“This…”
Lu Chen was speechless, and frankly, exasperated.
The Four Time-Keeping Officials, each chiming in one after another—it was clear they weren’t leaving even the slightest room for negotiation.
“Oh come now, brothers Merit Officials, it doesn’t have to be like this.”
City God Li smiled and tried to smooth things over:
“General Lu is sincere and has the people’s welfare at heart. Right now, Jiangdu City is crawling with hidden demons and monsters, and disaster is brewing. As guardians of this land, how can we just stand by and let evil run rampant?”
“City God, you’re mistaken there. We four brothers are tasked specifically with recording good and evil in the mortal world and auditing merits and faults. Guarding a territory has never been our duty, from ancient times to now. That responsibility rightly falls on you, City God.”
The Year Official gave no quarter.
“Exactly!” the Month Official chimed in. “No matter what kind of demon or monster it is, when the time comes, the Heavenly Dao will run its course and deliver karmic retribution. If people like you came running to us brothers for special favors every time you hit a tricky problem, would our positions as Four Time-Keeping Officials still be worth keeping?”
“Brother Second speaks the truth! This isn’t just a violation of heavenly law—it would entangle us in tremendous karma. And what is karma? It’s poison to the intestines and a blade to the bone! You all get your quick satisfaction, but we four brothers get dragged into sharing the blame!”
“Why waste more words on them? Without a superior’s decree, just see them out!”
The Day Official was the most straightforward and the most direct.
Seeing how resolute the Four Time-Keeping Officials were.
Zhong Kui didn’t waste any more breath either. “Let’s go,” he said plainly.
City God Li sighed and left with a flick of his sleeve.
They’d gotten thoroughly rebuffed by the Four Time-Keeping Officials.
The group had no choice but to return to the City God’s residence dejectedly.
A short while later, before the main hall of the City God’s residence.
The group reappeared.
“Looks like we’ll have to think of another way?”
Lu Chen’s brows were tightly knit.
These Four Time-Keeping Officials were real masters of passive-aggressive wordplay.
Ask the Jade Emperor?
The Jade Emperor is the head of the Six Sovereigns, the supreme ruler of the Three Realms.
Having endured one hundred twenty thousand kalpas, he finally attained the Limitless Great Dao.
His status is second only to the Three Pure Ones.
Even if Lu Chen wanted to pray to him, he’d need a statue to worship first.
And even taking a step back—
Even if there were a statue, whether the prayer would work was another matter entirely.
This was the Jade Emperor, after all!
Even mortal emperors, just to have an audience with him, would cost ten thousand military merits.
And Lu Chen’s strongest “divine vein” at the moment—the Great Emperor of Pestilence and Heaven.
If calculated by mortal official ranks.
That would be roughly equivalent to a position like Zheng Changguo’s—a [Prefect].
Did he need military merits to see Zheng Changguo?
No.
From this, one could imagine just how difficult it would be to pray to the Jade Emperor.
Ask the Jade Emperor to issue a decree?
What was he thinking?
Lord Yan didn’t have that kind of power.
Lord Wealth God probably didn’t either.
Even if the Great Emperor of Pestilence went…
Lu Chen figured that before he could even finish his request, the Great Emperor of Pestilence would slap him twice across the face to snap him out of it.
“Damn it!” That unyielding fire in Lu Chen’s heart flared up again. “I refuse to believe I can’t solve this case without you lot!”
As he was pondering, City God Li’s voice came from beside him: “General, there’s no need to worry too much. Now that this official knows about this matter, there’s no way I can just let it be. I will immediately dispatch the Day and Night Wandering Gods and the Five Paths Generals, leading their Yin soldiers, to patrol Jiangdu City day and night in shifts!”
Hearing this, Lu Chen immediately turned and bowed solemnly: “Then I’ll leave it in your hands, City God!”
“The General is too kind. This is my duty. Truth be told, I’m ashamed—acting now is already locking the barn door after the horse has bolted. This official’s heart is truly uneasy.” City God Li’s face showed shame, his expression full of anguish.
“Please wait for good news, General. The moment I detect any disturbance, I will inform you immediately. If it turns out to be ghosts causing trouble, I will punish them severely according to Yin law. If it’s evildoers committing murder, I will capture the culprit and hand them over to you, to face the harsh judgment of mortal law!”
Lu Chen bowed deeply once more: “On behalf of the Jiangdu authorities, this junior thanks you, City God!”
City God Li also bowed in return: “The General is too generous. This matter is truly the result of my oversight.”
Lu Chen bowed even lower: “I’ve really put you to trouble.”
City God Li likewise lowered himself again: “General, please don’t. You’ll be the death of me.”
Seeing the two going back and forth, exchanging endless pleasantries, Zhong Kui waved his hand from the side: “Alright, alright. You two don’t need to keep being so polite. The most important thing now is to get this done. City God Li, I’ll be counting on you for this matter.”
