Of course, he would never say this. However, it was no wonder that Nanfeng and Fuyao's faces changed drastically when they heard about the silver butterfly. It seemed that they had suffered from the Lord of the Silver Butterfly together with the two priests they served.

A priest asked, "Your Highness, when you met Hua Cheng, what did he do to you?"

The tone of his voice clearly sounded more like he was asking, “Are you missing an arm or a leg?” Xie Lian said, “I didn’t do anything, it’s just…” At this point, he was a little at a loss for words, thinking, “Just what? I can’t say that they just hijacked my sedan chair and led me all the way.” After a moment of silence, he could only say, “They just broke the maze set up by the female ghost Xuan Ji in Yujun Mountain and brought me in.”

All the priests were puzzled and kept silent. After a while, one of them asked, "Everyone, what do you think?"

Just by listening to the voices, Xie Lian could imagine the priests shaking their heads and spreading their hands:

"No opinion, absolutely no opinion!"

"I don't know what he wants to do. It's creepy."

"What exactly Hua Cheng wants to do, no one can figure it out..."

Although he had been told what a devil Hua Cheng was, Xie Lian did not find him that scary. To be honest, he felt that Hua Cheng had helped him this time. In short, the first blessing he received after ascending back to heaven should be considered completed in this way.

It was said earlier that all the merits from the vow-fulfilling trip to Junshan would be counted on him. Although the official remembered to fulfill his vow after a long time because of his daughter's death, and he was sad, so he had to give a discount. But after all the preparations and various concessions, 8.88 million merits were almost there. Xie Lian was free of debt and felt relieved. His heart was clear and happy, and he was refreshed. He decided to be a good god. It would be best if he could become half friends with all the priests. Although the spiritual formation in the upper heaven was quiet, it was busy with shouting and yelling. Usually, when the priests were in a good mood or saw something interesting, they would talk about it in the formation and make a few jokes. Although he couldn't tell who was who, he listened silently. But he couldn't just keep silent all the time, so after listening for a long time, he would occasionally come out and say gently:

“It’s really interesting.”

"I read a beautiful poem and would like to share it with you."

"A very effective little secret to treat back and leg pain, share it with you."

Unfortunately, every time he sent out these carefully selected and beneficial contents, there would be a silence in the spiritual array. Later, Ling Wen couldn't help it anymore and said to him privately: "Your Highness, although the contents you sent out in the spiritual array are all very good, even a priest who is hundreds of years older than you would not send them out."

Xie Lian felt a little depressed. In fact, he was not the oldest, but why was he like an old man who could not keep up with the conversations of the young people among the priests? Perhaps it was because he had been away from the heaven for too long, and had always been ignorant and uninformed, not caring about the outside world. He could not be saved, so he just let it go. He gave up on this matter, and he was no longer depressed.

But there is still a problem: up to now, no one in the world has built a new temple for him. Maybe there is, but anyway, the heavens have not searched for it, so there is no record of it. You must know that even the land god has a temple. As a priest who has ascended to heaven three times, he still has no temple and no believers to worship him. This is really embarrassing.

However, it was only the other priests who were embarrassed for him. Xie Lian himself still felt that it was okay. And one day, he suddenly had an idea and said, "If no one wants to offer sacrifices to me, then I should be able to offer sacrifices to myself."

The priests didn't know how to answer.

Who the hell has ever heard of a priest offering sacrifices to himself?

What's the point of being a God when it's so miserable!

Xie Lian was already used to the silence whenever he opened his mouth, and thought it was fun to entertain himself in this way. Once he made a decision, he jumped down to the human world again.

This time, he landed in a small mountain village called Puqi Village.

It was called a mountain village, but in fact it was just a small earthen slope. Seeing the green mountains, green waters, and endless rice fields, Xie Lian thought to himself, “I’ve landed in a good place this time.” He looked again and saw a crooked, dilapidated house on the small earthen slope. He asked around and the villagers all said, “The house is abandoned and has no owner. Occasionally, homeless people go in to sleep for a night and live there at will.” Isn’t this exactly what he wanted? He walked closer.

When he got closer, he realized that the cabin looked very shabby from a distance, and even more shabby up close. Two of the four pillars in the corners of the cabin were probably rotten. When the wind blew, the whole cabin creaked and it seemed that it would collapse at any time. However, this degree was still within the acceptable range for Xie Lian, so he went in to take a look and then cleaned up.

