"congratulations!"

"Your Highness, congratulations!"

The newly built Puqi Temple was bustling with people coming and going. Xie Lian walked among several long tables that were filled with food, serving bowl after bowl of steaming hot noodles, golden soup, and white, fragrant rice. He was busy dealing with the guests, but he took time out of his busy schedule to say, "Thank you, please sit down!"

The Puqi Temple, which unfortunately collapsed during the fight, was rebuilt.

After the reconstruction, it was much more impressive than the original dilapidated house, and it even had a newly built courtyard. It was not rebuilt by Xie Lian or Hua Cheng, but by the villagers of Puqi Village. After Xie Lian fled that day, they opened the ruins and found a box of gold bars. Of course, it was the pile that Quan Yizhen stuffed into his merit box every day.

The villagers had never seen so much gold before and were almost terrified. After waking up, the village chief took a portion of it and rebuilt the Puqi Temple. He did not dare to touch the rest and left it there until Xie Lian came back to give it to him.

Therefore, when Xie Lian returned with Hua Cheng, he was greeted not only by the villagers' enthusiastic calls of "Master" and "Little Flower", but also by a brand new Taoist temple and a box of heavy gold bars.

He had intended to return the gold bar to Quan Yizhen, but Quan Yizhen refused to take it. It was not until Hua Cheng told him that if he did not take the gold bar back, he would not be able to learn the correct way to nourish the soul that the kid obediently changed his habit of blindly giving gold bars to others.

After saying hello, several priests headed by Mu Qing stepped into the courtyard with dignity. Suddenly they looked up and saw the whole picture of the Taoist temple. They were speechless for a moment.

Blind.

So blind!

The festive colors of bright red and green and the exaggerated colored clay statues were not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing was the plaque.

What exactly is written or painted on that plaque?

The completion of the new pavilion was a cause for celebration, but the new pavilion was in such bad taste and vulgarity, and there was a plaque as a desperate finishing touch that made it so difficult to praise it that they completely forgot the congratulatory words they had prepared.

However, Xie Lian didn’t mind. Instead, he thought it was good. At least it was no longer a dangerous building that could collapse at any time. He once again invited them, “Please take a seat?”

The priests didn’t seem to want to sit down, and they came to congratulate him just for the sake of appearance. They hurriedly put down their gifts and left. Xie Lian asked Mu Qing, “Why are they leaving in such a hurry?”

Mu Qing: "Do you even need to ask this?"

Xie Lian: “Use it.”

Mu Qing said unhappily: "Then go ask your good Sanlang."

It turned out that when Hua Cheng came back, the first person to know was Xie Lian, and the second was Shang Tian Ting, which had not yet warmed up to the new Xian Jing. Not only because the Lantern Festival they had worked so hard to organize not long ago was just like the Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Festival, Hua Cheng suddenly appeared and blew up 3,000 lanterns, but also because from that night on, the bell rang non-stop, and the entire Shang Tian Ting was echoing with its notification sound, as if reminding them: the nightmare of the gods and immortals is back again!

The nightmare was right in front of them, so ordinary priests naturally didn't dare to approach. However, the rumors about Hua Cheng and Xie Lian in the Heavenly Court were already so strong that they didn't even need to be exaggerated. They still wanted to build a relationship with Xie Lian and ask Hua Cheng to show some mercy in the future.

Xie Lian heard this and remembered that Hua Cheng had asked to report his great achievements to the Heavenly Court for a whole year, so he smiled and said, “Naughty.”

Mu Qing said, "This is more than just mischief. You should ask him to stop. It's too much. Now the bell is making so much noise every day that people are panicking. It's impossible to work in the Heavenly Palace. It also falls and hits people from time to time. The Xinxianjing that was rebuilt with great difficulty should not be destroyed because of something like this."

Xie Lian said, “Okay, I’ll talk to him later. By the way, would you like to try it?” He pointed to the rice and noodle soup on the table in the yard and added, “I didn’t make it.”

Mu Qing heard the cold expression at the beginning, full of rejection, and only returned to normal after hearing the latter sentence. At this moment, Feng Xin also came. He entered the yard and just passed by a few young priests who were about to leave. They greeted him and whispered, "It's General Nanyang."

