Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 120 Setting up an altar to verify the rice, five ghosts transporting it! (3000 words)
Early the next morning

Lin You and the others split into several teams and arrived early at various rice shops of the Zhu family's rice business to test the rice supplied by the city lord, Zhu Sihai!

The test was conducted in a very direct way, focusing on the power of incense offerings and vows.

Lin You had already learned from Li Wushou that Zhu Sihai wanted to seize the position of City God. After the initial shock, he later understood many of the things that had puzzled him before.

I felt a bit more at ease, since between an unknown enemy and a known enemy, the latter was more reassuring.

Last night, after leaving the Three Immortals Pavilion, Lin You summoned all the priests and discussed for half the night, finally deciding on a method for verifying the rice.

Before dawn, Lin You led Chu Feng to the back hall of the Zhu Family Rice Shop's main store in Zhengcheng.

Zhu Fang was directing a group of servants to unload bags of rice from a cart. The rice had just been transported from the city lord's mansion in the east of the city and was heading straight to the various branches of the Zhu family's rice shop.

A moment later, the rice and grain were unloaded, and Zhu Fang walked up to Lin You and Chu Feng, respectfully asking for their instructions:

"Priest Lin, Priest Chu, today's rice and grain supplies have been provided. Please inspect them!"

Chu Feng nodded slightly, solemnly took a cloth bag off his back, carefully opened it, and took out a peach-colored wooden plaque with both hands. The fragrance of incense instantly filled the air.

Zhu Fang looked up and his pupils contracted. He saw that the words "Offering" were written at the top of the wooden plaque from right to left, and directly below the words "Offering" were written from top to bottom "Position of the Righteous God of the Five Directions City Gods and Domains"!
Upon seeing this clearly, Zhu Fang quickly lowered his head, then buried it even lower. In his heart, he kept muttering to himself, "So they really did invite the City God's tablet?"
Lin You, standing to the side, did not delay either. He took out a cloth bag from behind his back, pulled out a bundle of yellow paper from it, cut and wrapped it on the spot, and in a moment an exquisite altar appeared in his hand.

The overall shape of the altar is just like the main hall of the City God Temple. Looking inside, you can faintly see the golden statue of the City God!
However, Lin You's movements did not stop. He held up the yellow paper altar with one hand and quickly stacked it with the other. This time, it was not as delicate as before, but rather had a more expansive feel. Before long, a yellow paper table quietly appeared.

Lin You held the yellow paper altar in one hand and the yellow paper table in the other. He opened his mouth and blew on the cloth bag. A gust of cold wind swept by, and the cloth bag unfolded, revealing nine piles of incense ash scattered in four directions!
The incense ash clung together and did not disperse; despite the slight breeze today, it remained unusually concentrated!
Lin You and Chu Feng exchanged a glance and nodded, then gently placed the yellow paper table in their hands on the pile of incense ash.

The yellow paper desk was firmly rooted to the ground, undisturbed by the wind, and exceptionally stable.

Lin You, with a solemn expression, placed the yellow paper altar he had been holding in his other hand on the table. Then, he formed mudras with both hands and chanted continuously, as if the altar and the table were one.

Seeing this, Lin You exhaled another breath of yin energy, and the incense ash under the table suddenly scattered and merged into a neat incense platform, which lifted the entire yellow paper altar into the air.

Upon seeing this, Chu Feng, who was standing beside him, quickly stepped forward and respectfully placed the shrine in his hands in front of the yellow paper altar.

The altar, suspended in mid-air, suddenly emitted a buzzing sound. The servants carrying the rice and grain hurriedly knelt down and chanted, "Greetings, City God!" Even Zhu Fang, who harbored ulterior motives, abandoned his distracting thoughts and bowed respectfully like Lin You and Chu Feng.

After bowing, Lin You took out three sticks of incense from his bosom, lit them, and the incense automatically floated up and landed in front of the City God's shrine.

At the same time, Chu Feng took out a piece of yellow paper, folded it into a triangular paper package, walked quickly to the pile of rice and grains, randomly took out grains of rice from various parts of the rice bag, and put them into the triangular yellow paper package in his hand.

He collected four bags of rice in no time, and only stopped after sampling each bag.

Seeing that Chu Feng had finished collecting the grain, Lin You uttered a soft command: "Provide the grain!"

Chu Feng made a hand seal, and the yellow paper triangle in his hand suddenly flew up and landed below the three sticks of incense.

Lin You drank again: "Offer five sacrificial animals!"

Zhu Fang, who had been bowing respectfully, was somewhat confused! He hadn't received any notice from the City God Temple to prepare livestock? And when Lin You and Chu Feng came today, he hadn't seen them bring any either.

Zhu Fang was still puzzled when Chu Feng had already quickly folded the offerings into the shape of five sacrificial animals using yellow paper. Zhu Fang glanced over unconsciously and felt it was child's play. Offerings could be replaced with yellow paper? Wasn't this just fooling the City God?
Before he could see the answer, Zhu Fang suddenly felt a pain in his arm.

"Ah~!"

Zhu Fang cried out in pain, then looked up. He saw Lin You standing beside him, holding a dagger, tearing a piece of flesh from his arm!
Zhu Fang hurriedly covered his arm to stop the bleeding. Just as he was about to question Lin You, he saw the other party lightly flick the piece of flesh off the dagger and throw it in front of Chu Feng.

Chu Feng reached out and took it, then casually placed it into one of the five sacrificial animals folded from yellow paper!

Zhu Fang looked over and saw that the five sacrificial animals was a yellow paper pig!

Zhu Fang's face darkened, and he angrily rebuked, "What do you mean by this, High Priest Lin?" Lin You remained calm and explained, "Supplies are scarce in the city, and it is difficult to prepare the five sacrificial animals. Humans are the most intelligent beings, and their flesh can be used as a substitute for the five sacrificial animals!"

