Backing a Cold Stove!

Jiangcheng No. 3 High School was just letting out for the weekend.

Students streamed through the school gates.

Amid the crowd, Lu Chen looked around, somewhat bewildered and wary. He muttered to himself:

"Unbelievable! One second, I was lighting incense and praying at a temple. The next, I'd transmigrated here?

"And this was a world where everyone worshipped gods? As long as you offered Incense Fire, you could commune with the gods and receive their blessings?

"Who knew life could be this good!"

As the memories flooded in, Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

In his previous life, he'd been a young Daoist priest at Clear Breeze Temple. Prayers and worship had been part of his daily routine.

Daoist rituals had been his specialty, too.

From the memories, he learned that the profession of Daoist priest didn't even exist in this parallel world.

Did that mean he'd started with a built-in advantage?!

As he was muttering to himself, someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

"Lu Chen, what are you doing?"

He turned around.

A beautiful girl with delicate features and striking looks had appeared behind him at some point. She smiled at him.

It was Li Ruoyi.

She was his classmate, and the acknowledged school beauty of Jiangcheng No. 3 High School.

They got along fairly well.

But the school beauty had come up to him right off the bat?

Lu Chen tensed up. He had a vague sense of déjà vu, like he'd stumbled into some clichéd drama.

Sure enough, just as he'd expected, something was about to happen...

"Ruoyi, what are you doing?"

Before Lu Chen could say a word, an annoying voice rang out beside them.

A blond guy with an arrogant swagger had already walked over.

It was Song Hao.

Li Ruoyi's devoted admirer—and Lu Chen's classmate.

"Nothing. I just saw Lu Chen standing here spacing out, so I got curious and asked him what was up."

Li Ruoyi's smile faded a little.

Song Hao gave Lu Chen a once-over, about to make a snide remark.

Lu Chen beat him to it. "What are you staring at, your dad?"

Song Hao's eyes widened in disbelief. "You little punk, did you just insult me?"

Lu Chen couldn't be bothered to waste words. He rolled up his sleeves and took a step forward.

Daoists believed in clearing their minds and following their convictions. If you could settle things with your fists, there was no need to argue.

Song Hao was startled by Lu Chen's posture and instinctively took a step back. "Y-you, what are you doing?"

Lu Chen clenched his fist until it was rock-hard. "What do you think?"

Li Ruoyi hurried to intervene. "All right, all right, stop arguing. Lu Chen, what's wrong? Are you in a bad mood today?"

Lu Chen's reply was cold. "No. I've just been sick of him for ages. I feel like beating him up!"

Song Hao stuck out his chin. "Lu, are you crazy? I haven't even done anything to you."

"I'll beat you up even if you haven't!"

"Huh?!"

"Both of you, enough." Li Ruoyi changed the subject. "Lu, are you going to the God Temple? If you are, why don't we go together?"

A God Temple was a place where people worshipped deities.

Lu Chen had been planning to visit a God Temple and see how things worked.

But when he saw Song Hao standing nearby, his enthusiasm immediately evaporated.

"Forget it. You go ahead."

"Ruoyi, if he's not going, I'll go with you. Take my car and we can head over together."

As soon as Song Hao heard that the girl of his dreams was going to the God Temple, he proudly showed off the car key clipped to his waist.

Li Ruoyi ignored Song Hao and looked at Lu Chen with concern instead. "Lu Chen, the Divine Service Rating competition is coming up soon. If you don't get a move on, I'm afraid..."

Divine Service Rating?

The relevant memories surfaced in his mind.

Put simply, it was an important measure of the connection between a Spirit Cultivator and a deity.

The higher the Divine Service Rating, the greater the chance of receiving a blessing—and the closer one's relationship with the deity.

In this world where everyone worshipped gods, a Divine Service Rating was undoubtedly the most valuable "diploma."

Once it reached a certain level, you could live comfortably and even become rich and powerful.

The major clans would all treat you as an honored guest.

Of course, that was assuming the deity's abilities weren't completely useless.

So far, Lu Chen's original self had worshipped just one deity: Emperor Wenchang.

His Divine Service Rating was a mere 0.5%.

In theory, he'd need to pray two hundred times to succeed once.

Of course, that was just the theoretical probability. In practice, it was extremely difficult to achieve.

And in his class, that score was already at the very bottom.

"Thanks for your concern, Li. I'll work hard on my Divine Service Rating. If you're going to the God Temple, you should get going."

Lu Chen thanked her for the offer.

Li Ruoyi was about to say more.

Song Hao urged her from the side. "Come on, Ruoyi. The guy obviously doesn't have any money. Don't make him do something he can't afford."

Noticing Lu Chen's gaze, Song Hao puffed out his chest and said defiantly, "You can glare at me all you want. Was I wrong? Even one stick of the cheapest incense costs a hundred yuan. How many sticks can you afford to burn in a month?"

