The Mountain Lord Temple's Sunlight

Chen Shi looked at the statue-like black snake, his heart filled with awe.

This great snake's mindset and state of being were far beyond those of ordinary people, reaching a height that even top cultivators would find difficult to attain.

Granny Sha led him further into Ganyang Mountain.

"Granny Sha, do you think Ganyang Mountain has a spirit too?"

Chen Shi asked, "If Ganyang Mountain has a spirit, how big would this mountain's spirit be? And what would it look like?"

Granny Sha thought for a moment and shook her head, "Perhaps it has a spirit, but I've never seen one."

They passed a mountain stream. By the stream, there was a maiden washing her hair. She was the spirit of the mountain stream, beautiful and lively, greeting Chen Shi and Granny Sha.

Granny Sha gave the maiden a comb. The maiden was very happy and thanked them. The water in the mountain stream also slowed down considerably.

They passed through a forest. In the forest were many spiritual herbs that had grown for who knows how many years. Many children, no taller than a foot and with bare bottoms, ran beneath the trees. Upon seeing them, they all hid behind the trees, peeking at them.

Granny Sha opened the floral cloth covering her basket and grabbed a handful of candy. The little children came running out, babbling. Many heads squeezed together, and they extended their chubby, tender palms, asking for candy.

This was the great mountains.

Chen Shi had seen Ganyang Mountain near Huangpo Village. The Ghost and God Domain was one after another, strange and unpredictable.

However, the Ganyang Mountain here showed him a different side.

The mountains and rivers were magnificent, broadening his chest.

After this journey, he felt that the world was truly so beautiful. With a vast and open mind, he could encompass these mountains and this land.

After a long while, they finally arrived at their destination.

An ancient and weathered temple appeared before Chen Shi's eyes. In front of the temple was a mountain gate, half of which had already collapsed.

The two arrived at the mountain gate and saw scattered bricks and broken tiles everywhere. The lintel of the mountain gate was also broken and lay to the side. Chen Shi stepped forward, moved the rocks away, and scraped off the dirt, barely making out the characters "Mountain Lord."

"This is... the Mountain Lord Temple!"

Chen Shi looked around. The Mountain Lord Temple had a main hall and two side halls. The side halls had already collapsed and were gone, but the main hall still stood.

Giant trees towered into the sky, their roots intertwined in the dilapidated courtyard. The canopy was enormous, precisely covering the temple and blocking out all light, preventing sunlight from shining on it.

Although there was no sunlight, it didn't feel cold here; the temperature was very comfortable.

Beneath the tree was an incense burner missing a leg, about ten feet long, five feet high, and three feet wide. It looked like a rectangular great cauldron, filled with incense ash. It was clear that the incense and fire energy here must have been prosperous in the past.

The air here seemed to be filled with a strange power. Chen Shi sensed it carefully, but it disappeared.

"Extraordinary power!"

He suddenly realized that this strange, elusive power was the extraordinary power formed by incense and fire energy. This power could condense divine manifestations and give Granny Sha and other village deities their magical powers!

It was strange, however, that the extraordinary power in this ancient temple was in a free-floating state and had not condensed.

Chen Shi sensed carefully and discovered that the extraordinary power was emanating from the incense burner.

"In the past, the incense and fire energy here was too prosperous, causing a large amount of extraordinary power to condense in the incense burner. Even after such a long time since the ancient temple fell into disrepair, there is still extraordinary power in the burner that has not completely dissipated. Strange, why hasn't it dissipated?" he thought to himself.

Granny Sha stepped forward and inserted three sticks of incense into the burner.

However, the extraordinary power formed by these three sticks of incense quickly dissipated into the air.

"The extraordinary power here is too strong!" Granny Sha exclaimed, looking around.

Chen Shi stepped into the main hall. Extraordinary power permeated the main hall as well, even more concentrated than outside.

The desolate temple Chen Shi encountered last time did not have such a dense extraordinary power.

There was also an incense burner in the hall, not small in size, with accumulated ash.

Chen Shi looked around and saw stone dragons coiled around the pillars of the main hall, and traces of door gods on the portals, though they were blurry.

The eaves were adorned with celadon tiles, on which were depicted mythological stories, though it was impossible to tell what they were.

The roof of the front hall had a beam more than two zhang long, vermilion red, with gilded dragons painted on it.

Upon reaching the great hall, they saw that the roof was a dazzling golden color, a golden roof. In the center of the golden roof was a caisson ceiling, painted with the Eight Trigrams, and cloud patterns around the edges.

Directly facing the caisson ceiling was a shrine, thirty to forty feet high, extremely majestic, indicating how enormous the deity statue enshrined in this temple must have been.

However, the shrine was now empty, with no deity statue.

This temple was empty.

"The extraordinary power here is so dense. The Mountain Lord who lived here must have been extremely powerful, but why has this place been lost?" Chen Shi was puzzled.

Granny Sha said, "This temple, and even this mountain, did not exist originally. It emerged from the ground overnight. During the great earthquake of Ganyang Mountain, houses collapsed, trees were destroyed, and many people died. The next day, I discovered a new peak here. However, at that time, I was in the countryside saving people and had no time to investigate. I came here a few more times later but found nothing unusual."

Chen Shi's heart stirred. The Mountain Lord Temple also suddenly grew out of the ground?

He went outside the hall and looked up at the sky. The branches and leaves of the large tree in the courtyard completely blocked out all sunlight.

They couldn't see the sun from inside the temple, and similarly, the sun couldn't see this temple!

It was truly wondrous.

This temple seemed to intentionally be hiding from the gaze of the True God from beyond the heavens!

"Can you cultivate here?" Granny Sha asked.

