Chapter 1 The End of the Universe In the early hours of the morning, on the foggy Laozhushan Country Road, the sound of gongs and drums broke the silence of the I saw was a group of eunuchs in black clothes carrying a green woolen official sedan chair. With two gong and drum players leading the way, they walked through the fog without touching the ground and went lightly to the foot of the mountain. Inside the official sedan, Gu Yunli, who was about to take up the post of the God of Land of Tian'an Village, looked at the "Xian Ting Kao Cheng Fa" in his hand, feeling a sense of disbelief in a trance. He had taken the test four times in his previous life but failed to pass; In this life, can you get ashore just by trying? When I think of my experiences in two lifetimes, a feeling of sadness wells up in my heart. He is not from this world, but from a place called Earth. He died suddenly at his workstation and turned into a ghost, traveling to another world. Counting on my fingers, I have been in this world for more than five years. From being ignorant at the beginning to settling down in a mass grave, he lived a very cautious life. The reason is simple: this world is a world where the strong prey on the weak. As a ghost, he has almost no protection.
In theory, anyone could kill him without incurring any legal consequences. In addition, his strength was very low. Not to mention those who practiced cultivation, even if he encountered a living person with sufficient yang energy, he might be knocked into pieces. His life was miserable. It was not until a year ago that the situation got a little better, when he relied on his innate data magical power to cultivate to the level of day travel. But it is just a way to break free from the poverty line. To this end, after much inquiry and careful consideration, he decided to take action. This was my first attempt, and unexpectedly, I hit the target with one shot. What a blessing! "Mr. Gu, we have arrived at Tian'an Village." Before anyone knew it, the green official sedan stopped. Gu Yunli, wearing a black gauze hat, holding a curved wooden stick, and clad in a green official uniform, lifted the curtain and stepped down from the official sedan chair. He saw seven or eight ghost messengers already waiting in front of the three-bay land temple. When they saw Gu Yunli, they immediately bowed and greeted him loudly: "Tian'an Land God Temple, respectfully welcomes Gu Bogong!" "No gift!" Gu Yunli raised his hand and looked past the ghost messenger to the land temple behind them. The hall is decorated with blue bricks and black tiles, and the seams are filled with mud and plaster. A clay statue of the God of Land is placed in the main hall. On the altar, there is only a dry and chipped pottery bowl serving as an incense burner, which looks quite shabby and simple. "I am Zhao Mancang, respectfully welcoming Lord Gu to Tian'an Village. A country cannot be without a ruler, and a family cannot be without a master. We have been waiting for Lord Gu like long-awaited rain after a long drought. Now that we have finally met, we are overjoyed. We have specially arranged a banquet to welcome you. Lord Gu, please come!" A leading ghost messenger stood up, he looked to be about forty years old, with a smiling face. "Good good!" Gu Yunli was very willing to accept advice and appeared to be very kind. Seeing this scene, all the ghost messengers secretly breathed a sigh of relief - it seems that the new boss is not a bad-tempered person!
The banquet was held in the underground palace of the land temple in the dark side of the underworld, and the drinks were very simple. Gu Yunli did not despise him and sat down generously, toasting each other. As they drank and chatted, they hinted at the situation in Tianan Village. The Yinchai present also seemed to know everything and was willing to tell everything. Gu Yunli, who had already looked through the local printer's documents, listened to what the ghost messenger said again. After the two confirmed each other, he nodded frequently and inadvertently asked the most important question: "How many incense sticks can Tian'an Village receive every year?" You know, incense and offerings are related to his status as a god. According to the "Immortal Court Examination Law", clergy officials at all levels must pay full amount of incense and offerings to their superiors every year. If there are any defects, the consequences may be a salary fine at the least and demotion at the most serious. The amount of incense offerings is calculated based on the wealth of the local people and the number of registered households, and is generally three to six times the number of local registered households. Tianan Village is a poor village with a total of 89 farming households, which need to hand in 267 incense sticks every year! This number is not difficult in theory. There is a local custom of burning incense and offering sacrifices on New Year's Day, February 2, June 6, and October 1. In addition, there are also miscellaneous income from weddings and funerals, children's frights, gifts for prayers for peace, etc. Theoretically, the number of incense offerings is at least five or six times the number of registered residents. Of course, in reality it’s not that ideal. The reason is simple. There are too many gods competing for incense. Many of them are bigwigs within the fairy court. Even if the county magistrate is not as good as the current land god, he will inevitably be neglected sometimes. In addition, the incense requires sincerity. If the heart is not sincere, burning bundles