Da Zaojun

When the Pig saw that Song Wuji was the descendant of the Kitchen God, it chuckled and said, "Finally, someone has arrived."

"I don't have to live in fear anymore." The pig opened its mouth and spat out something.

"I was so suffocated."

"What is this?" Song Wuji looked at what the pig had vomited out of its stomach.

It was a stove, similar to a Boshan stove, but with smoke billowing from its lid.

[Heaven-Made Furnace]

One of the most precious treasures of the Heavenly Pivot of the Supreme Emperor Huang Zengtian, it gathers the incense offerings of the lower realm and can refine the creation of all living beings and cast incense money.

Heaven and Earth create: They cover and sustain all living beings, and all things are created for good.

Characteristic 1: Extend the life of immortals and gods.

Characteristic 2: Accelerates the growth of the spiritual roots of heaven and earth.

Characteristic 3: Endowing all beings with the necessary qualities and abilities.

Incense money: When the Five Emperors' Palace first appeared outside the border, every household offered incense money to the gods.

When people pray to the gods and their wishes are fulfilled, they repay the gods by offering incense money.

Feature: Always ready to help.

1: Incense and iron coins are offered as a token of small wishes or desires, such as seeking peace and good fortune, avoiding trouble, seeking the accuracy of divination, or seeking auspicious omens from the calendar.

2: Incense and copper coins: Small wishes are offered to the gods for peace and health in the home, whether for children, wealth, or medicine; may all wishes be fulfilled.

3: Incense and money: offered to the gods for various purposes, such as praying for officials to take the imperial examinations, for rain, for clear skies, for abundant harvests, for peace across the seas, for victory in war, and for the fulfillment of all wishes.

4. Incense and money: offered to the gods to fulfill great vows, whether praying for high-ranking officials, seeking immortality or enlightenment, making vows to be deified, obtaining a kingdom or becoming a king, or having one's wishes fulfilled.

Upon seeing the [Heaven-Created Furnace], Song Wuji knew it was a true treasure and immediately hugged the Pig: "As expected, pigs bring wealth! How did you come up with the idea of ​​swallowing this thing and hiding it inside your belly?"

"After the chaos that ensued, everyone was scrambling, fighting, and causing trouble, so I joined in and picked up this treasure."

"You're a genius!" Song Wuji ruffled his pig-like head. "I hereby declare that the twelve zodiac animals are re-ranked. I am the Kitchen God, and I have the final say. You are now number one in contribution!"

This incense burner is a precious treasure for offerings and a vital instrument of the heavens.

Immediately, Song Wuji put away the Heavenly Creation Furnace, intending to return to the human realm and place it inside the Human Cauldron. This cauldron within a cauldron would suppress the human realm's fortune, intercept the flow of creation, and gather all the incense offerings.

This incense money can grant any request and make your wishes come true.

Iron coins, copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins can respectively fulfill small wishes, medium wishes, and big wishes.

These humble wishes and small desires are the aspirations of ordinary people.

The "middle-level petition" involves gathering a crowd, at least a township or town, for a collective petition.

The grand ambition, then, rises to the level of becoming a general or prime minister, involving the national level, or at least the level of a prefecture.

These correspond to the four levels of sacrificial rites: family sacrifice, folk sacrifice, official sacrifice, and national sacrifice. They are the acts of fulfilling vows made to the gods after the wishes have been fulfilled.

This is precisely the foundation of the "incense and deity way".

As for the "heaven-created creation" that can extend the lifespan of immortals and stimulate the growth of spiritual roots in the world, it is somewhat similar to the setting in Journey to the West, where immortals, although long-lived, are afraid of the three calamities and can only extend their lifespan by eating peaches of immortality and elixirs.

This is actually the kind of resource that lower-level immortals and gods need.

They are like high-ranking immortals and gods, unafraid of the three calamities or the final tribulation.

For example, after the rumor spread that eating Tang Sanzang's flesh would grant immortality, only demons without powerful backers considered eating him. Demons like the Yellow-Robed Monster descended from Kui Mulang, the Golden Horn and Silver Horn demons of Pingding Mountain, and even the three demons of Lion Camel Ridge, had already attained immortality and therefore didn't need such resources. Now, it seems these blessings actually originated from sacrifices in the mortal realm and the power of the wishes of all beings.

