I changed the world.

On the land, countless crops, some Zhang Jing recognized and some he didn't, grew. The wind blew by, creating rolling waves on these crops, a scene of abundant harvest.

However, in Zhang Jing's view, behind this seemingly beautiful scene, he felt a sense of decay and decay, just like the sky here, which was gloomy and lifeless.

Zhang Jing "saw" some huge shrines standing among the vast fields of crops. These shrines were ancient and rustic, the smallest of which was more than a person tall, while the largest ones vaguely resembled mountains.

The fire in Zhang Jing's eyes burned even brighter. He had a clear understanding that the land before him was not land in the true sense, nor were the crops before him true crops. All of this existed in a "conceptual" sense.

He watched it all unfold, and under his gaze, the land began to wither and crack, everything losing its color like a photograph scorched by fire, then curling, breaking, and finally peeling away…

Only rows of shrines remain, suspended in the dark, silent expanse...

Zhang Jing's consciousness roams and observes this place.

Many of these shrines have collapsed and are dilapidated, gleaming with a repulsive aura of decay and decay, like the carcass of a giant whale that has fallen to the bottom of the sea, heavy yet inevitably heading toward complete rot and disintegration.

Zhang Jing saw a completely dilapidated statue of the Earth God sitting in a collapsed shrine. The head was almost broken off and tilted to one side, but the face still maintained a kind smile.

In another equally dilapidated shrine, a headless statue of the earth god sat upright, its mottled body pitted and scarred, its original color no longer discernible.

Suddenly, Zhang Jing seemed to sense something. His gaze turned to another shrine in the distance. It was a huge shrine, like a building, but it had completely collapsed, leaving only a dilapidated throne. On the throne, a lonely head of a deity lay there, its body already decayed into rotten fragments around it.

This is a head wearing a longevity hat, the head of a traditional earth god. He has a smile on his face, but when Zhang Jing looks at him and their eyes meet, he sees that the corners of his mouth suddenly turn upwards, and the originally kind smile now appears even more eerie...

Immediately afterwards, tentacles began to extend from around the head. They were chaotic, twisted, and viscous, and these tentacles, like octopuses, carried the head and coiled around Zhang Jing's location.

Zhang Jing could even sense a curse-like malevolent intent, tinged with resentment and bitterness…

"Slay!" Zhang Jing uttered a single word calmly.

The next moment, the only intact head exploded, and the surrounding twisted evil thoughts were torn to shreds by a sword light.

At the same moment the skull shattered, the remaining throne on the shrine also cracked with a snapping sound, then broke apart, eventually shattering the surrounding shrine remains as well, turning them into ruins.

Immediately afterwards, a series of snapping sounds rang out. In Zhang Jing's gaze, the massive ruins of the shrine fell like a whale falling, falling... and sliding into the deeper darkness...

Once widely worshipped, yet ultimately unable to transcend...

Gradually forgotten, and then decayed...

Ultimately, he succumbed to despair...

Looking at the scene before him, Zhang Jing suddenly had a sudden realization.

Then, he turned his gaze to a huge shrine not far away. The threads from before had turned into starlight, like fireflies, and all clung to the shrine. It seemed to be the largest shrine in the area, like a small mountain.

Compared to those dilapidated or broken shrines, this shrine, though equally ancient, did not have that decaying aura. A huge, earthen-yellow statue of the Earth God sat upright on the altar, with a kind smile on his face, wearing a yellow, wide-sleeved robe embroidered with cranes and the character "寿" (longevity). This huge statue just sat there, motionless.

The statue was surrounded by layers of halos, each composed of countless tiny points of light, forming a huge circular halo behind it, which inexplicably appeared sacred and solemn.

As Zhang Jing gradually approached him, he discovered that the statue was actually formed from the scattered points of light. These points of light originated from the threads of prayers formed in people's hearts, each carrying a different thought. Countless points of light contained countless thoughts.

Some of them are the same, some are similar, and some are completely different. They eventually came together to form this enormous shrine and the statue that sits upon it.

A large number of identical or similar rays of light settled, intertwined, and converged to form the true form of the shrine and the statue of the Earth God. Outside the statue, a large number of other mixed rays of light also floated.

Deep within this abyss, Zhang Jing gained a new understanding of the essence of faith. To some extent, Akbar was right; this was a fabricated false god.

The cognition constructed by the collective unconscious of a large number of believers, and the collection of concepts formed by it, have a certain inherent cognitive pattern for such beings that come from the myths and legends of their ancestors. This cognitive pattern constructs the illusory "deities" in front of them.

