nyslfriends Chapter 65 is for reference only.
Chapter 65 is for reference only.
The final number of incense offerings received was...
3702 sticks of incense, offered with utmost devotion!
This is a full 1000 more than the 2700 pillars that were originally planned to be collected.
Pound glanced at the records in Wang Tong's hand, and the two exchanged a look, both somewhat surprised.
The Cuiyun Mountain God has only been in office for a few months, yet the incense offerings have already accumulated to such an extent!
Although it is still far from the 10,000 pillars required for the centennial assessment, the growth momentum is truly astonishing.
Ordinary mountain gods don't have this ability.
The two looked at each other and finally understood.
Even if this Cuiyun Mountain God really has no background or powerful connections... his own skills alone are enough to make him worth befriending!
Unfortunately……
The two men, having become seasoned veterans of officialdom, looked at each other again and both felt a pang of regret.
They had unfortunately gotten involved with the Celestial Master's Mansion, which didn't seem like a good thing. They didn't want to associate with such troublemakers unless they knew what powerful backgrounds or backers the other party had.
not to mention……
Pound's gaze fell on the top few pages of the book.
And there are also the merits brought about by each and every one of the sermons!
This one act of merit is equivalent to the accumulation of all sorts of trivial matters by an ordinary mountain god over several years.
Being able to preach... that shows he has considerable skill.
Moreover, it is a living deity holding a divine position, which is truly extraordinary.
finally,
Pang De put down the ledger, a smile finally appearing on his face. "I have checked the accounts of these incense offerings and merits with Fellow Daoist Wang. It seems that..."
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.
Wang Tong put down his pen and looked up.
On a pale, beardless face, the smile gradually became more meaningful.
He extended a finger and tapped it lightly on the book.
Then the light and shadow rose up and formed words.
It was another small, ingenious spell, similar to folk magic tricks.
"There are some problems with these few incense offerings."
Pound's words were meaningful.
The noisy demons peeping outside the temple suddenly fell silent.
They all became worried immediately.
Zhong Xuan's expression remained unchanged as he looked at the register: "Please provide further instructions."
In his physical form, he even had time to chat with Rakshasa at Cuiyun Temple, practicing yet another unorthodox cultivation technique.
Pound remained silent.
Wang Tong didn't rush to speak. Instead, he slowly opened the book, his fingers sliding down the lines of ink, finally stopping at a certain spot.
"This one."
He raised his head, his narrow eyes slightly narrowed.
"Ma Yuanqing, a wealthy merchant from Jisaiguo, offered three sticks of incense, praying for a cure for his old illness."
"Under the protection of the Cuiyun Mountain God, this person's chronic illness was completely cured, and his health improved greatly."
Wang Tong paused, then his smile deepened.
"But the first thing Ma Yuanqing did after he recovered was to forcibly buy a poor family's daughter as a concubine."
"The woman could not bear the humiliation and threw herself into the well that very night."
The result was... two lives lost.
"At the time, she was three months pregnant."
Upon hearing this, the entire temple fell silent.
Zhong Xuan did not turn around to see the demons' reactions.
He simply frowned and remained silent for a moment.
This is true.
Ma Yuanqing was a wealthy merchant from Jisaguo. He fell ill and sought help at the Cuiyun Temple, which had recently become increasingly renowned for its miraculous effects.
Then Zhong Xuan went out in human form to take a look.
There is some sediment, but it can be salvaged.
So he used the Qi Observation Method and the Body Swaying Bell, alternating between the two techniques, and saved the person.
Moreover, the subsequent rewards were not only the wealthy merchant's donation of money, gold, silver, and incense, but also the fact that all the key personnel in the merchant's mansion offered incense as a token of gratitude.
Zhong Xuan couldn't help but think of what he had once said to the Zhou family's horse breeder.
Good fortune and misfortune are intertwined.
Suddenly, Zhong Xuan calmly asked, "Does the superior mean that this offering of incense is directly related to the woman's death? And how did you obtain this information?"
He had vaguely heard rumors, but he never expected the inside story to be like this.
Wang Tong smugly cupped his hands towards the heavens and said, "Naturally, it's a secret technique of the celestial officials. Otherwise, how could the Heavenly Court rule over the Three Realms and Six Paths? By following these incense offerings one by one, we can see whether these offerings are truly pure or not!"
Pound pushed the book forward again, placed his hands on his knees, and his expression became much more serious.
"But since someone is offering incense and you have indeed protected this person, this cause and effect must be investigated."
"If it is confirmed that Ma Yuanqing used the mountain god's protection to commit unjust acts, then as the mountain god of Cuiyun, he will inevitably bear the blame for failing to properly supervise the worship of the gods—and this is only the first case."
The two celestial officials stopped there.
Not only Zhong Xuan, but also those silly kids outside realized the seriousness of the situation.