of incense is meaningless. Therefore, the income from incense is three or four times the household registration, which is a reasonable range. "Looking back at what Grandpa said, it's about... eighty or ninety pillars!" "There are eighty-nine farm families in Tian'an Village. During festivals, there are at least a hundred pillars. How come there are only this many in this year?" Gu Yunli frowned. The ghosts looked at each other, and Zhao Mancang smiled awkwardly: "Looking back at what Grandpa said, there are reasons why there are so few people offering incense in Tian'an Village. First, the land is barren and the people are poor, so they have the will but not the ability. Second, there is a capable person in Tian'an Village... Whenever the villagers encounter any big or small problems, they are used to looking for him to solve them." "Oh? Who?" "Fox Fairy Cui Wen, nicknamed: Master Cui San!" Zhao Mancang said mysteriously: "Let Gu Bogong know that this person is a famous horse spirit master in the surrounding area. The lay disciple he captured is in our Tianan Village. She is commonly known as Zhao Granny. The incense is more prosperous than the county city god. Not to mention Tianan Village, even the surrounding villages will look for her when they encounter evil things. The incense of our land temple...naturally, it will be divided." It turned out that the incense was stolen... Gu Yunli suddenly realized and asked, "The predecessor Liu Bogong didn't care?" "I can't control it, and I can't control it! Let Gu Bogong know that Master Cui San not only has great magical powers, but also has a horse trip, worships the Seven Stars, and has established a horse-riding hall. He has all the necessary pillars under his command, and he has become a big shot." Gu Yunli frowned. The so-called "Kai Ma Ban" is a procedure for setting up a hall, or in layman's terms, it means seeking certification from the immortal court and the underworld.
It can be understood that the business license has been registered. It is no exaggeration to say that they are non-staff members of the Immortal Court. Although they also need to pay incense and tribute, they have more freedom and are recognized and protected by the Immortal Court. "Since Tian'an Village has limited incense offerings, how did Gu's predecessor pay the incense offerings?" "This... I don't know. However, Mr. Liu and Mr. Cui are close friends, so Mr. Cui should be able to help me in this regard!" Gu Yunli was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. Zhao Mancang carefully glanced at Shangguan's face and saw that he was not angry, so he asked tentatively: "Sir, would you like me to introduce you to someone?" Gu Yunli nodded: "That's great, then invite him over for tea tomorrow night at midnight." Zhao Mancang nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I will go and invite Mr. Cui San later." The topic drifted away from here, and after everyone toasted each other for a while, Gu Yunli said: "I am deeply grateful for your hospitality today! When I was born as a ghost fairy, I was blessed by heaven and gained my innate magical power - the Internet. I can burn incense or chant mantras. I can use it to communicate with my colleagues through letters. It has many wonderful uses. I am giving it to you today to repay your kindness." As he spoke, Gu Yunli waved his hand lightly, and an illusory light curtain that looked like a glass mirror slowly opened. Various words flashed in the mirror. At a glance, I could vaguely see words like "address book", "email"... This bizarre magical power made the ghost messengers look at each other in bewilderment. I immediately realized that this was a typical prayer. The Lingbao Infinite Sutra of Saving People states: ——The purpose of the Great Law is three-fold: the first is to chant the mantra, the second is to chant the talisman, and the third is to chant the law. The mantra is the secret language of heaven, and all the true spirits follow the mantra to call and descend with the air. In other words, the art of praying to gods is a kind of magic that borrows the power of immortals and gods. If you have the magic power, you can chant the mantra; if you don’t have the magic power, you can burn incense. It’s important to be sincere. To put it bluntly, it is a means for immortals to compete for incense. However, despite this, the ghost messengers still hurriedly asked humbly, determined to go back and experiment again. Not only is it to give face to the boss, but it is also because having many skills is always good! Little did people know that this so-called "Internet" was Gu Yunli's innate magical power - data Taoism. In this world, when people die and become ghosts, there is a certain probability that they will touch the Great Dao in the chaos, comprehend the Dao, and awaken their innate Dao. For example, drowned ghosts are very good at water! Perhaps it was because Gu Yunli died in front of the computer at his workstation that he gained this bizarre magical power that was completely different from this world and could digitize abstract things. For example, you can intuitively see the progress of endorsement, practice, etc. It was under the positive motivation of the data magic that Gu Yunli was able to memorize many Taoist classics and integrate them into his mind, pass the imperial examination, and be appointed as the chief of the community. Now it is being spread in the form of praying to gods, hoping to use this to reduce the popularity of the incense. I sincerely ask all readers to collect, read and support!
(End of this chapter)
