Da Zaojun

Song Wuji looked at the majestic South Heavenly Gate, with 108 ornamental columns in front of it and a golden sundial.

However, there were traces of battle damage everywhere.

There were no guardian deities to be seen on either side, only a bell and a drum on each side.

These bells and drums are extremely tall and enormous; only giants like the Giant Spirit God could strike them.

Song Wuji looked at it with his eyes.

[Chaotian Bell]

[Petition Drum]

The Heavenly Bell only rings when the Heavenly Emperor holds a court assembly and summons the lower-level earth deities to report to Heaven.

These local deities include the Three Mountains and Five Sacred Peaks, the Five Lakes and Four Seas, as well as the Kitchen God and some immortals from the lower realms.

The Dengwen drum is only played when one files a petition to Heaven, as it is a direct message to the Heavenly Emperor.

Ordinary people, when they have grievances in the mortal world and the court does not respond, or when the government oppresses the people, they have no choice but to place their hopes on gods and Buddhas.

However, the only recourse is to appeal through the proper channels.

The first level is to sue the land.

They offered incense and filed lawsuits before the land deity, swore oaths, and sought resolution to their doubts.

For example, if the Zhang family suspects the Li family of stealing a chicken, and the Li family tries to prove their innocence, they make a vow in front of the local temple: if the Li family steals the chicken and dies suddenly, or if the Li family doesn't steal the chicken but is wrongly accused by Zhang, the Zhang family will also curse one of them to death.

The villagers are strong-willed and often cannot tolerate being wronged. A chicken is a small matter, but reputation is a big deal. They cannot disturb the government. To avoid being criticized in the village, they need to act this way to avoid being bullied.

Such a death-defying state often manifests its retribution quickly, because governing the realm is also part of the land's work. Even if the person doesn't die suddenly, they will be crippled or have a broken hand as punishment.

This serves as a warning to ordinary people not to make false accusations against others.

The second level is to appeal to the City God and the Judge.

This is more formal and requires following a specific format to correctly express one's grievances and demands, specifying who to sue, the reason for the sue, and the purpose of the complaint.

This usually means that the person has suffered a great injustice and wishes they could wear red clothes and hang themselves when the gates of hell are open, so that they could become a vengeful ghost and seek revenge. If this is not dealt with, the city god's evaluation of governance will also be affected.

However, this usually takes a bit longer. The City God and the underworld officials also need to investigate and handle cases. If they need to cross borders, they need to make arrangements with other City Gods in order to receive retribution.

Above the City God Temple is the place to appeal to Yama, the King of Hell. It is said that Bao Zheng is Yama, the King of Hell, who is impartial and incorruptible. If there is no Yama Temple, but there is a Bao Gong Temple, you can still appeal there. These are basically people suing officials, and the City God has no right to accept them. The Book of Life and Death is divided into white book, red book, and yellow book. The City God only deals with the white book. The red book and yellow book are only available in the underworld under Yama, who manages the records of the dead emperors, generals, officials, scholars, and so on. You cannot arbitrarily mark their fortunes or misfortunes.

As for cases that even Yama, the King of Hell, cannot handle, then it is a matter of gods suing gods, or people suing gods.

Generally, when a Taoist practicing the Five Thunder Orthodox Method sues a city god or local deity, or reports a superior, it is considered an official suing another official.

If it is a public complaint, it will be rejected outright. So when ordinary people cry out for justice, in addition to cursing God and hoping for retribution, they will also say: "God is blind, God is heartless."

There's nothing more to it than appealing to higher authorities and being refused entry. Even a curse like the one that Dou E swore, a three-year drought followed by snow in June, with snow splashing like white silk, is merely a form of retribution in the underworld.

Only the emperor could offer sacrifices to Heaven, but even then, it wasn't to plead for justice. Instead, he would say that the previous dynasty was immoral and request Heaven to take away its mandate, so that it would be punished by Heaven and there would be no way to pray to it.

Then, after a period of fierce competition among heroes, and once the nation is established, I will report to the Heavenly Court that I have inherited the rightful throne and become the emperor, and that Heaven has granted me its mandate.

