Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 8 The Golden Body Under the Moonlight
"Li Wushou, stop talking nonsense!"

Chen Gou'er's exclamation was heard by the junior priest, who thought it was Li Wushou who made the sound and immediately scolded him.

He then glanced at the figure in the pit with lingering fear, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was nothing unusual.

"These are the remains of the City God, and also his original golden body. You must not be disrespectful!"

Li Wushou patted his stomach, and after hearing this, he lowered his head along with Feng Sishui and the others.

Seeing the four people's respectful demeanor, the junior priest said no more.

Normally, these peasants wouldn't have given them a second glance, but tonight, they were all in the same boat.

If you're too harsh, the other person will just give up, and you'll die a very unjust death.

He waved the round box in his hand and pointed to the symbol on the box.

"There are corresponding symbols on the pits below that depict facial features. Once we go down into the round pit, everyone will find their corresponding position."

Li Wushou looked down at the round box in his hand and, sure enough, there was a willow-leaf-shaped symbol on it.

Soon, the same symbol was found in the five wall pits of the circular pit, not far from where he was standing.

Seeing that everyone nodded in understanding, the junior priest took the lead and stepped down from the round pit into a hole.

Following suit, Li Wushou and his three companions also found their own place.

A lingering stench of blood assaulted Li Wushou's nostrils. Even without Chen Gou'er's help, Li Wushou could smell it himself. It seemed that quite a few people had indeed died!

The pit was extremely narrow, like a niche on the wall!
Li Wushou had no choice but to sit cross-legged. Before he could even sit down, Chen Gou'er impatiently shouted:
“Li Wushou, this City Goddess really stinks; she can’t even hide her natural odor.”

Li Wushou naturally understood what Chen Gou'er meant by those words.

In Chen Gou'er's understanding, whether it's gods or evil spirits in this world, or even some immortal cultivators from immortal sects, they all share the same essence.

It's just that it's usually well concealed, mixed with some other flavors, or rather, packaged in different forms.

"It seems that the City God is really in serious trouble. Is he going to die?"

Li Wushou muttered something, but Chen Gou'er immediately retorted.

"What City God? Isn't this the City Goddess?"

"Besides, wasn't this old woman only made her City God after she died? Her body is still here!"

"That's called a golden body!"

"What a load of bull! It stinks!"

Chen Gou'er was very disdainful, and then added a sentence at the end.

"These priests are stupid, even worse than an old beggar. If they had just salted them earlier, they wouldn't have smelled so bad."

Feng Sishui, who was in the pit next to him, felt a chill run down his spine.

Here we go again, with that same low-frequency self-talk. I can't hear what it's saying, but it just keeps talking!

He really wanted to curse! But he quickly had to suppress his emotions.

Because the junior priest over there signaled for everyone to proceed to the next step.

He touched the inner wall of the pit, where some incense and candles were stored. Following the example of the little priest, he inserted the incense and candles into the grooves on the outside of the pit.

Li Wushou also found the incense sticks. After taking out three and inserting them into the groove, he thought for a moment, then packed the rest together and stuffed them into his stomach.

Chen Gou'er expressed his appreciation for this behavior.

The old beggar was particular about his money and wanted to burn incense every day; these things would come in handy.

Just then, the pit gradually brightened, and Li Wushou pulled his view out of the pit and hung on the pit wall to see clearly.

The moon was now hanging directly above the crater, and the house had no roof.
Moonlight shone into the round pit, and the fragrance emanating from the grooves in the pit walls spontaneously combusted without fire, as the moonlight gathered, and wisps of incense rose up from the pit.

Like clouds and mist, it swirled around Li Wushou's chest.

Suddenly, the five people in the pit felt a chill at the same time, and Li Wushou quickly looked away.

The young priest turned pale and subconsciously looked down into the pit.

The golden statue of the City God, whose head had been slightly bowed, raised its head at some point.

