Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 264 Guo...Guo Rong is here?! [Requesting monthly votes]

"It feels like it's been ages since we've all gotten together like this, I'm so happy!"

Wearing a brand-new camouflage uniform, Aunt Gongsun held the steamed buns Zhou Yi had bought from the foot of the mountain in both hands, eating them with relish, and generously shared a fried cake with Li Qingzhao.

The talented young woman was munching on an egg pancake when she took the fried cake and asked with a smile about the housewarming banquet:

"I heard you have four or five kinds of drinks?"

Gongsun Da Niang nodded heavily:
"Oh right, I also brought you a jar of peach-flavored rice wine. It's in the fridge. Sister Zhao'er, tell me how you're going to thank me!"

The talented woman, who was about to confront him, immediately changed her tone upon hearing this:
"I'll write you a poem to accompany your sword dance."

"make a deal!"

Huo Qubing had been there for two days. He helped Zhou Yi complete the preparations before the roof beam was raised, and even took some time to learn how to ride a motorcycle... In less than an hour, he was able to skillfully control the motorcycle and switch gears, and even rode back and forth to the town along the mountain road twice.

In terms of talent, it's beyond just being full; it's overflowing.

Fortunately, Hunyuan Palace was a place where geniuses gathered. Although Huo Qubing was outstanding, he was not the only one... When he learned to ride a motorcycle, Li Qingzhao, under the guidance of the Book of Changes, drew her first fossil talisman.

Well, Mr. Zhou thought his eldest apprentice was too slow drawing talismans by himself, so he wanted to see the great talent of the woman in talisman drawing. He taught her how to draw fossil talismans, and she did it in one go. The whole process was smoother than Dove chocolate.

Xin Qiji sat in the restaurant, holding half a fried dough stick wrapped with meat, eating while telling Zhao Xu about his experiences along the way.

Zhao Xu encouraged him:
"After we enter the Yimeng Mountains, I will bring you a batch of weapons, enough to at least enable you to defend yourself."

Today, Zhao Xu brought dozens of sets of divine arm bows, one hundred sets of infantry armor, more than two hundred horse-slaying swords, and five hundred standard hand knives.

Previously, all the armor and weapons he brought were sent to the Martial Emperor World. This time, Huo Qubing showed his generosity by only taking a few sets of samples and giving the rest to Chen Tang.

Comparatively speaking, Chen Tang, who is about to launch a sweeping campaign from Xiaoguan, needs these weapons and equipment even more.

As soon as Li Bai arrived, he handed Huo Qubing a stack of purification talismans, then reported some new changes in the Kaiyuan world to Zhou Yi before washing his hands and eating.

Thanks to the water purification talisman drawn by the little guy, no food-related mass incidents occurred at the Dingxiang Beidaying camp, and the poet also received some of the merit.

Now, everyone in the entire Hunyuan Palace, except for Wu Meiniang and Zhao Xu, has accumulated more than one jin of merit.

As for Chen Tang, Zhou Yi, and Huo Qubing, they all exceeded the four-jin mark, while Li Qingzhao and Xi Shi just broke the three-jin mark. The raising of the roof beam is absolutely foolproof.

When Wu Zetian heard that Xi Shi had met Zigong, she asked about the details and looked at Zigong's photo. She decided to convert the Analects into bronze script, print it out, and have Xi Shi take it with her so that Zigong could see just how outrageous the distorted Confucian classics could be.

Zigong was one of Confucius's four most outstanding disciples and a representative of Confucian merchants. After Confucius passed away, it was Zigong who personally promoted Confucianism, which prevented Confucius's teachings from being lost in the long river of history.

The Book of Changes says:

"When you leave, please take a digital watch with you. A modern digital watch can last for at least two years with a single battery change. Zigong should be able to use it."

After breakfast, everyone put on work gloves and went to the God of Wealth Temple. First, they covered the statue of the God of Wealth with a plastic sheet, and then they began to raise the beam.

The beams needed have already been transported to the main hall. Yesterday, Zhou Yi and Huo Qubing even managed to erect a few pillars, which reduced the difficulty of today's task.

The Temple of the God of Wealth is a common seven-beam structure in ancient architecture. There are short columns on the horizontal beams, and another horizontal beam on top of the short columns, making a total of three layers supporting seven purlins, hence the name seven-beam structure.

The scaffolding for the beam had been erected long ago. Zhou Yi and Huo Qubing stood at either end, Chen Tang in the middle, and the others each performed their duties, some pulling ropes, some assisting, and together they lifted the beam and placed it steadily on the scaffolding.

This step went surprisingly smoothly, giving Zhou Yi the illusion that "I am naturally gifted with divine power, yet I am being overly cautious."

The piece of wood used as a crossbeam was unusually large and long, yet it was easily lifted by just a few people. It has to be said, good deeds are truly a wonderful thing.

If you have the chance, be sure to collect as much as you can; don't slack off!
Chen Tang stretched his arms and legs and said with surprise:

"I feel like I have a thousand pounds of strength in my body, and I wish I could go and have a tug-of-war with an excavator right now."

Zhouyi: "..."

The building materials of Hunyuan Palace are magical artifacts that automatically adjust their weight according to the amount of merit one accumulates. Excavators, on the other hand, are not magical artifacts and will not reduce their power just because you have accumulated merit.

Thinking about this, he suddenly had a bold idea: if he used various steel magical artifacts to assemble a mechanical device, would it generate mechanical energy or mystical power after it was activated?
We could study this further in the future to see if we could launch a science-based industrial revolution in the field of metaphysics.

