Card Creation Successful! Summoning Door Gods Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong

2. If there was one, how should the materials be combined to pinpoint a Door God?

As a researcher of folk mythology, Lin Chen knew that deities from different cultures and worlds shared certain commonalities. Behind this lay the unified worship of imagery that had emerged throughout humanity's development.

Chinese and Western cultural legends were worlds apart, yet they both featured the same divine offices—gods of heaven, sun gods, fire gods, household gods, and so on. Door Gods were among them.

The emergence and worship of Door Gods reflected humanity's need for and yearning for safety and protection. No matter what mythological system a culture belonged to, this point was universal.

For example, the Door God in ancient Greece was called Janus. He had two faces, one on the front and one on the back, representing the closing and opening of doors.

The Door God in Indian Esoteric Buddhism was called Vajrapani. He was also a Yaksa god, usually depicted with a fierce and hideous face and a Vajra Pestle in his hand, guarding the gods. He was usually placed on the left and right sides of a temple entrance.

In Eastern mythology, the main Door God figures were Shen Tu, Yu Lei, Zhong Kui, Qin Qiong, and Yuchi Jingde. Of them, the images of Qin Qiong and Yuchi Jingde had been passed down the most widely.

From this cultural unity among deities, Lin Chen boldly inferred that this world would most likely also give rise to a type of deity known as Door Gods.

Combining the common traits of Door Gods across various mythological systems:

1. They were related to doors.

2. They served as and symbolized protection and defense.

3. They almost always appeared in pairs.

Lin Chen thereby deduced that the summoning formula for a Door God Card was: Guardian + Pair + Door + God.

The card materials currently in hand were: Guardian (white), Incense Ash from the City God Shrine (green), and Incense and Candles Infused with Spirituality (white).

The Guardian formed the main body, while the shrine's incense ash possessed the attributes and symbolism of a deity. What was still missing were materials symbolizing doors and pairs.

He had to search again quickly and see what materials in the temple he had missed. They also had to possess those two attributes. He couldn't exactly tear down the temple gate!

Lin Chen swept his gaze across the temple once more and suddenly noticed a pair of couplets hanging at the entrance to the inner hall.

A pair! Door couplets!

A pair symbolized duality, while door couplets were also symbolically connected to doors.

He had found the crucial materials!

Lin Chen immediately tore down the pair of couplets whose characters were impossible to make out.

He began creating the card!

Zhong Yueming had previously given him a brief explanation of the card-creation process.

Card-creation steps: Fill with materials, focus and infuse spirit, visualize the card spirit, and draw it into form.

The materials were placed into the Guardian main-body card. Cards had the function of absorbing spiritual energy and would automatically absorb related materials.

Spiritual-energy patterns covered the back of the card. He visualized the image of the card spirit in his mind, then used the Spirit-Touching Brush to carve the card spirit's symbolic image onto the back of the card. Throughout the process, he had to keep concentrating his mental spiritual power.

He shaped it with spirit and formed it into a card.

The visualization of the card spirit was also an extremely crucial step. The more closely the image or symbolism he visualized matched the card spirit, the higher the success rate of Spirit Summoning Card Creation!

This reminded Lin Chen of a cultivation method in Esoteric Buddhism called "Visualizing the Personal Deity."

A cultivator chose an image of a Buddha and imagined it in their mind. Through the continuous process of inner visualization, the cultivator drew closer to the Buddha, understood the Buddha more deeply, and thereby gained the power of cultivation.

It matched the visualization step in card creation perfectly!

But before visualizing, Lin Chen hesitated.

If he directly visualized the images of Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong from his previous life, would the card spirit acknowledge them in this mythical and sinister world?

It was like taking someone else's photograph and calling out to a Door God, "Bro, is this you?"

Then he thought about it. A deity's divine office and authority were fixed, but a deity's appearance was not necessarily set in stone.

Many deities had all kinds of forms and incarnations. He shouldn't use a single human's ideas to speculate about deities. Perhaps the gods didn't care about appearances!

Besides, at this point, there was nothing left to worry about. He could only give it everything he had!

Lin Chen took one last look at the damaged City God statue and suddenly remembered that he still hadn't used the Incense and Candles Infused with Spirituality.

At such a critical juncture, he might as well make full use of everything. Since he was inviting and summoning a deity, he would simply light them before the City God statue. It could also count as praying for his own good fortune.

The incense and candles were lit, and spirituality spread through the air.

He devoutly bowed three times. "City God, please bestow good luck upon me!"

Lin Chen closed his eyes and silently recited legends related to the Door Gods as he began to visualize.

Complete Mirror of the Immortals of All Ages, Volume Thirteen:

"The Emperor (Emperor Taizong of Tang) was ill and slept restlessly, as if some evil spirit were approaching his sleeping quarters. He ordered Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong to stand guard, after which the haunting ceased. The Emperor, mindful of their labor, ordered images of them in armor and bearing weapons to be painted and hung on the palace gates. The evil spirits then fell silent. Later generations followed this practice, and they thus became Door Gods forevermore."

The Spirit-Touching Brush seemed able to recognize his intentions. It moved with his heart while simultaneously drawing out Lin Chen's mental spiritual power.

Within this City God Temple, which had lain desolate for a century, something that had been dormant for a long time seemed to awaken and lend its strength to Lin Chen.

