Liu Yanchang turned to look.
Beside the altar on his right stood a handsome scholar with a fair, beardless face.
The scholar wore a moon-white satin robe and waved a gold-flecked folding fan, his features as fine as a painting.
Anger flared inside Liu Yanchang. Someone had exposed his insatiable greed in public-how could he possibly save face?
He rose and glared at the handsome scholar with righteous indignation. "I sincerely offered incense and prayed for the Holy Mother's blessing. What is so laughable about that?"
"Among all the worshippers in this hall, some pray for peace, and others for relief from illness." The handsome scholar closed his fan and tapped it against his palm. "You alone hoped to scoop up everything in one net with three sticks of incense. With such a shrewd head for business, why take the imperial examinations instead of becoming a bookkeeper?"
The surrounding worshippers glanced over, pointing and whispering among themselves.
Liu Yanchang's face flushed purple-red. Stiffening his neck, he retorted, "Utter nonsense! We scholars revere Heaven and follow our ancestors! I spent copper coins on incense and made my offering. Since the gods accepted it, they should naturally do things for me! Since ancient times, courtesy has demanded reciprocity. It is only right and proper!"
The handsome scholar sneered. "By your reasoning, the gods are merely mortal brokers who do whatever they are paid to do?"
"You uncivilized scoundrel!" His sore spot struck, Liu Yanchang pointed at the handsome scholar. "How dare you spout such outrageous nonsense before the Holy Mother! If Her Ladyship has any power, you will be the first she punishes!"
At the edge of the crowd.
Chen Wei and Ma Muzhi had just squeezed through the main hall's entrance.
Both had assumed the appearance of ordinary travelers and mingled with the worshippers.
Noticing the argument ahead, Ma Muzhi nudged Chen Wei with his elbow. "Brother Qingquan, there's a show to watch."
Chen Wei looked over the bobbing heads and fixed his gaze on the two people arguing.
An impoverished scholar and a fair-faced young gentleman.
At first, Chen Wei had no intention of intervening.
Mortal disputes were nothing more than petty clashes of pride over trifles.
Heaven's immortals did not concern themselves with mortal quarrels, and the Immortal Officials of the Bright Hall had even less leisure to adjudicate earthly disputes.
But when Liu Yanchang's words reached his ears, Chen Wei stopped in his tracks.
This was Mount Hua.
The sacred domain of the Third Holy Mother.
The Jade Emperor's own niece and True Lord Erlang's own younger sister.
Here, in the temple of the Jade Emperor's niece, someone was openly likening the gods to brokers who worked for money, and even dared to shout and bluster.
What did that mean?
If he let it pass, naturally, no one would hold him accountable.
But if he stepped forward and sternly rebuked the man, he would be defending a high immortal's good name!
In Heaven, some things did not need to be done before a high immortal's eyes, but the proper stance had to be displayed. What if a Duty Patrol Deity or Sea-Patrolling Yaksha happened by and recorded it, and word later reached those above: Chen Wei, Immortal Official of the Bright Hall, had witnessed a scoundrel insulting the Holy Mother and risen, slamming the table, to defend Heaven's dignity!
What loyalty!
What devotion!
A keen gleam flashed in Chen Wei's eyes. He pushed aside the worshippers watching the spectacle and strode straight toward the incense altar.
Ma Muzhi froze, then hurried after him. "Hey! Brother Qingquan, wait for me!"
Before the incense altar.
Liu Yanchang was still ranting, spittle flying.
Chen Wei strode to the handsome scholar's side and turned to face Liu Yanchang, his gaze cold. "What imposing official authority you wield. Might you be a minister from some government department, or the governor of some province or prefecture?"
Interrupted, Liu Yanchang faltered.
Seeing a young man in blue robes whose handsome looks rivaled his own, he forced himself to answer, "I am Liu Yanchang. I have yet to earn scholarly honors and am merely a commoner..."
"You have yet to earn scholarly honors?"
Chen Wei tapped his folding fan against his palm and sneered. "You haven't even managed to become a sesame-seed-sized ninth-rank official, yet you dare dictate affairs here and order the gods to run your errands? Who gave you such nerve?"
