Swords emerge from the human world

Chapter 26: The Mountain God Changes the Land, the Heavy Sword is Forged
"Dad, when is Uncle Lang coming back?"

Chenjia Village, Datang Township.

"It's a question from the little girl, Chen Min," she asked in a clear, crisp voice.

Chen Zhi, while fetching water, said, "How would I know? Why are you always thinking about him?"

"Uncle Lang said he would buy me sugar figurines last time, but he left many days ago."

“He’s an adult now. Adults have adult things to do. How can he just run around like that?”

"Oh, like this."

Chen Min lowered her head, feeling disappointed.

Chen Zhi had no idea what Chen Jin was doing in the city. A few days ago, Wang Fu went to the countryside and brought a letter to let him know that everything was alright, as well as many gifts. Among them were food, useful items, and money.

This was like sending charcoal in snowy weather, greatly improving the family's life.

Chen Yuan said that Chen Jin had climbed the social ladder and made connections with influential people, and his life became much easier from then on.

Chen Zhi expressed his doubts about this, because Wang Fu's attitude was too enthusiastic, and it seemed as if he was actively trying to befriend Chen Jin.

Chen Yuan believed that this was due to Wang Fu's nature; since he respected and valued scholars, he should naturally act generously.

Regardless, the benefits are real.

Chen Yuan added that after solving the problem of making a living, Chen Jin no longer needed to do anything and could devote himself to reading and writing.

Perhaps he was in the city studying hard with Wang Fu, preparing for the provincial examination next spring.

During the Daqian examination system, the first two stages of the preliminary examination for children, the county examination and the prefectural examination, were held once a year, while the provincial examination was held twice every three years.

If we encounter situations like Enke, additional measures will be taken; it's not a fixed rule.

……

Suddenly, several people arrived at the door, and the one leading them was none other than Zhou Chang from the Zhou family.

In Datang Township, the Zhou family was the largest local gentry and wealthy family. The head of the family, Zhou Huaihua, served as the village head, responsible for various local self-government affairs and tax collection.

Zhou Chang is Zhou Lizheng's younger brother.

Such people rarely visit under normal circumstances.

And if they come knocking on your door, it's usually not for anything good.

Chen Zhi's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stepped forward, forcing a smile: "Brother Zhou, what brings you here?"

Zhou Changdao said, "It's like this, the village is going to rebuild the village temple and needs everyone's donations. After discussion, we decided to collect money from each household, one hundred coins per person."

The so-called "Shemiao" is a local temple, which can be considered a public ancestral hall.

Datang Township is a place where many surnames live together, so there is no unified ancestral hall. Each household, if they can afford it, will have a spirit tablet made and place the ancestral tablets in their own home.

For example, in the main hall of the Chen family, there was an altar with three ancestral tablets on it. One tablet was for the great-grandfather "Chen Qing", one for the grandfather "Chen Chun", and the other for Chen Jin's father "Chen Yang".

On the first and fifteenth of each lunar month, or on the anniversary of a death, family members would offer incense and perform rituals to the ancestral tablet.

During the Great Qian Dynasty, sacrificial rites were a very particular and solemn affair, whether for individuals, clans, or government officials.

Therefore it is said: The most important matters of a state are sacrifice and war.

The fact that sacrificial rites could be compared to military warfare speaks volumes about their importance.

At the same time, there are strict rules and regulations regarding sacrificial rites that cannot be transgressed.

The Book of Rites states: The Son of Heaven has seven ancestral temples, the feudal lords have five, the high officials have three, the lower officials have one, and the common people have no temples.

The "temple" mentioned here is actually a "family temple".

The entire Shinto system can be divided into two main categories: "public gods" and "private gods".

As the name suggests, public gods are deities that are in the public domain. These include Taoist deities, Buddhas, martial gods, gods of wealth, and even mountain gods and land gods.

In other words, their temples are basically open to the public, and anyone can come in to burn incense, offer prayers, and make offerings.

Private deities are mainly "ancestral gods".

Each family should pay respects to their own ancestors; it wouldn't make sense for the Zhang family to worship the Li family's ancestors, or it would create chaos.

Furthermore, due to differences in surnames, clan divisions, and the varying development of branches, the composition of ancestral gods in different families is diverse, with significant differences in strength. How can the ancestral gods of ordinary families be compared to those of wealthy and powerful families?

