91: Chapter 91 Desperate Villagers

Qin Ling looked around Zhuguang Temple.

The coral-stacked walls emitted a faint pink glow in the dimness, and the conch shells on the temple eaves were brushed by the undercurrent, making a wind chime-like sound.

Then his gaze fell upon the Little Clam Spirit that was still cowering beside the offering table's leg.

That moment just now had directly flipped the Little Clam Spirit over.

Qin Ling raised his hand and gently flicked through the air.

A gentle force supported the Little Clam Spirit, lifting it up from beside the offering table's leg and straightening it out.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling!"

The Little Clam Spirit's shell crack slowly opened into a thin slit, and its eyeballs poked out to look at the golden figure in front of it.

Qin Ling withdrew his hand, standing in front of the offering table in deep thought, no longer paying attention to the Little Clam Spirit.

The divine art of Teleportation had still successfully teleported his true body out from inside the evil energy curtain.

It seemed that although that layer of curtain was evil and strange, after all, it still could not block his Teleportation!

He could completely extricate himself and leave easily.

But Qin Ling had no intention of doing so.

If he just walked away like this, one could imagine what kind of fate awaited the villagers of Qin Family Village and Zhou Family Village inside the evil energy curtain.

Leaving aside the fact that he had gone through quite a lot of things in Qin Family Village and Zhou Family Village before every household in Qin Family Village and Zhou Family Village could devoutly worship him.

In fact, with his current strength, wanting to replace the divine statues in other villages was very easy.

However, wanting to gain the devout worship of the entire village was not easy.

Secondly, putting this reason aside, Qin Ling also had no intention of giving up whatsoever.

Qin Yin, Qin Mo, Village Chief Qin Zongliang, Zhou Ping, Zhou Hu...

The faces of these villagers who devoutly worshipped him flashed through his mind one by one, making it impossible for him to just abandon these villagers like this.

Perhaps some deities possessed no emotions at all.

But for Qin Ling, if he were to just abandon these devoutly worshipping villagers like this, it would make him feel that he was not worthy of being a deity.

Qin Ling used the divine art of Teleportation once again.

Golden light lit up from beneath his feet, and after a moment, his figure vanished.

The temple hall quieted down again, leaving only the three sticks of incense that the Little Clam Spirit had just inserted into the incense burner still burning.

The blue smoke wrapped inside bubbles floated up.

The temple door was pushed open, and the Second-Turn Clam Spirit Bengbu rolled straight into the temple hall.

Its shell crack was half-open, and its tongue was flailing outside.

Just now, it sensed the aura of Lord Qinling in the temple, so it rushed straight in, preparing to thoroughly fawn all over him.

As a result, after rolling in, it was directly stunned.

There was no Lord Qinling in the temple, only a Little Clam Spirit sprawled in front of the offering table.

Bengbu's tongue froze in mid-air, its shell crack opened and closed several times, and its eyeballs rolled around the temple hall several times.

Not here.

Lord Qinling was not here.

Bengbu pulled its tongue back, crawled in front of the Little Clam Spirit, opened its shell crack, and said in a hurried and muffled voice,

"Where is Lord Qinling? He was clearly here just now."

The Little Clam Spirit opened its shell crack into a thin slit and said,

"Lord Qinling was here just now."

"There was a golden figure standing in front of the offering table, but after standing for a while, it disappeared again."

Hearing this, Bengbu turned its head and prostrated itself in front of the offering table, opened its shell crack to the maximum, stuck out its tongue, and said,

"Lord Qinling!"

Its voice rang out, carrying a hint of piety and sycophancy.

"When it first met Lord Qinling, this minor demon was only an ordinary mid-Second-Turn minor demon."

"And now, thanks to Lord Qinling's blessing, this minor demon has advanced to a late Second-Turn minor demon, and I'm afraid it won't be long before I can advance to the Second-Turn peak!"

