Chapter 502: Chapter 10 Looking for Tea
Let’s not talk about how Gao Qing and Bai Gan were competing or showing off their physiques behind the scenes; the High Priest and Lin Yu had already quickly returned to the Divine Temple.
The Divine Temple was situated at the center of the Eighteen Fortresses, which, like stars surrounding the moon, guarded the temple.
The geographical location was indeed as such, yet nowadays the Divine Temple and the High Priest no longer held such an advantageous position.
Compared to the prosperity of other fortresses, the Divine Temple would only become lively during important festivals of the Southern Border, when delegates from other fortresses came to visit and convened under the High Priest’s leadership for sacrificial activities.
At other times, the Divine Temple was very quiet, with only the High Priest and a few witches serving both the High Priest and the Divine Spirits.
This pattern was really identical to that of the Northern Prairie.
Even though the Divine Temple was quiet, in terms of architecture, it was still the most luxurious on this side, after all, it used to be glorious, and now it is also the venue for conducting sacrificial activities; if this place were not well built, the events could not proceed.
Lin Yun was still playing the role of a curious baby. Upon arriving at the Divine Temple, as soon as he landed, he asked, "Excuse me, High Priest, which Divine Spirit do you worship?"
The High Priest did not avoid answering this question, nor did he promote the might and glory of the Divine Spirit like a fervent believer, but simply said, "The Divine Spirit we worship is called Nu Luo. Nu Luo is the ancestor of all people in the Southern Border. She taught people how to rear gu and concoct poisons, identify medicinal herbs, breed Spirit Beasts as livestock, and after her death became a God, worshipped by generations of descendants."
From the emotionless voice of the High Priest, Lin Yun nevertheless gleaned a lot of information.
The most significant was the concept of humans becoming Gods—this was the first time Lin Yun had heard of such a concept in this world.
Previous assertions were that Gods were Gods, and humans were humans; the two were not of the same kind, and there was no talk of humans becoming Gods.
Lin Yun had encountered the concept of acceptance of worship leading to godhood in novels he read before, the earliest being in "Journey to the West," where the Bodhi Patriarch spoke of the Four Great Methods of Movement and Stillness, including becoming a God through worship, and after the proliferation of web novels, Lin Yun had read about countless instances of becoming a God through the power of incense and worship.
But what the High Priest spoke of was becoming a God and then receiving the incense worship, not becoming a God by receiving incense worship.
"How did Nu Luo become a God? Are there any records?"
"I do not know of that. If you could return to tens of thousands of years ago, perhaps you could ask Nu Luo herself," replied the High Priest.
The High Priest called the Divine Spirit by name without any hesitation, and Lin Yun just laughed and said, "Time reversal seems like something not even Gods can do. If I had the ability to reverse time, I probably would have become a God already."
Lin Yun was just casually complaining; after all, reversing time is the dream of many people, whether ordinary folks or cultivators.
In one’s life, there are always some regrettable things that happen, and thus, many wish to return to a certain point in time and start over.
If one could truly reverse time, that God would indeed be invincible.
The High Priest didn’t pay much mind to Lin Yun’s lighthearted conversation and led him into the Divine Temple.
Inside the main hall of the Divine Temple stood ten witches, five on the left wearing black clothes and five on the right wearing white clothes, the ones on the left short, while those on the right were tall.
This unique combination of clothing style and height arrangement felt extremely odd.
The witches all wore veils over their faces and stood still, like statues. Had it not been for the light in their eyes, Lin Yun would have doubted whether they were just ten finely carved wooden figures.
If that were the case, I’d want one too.
Walking further into the main hall of the Divine Temple, one would see the statue of the Divine Spirit. This wasn’t Lin Yun’s first time seeing a statue of a Divine Spirit. The statues of Qing Nu, Impermanence, Qian Qian, they all had their own unique features.
Qing Nu was particularly beautiful, Impermanence was particularly eerie, Qian Qian was particularly frightening, and this Nu Luo, one could only say was particularly ordinary.
Her attire didn’t differ much from the current young girls of the Southern Border, and while her statue’s visage was pretty, it was a common kind of pretty, without any particularly captivating aspects.
The pose of Nu Luo featured her left hand holding a bamboo basket, and her right hand grasping a medicinal herb, this statue presented the civilizing achievements of Nu Luo.
Lin Yu made a bow as a sign of respect, she didn’t worship this Divine Spirit, but upon entering another’s Divine Temple, it was only polite to offer a greeting.
Lin Yu had also learned her lesson, last time at the Dragon King Temple she offered her prayers, only to cause the temple to split apart, it might have been because her White Tiger Destiny was too noble for the Dragon King to withstand. Unsure if this minor deity of the Southern Border could bear it, Lin Yu could only give a token nod.
Lin Yun followed suit, and fortunately, nothing special occurred.
Although this statue was worshipped by the people of the Southern Border, perhaps because the High Priest’s authority had faded over the years and the devotion of the faithful was no longer pure, Lin Yun did not feel any special power emanating from the statue.
Without comparison, there was no feeling of loss, but having seen other gods’ statues, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for Nu Luo.
Was it because Nu Luo became a god from being human?
Carrying this doubt, Lin Yun followed the High Priest out of the Divine Temple and into the backyard.
There was a quiet corridor here, with bamboo railings, the environment was actually quite nice.
After inviting both guests to sit down, the High Priest finally commanded, "Serve tea."
The witch maids who had followed brought the tea set in sync, placing the cups as if they were mechanical puppets.
Lin Yun picked up the small cup and toyed with it for a while before suddenly asking, "Has the High Priest ever been to the Central Plains?"
This question caused the High Priest to pause for a few seconds before answering, "I have, what about it?"
"Nothing much, I’m just a bit surprised, Southern Border isn’t usually accustomed to drinking tea. I suppose the High Priest must have visited the Central Plains and is quite familiar with its culture, right?"
"You are correct, I do admire the culture of the Central Plains, which is why I built this gazebo and acquired some tea sets, suitable for entertaining guests from the Central Plains."
The High Priest’s reply was very appropriate, revealing no flaws, but Lin Yun’s suspicions were not allayed.
At that time, a tall witch in white poured a cup of tea for Lin Yun.
Lin Yun felt she looked familiar but couldn’t quite place her.
All that was visible were a pair of eyes, which seemed numb, possibly due to some strange secretive practice the witches underwent.
Not wanting to cause trouble, Lin Yun watched the witch walk away with the tray before finally taking a sip from his cup.
It was at this moment that he felt his index finger grow slightly hot.
Lin Yun tapped his index finger against the cup, producing a dull sound.
Both the High Priest and Lin Yu turned their attention to Lin Yun; tapping his cup while having tea was like tapping his bowl while eating—both were very impolite actions.
"Is there something the guest finds unsatisfactory about the tea?"
"Not at all, I just hadn’t seen any tea leaves and thought to look for them in the cup."
High Priest: "..."
No tea leaves yet you insist on searching, good fellow, are you picking a fight?
