Swords emerge from the human world

Chapter 51: Gods and spirits bow down, double happiness arrives.
(It's almost the end of the month, and I'm feeling really weak. I'm begging for a monthly vote to cheer myself up...)
Having achieved fame and success, and returning home in glory, the first thing to do is naturally to go to the ancestral hall to pay respects to the spirits of one's ancestors.

However, in Datang Township, the Chen family only had one branch, making it impossible to build an ancestral hall. So, everyone prepared sacrificial offerings, incense, and paper money, and first went to the local earth god temple to worship.

During the worship, Chen Jin, through his "spiritual vision," could vaguely see a fragmented local deity, formed from the condensation of spiritual essence, appearing on the statue.

He quickly appeared and bowed deeply to Chen Jin.

Judging from this, he clearly dared not accept Chen Jin's kneeling and quickly returned the greeting.

The source of the spiritual charm and divinity of the incense-burning deity lies in the will and intention of the believers. However, believers are divided into different levels, which is not only a matter of piety but also a matter of the influence of their status.

To put it bluntly, the willpower of a scholar is greater than that of many peasant boys.

That's how realistic and pragmatic we are.

If we use an analogy, comparing intention and willpower to food, it becomes easier to understand.

Fresh, rotten, delicious, unpalatable, bland, nutritious...

In essence, it falls under the cognitive category of "visualization and perception." People with extensive knowledge and those who have achieved fame and success do indeed possess willpower and mental fortitude far exceeding that of ordinary people.

Besides, martial artists are also quite good, not to mention cultivators who have entered the Dao.

Now that Chen Jin possesses both fame and Taoist cultivation, the local deities of Datang Township are too busy currying favor with such a figure to dare to put on airs.

Moreover, the emergence of outstanding figures in the region is a great benefit to Him. With Chen Jin's offerings, His efforts will be twice as effective, allowing Him to benefit greatly and gradually make up for His deficiencies.

Of course, this will be an extremely long process, and Chen Jin is certainly not capable of achieving that at his current level.

Unless Chen Jin can continue to pass the exams and keep going until he achieves the highest honors.

But by then, will Datang Township still be able to keep him?
If nothing unexpected happens, as long as he passes the imperial examination and becomes a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination), he can bring honor to his ancestors, return to his ancestral home, and thus move away.

This was all foreseeable.

However, with Chen Jin's rise to prominence, this role model can bring seeds of hope to the entire Datang Township, thereby inspiring more students' interest and ambition in reading.

As the saying goes, "a single tree cannot make a forest." Only by spreading branches and leaves and creating a flourishing atmosphere can we achieve long-term success.

At this stage, Chen Jin has only just passed the imperial examination and become a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations), and his influence is only beginning to spread. It is too early to talk about those things.

As Chen Jin left the Earth God Temple, he had a sudden realization and gained a deeper understanding of the relationship between humanity and divinity.

In the classic tales of the strange and unusual, the most popular stories are those about "the gods watching from above" and "the city god filing a complaint to uphold justice." Ultimately, these are nothing more than the traditional tale of cause and effect and retribution.

But the reality is that people can only die unjustly while they are alive, and what can they do after they die?
Ultimately, a person can only rely on themselves.

Once you become powerful, even ghosts and gods will have to bow down.

Upon returning home, we went to the main hall and began the ancestral worship ceremony.

On the altar, the three-faced god tablets are arranged in an orderly manner according to seniority.

As the head of the family, Chen Yuan took out a family genealogy book.

It's called a family genealogy, but it's just a thin sheet of paper. After all, their lineage migrated from their ancestral home in the prefecture and has been scattered elsewhere for four generations.

There's a saying that "four generations live under one roof," but that's for families with good fortune; most families simply can't achieve that.

Their branch migrated to Datang Township, and in order to gain a foothold, they truly went through hardships and struggles.

During this period, neither the great-grandfather nor the grandfather lived long lives.

Moreover, this trend is showing signs of intensifying, as exemplified by the untimely deaths of Chen Jin's parents.

