78: Chapter 78 New Jurisdiction Zhoujia Village

The temple in Zhou Family Village had already been renovated.

The door was newly painted in vermilion, glowing dazzlingly in the afternoon sunlight.

A pair of couplets was pasted on the doorframe, black characters on red paper, reading "Divine grace runs deep, thousands of households rejoice; holy virtue shines bright, ten thousand families welcome spring".

The threshold had been replaced; the old one was dismantled, chopped into firewood, and burned.

Zhou Hu lit the fire with his own hands, saying that the threshold had been stepped on by the Yellow Immortal and was ill-omened, so it had to be burned to ashes.

A layer of fresh soil was spread across the courtyard, carrying a faint fragrance of grass and trees.

Several pots of wildflowers were placed at the base of the wall, purple and white clustered together and blooming just right, identical to the ones in front of the temple in Qin Family Village.

They were the seeds Zhou Ping had specially asked for and planted with his own hands.

The inside of the temple was even more different.

Because the statue of the Yellow Immortal had been worshipped there before, the villagers of Zhou Family Village found it inauspicious and replaced everything inside.

The offering table was newly made of pine wood, still carrying the fresh scent of wood.

The prayer mat was newly woven, and the hay was newly harvested this year, golden and bright.

The incense burner was bought back by Zhou Hu from the county town; it was made of copper, not large, but heavy and quite substantial.

Zhou Ping placed the statue of Lord Qinling squarely inside the shrine niche.

Its lowered eyelids, calm corners of the mouth, and slightly tucked-in chin.

Were identical to the one in the temple of Qin Family Village.

Sunlight leaked through the doorway and fell upon the statue, coating it with a thin layer of gold.

Zhou Ping stood in front of the offering table, holding three joss sticks in his hands, with the villagers of Zhou Family Village behind him.

He lit the joss sticks, inserted them into the incense burner, took two steps back, knelt on the prayer mat, and kowtowed.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling, for your protection."

Zhou Ping was offering incense.

A wisp of willpower rose from the kneeling Zhou Ping, passed through the curling blue smoke, and fell into Qin Ling's body.

[incense points + 3]

Qin Ling was not surprised that the current Zhou Ping could provide 3 incense points.

Zhou Ping's piety was beyond doubt.

Having finished offering incense, Zhou Ping stepped aside without leaving.

Zhou Hu stood up from behind him and walked over to the offering table.

He inserted the joss sticks into the incense burner, took two steps back, knelt on the prayer mat, and worshipped devoutly.

[incense points + 3]

Qin Ling also had a strong impression of Zhou Hu.

Zhou Hu had contributed a lot to enabling Zhou Family Village to change the deity they worshipped.

Next were the villagers of Zhou Family Village.

An old man walked up to the offering table, inserted the three joss sticks into the incense burner, and then knelt down tremblingly.

His legs were bad, and when he knelt down, his knees made a "crack" sound.

He frowned without stopping, kowtowing once, twice, three times.

He straightened his body, felt around in his bosom, and took out something to place on the offering table.

It was a small silver lock pendant, only the size of a fingernail, with its edges polished smooth and bright, and the red cord had faded.

That was what his grandson used to wear when he was a child. His grandson had died in that voyage out to sea; the ship sank, the person was gone, and nothing was left behind.

"Lord Qinling, I ask you to protect the descendants of our Zhou Family Village who go out to sea."

The old man prayed.

[incense points + 1]

A young woman holding a child walked up to the offering table.

The child was still small, only a few months old, wrapped in coarse swaddling clothes, sleeping soundly.

Holding the child with one hand, the woman pulled out joss sticks with the other, lighting them after a few attempts.

She inserted the joss sticks into the incense burner and knelt down. With one hand still holding the child and the other hand supporting the ground, she kowtowed.

She made no sound, just kneeling there with her shoulders trembling.

Her husband had died in a voyage out to sea, and she thought she could only raise the child alone for the rest of her life, thinking that these days would only remain so bitter.

Now that Lord Qinling had come, she suddenly felt that perhaps future days would not be so bitter.

[incense points + 1]

One by one, the villagers walked up to the offering table, lit incense, and kowtowed.

Wisps rose, passing through the curling blue smoke and the statue with its lowered eyebrows and downcast eyes, falling into Qin Ling's body.

The incense in the temple grew thicker and thicker. The blue smoke drifted out from the doorway and windows, hovering and intertwining above Zhou Family Village before dissipating into the sky.

Qin Ling's split spirit sat cross-legged in the shrine niche, watching the kneeling villagers of Zhou Family Village.

Accompanied by the villagers offering incense, the numbers following the incense points kept jumping, and the new statue of Lord Qinling was also made to glow faintly by the incense smoke.

Those wisps of willpower surged over, drop by drop, converging into a trickle and a stream, flowing into his body.

He did not look at those numbers; he just stood there, watching the kneeling villagers of Zhou Family Village, watching the tears on their faces and the light in their eyes.

Just as almost all the villagers of Zhou Family Village had finished offering incense, Qin Ling found that he had received a system message.

[Detected that the host has successfully expanded a new jurisdiction: Zhou Family Village]

[Jurisdictions: Qin Family Village, Pearl Reef on the East China Sea Seabed, Zhou Family Village]

Seeing this message, Qin Ling nodded.

With the previous process of incorporating the Pearl Reef on the East China Sea Seabed into his jurisdiction, he was not surprised by the inclusion of Zhou Family Village.

However, since his current cultivation was only at 10% of the Xiansheng Realm, he did not know whether the incorporation of Zhou Family Village into his jurisdiction would allow him to continue improving to the next cultivation realm.

After all, he was still far from 100% of the Xiansheng Realm.

Qin Ling stopped looking at the system message. He could clearly perceive his connection with the new statue.

Now, this new statue in Zhou Family Village had also become his new anchor point.

In this way, whether it was himself or his split spirit, they could use the divine art of Teleportation to move around.

Finally, within Guanhai County, his anchor points were no longer limited to just Qin Family Village, which greatly improved his mobility.

Qin Ling's split spirit watched for a long time, then turned around, passed through the newly vermilion-painted temple door, and stood on the threshold.

His split spirit did not leave; he just stood there, guarding his Zhou Family Village and guarding the people who had come under his protection from today onward.

...

Just as Zhou Family Village was holding a peaceful and joyous deity-welcoming ceremony, on the official road of Guanhai County on the other side, the sound of horse hooves shattered the peace.

Constable Meng Yu reined in his horse, and the three bailiffs behind him also stopped.

The sun had already tilted westward, stretching their shadows very long and dragging them behind like three tails that couldn't be shaken off.

"Chief, ahead is Liujia Village."

A young bailiff spurred his horse forward, pointing at the grayish-looking roofs in the distance.

"The person who brought the message said that monsters have been running amok in the village these past few days."

Constable Meng Yu did not speak; he only narrowed his eyes, looking at Liujia Village, which was getting closer and closer.

He pressed his horse's flanks, urging it to go faster.

Liujia Village was even more dilapidated than Constable Meng Yu had imagined.

Some houses by the roadside had collapsed, some were missing their door panels, and some had dark, hollow windows.

Constable Meng Yu, who rode into Liujia Village on horseback, quickly furrowed his brow.

Because with the commotion of their four horses, villagers should have poked their heads out long ago.

Yet until now, he hadn't seen a single villager from Liujia Village.

The three bailiffs behind Constable Meng Yu also exchanged glances; they, too, felt that this village was not right.