With the System's help, he had now completely mastered the essentials of divine cultivation.
Next, he had to establish a connection with his own statue in the temple.
The process was rather mysterious, a little like connecting to Wi-Fi in his previous life.
Lin Xiaoyao was trying it for the first time, yet he handled it with ease and showed no signs of unfamiliarity. Perhaps it was because he had attained the Sage realm.
About three thousand li west of Feathering Sect's main headquarters stood a small city called Sui County.
Sui County wasn't large, but it occupied a strategic location.
Jingyang Ridge, within its borders, was especially famous.
About two years ago, a tiger demon had run rampant, wreaking havoc among the people.
At the critical moment, an immortal sword came hurtling down from the Ninth Heaven and slew it.
Hundreds of people in the county had witnessed the scene with their own eyes.
Naturally, they were deeply grateful to the master of that immortal sword.
Later, a wealthy local family donated money to build a temple for the immortal, with the government lending its full support.
Ever since the temple was completed, worshippers had streamed in without end. The people of Sui County, passing merchants, and mountain hunters all eagerly came to pay their respects.
They said the temple was extraordinarily efficacious.
At this moment, after connecting through Wi-Fi... ahem, through the statue in the temple, Lin Xiaoyao took in the whole scene.
The temple stood at the foot of the small mountain known as Jingyang Ridge.
The tiger demon had been slain. Though it wasn't the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, the weather was fine, and an unexpectedly large number of people had come to offer incense.
Outside the temple gates, there were even more stalls selling incense, candles, joss paper, and all manner of good-luck charms. The vendors hawked their wares to the worshippers, filling the air with a constant din and making the place even livelier.
Lin Xiaoyao paid it no mind.
He was curious about what people would ask of him.
It seemed rather amusing.
Lin Xiaoyao quieted his mind and listened.
But he hadn't listened for long before the smug smile froze on his face.
A little while later, his expression darkened further and further.
It wasn't that Lin Xiaoyao couldn't help feeling speechless.
The things the worshippers were asking for were simply too bizarre.
It was perfectly normal to pray for peace at home.
Praying for the elders in one's family to live to a hundred was also quite reasonable.
Even scholars about to sit their exams came here to pray for good results and a place on the list of successful candidates.
He could understand that, too.
Though he certainly wouldn't grant their wishes.
Hmph, as if! Before he'd crossed over, he'd crammed and memorized like mad before every exam. And this guy thought he could just come to a temple, burn a stick of incense, and get good grades?
Where in the world did such a good thing exist?
Though it was wishful thinking, at least that kind of prayer was normal.
But then some people's wishes really left Lin Xiaoyao at a loss for words.
For example, one middle-aged woman—no, more like an auntie—had come to ask him to bless her with thirty years of youth.
Lin Xiaoyao: "???"
Fine, his System Space did have pills like that. But they weren't even related, and she'd burned a stick of incense and come asking for such a wish. Wasn't that a bit much?
Did she take him for a fool or a sucker?
What left Lin Xiaoyao the most speechless was a broad-browed, big-eyed fellow who came to pray. He said he'd been on several matchmaking dates, but every woman had rejected him because his feet stank.
He wanted Lin Xiaoyao to cure him.
Lin Xiaoyao: "..."
Lin Xiaoyao had been furious on the spot. He'd nearly lost control and struck the man dead with a bolt of heavenly lightning.
That was really too much.
Quite a few people had also come to pray for children.
Lin Xiaoyao could only laugh and cry.
His curiosity had long since vanished, and he'd grown listless again.
He was about to sever the connection and ignore the lot of them.
But just then, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he stopped himself from breaking the connection with the statue.
There was no other reason.
Lin Xiaoyao had noticed an elderly man among the worshippers.
The old man wore a square headscarf and a pale blue robe. His beard and hair were long, his steps steady, and his spirits vigorous.
At a glance, he seemed to be over seventy, though he also looked as if he might be only a little past sixty.
His bearing was even more unusual. He seemed refined and scholarly, yet there was also an indescribable aura of authority about him.
He clearly ought to have been a figure who stood apart from the world, but he was hidden among the worshippers and drew no attention at all.
This wasn't some ordinary concealment technique. It carried a hint of the Dao's natural way.
Unfortunately, he might have been able to fool other people.
But here, before Lin Xiaoyao, he was merely showing off before an expert.
This was a Mahayana demon king.
Lin Xiaoyao was a little surprised. He had crossed over into this world more than ten years ago, but had stayed cooped up in his sect and never provoked any of the powerful figures outside. This was the first time he had ever seen a Mahayana-level being.
And it was a great demon, no less!
With cultivation so profound, it was no wonder he dared to come to Lin Xiaoyao's temple.
But what was his purpose?
Lin Xiaoyao was quite curious.
Was he here to provoke him, or to take revenge?
After all, quite a few demons had died at the hands of the Locust Wood Immortal Sword during the upheaval two years ago.
Lin Xiaoyao was curious.
But he wasn't afraid.
For one thing, although this was his temple, even the statue's appearance had been sculpted by the people according to their own imaginations.
It was a far cry from what he really looked like.
So he was perfectly concealed behind the scenes.
What could this old geezer do about it?
Besides, though a Mahayana demon king could shake an entire region and put all of Feathering Sect on high alert, he was nothing impressive to Lin Xiaoyao.
Confident of his advantage, Lin Xiaoyao didn't hurry to sever the connection with the statue.
Instead, he calmly waited there, watching from behind the scenes to see what the other party intended to do.
The old man followed the worshippers to the statue.
To Lin Xiaoyao's surprise, he didn't do anything disrespectful. He cupped his hands politely and offered a stick of incense.
"This..."
Lin Xiaoyao was taken aback.
Could it be that the old man had no hostile intent, and Lin Xiaoyao had simply been overthinking things?
But that thought had barely surfaced when the incense was offered.
He saw an incredibly pure, astonishingly powerful demonic aura rise in wisps along with the smoke from the incense.
Then, that demonic aura formed a faint, mysterious connection with the energy of the entire temple.
"Hmph, so he's testing me."
Lin Xiaoyao laughed in spite of himself.
As a Mahayana demon king, the old man's bow would be more than an ordinary mountain spirit or water monster could withstand. Even an earth god or City God appointed by the Heavenly Court would be unable to bear it.
At best, it would shorten their lives. At worst, their souls would scatter and vanish.
Actually, Lin Xiaoyao was a Sage, so the consequences of his bow would be even more outrageous.
Throughout the world, no one could withstand a single courtesy from him.
But Lin Xiaoyao had always been careful about that.
A Sage commanded the laws of heaven and earth. His bow could overwhelm someone, but if he wished, he could also let the recipient feel nothing at all, without the slightest effect.
To use an inapt analogy, it was all a matter of using the power with perfect subtlety. That was exactly the idea.
Everything would go according to his will!
But the Mahayana demon king's stick of incense and bow were plainly ill-intentioned.
To put it bluntly, he was provoking and testing Lin Xiaoyao, only in a subtler, less aggressive way.
Before you continue