The eldest son, Chen Yuan, is the only male heir, and now only has a granddaughter, making it difficult to continue the family line, which is a great worry for him. In traditional thinking, without a male heir, the family line is considered to have ended; the second son, Chen Jin, is the only remaining heir.
The third son, Chen Tan, also went to the battlefield to join the army, and there has been no news of him since; his fate remains unknown.

In summary, it is truly in dire straits and difficult to sustain.

Without a doubt, Chen Jin's passing the imperial examination this year was a stroke of good fortune, pulling the whole family back from the brink of disaster.

How could Chen Yuan not be overjoyed and extremely excited?
Our luck wasn't going to run out; our ancestors are protecting us!
The crowd lined up, holding incense sticks, and respectfully offered incense and prayers to the three-faced ancestral tablet.

Chen Jin suddenly sensed something, and vaguely felt that a breath was emerging from his father's ancestral tablet, but it seemed very weak and insignificant.

This is the phenomenon where successful descendants can support their parents.

Because it has just begun to emerge, it is not yet very obvious.

If Chen Jin achieves great success in the future, establishes a family and career, and passes on his family's legacy, then he can nurture a true "ancestral deity".

After the ancestral worship ceremony, Chen Yangshi and Su Su began to cook, while Chen Yuan and his son accompanied Chen Jin in the hall.

Chen Zhi laughed and said, "Young man, Zhou Ming did poorly on the exam again this time and didn't make the list. He slunk home and locked himself in his room, refusing to let anyone open the door. He deserves it! You don't know how bad things were going on with the Zhou family a while ago."

Chen Jin raised an eyebrow and asked, "How is it bad?"

"You still remember the incident of inviting the mountain god last year, right? Actually, the Zhou family returned a lot of money and suffered a huge loss, so they secretly held a grudge. Later, they found an opportunity to bully the leading families. Liu Dawu was one of them, and he was crippled for more than a month. Fortunately, I listened to you at that time and didn't show off."

Chen Zhi said angrily, "After the New Year, the Zhou family is still spreading rumors about our family everywhere, saying that our Chen family's feng shui is bad and it was all ruined by you, young man. You used up your title of child prodigy, so it's impossible for you to pass the imperial examination."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jin smiled calmly: "He really is wicked."

Chen Zhi chuckled and said, "It turns out that our family's feng shui is fine. On the contrary, it's the Zhou family that has done too many bad things and hasn't accumulated any good karma, which has led to this retribution. Looking at Zhou Ming's weasel-faced appearance, he can forget about ever achieving any official rank in this life. And his son, he's naturally unruly. He's been studying for several years and can't even write his own name. He actually has the nerve to complain that the teacher didn't teach him well, which has infuriated the old tutor."

Chen Yuan, standing nearby, couldn't help but say, "Zhi'er, Zhou Ming has two sons. You need to work harder too; this can't go on."

Chen Zhi blushed and quickly said, "I understand."

Chen Yuan then said, "How about I accompany you into the city to Zhengyuantang to see a doctor? I asked Doctor Zheng last time, and he said there's a Doctor Zhang in the shop who's good at this and has some good medicine."

The problem between Chen Zhi and his wife was with the husband; his penis was too short, so much so that after having one child, he could not have any more.

Over the years, I've seen many doctors and taken a lot of medicine, but there's been no improvement.

This made their family extremely anxious.

In front of Chen Jin, Chen Zhi was so embarrassed and annoyed by his father's words that he said in a hurry, "Dad, why are you bringing this up?"

Just then, Madam Chen Yang strode in: "Honey, when we were washing the fish and cutting the meat, Su Su kept gagging. It looks like she's pregnant."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan abruptly stood up: "Really?"

Chen Yangshi replied, "It looks real to me, but I still need to see a doctor first."

Chen Yuan laughed heartily: "Double happiness! Double happiness!"

Chen Zhi was overjoyed and said to Chen Jin, "Young man, thank you so much. I can finally be a father again."

"Ok?"

Chen Yuan was taken aback, sensing that something was amiss.

Chen Zhi is going to be a father, why should he thank Chen Jin?

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(End of this chapter)