Deserted temple!
The green tiles on the temple roof were broken, revealing the wooden beams underneath. The moonlight poured down through the gaps in the tiles, leaving a long black shadow on the ground.
"Master, isn't the City God a deity? He enjoys the incense of the people and should be protecting the people. He is selfless."
"How can I not have selfish motives?"
The old Taoist sighed and said, "If you want to become a City God, one must be conferred an imperial title by the court, and the other is to accumulate good deeds during one's lifetime. Every City God is naturally good when he first takes office, but time can change people's hearts, and it can also change the heart of the City God."
"The City God is not a god after all, he is just a different kind of ghost cultivator who wants to become a god through incense and offerings. If he has desires, he will ask for something, and as long as he asks for something, he will have selfish motives."
“Dawu, you must remember that there is no such thing as a selfless person or a selfless immortal in this world.”
Daogu nodded in confusion. He didn't quite understand what his master said, but he remembered it.
"The City God needs incense and offerings. To get incense and offerings, the people have to come to worship and offer sacrifices. But the people can only offer so much incense and offerings. It's better in wealthy areas, but in poor areas, the people are busy trying to make ends meet, so how can they have time to worship the City God?"
"So, all the city gods in the world want to be city gods in rich places, but there are only so many rich places, so naturally there is competition."
"Master, then none of these incense fairies really serve the people?"
“The only way to hold on in a poor place is for the people.”
"Master, have you ever seen such an incense fairy?"
Daogu looked at the old Taoist curiously. The old Taoist had a look of reminiscence on his face and said slowly, "When I left the Taoist temple, I traveled around the world. I saw a village with no more than a hundred people. There was a land temple at the entrance of the village. It was called a land temple, but it was just a clay statue of the land god on a mud platform. There was an incense burner in front of the statue, but there were not many incense sticks. Occasionally, naughty children would move the land god statue or knock a piece of mud off it."
"Isn't this disrespectful to the God of Land?"
"Yes, I was also curious at the time. I looked at the smiling old man and asked, 'Old sir, this naughty boy touched your statue, you are not angry, and you don't have much incense, right?"
"As a result, the old man replied to me: My child is ignorant, why bother about it? I am the landowner, I am here to protect the peace of this village, I am not here to abuse my power and enjoy the incense. If you want to enjoy the incense, then don't be a poor landowner."
Daogu's eyes lit up: "Then this land god is a good land god."
"Yes, if you want incense, don't become a land god. Unfortunately, many incense gods don't understand this principle. They become land gods just for the sake of incense."
"So what happened to this land god later?"
"Later... Later, the boy in the village passed the imperial examination and became the top scholar, bringing honor to his family. When he returned home, he went to the God of Land to pay homage, burned three sticks of incense, and wrote a petition to the gods. The God of Land was then canonized as a true immortal."
"This is what the land god deserves." Daogu was very happy with the outcome.
The old Taoist smiled and looked outside the temple. In the distance outside the temple, there was an old man who bowed three times in the direction of the old Taoist.
He is the God of Land, who has been guarding this place for sixty years. When he met the Taoist priest now, he wanted to ask how he became an immortal. But now he doesn't need to ask, as the Taoist priest has already told him the answer.
The old man waved his right hand, and under the moonlight, flower buds blossomed, and flower spirits with flapping little wings flew out of them.
The flower fairies flew to the front of the temple, above a fallen green tile, and then gently shook their bodies and hovered above the green tile. After a while, a drop of liquid fell and landed on the green tile.
Drop by drop...
One after another...
But in just a short period of time, the green tiles were filled with liquid.
The old man waved his hand again, and the flower elves flew away happily. The old man bowed again and then left.
"Dawu, take this gourd and go outside to get some water."
"Master, there is no water outside at this time. It's not the time for dew yet."
"Go ahead, just go on those green tiles outside the door. Be careful not to spill them."
"oh……"
…
…
Miaoying Temple.
Master Daoyuan not only chanted "Amitabha", but also ran to the Buddha statue and knelt down.
He feels ashamed of himself for getting Taoist things into the Buddhist community.
Lin Ye looked at Master Daoyuan's hopeless expression and curled his lips. What a fuss! This was nothing. In the real world, Buddhism and Taoism were all mixed together in so many places now.
In particular, some tourist attractions, in order to make more money, insist on building a Tathagata Hall inside a Taoist temple. Similarly, there are also some that set up a Sanqing Taoist temple inside a Buddhist temple, in order to catch the believers of both temples in one fell swoop.
" Brother , the Buddha knows that we are also trying to help others, and he will definitely understand."
Lin Ye said something to comfort him, but in return he got Dao Yuan’s cold stare.
"Keep the noise down and don't disturb the other brothers in the temple."
"Um."
Lin Ye nodded. He had no choice but to choose Miaoying Temple. Among the many Taoist rituals, there was one called submitting a petition to heaven.
If you are familiar with history, you will know that ancient emperors would ask people to write Qingci, especially a certain emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who was extremely keen on this. The treacherous minister Yan Song was a master of Qingci. The Qingci was originally from Taoism, and was written to be burned for God to see. Those emperors asked officials to write Qingci, and then asked Taoists to present it to God.
backyard!
The small courtyard where Lin Ye originally rested.
The altar is set up.
After taking a bath, Lin Ye put on the Taoist robe left by the old Taoist at Qingfeng Temple, holding a Taoist board with a serious expression.
Over there, Ye Zhiyuan was currently working at another table, writing a complaint against Li Chenghuang.
Reporting to God is not an easy task.
Lin Ye sat cross-legged in front of the altar, calming his mind and concentrating, trying to get himself into the best condition. In just a quarter of an hour, Ye Zhiyuan had finished writing the letter of complaint .
Picking up the complaint, Lin Ye read it through. As expected of a talented writer, he roughly understood the content, but he still didn't understand some details in the wording and sentence structure. However, these details did not affect him.
"In the last paragraph, let me add one more sentence: The Shangyang County City God knew about this but stood by and watched..."
Since he was going to file a complaint, Lin Ye had no intention of letting Yang Chenghuang go, so he would take him along as well.
The confession is ready!
Lin Ye took out three talismans, placed them in a copper basin, chanted a spell, and the next moment he shouted softly. The three talismans spontaneously ignited, and there was a flame in the basin, but this flame was emitting a green light.
"Today, Lin Ye, a disciple of Sanqing, has filed a complaint with the Heavenly Court. Please send three petitions and light three incense sticks..."
Lin Ye lit three incense sticks and bowed three times towards the sky.
After doing this, Lin Ye looked at Master Daoyuan who was standing beside him. Master Daoyuan was a little helpless, but still came over with an incense burner.
This incense burner is placed in front of the Buddha statue. The incense ash inside has never been emptied since the establishment of Miaoying Temple. When it is full, the ash will decrease naturally, accumulating a lot of incense power.
"Thank you, Brother."
Lin Ye expressed his gratitude with a smile, but there was no other way. With his strength, he was not yet able to reach the Heavenly Listening Point. He had to rely on the power of the incense condensed from the incense ash.
"few……"
Master Daoyuan was just about to tell Lin Ye to use less incense ash, but Lin Ye simply poured all the ash from the incense burner into the brazier.
boom!
The flame in the brazier suddenly burned fiercely, and the flames shot up into the sky.
"Ye Zhiyuan, if you have any grievances, tell us now!" Lin Ye shouted at Ye Zhiyuan.
"It is difficult to express the injustice of this disciple in words, so I write this letter in the hope that God will have mercy on me."
Ye Zhiyuan followed Lin Ye's instructions and threw the letter into the brazier after saying this.