Ji Xiang listened to the girl's prayer, and the other party's tone contained a sadness for her motherland.
Not mourning for the Ming Dynasty, but mourning for the Song Dynasty.
"A general from the Song Dynasty?"
For Ji Xiang, although the Wanshou Palace was doing evil, there was an endless stream of people with lofty ideals throughout the Song Dynasty. However, almost all the emperors were unwilling to make progress. In addition, the civil servants were too powerful and the military generals could not raise their heads. A good man who did not serve as a soldier would be from the Song Dynasty. Rules to start with.
"The scholar-bureaucrats and the emperor co-ruled the world, so that power gradually became corrupted in the hands of civil servants. In the Song Dynasty, the scholar-bureaucrats were not killed, and their homes and families were not exterminated. Since there was no fear of life, people would gradually degenerate in the corruption, and there were more and more officials. I am also increasingly losing my moral integrity..."
"In the late Ming Dynasty, the Donglin Party was very powerful, and it was the same reason."
"The benefit lies in the early stage, adding intellectuals to the country and improving the social environment...The harm will be in later generations...But the power of the generals is too great, and the final result will only be a repeat of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms."
Ji Xiang muttered a few words briefly in his heart, and saw the girl returned to her statue, no longer moving.
"A female general from the Song Dynasty, and the one that people miss the most...Mu Guiying?"
The more famous one that Ji Xiang can think of is the female general of the Yang family. Although Mu Guiying herself is a fictional character, a god, with a statue and the wishes of all people, is born from countless incense. For folk gods, it is Very normal situation.
"I remember that when I was in Shuntian Prefecture, those who sold storybooks on Tianjie had among the books they had "Zhi Zhuan of the Northern Song Dynasty". This was the biography of the heroes of the previous dynasty that was compiled during the Jiajing period and sold in the early Wanli year... ..."
"It is also the source of Mu Guiying."
Many famous fictional characters in later generations generally appeared during the Ming Dynasty. During this period, a large number of scripts, scripts, and operas emerged, creating countless legendary characters in the fictional world, and were widely recognized by the people. In the Qing Dynasty, These fictional characters already have many temples and enjoy the incense of future generations.
.......
When the cock crows for the fifth time, the girl gets down from her own statue and worships in front of the statue of Zhenwu.
"Today, as the world changes, there are evil spirits in the city who are causing harm. We must use the law to destroy them."
"Heavenly demons, heretics, ghosts and fairies see me as blood and turn into purple dust!"
She recited a section of the Zhenwu mantra, and then took some broken silver and copper coins from the merit box, but not much. Then she took away part of the incense on the Zhenwu statue, but only took away part of the surface.
But Ji Xiang was still alarmed and withdrew from practice, just in time to see her going out wearing armor.
"Yesterday when I entered the temple, I wore the ordinary clothes of a man from the Ming Dynasty. When I manifested for the second time, I wore a red robe. Today I went out wearing armor... What kind of armor is this?"
Although Ji Xiang's predecessor was well-read in scriptures, some of the armors of the previous dynasty were beyond the scope of recognition, and this kind of armor was just armor, not some kind of magical weapon that was exerting its power. There is no manifested name.
The armor is blue-black in color, smooth and translucent and the hair can be seen. It is tied with musk skin straps, making it look soft and tough.
It does not seem to be an armor that ordinary people can wear, but its specific shape is completely different from the famous Shanwen armor from the Song Dynasty.
Not long after the girl left, the door opened and Miao Zhu came in.
In ordinary temples, Miao Zhu stays overnight in the temple. They are usually people who have lost their families or have no homeland. They have no home, so they take care of the temple. However, this Miao Zhu seems to have a home to return to, and he does not stay there at night. In the temple, it seemed that they were in awe of the girl's power.
When the sun rose the next day, Miao Zhu discovered that the newly recruited men did not come to the temple on time to work. Many chores were now piled up, and the yard was not cleaned.