The villagers were surprised to see someone actually staying here, and they all came over to watch the fun. The villagers were very enthusiastic. Not only did they give him a broom, seeing that he was cleaning the place, they also gave him a basket of freshly picked water chestnuts. The water chestnuts were peeled, and each one was white, tender, sweet and juicy. Xie Lian squatted at the door of the broken house and finished eating. He clasped his hands together in happiness and decided to call this place Water Chestnut Temple.

There was originally a small table in the Puqi Temple, which could be used as an altar after being wiped twice. Xie Lian was busy for a while, and the villagers who were watching saw that this young man was actually trying to turn a small Taoist temple into a temple. They were even more surprised and asked one after another: "Who are you going to worship in this temple?"

Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, “Well, the one worshipped in this temple is Prince Xianle.”

Everyone was confused: "Who is that?"

Xie Lian said, “I…I don’t know either. It seems to be a prince.”

"Oh, what do you do?"

"Probably to keep safe." And collect junk at the same time.

Everyone asked eagerly: "Then does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince manage the fortune?!"

Xie Lian thought to himself that it was good enough that he didn’t owe any money, and said in a gentle voice, “Unfortunately, it seems that I can’t do that.”

Everyone gave him advice: "You should become a water god. He will bring you wealth! He will definitely be very popular!"

"Or we can worship Lingwen Zhenjun! Maybe our village can produce a top scholar!"

A woman said timidly: "Um... do you have... do you have that..."

Xie Lian kept smiling and asked, “Which one?”

"General Juyang."

“…”

If he really opened a Juyang Temple, I'm afraid Feng Xin would shoot an arrow from the sky immediately!

After roughly cleaning the Puqi Temple, Xie Lian still needed some incense burners, sticks and other sundries. But Xie Lian had completely forgotten the most important thing - the statue of the deity. He put on his bamboo hat and went out. Oh, and there was no door. After thinking about it, he decided that the house must be rebuilt, so he wrote a sign and put it at the door: "This temple is in danger. We sincerely ask for kind people to donate money to repair it and accumulate merit."

He walked out of the house, walked seven or eight miles, and came to the town. What did he do in the town? Of course, he wanted to make a living, so he went back to his old job.

In myths and legends, gods and immortals do not need to eat. In fact, it is hard to say. The gods and immortals can indeed absorb the spiritual energy they need directly from the sun and rain. But the question is - it is possible, but who would like to do it? Why do they do it?

Some priests, due to their cultivation methods, require their internal organs to be clean, and indeed cannot touch the greasy meat and fish of mortals. If they do, they will vomit and have diarrhea, just like mortals who eat poisonous insects and dirt. However, it is not that they do not eat food, but they only eat those immortal fruits and spiritual birds that are born in pure land and have the effect of prolonging life and enhancing magic power.

But Xie Lian didn't have this problem. He was cursed and shackled, just like an ordinary person. He could eat anything, and because he had been through many battles, he would not die no matter how much he ate. Whether it was a steamed bun that had been left for a month, or a pastry that had grown green hair, he could definitely survive. With such a heaven-defying physique, when he was collecting rags, he actually lived a pretty good life. For comparison: opening a temple costs money, but collecting rags makes money. It is really better to collect rags than to ascend to heaven.

This man was handsome and had an air of immortality, which gave him an advantage when collecting rags. Soon, Xie Lian had collected a large bag. On the way back, he saw an old ox pulling a cart with several piles of straw on it. He remembered that he seemed to have seen this cart in Puqi Village just now, so it must be the same way. He asked if he could give it a ride. The cart owner raised his chin and signaled that he could get on. Xie Lian then sat on it with a large bag of rags on his back. After sitting on it, he found that there was already a person lying behind the high pile of straw.

The man's upper body was covered by the haystack, with his left leg propped up and his right leg resting, as if he was resting on his arm and taking a nap. He looked very relaxed and contented, and Xie Lian envied his relaxed posture. The pair of black boots were tightly fitted against his slender and straight calves, which was quite pleasing to the eye. Xie Lian remembered what he saw under the veil on Yujun Mountain that night, and could not help but take a few more glances to confirm that there was no silver chain hanging on the boots. He wondered what animal's skin they were made of, and thought: "Whose young master is this, running out to play?"

The cart was moving slowly on the road. Xie Lian, wearing a bamboo hat, took out a scroll and prepared to read it. He had never paid much attention to all the news circulating in the outside world, but because he had been bored many times, he thought it would be best to catch up. The cart shook for an unknown period of time and passed through a maple forest. Looking up and around, the green fields and the bright maple fire, with a bit of mountain wildness and the refreshing grass, were extremely intoxicating. Xie Lian couldn't help but be slightly startled.