"It's him. So pitiful, his wife and son ran away with someone..."

Feng Xin's forehead was bulging with veins, and he started cursing on the spot: "Fuck you!!! Are you done yet?! You've been harping on this for months?! And! It's 'ran away'! Not 'ran away with someone'! You're just spreading rumors!"

The gossipy little priests were so frightened that they quickly fled. Mu Qing gathered his sleeves with his hands and said, "It's better not to explain at all. It just sounds more embarrassing."

Feng Xin was furious, so he grabbed a broom nearby and threw it over. Mu Qing caught it and said, "Old-fashioned. This trick doesn't work on me now."

Feng Xin was about to scold him again, but Xie Lian walked over and handed him a broom, saying, “It’s good that it’s useless. How about this, you two help me sweep this yard. I just set off a few strings of firecrackers, and the ground is covered with red residue. Thank you for your hard work. If you’re bored, you can also catch the dragon.”

"???"

Half an hour later, a noisy voice was heard outside the temple, getting closer and closer.

Several people in the yard looked outside, and after a while, a large group of people rushed into the yard of Puqi Temple, shouting, "Is this the place?" "Yes, it is here, wow, it's quite grand." "There is really rice, a lot of rice!" "And meat!"

The ground that Feng Xin and Mu Qing had just swept clean was trampled by a large group of muddy people. Mu Qing held the broom, as if he felt that he was infected with fleas, his eyes widened: "...What's wrong with these beggars?"

The leader of the beggars, with messy hair and dirty clothes, was Shi Qingxuan. He limped over and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, I am sorry to bother you! How about it? Do you still respect what we agreed on last time?"

Xie Lian smiled and said, “You are most welcome. Of course it counts! Please take a seat. Please take a seat.”

Mu Qing said: "There are too many people."

Shi Qingxuan said: "Not many! All the gentlemen who helped guard the human formation in the imperial city last year are here."

At that time, Shi Qingxuan and the others had agreed to treat everyone to chicken legs after the event was completed, but after the event was completed, no one could be found, so naturally, the chicken legs were not eaten. Today, however, the promise was finally fulfilled, and bowl after bowl of chicken leg noodles were served. Shi Qingxuan said, "Everyone, don't worry about it today, eat!"

The beggars squeezed off the table and sat on the floor, cheering, then picked up the big bowl and slurped it. As they were eating, suddenly one of them said, "No, there's an evil spirit!"

Everyone turned around and saw that the group was actually Tianyankai and the others. Xie Lian felt a slight headache and asked, "Why are you here too?"

Tianyankai said, "We also helped last time, why can't they come?" He raised the bowl high and said seriously, "Everyone, listen to me, I am definitely not mistaken! The food in this bowl has an evil aura, I'm afraid it's not a good thing, it's very strange! Put it down quickly!"

No one paid any attention to him. The beggars had already finished their round of meals and raised their empty bowls: "Another bowl!"

Feng Xin and Mu Qing were fighting with brooms while sweeping the red firecracker residue all over the yard. Seeing that others were eating and drinking so happily, they also sat down and picked up their bowls. Tianyan was angry and said, "Why don't you listen to others!" He was about to get up and go to the kitchen to check. Shi Qingxuan held him down and said, "Master, you really think too much. This is the territory of Xueyu Tanhua. It is normal to have evil spirits. Okay, okay, you are worried, right? I will go and see. You sit still and don't be impulsive."

He really got up, walked to the kitchen, lifted the curtain and said, "Look, there's nothing strange about it—"

Xie Lian said, “Wait a moment, I want to take a look too…”

However, when he, Shi Qingxuan, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing looked over, they were all shocked.

In the kitchen, a tall and strong pig butcher was chopping frantically on the chopping board. If there were no pig legs hanging behind him, one would have thought he was chopping people. Next to him, a huge vat was burning under a big fire. In the vat, a long-necked chicken man was rubbing his body vigorously. When he saw someone outside seeing him, he screamed and covered his chest with his hands.

Xie Lian was overwhelmed, and hurriedly walked in and whispered, “Didn’t I tell you that you can’t do this?”

