feedback, and Chen Mu had not sensed any danger from it.
“Let’s practice.”
…
Half a month later, inside the Divine Statue Cave Heaven.
In the City Divine Temple courtyard to the east, beneath two cypress trees, a new round stone table and a brand-new rocking chair had been placed. At this moment, Chen Mu was lying in it.
His lips moved subtly as rhythmic chanting surrounded him.
After a while, Chen Mu’s eyebrows twitched, and he suddenly opened his eyes.
The grey wall appeared before him, with a new entry materializing.
Lingbao Pivot Scripture: 2/10000/First Rank;
A string of insights surfaced in his heart, and a flash of joy crossed Chen Mu’s face.
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“I did it!”
With a thought, Yin Spirit Divine Power vibrated along a special trajectory, and suddenly he slumped backward, his breath instantly becoming calm and weak, as if he had slipped into a deep sleep.
At the same time, inside the City Divine Main Hall of Luandu County Town God Temple, Chen Mu’s figure suddenly appeared.
At that moment, he wore a loose, gray robe with no hair on his head. Two silvery lines glowed at his brow, and his face resembled that of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old.
“Can the Lingbao Pivot Scripture let the Heavenly Demon True Body escape the Divine Statue Cave Heaven?” Chen Mu was elated.
“No, that’s not right. It must only be a projection, allowing only the Divine Thoughts to wander nearby,” he noted.
He noticed that the crowd worshiping and offering incense inside the hall showed no reaction to his appearance.
Some even passed directly through his body as if he were no more than an invisible ray of light.
“What is this? Is this because they’re afraid the Living God will get bored and lonely, so they especially allowed the Divine Thoughts to get some air?”
“Why do I feel like this Living God is more and more like being in jail?” Chen Mu said with a wry smile.
“Even so, it’s better than being trapped inside the statue. At least this is like a crack opening in the confinement of the statue,” he reasoned.
“If my mastery of the Lingbao Pivot Scripture becomes profound enough, perhaps I can completely detach from the Divine Statue Cave Heaven,” Chen Mu surmised, looking at the new entry on the grey wall with confidence.
“No more thinking about that, let’s first go and check out the town down the mountain, Luandu County,” he decided.