Chapter 462: Chapter 241: Profound Lady Swordsmanship, Heavenly Gang Transformation
Above Yunmeng Mountain, dark clouds pressed from the sky, and lightning serpents danced wildly.
Xu Qing held three sticks of incense in his hands, facing the altar of heaven and earth. On either side of the altar, statues of the Judicial Gods, Thunder Department Gods, and the Nine Heavens Profound Lady were enshrined.
"Clutching at straws in desperation, do you really think worshiping gods will keep you alive?" The head monk, Dinguang, stared at Xu Qing with a gloomy expression, his words filled with mockery.
Xu Qing glanced at the old monk and said lightly, "Once, a great virtuous monk vowed to burn incense in temples, worship Buddhas he encountered, and sweep towers on his journey to obtain true scripture in the Buddhist realm. Master Jinghai, you are also a monk in a temple, yet you don’t believe in the deities and show no reverence to the heavens?"
"Exactly! You fake monks have committed countless evil deeds, drowned in sins. How dare you burn incense and petition before true Buddhas and gods..."
"Sharp-tongued!" Dinguang stared at Xu Qing viciously, his eyes filled with spite. "Then let’s see if these gods you believe in will come to help you!"
"Help?" Xu Qing laughed. "I’m not praying to the gods; I’m informing them of your sins so that when they strike you, they will show no mercy."
"..."
Upon hearing this, a group of monks felt their anger rise instantly.
In the face of imminent disaster, rather than seeking self-preservation, he wishes to curse them by praying to the gods? How can one be so repulsive?
Master Jinghai’s face had scrunched like a bitter gourd, and despite Dinguang’s instigation, he refused to lay a hand on Xu Qing.
Dinguang, who hated Xu Qing to the core, though verbally relentless, showed no true action.
The monks feared death. They sought to conserve their strength to face the impending divine punishment, reluctant to waste it before it arrived.
Xu Qing, deep down, looked down upon these monks. Under the threat of thunder calamity, even those with merits could barely muster the energy needed, let alone those drowning in sins; being able to gather ten thousand merit incense would be more than Xu Qing expected from them.
In what seemed a dead-end scenario, if even a shred of courage remained, there should have been a fight for life and death before the descent of the thunderstorm.
Even in defeat, they would at least earn a bit of respect.
In the Temple of Wishes, when the storm clouds reached a certain level, the chaotic clouds suddenly reversed direction, forming a massive vortex.
Within the vortex, arcs of electricity flickered, resembling an eye of Heaven opened wide, and at that moment Xu Qing and others felt their aura locked by an invisible force.
Unable to evade, unable to escape.
Xuan Yu, being the source of the thunder calamity, felt the pressure even more intensely than Xu Qing and others.
"Xuan Yu, don’t skimp on the incense! If we run out, we can earn more!"
Xu Qing understood his cat well; before coming to him, the cat had roamed and lived a life of scarcity, let alone incense freedom.
This led to Xuan Yu’s frugal nature and precise calculative personality.
When Guan Dazhuang used incense to transform into a human, Xu Qing saw that Xuan Yu was tempted, but learning that maintaining a human form required constant incense consumption, it swiftly discarded the idea.
Even after Cat Immortal Hall became prosperous under the partnership with Xu Immortal Family, Xuan Yu still hesitated to use incense. It would only indulge slightly while Xu Qing wasn’t around, transforming into human form but only experiencing it briefly before reverting to its original form.
Now that Cat Immortal Hall’s incense had reached the million mark, under Xu Qing’s persistent persuasion, Xuan Yu finally agreed to use incense to maintain the necessary transformation.
Despite this, during its time at the Funeral Shop, Xuan Yu would still possess Sun Erniang to save on costs.
Compared to Xuan Yu, Xu Qing was always extravagant with incense use, a matter he once discussed with Xuan Yu.
Then Xuan Yu said, "Others may be hesitant, but if Xu Immortal Family uses it... I’ll strive to accumulate incense, ensuring Xu Immortal Family always has some to use."
A cat that earns incense by catching mice couldn’t possibly gather much more in a year.
Yet, all the incense Xuan Yu accumulated could be given entirely to the Xu Immortal Family.
Now it’s Xuan Yu’s turn to survive the calamity, isn’t it fair to use the incense Xu Qing has earned freely?
Possibly due to his perceptive abilities, the long-eared Dinguang from afar heard Xu Qing and Xuan Yu’s conversation clearly.
Harboring resentment towards Xu Qing, the old monk couldn’t help but sneer, "Only incense laden with merit can resist divine punishment. Large temples and monasteries accumulate incense in tens of thousands yearly, with meritorious incense forming hardly one percent. Thinking you can overcome calamity merely with incense is pure folly!"
Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and looked towards Dinguang, curious, "Bare monk, how much incense does your Cizhao Temple have?"
"Our temple has accumulated millions of incense over the decades!"
"How much meritorious incense?" Xu Qing inquired bluntly.
Ordinary incense isn’t of much use, at best for crafting unremarkable Dharma Artifacts or some incense tokens.
In the face of calamity, Heaven wouldn’t recognize such ordinary incense!
"Our Cizhao Temple, being a major temple, counts its meritorious incense in tens of thousands. Had it not been for an erratic monk who secretly spent a vast amount of incense two years ago, our temple’s meritorious incense would easily surpass tens of thousands now!"
Dinguang spouted market-like claims, treating meritorious incense as wealth to flaunt rather than recognizing its true spiritual value.
"For a wild temple background like yours, probably you wouldn’t witness such grand figures even after a lifetime of practice." After uttering these words, Dinguang couldn’t be more boastful!
However, the old monk didn’t entirely speak the truth. The real situation was that the few meritorious incense left in Cizhao Temple were all earned by an erratic monk the temple took in many years ago.