"Congratulations, Your Highness."

Hearing this, Xie Lian looked up, smiled before speaking, and said, “Thank you. But can I ask what you are congratulating me for?”

Lingwen Zhenjun stood with his hands behind his back and said, "Congratulations on winning the first place on this Jiazi's list of 'priests most expected to be demoted to the mortal world'."

Xie Lian said, “No matter what, it’s still first place. But since you’re congratulating me, I think there must be something good about it, right?”

Ling Wen said: "Yes. If you are ranked first on this list, you can get 100 merits."

Xie Lian immediately said, “Next time if there is a list like this, please take me with you.”

Lingwen said: "Do you know who is the second place?"

Xie Lian thought for a moment and said, “That’s too hard to guess. After all, if we talk about strength, I should be able to take the top three spots.”

Lingwen said: "Almost. There is no second place. You are so far ahead that no one can catch up with you."

Xie Lian said, “I really don’t deserve this. Then who was the first in the last sixty years?”

Ling Wen said: "No. Because this list was only established this year, or to be more precise, today."

“Eh,” Xie Lian was startled, and said, “So, this isn’t a list set up just for me, is it?”

Ling Wen said: "You can also think that you just happened to win the championship because you happened to catch up."

Xie Lian smiled and said, “Well, if you think this way, I’ll be happier.”

Lingwen continued: "Do you know why you won the championship?"

Xie Lian said, “It’s what everyone wants.”

Lingwen said: "Let me tell you why. Please look at that clock."

She raised her finger and Xie Lian looked back. What he saw was extremely beautiful. He saw a white jade palace, pavilions, towers, fairy clouds, flowing springs, and flying birds.

But he looked for a long time and asked, "Are you pointing in the wrong direction? Where is the clock?"

Lingwen said, "You're right. It's right there. Do you see it?"

Xie Lian looked carefully again and said truthfully, “I didn’t see it.”

Lingwen said: "That's right, you didn't see it. There was a clock there originally, but it was knocked off when you ascended."

“…”

"That bell is older than you, but it is lively and noisy. Whenever someone ascends, it will ring a few times to show its support. On the day you ascended, it rang like crazy and couldn't stop. In the end, it fell from the bell tower and only then did it stop. It even hit a priest who was passing by."

Xie Lian asked, “This… Is it okay now?”

Lingwen: "Not yet, still repairing."

Xie Lian: “I’m talking about the priest who was hit.”

Ling Wen said, "It was a martial god who was smashed, and he split it in half right away. Next, please look at the golden palace over there. Do you see it?"

She pointed again, and Xie Lian looked again, and saw the dazzling glazed golden roof in the misty clouds, and said, “Ah, I see it this time.”

Lingwen said: "It's wrong to see it. There was nothing there in the first place."

“…”

"When you ascended, you shook the golden palaces of many priests, causing the golden pillars to fall and the glazed tiles to shatter. Some of them could not be repaired in a short time, so they had to temporarily build a few new ones to make do."

"Is the responsibility on me?"

"The responsibility is on you."

“Hmm…” Xie Lian checked, “Did I offend a lot of priests right after I got here?”

Lingwen said: "Maybe not if you can save it."

"Then how can I redeem myself?"

"That's right. Eight million eight hundred and eighty thousand merits."

Xie Lian laughed again.

Ling Wen said: "Of course, I know you can't even afford one tenth of it."

Xie Lian said frankly, “How should I put it? Although I’m sorry, I can’t give you even one ten-thousandth of it.”

The faith of mortal believers is transformed into the magic power of the priests, and every bit of incense and offering they make is called "merit".

After laughing, Xie Lian asked seriously, “Are you willing to kick me out of here right now and give me 8.88 million merits?”

Ling Wen said: "I am a literary god. If you want someone to kick you, you should find a martial god. Kick harder and you will get more."

With a long sigh, Xie Lian said, “Let me think about what to do.”

Lingwen patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't panic, there will be a way out when you reach the mountain."

Xie Lian said, “I am. When the time comes, the boat will sink.”

If it was during the heyday of the Xianle Palace eight hundred years ago, eight million eight hundred thousand merits would not be a big deal, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would have waved them without blinking an eye. But now is different, his palaces and temples in the mortal world have long been burned down. There are no believers, no incense, no offerings.

Needless to say, there is nothing, nothing, nothing at all!

