At night, paper horses and paper donkeys with bellies full of food weaved through the cluster of refugees.
Xu Qing, through the realm of incense and candlelight, looked at those refugees, seeing tiny sparks flickering in the night scene amidst the dense crowd.
Those points of light were the people who burned incense and made wishes during the day.
By the next day, the refugees outside the city suddenly became restless.
On the newly built city wall, a government official ran hurriedly to the County Government Office to report to the County Magistrate.
The County Magistrate sighed helplessly upon hearing the news.
Ever since the relief grain was cut off the day before yesterday, he knew this day would come, but he didn't expect the refugee unrest to arrive so quickly.
"You must guard the city defense well, and don't let the refugees rush in!"
On the city wall, the soldiers guarding the city did not pay much attention to the noisy refugees.
One soldier, listening to the commotion from afar, curiously asked, "How come someone is crying?"
"What's strange about that? If you were starving, you'd cry too."
"No, no, listen carefully. It sounds like someone is crying, 'Shouldn't have eaten incense,' 'Shouldn't have eaten incense'..."
"Ha! Why bother with them, it might be a dialect from Yaozhou, 'shouldn't have eaten incense' probably means they can't get food."
"Ah, this world..."
Outside the city, among the refugees.
Just as someone was crying out in anguish, a capable person said, "Incense is not a precious thing, any plant can be used as incense. We can pick grass as incense, or at worst, send someone to the city to ask the County Magistrate for incense on credit, hoping the Grain God will manifest."
"Good!" After the capable person's words, a stranger spoke up, "But that deity is neither the Grain God, nor the Granary God, nor the Mother of Grains. To worship, you must distinguish clearly..."
The leading capable person looked at the old man who interrupted him with displeasure and asked, "Not a god who governs the grains of the human world, then what kind of god is it?"
The old man smiled slightly and pointed to a place, "On the high ground, there is a temple called the Temple of the Profound Lady, where there is a deity who rescues the suffering. That's who you should worship!"
The person laughed and said, "I've been to the high ground you're talking about. There's only rubble, where is the temple? Aren't you just making things up?"
Faced with skepticism, the old man chuckled lightly, didn't answer, but took a palm-sized paper crane from his sleeve and casually tossed it.
Before anyone could react, the palm-sized paper crane caught the wind and swelled, until it was large enough to carry a person. The old man then rose upon the crane and flew straight towards the distant high ground!
The one who had initially doubted was dumbfounded, and the surrounding crowd believed they had truly encountered an immortal, each kneeling to the ground, proclaiming it was the deity manifesting, a true immortal descending to the mortal world.
By noon, the crowd elected a scholar versed in letters to go into the city to seek incense and offerings.
The County Magistrate, upon hearing of this, merely thought of it as desperate refugees grabbing at anything they could think of, as if burning incense and praying could really bring food?
"If they want incense, give it to them. What's the cost of incense? As long as they're not asking for food, it's fine."
A few days later, hearing about people receiving grain after burning incense, the County Magistrate could no longer resist going outside the city.
"Constable Lin, have you found out who is playing tricks?"
The constable shook his head and said, "I don't know, but anyone who burned incense and prayed truly received millet grains."
"Is this really the case?" The County Magistrate frowned, "Fetch an incense stick, burn it, and pray, let me see if it's truly effective."
The constable's face stiffened, he replied awkwardly, "I tried it two days ago, and other brothers have also burned incense and prayed, but no grain or wealth was given."
"I think perhaps there really is a deity saving the people. We are not the ones suffering, so we are not looked after by the deity."
Beside the County Magistrate, the County Clerk also spoke up, "Better to believe it exists than not, even if someone is causing trouble behind the scenes, it's not necessarily a bad thing for you, County Magistrate."
The County Magistrate pondered for a moment and suddenly asked, "What if the source of his grain is improper?"
The County Clerk smiled at his words, "Have you heard of any grain warehouses being robbed?"
"No, not really. Recently, the grain storage warehouse in Jin Sect lost quite a bit of grain, but that was due to a fire, not theft..."
Shaking his head, the County Magistrate suddenly said, "Prepare a carriage, you will accompany me to worship the Venerable God!"
There were no less than a hundred thousand refugees in Wanshou Village. After Xu Qing initiated the burning incense and praying, he stopped worrying about whether refugees had burned incense at the Temple of the Profound Lady.
If he were to truly verify each one, he and Xuan Yu might not be able to distribute all the grain they had within months.
The longer the night, the more dreams there are; once procrastinated, disaster is bound to follow.
