Xie Lian asked, “Really? How do you know?”

Hua Cheng was about to speak, but Pei Su, who was speechless, stretched out his trembling fingers and began to write on the ground. Out of inexplicable respect, everyone gathered around to look at him, and saw that he wrote the four words "combat form" crookedly. After writing, he seemed to have exhausted the last bit of strength, clenched his fists, and did not move.

Hua Cheng looked up and said, "That's right. The guardian mount of the Rain Master is a black bull transformed from the golden beast at the door ring of the Royal Dojo of the Rain Master Nation. It usually walks steadily without leaving any traces, but once it enters a battle, it will change its form. Therefore, this hoof print is different from the ordinary cow hoof print and is wider."

Pei Ming said: "Your Excellency Ghost King has an astonishing amount of information."

Hua Cheng pointed at the mark on the ground and continued to say to Xie Lian: "Brother, look."

Xie Lian leaned over to take a look and said, “Hmm, as expected…these hoof prints appeared suddenly, so I guess they encountered the enemy very suddenly as well.”

Hua Cheng said: "Yes. And the hoof prints are very deep, which shows that the enemy is not simple. The cow is struggling with the enemy here and was pressed more than two inches into the soil."

The two simulated the battle scene at that time. Pei Ming was not to be outdone and said, "But in the end, the two sides ended up in a draw."

Xie Lian said, “Not bad.”

There was no trace of blood or ghostly aura around. It seemed that they bumped into each other here, exchanged a few quick and fierce moves, and then both found that the opponent was a tough nut to crack, so they both gave up.

Hua Cheng informed them that the east had turned around, and the group continued to head west, but their speed slowed down a bit. Not long after, a very tall and strange building appeared on the side of the road. From a distance, it looked more imposing than other houses. Even though several walls and part of the roof had collapsed, one could only look up at it. Xie Lian could not help but stop and asked, "What is this place?"

Hua Cheng only took a glance and said, "The temple of the Wuyong people."

Pei Ming held Pei Su's arm and dragged him away, asking, "How did City Lord Hua know that this was the temple?"

Hua Cheng said: "Because it's written on it."

Hearing this, everyone looked up and saw that on the stone beam in front of the building's gate, there was indeed a row of huge characters engraved. Although there were some strange scratches after years of wear and tear, it was still clear.

However, after a moment of silence, Xie Lian said, “It is indeed written above, but…”

But I can’t understand this text at all!

He never expected that even this would not be a problem for Hua Cheng. He said to Xie Lian, "This line of text roughly means 'Your Highness the Crown Prince has come to the world with his light to forever care for the land of Wuyong'. It's just nonsense to praise the merits of the emperor. Brother, look, don't two of the last few characters look very much like 'Wu' and 'Yong'?"

When Xie Lian heard "Your Highness the Crown Prince", his expression was slightly moved. He then took a closer look. Sure enough, although this line of text looked like a child's drawing, with circles and curves, and many strange symbols, the shape and strokes of the two characters "Wu Yong" were quite similar to the characters he was familiar with, as if they were some kind of variant. Pei Ming said, "City Lord Hua can actually decipher this ancient language that has been lost for thousands of years. I really admire you."

Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow and said with a fake smile: "I have been in Tonglu Mountain for ten years. I can do a lot of things in a month. If I can't even decipher a single language after ten years, then what's the point of staying in this world, right?"

Even the top ten civil gods in the Heavenly Palace might not dare to say such a thing. As a martial god, what could Pei Ming do? He could only fake a smile and say, "Maybe."

Xie Lian exhaled softly and said, “Luckily, San Lang is here.”

Hua Cheng said: "I can only roughly interpret some of the superficial Wuyong texts. If you encounter something difficult to understand, I can only ask my brother to help me figure it out."

Xie Lian said with shame, “This… I’m definitely not as good as San Lang in this regard. But, is the god worshipped by Wuyong country also their Crown Prince?”

Hua Cheng crossed his arms and said, "I think so."

Xie Lian frowned and thought, then said, “Since my master knows about the Crown Prince of Wuyong, he should also know that he has ascended. But why did he tell me that the Crown Prince is ‘dead’?”

Hua Cheng said: "There are three possibilities: First, he really didn't know; second, he lied; third, he didn't lie, the crown prince of Wuyong is dead, but not in the common sense sense of 'death'."

Pei Ming said: "If the Emperor is here, maybe we can ask him if he knows this country or this person."

Hua Cheng said, "That's not necessarily true. Wuyong Country disappeared more than 2,000 years ago. Compared to it, Jun Wu is just a young man. They are a generation apart."

Jun Wu ascended to heaven about 1,500 years ago. He was a famous general in the troubled times. He later declared himself king and managed for several years before finally ascending to heaven. As the number one martial god who had been in power for a thousand years, his origins had long been known to everyone. The "generation gap" that Hua Cheng mentioned refers to the "generation" of the heavenly realm.

Today, the Upper Heaven Court, with Jun Wu as the supreme leader and composed of hundreds of priests, belongs to one generation, and the one before this generation is another generation.

Just as dynasties change in the mortal world, there will also be "changes of dynasties" in heaven. Although it takes a very long time, the essence is no different. New believers will replace old believers, and new gods will replace old gods.

