In ancient times, they secretly became gods in the deep mountains.

Chapter 124 My Daughter Turned into a Mountain Monster

Having merged with the Golden Saint Divine Spark, she seemed to have truly become the mountain spirit of the Golden Saint Mountain Range, controlling every blade of grass and every tree in the Golden Saint Mountain Range.

The glow of the sunset over Qihuang Mountain lasted for nearly three days, during which time the demons on the mountain cultivated outside the Divine Palace.

The rosy glow was excess spiritual energy generated during her cultivation. She had already absorbed the spiritual energy from the Golden Saint Divine Palace's spiritual vein, and this spiritual energy should be returned to all things in heaven and earth.

People come in an endless stream to offer incense in front of the statue of the deity in Peach Blossom Village.

The people of the sixteen prefectures in the northwest now all believe in the existence of the goddess, and every household has carved statues of her to worship the Golden Saint Goddess.

[Host has accumulated 50000 Faith Points]

All of the more than one million faith points were used to improve cultivation, but with the offerings from all the people of the sixteen counties in the northwest, the faith points increased even faster than before.

Gu Yuexi took out the Sun and Moon Golden Disc, and the scene in the water mirror kept changing. It stopped on a towering mountain that reached into the clouds, right at the top of the mountain. Below, you could see scattered houses.

During the day, only a few wisps of smoke rise from chimneys; at night, all is silent, not even the sounds of roosters crowing or dogs barking can be heard.

Kaoshan Village is located at the foot of the highest mountain in Ping'an Town.

Recently, mountain monsters have been coming down from the mountains to eat people from time to time. Villagers return home before late afternoon, lock their gates tightly, and dare not make a sound.

On this day, after the torrential rain, morning mist rose in the mountains, covering the mountainside in a white blanket, while the mountaintop was clearly visible.

Old Liu opened the gate of his courtyard a crack in the morning, cautiously peeking out first. Only after seeing that the gates of his neighbors' courtyards were all open did he feel relieved enough to open the gate completely.

Did you hear anything last night?

Several elderly women and a few young women huddled together, talking tensely, with villagers occasionally joining in the conversation.

An old woman whispered, "I heard a woman crying. It's so eerie at night."

A woman pointed to a spot not far away: "I heard it too, right at the village entrance."

"What sins has our Kaoshan Village committed? As soon as the sun sets, mountain monsters come down to eat people. At night, we have to listen to the cries of ghosts in the mountains. It torments this old woman who is half-buried in the ground. She can't eat or sleep well." An old woman shook her head helplessly.

“The mountain monster ate my daughter, and my daughter turned into a mountain monster, which then ate my young son. I wish she would come and eat me instead, so that I wouldn’t have to live such a painful life.”

A pale-faced woman covered her face and wept.

The others didn't know how to comfort her.

"Let's go and pay our respects to the Golden Saintess."

"Yes, yes, everyone says that the Golden Saintess is compassionate and saves people from suffering. She said that if we have any problems that we can't solve, we can go and see her, and she will solve them for us."

"It takes seven days and seven nights to get from Kaoshan Village to Qihuang Mountain, and at least ten days to go round trip. By then, the mountain monsters will have eaten everyone in the village," someone sighed in distress.

"We can't just sit here and wait to die!"

"The men have been conscripted by the imperial court, and their fates are uncertain. There are only a group of women and children left in the village, along with a few elderly people who have difficulty walking. Who is going to Qihuang Mountain to seek help from the goddess?"

Every household in the village had a shrine to the Golden Saint Goddess. The peasants were so poor that they could only offer incense to the goddess once a month. When the mountain monster ate people, they still held onto hope in the shrine, hoping that the goddess would appear and get rid of the monster. Unfortunately, the goddess did not respond at all.

Some people speculated: "Although we sincerely believe in the Goddess, we are short of incense and candles at home. We can only go out of the mountain once a month to buy incense and candles in town. Will she think we are not devout enough because we offer incense too infrequently, and therefore not help us solve the mountain monster problem?"

"This..." The villagers sighed.