Ji Jing patted his chest and assured, "Dabogong, we took a bath before coming here, so we are very clean! And this soup base has the effect of prolonging life, so it won't harm you if you don't drink it! It's worth it! Eat it with confidence!"

“…”

Shi Qingxuan silently lowered the curtain, while Feng Xin and Mu Qing immediately threw their bowls away, saying, "You might as well do it!"

Xie Lian rubbed his brows and said with amusement and helplessness, “They insisted on helping me. I couldn’t help it. They meant well.”

At this moment, Tianyankai finally seemed to feel that the people here were acting suspiciously, so he walked over. Xie Lian quickly stopped him and asked, "What's the matter?"

He was afraid that Tianyankai would see the pig butcher and start a fight again. But Tianyankai didn’t come to the kitchen, but to him. He circled around Xie Lian a few times and said in confusion, “Strange…”

Xie Lian asked, “What’s wrong?”

Tianyankai seemed puzzled and said, "That's not right, Taoist Xie, how come the ghost energy on you is more serious than last time?"

“…”

Xie Lian coughed lightly. Mu Qing snorted, "Of course it's getting worse after hanging out with the Ghost King all day."

Tianyankai said, "No. Even if that's the case, it shouldn't be like this, right?"

Feng Xin said, "What's this and that?"

After being puzzled for a long time, Tianyankai finally spoke directly.

He said, "How did the evil spirit on you become something that comes from the inside out? This... this is completely emanating from your body."

“…”

"You are in great trouble. What has happened to you? Why are you so ill?"

“…”

Xie Lian couldn't even cough. His entire face was flushed with blood.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing didn’t understand what he said at first, but when they came to their senses, they looked at Xie Lian at the same time and fell silent: “…”

Only Shi Qingxuan was confused and asked, "What's wrong? So what? What's going on? Your Highness, are you really sick? Does Xueyu Tanhua know about it? Didn't he treat you well?!"

No, no, no. It's because of him that this happened!

Xie Lian stammered, “This. Actually. It’s not. You guys shouldn’t… I think, why not, um…”

His mind was filled with a mess of images and he spoke a bunch of meaningless words. Suddenly, he leaned against someone's chest from behind. An arm with a silver wristband wrapped around him, and a familiar voice said with a smile, "I think you should go back to your seats, eat your food, and don't worry about anything else. How about that?"

In this situation, Xie Lian really didn’t know whether he should feel like he had been pardoned or even more embarrassed, so he said, “San Lang!”

When they saw Hua Cheng coming out, Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both speechless, but since Xie Lian was in front of them, they couldn't say anything. Only Shi Qingxuan asked seriously, "Xueyu Tanhua, have you checked the health of the Crown Prince?"

Xie Lian covered his forehead with his hands, hoping that he would stop asking. At this time, the beggars shouted: "Another bowl!" "Add more meat!" "This chicken soup is not flavorful, add more salt!"

Mu Qing couldn't bear to watch it anymore and said, "Do you know that this is a Taoist temple and it has priests here? Can you be a little more reserved?"

The beggars didn't know this. Last time, they worked together with many priests to consolidate the human formation. They saw with their own eyes that some priests trembled and fled in the face of the enemy. They were not as good as them. They also knew Shi Qingxuan, so they couldn't help but think that the gods were like this. When it came to life and death, they didn't seem to be much different from them, and they didn't seem so high and mighty and inviolable.

Suddenly, a scream came from the kitchen: "Who is it?"

Hearing this, Xie Lian’s heart tightened, and he rushed into the kitchen, only to see the pig butcher and the chicken spirit yelling inside, and he hurriedly tried to comfort them, “Calm down! Calm down! What’s wrong?”

The chicken essence was so frightened that he got goose bumps all over his body: "Dabogong! It's haunted! There's a ghost, it ate up all the food and soup we prepared! I just dived for a while, and when I got up again there was not even a bowl left! It's haunted!"

The pig butcher spat, "What are you afraid of? You are a ghost yourself!"

Xie Lian was slightly stunned. “How could that be? I just saw you guys make over fifty bowls.”

"yes!"

But when I looked again, I saw that the more than 50 bowls were empty, even the soup had been drunk up!