Chen Shi tried to activate the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art. Starlight poured in, along with sunlight and moonlight from another spacetime. Clearly, cultivation was possible here!

Granny Sha was also very happy. She smiled, "I'm relieved that you can cultivate. I put you in danger yesterday, and if I can't repay you, I'll have nowhere to hide. You cultivate here, and I'll help you tidy up."

Chen Shi shook his head. "Granny, you can just go back. I can tidy up while I cultivate."

He activated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art while sweeping the great hall.

Seeing this, Granny Sha smiled. "Then I'll head back first. I'll bring lunch over at noon."

Chen Shi felt extremely apologetic. Just as he was about to tell her not to bother coming at noon, Granny Sha had already left, so he could only let it be.

After working all morning, Chen Shi finally cleaned the main hall. At noon, Granny Sha indeed came with lunch – three dishes and one soup, much more fragrant than the food at Old Chen's house.

Chen Shi was filled with gratitude and wolfed down the food.

Granny Sha watched him with delight, as if looking at her own son.

In the afternoon, Chen Shi repaired the damaged parts of the main hall. The main hall was now barely habitable. It seemed the canopy of the large tree had protected the roof, so it didn't need repairs from a bricklayer. Some areas just needed plastering.

"I won't be staying here tonight. I'll go back first and bring some lime tomorrow to plaster the walls."

Chen Shi looked around and thought, There are also the doors and windows, which need to be covered with thick paper. If sunlight shines through from inside the hall, this temple might not be safe. The two collapsed side halls also need clearing, and the courtyard needs tidying.

He left the Mountain Lord Temple and returned the way he came.

On the way, he encountered the chubby children playing in the woods again. However, as dusk approached, they had become lazy. One by one, they rooted themselves under the trees, burying themselves and only exposing their heads, curiously observing Chen Shi.

Chen Shi also met the maiden by the mountain stream. The maiden was very shy and secretly looked at him.

Chen Shi climbed over a large mountain. The Black Snake was still coiled on the peak, like a wooden sculpture, motionless.

Chen Shi arrived at the large tree, greeted Granny Zhuang, and passed through.

A short while later, he safely returned home. Grandpa had already cooked dinner. It was dark, and the moon slowly opened its eyes, illuminating the earth.

The next day, Chen Shi specifically went to buy some incense, candles, and snacks. He put them in his satchel and set out again.

He arrived at Gangzi Village, first greeted Granny Sha, then entered the mountains. He offered incense to Granny Zhuang under the large tree, lit a few sticks for the Black Snake blocking the mountain path, and gave the maiden by the stream a bronze mirror. From his satchel, he took out some windmills and snacks for the chubby children in the woods.

As he walked, he became familiar with these wondrous spirits before entering the Mountain Lord Temple.

Chen Shi spent five days cleaning the temple inside and out.

As he worked hard, the chubby children would run over to help him move bricks and tiles. The maiden from the stream would bring flowing water to help him wash away the dirt on the ground.

If Chen Shi lost track of time while working, the enormous Black Snake would swim to the front of the Mountain Lord Temple at night, guarding it to prevent malevolent spirits from harming Chen Shi.

They got along very harmoniously.

There was also a release pond in the courtyard, which was also cleaned. Chen Shi found a large turtle shell inside, like a small boat.

"This turtle must have lived for many years. It's a pity it couldn't withstand the passage of time."

Chen Shi washed the turtle shell clean and tapped it with his hand. It was hard as a rock. When he punched it, it actually emitted a stream of light that diffused his force.

"This item seems quite good."

Chen Shi dragged the turtle shell up and placed it in the main hall, thinking, Perhaps it can be sold for a good price. I'll save it for Grandpa's old age. Grandpa won't have to go out selling talismans anymore.

While cleaning the side halls, he also found a stone box in the rubble. It was square and showed signs of being pieced together, but he couldn't open it.

Chen Shi didn't know what kind of stone the box was made of. He hit it a few times, but it remained unharmed, not even a scratch left behind.

"I wonder what's hidden inside the stone box? Perhaps it's a treasure, or perhaps someone just carved a box out of stone to trick fools."

He set the stone box aside, not paying it much mind.

Now that everything was tidied up, he could finally cultivate in peace.

Chen Shi lit a few sticks of incense in the censer. A strange, extraordinary power permeated the air. He hadn't forgotten to offer incense these past few days, and the extraordinary power here had become increasingly dense.

With his arrival, the extraordinary power here also became much more lively.

What puzzled Chen Shi the most was that the extraordinary power in the temple had not dissipated. Logically, ownerless extraordinary power should dissipate quickly, yet the power in the temple only accumulated.

During this cultivation session, he unknowingly entered a wondrous state, forgetting the passage of time, forgetting day and night.

After an unknown period, Chen Shi woke up. After these few days of Big Dipper tempering, his internal organs had become as strong as steel, and his breathing was long and steady.

The blood flowing within him was like mercury flowing through his veins, containing immense energy.

Blood like mercury, body like iron!

These were the signs of "Transform True Blood" mentioned in the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art!

Transform True Blood was the first step to cultivating the Sacred Embryo Dharma Body!

Achieving this in just a few days of cultivation in the Mountain Lord Temple was truly astonishing speed!

"Huh?"

Chen Shi's eyes widened in surprise. He saw that the great hall was bathed in bright spring light, with warm, golden yet soft sunlight!

This sunlight was the same as the sunlight he had seen in the dilapidated temple that day—it came from another spacetime!

He followed the sunlight and saw the sun of another world.

The sun was in the east, just rising above the horizon.

He finally understood what "the sun is rising" meant!

He gazed greedily at the slowly rising sun, filled with excitement.

Chen Shi suddenly had a thought: "Can I pass through this light and reach another world?"