Sometimes, the decline of a god is not because he did something wrong and was demoted, or because a stronger priest appeared, but simply because people's lives and minds gradually changed and they no longer needed him.

For example, a priest who is in charge of horses must be doing well in his life, because people cannot travel without horses and carriages, and who would not want their horses to be strong and healthy and travel safely? Therefore, he cannot be short of incense.

But if one day, ordinary people discovered something new that ran faster than horses, and this new thing became people's first choice for travel, the incense of the horse priest would definitely become increasingly deserted. Priests like this, who flashed by like shooting stars, are the majority.

This kind of decline is the cruelest, because the process is almost irreversible. Unless the priest jumps from the sky, turns himself back to a mortal body, changes his path and cultivates again, ascends again as a brand new god, otherwise, he is doomed to watch himself slowly decline and disappear. However, not everyone has such courage and luck.

This is how the gods and immortals of the previous generation declined. Some also say that it was because they caused a big mess and a melee, so they all died. The details cannot be verified and are not important.

Because, hundreds of years later, Jun Wu came out of nowhere and opened up a new era of heavenly gods. Moreover, after him, a large number of new generation priests emerged one after another to fill the vacancies of believers and gradually formed the stable heaven today.

In other words, unless there is a priest who is more senior than Jun Wu with 1,500 years of experience, it is unlikely that he would know how all traces of the ancient country of Wuyong and the gods they worshipped were quietly wiped out.

The group walked over the half-collapsed wall and entered the dark hall. After walking a few steps, Xie Lian realized something was wrong.

He originally thought that the darkness in the hall was because there was no light all year round and no windows. But the more he looked around, the weirder it seemed. He walked to the wall, gently traced his finger across the wall, and put it in front of his eyes. He couldn't help but say, "This is..."

Hua Cheng said: "Black."

It's not that the light is dim, the walls of this huge temple are actually completely black!

Hua Cheng said: "From what I have seen, almost all the temples in Tonglu Mountain are like this."

This scene is horrifying. What kind of temple walls would be painted in such a hellish black color? Just looking at it makes me terrified. How can I worship the gods here devoutly?

Pei Ming asked, "Are all of them like this? Have they been left for too long and rotted?"

Xie Lian said, “We just passed by other houses but they weren’t this dark. Logically speaking, these houses should all be of the same age.”

As he spoke, he continued to gently touch and explore the temple wall. The wall was not only horrifyingly black, but also uneven, like a woman's disfigured face, covered with horrible scars, and extremely hard. Xie Lian's heart moved, and he said, "This temple has been burned."

Pei Ming asked: "Why do you think so?"

Xie Lian turned around and said, “The walls of this temple should have been covered with murals originally. They used a special pigment, a very thick layer. After the fire, it turned black and melted a part of it and deformed it. After solidifying, it has this kind of bumpy and hard texture.”

Pei Ming said: "Your Highness the Crown Prince knows a lot. I, Pei, admire you for what you have done."

Xie Lian rubbed his brows, coughed lightly, and said, “This… is not something to be admired, it’s just because I have had many prince’s palaces burned down before, and this is the effect.”

“…”

Hearing this, everyone fell silent. Xie Lian then thought of something else and said, “And there’s that stone beam outside! There are many scratches on the words of praise carved on the stone beam. It doesn’t look like ordinary wear and tear. Someone must have scratched it with a knife.”

Pei Ming frowned and asked, "Why do you do this?"

Hua Cheng said coldly: "Because I don't admit this statement."

Xie Lian said, “Yes. It’s the same as smashing the plaque.”

Ban Yue was stunned for a moment and said, "So, this temple was set on fire by the people of Wuyong themselves?"

There was silence for a while. Just as Xie Lian was about to speak, he heard Pei Ming ask, “What does this mean?”

Xie Lian turned around and saw Pei Ming holding up his left hand. A scorpion-tailed snake was biting on it and was still poking him with its sharp tail. Ban Yue was about to kneel down to him again and said, "I'm sorry, there are snakes all over my body..."

Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He held her back and said, “Ban Yue, don’t make a habit of kneeling down to apologize to others at every turn. General Pei, how did you get bit by her snake?”

Pei Ming raised his hand and said with a dark face: "How should I know? It happened as soon as I put my arm around her shoulders."

Xie Lian asked patiently, “Then why did you put your hand around her shoulder, General Pei?”

"..." Pei Ming seemed to have just noticed and started to think about this question. After a moment, he said, "It's a habit. In such a dark and gloomy place, isn't it common sense to put your arm around a woman's shoulders and comfort her not to be afraid?"

Ban Yue said: "I'm sorry, I'm not scared."

“…” Xie Lian understood. This was just a tragedy caused by Pei Ming’s unconscious itching hands. Pei Ming finally pulled off the scorpion snake, and his left hand was already swollen. He said, “Give me the antidote quickly.”

Ban Yue said: "I'm sorry, I've run out of the Shan Yue grass."

Xie Lian said, "It's okay, General Pei, you are a priest, the swelling will go away in a while." He turned back and continued to study the wall. Suddenly, his eyes swept across a black wall and froze in an instant.

He said, "Everyone, come and see, there is still a face left in this wall!"