No abstraction, no cultivation

Chapter 43 Ghosts and Gods

"You will know later." Lan Daoren was unwilling to say more: "There are records in the mountains. If you are interested, go find it yourself."

Xu Shun took note of this and continued, "What kind of gods are ghosts? I have never seen a ghost before. Is the City God a ghost?"

"Ah? You haven't seen a ghost yet?" Lan Daoren was stunned, then thought for a moment and said, "That's right, I didn't see any ghosts along the way."

"Disciple Zisu, have you seen him?"

Zi Su said: "I have seen it, and it almost sucked my energy away."

"Ghosts are the obsessions of people after they die." Lan Daoren said, "At present, not everyone will turn into a ghost after death."

"Therefore, some seniors speculated that ghosts are most likely some kind of strong obsession after a person's death, which mutated under special circumstances."

"Just as a human corpse turns into a zombie, a human obsession turns into a ghost."

"That's right. That's why some seniors speculated that there is no reincarnation in the world and that death is like the extinguishing of a light!"

"Ghosts are formed by obsessions, so they only have part of human consciousness, and survive by absorbing the essence of living people. They are still quite troublesome for ordinary people."

If it is troublesome to ordinary people, it will not be troublesome to monks.

Ghost, very weak.

Xu Shun understood the hidden meaning and said, "Can ghosts become gods?"

"Zombies have bronze-armored corpses, let alone ghosts? The powerful ghosts, with a little magical power, can bewitch mortals, build temples and statues, absorb incense and survive." Taoist Lan looked at the statue of the City God, shook his head and said:

"Not this one."

This is not what I mean. Other city gods may be like this, but this one is just a clay or wood sculpture.

"People worship gods and ghosts even if they are not gods?" Xu Shun felt puzzled.

If there really were ghosts and gods here, it would make sense to build such a large City God Temple and such a magnificent City God statue.

The productivity of this world is not high. It takes an unknown amount of manpower and financial resources just to carve a seven or eight meter long statue.

But there is only one cultivator in the Divine Transformation Stage here.

Could it be that this monk in the spiritual stage was playing tricks and built such a magnificent City God Temple?

"Did you build this City God Temple?" Xu Shun asked the plumber who was kneeling on the ground with his hands and knees prostrated.

During the question and answer session between Xu Shun and his disciple, the pipe man remained kneeling.

The channel person has already heard what the Divine Realm and the Dragon-Tiger Realm are.

I just feel that I didn’t have a good teacher and made many mistakes on my previous path of cultivation.

Practicing is really difficult!

At this moment, when he heard Xu Shunwen's question, he quickly raised his head and said, "Brother Daoist, this temple has been around for decades. It was not built by me, but by the previous abbot."

Although he was much older than Xu Shun, he still called Xu Shun "Brother Daoist".

"Stand up and tell me the temple's past in detail." Xu Shun asked him to stand up.

He doesn't like people talking to him while they are kneeling.

It was Lan Daoist who was unhappy just now, and Xu Shun felt pity for him, so he asked questions on his behalf. He listened to Lan Daoist's words and resolved the doubts in his heart.

Kneeling expresses an attitude.

It's different now.

Now it was Xu Shun's turn to ask him questions.

The pipe man didn't get up, but looked at the blue man instead.

Taoist Lan still had his back to him, neither wanting to speak nor being able to speak.

To Lan Dao Ren, these were all small matters and he could just leave them to his disciples to handle.

He was unhappy just now because he showed kindness to others, but others always wanted to take advantage of him.

It was human nature, and he was used to it. It was not worth getting angry over a small matter.

It's not worth getting angry over a small matter.

Killing for a small matter is not worth it.

They are all scenery on the path of cultivation, and do not affect him in the slightest.

"Don't forget today's lesson!" Lan Dao Ren turned to Xu Shun and Zi Su and said, "I'm going to enjoy the snow!"

"Yes, Master!" Xu Shun and Zi Su bowed and said.

Lan Daoren turned and left.

After he left, Xu Shun helped the man up and continued to ask, "What's wrong with this temple? There are no ghosts or gods here, but it is still so big."

"It's a long story." The pipe man clasped his fists in thanks and said, "I came to Xuzhou several years ago."

"I saw that there were evil people in Xuzhou pretending to be gods and ghosts and bewitching people."

"Those demons have different identities. They have no magical powers, nor are they cultivators. They just spread rumors and deceive people, and fooled the people of this city."

"After seeing this, I made inquiries from various sources, looking for evidence, and exposed them at the City God's birthday ceremony."

"In order to thank me, the people in the city made me the abbot of the City God Temple."

After listening to this, Xu Shun and Zi Su looked at each other.

It is true that the evildoer pretends to be a god and deceives people, but you, a Taoist priest, came from another place, and after being exposed, you became the abbot. I wonder if there is something fishy going on?
"They have no magical powers, but they can still bewitch people. It's really..." Xu Shun was about to complain, but suddenly he couldn't say anything.

He thought about his past life.

In the past, when technology and material things were so advanced, there were still many people who believed in religion and God.

Especially some countries across the ocean.

No matter how advanced technology and material things are, they cannot break through ignorance, not to mention that there are really monks, magical powers, and ghosts and gods in this world.

Naturally, some people would take unorthodox approaches, pretending to be gods and ghosts, using third-rate tricks such as "escaping from the God of Death" and "cooking ghosts and slaying demons" to deceive people, and then amass wealth and enclose land to build temples.

He then used money to buy off the local dignitaries, and within a few years, he became a local tyrant.

By then, all the powerful people in the city will cheer for him and boost his momentum. Who would dare to say that he is fake?
Who dares to say there is no God?

As for a spiritual cultivator like Guan Daoren, who was not as good as the best but better than the worst, he used to wander around the world. After arriving in Xuzhou City and learning the inside story of the City God Temple, he began to have ideas.

He used some tricks to expose the lies of the evil man and transformed himself into the abbot of the City God Temple.

From then on, the people who came and went every day were high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and they had their own servants to serve them, which was much better than wandering around the world.

Xu Shun had seen a lot of these things along the way.

This is how the lower-level cultivators in the world of immortal cultivation, or the independent cultivators, survive. With no hope of becoming immortals, they can only find a safe place to practice well, and strive to obtain the golden elixir to enjoy a lifespan of 500 years.

Even if one cannot reach the Jindan stage, a cultivator in the Tongshen stage has a lifespan of 200 years, so one must enjoy every day!

It is very rare for someone like Zi Su to meet Master Lan and be accepted as his disciple.

"My two Taoist brothers, it's getting late. How about I host a banquet for you two?" The Taoist said carefully, "If the master is willing to do me the honor, that would be the best."

He was not inviting Xu Shun and Zi Su to a banquet, he was obviously wanting to invite Taoist Lan.

What a veteran!
Never miss any opportunity to get close to someone.

Xu Shun glanced at him and said, "How can you hide your thoughts from Master?"

"Master doesn't like you, so I'm afraid he won't come. Let's eat."

"That's exactly it!" said Zi Su.

The two of them could finally eat alone in front of Master Lan.

(End of this chapter)