However, such "gods" are ultimately fabricated. They have no ability to come from the illusory concept to the real world. This means that they have the accumulation of faith but cannot extend their power to the real world. Illusory imagination and reality are like parallel lines that can never meet.

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History: Chapter 698 Imperial Edict and Conferment! Land God of Zhaoyang Town!

This means that these fabricated beings can only ever be false deities. For ordinary people, no matter how grand or solemn the sacrifices are, it is difficult for their power to extend into the real world.

Similarly, this also makes it difficult for illusory concepts to ever materialize into real "authority".

To this day, Zhang Jing still has only a vague understanding of how gods came into being and what their nature is, but that doesn't stop him from using the wishing book to make some further attempts.

At the very moment Zhang Jing had this thought, in the real world, Zhang Jing, still standing beside the statue of the Earth God, formed a hand seal with his right hand. At the same time, a point of light split off from the Heavenly Punishment Sword in his left hand and was thrown towards the clay statue...

At first, the point of light was inconspicuous, but as it fell into deeper layers, it gradually shrank and condensed, eventually transforming into the shape of a talisman. As it continued to fall deeper, the power of the talisman became increasingly magnificent. After breaking the boundary between reality and concept, the talisman became like a fallen star!

Standing before that statue, this is a conceptual realm, without any real up, down, left, or right. Falling is downward, and sublimation is upward...

At this moment, Zhang Jing's consciousness looked "up" and saw that it was getting brighter and brighter, with a magnificent momentum as if a star was falling!

In just a moment, a dazzling light appeared overhead, and a burning star, with overwhelming force, broke through the layers of gloom and drew ever closer...

Under Zhang Jing's gaze, he could clearly see that the core of this burning star was a huge talisman, which descended with unparalleled power in this illusory world!

It was as if they wanted to turn all the shrines below into dust!

"boom!!!"

But the talisman fell directly above the shrine in front of Zhang Jing, and instead of shattering it, it shrank and then suddenly poured into the shrine...

At the same time, a dazzling earthen-yellow light rose up, and simultaneously, sounds echoed all around:

"In this land, there is a righteous god of fortune."

Upholding loyalty and integrity, he accepted the mandate of heaven.

He governs the region and protects the common people.

The official in charge of transmitting memorials and managing the records.

Good and evil are clearly distinguished and responded to;

Merits and demerits should be clearly distinguished through careful examination.

He was loyal and filial to his parents, and his virtue was manifest and divine.

Today, the merits are complete.

Imperial edicts and decrees, honoring the gods of earth and grain.

The main altar guards the palace, and Zhaoyang guards the land!

At the same time, the original specks of light on the shrine began to burn, and the original shrine and statue, like ceramic idols, began to show cracks, and then shattered, peeling off piece by piece. A much larger sphere of light rose from the shattered remains, and began to rise, continuously ascending upwards!

As the sphere of light ascended, it began to condense into a small floating island shape, and in the very center of the floating island shape was a local earth god temple that looked somewhat similar to the Earth God Temple...

..........................................

In the real world, the originally clear sky above the Digong Temple in Zhaoyang Town was suddenly covered with thick yellow clouds. At the same time, the ground where the Digong Temple is located and the surrounding area began to tremble slightly.

"Earthquake!!!"

"The earth dragon has turned over!"

"Run! Run!! The earth dragon has turned over!!!" Shouts and cries filled the air inside and outside the Digong Temple. Many worshippers rushed out of the temple buildings and ran towards the square and the open space outside the temple.

As the ground shook, some people who had already run outside suddenly noticed a miraculous scene unfolding above the Earth God Temple. Large swaths of thick yellow clouds gathered above the temple, remaining stagnant, while simultaneously, a yellow light emanated from the temple's main hall, whether rising or descending from the clouds, casting an earthy yellow glow over the entire temple.

At the same moment, the farm dogs near the Digong Temple, and even some stray dogs, all tucked their tails between their legs, whimpered in the direction of the temple, and lay on the ground. In the past, if there were an earthquake or similar situation, these dogs would definitely bark incessantly, but today not a single one dared to bark.

Some people stared in disbelief at the spectacular sight in the sky, while others, ignoring the still-shaking ground, took out their phones to take pictures.

"The Earth God has appeared!!!" In the square outside the Earth God Temple, a middle-aged woman holding a tube of incense suddenly shouted, then knelt down with a thud and devoutly kowtowed in the direction of the Earth God Temple.

After the first case, several people around instinctively knelt down, and then more people knelt down.

Strangely enough, although the tremors of the Earth God Temple and its surroundings were obvious, not a single tile fell or broke from either the temple or the surrounding houses. Soon, some people noticed this phenomenon, and more and more people knelt on the ground. The sounds of the Earth God manifesting his power could be heard everywhere.

