Above the Great Dao
Chapter 164 - 94: Mysterious Small Temple_2

Chapter 164: Chapter 94: Mysterious Small Temple_2

Chen Shi muttered, "So the Divine Embryo is this powerful..."

"True God blesses the Cultivators with the Divine Embryo, aiding them to sprint to higher realms in a short time. The merit is immense, immeasurable."

The voice of Zhu Xiucai came from behind his head, "Obtaining the Divine Embryo is an essential step for significant achievements in cultivation... However..."

His tongue slipped out again, muttering, "Divine Descent should only be possible by True God himself, right? How did I become a Divine Embryo?"

He felt utterly absurd. How could there be a principle where one gives oneself away to become someone else’s Divine Embryo?

He had originally been hanging from a tree, perfectly fine, and yet how did he become someone else’s Divine Embryo?

"Scholar, don’t panic; let me think of something!"

Chen Shi’s eyes lit up as he took out three sticks of incense and swiftly lit them. He said, "I remember there’s an incense burner in the temple. Since there’s an incense burner, it must be used for offering incense! These three sticks of incense, once inserted into the burner, might allow you to come out!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a large hand reached out from the small temple and grabbed the three incense sticks; it was Zhu Xiucai’s hand.

From a distance, Black Pot watched this scene; suddenly, a hand appeared behind Chen Shi’s head, frightening the dog greatly, fearing that its young master was about to reveal his true form, and dared not come closer.

Indeed, the sight was quite frightening.

Inside the temple, Zhu Xiucai only wanted to grab the incense, but then saw his arm grow increasingly longer. From his perspective, his arm instantly stretched several meters.

This change also puzzled him; it could only mean that the small temple was somewhat eerie.

He didn’t dwell on the thought, instead inserting the three sticks of incense into the burner. The fragrant smoke rose slowly, drifting towards him.

Sniffing the Incense Fire Qi, Zhu Xiucai felt refreshed and energized, much more comfortable than hanging from a tree.

Even more so, he sensed the Incense Fire Qi rapidly transforming into an extraordinary power within him, coalescing and forming his true shape!

He was astonished; this was the legendary God Creation!

God Creation differs from the ordinary shaping by extraordinary power.

The extraordinary power shapes gods differently under the thoughts of the populace.

These shapes have form but no substance, invisible to the naked eye, untouchable, possessing mana but unable to reveal divinity.

Yet, God Creation is based on spirit, turning spirit into godhood. For example, in the ancient times of the Huaxia Divine Continent, a mortal named Ne Zha tragically died; his mother, lamenting his premature death, built a golden body and a divine statue for him, allowing his spirit to inhabit the statue and receive the people’s worship. Over time, Ne Zha gained divinity.

That is God Creation.

The prerequisite for God Creation is an imperial or divine decree.

The so-called decree, one is the imperial decree, the Emperor ennobles a god. The other is a divine decree, ennobled by other deities.

Only these two kinds represent true God Creation.

But how could a mere small temple possess the means for God Creation?

Did this small temple possess imperial power or divine powers to create a god?

Zhu Xiucai was truly puzzled.

Chen Shi asked, "Scholar, can you come out now?"

Zhu Xiucai tried to rise from the shrine, but felt his body as heavy as Tai Mountain, utterly unable to get up, especially after absorbing the Incense Fire Qi, feeling incomparably heavy, as if his buttocks were glued to the shrine.

"It still doesn’t work!"

Zhu Xiucai said, "You seemed dazed earlier; did you also enter the temple? How did you leave?"

Chen Shi replied, "I just thought about leaving, and I left. You try thinking about it."

Zhu Xiucai tried thinking repeatedly but still couldn’t leave the shrine by a hair’s breadth. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, "Could it be that you need to think of it for me to leave?"

Chen Shi tried thinking. Suddenly an old tree beside him shook violently; Chen Shi hurriedly looked and saw Zhu Xiucai hanging from a noose, body swaying back and forth as if he had just been hanged.

Chen Shi sighed in relief.

Zhu Xiucai also sighed in relief and said, "Little Ten, how did this temple come to be?"

Chen Shi said, "I don’t know either. I just offered incense to Granny Stele, and I was planning to ask your advice on studies, when suddenly..."

As he spoke, he paused abruptly and quickly turned his head towards Granny Stele, who was still half-buried in the roots of the old willow tree as before, unchanged.

