Chapter 133: Wealth God

"In the southeast direction, there was just now a trail of evil Qi. It was originally heading toward us, but seeing me make a move, it fled again. I reckon that must be the Saintess of the White Bone Hall."

Xu Jia spoke up: "Chang Yu, you go and subdue her, capture her and bring her here!"

Chang Yu did not really want to go, but it still took off. It glided from the Cloud Void, not within the Five Elements Array, but belonging to the upper and lower directions within the Six Harmonies.

However, for a large python that practiced the Gengyue Breath-Absorption Method to be able to fly and glide so lightly, it was truly difficult for him.

Xu Jia landed on the ground and saw the bewildered, harelipped nun Miaoren. He shook his head: "Even if this kind is cured, they will still drool."

Miaoren exclaimed in wonder: "How can you have such great Divine Ability? Since you have such great Divine Ability, why didn't you reveal it before?"

Xu Jia said: "Divine Ability does not surpass karmic force. Karmic force requires Merit and wisdom to resolve. You only think about having great Dharma Power after becoming a Buddha, but you do not know that the greater the Divine Ability, the higher the karmic obstacles; the higher the karmic obstacles, the further away from the Buddha one is."

Having said this, he waved his small flag, summoning the Yeyou god, and tried his best to coordinate with Chang Yu to encircle and suppress the Saintess of the White Bone Hall.

"Let's return to the Daoist temple!"

Xu Jia was actually in a decent state. Although not a bit of his Dharma Power from his past life remained, he had properly expanded his body and connected his Xinjiao to the Dharma Realm shrine of his past life's Golden Body.

"What about this altar?" Miaoren looked at the tall Dharma Altar and could not help but ask.

"Don't worry, even if you fall, it won't fall. We will come back to dismantle it after a while."

Chang Yuying and Chang Yu'e came to meet them to avoid a wretched descent from the mountain.

Hu Jinhua was also on the snake's head, reporting the situation of the Daoist temple to Xu Jia: "Master Xu, the statue in the Mountain God Temple has already been broken! This County Commandant Chen is truly heroic; he smashed the Incense Burner and there was no reaction at all."

Xu Jia said: "He has an official position in the imperial court. If it were an ordinary person, try smashing one and see. Let alone this kind of proper temple that has been occupied by an evil god, even for a common small evil temple, an ordinary person would not be able to dismantle it."

"The essence of your Fox Immortal Hall is the same. If someone wanted to forcibly dismantle it, would you agree?"

Hu Jinhua bared her teeth: "I would not agree! I am single-mindedly devoted to goodness, why should my temple be dismantled!"

"The essence has nothing to do with being devoted to goodness or not. Whether it is a True God or an evil god, it is nothing more than an imperial edict. Only those who possess the status of an emperor or monarch, or deities, have the ability to confer the title of True God."

"The human kings on earth, the Three Pure Ones of Taoism, the Emperors of the Heavenly Court, the Fo Zhu of Buddhism, and the masters of You Ming are all in this category."

"Like me conferring titles upon you, or conferring titles upon Chang Yu, it is all against the rules. If one were to seriously investigate it, it would not be recognized."

Hu Jinhua hung her head: "So that's how it is."

Xu Jia said: "However, generally, no one will suddenly come to dismantle your temple. Persisting in doing good is still not a mistake; it is always better than those who do not do good, or even do evil. Even if these deities are not removed by practitioners like me, when the time comes, they will be locked onto by heavenly thunder and suffer Heavenly Punishment."

Hu Jinhua heard this and immediately understood: "No wonder. Before Lan Shi Huo had Lao Zhupo, I heard that an evil god lived in the mountain. There was no worship during the day, but at night people would secretly go up the mountain, taking live cats and dogs and the like for sacrifice. Often one could hear people saying their wishes were fulfilled—seeking a son and getting a son, seeking wealth and getting wealth. Later, I even heard of people taking the bones of children and enshrining them in jars... Then one day, thunder struck, a fire started, and the evil temple was burned down. Those who worshipped the god all suffered backlash. Those who sought children had their sons either drown or die of illness; those who sought wealth were immediately robbed; even those who sought peace all fell into a great illness!"

"This is borrowing Yin Debt," Xu Jia said. "This kind of evil god is relatively stupid. Greedy for bloody sacrifices, they blindly want to increase their Dharma Power, and they themselves attract the heavenly thunder to execute them."

"Borrowing Yin Debt is not advisable, and direct unearned gain is also not advisable. This time, I will return the Pressing Money that borrowed your Life Fire. This Pressing Money is my life-buying money, and later I refined Yin Earth Sha to generate gold luck, transforming the tomb treasury into a Wealth Treasury. It is now a Wealth God Magic Tool."