The ground tremors continued, gradually subsiding only after reaching a peak. The yellow light in the sky lingered, attracting even more onlookers. Many who had initially been passing by bought incense and candles at the square outside the temple and then went inside to offer their prayers. The number of worshippers inside the temple surged, and businesses in the square outside also boomed, with some stalls selling out of incense sticks.

About fifteen minutes later, the yellow light in the sky gradually disappeared, and the thick clouds in the sky dispersed again, and everything returned to its original state.

At this moment, the temple was teeming with people, whether they were carrying incense and candles or hadn't bought any incense but still wanted to offer their prayers. The few Taoist priests and temple workers who were originally inside were now extremely busy directing the flow of people and maintaining order.

"Dinggui, hurry up and go to the storeroom and bring some more incense and candles. We're running out of incense and candles at the entrance." Abbot Wang Peiyuan, a middle-aged man in his fifties, grabbed his second disciple and called out loudly.

The temple also sells incense and candles, which is one of its important sources of income. However, in the past, there were only such a large flow of people during festivals. Today's bustling incense offerings caught the temple off guard. The incense that was originally placed outside for sale was sold out in a short time. So the abbot hurriedly called his disciples to bring more from the storeroom for sale.

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 699 This humble old man pays his respects to the Immortal!

Regardless of the flourishing incense offerings within the underground palace temple, at this very moment, in the main hall where the clay statue of the Earth God is enshrined, Zhang Jing, standing beside the statue, had his fiery gaze fade. He looked down at his right hand, where a mysterious talisman, seemingly both real and illusory, was floating, flickering uncertainly.

The talisman is written in divination script. At the top of the talisman is a powerful "敕" (imperial edict) character, and below are two vertical "土地" (land) characters.

With a thought, the talisman disappeared into the Heavenly Punishment Sword behind Zhang Jing.

No sooner said than done, a beam of yellow light emerged from the clay sculpture, transforming into a smiling, white-haired old man wearing a wide-sleeved, earth-yellow robe embroidered with cranes and the character for "longevity," leaning on a gnarled wooden staff. The old man immediately bowed deeply before Zhang Jing, kneeling on the ground: "This humble old man greets the Immortal! I have been trapped here for over a thousand years, unable to escape. Today, I have received your decree, a true blessing, and I dare to ask your esteemed name?"

Zhang Jing looked at the old man in front of him. This was naturally the incarnation of the Earth God who had been granted an imperial decree. The "more than a thousand years" he mentioned referred to the time since people began to worship him. Zhang Jing knew that the earliest Earth God Temple was said to have been built during the Qi Dynasty, when people carved stones here to worship the Earth God. It seemed that the temple had started from that time.

“Zhaoyang Earth God, please rise. My surname is Zhang, my Dharma name is Zongxuan, and I am a disciple of Kunlun Sect,” Zhang Jing said with a faint smile, extending his hand to help him up.

"So it is the Venerable Lord Zhang Zhenjun in person." The local deity cautiously looked up at Zhang Jing's face. Seeing that it did not seem pretentious, he respectfully stood up, but still stood aside with his head bowed and trembling.

"Does the Earth God have a name?" Zhang Jing asked.

"I dare not accept such a title, truly I dare not accept it. Please just call me 'Old Earth God' if you wish." Upon hearing Zhang Jing's address, the old man repeatedly declined, looking flattered. After several refusals, he finally accepted it with trepidation.

"My surname is Jiang, and my given name is Qing. In my previous life, I was a county magistrate in this area during the Qi Dynasty. I promoted agriculture and sericulture, repaired water conservancy projects, and cleared up wrongful convictions. After my death, the people worshipped me, and thus this land was established," the land deity said respectfully, bowing his head.

As Zhang Jing listened, he understood that the land deity before him was not actually the magistrate Jiang Qing from back then, but rather the one whom the people who worshipped him believed to be "magistrate Jiang Qing." This land deity was essentially formed from the combined beliefs of countless households, and its self-perception naturally could not transcend the beliefs of those households.

To benefit the people in life and become a god after death is the most beautiful wish in the tradition of the Chinese people. Therefore, when you look at the beliefs of various places in China, you can often find the origin of these beliefs. They are either loyal ministers and filial sons or virtuous and brave generals. As the saying goes, there are no gods who are not loyal or filial since ancient times.

Of course, Zhang Jing did not intend to point this out. After hearing what the local deity said, he nodded and said, "The local deity brought blessings to the people of this place during his lifetime. After his death, he should also protect the peace of this place."

"I will heed the teachings of the True Lord and never forget them," the local deity hurriedly replied.