Not to mention the majority of ordinary people, who, because they were not qualified to build temples, could only worship simple ancestral tablets and had no ancestral gods to speak of.

In this situation, only ancestors remain, and there are no "gods".

Incense offerings are purely a form of commemoration; it is utterly impossible for ancestral spirits to manifest their power.

In this system, the most powerful and majestic ancestral gods naturally come from the emperor's family.

The ancestral temple of the emperor's family is called the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

The Imperial Ancestral Temple possesses supreme sanctity, representing the rise and fall of the nation. To be "honored in the Imperial Ancestral Temple" became the ultimate pursuit of civil and military officials and scholars throughout the land.

Below the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Ancestral Temple of the Sage of Literature is also renowned.

In addition, there were ancestral temples of feudal lords, aristocratic families, and other prominent clans, each with its own sphere of influence, and so on.

Whether public or private, temples must conform to the laws of the imperial court and the ancestral rites. If they are built haphazardly or privately, they are considered illegal temples and unorthodox worship, and once discovered, it is a capital offense.

The imperial court and government officials were very strict in this regard.

That said, commoners had no temples, so they could only live together with people of the same surname, build clan ancestral halls, and enshrine the ancestral tablets of their ancestors.

In places like Datang Township, the situation is even worse. With a mix of different surnames, it is difficult to build ancestral halls, so each family can only display their own family's ancestral tablets.

I've heard that the Zhou family is developing rapidly and has considerable wealth, and they seem to be planning to lead their clan in building an ancestral hall in the village.
However, doing such a thing is fraught with obstacles and is not so easy; it requires a strong opportunity.

Zhou Huaihua wasn't qualified to be a village head or gentry, but if his descendants produced talented individuals, such as someone who passed the imperial examination, it would be a completely different story.

The title of Juren (举人) was equivalent to an official position, and when it came to building ancestral halls, no one else dared to utter a word.

There was no ancestral hall in the village, but there was a public shrine, which was the local earth god shrine.

On the monthly memorial day, villagers would bring incense, paper money, and sacrificial offerings to the temple to worship the gods and make wishes, praying for favorable weather and a bountiful harvest; some would also pray for children, wealth, health, and peace. In short, there was only one god, so they would pray first and then ask for the best, not caring whether it was under His jurisdiction or not.

Therefore, the incense at this land temple has always been very strong, and the temple is sturdy and beautiful.

So why the sudden need to rebuild?
Chen Zhi was quite puzzled, but he understood after asking.

It turns out that a while ago, someone found a deity's head in the grass at the foot of the mountain. It had red hair and a green face. After identification, it was recognized as the head of the mountain god.

This news quickly spread, and opinions varied widely.

Some people say that Chen Jin stayed at the mountain god temple, so was it because he disrespected the mountain god and did something bad?

But some people didn't believe it, saying that Chen Jin was a proper, weak scholar, so how could he have cut off the head of the mountain god?
Among them, Liu the hunter appeared to testify that the mountain god statue had been missing for a long time and had nothing to do with Chen Tongsheng...

At this point, a new theory emerged, suggesting that the mountain god might have felt that the desolate mountain was too remote and lacked worshippers, so he left to find a new place.

This argument has gained considerable acceptance and has been widely circulated and exaggerated.

Upon seeing this, the Zhou family immediately stepped forward and took the lead in proposing to build a new shrine within the local temple to enshrine the mountain god, and to recreate the mountain god's true form, and so on.

After all, it is in accordance with laws and etiquette for the land god and mountain god to live together in the same temple.

So they went door-to-door collecting money as a gift.

One hundred coins per person, regardless of age or gender, is not a small amount.

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhi was quite reluctant, but since it involved the gods, he had to make the offerings no matter how poor or difficult things were. Fortunately, his family had some spare money recently and could afford it.

After collecting the money, Zhou Chang bowed respectfully and led his men to collect from the next household.

……

Aoyama Martial Arts School.

ninth day.

The greatsword is forged, ready to be honed...

　This chapter explains the core setting of the book and runs throughout the entire text.

　　In addition, finally some readers left comments urging for more updates. Although they were few and far between, it at least shows that there are still people following along.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)