"Among all the demons, only you are the most content with poverty and devoted to the Dao, planting vegetables and selling them to earn a little hard-earned money. Therefore, only you are the most suitable to hold the Wealth God Authority without abusing or misusing it; I am most at ease with you. Put this copper coin into the Incense Burner and bury it with incense ash. If any commoners seek wealth, you must use it appropriately. With income and expenditure, the wealth luck and Yin treasury will all be under your jurisdiction."

Hu Jinhua said: "Does the gold, silver, and copper coins in Dizang An also fall under my jurisdiction?"

"Gold and silver cannot be managed by this copper coin. In fact, the currency of the imperial court has always been copper coins, and this Wealth God Magic Tool is not a gold ingot, but merely a copper coin, so it can only manage wealth luck at the level of copper coins."

"I have calculated the copper coins in those twenty camphor wood boxes at Dizang An. One box contains nine hundred and sixty strings of cash, and twenty boxes contain nineteen thousand two hundred strings of cash. There is a phrase called 'waist wrapped in ten thousand strings,' which refers to someone being too wealthy."

Hu Jinhua's eyes were glowing: "I'm rich! I'm rich! One string is one thousand coins. I buy and sell vegetables and catch rabbits to sell at the market; it takes me a month to earn just one string of cash. But I don't just earn, I spend, and I can't save money at all!"

"If you plant and sell vegetables, not eating or drinking and just hoarding money, it would take you about sixteen hundred years," Xu Jia said.

"Damn it!" Hu Jinhua said resentfully: "How can these nuns be so rich!"

"There are evil gods who like to lend Yin Debt, so how could living people not think of this? Naturally, it was also lent out. Let alone temples, come to think of it, my family also has a large debt lent out."

Xu Jia said: "These copper coins will serve as the initial operating capital for your Wealth God Authority. You must calculate carefully how to use these copper coins to strengthen the Wealth God Authority and faith."

Hu Jinhua was used to being poor and was momentarily bewildered. With so much money, how to spend it? How to use it? She did not dare to spend a single cent recklessly!

Xu Jia said: "Gold is excellent material for refining Magic Tools and practicing Daoism. As for silver, keep it for building the Daoist temple in the future."

Hu Jinhua was still dazed, but fortunately, her spirit was not too bad: "Master Xu, if you let me earn a few dozen coins, I have the courage. If you let me earn a business of a few hundred coins, I have to consider the risks. If it were to earn a few thousand or tens of thousands of coins, I would treat it as a scam. I really don't have the 'money-courage' for that..."

Seeing her look so spineless, Xu Jia could not help but say: "Didn't I tell you? We earn money from the rich, not the poor. So when you deal with the poor, don't think about earning money; being able to maintain no loss is already very good. But if it is the rich, you can formulate various plans targeting them. We are not saying we want to squeeze them, but to invest and then collect returns. This is another matter. However, it doesn't matter. My Xinjiao naturally holds a portion of wealth luck. Later, I will personally carve a statue for him and put it into the Fox Immortal Hall to receive offerings, which can assist you."

Hu Jinhua seemed to understand: "It seems I understand."

Upon returning to the Daoist temple, they saw that all the Daoists of Shanju Guan had a look of "worrying about personal gains and losses," which made one suspicious.

When they saw the Scripture Master who had returned from the Five Elements Altar, he spoke up: "The methods of our Shanju Guan are no longer effective."

"Originally, we all worshipped the Mountain God, using the Mountain God to capture the Gengyue Essence Qi, using jade as bait. Even when the Mountain God became an evil god, our methods were still effective. But just now, the Mountain God fell from his divine position, our methods became ineffective, and we cannot contact the Ancestor..."

Having said this, he looked at Xu Jia with burning eyes: "I wonder if Fellow Daoist Xu is willing to become the Temple Master of our Shanju Guan?"

"Don't!" Xu Jia said: "I have no interest in your Daoist lineage, nor do I want to inherit your Daoist lineage."

Hearing Xu Jia say this, the Scripture Master became disappointed.

It was Zhang Zhenji who appeared. Hearing the Scripture Master say that his methods were no longer effective, he immediately said: "Uncle-Master, mine are still effective!"

"Hmm? Why are yours still effective?" The Scripture Master said excitedly: "Have you discovered some key point that can bypass the Mountain God?"

Zhang Zhenji looked at Xu Jia with embarrassment: "It is all thanks to Senior Brother Xu pointing out and improving the Gengyue Breath-Absorption Method of our Mountain Dwelling Monastery."

(End of chapter)