Gods of the Nation: You worship the God of Longevity, I worship the King of Hell!

Chapter 160 What does it mean to have connections to the highest levels and a multitude of friends? My dear brother, are you coughing at what you're saying?!
After all, the foundation of the method of "physical ascension to sainthood" lies in tempering oneself, purifying impurities, and proving the Dao through force.

The Kitchen God smiled slightly and nodded, saying, "Young friend, you have indeed dabbled in the art of body refinement. You are truly knowledgeable."

Indeed, although this stove fire is an ordinary fire, it is the purest and most refined acquired fire in the human world, with boundless potential, just like the human race.

Therefore, possessing this fire can not only help you stabilize your soul and temper your body.

It can also be used to cook fires that burn the sky, extinguish evil spirits, incinerate demons, and melt magical artifacts.

In addition, this fire can absorb all kinds of fire essence in the world.

If you encounter a fire-wielding spiritualist or deity in the future, you will be able to handle it with ease.

This fire can absorb human fire, divine fire, and even several kinds of true fire.

As it grows stronger, it can also cultivate true fire and use it for its own purposes.

The Kitchen God paused briefly and asked, "Young friend, have you ever heard of the 'Samadhi True Fire'?"

Lu Chen was startled and immediately nodded: "Of course I know! It is said that the Samadhi True Fire is born from the fusion of a cultivator's own life essence and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

"Exactly." The Kitchen God praised, "The Samadhi True Fire corresponds to the three souls of 'essence, energy, and spirit,' which are the 'ruler's fire,' 'minister's fire,' and 'people's fire' that I mentioned earlier."

When these three elements are combined, it constitutes 'Samadhi'.

If this fire in the hearth absorbs enough spiritual fire, it can help you, young friend, unify the three fires and refine the Samadhi True Fire.

Lu Chen's mind went blank for a moment!
Forged the Samadhi True Fire?!

That is one of the four famous true fires, which burns spirits but not objects, is not afraid of mortal water, can melt mountains and boil seas, and can gather and disperse at will.

"Your Excellency's kindness is truly beyond measure; this junior is deeply grateful!"

At this moment, Lu Chen no longer made empty promises or declined, but accepted the gift readily and expressed his sincere gratitude.

"Young friend, there's no need for such formalities. I won't offer thanks, and you needn't stand on ceremony either," the Kitchen God waved his hand and laughed.
"Besides this, I can't offer a more suitable gift. Young friend, you have great fortune, and any one of the magical treasures you carry would surprise me—for example, the 'Tongcai Yuanbao' around your neck. It seems that you have a close relationship with the God of Wealth."

"To be honest, Kitchen God, you are none other than my sworn brother."

"Oh?" The Kitchen God was clearly surprised: "Then what is your relationship with the Plague Department and the Underworld, young friend...?"

"This junior holds the positions of General Zhengde of the Underworld and Prince of Plague."

"hiss--"

At this moment, even the Kitchen God, with his vast experience, couldn't help but gasp, and a deeper meaning crept into his gaze as he looked at Lu Chen:

"I never imagined you, young friend, would have such extensive connections and so many distinguished friends. With your foundation and destiny, you are sure to achieve great things in time!"

Lu Chen quickly bowed and said, "You flatter me, Kitchen God. I am unworthy of such praise. By the way, Kitchen God, I also have something I would like to ask you."

"You can speak freely, my friend."

"I am fortunate that the temple will soon be opened, and I would like to invite the Kitchen God to the Lu family temple. I wonder if you would grant me permission, sir?"

"Young friend, at such a young age, you already have the qualifications to establish a temple?!" The Kitchen God was even more surprised, but then sighed softly, "Young friend, your kindness is appreciated, and I should not refuse. However, I am a household deity, and the incense I need is different from that of a temple. Even if I were to enter your temple, I'm afraid it would be difficult for me to do so."

Lu Chen recalled his previous method of offering sacrifices by building a stove, and suddenly a thought struck him: "My lord, if I were to set up a stove in the hall and use firewood instead of incense to offer sacrifices to you, would that be permissible?"

"This...this is a solemn and sacred place, is this feasible?" The Kitchen God was taken aback at first, but his tone couldn't hide his surprise.

—It really works!
Lu Chen chuckled: "My lord, there's no need to worry. I have my own plans. This method is merely a temporary measure. I will think about it carefully in the future to see if there are better ways to help you regain more of the warmth and vitality of everyday life."