Even as fairies, they seemed to be able to discern the logic in the story, which made some sense.
If a bad person offers incense to the mountain god, and is influenced by the mountain god, does the evil they ultimately commit also involve the mountain god's evil karma?
Pound glanced at it, his mood strange.
He was satisfied with the other reactions.
It's right to be afraid of them, but this old mountain god...
Isn't that too calm?
The skill in cultivating inner strength and the level of self-cultivation are truly amazing!
Suppressing these distracting thoughts, Pound pointed to another spot: "I, Hu, a demon cultivator from Qinglang Ridge near Cuiyun Mountain, offer two sticks of incense and pray for smooth sailing in my endeavors."
The next day, Hu broke into a cave dwelling of a rogue cultivator, killed all thirteen people inside, and seized their magical artifacts and pills.
"Before he died, that rogue cultivator cursed the Cuiyun Mountain God, wishing him a terrible death."
Upon hearing this, Wukong was about to jump in and swing his staff to strike.
"I clearly hit that wolf demon... Ugh!"
However, Hu Junzhi tightly covered the monkey's mouth and pressed its head firmly into her large chest to prevent it from offending the celestial official and incurring additional punishment.
Wang Tong inside chuckled again.
"This is one thing, and there's another, which is related to that arrogant monkey spirit in your mountains."
Wang Tong raised his second finger, "Let's see the source of the incense for the forty-eighth pillar. Some of them are people who have submitted after being coerced, lured, and forcibly subdued."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Xuan also turned his head to look.
Wukong stopped struggling immediately and hung his head in dejection.
However, it was a mistake made when it was still a "mischievous little devil" in the Water and Land Assembly, a mistake made out of its youthful ignorance.
Wang Tong raised his third finger, "There are still quite a few problematic incense sticks; roughly speaking, there are nearly a thousand."
Pound smiled and said, "That's right. So, I wonder if the quota of 2,700 sticks of incense for piety that you are short of at Cuiyun Mountain will be just short of the limit."
Feng Lisheng leaned against the corner of the wall, and upon hearing this, the green fruit in his hand had stopped turning at some point.
He gazed at the two white-robed celestial officials inside the hall, his eyes deep and unfathomable, lost in thought.
As one of only two immortals in the mountains, Feng Lisheng knew a great deal and had extensive knowledge. He vaguely understood what the two immortal officials were doing.
Zhong Xuan remained expressionless.
He lowered his eyes, as if pondering or waiting.
The atmosphere inside the hall became extremely heavy.
Just then.
"It doesn't come to that."
A voice rang out.
The voice wasn't very loud, and it even trembled slightly.
The speaker was none other than Li Gongcao.
The gray-robed official, who had been standing behind Zhong Xuan, stepped forward, bowed to the two "superiors" with his hands at his sides.
Sweat rolled down his face, and the gray robe on his back was soaked with sweat, clinging to his spine.
His lips trembled slightly, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, clearly indicating that he was extremely nervous.
But he still stepped forward.
His words were clearly heard by everyone present.
Pang De and Wang Tong looked at him at the same time, their eyes filled with surprise.
"What did you just say?" Wang Tong raised an eyebrow.
Li Gongcao took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice from trembling: "What I mean is... it doesn't have to be like this!"
"Both of the examples cited by the superior officer have explicit provisions in the Heavenly Court's Mountain God Assessment Regulations that do not affect the review process."
Pang De grunted in response, his gaze lingering on Li Gongcao's grey robes. He said in a cool yet authoritative tone, "You, a mere grey-robed clerk, dare to discuss regulations with us?! How much do you even know? Is it your grey robes that make you more powerful than our white robes?"
In the celestial bureaucracy, one must first show respect for the celestial robes before showing respect for the people.
"This humble official...this humble official is indeed just a gray-robed man." Li Gongcao gritted his teeth and raised his head.
Li Gongcao took a deep breath: "But I've memorized several versions of the Heavenly Court's regulations for assessing mountain gods!"
Wang Tong chuckled and was about to speak when Pang De raised his hand to stop him.
"Let him talk... I'm curious if he knows a few more versions, he's well-informed, isn't he?"
Pang De stared at Li Gongcao: "I'd like to hear what you have to say about this."
Li Gongcao swallowed hard and glanced at Zhong Xuan.
Zhong Xuanhui gave him an encouraging look.
Li Gongcao felt much more at ease and tried to calm his voice: "The first case reported by the superior is the matter of Ma Yuanqing forcibly buying a woman, which led to her suicide!"
According to Article 17 of Volume VII of the Heavenly Court's "Regulations for Assessing the Merits and Virtues of Mountain and Water Deities".
"Whenever the source of incense offerings involves the believer's own good or bad karma, the mountain god's responsibility is determined by the subjective motive!"
He tried hard to recall, and was certain that he remembered it correctly.