Xie Lian was just wondering when he suddenly thought of someone. He turned around and saw Hua Cheng leaning against the door. He asked, "San Lang, could it be?"

Hua Cheng said calmly: "Eight or nine out of ten."

“Hmm…” Xie Lian said, “He should have come to congratulate us, right? He should be welcomed, but he eats a little too much… Now he has finished all the food, what should I do?”

Hua Cheng smiled and said, "No big deal. Just add interest."

The troubled ghosts in the ghost market resigned themselves to their fate and began to cook again. At this time, there was a commotion in the hall and the courtyard, as if someone was arguing with someone else. Xie Lian was about to go out to mediate, but Hua Cheng grabbed his hand and took him out the other side of the door.

The two held hands and walked out of Puqi Temple. There were trees blocking the way, so it would be easier to walk if they put down their hands and walked separately, but neither of them wanted to let go of each other's hands, so they turned around and around. While circling around, Xie Lian asked, "Sanlang, where are we going now?"

Hua Cheng said: "It's too noisy here, let them fight and we'll leave first."

Xie Lian looked back as he walked, and said with a bit of worry, “Should we ignore them? Puqi Monastery was just rebuilt, what if it gets destroyed again?”

Hua Cheng said nonchalantly: "If it collapses, it collapses. We can just build another one. If brother wants, we can have as many as you want."

“Hahahahahahaha…”

·

At night, in Qiandeng Temple, Xie Lian, wearing a thin, snow-white undershirt after bathing, leaned on the jade table on the edge of the couch, writing stroke by stroke.

He was writing a calligraphy copy for Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng was leaning against him, also wearing only a shirt with a slightly open collar, and was playing with the red coral bead at the end of his hair in his hand, bored.

Under the dimly warm jade-like light, he kept staring at Xie Lian. After a long while, he squinted his eyes as if he was satisfied and sighed, “Brother, stop doing that. Come and rest.”

Xie Lian had already suffered enough just now, and was determined not to be fooled again. The tone of voice made his ears burn. He forced himself to remain calm and continued to write, saying seriously, “No. Sanlang, someone said your handwriting is ugly again today. You have to practice hard, otherwise, I don’t want anyone to know that I taught you.”

Hua Cheng sat up slightly and raised his eyebrows, "Brother, I remember you once said that you liked my calligraphy very much."

Since Hua Cheng came back, Xie Lian had been almost obedient to him for a long time, and always fulfilled his requests. Perhaps because of this, he was finally spoiled and became more and more evil. Xie Lian finished writing, put down the pen, and became more serious: "Don't talk nonsense. I'm done, come over and practice."

So, Hua Cheng lazily moved behind Xie Lian, hugged his waist, bent down slightly, and put his head on his shoulder. He took his red coral bead from the end of his hair and put it on the paper, letting it chase Xie Lian's bead on the paper, rolling around, deliberately preventing Xie Lian from writing properly.

He was so playful and aggressive in showing off his presence. Xie Lian remembered what Tianyan Kai said about him exuding ghostly aura "from the inside out". That was Hua Cheng's aura. He couldn't help but feel a little agitated and weak. He struggled twice and whispered, "...Write well."

Hua Cheng said: "Okay, I'll listen to my brother."

He picked up his pen, wrote two lines of poetry, and put it down. Xie Lian read it, shook his head, and said in his heart for the umpteenth time: "It's hopeless." He paused, then picked up his pen and helped him finish the last two lines.

After finishing, Xie Lian blew gently and picked up the paper. The two of them looked at the poem they had written together.

The ink on the paper forms four lines of poetry that are as graceful as heaven and earth:

once having seen the best, the rest is not worthwhile looking.

I am too lazy to look back at the flowers, half because of my cultivation and half because of you.

Even E Ming was at the table, staring intently with his eyes wide open, as if he was appreciating it very much. Hua Cheng smiled and said, "A masterpiece. Brother, come and sign your name. This calligraphy will surely amaze future generations and be passed down through the ages."

Xie Lian had already written Hua Cheng's name at the bottom. After hearing what he said, he couldn't bring himself to add his own name. Hua Cheng had laughed enough and pretended to be serious, "Brother, are you embarrassed? I'll help you."

