4 chapter 4

From then on, things got out of hand. In the next hundred years, a total of seventeen brides went missing in the area around Mount Yu Jun. Sometimes it was peaceful for more than ten years, sometimes two would go missing in a short month. A terrifying legend quickly spread: there was a ghost bridegroom living in Mount Yu Jun. If he fancied a woman, he would kidnap her on the way to her wedding and then eat the bridal procession.

Originally, this matter wouldn't have reached the heavens because, although seventeen brides went missing, there were thousands of safe and sound brides. In any case, they couldn't be found, and they couldn't be protected, so they could only make do with it. It was just that the number of families that dared to marry their daughters to this area was a bit less, and the local newlyweds didn't dare to make a big scene when they got married. However, it just so happened that the seventeenth bride's father was a government official. He rather doted on his daughter. When he heard the rumors, he carefully selected forty brave and peerless military officials to escort his daughter to her wedding. Unfortunately, his daughter still disappeared.

This time, this ghost bridegroom had poked a hornet's nest. The people this government official could find in the mortal world couldn't do anything about it. Thus, in a fit of rage, he united a group of official friends and madly performed a wave of rituals. He even followed the instructions of an expert and opened granaries to help the poor and so on. This caused a huge uproar in the city and finally alerted the few Heavenly Officials above. Otherwise, it would have been almost impossible for those tiny mortals' voices to reach the ears of the gods in the heavens.

Xie Lian said, "That's about it."

Because the two people's expressions were extremely uncooperative, he didn't know whether they were listening or not. If they didn't listen, he could only say it again. On the other hand, Nan Feng raised his head and frowned. "What do the missing brides have in common?"

Xie Lian said, "There are poor and rich, beautiful and ugly, wives and concubines. In a word, there is no pattern. There is no way to judge what this ghost bridegroom's taste is. "

Nan Feng made a sound of agreement and picked up the teacup to take a sip. He seemed to be thinking. However, Fu Yao didn't touch the tea Xie Lian pushed to him. He just kept using a white handkerchief to slowly wipe his fingers. As he wiped, he coldly said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, how do you know it must be a ghost bridegroom? This isn't necessarily true. No one has ever seen it before, so how do you know if it's male or female, old or young? Aren't you taking it for granted? "

Xie Lian smiled and said, "The scroll was summarized by the civil officials of the Ling Wen Palace Hall. The ghost bridegroom is just a name used by the people. However, what you said makes sense. "

After exchanging a few more words, Xie Lian discovered that these two little military officials' train of thought was quite clear. Although their expressions were not friendly, their discussion was not ambiguous at all. Xie Lian felt quite gratified. Seeing that it was getting late, the three of them left the store for the time being. Xie Lian put on the bamboo hat and walked for a while. Suddenly, he realized that the two people behind him weren't following him. Puzzled, he turned around to look, only to find that the two people were also looking at him in puzzlement. Nanfeng asked, "Where are you going?"

Xie Lian replied, "Find a place to settle down. Fu Yao, why are you rolling your eyes again? "

Nanfeng asked in bewilderment, "Then why do you want to go into the wilderness?"

Xie Lian often ate and slept in the open on the streets. He could find a piece of cloth and lay there for the night. Naturally, he was used to finding a cave to light a fire. Only after Xie Lian's reminder did he realize that Nanfeng and Fu Yao were both military officials under the command of the Martial God. If there was a Nan Yang Temple or Xuan Zhen Temple nearby, they could directly enter. Why would they need to sleep in the wilderness?

After a short while, the three of them found a dilapidated local god temple in an extremely unremarkable corner. The incense was broken, and it looked extremely cold and cheerless. Inside the temple, there was a round and small stone statue of the local god. Xie Lian called out a few times. This land hadn't had anyone to worship for many years, so when he suddenly heard someone calling him, he opened his eyes and saw three people standing in front of the temple. The two people on the left and right were shrouded in a layer of spiritual light, making it impossible to see their faces clearly. Xie Lian jumped up in fright and trembled as he asked, "Three immortal officials, do you have any orders for this humble one?"

Xie Lian nodded his head and said, "No orders. I just want to ask, is there a nearby City God Temple that enshrines Nan Yang General or Xuan Zhen General? "

The local god didn't dare to be negligent and said, "This, this, this …" Pinching his fingers, he calculated and said, "There is a City God Temple five miles from here. It enshrines, enshrines, enshrines Nan Yang General."

Xie Lian put his palms together and said, "Many thanks." The local god was blinded by the two spiritual lights at the side and hurriedly hid himself. Xie Lian took out a few coins and placed them in front of the temple. Seeing some scattered incense, he picked it up and lit it. During this time, Fu Yao rolled his eyes so much that Xie Lian wanted to ask him if his eyes were tired.

After five miles, sure enough, they saw a City God Temple standing by the side of the road. Although the temple was small, it was fully furnished. People came and went, and it was extremely lively. The three of them hid themselves and entered the temple. Inside the temple was a clay statue of the Martial God of Nan Yang wearing armor and holding a bow.