A man squatted on the street of Xianjing with a headache for a long time. He suddenly remembered that he had ascended for almost three days and had not yet entered the spiritual formation of the heavenly court. He had just forgotten to ask what the password was.

The priests of the Heavenly Court jointly set up a formation that could allow the divine consciousness to communicate with spirits and voices instantly within the formation. After ascending, one must enter the formation. However, one needs to know the password so that the divine consciousness can search for a specific spiritual formation. The last time Xie Lian entered the formation was eight hundred years ago, and he didn't remember what the password was at all. He sent out his divine consciousness to search for a formation that looked a bit like it, so he entered it at random. As soon as he entered the formation, he was knocked around by the shouts from all directions:

"Place your bets and leave them alone. Let's bet on how long our Crown Prince can hold out this time!!"

"I'll bet for a year!"

"A year is too long. Last time it was only one stick of incense. This time it will be three days. Three days, three days!"

"Stop it, idiot! Three days are almost up, can you please do it?!"

…Xie Lian quietly withdrew.

Wrong. This is definitely not it.

The upper heaven was full of high priests who were in charge of a region. They were all well-known and busy. Moreover, because they were all celestial officials who had ascended to heaven, they were proud of their status and were usually quite reserved. Their words and actions were often pretentious. It was only when he ascended for the first time that he was so excited that he grabbed every priest in the spiritual communication array and greeted him, introducing himself from head to toe in an extremely serious and detailed manner.

After he exited, he searched randomly again and randomly entered another one. This time, Xie Lian felt relieved and thought, "It's so quiet, it's probably this."

At this time, a voice was heard saying softly: "Your Highness the Crown Prince is back again?"

The voice sounded very pleasant at first, with a gentle voice and a gentle tone. But if you listen carefully, you will find that the voice is very cold, and the emotion is also very cold, which makes the gentleness seem a bit malicious.

Xie Lian originally just wanted to follow the rules and enter the formation, lurking quietly, but since someone had already come to talk to him, he couldn't just pretend to be deaf and dumb. Moreover, he was very happy that there were actually priests in the Heavenly Court who were willing to take the initiative to talk to him, the God of Plague. So, he quickly replied, "Yes! Hello everyone, I'm back again."

How could he know that after this question and answer, all the priests who were currently in the spiritual communication formation pricked up their ears.

The priest said slowly, "His Royal Highness's ascension this time is really a grand event."

In the heavenly palace, emperors and generals are everywhere, and heroes are like flowing water.

To become an immortal god, one must first become a great man. Those who have made great achievements or great talents in the world have a greater chance of ascending. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the king, princess, prince, and general are not rare here. Who is not the favored child of heaven? Everyone is polite to each other, calling His Majesty, General, Gang Leader, and all kinds of compliments. But after these two sentences of this priest, it doesn't seem so right.

Although he called them "Your Highness the Crown Prince" on the left and "Your Highness the Crown Prince" on the right, people didn't feel that he had any respect for them. Instead, it was as if he was poking people with needles. There were several other priests in the spiritual communication array who were also genuine "Your Highness the Crown Prince". They were all so uncomfortable after hearing him call them that their backs were covered with goosebumps. Xie Lian could tell that the other party had bad intentions, but he didn't want to compete with him. He thought to himself, "I'll run away" and smiled, "Not bad." But the priest didn't give him a chance to run away. He said indifferently, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, it's not bad. But my luck is not so good."

Suddenly, Xie Lian heard a secret message coming from Ling Wen.

She said only one word: "Clock."

Xie Lian understood instantly.

It turns out that this is the God of War who was hit by the bell!

If that’s the case, then it’s not without reason that the other person is angry. Xie Lian has always been very good at apologizing, and he immediately said, “I heard about Zhong’s matter. I’m really sorry. I’m sorry.”

The other party snorted, and I couldn't figure out what he meant.

There were many famous Martial Gods in the Heaven Realm, many of whom were new nobles who ascended to heaven after Xie Lian. Just by the voice, Xie Lian couldn't tell who it was, but he couldn't apologize without knowing the person's name, so he asked again, "Excuse me, what is your name?"

After these words were spoken, the other side fell silent.

Not only did the other side fall silent, the entire spiritual formation seemed to freeze, and a breath of death was overwhelming.

Ling Wen sent him another voice message: "Your Highness, although I think you wouldn't have failed to recognize him after talking for so long, I still want to remind you. That's Xuan Zhen."