Miao Zhu waited for a while and found that the guys he recruited yesterday still hadn't come. He suddenly had an idea in his mind and could only shake his head:
"These people are really greedy for money. They came here in the middle of the night. I'm afraid they will die within two days."
When the pilgrims who came to offer incense heard about this incident, they all talked about it. In the past, the temple master appeared and shot a scholar who had no moral integrity. Although most of the pilgrims had not seen it with their own eyes, at least they were bragging to each other. When talking about it, it was called a person with a nose and eyes.
"I know that the scholar was writing obscene poems in the temple."
"You remember wrongly, that is King Zhou."
"You're also wrong. That's just the plot of "The Romance of the Gods"."
"I have a question, did the Shang Dynasty have the official position of Chief Soldier?"
"Why isn't there? Everyone has written about it, so there must be some!"
"Isn't Li Jing a general of the Tang Dynasty in the Martial Temple? He is the Duke of the Tang Dynasty!"
"Why, the Shang Dynasty couldn't have Li Jing?"
The identities of the pilgrims vary, but those who come here in the early morning are usually rich people. After all, ordinary people get up early and go out to work. Only those who do not have to work will come to the temple to offer incense to show their piety.
Ji Xiang was inside the statue, listening to the group of wealthy and noble pilgrims below discussing the plot of Fengshen Yanyi, and couldn't help but murmur again.
"In the Ming Dynasty, people's atmosphere was really enthusiastic. "The Romance of the Gods"... this book seems to have had a huge impact on the people."
Ji Xiang is thinking about important things.
The name of Biyou Palace comes from the Romance of the Gods, and it seems to have been instructed by the founders of the Shangqing Sect. In order to match the content of the story, the Qingping Sword was specially given to the owner of Biyou Palace and asked him to bring out the Shangqing Sect. .
"What will happen if you name your sect or disciples according to some names in "The Romance of the Gods"?"
"Or is it easier to gather incense and wishes this way?"
My thoughts were racing, and I suddenly thought of what I had heard in the Forbidden City, the magic and ghost techniques used by the Japanese pirates on the Korean battlefield.
"The Collection of Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit is also a book that has great influence in Japan..."
"The founders of the Shangqing Sect will not do useless things. They built the Biyou Palace specifically to cooperate with "The Romance of the Gods". It must be for some important event."
"The three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the three religions of interpreting and intercepting people, the Celestial Master Longhu, Shangqing Maoshan, Lingbao Pavilion Zao... the three mountain sects."
Ji Xiang felt that these things were somewhat related, but when he thought about them, they all existed independently, and he didn't have a clear clue.
I still need to get more information.
There is also a need for information that can connect these clues, that is key.
This must be related to the dynasty road planned by the immortals in Lishanhe.
The incense was strong, and the merit box was quickly filled with copper coins and broken silver.
Soon, the old foreman who came to work in the temple told the temple leader that the new recruits two days before the temple ceremony, those guys who came here to do chores, everyone had big sores on their backs, and the flow of pus had stopped. Unfortunately, their families are spending a lot of money to hire doctors in the city.
"There are skilled doctors in Qiantang County, but after hearing what they did, people don't dare to help them treat them."
The old foreman sounded very sad. It was a pity that all these young and strong men ended up like this out of greed.
Miao Zhu snorted: "If you can't control your own hands, you will be in trouble now."
The old foreman smiled and said: "You are still making sarcastic remarks, aren't you afraid that those relatives of the boy's family will come here to make trouble?"
Temple Zhu: "What I say is harsh. If they had money, they wouldn't come here to steal the merit money. Since they don't have money, their families are not given to others. They are all coolies from poor backgrounds looking for money everywhere. They are idle. They came to me to ask for work, and I took them in to do some errands in the temple. As a result, they offended the gods and were punished. Even if the Qiantang County magistrate is in front of me, I am justified."
Old foreman: "The county magistrate is also afraid of the gods punishing him?"
