Chapter 1 The Old Forest at Night

The old forest at night wasn’t exactly quiet; the imagined silence only existed in imagination.

The northern wind, like the loud and rough voice of a northern man, kept blowing non-stop, like a giant hand strumming the old forest as if it were a zither.

There was no rhythm to speak of, nor any reliable musical score, but it was just so chaotic, and after a long time, one actually got used to it.

A middle-aged man carrying a box of batteries in each hand walked to the edge of a small stream.

He was actually a little regretful.

The batteries…

He’d bought them a little too early.

It was like going on a trip; usually, you’d buy some “specialties” on the day you were leaving or the day before, at the airport or train station.

Who would buy a lot of specialties on the first day and then carry them around everywhere?

Besides, compared to Goubuli steamed buns that even people from Tianjin don't eat, or Zhang Fei beef that people from Chengdu avoid,

Similar to the above two kinds of "local specialties" that can only be found and bought in specialty shops,

These batteries…

Were they hard to buy?

Everywhere,

You could buy them in any grocery store.

But since he’d already bought them,

He’d just have to carry them.

Batteries couldn’t get wet,

So the man carefully wrapped them in several layers of plastic, placing them on a pile of leaves across the stream.

Then,

He walked to the stream,

Squatted down,

Scooped up a handful of water,

And began to wash his hands.

He washed them very carefully, extremely carefully. It was a pity that Boss Zhou wasn't here, otherwise, if he had seen it, he might have felt a sense of kinship with the other party because of his serious attitude towards washing his hands.

They were both clean freaks.

After washing his hands,

He shook them dry,

And the man sat down on the ground.

The water level of the stream,

Began to slowly drop,

Dropping at a speed visible to the naked eye,

And in the center of the stream,

The eaves of a building gradually emerged.

For thousands of years, the Chinese have had their own persistence and unique aesthetic in the construction of houses, so meticulous and persistent that even the eaves have ingenious designs.

From today’s perspective, everyone in those days actually lived in “works of art,” while now, they sell everything they have to send themselves into the cages of apartment buildings, as if moving into a slightly larger urn in advance;

The only difference is that some urns, like plastic fruit boxes for dried fruit and melon seeds, have several compartments, which also gave rise to two-bedroom and three-bedroom urn styles.

Under the stream,

Was a temple,

But it was unknown how many years ago,

The temple was buried, and probably collapsed,

Perhaps these slightly better-preserved eaves have now become its only raised pride, reminding it of its former glory.

This was a City God Temple.

Specks of yellow light began to gather beside the man, eventually coalescing into the figure of a scholar.

The scholar wore a yellow court robe,

And looked very tired.

You could clearly feel a sense of decay from him, and there were also some remnants of damage in the inconspicuous corners.

"I thought I'd never see you again,"

The scholar said.

The man nodded. "Yeah."

Back then,

They were both from the Central Plains, which is now Henan, and came from wealthy families.

This was nonsense.

Just like how young masters today always like to pursue novel stimulation after getting tired of other things, given the level of transportation in those days, the two of them were actually able to travel together from Henan to the northeast, and even the far northeast. You couldn't do something like that if your family wasn't rich and you didn't have enough free time.

They were young and vigorous in the same year;

"Later, did you pass the imperial examination?" the scholar asked.

"I topped the list."

The scholar showed a look of annoyance upon hearing this, appearing very indignant. "If I hadn't died of illness…"

"It wasn't that your death here stimulated me; rather, it was because you died and I lost such a playmate that I suddenly found many things very boring, so I simply shut myself up to study."

"And you accidentally passed the imperial examination while studying?"

"I guess so."

The scholar laughed,

And the man laughed too.

Back then,

The two of them traveled here together.

This place was initially a market town.

The scholar caught a cold here, didn’t make it through, and died.

The middle-aged man buried the scholar here.

A thousand years later,

One became the local City God here,

And the other became a Yama in Hell.

"I've heard a lot about you," the scholar said.

"I know you must know a lot about me."

The scholar nodded.

"I've been waiting for you to come find me," the man said.

"I won't come find you."

"I also knew you definitely wouldn't come find me."

After the man finished speaking,

He laughed again with the scholar.

Want to come to my place and play?

Don't agree, I'm just being polite!

It’s only natural that a friend from the past, having become successful,

Comes to seek connections, change places, and ask for help.

Looking at the scholar's current appearance,

The incense here must have been cut off for many years,

The temple was destroyed and almost disappeared, buried by dust, and the population was extremely sparse. With no people, where could one find incense?

The scholar's Dharma body was already broken to this point.

Probably,

He only had less than ten years left.

"I didn't expect to see you before I go."