"With the Kitchen God Temple, the Demon-Revealing Mirror, and this Heavenly Furnace, this trip to the Heavenly Realm has not been in vain."

He immediately said, "Let's go! Let's find the other zodiac signs!"

However, he put the Rooster and the Pig into the Kitchen God Temple and communicated with them through divine thought. He also ransacked the entire Heavenly Kitchen Courtyard again, taking away things such as cages for imprisoning demons and brooms for cleaning... These things were all treasures.

Even those scales and feathers, leftovers from processing food, are good materials for refining magical artifacts in the mortal world.

After leaving the Heavenly Kitchen Courtyard, the Rooster pointed the way, leading Song Wuji to the Heavenly Crafts Courtyard and Heavenly Hospital next to the Heavenly Kitchen Courtyard.

These places were actually looted, but Song Wuji was either lucky or one of the looters was not well-educated, which allowed him to find a copy of the "Luban Classic" in the Tiangong Academy.

However, they couldn't find any magical artifacts like the Lu Ban ruler. Instead, they found some wood, which was all mature divine wood, specially used to make beams, coffins, or shrines.

When Song Wuji arrived at the Tianyi Hospital, he met Wei Yang.

The Sheep is depicted as having an old goat's beard, and is more human-like than the Rooster and Pig. It stands upright, wearing a long gown, with a sheep's face and hooves. Because of its goat's beard, it looks like an old Chinese medicine doctor.

[Dr. Tian, ​​Department of Dermatology, Dafangtian Hospital. Sheep]

The dermatology department specializes in treating all skin conditions, including carbuncles, boils, abscesses, chickenpox, and internal heat toxins.

Because the ash from burning goat's beard was often used as a medicinal ingredient, Wei Yang managed to get a position as a doctor at the Heavenly Hospital. Veterinarians are also doctors.

Upon seeing Song Wuji, Wei Yang said, "It's been a good wait for us brothers; finally, someone has arrived! Baa baa baa~~"

"I have a treasure saved up!"

"There's a treasure hidden away!"

But then they saw him unbutton his clothes, remove the wool, and hide a gold needle under the fur.

[The Golden Needle for Overcoming Calamity]
"The medicine king Sun Simiao's collection can be used to diagnose ghosts and spirits, dragons and tigers, and includes the Dragon and Tiger Acupuncture Classic."

"Alright, alright, what other treasures do you have? I remember this hospital is under the Lei Department, and there's a Heavenly Medicine Thirteenth Department. What other treasures do you have?"

"No, back then, a bunch of plague demons came from the Plague Department and razed the Heavenly Hospital to the ground. I risked my life to snatch this set of golden needles. I almost got sheep plague, but luckily I recognized herbs and chewed some herbs to survive."

Song Wuji didn't believe it, so he searched for a while longer, turning the cabinets upside down, and found the medicine cabinet scattered and all the medicinal materials moldy.

Only thirteen medicinal materials, including realgar, rosin, cypress branches, and myrrh, were not contaminated.

"This is the Medicine King's treasure!"

"These thirteen medicines are the thirteen saints among medicines, capable of suppressing all kinds of plague demons."

After collecting the thirteen medicinal herbs, Song Wuji moved the medicine cabinet away. Although the cabinet had been infected with the plague, it was not impossible to remove the plague through alchemy.

Apart from that, there really wasn't anything else of value.

Next, they went to find the dog, Xu Gou, who had escaped by hiding in the dog hole of Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun's mansion.

This old dog and Xiaotianquan were once considered brothers, but Xiaotianquan was a hunting dog, while he was a big yellow dog.

The Dog (戌狗) had a fortunate opportunity to serve under Laozi (老君) and was one of the top alchemists in the Heavenly Court.

However, those who sought his alchemy services were mostly minor immortals, minor gods, or even animal-type demon immortals who had attained enlightenment. They followed a lower-level path and got along well with various mounts and attendants.

Because of some good karma, he hid in the dog hole of the True Lord's Temple and no one bothered him.

(End of this chapter)