My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 523 City God
Three days later, at the City God Temple halfway up Qiluo Mountain, Chen Mu stood at the entrance of the main hall, surveying the entire temple courtyard.

The ground in front of the gate is neatly paved with bluestone slabs, and a bronze incense burner with three legs and two handles is the first thing that catches the eye.

Three or five pine and cypress trees stand on both sides of the courtyard, behind which is a moon gate leading to two small courtyards on the left and right.

Chen Mu had already explored the area yesterday; the rooms in the courtyard were fully furnished with all sorts of furniture, but there was no sign of human habitation.

After glancing left and right, and then looking up at the cloudless blue sky, Chen Mu walked around the incense burner and went straight to the front door.

Below the gate tower, on the left and right stand two armored generals, one holding a staff and the other a mace, their faces dignified.

Looking out through the open gate, there were no steps or stone paths nearby, nor were there white clouds and green mountains in the distance; instead, there was only a misty expanse.

Chen Mu skillfully channeled the power of the Yin spirits into the statue of the armored general.

The next moment, white mist surged, and a huge, semi-transparent, arc-shaped water curtain appeared in mid-air outside the door.

The light and shadow images on it kept changing, and a City God Temple exactly the same as the one behind it appeared on the water screen.

The difference is that the City God Temple in the picture is bustling with people, men and women of all ages dressed in different clothes, lining up to enter the main hall to burn incense and kowtow, creating a lively scene.

Moreover, as he manipulated his Yin Spirit power, the images constantly shifted, allowing him to observe the entire temple from all directions without any blind spots. He could even get a general view of the surrounding green mountains and the county town at the foot of the mountains by adjusting the zoom level.

Moreover, as the visuals changed, the various noises also changed, giving him a sense of immersion.

"Interesting..." Chen Mu adjusted the screen and watched with great interest.

"It's a pity I can't get out of this temple." After a while, Chen Mu fixed the water screen to an overhead view of the City God Temple, then sat cross-legged on the threshold, gathering information through the water screen while shaking his head and sighing at his predicament.

The water screen displays the actual scenery inside the City God Temple in Luandu County, while the temple he is currently working at is a miniature world created from a miniature version of a thousand miles of courtyards.

After observing for the past few days, Chen Mu has basically confirmed that this hidden paradise is located inside the statue of the City God Temple in Luandu County.

He made many attempts, but no matter whether he flew into the sky or burrowed underground, he could not escape the small cave of the divine statue.

The surrounding area is protected by a barrier similar to that of the Thousand Lanterns City, and the boundary seems to be right in front of you, but in reality, you can never touch it.

"Are you really going to guard this City God Temple here for a hundred years?"

Just thinking about the monotonous life he would lead in prison made Chen Mu scratch his head.

"No wonder no one wants to do the work of a living god."

Previously, at the Gates of Hell at the Bridge of Helplessness, he was pulled away from Le Dian by a special force and ended up at the City God Temple on Qiluo Mountain in Luandu County without even realizing it.

The temple here was newly built, and there was no living deity residing inside the statue. He brought the Conferment of Gods Contract here. Even though the contract's energy was mostly concealed, it was still discovered by the temple's restrictions and forcibly pulled into the statue, becoming a living deity.

"Where did those seven pulling forces come from?"

"Was it Qian Huan who did this?"

"Is it that cyber-Meng Po causing trouble again?" Chen Mu frowned, deep in thought.

He would always recall the gaze that Lord Meng had cast upon him before he left the Underworld.

"Did they discover that I knew the secret of the origin of the spirits? So they deliberately trapped me here?"

"Or is it simply that the substitution trick slipped open and was punished by being sent to guard the City God Temple for a hundred years?"

"I can't figure it out..." For the past three days, he has been constantly recalling his past experiences, hoping to find some clues, but unfortunately he has not been able to find any.

"I don't know exactly where Luandu County is. Although it has some spiritual energy, it is quite thin and cannot support the cultivation of Qi and immortality at all."

"If we really wait a hundred years to break free from the statue and then seek out the earth's spiritual energy to refine our divine aperture, it'll be too late." Chen Mu couldn't help but shake his head: "We can only try to see if the scripture in the main hall is useful."

……

The Divine Image Cave and the City God's Main Hall.