Miao Zhu: "That's not true. I heard that these officials don't have much respect for things involving gods and ghosts. Several times when I went to the Yamen to do business, I could always feel that there was some special aura floating around there. I couldn't put it into words. , like incense but a little different.”
Miao Zhu didn't know anything about spiritual practice, but after being exposed to the scent of incense for many years, he developed some supernatural powers and was able to sense the might of the Ming Dynasty, which meant that he was no longer a mere mortal.
Ji Xiang listened to their conversation and understood where this place was.
It turned out to be Qiantang County, Hangzhou.
The famous Lingyin Temple is here. No wonder there are no evil spirits causing trouble here. Instead, it is a prosperous and peaceful scene. With such a large Buddhist temple guarding here, the demon kings at the level of earthly immortals dare not approach here at all.
The old foreman was still chatting with Miao Zhu. He looked at the statue of Zhenwu and said:
"By the way, Zhenwu has appeared."
Temple Zhu was surprised: "Zhenwu showed his spirit?"
He raised his head and looked at the statue. The old foreman explained: "The guys said that when they took the merit box last night, they were laughing and joking, saying that Lord Zhenwu was a rich man and that there were many Zhenwu temples in the Ming Dynasty with thousands of incense sticks. , they were fine with just a little, and they said that if Lord Zhenwu really cared about the incense, they would take it back! Guess what happened? At that time, Lord Zhenwu’s eyes suddenly burst into light, and they just breathed a sigh of relief, and they turned their heads. It fell to the ground!”
Miao Zhu was also surprised: "Really or not? Speaking of which, during the day yesterday, the statue of Zhen Wu Ye was indeed much more powerful than before. There was a lot of incense in the temple..."
The old foreman suddenly asked: "Yesterday, the incense in the temple suddenly became very strong. Is this the reason?"
He also looked at the statue of Zhenwu and said with emotion: "After so many years of worship, Lord Zhenwu seems to have noticed our small temple. It's a pity that the owner of the temple still doesn't have much incense."
Miao Zhu glared at the old foreman: "Okay, don't say anything nonsense next, stop it, this temple owner is a cautious person, be careful she shoots you with arrows."
The old foreman chuckled: "She saved me by showing up, and she wouldn't shoot me."
Miao Zhu snorted: "The temple master protects our small place. Master Zhenwu is in charge of the Ming Dynasty. It is normal for the temple to be prosperous. You can go and do your business."
The old foreman responded and left, and the temple Zhu began to offer three incense sticks to the statue of the girl.
With green smoke curling up, Miao Zhu bowed sincerely a few times, then resumed his philistine appearance, attracting pilgrims from all walks of life, and loudly publicized what happened last night.
Sure enough, after yesterday's suspected apparition of Zhenwu spread, many more people came to offer incense in front of Zhenwu's statue than the previous day.
There were only a few sticks of incense in the incense burner in front of the girl's statue, but in front of the Zhenwu statue where Ji Xiang was, there were long and short incense sticks on the incense burner. Many of them could be used as torches to burn. The place was filled with smoke and smoke. Like a big smoke.
"This force is too strong. I just scared those few mortals last night. Unexpectedly, these people immediately started to worship me crazily. In contrast, the temple master often appeared to be a saint, but he didn't How many people went to worship her... I guess she was always shooting people to death with incense arrows, so others didn't dare to worship her."
"How can we get incense like this? Pilgrims and pilgrims are visitors. Gods may not care about the loss of a little incense, but as gods of the people, their existence depends on incense. With this little incense, even if it has huge magical power, I'm afraid I can’t even play half of it.”
"By the way, she said before that she wanted to slay demons... Could it be that she was also responding to the prayers of a pilgrim and adapting to the world?"
Ji Xiang thought about it, but he didn't know what kind of demon this girl was fighting. She went out before dawn and came back in the middle of the night.
Besides, why do pilgrims run to the demons every day without any trouble?
"Don't say that there are monks colluding with demons."