"In that case..." The Kitchen God also stood up, solemnly clasped his hands in a bow, and said, "I thank you in advance, young friend!"

"You flatter me, sir!" Lu Chen bowed in return. "Thank you for bestowing this treasure upon me. Then this junior... will not trouble you any further."

"Alright, take care, young friend~"

The words have not yet fallen.

With a flash of white light, Lu Chen was back in the room.

—The embers in the hearth!?

With a casual flick of his wrist, he created a fiery red flame several meters long.

"Wow... that's pretty cool!"

Lu Chen couldn't help but grin. He'd made a fortune again.

—Fireworks Album.

—The embers in the stove.

—In addition, the Kitchen God's favor.

Compared to the "tactical-level" lines of heaven and earth such as the God of Wealth, the King of Hell, and even the Plague Emperor.

The Kitchen God is practically a "strategic" figure—after all, he is a revered deity who can privately report directly to the Jade Emperor.

Aside from the Four Duty Officers, perhaps only the Kitchen God could accomplish this.

"Calm down, calm down!"

Lu Chen took a few deep breaths to suppress his excitement. After calming down, he first bowed deeply to the statue of the Kitchen God.

Then, a new incense stick was lit and placed in the incense burner in front of the statue of the God of Wealth.

It's time to talk about Sun Yourong...

After a moment, the statue emitted a warm, lustrous glow.

"Good brother!"

“Brother!” Lu Chen clasped his hands and smiled, “I have already selected the site for the temple, and I estimate that the temple will be officially opened within a month or so.”

"So fast?!" As expected, even the God of Wealth was taken aback. When did temples in the mortal realm become built so quickly?

"It was my good luck that I won the bid for another new noble's temple; it was truly a stroke of luck."

Lu Chen did not intend to elaborate on the matter of achieving immortality through corpse liberation for the time being.

"By the way, brother, has the incense offerings stabilized recently?"

"The situation has stabilized, and according to the timeline, there are about 200,000 incense sticks burning each day."

"Two hundred thousand incense sticks..."

Longhu County has a total population of only three to four hundred thousand. The fact that it has been able to maintain this number for nearly a month is clearly due to the efforts of Chen Tiansheng and Prefect Wang.

"Brother, rest assured, once the Lu Clan Temple is completed, I will definitely strive to earn the million incense offerings in Jiangdu. I hope you will provide me with much support at that time!"

"Don't worry, my dear brother. I will take care of your wishes. There's no need to fret."

"Yes."

As Lu Chen pondered how to bring up Sun Yourong's matter, Jun Caishen seemed to have already seen through his thoughts and smiled first:
"Brother, is there anything else you wish to discuss with me? Please speak freely. We are brothers, why bother with such formalities?"

Lu Chen scratched his head and chuckled: "As expected, nothing can be hidden from you, brother. There is indeed a troublesome matter that I would like to trouble you with—I would like to ask you to ask the Old Man of the Moon to do me a favor."

"The Matchmaker?" Jun Caishen was clearly surprised and exclaimed with delight.

"My dear brother, you already have someone you like? That's wonderful! Tell me quickly, which girl is she? I will definitely help you find a good match."

"No, no, brother, you misunderstand." Lu Chen quickly waved his hand: "I am devoted to the Dao and have no time to care about personal feelings. Even if I did, I would rather strive for it myself than rely on external forces. This time... it is actually on behalf of a friend."

He recounted the story of Sun Yourong and Zhao Wanliang to Jun Caishen in detail.

"I see." Jun Caishen suddenly realized.

“Indeed, Sun Yourong has helped me a lot along the way. This is the first time she has asked me for help, so I should do my duty without hesitation. Therefore, I would like to ask for your help, brother, to see if we can completely sever this marriage, so as to prevent Zhao Wanliang from succeeding!”

"Alright, I'll remember this. I'll go and pay a visit to the Old Man of the Moon later. Although I'm not close to him, he should still give me this much face."

"Thank you, brother! By the way, is the previous Tianjin enough? Do you need me to prepare another 100,000, or even a million or two, for you to use to make things easier for everyone?" Lu Chen asked casually.

"Ahem...!"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Jun Caishen was choked and coughed several times, his tone becoming somewhat urgent:

"Brother, you must not act so rashly in this matter..."

(End of this chapter)