Working: Start by earning the boss a hundred million!

Chapter 37 Dragon Trapped in Shallows
Since the merchant remained silent, Cheng Mai decided not to embarrass himself by discussing the matter further.

Cheng Mai still had questions about Kang Zhenglian.

"Is it really impossible for that Scholar Kang to be reincarnated?" If what Shang Xingjian said is true, Scholar Kang was a good official who served the country and the people in his two previous lives, so he should be rewarded.

"A stray dog ​​carrying a corpse leaves the remains incomplete, preventing reincarnation. That's the rule," Shang Xingjian reminded her.

It's the same principle as those soldiers whose bodies were never recovered on the battlefield.

However, Kang Zhenglian's head was carried away by himself in the form of a wild dog, and no one knows where it was taken.

"He doesn't want to enter the cycle of reincarnation."

Cheng Mai looked at Shang Xingjian, "Why?"

"He did not kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of him."

"I suppose this is just the stubborn pride of scholars," Shang Xingjian replied casually.

Cheng Mai's lips twitched; that boss really didn't care about saving face.

The two did not return to the hotel, but instead went to Xuantian Temple.

Because of the news, there were very few worshippers at Xuantian Temple today, and even the pungent smell of incense inside was less intense.

The young Taoist priests were all dejected, their former enthusiasm long gone.

Cheng Mai went in to offer incense. A lazy little Taoist priest handed her a stick of incense. She didn't even lift her eyelids, looking like she was too sleepy.

I was in a meeting with the abbot all night yesterday, how could I not be sleepy?

Moreover, this statue was something they found on short notice. The statue of Xuanhe Shenjun was no longer usable, and the one they had now was the statue of Wushang Gongde Daoshi, which hadn't even been cleaned of dust yet.

Cheng Mai looked up and met the gaze of the Supreme Merit Daoist. The statue's eyes were bright and piercing, but Cheng Mai felt no fear. After the incense burned, before Cheng Mai could make a wish, the incense went out, leaving behind a wisp of green smoke.

Cheng Mai: "..."

The young Taoist priest blinked, seemingly a little angry, and muttered under his breath, "The logistics department is buying such poor-quality incense again."

Cheng Mai: "...Could it be some kind of ominous sign?"

Without a word, the young Taoist priest took the incense back and threw it into the trash can. Cheng Mai glanced at it and thought, "Great, there are a lot of unburned incense sticks inside."

"Don't worry, benefactor, it's just that the incense isn't very good. I'll get you another one." The young Taoist priest grumbled as he rummaged through the incense sticks, finally finding one that felt relatively dry and handed it to Cheng Mai. "Please use this one."

Cheng Mai silently observed the young Taoist priest, noting that he appeared to be in excellent spirits.

Shang Xingjian leaned against the incense altar, picked up an apple at random, took a bite after confirming that it had been washed, and frowned slightly; the apple wasn't very tasty.

Cheng Mai turned to look at Shang Xingjian, "Boss, where's your manners?"

Shang Xingjian ate an apple, looked up at the statue, and said, "He's a god now, what's wrong with eating an apple?"

The young Taoist priest nodded, "What you say is right. Not even allowing us to eat an apple is too stingy. Our Taoist temple doesn't have such a stingy deity."

Cheng Mai confirmed that this young Taoist priest was a talented individual.

Shang Xingjian took a few bites, confirmed that it didn't taste good, and finally threw it into the trash can. He then picked up another one and asked, "Aren't we supposed to offer incense?"

Cheng Mai took the incense from the young Taoist priest, but this time he didn't light it.

The young Taoist priest was furious this time, and stormed out, lifting his robes in anger.

It looks like they've gone to settle scores with someone.

This Taoist temple is getting stranger and stranger.

The incense wouldn't light. Cheng Mai looked at Shang Xingjian and asked, "What does this mean?" Shang Xingjian finished his apple, tossed the core aside, and then began searching around the statue. "It probably doesn't dare to accept your worship."

Cheng Mai placed the incense on the table and then asked, but the merchant did not say anything more.

"What are you looking for?" Cheng Mai asked, noticing him pacing back and forth as if searching for something.

Shang Xingjian quickly pulled out a chess piece from under the statue. "This is it."

Cheng Mai walked over and looked at the yellow flag in his hand. It was covered with complex symbols drawn in red cinnabar, like some kind of incantation.

"Benefactor, put it down, quickly put it down, that's our demon-suppressing banner!" The young Taoist priest, who had just gone out to settle accounts, ran back and anxiously called out when he saw the banner in Shang Xingjian's hand.

"This? A demon-suppressing banner?" Shang Xingjian waved the banner in his hand. "He has the will to follow the Dao, but his cultivation is still shallow."

The merchant tossed the flag in his hand to the young Taoist priest, saying, "Take this to your abbot and tell him that someone is waiting for him at the Xuanhe Divine Lord's Hall."

The young Taoist priest hurriedly caught the flag, saying, "Our abbot is in seclusion and hasn't been receiving guests lately."

Merchant Jian stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the new statue. Suddenly, the statue began to tremble and showed signs of cracking.

Little Taoist priest: "!!!" Mom, what's going to happen again?

“Just tell him that if he doesn’t come, then…” Shang Xingjian turned around and looked at the flag in his hand, “I’m going to activate the Demon-Suppressing Banner.”

After the merchant turned around, the statue returned to its calm state.

The young Taoist priest blinked, looked at the statue and then at the merchant's seal, and asked in a low voice, "Are you... Mr. Shang from City A?"

He heard a rumor that a businessman from City A had recently come to Fengcheng.

No one knows the background of this Mr. Shang, but everyone knows that there are no Taoist temples in City A because of Mr. Shang.

"He's got brains, go ahead." Shang Xingjian's words were a compliment to the young Taoist. As the young Taoist turned and ran out, Shang Xingjian suddenly said, "The dragon is trapped in shallow waters."

The young Taoist priest didn't hear those words, but Cheng Mai did.

"Do you know this young Taoist priest?"

"I wouldn't say I know him, but I met his ancestor once." Shang Xingjian picked up another apple and ate it while waiting for someone.

"They always talk about other people's ancestors," Cheng Mai thought. "That's probably one of the benefits of living a long life."

"Boss, how long have you been alive?" Cheng Mai asked curiously.

"I can't remember. I've been here since the beginning of time. Tens of thousands of years? Hundreds of millions of years? Who knows?" Shang Xingjian replied listlessly. Perhaps it was because he had lived for too long that he had long forgotten his origins.

Cheng Mai gave his boss a thumbs up. Everyone else was a thousand-year-old monster, but his boss was an ancient lunatic.

It's true that people who live a long time are often not quite right in the head.

"You're cursing me again?" Shang Xingjian gave her a cold look, seemingly able to see through her little schemes.

Cheng Mai smiled slightly, neither admitting nor denying.

"You're going to confront that abbot so soon?"

“It’s not exactly a showdown, after all, this old man still has some brains and hasn’t come looking for trouble.” Shang Xingjian threw away the apple and picked up a pear to continue eating. “But even if he doesn’t make a move, it’s still good to scare him a little. We’ll see if he contacts the person behind him.”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Mai seemed to have realized something.

"The tiger's roar last night, wasn't it from the mountains?" Although it was a question, Cheng Mai could roughly guess what had happened last night.

(End of this chapter)