As if sensing the danger, the Blood-Red Wedding Sedan Ghost, which had held its position outside the temple for a long while, began to move as well!

The bright-red sedan chair slammed headfirst into the City God Temple's walls, already covered in scars!

Blood-red light burst in all directions, and Baleful Intent surged into the sky.

The walls of the City God Temple finally collapsed inward, opening a breach.

A deathly pale hand reached out from behind the sedan curtains and rested on the gap in the broken wall.

The author has brought the Blood-Red Wedding Sedan Ghost to ask for votes and follows!

This is extremely important for this book's future recommendation exposure!

The Blood-Red Wedding Sedan Ghost extended its deathly pale little hand and placed it on your monthly-ticket button.

Chapter 5: Card Creation Successful! Summoning Door Gods Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong

The Blood-Red Wedding Sedan Ghost's hand rested on the broken edge of the City God Temple's wall, while blood qi and Baleful Intent poured madly through the gap.

The sense of safety and calming effect that had originally filled the City God Temple was swept away in an instant!

The pressure on Zhong Yueming increased sharply. His Sanity Value issued another warning as he stared fixedly at that delicate, boneless, frighteningly pale hand.

The next second, that hand did not move. The one that moved was the Ghost Yaksa, which had been pounding the wall for so long.

The Ghost Yaksa shot into the temple like a streak of black light, hurtling straight toward Zhong Yueming.

With his small human frame, being hit would certainly leave him smashed to pieces!

DS-R1 immediately triggered its Guardian Protection trait, stepping in front of Zhong Yueming and colliding violently with the Ghost Yaksa.

DS-R1 could not withstand such an enormous impact either. It was knocked backward repeatedly, mechanical fragments spraying from its body, yet it still held on to the Ghost Yaksa with a death grip.

Without needing Zhong Yueming to issue an order, the DS-R1 Mechanical Guardian clung tightly to the Ghost Yaksa and began releasing an Electromagnetic Pulse.

At such close range, the crisscrossing currents formed a force field filled with flashing electric arcs.

The Ghost Yaksa fell to the ground, electric arcs piercing its entire body. A scorched stench began to rise as black ghostly energy emanated from it.

DS-R1 also trembled as it struggled to rise, only to collapse again. "Warning! Right-leg component damaged. Core chassis has suffered an impact. Mobility greatly reduced. Warning!"

The Falling Ghost's two halves squeezed through the breach in the wall, while the bloated human skin of the Drowned Ghost also oozed in like a pool of rotten mud...

The sanctuary had been breached!

The Guardian Card had fallen!

The ghosts were closing in!

Lin Chen remained completely absorbed in his task, leaving no room for interruption.

Zhong Yueming smiled bitterly. "Is this as far as we can go?"

But since he had said he would hold this line to the death for Lin Chen, he had naturally never considered running away and clinging to life. Besides, there was nowhere to flee.

As a green-grade intelligent-mechanical card, the DS-R1 Mechanical Guardian was equipped with a hidden self-destruct module—which was why it had not been displayed on the card information interface at the beginning.

It seemed the final moment to activate it had arrived!

The Skeleton Monk entered the temple as well. Zhong Yueming suddenly felt a strange impulse and could not help looking toward the Skeleton Monk.

The Skeleton Monk was pulling open the kasaya draped over its body, fully exposing the Forbidden Scripture within its chest cavity.

The strange, chaotic, and obscure characters on the scripture stabbed into Zhong Yueming's eyes like red-hot brands.

He felt dizzy from the sensation of staring directly at the sun. Confusion and foolishness took hold of him, making him completely forget his intention to detonate DS-R1.

Taking advantage of this moment, the Blood-Red Wedding Sedan Ghost's hand began to move.

It extended from behind the sedan curtains, stretching farther and farther.

It far exceeded the length of a normal human arm as it reached straight toward Zhong Yueming's chest.

The DS-R1 Mechanical Guardian, lying on the ground, suddenly began broadcasting:

"Unregistered divine system detected! Warning! The current card-creation formula involves...&#*...

Signal disrupted by an unknown entity...&*@*..."

It was at this moment that Lin Chen drew the final stroke!

At the instant he completed his final visualization in his Sea of Consciousness, he saw an existence open its eyes in some distant, unknown place. It seemed to cross boundless time and space and exchange a glance with him.

Then came a splitting pain in his mind, draining Lin Chen's mental power completely.

Across heaven and earth, strange phenomena erupted!

The brush stirred wind and rain; the card's creation made ghosts and gods weep!

All the ghosts present shrank back from the shock.

Zhong Yueming also came back to his senses from the life-threatening confusion and foolishness because of it.

When the two men and all the ghosts recovered, they discovered that, at some unknown point, two imposing figures had appeared inside the temple.

They saw two Eastern generals clad in treasured armor and wearing golden helmets, standing opposite each other.

The general on the right had a face as fair as jade and held twin metal rods. The general on the left had a dark face framed by sideburns and held a steel whip.

"One raised phoenix eyes to the heavens, twin rods splitting the Tang and the white-robed commander; the other widened wrathful eyes to frighten ghosts and spirits, a single whip guarding the lord, the Black Fiend God."

They were none other than:

"Merit recorded upon Lingyan Pavilion, their renown forever suppressing the banners of the Great Tang; hailed as heroes for a thousand years beneath heaven, they had served as Door Gods among the people for all eternity!"