When he was young, he practiced in Huangji Temple, which was built in the mountains. The whole mountain was covered with maple forests, shining like gold and blazing like fire. In this situation, it is inevitable to have some thoughts and memories. After looking for a long time, he lowered his head and continued to read the scroll.

The first thing I saw when I opened it was a line of words that read:

Prince Xianle ascended to heaven three times: God of War, God of Plague, and God of Trash.

“…”

Xie Lian said, “Well, actually if you think about it carefully, there isn’t much difference between the God of War and the God of Brokenness. All gods are equal, and all living beings are equal.”

At this moment, a chuckle came from behind him, and a voice said, "Really?"

The young man said lazily, "People naturally like to say that all gods are equal, and all living beings are equal. But if that were true, the gods and immortals would not exist at all."

The sound came from behind the straw stack on the cart. Xie Lian looked back and saw that the young man was still lying there lazily, with no intention of getting up. He probably just made a casual remark and smiled, "What you said makes sense."

He turned back and continued to read the scroll. It was written at the bottom:

Many people believe that as the god of plague, the handwriting or portrait of Prince Xianle has the power of curse. If it is posted behind someone or on the door of a house, it will bring bad luck to that person or that family.

“…”

This kind of comment makes it difficult to judge whether it is talking about God or ghosts.

Xie Lian shook his head, not wanting to read any more comments about himself, and decided to first learn about the various priests in the current heaven, so as to avoid being confused about who was who, which would be disrespectful. He remembered that a villager had mentioned the navy just now, so he went to look up the comments about the navy, and found a sentence:

The Water Master has no crossing. He controls water and money. Many merchants have a statue of the Water Master in their shops or homes to protect their wealth.

Xie Lian was a little puzzled: "If he is the water god, why does he also control wealth?"

At this time, the young man lying behind the straw pile said, "When the caravans traveled for business and transported goods, they usually traveled by water. So before setting out on the journey, they would go to the Water God Temple to burn a stick of incense, praying for a safe journey and promising to do this and that when they returned. Over time, the Water God gradually took charge of wealth."

This was actually to clear up his confusion. Xie Lian turned around and said, "Is that so? Interesting, this water master must be a very powerful high priest."

The young man sneered and said, "Well, water across the sky."

Judging from his tone, he didn’t seem to take this priest seriously, nor did he seem to be saying anything good. Xie Lian asked, “What is Shui Heng Tian?”

The young man said leisurely, "Whether a boat can leave or stay on the Yangtze River depends entirely on his words. If you don't pay him tribute, he will capsize. He is quite arrogant, so he was nicknamed Shui Heng Tian. It's similar to General Ju Yang and General Sweeping the Floor."

The famous priests all have nicknames in the human world and the heavens, such as Xie Lian's "The Laughing Stock of the Three Realms", "Famous Weirdo", "Unlucky Star", "The Dog Who Lost His Home", etc. Usually, it is very rude to call a priest by a nickname. For example, if someone dares to call him "Sweeping General" in front of Mu Qing, Mu Qing will be furious. Xie Lian remembered not to call him that, and said, "I see. Thank you for your answer." He paused, thinking that the boy's conversation was interesting, and said, "My friend, you know a lot at such a young age."

The young man said, "Not much. I have some free time. I just look around when I have time."

In the folk world, there are a lot of myth booklets everywhere, all of which tell stories about gods and ghosts, from big grudges to small trivialities, some true and some false. It is not surprising that this young man knows a lot. Xie Lian put down the scroll and said, "Well, my friend, you know a lot about gods, but do you know anything about ghosts?"

The young man asked, "Which ghost?"

Xie Lian said, “Blood Rain Visits Flowers, Flower City.”

Hearing this, the young man chuckled twice and finally sat up. He turned his head and Xie Lian’s eyes suddenly lit up.

The young man was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with red clothes as red as maple leaves, skin as white as snow, eyes as bright as stars, and a sidelong glance at him with a smile. He was extremely handsome, but there was an inexplicable wildness in his expression. His black hair was loosely tied up, a little crooked, and looked very casual.

The two were walking through the blazing maple forest. The maple leaves were dancing and falling, and one of them landed on the boy's shoulder. He blew gently, and the maple leaf fell off. Then he looked up at him and said with a smile: "What do you want to know? Just ask."