“Rest assured, True Lord. This subordinate will do everything in his power!”
“Good. With those words, we can rest easy. Well then, we won’t impose any further. Farewell!”
With that, Zhong Kui flicked his red robe, swept up Lu Chen and the others, and vanished from City God Street.
“Farewell, True Lord!”
City God Li bowed respectfully to the ground. Only after straightening up did his face regain the dignified bearing of a City God.
“Sanniang…”
“What are your orders, my lord?” Hu Sanniang appeared in response.
“Go. Summon the Day and Night Wandering Gods to see me at once.”
“Yes!”
Hu Sanniang acknowledged the order and vanished as a streak of azure light.
City God Li stood with hands clasped behind his back at the entrance of the main hall, gazing toward the entrance of City God Street, his eyes narrowing slightly…
…
South Suburb Industrial Park, inside the office.
Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on the sofa, his soul having returned to its place.
Before him were still Zhong Kui, Xie Qingyi, and Fan Rusong.
“General, are you alright?” Fan Rusong stepped forward with concern.
“I’m fine.” Lu Chen waved his hand and sat up.
Zhong Kui spoke: “Although the City God has agreed to assist in this investigation, in my view, friend, you still can’t afford to relax. Waiting passively for something to happen is never a good strategy.”
Lu Chen nodded and cupped his hands: “The True Lord speaks truly. This junior thinks the same. I will continue to find ways to investigate.”
Zhong Kui nodded, a hint of approval in his eyes: “Good. In that case, I’ll leave it to you, friend. I’ll return to the Netherworld first. If you run into trouble while handling the case…”
He paused briefly, then pointed a finger. A token, entirely crimson and carved with a ferocious ghost head, appeared in Lu Chen’s hand.
“This is my decree. If you encounter danger, channel your mana into it. I will sense it and come to your aid. But remember this—this token can only be used twice, and it lasts only seven days. Once seven days pass, whether used or not, the decree will vanish on its own.”
“Thank you, True Lord!” Lu Chen accepted it solemnly.
“No need for courtesy. I’m off!”
Before the words faded, Zhong Kui waved his red robe, his form turning into a wisp of red smoke, and returned to the Netherworld.
Lu Chen looked down at the crimson token in his hand.
Beside him, Fan Rusong suddenly sighed with emotion: “It seems the True Lord’s power, compared to his peak days, is indeed… no longer what it once was.”
“Yes,” Xie Qingyi also sighed softly. “This token only lasts seven days.”
“What do you mean by that?” Lu Chen was a little puzzled.
“The General may not know,” Fan Rusong explained. “Back in the day, among all the Yin deities in our Netherworld, the one with the most abundant incense offerings was none other than the True Lord. But now, ever since the mortal world banned private worship of deities, the True Lord’s incense offerings have plummeted. And once the incense stops, his power naturally diminishes greatly.”
“Banned private worship of deities?” Lu Chen was stunned. “You mean… like household guardian deities? Door god worship?”
“Exactly. Back when the True Lord’s incense was at its peak, almost every household pasted his image as a door god, enjoying offerings from the mortal world! But now, General, have you ever seen anyone paste door gods in their homes?”
Lu Chen’s interest was piqued: “So why doesn’t the imperial court allow private worship of deities? Why must they only be worshipped in temples?”
“Actually, it’s not the imperial court’s idea. When you get right down to it, it’s still their idea.”
Xie Qingyi pointed upward. Clearly, a Yin official of his level had some taboo about the Heavenly Court.
Lu Chen frowned: “You mean, the Heavenly Court forbids private worship of deities, and all deities can only be worshipped in temples, which caused some former household deities to lose their incense and their power to diminish greatly?”
Fan Rusong nodded: “Exactly. According to my father, back in the day, our Netherworld’s incense offerings couldn’t compare to the Heavenly Court’s proper deities, but they were nowhere near as bleak as they are now. We could always claim a place.
But after all deities were required to be worshipped in temples, the gods all crowded together fighting over incense, and our Netherworld’s offerings dwindled day by day.
People already avoided us to begin with. And on top of that, inviting a Heavenly Court immortal costs the same as inviting one of our Netherworld Yin deities.
Naturally, mortals preferred to worship the Heavenly Court’s proper deities.
Over time, this created today’s predicament.
Even a great deity like the True Lord, whose incense once burned brightest, ultimately couldn’t reverse the tide. He had no choice but to… decline.”
“There’s actually a history like this…”
This was the first time Lu Chen had heard such an account.
He had assumed this world of universal deities had always been this way.
But hearing them explain it, it seemed this centralized worship model had only taken shape over the past few hundred years or so.
Strange… Why would the Heavenly Court push such a reform?