Feng Sishui glanced at it, then gritted his teeth so hard that he bit his tongue, causing blood to spill from the corner of his mouth, but he still dared not utter a sound.

The same thing happened to the other two. Li Wushou patted his stomach and held down Chen Gou'er, who was about to bark. Only then did Li Wushou understand what the little priest meant when he said the golden statue's face was covered in mud.

Moonlight filtered through the incense smoke and fell on the face of the City God's golden statue.

Unlike the fair skin of the body, the face was grayish-brown, and the features had withered away, making it impossible to see the original face.

It resembled a dried corpse, but its grayish-brown flesh writhed under the moonlight, as if thousands of maggots were huddled together.

The grayish-brown flesh extended downwards, disappearing into the City God's wide blue robe.

I imagine the situation inside isn't much better!
It's not just his face that's covered in smears, his whole body looks like it's almost covered in smears too!
Is this why the previous attempt to create a golden statue failed?
Thinking of this, Li Wushou's expression turned somewhat ugly. Judging from the little priest's performance just now, these City God Temple priests obviously hadn't noticed this.

There must be some other problem with this City God. Trying to cast a golden statue using the same method as before is bound to fail!
"I've been scammed!"

This isn't about creating a golden statue; it's about bringing over these blind cats to see if they can stumble upon a dead mouse!

"What? We really are in a pit?"

Chen Gou'er didn't quite hear him and answered with a question.

Just as Li Wushou was about to answer, he heard the junior priest opposite him lower his voice and remind him.

"Attention everyone, it's about to begin!"

As the minor priest uttered his low shout, the golden statue of the City God at the bottom of the pit suddenly opened a black hole where its mouth had been.

The lingering incense smoke, accompanied by moonlight, was swallowed whole by the golden statue, and the sky suddenly darkened.

The grayish-brown flesh began to writhe even more violently.

"Pfft~!"

A spewing sound echoed in the round pit.

Where the golden body originally had facial features, grayish-brown fleshy vines suddenly sprouted.

The earth's energy was drawn in, causing the ground to tremble slightly. The fleshy vines that sprouted absorbed the moonlight and grew extremely fast, soon extending towards the five holes on the pit wall.

The young priest looked solemn, holding the box beneath him to his chest.

"Open the box!"

Li Wushou opened the box in his hand at the same time, and for a moment felt as if he was being glared at by something.

Inside the box, two eyeballs wriggled their fascia, seemingly acting independently.

However, it was firmly locked in place by the talisman engraved on the bottom of the box.

Unable to break free, it glared fiercely at Li Wushou with its two eyes.

"Hey, Li Wushou, it's glaring at you! Let me beat it to death."

Chen Gou'er, feeling indignant, stretched his wrists, rolled up his sleeves, and was ready to fight the other party!

Li Wushou slapped Chen Gou'er twice in the stomach before he finally calmed down.

This kid's just greedy. Last time, the old beggar's eyes recognized him, and he looked exactly like this.

These eyes were clearly crafted by the Blood Buddha Temple with great care, containing far more essence of blood and flesh than the spiritual eyes that ordinary people have. No wonder this kid is so tempted!
If Chen Gou'er really eats it, I'm completely finished tonight.

In a short time, the fleshy vines had extended into the pit.

A flesh and blood lotus platform materialized in mid-air before Li Wushou's eyes, with two dents on its top.

"Offer the five senses, sculpt the golden body!"

At the low shout of the junior priest, the five people moved in unison, placing the facial features from the box into the flesh-and-blood lotus platform.

The ground trembled slightly, and the fleshy vines retracted at the same time.

The young priest craned his neck, looking solemnly into the depths of the pit.

It has to work!

In the front hall, the high priest, who was sitting cross-legged beneath three golden statues, suddenly opened his eyes.

After a long while, a murmur faded away in the hall.

"Hopefully this will work. If it really doesn't, I might have to ask the Martial Priest to go find that old sparrow!"

(End of this chapter)