Zhu Fang was furious. Of course, he knew that human sacrifices were also sacrifices, but was that what he was asking? He wanted to know why they were cutting off his flesh! Why didn't you cut off your own flesh? Even the servant behind you would have done it!
Before Zhu Fang could even get angry, three or four of the kneeling servants behind him stepped forward, raised their arms, and shouted, "Your Excellency, cut off our flesh!"

Lin You didn't hesitate and nodded in praise, "Excellent! You truly deserve the City God's protection!"

After praising them, he cut pieces of meat from the four people and threw them to Chu Feng. Chu Feng did the same and stuffed them into the paper offerings. Then, together with the four bags of grain from before, he placed them below the three sticks of incense.

Zhu Fang dared not speak out in anger, but he always felt that the piece of flesh that had been taken from him was much more than what these servants had taken from him!

Lin You and Chu Feng ignored Zhu Fang. They thought he was a wolf in sheep's clothing and that it was already good enough that they hadn't killed him. It was just a piece of flesh, what was he yelling about?
Now is the crucial moment to verify whether there are any hidden tricks involved in this rice!

Since Zhu Sihai wanted to obtain the power of incense offerings through this rice, no matter what means he used, it must be related to the power of incense offerings.

The City God, as the local deity, receives the offerings and prayers of the local people. However, if anyone uses any unusual methods, his divine tablet will refuse to accept the offerings. The rice may look normal, but the offerings and prayers cannot be faked!
The two men, with solemn expressions, bowed deeply in unison and exclaimed:

"Please, City God, enjoy this offering!"

The incense on the altar suddenly burst into flames, creating a misty haze in front of the shrine.

Zhu Fang's expression hardened, and he quickly suppressed his resentment. He saw the paper packages containing the five sacrificial animals, filled with blood and flesh, be the first to emit a cloud of bloody vapor, and instantly shriveled up. Then, the four paper packages containing rice and grain also dented slightly.

The incense in front of the altar burned out quickly, the swirling smoke rising and then slowly receding into the altar.

Lin You and Chu Feng both breathed a sigh of relief. It's good that they ate it!
The two stepped forward together to catch the falling altar. Lin You took the rice packet from the table, unwrapped it, and found that the rice inside had turned to ashes. Only then did Lin You feel relieved.

"Manager Zhu, the rice can be sold normally today! Chu Feng, you stay here and assist Manager Zhu in selling the rice!"

After saying this, Lin You ignored Zhu Fang's anger and got up to return to the City God Temple. He wanted to wait for the results of the other minor officials' rice verification. Zhu Fang snorted inwardly, but there was nothing he could do. He could only curse in his heart, "You lot won't be so arrogant for long!"
Not long after Lin You returned to the City God Temple, the other officials who had inspected the rice also began to return one after another. The feedback was generally the same: the rice sent by the City Lord's Mansion was fine and could be sold!
Lin You hurriedly lit incense to inform the priests who remained on duty to begin supervising the sale of rice!
But his wariness seemed to deepen. What exactly was Zhu Sihai up to? Unable to figure it out, Lin You then got up and went to the Three Immortals Pavilion to report the results of today's rice inspection to Li Wushou.

Just as the officials of the City God Temple were setting up the altar to verify the rice, in the backyard of the East City Lord's Mansion, a white paper altar was also set up. Sitting on the altar was Li Wushou's old acquaintance—the Paper Goddess dressed in a Yin-Yang Taoist robe.

But at this moment, the other party's actions were quite mechanical and strange, clearly indicating that it was a paper figure newly cut out by the Paper Goddess.

Five bronze pillars, each as thick as an adult's thigh, stood around the altar!

Hanging upside down on each bronze pillar was a naked young man, each with a long gash on his chest, his ribcage rolled back, his internal organs empty.

Blood was everywhere beneath the bronze pillar; these people had their chests ripped open, like cleaned chickens and ducks.

On the white paper altar, the paper goddess, with her six arms raised high, slowly changed her hand seals. Suddenly, a buzzing sound came from the courtyard, and the five corpses hanging upside down began to writhe strangely.

With a soft "hiss," five paper demons with blue faces and fangs crawled out of the dissected abdominal cavities of the five corpses, and then flew in unison to the side of the Paper Goddess.

They were wiping their mouths, patting their bellies, or lying down, all looking completely satisfied with what they had eaten and drunk.

The paper goddess, who was sitting cross-legged, suddenly opened her eyes and said stiffly, "Lord Zhu, I am very satisfied with the hospitality we had for the five ghosts today. They will do their best to transport the rice and grain tomorrow. Just prepare five fresh sets of internal organs like today!"

The courtyard was deserted, but after the Paper Goddess spoke, a lark slowly landed on one of the bronze pillars and replied:
"Don't worry, Goddess Paper, tomorrow's internal organs will only be better than today's. Just let nothing go wrong! If this continues for seven days, the world of Five Directions City will be transformed!"

The Paper Goddess nodded slightly. The five ghosts surrounding her rolled around happily, then changed their shapes and slipped into the Paper Goddess's sleeves like pieces of paper. The Paper Goddess then lay down on the white paper altar, awaiting the arrival of tomorrow.

The lark watched all this for a long time, then suddenly opened its beak and spat out a lark egg. The lark quickly withered, gathered a drop of its essence blood, and dropped it into the lark egg. The egg hatched, and a new lark flew out, then slowly grew larger and swallowed the five upside-down corpses in one gulp.

He then flapped his wings and flew towards the military camp of the School Guard outside the East City, intending to plant more rice.

I was still updating 6000 words a day, but today I've changed it to 3000 words per chapter.
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(End of this chapter)