City God Temple Fair

Just past Xiao Man, with Mang Zhong approaching.

Though the weather had changed strangely since last year, with winters growing colder and lasting longer and the spring winds arriving much later, this season had still begun to show a trace of heat.

Before dawn had fully broken, the capital was brushed by a light rain.

The drizzle fell like silk, washing the bluestone road outside the City God Temple until it gleamed.

Once the sun rose, the rain stopped at once. Steaming moisture mixed with the smell of incense, sweat, and vendors' cries, hanging like mist over the three-li street stretching from the Ministry of Justice Street to the City God Temple.

The City God Temple had a long history. In this world especially, it was an important arrangement for guarding a city. Thus, even when the Golden Horde Wolf Country, which centered its rule on shamanism, governed Beiping, it had built a City God Temple.

After the Great Xuan Dynasty was founded, it issued imperial titles to the City Gods of the realm and established a four-tier system of "capital, prefecture, commandery, and county." The Beiping City God Temple was elevated into the "Chief Temple of the City Gods Under Heaven," renamed the "Great Wiling Shrine," and the City God was granted the title Wiling Gong. Statues of the City Gods of the thirteen provinces were also installed as accompanying deities.

From then on, the City God Temple became the hub of all City God Temples under Heaven. It fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites Mystic Sacrificial Official, while the major Orthodox Xuan Gate sects sent their elite disciples to form the Enforcement Hall and jointly maintain order within the Xuan Gate.

The establishment of the City God Temple also gave rise to many customs.

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