Incense smoke twisted towards the stele.

In the past, whenever Chen Shi offered incense, the characters "Granny" and "power" on the stele would shimmer with light, but this time the green glow was absent. It was as if the long-accumulated power of the stele had suddenly been exhausted.

"Could it be that Granny Stele has given me her blessing?"

Chen Shi stopped in astonishment. He had been worshiping Granny Stele for more than two years, and the stele had never shown any activity. Now that he suddenly received a small temple, could it be that Granny Stele had manifested a spirit?

He placed his palm on the stele, attempting to connect with Granny Stele’s spirit, but all he sensed was the vast void of space, devoid of any other consciousness.

"Scholar, do you know the origin of Granny Stele?" Chen Shi asked, looking up.

Zhu Xiucai shook his head, "I don’t know. When I came here, utterly disheartened, and hanged myself from the tree, the stele was already here, untouched."

"How long ago was that?" Chen Shi inquired.

"Probably a thousand years," Zhu Xiucai wasn’t sure.

Chen Shi was astonished. He thought Zhu Xiucai had died just a few decades ago, but it turned out that Zhu Xiucai had been dead for a millennium!

That meant, the twisted-neck old willow tree and Granny Stele beneath it had existed for a thousand years before!

So, just how long had the twisted-neck willow tree and the stele been around?

Chen Shi looked at the yellow soil mound beneath his feet.

Could it be that during the True King Era, this tree and this stele already existed?

The yellow soil mound was made of kaolin clay, specifically used for porcelain making, and this mound could be traced back to the end of the True King Era.

If the True King wanted to build a kiln, why pile the kaolin here instead of next to the kiln?

Obviously, it would have been closer and more convenient next to the kiln.

"The True King piled kaolin here, what exactly is he hiding? Why bury it? And why, for thousands of years, has no one attempted to dig through this mound?"

Chen Shi looked towards Qianyang Mountain, this ancient mountain range towering majestically. What ancient secrets were still buried here?

"Granny Stele must have had a good reason to give me this small temple!"

As Chen Shi headed back to the village, munching on a watermelon he had stealthily taken from Old Lady Wu Zhu’s field, he mused, "My shrine is hidden inside the temple, but after the ’Divine Descent’ festival following the announcement, can the True God still bless me with a Divine Embryo... I am naive, I should ask Granny Sha. Maybe she knows."

He rode on the wooden cart left by his grandfather, summoned Black Pot, and together, man and dog arrived at Gangzi Village. But Granny Sha was not home and there was no telling where she had gone.

Chen Shi entered the mountain and sought advice from Old Lady Zhuang. Old Lady Zhuang had even less knowledge than Zhu Xiucai and couldn’t explain it, saying, "I only sense a divine and solemn aura, but I have never seen such a temple."

Chen Shi went to inquire of Great Snake Xuan Shan, who had a profound depth in his gaze, watching the small temple behind his head. After a long while, he simply said, "Its origins are vast, indescribable."

Chen Shi pressed further, sensing that Great Snake Xuan Shan knew something, but he remained silent.

Throughout the journey, Black Pot was silent, seemingly fearful of the small temple at the back of his head.

Chen Shi found Black Pot’s behavior odd, but didn’t dwell on it.

This place was not far from the Mountain Lord Temple. The mud and brick workers had already repaired the Mountain Lord Temple, so Chen Shi simply drove there to see if the deity of the Mountain Lord Temple had already taken shape.

The Enchantment Talisman he had left outside the main hall of the Mountain Lord still hung there. Chen Shi removed the talisman, entered the main hall, and saw that the extraordinary force within the temple had substantially weakened, and the deity with a bovine head and human body, seated above a yellow tiger, was already forming but was indistinct and looked like it might collapse at any moment!

"The extraordinary force in this temple is insufficient to form the deity!"

Chen Shi had just come to this realization when suddenly the deity and the yellow tiger in front of him vanished!

Startled, Chen Shi quickly dashed to the wooden cart, rummaged through it, and pulled out a mirror.

He looked into the mirror and saw a small temple floating behind his head, its incense smoke curling up. Faintly, he could see a monstrous figure with a bovine head and human body seated within the shrine, with a fierce tiger leaping down from the shrine, emitting a thunderous roar!

Chen Shi steadied his spirit.

"Oh no, I have a Divine Embryo!"