Liu Yanchang flew into a rage. "And who are you? I am debating with him. What business is it of yours?"
Ma Muzhi stepped up to lend his support. "When we see injustice on the road, we draw our blades to help. What, you alone are allowed to spout nonsense, while we aren't allowed to speak up for what is right?"
"Fine! Fine! You are simply scoundrels! A pack of scoundrels!" Liu Yanchang trembled with rage.
"Scoundrels?"
At that, Chen Wei habitually clasped both hands behind his back.
The bearing of an Immortal Official, honed by copying records in the Bright Hall, was far more than a mortal scholar could withstand.
The handsome scholar raised his fan slightly to conceal the lower half of his face, studying Chen Wei with cool, clear eyes.
Just then.
Chen Wei stared at Liu Yanchang, his gaze blazing like a torch. "You keep calling us scoundrels, but I think the true scoundrel is you! If the gods really did as you wished and worked for money, what purpose would the imperial examinations serve? What purpose would years of studying by a cold window serve?"
"Scholars hang their hair from the rafters and stab their thighs with awls to keep themselves awake, burning lamp oil through ten years of arduous study. Why should they surrender their places to an opportunist like you, who knows nothing but kowtowing and burning incense?"
"How is this reverence for the gods?"
"You have plainly come to offer a bribe!"
"And not only are you offering a bribe, you're a miser to boot, hoping to snare a white wolf with empty hands!"
Every word pierced the heart.
Every sentence drew blood.
There were scholars among the onlookers. Hearing this, they nodded in agreement, their gazes filled with contempt as they looked at Liu Yanchang.
Struck where it hurt, Liu Yanchang desperately tried to preserve his dignity. "Utter nonsense! The gods accept incense offerings from mortals, so they ought to dispel mortal calamities and hardships! If they don't bless mortals, what kind of gods are they?"
Arrogant.
Truly arrogant.
This mortal scholar knew neither the height of Heaven nor the depth of the earth. He actually dared, right before a divine statue, to openly question the very reason for the existence of all Heaven's gods and buddhas.
The handsome scholar's eyes turned cold, and his folding fan snapped shut.
Chen Wei's expression did not change. He had read far too many nonsensical memorials in the Bright Hall and had long since developed an airtight line of reasoning for dealing with unreasonable troublemakers.
Before Liu Yanchang could speak, Chen Wei launched straight in. "Absurd! Prick up your ears and listen carefully. Immortals do not become immortal by blessing mortals; they rise above mortals to attain immortality! Cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao means defying Heaven, enduring a thousand tribulations and ten thousand perils, and severing worldly greed. When lightning tribulations strike, no one can take your place; when inner demons turn upon you, you alone must ferry yourself across."
"To live as a person, you must rely on yourself!"
"You cannot even manage being a mortal, yet you dream of having the gods take the imperial examinations for you. What a joke for all the world to laugh at!"
"And another thing!"
"I revere the Third Holy Mother above all. How could I allow you to spout such outrageous nonsense here? I will not permit it!"
As Chen Wei spoke, memories surfaced of his own two hundred years of arduous study by a cold window, of copying scriptures until he wore through his brush shafts.
His speech thundered against Liu Yanchang's eardrums.
Even Ma Muzhi was left stunned, muttering inwardly, Well now, he tacked those last two lines on deliberately, didn't he?
Liu Yanchang shook all over. His lips trembled as he pointed at Chen Wei. "You... you..."
He struggled for a long while, yet could not force out a single word of rebuttal.
How could a mere mortal possibly refute Chen Wei, who had entered the Dao through scholarship?
A paltry scholar-laughable, utterly laughable.
The handsome scholar blinked, then smiled faintly.
The gods and buddhas throughout Heaven mostly enjoyed mortal incense offerings and took them for granted. Even when a deity manifested, they generally remained lofty and aloof, doling out favors.
Yet this lowly Immortal Official before her could declare that immortals were those who had risen above mortals.
Clear-headed.
Perceptive.
And his declaration just now that he revered the Third Holy Mother above all had been as decisive as cutting nails and cleaving iron, without the slightest hesitation.
Indeed, the handsome scholar was none other than Yang Chan, transformed into a mortal.
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