Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 149 Crisis of Incense Offerings, the Dragon King Arrives!
The past ten days or so have passed in the blink of an eye.
On the same day that Xiao Panshan heard that Li Wushou had personally gone to the kitchen of the City God Temple to pack up the food, he found Chef Hu.

After a discussion, the two immediately resumed the four-meal-a-day system and restarted the delivery service to Sanxian Restaurant.

This action greatly enhanced Xiao Panshan's prestige and won him praise from many junior priests.

This further strengthened Xiao Panshan's resolve to learn more about High Priest Li Wushou. This long-lost sense of belonging made him very happy.

During this period, the newly appointed City God Mu Tong awoke once, took over the seal of the Five Directions City God, and under the supervision of Xiao Panshan, officially entered the City God Temple and accepted the incense offerings from the people of the five directions.

After all, it was appointed by the old City God, so the people of the five cities were very accepting of it, and the other party was a former civil official!

The day after stabilizing the City God's position, Mu Chenghuang summoned the illusory forms of the Eternal Mother and the Blood Buddha.

It directly states that Wushengshi and Liumu are interfering in the internal affairs of Wufang City, intending to overthrow the Five Directions.

The Eternal Mother and the Blood Buddha wanted to say more, but Mu Tong was adamant and confiscated their properties, driving them away from Five Directions City.

This greatly increased Mu Tong's prestige, especially the recognition of the new City God and High Priest in Nancheng, which even surpassed that of Liu Qingmei.

This was not good news for the Wusheng Sect and the Blood Buddha Temple, but the three remaining four-eyed monks of the Blood Buddha Temple were overjoyed.

They had been unable to sleep for the past few days, fearing that the high priest of the City God Temple would come knocking on their door at any moment.

Fortunately, I heard that the high priest has been in seclusion these days and hasn't even shown up when the new City God takes over the City God Temple.

The new City God didn't mind this at all, and even issued a notice to all parties not to disturb the High Priest!
This made the three monks both happy and afraid. They were happy that the other party was in seclusion and had no time to cause them trouble, but they were afraid that the city god of Wufang City was overestimating this high priest.
Fortunately, they were free. The moment they were confirmed to be expelled, they packed their clothes and anxiously waited for the merchant ship to arrive so they could leave Wufang City as soon as possible.

The most exhausted people during this period were actually the many junior priests.

Zhu Sihai died, and along with him, all two hundred guards of the school guard unit were wiped out.

Before a new city lord is appointed in Wangxian City, all matters within the city can only be maintained by the minor officials who have temporarily recruited some people.

Fortunately, the evil spirits outside the city were particularly well-behaved during this period.

The two biggest rebel leaders outside the Five Directions City, Tree Goddess and Paper Goddess, were uprooted by the City God Temple, making these small fry even less likely to cause trouble.

The people outside the southern city were particularly delighted, because the dense forests within Guanyin Mountain had become more open, giving them more areas to hunt.

Although they had heard that the Paper Goddess had been beheaded by Liu Chenghuang, the evil spirits in the dense forest were still there, so they didn't dare to enter.

But the city's priests sent a piece of paper, which drifted into the dense forest. They stated that it was the High Priest's decree, and the evil spirits in the forest dared not make a move!

The villagers outside the south city tentatively entered the dense forest several times with some skepticism, but finally felt reassured and began to worship the City God and the High Priest.

After more than ten days, Wufang City returned to peace.

The City God was in seclusion amidst the River of Yin Qi, while the Martial God continued to aimlessly devour living souls, as if everything had returned to its origin.

But Xiao Panshan knew that everything was different. After the City God woke up, he originally wanted to convene all the officials for a meeting, but after hearing that the Grand Priest was in seclusion, he changed his mind and said that they would discuss the matter after the Grand Priest came out of seclusion.

This shows that even with a new City God in office, the High Priest's position in the City God Temple remains unshakable.

This strengthened his resolve!

But recently, Xiao Panshan has also been very troubled. Since he took over as the civil official and took over the incense offerings of the City God Temple, his brow has never been relaxed.

Because of Zhu Sihai's rebellion, the number of worshippers at Wufang City has decreased significantly this year.

In addition, with the change of the City God's position, Mu Chenghuang consolidated his divine status after taking over the City God Temple, which further depleted the incense offerings.

With the annual tribute approaching, it's clear that the incense offerings in Wufang City won't meet the required standards this year!
Therefore, although he also entered the City God Temple along with Mu Chenghuang, he refrained from consuming only a little incense.

The Martial God Official often goes into a state of mental instability and instinctively consumes incense offerings. If he continues to consume them indiscriminately, then this year's tribute will be in serious trouble.

He'd been calculating and recalculating these past few days, but something seemed off; some of the incense offerings just didn't add up.

But when he reported this to the City God, the City God showed no intention of investigating, only asking him to think about the method of opening up new sources.

Mu Chenghuang's attitude made him think that the missing incense offerings were probably related to the previous Chenghuang.

Xiao Panshan didn't understand how to refine pure yang, but he knew that the City God Liu could refine a trace of pure yang, which required a massive amount of incense offerings.

The civil official, who previously managed the incense offerings, must have known about the movements of the incense offerings in Wufang City.

Therefore, Mu Chenghuang had no intention of pursuing the matter, because Liu Chenghuang had already passed away. He risked his life to protect Wufang City, and everyone in Wufang City had to acknowledge this favor!
How can we open-source this? Xiao Panshan was very troubled!
The population of Wufang City is limited, and most of the people have already been harvested by Zhu Sihai through talisman-seed paper rice. If they are harvested again, the people's hearts may turn against them.

If the City God Liu does this, there won't be much of a problem!
However, Mu Chenghuang's position as Chenghuang was designated by Liu Chenghuang, not by Wangxian City.