The foolish monk only demonstrated the art of turning paper into reality, yet he was plotted against. Now, having caused such a commotion, he will inevitably attract the attention of many.
For him, a swift and decisive action is the safest course.
Xu Qing no longer hesitated. Within just a few days, he had distributed most of the grain.
At night, Xu Qing selected some respected elders among the refugees and used the Dream Creation Skill to weave dreams of divine descent, saying that the Profound Lady only aids those in distress and that now the disaster has passed, she must return. Hereafter, they must rejuvenate their spirits, engage in weaving and farming, and become self-sufficient...
Besides Wanshou County, the refugees in Linjiang County also received a significant amount of grain.
Xu Qing was never worried that the food would be confiscated by the officials. Given the vast number of refugees, even if there were corrupt officials who realized and wanted to seize the grain, they would find it beyond their means.
The period of the Profound Lady's grain distribution lasted no more than ten days. By the time the county lords of Wanshou and Linjiang thought of sacrificing livestock and leading their officials to visit the Profound Lady's temple to offer worship, Xu Qing and Xuan Yu had already returned to Linjiang County with the incense offerings.
A month later, an unexpected group appeared outside the Profound Lady's temple.
The person at the front wore the attire of the Celestial Master's Mansion, holding a brand-new mirror in hand, followed by the Lingtai Lang from the Si Tian Jian and a Demon Hunting Captain responsible for the Jin Sect's demon-catching affairs.
"As expected, an illicit shrine with illicit worship. Since you are the Demon Hunting Captain, you should have come earlier to destroy this illicit shrine and temple. Now that the demons have abandoned the temple and fled, it's your dereliction!"
The Demon Hunting Captain's eyelids twitched, and he remained silent.
Wanshou and Linjiang recently became county seats, and as the Demon Hunting Captain, he frequently patrolled both places. He knew of this wild temple earlier than anyone else, yet he never spoke of it.
The reasons were twofold. Firstly, the actions done here were benevolent acts to relieve the suffering populace. If he were to interfere, it would go against natural justice.
The second reason was that the individual capable of such deeds, or daring enough to attempt them, could not be an ordinary person. If he dared to destroy the temple, he might not live to stand here today.
Better to turn a blind eye.
Just like now, at most he would face some reprimand, but no real harm done.
The Lingtai Lang from the Si Tian Jian shook his head and said, "Wanshou County has only one temple officially sanctioned. There's no record of this small temple; it's indeed a wild temple without a doubt."
"A wild temple? I'm afraid it's not even a wild temple, but a false temple made of paper!"
The Celestial Traveler Daoist from the Celestial Master's Mansion held the new treasure mirror and reflected it at the temple situated on the high ridge. As expected, the mirror showed an image of a small paper temple.
The Celestial Traveler Daoist sneered, made a gesture with one hand, and in the next moment, white smoke rose from the solemn Profound Lady's temple, followed by flames. In just a moment, the original temple was reduced to a small heap of paper ashes.
...
Linjiang County, inside the Funeral Shop.
Xu Qing was counting incense offerings.
Having left Wanshou County for only a month, the number of incense offerings produced by the shell company had reached an astonishing fifty thousand.
And this number was increasing by the tens of thousands daily. Xu Qing estimated that these incense offerings, aggregated from the aspirations of countless families, were almost enough to protect him against calamities.
However, to be safe, he decided to wait a little longer.
Zombies are unlike other demons; encountering Yin or Yang lightning is one thing, but if struck by divine lightning, the consequences are still unpredictable.
But if he had a million Wishing Power then...
Meanwhile, Xu Qing was contemplating when he suddenly sensed that something had gone wrong with the branch company in Wanshou County.
Well! It seems the unregistered business was indeed discovered.
Xuan Yu also sensed something.
"Xu Immortal Family, that temple..."
"No need to worry about it. Now that the statue of the Profound Lady is enshrined in people's hearts, even without the temple, the incense offerings and faith remain. They can burn the temple, but can they burn the human heart?"
"What if they find the Cat Immortal Hall?"
"Whether they find the hall or not, even if they do come..." Xu Qing chuckled without answering.
With the Heaven Concealing Skill, ordinary people cannot discern the destination of these incense offerings. Even if worse comes to worst, Xu is not opposed to experiencing the taste of lightning calamity a bit earlier.
With the Heaven Concealing Skill, ordinary people cannot discern the destination of these incense offerings. Even if worse comes to worst, Xu is not opposed to experiencing the taste of lightning calamity a bit earlier.