Although he had not managed to contact Qin He, after more than a decade of persistence, the faith in this place had flourished, and the temple gradually began to take shape.
The people within several hundred li had heard that Great Immortal Green Ox rescued the suffering and aided those in distress, taking pity on all living beings. They all came to worship, and the power of faith had already reached the point of manifesting.
Naturally, Wei Yuanji's diligent efforts to maintain it had been indispensable. It had even delayed his own cultivation, as he poured all his resources into it.
Yet a tree that rose above the forest was bound to be battered by the wind.
Privately gathering Merit was bound to draw unwanted eyes.
The first to come knocking was a middle-aged cultivator with a pale, beardless face. He wore brocade cultivator's robes, a Jade Tablet hanging from his waist, and carried an innate arrogance in his expression, as though nothing around him was worthy of his notice.
He introduced himself as Zhao Deshen, steward to Zhao Yuanhe, the Earth God of the Lower Realm under the Divine Court's Merit Department.
Wei Yuanji's heart tightened at once, and he hurriedly rose to greet him. Though an Earth God was merely a lowest-ranking deity stationed by the Divine Court in the Lower Realm, he was still officially part of the Divine Court, presiding over the Merit of an Earth Vein. He was not someone a Wheel Sea Realm cultivator with no sect or backing could provoke.
Zhao Deshen did not beat around the bush. His gaze swept over the incense offerings in the temple as he toyed with the Jade Tablet between his fingers, his tone casual and contemptuous. "Your temple is privately gathering Merit without reporting it to