"We only regret that we do not have enough money to make a golden statue of the goddess and offer incense every day."

Old Liu listened for a moment and also thought it made sense.

He took out the last incense and candles and lit them all for the goddess enshrined on the ancestral tablet.

"May the Goddess Jin Sheng bless us. Our village is full of the elderly, women, and children. We are poor and have neglected you. We hope you will forgive us. There are mountain monsters coming down to eat people and ghosts crying at night. We are suffering terribly. We beg you to show your power and get rid of the mountain monsters and ghosts for us."

"Bang bang bang!"

He bowed in devout worship.

"Bang, bang, bang!" A rapid knocking sounded at the door, followed by a woman's voice calling from outside: "Uncle Liu, come out quickly! There's something on the mountain!"

"What could be up on the mountain?" Old Liu's heart skipped a beat!
They thought it was another mountain monster eating people.

He rushed out and saw the woman, covered in sweat and panting: "Shuanzi's mother, what happened?"

His heart pounded with fear: "Could it be that another child has been abducted by the mountain monster?"

A wave of sorrow immediately washed over me.

God!
They live in a mountain village full of elderly, weak, women and children. Why treat them like this?
Exhausted, Shuanzi's mother rolled her eyes and gasped for breath as she said, "Uncle Liu, it's not a mountain monster, it's just a glowing thing on the mountaintop. It looks like a bead, emitting golden and multicolored light. It's amazing!"

She couldn't explain it, so she could only tell Old Man Liu what she had seen and heard.

Old Liu hurried to the village entrance.

At this point, this place was far from all the villagers.

"what happens?"

Old Liu was of a high generation, so everyone made way for him. When he looked up at the mountaintop, he was immediately dumbfounded.

"what is this?"

On the mountaintop, there stood a gleaming house, which looked just like the celestial palace that their ancestors had passed down through generations.

Some people questioned, "Could it be a trick by the mountain monster to lure us up the mountain and then eat us all?"

"That's impossible. The mountain monster is incredibly powerful. I saw it drag Aunt Liu away with my own eyes. I didn't even have time to react. How could it, with such powerful abilities, use an illusion to deceive us?"

The villagers were unarmed, and even if the mountain monster came down the mountain to eat people, they could do nothing about it. Why would the mountain monster go to great lengths to lure them up the mountain?

"That's not necessarily true. Mountain monsters have the ability to bewitch minds. Perhaps there's nothing on the mountaintop, but we've been bewitched by the mountain monster and are seeing glittering palaces of gods."

"That...makes sense."

The group initially wanted to go up the mountain to investigate, hoping that if it really was a deity, they would be saved. However, after hearing the opinions of others, they all had the intention to back down.

"I'll go up and have a look!"

Old Liu spoke.

"Uncle Liu, be careful! If it really is a mountain monster that has bewitched us, then your trip will be fraught with danger!" someone advised.

"But what if they really are gods?"

"They're like gods! We're saved!"

Old Liu sighed, "Anyway, staying in the village is a dead end. It's just a matter of dying sooner or later. I've already lived to the end of my life, so I might as well risk my life to test you."

"Uncle Liu!"

Everyone had tears in their eyes.

"I've had enough of living. I've lived for decades, enduring decades of hardship. I'd rather die sooner. Maybe the King of Hell will even let me be reborn into a good family in my next life because I kindly sought a way out for the villagers!"

"I am coming too!"

Several old women, Old Man Liu, and a single woman who had lost her family were all willing to go to the top of the mountain to find out what was going on.

"Uncle Liu, you must be back before Shenshi (3-5 PM)!" Shuanzi's mother cried.

"Mountain monsters usually come down from the mountain to eat people after 3 PM. As long as you come back before 3 PM, you don't have to worry about being eaten by the mountain monster."

"The mountain monsters live in the mountains. We might get caught and eaten before we even reach the top," Old Liu said, accepting his fate with equanimity.

Upon hearing this, the villagers fell silent.

Why is it so hard for them to live?

I'd like to ask for leave on September 11th.