A jade statue of a deity, dressed in a wide robe and long sleeves, with a tall crown and wide belt, sat high in the middle of the main hall. Its facial features bore a five or six-point resemblance to Chen Mu, and its expression was solemn and quite majestic.

In front of the statue is a long incense table with a bronze incense burner in the middle. The burner is empty, but wisps of smoke rise continuously from it.

A faint fragrance filled the air, and with just a gentle sniff, Chen Mu felt a sense of comfort, his previously slightly melancholy mood quickly calming and becoming peaceful. "They really went to great lengths to ensure that the living god could sit in prison in peace."

"The main hall is equipped with special incense for calming the mind and soothing the nerves, and there's a full-screen home theater at the entrance. Tsk! Interesting..." Chen Mu thought with a smile, turning his head to look at both sides of the main hall.

Eight stone tablets, each as tall as a person, are arranged on either side of the main hall, with a profound scripture inscribed on them.

In the past few days, he has carefully compared the inner and outer City God Temples through the water curtain in front of the gate.

The courtyard layout, house structure, table and chair arrangement, etc. are all exactly the same, except for the scriptures on the stone tablet in the main hall.

The stone tablet outside is inscribed with an excerpt from the "Root Source Sutra", but the stone tablet inside the Divine Image Cave is inscribed with the "Lingbao Pivot Chapter".

The Root Scripture was a widely circulated scripture that he had seen in the remote border region of Daliang, and had even earned a considerable amount of copper coins by copying it. However, he had never heard of or seen the Lingbao Pivot Chapter.

"I'm afraid there might be some kind of landmine buried here," Chen Mu said hesitantly, standing in front of the stone tablet.

He himself created the Eastern Longevity Scripture, which allows people to guide the Heavenly Demon Spirit Seed, so he was quite wary of these scriptures of unknown origin.

"Forget it, I'll give it a try anyway. I don't want to spend a hundred years in jail."

He guessed that this scripture was probably standard for living gods, so even if there were problems, they shouldn't be too serious.

Moreover, he hadn't been idle for the past three days. Although he hadn't dared to recite the entire text, he had studied most of the scriptures on the first stone tablet.

Although no new entries appeared on the gray wall, it provided some subtle feedback, but Chen Mu did not perceive any danger from it.

"Practice."

……

Half a month later, the Divine Image Cave Heaven appeared.

On the east side of the City God Temple courtyard, a round stone table has been added under two cypress trees, and a brand-new rocking chair is placed next to it. Chen Mu is lying in it at this moment.

His lips moved, and rhythmic chanting surrounded him.

After a long while, Chen Mu raised an eyebrow and suddenly opened his eyes.

A gray wall appeared before my eyes, and a brand new entry appeared.

Lingbao Cardinal Chapter: 2/10000/First Order;
A series of insights surfaced in Chen Mu's mind, and a flash of joy appeared on his face.

"It's done!"

With a thought, the Yin Spirit's divine power trembled along a special trajectory, and the person suddenly fell backward, their breath instantly becoming calm and weak, as if they had fallen into a deep sleep.

At the same time, Chen Mu's figure suddenly appeared in the main hall of the City God Temple in Luandu County.

At this moment, he was dressed in a loose gray robe, bald on top, with two silver lines shining brightly between his eyebrows, and his face looked like that of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy.

"The Spirit Treasure Pivot Chapter can allow the Heavenly Demon's true form to leave the Divine Image Cave Heaven?" Chen Mu was overjoyed.

"No, that's not right. It should just be a projection, allowing only divine sense to roam around it."

He noticed that the people burning incense and kowtowing inside the hall did not react to his appearance.

Some people even passed right through his body, as if he were just an invisible shadow.

"What's this? Are they afraid that gods in the mortal world will get bored and lonely, so they specially allow divine thoughts to come out and have some fresh air?"

"Why does it feel like this living god is increasingly like someone in prison?" Chen Mu said, both amused and exasperated.

"Well, it's better than being trapped inside the statue. At least it's opened a crack in the statue's restraints."

"If one's mastery of the Lingbao Cardinal Chapter is profound enough, it's hard to guarantee that one won't be able to completely break free from the Divine Image Cave Heaven." Chen Mu looked at the new entries on the gray wall in front of him, quite confident.

"I don't want to think about it anymore. Let's go to Luandu County at the foot of the mountain first."

(End of this chapter)