Lu Chen's expression darkened, but he had no rebuttal.

Compared with Song Hao and Li Ruoyi's families, his family was indeed worse off.

Seeing Lu Chen's embarrassment, Li Ruoyi quickly dragged Song Hao away. "All right, all right, you can take me to the God Temple. Lu Chen, see you next week!"

"Sure. See you!"

Lu Chen waved.

"Oh, right, Ruoyi! Which deity are you going to worship?"

"Emperor Wenchang. I'm planning to raise my Divine Service Rating to 3% today."

"How much money did you bring for Incense Fire?"

"Five thousand."

"Five thousand? That might actually be enough!"

Their voices gradually faded into the distance.

Lu Chen quietly unclenched his other hand, which he'd been holding in a tight fist.

Song Hao was right. Lu Chen really was short on cash.

In essence, a Divine Service Rating was a measure of how much you'd paid.

The more you spent, the higher your rating—and the better your odds of "winning a draw."

The trouble was, Incense Fire wasn't cheap. Even the cheapest incense cost a hundred yuan per stick.

The most expensive merit incense was practically priceless.

Lu Chen sighed and pulled the last hundred yuan from his pocket.

"Just enough for one stick of incense. Looks like I'll have to walk to the God Temple."

"The nearest God Temple to the school is a forty-minute walk."

"By the time I get there, Li Ruoyi and Song Hao will probably have spent their money and left."

Without another thought,

Lu Chen set off for the God Temple.

On the way, Lu Chen mulled over which deity to spend his hundred yuan on.

Emperor Wenchang was one of the most widely worshipped deities because he governed academic success.

Anyone seeking blessings related to studying could worship him.

That made him one of the most popular deities among students, too!

But for now, Lu Chen felt that he could put studying on the back burner. It wasn't urgent.

He had a more pressing need!

Money!

"His family was so poor they couldn't even afford meat. Wouldn't praying for wealth be more practical than praying for academic success?"

Rubbing his empty stomach, Lu Chen decided to spend the hundred yuan worshipping the Wealth God.

He'd first see whether the knowledge he'd gained in his previous life could be put to use here.

If it could, Lu Chen desperately hoped he'd receive a windfall so he could buy some meat!

After all, his original self hadn't eaten meat for a month. He was already suffering from malnutrition.

Forty minutes later,

Lu Chen arrived at the God Temple, panting.

He looked up. Four golden characters on the signboard caught his eye: Zhao Clan Temple.

"I can't believe the God Temples in this world are privately controlled by the major clans. Even if they have no other businesses, these clans can make a fortune every year just from Incense Fire."

Lu Chen couldn't help feeling envious. "If I could have a God Temple of my own someday, I'd really be set for life."

Even at this hour, with school just letting out, worshippers continued to stream into the temple.

It was even busier than a shopping mall.

Everywhere he looked, some people were happy while others were miserable.

Some were even sitting at the entrance, crying and beating themselves up over how much money they'd spent.

Lu Chen shook his head and sighed. "It looks like a God Temple, but really, it's just a gigantic casino."

Just then, a conversation reached his ears and caught his attention.

"Man, this Wealth God is hard to get through to. I've burned incense hundreds of times, and my Divine Service Rating has already reached 2%, but I still haven't gotten a single response."

"You're only at 2%. What are you whining about? I'm at 3%, and I burned incense five hundred times today, but I still got nothing."

"What! You burned incense five hundred times in one day and still got nothing? How much did you spend on Incense Fire?"

"Close to fifty thousand! Ten of those were even premium incense!"

"Holy crap, fifty thousand?! That's brutal! And you still got nothing? That's rough."

"Yeah, I guess the Wealth God's got more money than sense and doesn't need our piddling offerings. Come on, let's go."

Listening to the two disappointed worshippers nearby,

Lu Chen stood there, frowning slightly.

"Five hundred tries and not a single hit? Doesn't that mean my hundred yuan will be like throwing a meat bun to a dog—gone for good?"

It made sense.

The Wealth God was also one of the most widely worshipped deities in this world.

Fifty thousand yuan might sound like a lot.

But compared with what the truly wealthy could afford,

fifty thousand was a drop in the bucket.

The major clans probably offered tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, every day.

Compare the two. If you were the Wealth God, which worshipper would you favor?

The answer was obvious.

"So having a lot of Incense Fire isn't always a good thing. With my measly stick of incense, expecting to succeed on the first try is just a pipe dream."

For a moment, Lu Chen hesitated.

He knew the hundred yuan was only for a test.

But if he was honest, he still hoped to hit the mark in one go.

After all, given his family's circumstances, Lu Chen really didn't have much money to waste.

"Wait!"

Just then, an idea suddenly popped into Lu Chen's mind.

"If the great deities are already drowning in Incense Fire and don't need more offerings, why am I fixating on them? Why not... try backing a cold stove?"