Although he now controls the seals of the Five City Gods and has taken over the City God Temple, it is clearly not advisable to do something that would give others cause for criticism.

This annual tribute is of paramount importance to Wufang City. If they are not careful, Wangxian City may use it as an excuse to change its City God!
Compared to the City God who was parachuted into Wangxian City, Xiao Panshan would definitely prefer the Civil God, after all, they had known each other for decades.

This is a headache. I wish the High Priest would come out of seclusion!
Xiao Panshan thought to himself subconsciously!

The old beggar and Li Wushou sat cross-legged under the incense table in a side room of the Three Immortals Pavilion.

Outside the side room, Chen Gou'er and the Paper Goddess cut out paper figures and played a game where whoever they caught would be eaten.

The paper goddess cut the paper figures incredibly fast, as if afraid that the next second the paper figures would be eaten up and it would be her turn.

Li Wushou had a Tai Chi symbol above his head, circulating the Panlong Technique and refining Yin and Yang.

The old beggar, however, was breathing out incense smoke. These days, he had benefited from Li Wushou's influence. The people of the South City and the area outside the South City were sincerely grateful to the High Priest Li Wushou, which led to a portion of the incense offerings gathering at the Three Immortals Hall.

He couldn't resist sneaking a few bites; the taste was so-so, but it quenched his thirst!

Although Xiao Panshan couldn't detect this, the old beggar was still extremely restrained, because the incense offerings of the City God Temple still had to be handed over to Wangxian City. If he continued to consume them, the banner of the City God Temple would probably fall again.

Wufang City is still too small, so small that it's difficult for him to even fill his stomach!

Moreover, Li Wushou has recently started staying indoors again.

During the day he practiced the Panlong Technique, and at night he practiced Yin Arts. The old beggar had intended to advise Li Wushou that heartbreak was nothing to worry about.

But after thinking about it, I realized I couldn't bring myself to say it.

Young people should experience this at least once in a while!

Li Wushou didn't understand what the old beggar was thinking, otherwise he would have been even more speechless.

After talking with Wu Qinghe that night, he sensed trouble brewing.

Wu Zhuangyuan once said that the Dragon King in the 800-li Hengyang River is stronger than any ordinary god, but he has been waiting for an opportunity to become a god.

Now the opportunity has arrived! Suspended Mountain has obtained a Celestial Decree!

But Wu Qinghe's words implied that this heavenly deity might not necessarily be the Dragon King's turn.

Put yourself in their shoes; if you were in their shoes, would you be willing to accept this situation?
Li Wushou keenly sensed the trouble. If the Dragon King wanted to cause trouble, how could the thirty-six cities of Huazhou, built along the river, possibly fare well?
Have things only been peaceful for a few days?

Li Wushou was helpless in this situation and could only intensify his cultivation. Even retrieving his own bones seemed to be an urgent matter.

The incident in Wufang City served as a wake-up call for me: trouble is unavoidable, and only strength can keep it away from you.

Wu Zhuangyuan slammed his fist on the court, and with a single sentence, he startled the Sparrow Lord away. If he had that kind of power, who would care who became the God of Heaven? In fact, whoever became the God of Heaven would have to defer to him!
He felt resentful that he was still too weak and that he was restricted in his actions.

So he diligently cultivated himself, hoping that one day he could eat whenever he wanted and sleep whenever he wanted, without having to worry about the future!

While everyone in the Five Directions City was preoccupied with their own thoughts,

A fleet of merchant ships on the Hengyang River quietly turned into the Emerald River, while the second fleet of merchant ships from Wufang City returned three days ahead of schedule.

The news that the first fleet of merchant ships from Wufang City had been swallowed up by something had gradually spread along the Hengyang River.

The Dragon God, who was stationed at Hengyang River, naturally heard about this news. Such blatant violation of his taboo angered him, but his repeated investigations yielded nothing.

Many ships were traveling with the Five Directions City fleet, but only the Five Directions City fleet encountered problems, which was clearly unusual.

In addition, the urging message from Wufang City lit up several times, so he directly notified Wangxian City, who was also somewhat puzzled by this.

Neither Zhu Sihai nor Liu Qingmei responded to their attempts to contact them, but for the sake of stability in the face of the upcoming important matters, it was decided to send the second fleet of merchant ships back first.

After the fleet entered Emerald Bay, it sped along, heading straight for the north of Five Directions City.

As they approached the dock in the north of the city, a dragon's roar suddenly echoed through Emerald Bay, and a figure in golden robes landed on the bow of the boat.

The man at the bow of the ship had a handsome face and was dressed in fine clothes. He was fanning himself with a palm leaf fan. When he saw the figure in the golden robe land, he quickly bowed and paid his respects.

The people at the back of the deck hurriedly prostrated themselves before the figure on the bow of the ship, saying, "Greetings, Dragon King!"

This time, the Dragon King was surprisingly accompanying the merchant ship!
The Dragon King stood with his hands behind his back, ignoring the crowd behind him.

Looking up at the dock in the north of Wufang City, the first fleet of merchant ships was clearly moored there, its various markings destroyed.

The Dragon King looked puzzled, recalling the message he suddenly received from Wangxian City when he was about to arrive at Wufang City.

Even with his composure, he couldn't help but be shocked!

"It's just a pity about Liu Qingmei," the Dragon King sighed inwardly.

The vast expanse of clouds and mist on the horizon suddenly coalesced into a giant dragon, circling above the Five Directions City.

Bathed in golden light, the dragon appeared incomparably sacred. Then, it slightly peeked out from the clouds, looking down at the City God Temple in Zhengcheng.

Where are the Five City Gods?

(End of this chapter)