Volume 4: Following the Dragon and Slaying the Dragon Chapter 18: God's Conferment
Looking in the direction where the bell sound came from, Wang Liang discovered that the trees in the City God Temple had been wrapped with various red silk threads at some point, and each red silk thread had a small copper bell hanging on it.
The shadows of the red silk threads fell on the ground, and as long as Wang Liang stepped on these shadows, the copper bells on the trees would ring rapidly.
Most people will be startled when they hear this ringtone, and some mentally ill people will even be scared away by it.
But for Wang Liang, these ringtones had no effect on him at all.
He just raised his head and glanced at the bronze bells, then strode towards the main hall of the City God Temple.
Because he knew the function and effect of these copper bells, Wang Liang's footsteps became very strange. Every step he took would be exactly on the ground where there was no shadow of the silk thread.
As he took one step forward, the bronze bells stopped ringing.
When he stepped into the main hall of the City God Temple, a strange look flashed in his eyes.
The main hall in front of me was swept very clean, so clean that there was not a trace of dust.
In front of the City God statue, there was only an oil lamp lit, and a thin red incense stick was inserted in the copper incense burner.
Apart from this, the hall was empty and there was nothing inside, not even any fruits or flowers on the altar.
Looking at the situation before him, Wang Liang also understood the status of the City God here.
He thought for a moment, reached out and picked up the thin incense sticks on the side of the altar, and pulled out three of them.
Afterwards, Wang Liang injected his magic power into the thin incense sticks. This was a method he learned from the game, called the method of summoning gods.
The use of this method depends on the rules of each world. In a world like Journey to the West, this method of summoning gods can summon mountain gods and land gods, while in some worlds, this method can summon the octopus head hidden in the sky.
Wang Liang used the method of summoning gods because he saw that there were city gods in this world.
He poured his concentration into the thin incense stick, then gently pinched the tip of the incense stick. A red light appeared on the tip of the incense stick, and a clear smoke rose up and slowly floated towards the statue of the City God.
Wang Liang inserted the thin stick of incense into the copper incense burner and bowed to the statue of the City God: "Please come out and see me, City God."
Wang Liang said this three times in a row, and a figure slowly formed in the smoke.
"Greetings, sir. I am the City God of Siming County. I wonder if you have any instructions for me."
Instructions?
This wording made Wang Liang's eyes narrow. From this wording, it can be seen that the status of the gods in this world is not very high.
But think about it, this world has blatantly arranged the gods, and any person can be deified with an imperial decree, so how high can the status of the gods be.
After sighing for these gods, Wang Liang said: "I am the versatile Wang Jilong, a newly arrived noble family nearby. I have been dealing with the problems of my home residence for the past few years and have never been out for a walk. If someone hadn't come to my residence today, I wouldn't have known that there is such a big city nearby.
Lord City God, may I ask you about the situation nearby?"
The City God was stunned for a moment, then he understood that this was a basic operation for practitioners. Generally, when a practitioner arrived in an unfamiliar place, the first thing he would do was to summon the land god or mountain god to ask for directions.
But Wang Liang took one step at a time and went directly to the City God Temple to ask the City God.
Although this is a rare experience in recent years, the City God still knows the reason here.
He thought for a moment and said, "You really asked the right person. I dare not say more about other things, but I know the power of Dongfeng Town very well. Please come this way."
As the City God spoke, he invited Wang Liang into the inner room.
After walking around the main hall, they found a place to sit down in the back kitchen of the City God Temple.
After entering here, the City God poured a glass of water for Wang Liang and said, "You can talk without worry here. This is the territory of the Kitchen God. He usually doesn't talk and won't let anyone spread the news."
Afterwards, the City God began to explain the problem of the god system to Wang Liang.
It turns out that in this world, there are four systems of gods, namely, popular, official, heaven-ordained, and ancestral spirits.
The "minqing" refers to the existence of gods closely related to the home, such as the kitchen god and the door god. Even if you are a commoner, as long as there is a place for gods in your home, you can invite the gods to live in it.
For example, if you stick a door god on the door, the god will reside in the door and ensure peace for a while.
Official titles are the means used by Wang Liang and others now. One imperial edict can confer titles on a god. Of course, there are also high-ranking official titles directly from the court, small official titles from dukes and marquises, and official titles from aristocratic families.
But no matter how the imperial court jumped and shouted, all the gods conferred by imperial decrees were called official appointments.
The will of heaven is for gods such as the sun, moon, stars, thunder, lightning and heavy rain. Those gods have a wide range of influence, and they cannot be sealed off at will in one generation. Instead, they are promoted bit by bit over tens of millions of years with the power of all the people.
Not to mention that among these heavenly gods, there are six emperors, who are greater than the emperor. How could they be canonized by a court?
Therefore, there is an unwritten rule among the gods that the gods appointed by heaven are one level higher than the gods appointed by officials.
The last type is the ancestral god, which is conferred upon each household in the underworld. The more descendants there are and the more prosperous the incense is, the stronger the power of the god will be.
Generally speaking, each major family has one or two such ancestral gods. Of course, the number of such ancestral gods in each family will not exceed five. After all, the number of incense sticks is limited, and it is impossible to support the existence of too many ancestral gods.
Only the royal family can support seven ancestral gods, who are often the founding emperors, the ancestors of the revival and the like.
After all, in addition to receiving incense from their family, they can also receive offerings from all over the world.
After talking about the ways of the gods.
The City God began to explain the situation in Dongfeng Town.
Dongfeng Town has a total of two prefectures, four routes and thirty-six counties. The two prefectures are Pingyuan Prefecture, where the Dongfeng Marquis's Mansion is located, and Baichuan Prefecture, where the Dongfeng Town Patrol Office is located.
One of these two is the direct territory of Marquis Dongfeng, and the other is the last place of control of the imperial court over Dongfeng Town. Its position in Dongfeng Town is quite important.
The four routes are composed of nine counties, named Jinchuan, Yuanshan, Xuanfeng and Chiwang respectively. Their Siming County is located in Yuanshan Road, but it is closer to Jinchuan Road, so the geographical location is relatively important.
There are several forces among these four routes, and most of them have joined the Dongfeng Marquis. However, there is a very serious problem now. This generation of Dongfeng Marquis has no son, only a legitimate daughter.
Therefore, Dongfeng Town was not stable during this period.