"If there is no evidence to suggest that the mountain god knowingly protected the evil, then such incense offerings will be counted in the assessment at a rate of one in a hundred."
"Anything exceeding this limit will not be accepted and will not be used as a basis for accountability!"
Li Gongcao finished speaking in one breath, his forehead covered with another layer of sweat, but his face did not hide his pride and smugness.
He was finally able to help Cuiyun Mountain.
Pang De and Wang Tong exchanged a glance, both somewhat surprised.
It seems that there is such a thing.
Could it be that this gray-robed clerk actually recited the entire text from memory?
Wang Tong narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying that the Cuiyun Mountain God only needs to bear one percent of the responsibility for this incense offering?"
Li Gongcao shook his head: "It's not about taking one percent of the responsibility, it's about not affecting the performance evaluation! The regulations are very clear... anything exceeding that will not be accepted, nor will it be used as a basis for accountability."
"Cuiyun Mountain now has more than a thousand registered incense sticks. A single problematic incense stick is far within the one-in-a-hundred ratio and should not affect the evaluation of this assessment according to regulations."
Pang De and Wang Tong exchanged a glance and decided to remain silent for the time being.
Pang De suddenly asked, "And the second one? What about that demon cultivator from Green Wolf Ridge?"
Li Gongcao took a deep breath and continued, "The second matter is the murder and robbery committed by Hu from Qinglang Ridge!"
He clearly stated his conditions.
According to Article 9 of Volume 5 of the same regulations.
The mountain god bears secondary supervisory responsibility for any offerings made through coercion, inducement, or forced subjugation.
However, if the matter prayed for by the incense is not explicitly granted by the mountain god, or if the mountain god does not provide any substantial assistance other than the protection of the divine position, then it does not constitute subjective dereliction of duty.
Li Gongcao's words became more and more fluent:
"When Mr. Hu offered incense, he prayed for things to go smoothly, which was a common wish!"
"The mountain god did not issue a decree to grant the request, nor did he send troops to assist him."
"Hu committed murder and robbery, which was his own evil act."
"The responsibility borne by the mountain god is at most the responsibility for oversight, which will not affect the assessment."
After these words were spoken, silence fell over the temple and its surroundings.
But the atmosphere became a little heavy.
Li Gongcao felt the sweat on his forehead getting even colder as the wind blew, knowing that if this matter wasn't handled properly, he would probably be stripped of his position soon.
Once the protection of the Heavenly Court's fortune is gone, not to mention the three calamities and nine tribulations, even various disasters that could have been avoided during their tenure will come knocking on their door one after another.
But what does his current expression mean?
Teaming up with the Mountain God of Cuiyun is tantamount to slapping the faces of two "fault-finding" celestial officials directly under the Heavenly Court's Mountain and Marsh Bureau.
Wang Tong stared at Li Gongcao for a long time, then suddenly laughed, his laughter carrying an indescribable sarcasm.
"You've memorized it quite well."
He put down his pen and leaned back.
"But have you ever thought about this?"
Li Gongcao was taken aback.
"Regulations are rigid, but people are flexible."
Wang Tong said slowly and deliberately, "What you just said is indeed written in the regulations... but the regulations also state that some clauses are for reference only."
"In case of any dispute, the actual ruling shall prevail."
He watched Li Gongcao's face gradually turn pale, feeling satisfied, and added, "Fellow Daoist Pang and I are colleagues with the celestial official who actually makes the judgment. If we feel that there is a problem with this incense offering, then it is... very likely that there is a problem."
"After all, whether there is a problem or not, it is up to us to review and find it, and then report it to other departments in the Heavenly Court for processing."
"If we feel that the mountain god of Cuiyun should bear responsibility, then he is very likely to bear responsibility."
"So you still think that all those rules and regulations you've memorized can govern our rulings?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Tong and Pang De stared at him with amusement.
They were clearly just two celestial officials!
His ethereal aura was likely cultivated in the celestial environment. In essence, he was probably no different from a cultivator at the Three Flowers and Five Qi realm in the lower realm, far from being a true immortal.
Those who can rival immortals in the lower realms have all fought their way to the top.
Even so...
Whether it was Li Gongcao or Hu Junzhi, it seemed as if they saw the phantom of the "Heavenly Official" on them. Just from those words just now, they could sense that the other party was not an isolated person.
Instead, every word and action naturally exuded the oppressive aura of the Heavenly Court, the behemoth that rules over the Three Realms and Six Paths!
This is absolutely naked.
Li Gongcao's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something.
He found himself unable to utter a single word.
Because we know that what Wang Tong said is completely true!
No matter how clearly the regulations are written, the power to make a ruling ultimately rests with people, since even the regulations are written by people.
However, people never act solely based on regulations.
Using power to intimidate others?
Zhong Xuan watched from the side, secretly amused.