103: Chapter 103 Repairing the Dilapidated Temple

Meanwhile, Sun Family Village.

Village Chief Sun Mancang also carried an elm wood statue of the deity on his back, leading a group of refugees to the entrance of Sun Family Village.

He placed the statue at the village entrance, stepped back two steps, and knelt down. The refugees who had escaped from Sunjiagou Village behind him also knelt down, shouting, "Please Lord Qinling, banish the evil spirits."

A speck of golden light lit up between the statue's brows, and a golden figure soared into the sky from the light.

Just like in Wangjia Village, the divine split soul raised its hand, gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword, and the seven fiendish markings lit up one by one, infusing the sword body with the divine power of Exorcism.

Then—the sword light fell, slashing toward the thickest root stalk in the center of Sun Family Village.

The ground trembled, and those root stalks entwined around the village turned into ashes in the golden light.

After seeing their hometown cleared of evil spirits, Village Chief Sun Mancang and the refugees looked up at the golden figure in mid-air with tears in their eyes.

Above Sun Family Village, that golden figure hung in mid-air, motionless.

It was not that Qin Ling was putting on airs, but rather that his heart ached for his incense points.

The sword stroke he had just swung consumed a full 100 incense points.

Coupled with the sword stroke similarly swung in Wangjia Village, 200 incense points had burned away in just this short while.

The divine technique Seven-Kill Demon-Slaying Sword consumed divine power and did not require incense points.

However, the divine technique Divine Technique: Exorcism required the consumption of incense points.

These two sword strokes were certainly not cheap!

However, very soon, consecutive notification messages popped up in Qin Ling's mind.

[ Detected that the host purified the evil black flower, rewarded with 30 incense points. ]

[ Detected that the host purified the evil black flower, rewarded with 30 incense points. ]

...

The consecutive messages popped up a full 10 times, making Qin Ling blink.

He had previously received such messages when killing the Demon Tiger and the parasitic bailiff, so it didn't seem all that surprising to him now.

Presumably, those two sword strokes of his had eliminated quite a few evil black flowers just now.

But coming to think of it this way, after all gains and losses, he still earned 100 incense points on this trip!

This was a good thing!

Qin Ling immediately looked around in all directions to see if there were any evil black flowers he had missed.

If there were enough of these things, he wouldn't even need to worry about his incense points!

Meanwhile.

Guanhai County City.

That Evil Tree stood tall in the very center of Guanhai County City, and the cracks on its trunk opened once again.

That eyeball revealed itself once more, its pupils looking like two burning fires.

It felt that those root stalks it had extended out to entwine the houses and corpses in those villages had been fiercely attacked by something.

From Wangjia Village to Sun Family Village, the root stalks spanning dozens of li were aching, burning, and turning into ashes.

It wanted to retract them, but it was too late; those root stalks had already been swallowed by the golden light, leaving not even ashes behind.

That eyeball rolled once, staring in the direction of Wangjia Village and Sun Family Village.

It wanted to extend other root stalks over, but now was not the time.

The Evil Tree turned its eyeball back and let it fall onto Guanhai County City.

Those living beings trapped by it in the city were still alive and struggling.

There were also many other villages in Guanhai County, with so much blood qi that it needed to properly absorb.

That eyeball slowly closed.

It was not yet suitable for it to move around, but soon, the blood qi of Guanhai County would be almost fully absorbed by it.

By then, it would be able to move!

...

Wangjia Village.

After the golden figure disappeared into mid-air, the refugees also withdrew their gazes.

Village Chief Wang Deshun stood up from the earthen slope; his legs were still shaking, but he managed to stand firm.

He turned around, looked at the refugees still kneeling on the ground, and said,

"Let's go back to the village."

They walked into the village, and those root stalks were all gone.

The granary was in the center of the village—a dome-shaped house built of stone, with a door nailed together from thick wooden boards and a large iron lock hanging on it.

Village Chief Wang Deshun walked up to the door, took out a key from his bosom. His hand was still shaking, and it took him several tries before he managed to insert it into the keyhole.

He gave it a twist, and with a click, the lock opened.

He pushed open the door, and sunlight poured in through the doorway, shining onto the fully stacked grain bags.

The sacks were piled layer upon layer, and golden-yellow rice grains leaked out from the openings of the bags, spreading a layer across the ground.

Village Chief Wang Deshun's legs went weak, and he had to hold onto the door frame to keep from sliding down, his face filled with excitement.

Behind him, the refugees also swarmed over, crowding at the doorway and standing on tiptoe to look inside.

They saw those grain bags, those rice grains, and those things that could keep them alive.

Some collapsed weakly onto the ground, some hugged the people next to them, and some knelt on the ground kowtowing.

They all knew they had another chance to survive.

The same thing was happening in Sun Family Village.

Village Chief Sun Mancang opened the granary and breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the golden-yellow rice grains leaking from the openings of the bags.

The refugees of Sun Family Village shed tears when they saw this food.

After ensuring that the food was intact, Village Chief Sun Mancang and the refugees did not return to their respective homes.

Instead, they tacitly walked together toward the temple in the village.

The temple was still there, but it no longer looked like a temple.

Half of the courtyard wall had collapsed, and gravel was scattered all over the ground.

Most of the roof tiles were broken, revealing the pitch-black roof beams. Several withered root stalks were still hanging on the beams—parched and dry, shattering at a puff of wind.

The offering table was still there, pushed into a corner with one of its legs broken, leaning awkwardly.

The incense burner had fallen over, and incense ashes were spilled all over the floor.

The statue of the Yellow Immortal that the county had previously forced them to worship had long been chopped up and burned, and even its ashes were blown away to parts unknown by the wind.

Now, behind the offering table, it was completely empty with nothing at all.

Village Chief Sun Mancang stood at the temple entrance, looking at the collapsed walls, broken tiles, fallen incense burner, and empty offering table.

He held the statue in both hands, stepped across the crooked threshold, and walked into the temple.

He placed the statue in the shrine behind the offering table and untied the red cloth, revealing the statue of Lord Qinling with its brows lowered and eyes cast downward.

Immediately afterward, the refugees spontaneously began renovating the dilapidated temple.

The offering table was crooked with a broken leg; someone used broken tiles to prop up the broken leg, leveling and stabilizing it.

The incense burner had fallen over; someone squatted down, poured out the mud inside the burner, wiped the furnace wall clean with their sleeve, and placed it on the offering table.

The tiles were broken; someone stripped intact tiles from a nearby house and covered the roof with them.

They had gone through so much trouble to invite the statue of Lord Qinling here, so if it still got rained on when it rained, that would be showing a lack of piety!

The courtyard wall was rebuilt; although it wasn't as tall as the original, it was sturdy.

The door panels were reinstalled, closing seamlessly.

Village Chief Sun Mancang knelt at the very front, took three incense sticks from his bosom, lit them using the candlelight, and inserted them into the incense burner.

Wisps of blue smoke rose lazily, dispersing into the dark red twilight.

He stepped back two steps, kowtowed, and knocked his head heavily three times.

[ incense points + 3 ]

Qin Ling's split soul had naturally already rested within the shrine, and upon seeing these three incense points, he nodded.

It seemed that the villagers of Sun Family Village were indeed becoming increasingly devout toward him.

Following Village Chief Wang Deshun, the other villagers also offered incense one after another.

[ incense points + 2 ]

[ incense points + 1 ]

...

Those powers of aspiration surged out from them, pouring into the lowered eyelids of the elm wood statue and deep into Qin Ling's consciousness.