As soon as Xie Lian saw this statue, he made a sound of "hmm …" in his heart.

It was a small temple in the countryside. The statue and paint could be said to be crude. As a whole, it looked quite different from Xie Lian's impression of Feng Xin himself.

However, for the Heavenly Officials, it was a common thing for the statues to be out of shape. Not to mention their mothers, some Heavenly Officials wouldn't even recognize their own statues. After all, there weren't many craftsmen who had actually seen the Heavenly Officials themselves. Therefore, they were either so beautiful that they were out of shape, or so ugly that they were out of shape. They could only rely on specific postures, tools, clothing, and so on to identify which Heavenly Official it was.

Generally speaking, the more prosperous the place, the more the Heavenly Officials would want the statue to be. The poorer the place, the worse the craftsman's taste, and the more miserable the statue would be. Currently, only General Xuan Zhen's statue was in a relatively good condition. Why was that? Because other people's statues were all Heavenly Officials. If their statues were ugly, then so be it. If they didn't care, then when they saw that they were made to look ugly, they would secretly break it and have someone remodel it. Or they would vaguely express their dissatisfaction in a dream. Thus, after a long period of time, the big believers knew that they had to find a craftsman who looked good!

The entire Xuan Zhen Palace Hall was exactly the same as their General, they all loved to be particular. After Fu Yao entered the Nan Yang Temple, he had been commenting on this Nan Yang statue for an hour. He said that the shape was distorted, the color was vulgar, the craftsmanship was poor, and the taste was strange. Xie Lian saw that the veins on Nan Feng's forehead were slowly popping out. He wanted to quickly find a topic to change. Just then, he saw another young girl come in to pay her respects and sincerely kneel down. He warmly said, "Speaking of which, Nan Yang Zhenjun's home ground is in the southeast. I didn't expect you to have so many incense offerings in the north."

People built temples and temples, in fact, imitations of the Heavenly Immortal Palaces, and the statues were the reflections of the Heavenly Officials. Temples gathered believers and attracted incense offerings, becoming an important source of magical power for the Heavenly Officials. And because of many reasons such as geography, history, and customs, people in different regions usually worship different Heavenly Officials. In their own territory, a Heavenly Official's magical power would be at its strongest. This was the home ground advantage. Only for Heavenly Officials like the Divine Martial Emperor, who had believers all over the world and temples all over the world, whether it was the home ground or not was completely meaningless. It was a good thing that his General's temple was flourishing even when it wasn't his home ground. Nan Feng should be proud, but looking at his complexion, it wasn't very good. On the side, Fu Yao faintly smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, deeply loved and respected."

Xie Lian said, "But I have a question, I don't know … …"

Nan Feng said, "If it's' I don't know if I should say it or not ', then don't say it."

Xie Lian said in his heart, "No. What I want to say is' I don't know if anyone can answer '. "

However, he had a premonition that if he said this sentence, it wouldn't be good, so he decided to change the topic. Unexpectedly, Fu Yao unhurriedly said, "I know what you want to ask. You definitely want to ask why there are so many female believers who come to pay their respects. "

Xie Lian wanted to ask this question.

The Martial God System's female believers had always been fewer than male believers. Only 800 years ago, he was an exception. However, the reason for the exception was very simple. Just one word: good-looking.

He was very clear that it wasn't because he was virtuous and respected or had extraordinary divine power or anything like that. It was simply because his Divine Statue was good-looking, and his temples were also good-looking. Almost all of his temples were built by the imperial family, and his Divine Statue was sculpted according to his face by the most skilled craftsmen from all over the country. Moreover, because of the phrase "the body is in the void, the heart is in the land of peach blossoms", the craftsmen often liked to add some flowers to his Divine Statue. They also liked to plant his temples into a sea of flowers and trees. Therefore, at that time, he also had another nickname, "Corolla Martial God". The female believers liked that his Divine Statue was good-looking, and they also liked that his temples were full of flowers. Just because of this, they were also willing to come and pay their respects to him.

However, because the murderous aura of ordinary Martial Gods was too heavy, their faces were often sculpted into a serious, malevolent, and callous appearance. When the female believers saw them, they would rather go and pay their respects to Guanyin or something. Although this Nan Yang Statue had nothing to do with murderous aura, it was far from being good-looking. However, the number of female believers who came to pay their respects was practically more than the number of male believers. Furthermore, Nan Feng also clearly didn't want to answer this question. Therefore, Xie Lian found it rather strange. Just at this moment, that young girl finished paying her respects. She got up to take some incense and then turned around.

With this turn, Xie Lian pushed the other two people. Those two people were originally extremely impatient, but when they were pushed by Xie Lian, their expressions immediately changed when they looked over.

Fu Yao said, "Too ugly!"

Xie Lian choked for a moment before saying, "Fu Yao, you can't say that about girls."

