I run a Taoist temple in a bizarre world.

Chapter 33: Having encountered immortals and gods, why not show them respect?

As the sun rises in the east, the sky gradually brightens.

Chen Hao smoothly completed the entire process of lighting incense, bowing, and offering incense to the statue of the deity.

He had made a promise to Chi Le before.

From now on, I will visit the temple every day and offer incense daily.

Chen Hao hadn't forgotten, nor dared he forget.

"Brother, is that so?"

Holding three sticks of incense, Chen Cheng asked Chen Hao with a curious expression.

"Hold the incense with both hands, be sincere, and keep your hands steady. Don't let your mind wander."

"Okay, I got it, bro."

Chen Cheng stuck out her little tongue, corrected her posture, and let Chen Hao's hand press on her head.

After Chen Cheng finished offering incense...

Chen Hao pressed Chen Cheng's head down, forcing him to bow to Chi Le along with him.

"Abbot, then we will proceed as you instructed. After handling the worldly affairs, Xiao Cheng will take over as temple keeper in five days!"

After saying this, the two left Qingshan Temple first.

Chi Le watched silently as the two walked down the mountain.

The incense offerings are now insufficient for Chi Le to build a side hall, so he formally recruited Chen Cheng to become the temple keeper of Qingshan Temple.

He couldn't very well be completely honest with the Chen siblings.

Qingshan Temple doesn't have the money to build your accommodations right now. Wait a few more days until I have more money, then I'll come over and take up the post of temple keeper.

Too displaced.

This gave the Chen siblings five days to finish dealing with their own affairs.

After making the arrangements, they returned to Qingshan Temple to serve as temple keeper.

[Successfully protected a mortal through the night from evil spirits and demons; Incense offering +1!]

[Successfully protected an unranked Divine Sense Master through the night from evil spirits and demons. Incense offering +2!]

[Received devout worship from Chen Hao, incense offering +2!]

[Received devout worship from Chen Cheng, incense offerings +3!]

Current incense offerings: 18

The Chen siblings provided themselves with a full 8 points of incense offerings at once!

"As expected, the fastest way to obtain [incense offerings] is still through people."

"Whether it's entering a temple to offer incense or seeking shelter overnight."

"There are still 12 points left for the incense offerings. I've been coming to Qingshan Temple often these past few nights to see if I can attract more 'pilgrims' from the mortal world."

With that, Chi Le called out the door, stepped out, and returned to her familiar bedroom.

……

That night, Master Chi, who had been busy (or slacking off) all day, came to Qingshan Temple.

Wait for the [Mountain Gate] to refresh to the vicinity of the "Pilgrimage Visitor".

It must be said that the random refresh of the [Mountain Gate] is quite reliable.

Whenever the mist around the mountain gate dissipates, Chi Le can always see one or two figures.

Unfortunately, most of the day-returners who roam the treacherous world are overly vigilant.

Upon seeing the "mountain gate" appear out of nowhere, most people are unwilling to step inside.

More directly, after seeing the [Mountain Gate] emerge from the mist.

It reacted as if it were an old man, its fur standing on end, constantly panting and retreating.

"Zhou Guiren is overly cautious despite his considerable strength."

Chi Le knew that things couldn't continue like this.

He slightly changed his strategy.

First, set the tightly closed [mountain gate] to the open state.

This way, worshippers can see the scene inside the Taoist temple at a glance, and evil spirits and demons outside the temple still cannot get in.

Then the doors of the main hall containing the statues of immortals and gods were closed.

This prevents visiting "pilgrims" from immediately seeing the actual situation inside the main hall.

The statues of gods and immortals behind him were too conspicuous.

Anyone who, upon suddenly encountering a towering, shrouded-in-mist statue of a deity in a bizarre world, could resist running away would be a true hero.

After doing all this, Chi Le had the [Mountain Gate] refresh its location again.

Not far from the mountain gate, the three newly appeared figures did not leave as quickly as before, but instead chose to look into the temple.

Just take a look, it's not like it'll take a piece of flesh away!

This one glance was enough to make the three daytime travelers unable to contain themselves and move closer to the Green Mountain Temple.

Hey, why don't we go take a look? It doesn't seem dangerous.

When we get closer.

Looking at the neat open space inside the temple, the ancient bluestone slabs, and the solemn main hall, the group felt an inexplicable urge to explore further.

Most importantly, the area behind the door was free of the pervasive dark gray fog of the eerie world!

"How about we go in and take a look?"

One of the three made a suggestion.

"I think it's a good idea."

"Since we're already here!"

These words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Without further hesitation, the three of them stepped through the mountain gate one after the other and entered the Taoist temple.

"If you pay close attention, you'll notice that the feeling of not being able to breathe when you're outside is gone."

"Why do I have this strange feeling that this place is safe? Where did we end up? Is this still some kind of eerie world?"

"Great place! Look, the monsters outside can't pass through that wooden door like we can!"

"It might be the territory of some strange, inhabited world."

"I wonder if there are any other unclaimed, bizarre artifacts here. If I find one, I'll be rich."

The three of them felt a sense of security that was extremely rare in this strange world, and talked loudly, completely unaware that the [mountain gate] behind them had quietly closed.

"This seems to be the main hall. Generally speaking, the best items in a Taoist temple are kept in the main hall!"

One person excitedly walked towards the main hall's entrance, which immediately attracted two other people to come to the entrance as well.

"Come quick... lend a hand, I can't push it alone!"

The first person to arrive at the palace gate tried to push open the seemingly easy-to-use gate.

His face turned a deep purplish-red, but he couldn't budge the wooden door an inch.

Seeing this, the other two also couldn't stand it anymore.

"Is it that difficult?"

"Come on, let me count, 1, 2..."

The three of them started working together, planning to wait until 3 o'clock to put in the effort.

Unexpectedly, the palace doors opened by themselves.

Unable to control their strength, the three of them tumbled into the hall.

"Ouch, I almost fell and killed myself."

"Who...whose butt is that? Move it right now!"

"My hand, don't move! My hand is going to break!"

The three of them wriggled awkwardly on the ground for a while before they were able to untie each other and stand up again.

"That bastard, he used force first..."

One of them was about to confront him.

Someone must have pushed the door open beforehand; otherwise, how could the door of this Taoist temple, where there was no one else besides the three of them, open by itself?

But when he saw the scene before him, he couldn't utter the words of blame he had originally wanted to say, and uttered a few words blankly.

"What...what is this?"

The other two also noticed something was wrong with the man in front of them.

However, when they also noticed the changes in their surroundings, their reactions were even more exaggerated than the men's.

But what I saw before me was...

All around was a vast expanse of white mist, as if we were above the blue sky and white clouds, and the world seemed boundless.

And there it was again.

The majestic statues of immortals stand tall, shrouded in wisps of white mist and draped in colorful clouds, displaying their divine power.

Then he saw himself in front of him.

The Taoist priest, whose figure resembled a crane, stood still. His loose, ancient Taoist robe fluttered without wind, and with each breath, the white mist shrouding his face flowed and changed.

The next moment, everything around them stopped changing.

A solemn sound, like the grandest of bells, resounded throughout the land.

"Since you have seen immortals and gods, why not show them respect?"