With continued effort, everyone climbed onto the scaffolding and easily lifted the beams onto the second scaffolding. At this rate, all the beams and purlins could be lifted up by this morning.

Soon, the first crossbeam was installed and placed perfectly on the column.

After aligning the pre-reserved mortise and tenon joints, the wooden beam was firmly placed on the column. The column stopped swaying, and the wooden beam was also stable. In modern installations, seven beams are basically hoisted up as a whole, but in the past, it was different. They needed to be installed layer by layer, and each layer had different customs and traditions. Even the incantations recited on-site for raising the beam were different.

After Zhou Yi erected the first beam, he began to move the scaffolding to erect the second beam.

The four beauties worked with great enthusiasm, and Zhao Xu, Xin Qiji, Huo Qubing, Chen Tang, and the others were also full of energy. Before ten o'clock, all three beams were in place, and it was time to move on to the second layer of the seven beams.

This floor requires the erection of short, thick columns on the beams, technically called "baby columns," which actually means small columns. However, the roof is a very particular place, and terms like "small," "weak," or "sick" are not allowed.

The small pillar was renamed the "Child Pillar," which signifies growth and also implies that a talented person will emerge from the family in the future... In short, repairing a house is not easy, so we should do whatever is auspicious.

Li Qingzhao sat on the scaffolding, carefully counted the number of child pillars, and asked with a smile:

"Immortal Master, are all the main halls of our Hunyuan Palace made of seven beams?"

Zhou Yi shook his head:

"The main halls of Hunyuan Palace, such as the Sanqing Hall, Sanhuang Hall, Haotian Hall, Nuwa Hall, and Daxiong Hall, all use nine beams; the Caishen Hall, Wenxuanwang Hall, Wuchengwang Hall, Changsheng Hall, Zhongtian Hall, etc., all use seven beams; as for the small halls on the sides and corners, they use five beams."

Different halls serve different functions, enshrine different deities, and thus vary in size.

After installing the second-layer pillars and placing the crossbeams, finally install a pillar in the center of the third layer, and then install the purlins.

The seven-beam structure is generally a double-column structure. The outermost column is to share the stress brought by the heavy pressure of the roof, and the outermost purlin is above the outermost column.

The reason why ancient roofs had a relatively steep slope was to extend the pressure to the outer pillars and prevent the inner pillars from collapsing due to excessive pressure.

Zhao Xu said:

"This type of house should be a raised-beam house, which is relatively bright inside, but it requires high-quality materials and skilled builders."

The Book of Changes reveals that this emperor had a truly wide range of interests:

“You’re right, this is indeed a raised beam type. There’s also a through-beam type, which is very distinctive. It’s a room with pillars densely packed together.”

After taking a short break, everyone started installing the purlins.

Those main halls with nine beams, in addition to the purlins, also have wooden beams with various carvings, which are not only beautiful, but also serve to connect the beams and columns.

However, in the seven-beam and five-beam halls, there are no beams; instead, purlins are directly connected, and then wooden rafters are nailed on top, insulation boards are laid, and finally, various antique-style tiles are installed.

The purlins are thinner than the beams, making them easier to lift. After all seven purlins were in place, Zhou Yi saw that there was still some time, so he decided to move the wooden rafters up and nail some of them in, which would make things much easier in the afternoon.

Chen Tang carried the beams at the bottom, Gongsun Da Niang passed them up one by one, Xi Shi passed them in the middle, Wu Meiniang and Li Qingzhao transferred them on the roof, and Huo Qubing, Xin Qiji and Zhao Xu hammered and nailed the wooden rafters onto the purlins in an alternating pattern. After nailing both ends in place, the wooden beams of the roof were firmly connected together.

Just as they were busy working, the sounds of fighting, with Chen Tang shouting and yelling, suddenly came from below:

"Who goes there? How dare you ambush this general! Take this!"

While the man was carrying things, he suddenly saw a man in golden armor jump out of the God of Wealth Temple. As soon as they met, the man drew his sword and attacked. Although Chen Tang was caught off guard, he did not back down. He swung his wooden rafters with both hands and swung them at the stranger's head.

Longswords are strong in their thrusting ability, but wooden rafters are their natural counter. As long as you defend well, longswords are useless and are more likely to be broken by the wooden rafters.

Upon hearing the sounds of fighting, Huo Qubing grabbed his claw hammer and leaped down from the roof. Xin Qiji, being more steady, slid down a pillar, grabbing a pickaxe in the process.

The three women instantly surrounded the golden-armored man, and Gongsun Da Niang shouted from outside the circle:
"Hey, who are you? How dare you cause trouble in the temple of gods? Do you think all the gods in China are cowards?"

Zhouyi: "..."

If you're going to try to mediate, then do it. Why are you trying to stir things up from the start?
The man in golden armor looked around and said loudly:

"I am the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Who are you?"

Upon hearing the words "Emperor of Great Zhou," everyone present looked at Wu Meiniang... Hunyuan Palace already has an Empress of Great Zhou, so how come another Emperor of Great Zhou has suddenly appeared?
Is the Zhou content of Hunyuan Palace a bit too high?

Wu Zetian remained calm, observed the style of the golden-armored man's armor, and leaned down from the scaffolding to ask:
"Are you Guo Rong, son of Guo Wei?"

Although surrounded, the golden-armored man's imposing manner remained undiminished.
"Indeed, may I ask where this place is...? I clearly recovered Liao territory in Hebei, so why am I here?"

Upon hearing the words "recovering the Liao Kingdom's territory," Zhou Yi asked in surprise:
Is it the sixth year of Xiande where you are now?

(End of this chapter)