Although Song Wuji wanted to take these two treasures, they were enormous and represented the impartiality of Heaven, and could not be possessed by any private individual.

Even when the Heavenly Court fell, these two treasures did not fall, which shows that the core of the Heavenly Dao is still operating, but it has fallen into a chaotic era without a court or officials to govern it.

Just as heroes vie for supremacy in the human world, here all the demons, monsters, and spirits of the three realms compete for divine positions and imperial thrones. Divine positions are equivalent to official positions and authority.

As Song Wuji was about to enter the South Heavenly Gate, he saw a beam of light emanating from the enormous gate and shining upon him.

"Beep beep! Detection... Seventh-rank Heavenly Chef's Office Head... Fire Virtue Stove King... Registered in the Heavenly Register, permitted to enter and exit the South Heavenly Gate..." Song Wuji's mind stirred, and he saw a broken mirror hanging crookedly in the center of the South Heavenly Gate.

[Demon-Revealing Mirror. Spiritual Treasure]

The broken demon-revealing mirror belongs to Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King.

Song Wuji immediately activated the Ascension Cloud and slowly rose upwards.

The mirror was a Bagua mirror, very large, and convex.

It kept beeping, as if afraid that Song Wuji wouldn't notice it.

It was covered in cracks, like a second-hand tablet that had been used in the Iraq War.

Upon touching it, Song Wuji immediately knew why this thing had been injured: its internal data had been deleted, including information about countless demons.

Look closely, and you'll see a cow's hoof on the mirror.

Song Wuji said softly, "If you want to come with me, then don't bother. I have a way in the mortal realm to help you restore your power and conceal your demonic form."

The demon-revealing mirror immediately stopped dripping, indicating that it still possesses sentience.

Song Wuji slightly refined it and transformed it without any hindrance into a small pendant, which he hung on his waist. Then he sneaked into the South Heavenly Gate.

Inside the South Heavenly Gate, the scene was also one of utter devastation, with signs of burning, killing, and looting everywhere.

The palaces that could be seen from afar were all in ruins.

Song Wuji was astonished: "The Heavenly Court has fallen, and many palaces have fallen to the mortal world and turned into secret realms. How come the remaining ones are like this? Did the demons and monsters that were suppressed take the opportunity to rebel, or what?"

Song Wuji then began to calculate, but within the Heavenly Palace, there were no immortals of the fifth rank or above, who were considered as scattered immortals or listed immortals, so he could not calculate at all.

So all I could do was wander around aimlessly.

Let's start with the palaces that are visible.

Song Wuji walked forward and saw a tall pole with a metal chicken on it, which spun in the wind.

Song Wuji didn't initially think it was any treasure, but then he saw the iron-piece chicken transform into a large purple-feathered rooster, spread its wings, and land beside him.

[The Rooster is in the Rooster's Rooster Position]

A descendant of the Heavenly Rooster, he once pecked rice in the Hall of Fragrant Breeze. Later, the Heavenly Emperor bestowed upon him the position of Inquiry and Litigation Officer, who oversaw all the gods from a high place and would speak out when he heard criticisms.

"Oh oh oh!"

The rooster heard that Song Wuji would circle around in circles.

Song Wuji asked, "What do you want to do?"

The rooster said, "What smells so good on you!"

Song Wuji recalled that he had come to the Heavenly Court to complete a ritual, but he wondered if this chicken could be considered a deity.

Yu said, “I came here to complete the imperial cuisine. You are a piece of iron-fleshed chicken, which doesn’t seem like an ingredient. Are you a god, or is there something else going on?”

Are you the Kitchen God for this year?

Upon hearing the news, the Rooster immediately declared, "I am the Rooster, and Rooster represents metal, so I am a Golden Rooster, a noble descendant of the Heavenly Rooster, a candidate among the Twelve Zodiacs, and a protector of the Heavenly Emperor."

"Alright then, since I've inherited the Kitchen God's legacy, I'll reluctantly go with you and collect all twelve zodiac animals!"

(End of this chapter)