In all fairness, what Fu Yao said was the truth. That young girl's face was incomparably flat, as if she had been slapped flat by someone. Even saying that her facial features were ordinary would make one feel wronged. If one had to describe her, then perhaps only 'crooked nose and slanted eyes' could be used.

However, in Xie Lian's eyes, he simply couldn't distinguish whether she was beautiful or ugly. The main reason was that when she turned around, there was a huge hole hanging from the back of her skirt. It was really impossible to pretend that you didn't see it.

Fu Yao was startled at first, but he quickly calmed down. The blue veins on Nan Feng's forehead instantly disappeared without a trace.

Seeing his expression change greatly, Xie Lian hurriedly said, "Don't be nervous. Don't be nervous. "

That young girl took the incense and knelt down again. As she prayed, she said, "Nan Yang General bless me. Believer Little Ying, I pray that you can catch that ghost bridegroom as soon as possible. Don't let innocent people be harmed by him again … …"

She prayed devoutly and was completely unaware of the abnormality behind her. She was also completely unaware that three people were currently crouching at the feet of the God statue she was praying to. Xie Lian felt a headache coming on. "What should we do? We can't just let her walk out like this, right? She'll be watched all the way back. "

Moreover, looking at the hole at the back of her skirt, it was clear that someone had deliberately cut it with a sharp weapon. He was afraid that not only would she be watched, but she would also be wantonly ridiculed. That would truly be a humiliation.

Fu Yao indifferently said, "Don't ask me. The person she's praying to isn't our General Xuan Zhen. Don't look at indecency. I didn't see anything. "

Nan Feng's handsome face was green and white. He only knew how to wave his hands and didn't know how to speak. A good and unruly young man had been forced into a mute. There was no hope. Xie Lian could only do it himself. He took off his outer garment and threw it down. With a whoosh, that outer garment floated over the young girl's body, covering the extremely indecent hole at the back of her skirt. The three of them simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.

However, this gust of wind was truly too strange, causing the young girl to jump in fright. She looked around and took off her outer garment. After hesitating for a moment, she placed it on the altar. Unexpectedly, she was still completely unaware of it. Moreover, after she finished burning the incense, she was about to walk out. If he allowed her to go out and wander around, the young girl feared that she wouldn't have the face to see anyone. Seeing that the two people beside him were either stiff or stiff, unable to do anything about it, Xie Lian sighed. Nan Feng and Fu Yao only felt the space beside them become empty. Xie Lian had already appeared and jumped down.

The light inside the temple wasn't dim, so when he jumped down, he brought along a gust of wind. The flames swayed, and the young girl, Little Ying, only saw a man suddenly emerge from the darkness. His upper body was bare as he stretched out his hand towards her. She was scared out of her wits on the spot.

As expected, a scream rang out. Xie Lian was just about to speak when the young girl had already slapped him. She shouted, "Molestation!"

With a 'pa' sound, Xie Lian received a slap to the face.

The sound of the slap was crisp and clear. When the two people squatting on the altar heard it, half of their faces simultaneously twitched.

After receiving a slap, Xie Lian wasn't angry at all. He only forcefully stuffed his outer garment over and quickly whispered something. The young girl was greatly alarmed. She touched her back and suddenly, her entire face flushed red. In a split second, tears also welled up in her eyes. It wasn't known if she was angry, bitter, or ashamed. She grabbed the outer garment Xie Lian gave her, covered her face, and ran away, leaving only Xie Lian standing in his original position. When the person left, the temple became empty. A cool breeze passed through the hall. Suddenly, it felt a little cold.

He rubbed his face and turned around. With half of his face covered in a large red palm print, he said to the two people, "Alright. It's alright now. "

Just as he finished speaking, Nan Feng pointed at him and said, "You … … Did your wound split open?"

Xie Lian lowered his head and let out an 'oh' sound.

Xie Lian took off his clothes, revealing a body of mutton-fat jade-like skin. However, his chest was tightly wrapped in layers and layers of white cloth. Even his neck and wrists were wrapped in bandages. Countless small wounds crawled out from the edges of the bandages. It was truly a ghastly sight.

Thinking that his sprained neck should be almost healed, Xie Lian began to remove the bandages one round at a time. Fu Yao glanced at him and asked, "Who?"

Xie Lian asked, "What?"

Fu Yao asked, "Who was your opponent?"

Xie Lian replied, "Opponent? I didn't. "

Nan Feng asked, "Then your injuries are … …"

Xie Lian blankly said, "I fell myself."

"… …"

These were the injuries he received when he fell down from the mortal world three days ago. If he had been fighting someone, he might not have been injured to this degree.

Fu Yao muttered a few words, but Xie Lian didn't hear them clearly. In any case, he definitely wasn't praising him for being strong. Xie Lian didn't ask and finished removing the thick layer of bandages on his neck. In the next moment, Nan Feng and Fu Yao's gazes focused on his neck.