Xie Lian asked, “Xuan Zhen?”

He paused for a moment before reacting and replied in shock, "Is this Mu Qing?"

General Xuanzhen is the god of war who sits in the southwest. He owns seven thousand palaces and temples and is very famous in the world.

This General Xuanzhen, whose real name was Mu Qing, was a deputy general serving under the Crown Prince in Xianle Palace eight hundred years ago.

Lingwen was also shocked: "You really didn't recognize him, did you?"

Xie Lian said, “I really didn’t recognize him. He didn’t talk to me like this before. And I can’t remember the last time I saw him. It must have been five hundred or six hundred years. I can’t even remember what he looks like, so how can I recognize his voice?”

The spiritual formation remained silent. Mu Qing said nothing. The other priests pretended not to be listening, while waiting frantically for one of them to continue the conversation.

Speaking of these two, it is rather embarrassing. The twists and turns have been passed down for so many years, and everyone already knows most of it. Back then, Xie Lian was the prince of Xianle, and practiced in Huangji Temple. This Huangji Temple is the royal temple of Xianle Kingdom, and the standard for selecting disciples is strict. Mu Qing was born in a poor family, and his father was a beheaded criminal. Such a person is not qualified to enter Huangji Temple, so he can only be a handyman, cleaning the Taoist room and serving tea and water for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the temple. Xie Lian saw that he worked hard, so he asked the national teacher to make an exception and accept him as a disciple. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said so, and Mu Qing was able to enter the temple to practice and practice with the Crown Prince. After ascending to heaven, Xie Lian also appointed him as a general and took him to Xianjing together.

However, after Xianle destroyed the country and Xie Lian was demoted to the mortal world, Mu Qing did not follow him. Not only did he not follow him, he did not even say a word for him. Anyway, since the prince was gone, he was free, and he found a paradise and practiced hard. Within a few years, he passed the heavenly tribulation and ascended to heaven.

In the beginning, one was in heaven and the other was on earth. Now, they are still in heaven and the other is on earth. It’s just that their situations have been completely reversed.

On this side, Lingwen said: "He is very angry."

Xie Lian said, “I guess so.”

Lingwen said, "I'll go talk about something else. You should take this opportunity to leave."

Xie Lian said, “That’s not necessary. Just pretend nothing happened.”

Lingwen said: "No need? I feel embarrassed looking at you all."

Xie Lian said, “It’s fine!”

Xie Lian is a person who can do anything except die. He has nothing much, but he must lose face a lot. He has done many times more embarrassing things than this, and he really thinks it's okay. But he didn't know that everything can be said in advance. As soon as he said "it's okay", he heard a voice roaring: "Who the hell demolished my golden palace?! Get out!!!"

This roar made the scalps of the immortals and gods in the formation explode.

Although their stomachs were already churning with anger, they still held their breath and waited silently to hear how Xie Lian would respond to this scolding. Who would have thought that there was no end to the excitement, only more excitement. Before Xie Lian could even open his mouth, Mu Qing spoke first.

He just laughed twice: "Haha."

The man said coldly, "You tore it apart? Fine, wait."

Mu Qing said calmly: "I didn't say it was me, don't spit blood on me."

The other party asked: "Then why are you laughing? Are you sick?"

Mu Qing said: "It's nothing, what you said is just funny. The person who demolished your golden palace is now in the spiritual formation, you can ask it yourself."

Things had come to this point, and Xie Lian was too embarrassed to just run away.

He coughed dryly and said, "It's me. I'm sorry."

As soon as he spoke, the person who came later also fell silent.

Lingwen's voice came to my ear again: "Your Highness, that is Nanyang."

Xie Lian said, “I recognized this. But he didn’t seem to recognize me.”

Ling Wen said: "No. He just wandered around the mortal world more often and returned to Xianjing less often. He didn't know that you had ascended again."

Nanyang Zhenjun is the martial god who sits in the southeast. He owns nearly 8,000 palaces and temples and is extremely loved by the common people.

His real name is Feng Xin. Eight hundred years ago, he was the number one general under the Prince of Xianle Palace.

Feng Xin was a loyal man. He had been Xie Lian's bodyguard since he was fourteen years old. He grew up with the prince, ascended to heaven with him, was demoted with him, and was exiled with him. Unfortunately, they did not survive these eight hundred years together. In the end, they parted ways unhappily and never saw each other again.