"I also didn't expect myself to come up here at this time. By the way, do you know about batteries? I bought a lot this time."

His words,

Carried a hint of showing off to his old friend,

Very childish,

And very pure.

"Times, are different," the scholar said with emotion.

The middle-aged man frowned.

He didn't want the topic to turn in that direction.

Wasn't a simple reunion with an old friend good enough?

"My place is sparsely populated, with little incense, but all the City Gods are basically the same now."

Saying this,

The scholar looked at his old friend beside him.

City Gods are under the jurisdiction of the Netherworld. Their identities are transcendent, and they are basically local heroic spirits.

Their existence, their continuation, their prosperity and decline, really can't be measured by simple incense.

This was a general trend,

A kind of deliberately indulged, a kind of artificially created general trend.

A City God, a Yama,

It was like a general guarding the border,

Asking the Grand Secretary of the court,

Why the court cut off the border army's military pay?

Did the court not know that if things continued like this, the City God system would collapse, and the building would collapse?

But in fact,

Everyone knew,

Everyone also knew that everyone knew.

Even lower-level inspectors like Lawyer An and Feng Si'er could see that the ship was sinking, let alone those who sat higher?

The higher one sat, the more clearly the tremors were felt once the foundation became unstable.

The middle-aged man didn't speak.

"The order of yin and yang cannot be changed," the scholar continued to say with emotion.

The middle-aged man sighed and said:

"Before I go down this time, I will go back to our home to take a look. I heard that your family's old mansion has now become a cultural relic attraction and has been preserved."

"Just swallows before the halls of former Wang and Xie families." The scholar looked at the middle-aged man very seriously, "People are gone, what's the point of keeping the shell so bright and beautiful?"

"It's better than leaving nothing at all."

"Do you know why you were able to inherit everything left by Mount Tai so smoothly after the last one disappeared?"

The middle-aged man pursed his lips, closed his eyes, and his impatient expression was already very clear.

He wasn't good at concealing his emotions,

Firstly, there was no need,

In this world,

There weren't many people who needed him to deliberately flatter, pretend, or rein in his emotions to face,

Even that Bodhisattva,

Could only be considered half at most.

Moreover,

Reuniting with a good friend from his youth was originally something that easily opened one's heart.

The scholar actually saw it, but pretended not to, and continued:

"Because you inherited everything from Mount Tai, the structure of Mount Tai, the Mount Tai system.

The Lord of Mount Tai is gone,

One turned into another,

Hehe,

Or rather,

One turned into ten of you,

It really doesn't matter.

What's the difference to the people below, whether one person, ten people, or a hundred people sit in the chair above?

Anyway,

I can't sit on it."

Saying this, the scholar laughed again, but this time the middle-aged man didn't laugh.

"Actually, I'm really not willing," the scholar reached out, and a cup appeared in his hand, filled with stream water, using water as a substitute for wine, and took a sip, "I'm really not willing, if I had known this would happen, how could we have…"

The middle-aged man coughed and said:

"There's no point in saying this now."

You didn't stop it back then, or rather, you acquiesced back then.

Now,

The die is cast,

There's no use in saying anything.

For thousands of years,

What the middle-aged man found a little strange and curious was that the leader of the hunting dogs was the one who dared to speak out amidst everyone's silence.

"This is the general trend, under the general trend, you can't stop it, and neither can I,"

The middle-aged man said with emotion.

"The question is, did you stop it? Did you try?

Or,

You didn't stop it,

You even pushed it from behind?"

"In what capacity are you speaking to me?"

"City God and Yama? Or old friends who traveled together in the past? What do you say?"

The middle-aged man was silent.

"As a City God, I am a minister of the yin and yang world guarding the land, do I have the right to speak frankly and advise?

As an old friend, facing a former like-minded partner, do I have the responsibility to persuade and encourage each other?"

The middle-aged man continued to be silent.

The scholar's body began to burn,

"I still have ten years, struggling to survive until now, I didn't expect you to come, but I always expected you to come.

Now,

Since you're here, I'll use these remaining ten years to tell you one thing.

When the building is about to collapse,

The higher you stand,

The harder you fall!"

"Boom!"

The scholar's body exploded,

Terrifying yellow karma fire began to rage out.

The middle-aged man sat there without moving,

A black halo appeared around him,

Completely blocking this surging karma fire,

Outside,

Flames were raging,

But he was at ease.

He raised his head,

Looking up at the dark night sky,

Letting the karma fire continue to burn on the outside,

He laughed,

He said with a smile:

"When the building is about to collapse, when the building is about to collapse,

Hehe,

Who told you,

I'm still upstairs?"