"This is all thanks to the dragon meat given by Lord Qinling, and because Lord Qinling did not look down on this minor demon for being a Clam Spirit and was willing to accept this minor demon as a believer."

As Bengbu spoke, it licked even more enthusiastically, its tongue sweeping back and forth across the offering table.

"Lord Qinling, please rest assured, this minor demon will definitely cultivate diligently and break through to the Third-Turn as soon as possible."

"By then, I will help Lord Qinling manage more underwater minor demons, gather more incense offerings, and build more temples."

The Little Clam Spirit lay beside the offering table with its shell crack half-open, just watching Bengbu there licking and muttering away.

After watching for a long time, it did not dare to speak or move.

It could only listen to Bengbu's pious yet cringe-inducing words.

...

Qin Ling, who had teleported back to Qin Family Village once again, arrived on the roof of the temple and looked up at the sky.

That layer of black, translucent curtain hung overhead, covering the entire sky.

Sunlight shone in from outside the curtain, most of it filtered out, and the remaining light carried an indescribable, dark red color like pooled blood.

Just looking at it was so oppressive that it made people unable to breathe.

The villagers of Qin Family Village had long noticed the discolored sky above their heads, seeing that flowing evil energy curtain.

A little girl cowered in a woman's arms, her small hand clutching the woman's collar, her eyes staring at that dark red sky, her mouth pouting, wanting to cry but not daring to.

"Mom, what's wrong with the sky?"

The woman did not speak, only holding her tighter and resting her chin on top of her head.

Her eyes also stared at that sky, her pupils reflecting that layer of black evil energy curtain.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang of Qin Family Village stood at the temple entrance leaning on a cane, his cloudy eyes gazing from the roof to the sky, and then from the sky to the west.

He saw the Evil Tree.

That gigantic tree that blotted out the sky, emerging from Guanhai County City.

Its canopy was outrageously huge, as if it wanted to swallow half the sky into its belly.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang's cane tapped twice on the ground, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.

"What is that?"

All the villagers of Qin Family Village saw the Evil Tree.

That pitch-black giant tree growing from the west that blocked half the sky.

The faces of the villagers who saw this terrifying scene drained of all color.

Some people began to walk toward the direction of the temple.

One, two, ten, dozens, pouring out from every corner of the village.

Converging into a stream of people, rushing toward the temple in the center of the village.

The villagers did not know what that tree was, nor did they know what was going on with that discolored sky.

They only knew one thing.

And that was staying inside Lord Qinling's temple was safe.

The courtyard in front of the temple was soon packed with people.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang stood at the very front, leaning on his cane with a hunched back, but his eyes remained fixed on the giant tree to the north.

The woman held the little girl, squeezing into the middle of the crowd. The little girl had stopped crying, but her small hand still clutched the woman's collar.

Qin Yin stood at the temple entrance with a long saber hanging at her waist.

She first glanced at those panicked villagers, then turned her head to look at the divine statue of Lord Qinling deep within the temple hall.

She knew why these villagers had come.

Qin Mo stood to the side, the long spear in his hand standing vertically on the ground.

Meanwhile,

the villagers of Zhou Family Village also walked into the courtyard of the temple inside their village.

Zhou Ping walked at the very front.

He walked to the temple entrance, not rushing to go in, but standing there and deeply bowing toward the divine statue of Lord Qinling.

Then he stepped aside to let the villagers behind him go in first.

Zhou Hu followed behind him, gripping a fish-killing knife in his hand, the knife still stained with fish scales.

He looked up at the discolored sky, his hand holding the knife trembling slightly.

The villagers crowded into the courtyard, some looking up at the discolored sky,

some looking at the slowly flowing black curtain, and some looking at the pitch-black giant tree in the west that blocked half the sky.

Clearly not long had passed, yet the entire Guanhai County had completely turned upside down.

On the faces of the villagers were fear and bewilderment,

along with the despair of not knowing what to do.