As he spoke, he held Xie Lian's hand and quickly wrote a few words. Of course, if we didn't mention the prospect, no one would be able to tell that these were two words, and it would be impossible to tell that it was Xie Lian's name...

Xie Lian looked at his subordinate writing something like this, feeling both amused and annoyed, and tilted his head on Hua Cheng's chest. Suddenly, he felt that these words looked familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere.

After a while, he remembered, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Sanlang, it's in your hand!"

He grabbed Hua Cheng's forearm, pulled up his sleeve, and said happily: "This is it!"

During the time when the two lived together in Puqi Monastery, one day, Xie Lian saw a tattoo on his hand, which seemed to be some foreign language. At that time, he thought about it in his mind, but he never expected that it was not a "foreign language" at all, but just his name!

Hua Cheng also looked at his arm and said with a smile: "Brother finally recognized it?"

Xie Lian said, “I should have recognized it earlier, but…”

However, Hua Cheng's handwriting was truly amazing. Needless to say, Hua Cheng guessed what he was thinking, and laughed. He put his arm around Xie Lian's waist, kissed him on the forehead, and said, "It doesn't matter. As long as my handwriting is beautiful, I will be ten thousand times happier than mine."

Xie Lian's hand touched the tattoo. The tattoo was very dark, and one could imagine how painful it would be. He asked softly, "Did you get this tattoo when you were a child?"

Hua Cheng smiled slightly, pulled down his sleeves and nodded.

He must have tattooed himself. Imagine a little boy secretly carving the name of someone he admires on his arm. So childish, so brave.

Their fingers were clasped together, the red thread was entwined. In front of Xie Lian’s eyes, the scene of Hua Cheng turning into a butterfly and scattering in Tonglu Mountain a year ago suddenly appeared.

At that last moment, Huacheng said something.

Although it was silent, Xie Lian knew exactly what he said.

That was a sentence that Huacheng had been practicing since he was a child and had been practicing until his death.

"I will always be your most loyal believer."

·

·

·

————————————————《Folk Tales》————————————————————

·

According to folklore, there is such a tattered immortal.

Although he is called the rag collector, the one he often blesses is not the rag collectors, but the peace of the world. Because he is also the most powerful martial god.

There is no devil that cannot be defeated, no evil that cannot be slain. Possessing the power to destroy the world, yet still cherishing the flowers,

However, worshipping gods has its own taboos and rules. If you come across a temple that enshrines this immortal, you must not worship casually.

It is said that this tattered immortal has a special physique that brings bad luck. If you don't believe it, prepare a dice, touch the hand of the immortal statue, and then throw a dice. Your luck will definitely be very bad.

Therefore, praying to a tattered gray statue of an immortal may make you more and more unlucky, and even drinking cold water will cause your teeth to get stuck, and even wearing a Taoist robe will cause you to see ghosts.

·

There is also a folk legend that there is such a ghost king in red.

Although this Ghost King is no longer a human, he has countless believers. Some people often secretly set up a statue of the Ghost King at home, worship it day and night, and pray for good luck.

This is because this Ghost King is not only invincible, it is said that he has never been defeated so far, and his luck is extremely strong and invincible.

If you don't believe it, worship him before you throw the dice. If you can get his help, your next roll will be good.

However, ghosts are not like gods, so they naturally have more taboos. Although this ghost king has great abilities, his temperament is extremely strange and extreme.

If he is happy, he will help you without you having to pray to him; if he is unhappy, he will spend a lot of money to ignore you; and if he is extremely unhappy, he might even take your life.

So, for the same reason, it is better to stay away from it.

·

However, if people worship the two statues of the god and the ghost together, they can turn decay into magic.

The ghost king in red will dispel the bad luck that has entangled the tattered immortal and reveal his true face.

People will be surprised to find that the original color of the tattered fairy is not grayish white, but golden.

·

Legends usually have a basis. But this is probably a very long story, maybe starting from eight hundred years ago, maybe it will take a very long time to tell. People may not have the patience to listen.

But what is certain is that if you want these two to exert their strongest power, you must worship them together.

In this way, you can get double the luck and double the invincibility.

God bless you, no taboos!