On the eighth day of the eighth month in the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, the Temple of Dao Xuan Tianzun was officially completed.
In truth, construction had wrapped up two days earlier. But Shan Shi'er, Mrs. Shan, Gao Yiye, and the Village Chief had gotten together and decided that August 8 was an auspicious day for the grand opening. So, despite the temple already being finished, they pretended it wasn't and dragged things out until the eighth.
When the big day finally arrived, more than a hundred villagers dressed in clean clothes and lined up in neat rows, looking like several classes of students gathered for a flag-raising ceremony.
Once again, Gao Yiye took center stage. She knelt before the "Dao Xuan Tianzun Cave," sweating in her unbearably hot white robe, her face covered in heavy makeup.
It was obviously a temple, yet for some reason, they insisted on calling it a cave.
Whatever its name, the Dao Xuan Tianzun Cave was unquestionably the most luxurious and impressive building in Gaojia Village. It even had a proper foundation. The lower half was built from beautiful stones, while the upper half featured finely crafted woodwork.
The modern paint supplied by Li Daoxuan made the whole structure bright, glossy, and eye-catching. In fact, it stood out so much that if someone put it on a battlefield, enemy archers would probably make it their favorite target.
Inside stood a lifelike statue of Dao Xuan Tianzun. Apart from being thirty-two percent more handsome and three hundred and twenty percent more majestic than the real deal, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Watching the temple from outside the box, Li Daoxuan was sorely tempted to reach inside, dig the whole thing out, and take it to Cai Xinzhi to see how much he could sell it for.
But then he saw the little people gazing up at the statue with such reverence.
Forget it. He should at least try to be a decent human being.
Gao Yiye began reciting the prayers. She had stumbled through them the last time, but now her delivery was much smoother. Recently, she had been learning to read and write under Mrs. Shan's guidance, and she had been memorizing the prayers every day. She still was not completely fluent, but at least she no longer made any serious mistakes.
When she finished, Gao Yiye raised her hand.
"Ring the bell!"
Beside her, Gao Chuwu lifted a heavy mallet and struck.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The bell rang out in long, melodious waves, its deep resonance carrying a faintly sacred quality.
It seemed Li Da and Gao Yiyi, the village's two blacksmiths, had managed to forge a pretty decent bell after all.
Li Daoxuan could not help chuckling to himself.
I told you to make iron armor. More than half a month has passed, and I have not seen a single piece. Yet somehow, you have found the time to make a fine bell.
He finally understood just how big the gap could be between the people giving orders and the people carrying them out. He could watch the box every single day, but unless he specifically kept an eye on those two blacksmiths, their priorities could wander off in a completely different direction from what he had intended.
With the ceremony over, the Dao Xuan Tianzun Cave was officially open for business.
The villagers began entering one by one. Each knelt before the statue, knocked their foreheads against the ground with a series of loud thumps, and then made a wish.
Li Daoxuan brought a magnifying glass up to the window and peered inside.
One villager knelt before the statue and kowtowed five times.
"Please bless us, Tianzun. May next year bring favorable weather and a bountiful harvest!"
Li Daoxuan thought to himself. I was going to make that happen anyway. I am supplying you with water every day. The rest of the world could be dying of drought, and Gaojia Village would still have water.
Feeling a little mischievous, he turned to Gao Yiye.
"Yiye, tell him his wish has been granted."
Standing beside the statue, Gao Yiye immediately straightened up and put on a solemn expression.
"Rise. Tianzun has granted the wish you just made."
The villager froze.
"Really? He really granted it?"
"Tianzun personally granted your wish just now," Gao Yiye assured him.
The villager practically exploded with joy and bolted toward the exit. But after taking just two steps, he suddenly realized he had forgotten his manners. Cold sweat broke out across his forehead as he hurried back, dropped to his knees, and kowtowed several more times before the sacred statue.
Only then did he dash outside again, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Tianzun granted my wish! We can plant crops next year! Hahaha! He really granted it! Three years of drought! Three whole years! Do you have any idea how I have managed to survive these past three years? Hahaha! We can finally plant crops again next year!"
Mrs. Shan stepped in and grabbed him before he could get carried away any further.
"If you really manage to plant crops and harvest them next year, do not you dare forget to fulfill your vow!"
The villager nodded furiously.
"Of course! I would not dream of forgetting!"
Seeing how things had turned out, the other villagers grew even more excited. They lined up eagerly, waiting for their own turns to kowtow and make wishes.
"Please bless my family's fields, Tianzun! Let us harvest a few extra dou of grain next year compared with an ordinary year!"
Li Daoxuan barely had to think about it.
That is easy enough. I will just arrange some fertilizer for you.
"Yiye, tell him it is granted."
Gao Yiye delivered the message in her most solemn, official-sounding voice.
The villager stood frozen for a moment before bursting with joy. After kowtowing, he rushed out into the village and started laughing like a madman.
"Hahaha! Wonderful! It is granted! My wish has been granted too! Hahaha!"
The next person in line turned out to be Shan Shi'er.
To everyone's surprise, the fellow had joined the queue just like everyone else. He knelt properly before the statue and kowtowed with an expression of absolute sincerity.
"Please bless me too, Tianzun. I would like that thing down there to grow a little bigger and last a little longer. From now on, may I be as vigorous as a dragon and as fierce as a tiger!"
Li Daoxuan nearly lost it.
"What the hell! Tell him to get out of here right now!"
Gao Yiye froze for a moment, clearly unsure how to handle the situation. Then she turned awkwardly toward Shan Shi'er.
"Tianzun is angry. He says you need to leave. Right now."
Shan Shi'er immediately covered his head with his hands and scurried away as fast as his legs could carry him.
For a while, the whole village, more than a hundred people, with Li Daoxuan watching from outside the box, had been having the time of their lives playing house.
Then, without warning, everything changed.
The two sentries stationed on the wall began pounding on the large bamboo tubes hanging by the gate.
THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!
The hollow noise echoed through the village, followed by their frantic shouts.
"Someone is coming! There is someone outside! A whole crowd is coming this way!"
The moment the alarm sounded, the villagers rushed toward the wall.
Li Daoxuan had been enjoying himself, teasing the villagers and playing along with their prayers. But at the commotion, he straightened up and turned his attention to the area beyond the village.
And that was when things got interesting.
His field of vision covered only five hundred meters by three hundred meters, just enough to take in Gaojia Village and the surrounding ring of farmland. The villagers standing on the wall, however, could see several li into the distance.
So while the sentries were already sounding the alarm, Li Daoxuan still could not see a single person entering his field of view.
"Damn it! What a pain!"
He cursed again, glaring at the limits of his vision.
"How the hell am I supposed to expand this stupid field of view?"
Meanwhile, the village was descending into chaos.
Without any proper organization, the villagers were little more than a scattered crowd. Faced with an unexpected threat, nobody seemed to have the slightest idea what to do.
Fortunately, Shan Shi'er had recovered remarkably quickly from his humiliating retreat. The moment trouble appeared, he sprang back into action.
He scrambled up onto the wall, took one look at the distant figures, and immediately began barking orders.
"Anyone with a weapon, grab it! If you do not have one, get a pot lid, a broom, a mop, a sickle, a hoe, anything you can use! I do not care what you have got, just get up on the wall!"
Until then, the villagers had been running around like headless chickens. But the instant someone took charge, they obeyed without a second thought.
They did not even stop to ask who was giving the orders. They simply grabbed whatever they could find that might pass for a weapon and hurried up onto the wall.