Gods of the Nation: You worship the God of Longevity, I worship the King of Hell!

Chapter 164 Temple Exclusive - Secret Realm Quest

Early the next morning.

A residential community in the north of the city.

The door was pushed open with a thud, and a figure hurriedly darted into the room.

"Yiyi! Yiyi! Hurry, hurry, come out!"

"What are you doing, Dad, so early in the morning..."

Li Ruoyi rubbed her eyes and pushed open the door. Her pajamas were loose, and she looked like she hadn't woken up yet.

"Ruoyi, is there someone named Lu Chen at your school?!" Li's father asked urgently.

"Lu Chen?"

The name instantly snapped Li Ruoyi out of her daze. She nodded. "Yes, he's my classmate. Dad, how do you know him?"

At that moment, the master bedroom door was pushed open, and Li's mother came out, looking annoyed at being woken up: "What's all this shouting and yelling all morning? Is it some kind of ghost?"

"What the hell? I've seen a god!!" Mr. Li's voice suddenly rose, waving the newspaper in his hand. "Yiyi, look at this! Your classmate—he's become a new rich kid!!!"

Li Ruoyi was instantly struck as if by lightning, her pupils dilating violently.

She snatched the newspaper; the headline on the front page featured Lu Chen's photo.

The headline was so eye-catching it was almost jarring: "Eighteen-year-old super genius officially becomes a new elite! Another wealthy family is added to Jiangcheng!"

"It really is him..."

Li Ruoyi froze on the spot, her forehead instantly breaking out in a fine layer of sweat.

"My God, eighteen years old... a rising star?! Yiyi, you have such an amazing classmate in your class? How come you've never mentioned him before?"

Li's mother also came over, her face full of disbelief.

"I went out to buy breakfast just now, and when I saw the newspaper mention Jiangcheng No. 3 Middle School, I picked it up to take a look, and what I saw shocked me!"

Mr. Li rubbed his hands excitedly, “Yiyi, with such an amazing classmate, you have to seize this opportunity! If you can build a good relationship with her, our family will be set for life! We’ll be the new elite! What does that mean?! The very top group of people in Jiangdu City!!”

Mr. and Mrs. Li were talking back and forth, and before they could finish their sentence—

"Wow!!--"

Li Ruoyi suddenly squatted down, buried her face in her knees, and burst into tears: "The gap is really getting bigger and bigger! I can't catch up! I'll never catch up in this lifetime!!"

……

at the same time.

In another neighborhood, the atmosphere in the living room of a row house was frozen.

The newspapers on the table were spread out, and the headlines pierced the eyes of everyone sitting around the table like needles.

Song Hao's face turned pale, and he dared not utter a sound.

Cold sweat beaded on the foreheads of his parents beside him.

"Haohao, Dad will only ask you one question," Mr. Song swallowed hard, "Does your classmate... hold a grudge?"

"I...I don't know..."

"Last time Hao Hao was so scared that he was hospitalized and lay in bed for more than half a month. This should be considered... retribution, right?" Song's mother's voice was weak.

Mr. Song sighed deeply, then suddenly raised his hand and slapped Song Hao across the face: "Useless brat, you only cause me trouble! If you really implicate the family, I'll break your legs! From now on, keep your mouth shut, and avoid your classmate whenever you see him, understand?!"

"I heard you, Dad..." Song Hao covered his face, feeling wronged and scared.

But who could have imagined it!

How long has it been? Lu Chen... he's actually become a rising star?!
Even if he used all the cheat codes in the game, he couldn't be this fast!
If it weren't for the burning pain on his face, Song Hao would have thought he was having a nightmare he couldn't wake up from.

He made up his mind: for the rest of his life, he would avoid Lu Chen.

We must never let Lu Chen recall those unpleasant memories from school again.

Otherwise, he's finished.

His family is finished too.

For a newly rich family to crush them is no different than crushing an ant.

……

The news of Lu Chen's rise to prominence swept through the entire Jiangdu City like a storm.

On this day, in streets and alleys, office buildings, cafes, restaurants... wherever people gathered, they were almost all talking about this.

At eighteen, he rose from an ordinary person to become a rising star in the city.

No matter when or where, this is destined to be a city-wide media storm.

……

Jiangdu, [Temple] Exclusive Service Hall.

"Master Lu, the ownership of the Ma Family Temple has been officially transferred to your name. This is the certificate for the Lu Family Temple. Congratulations! We wish you continued prosperity and flourishing temple in the future!"

"Thank you both."

"You're welcome!"

Holding the bright red certificate, Lu Chen walked out of the hall and breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Spending 200 million in one go...that's quite a peculiar experience."

The temple has now been acquired and is ready to open to the public once the renovations are completed.

He has already handed over the specific details to Zeng Rou.

Lu Chen was at ease with her handling of matters.

"Alright, next stop—the City Lord's Mansion!"

Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door of Yu Feng's office.

"Come in."

"Good morning, sir~" Lu Chen said with a smile as he pushed open the door and entered.

"roll!"

Without saying a word, Yu Feng pushed him away with a powerful spiritual pressure.

"Oh dear, don't be so stingy, sir. I even brought you some fruit." Lu Chen lifted the fruit basket in his hand.

"Hmph, you think you can fob me off with a few pieces of lousy fruit?" Yu Feng was clearly still furious.

I just reminded him to tone it down yesterday, and he immediately started fighting with Zhao Wanliang again at the city lord's mansion!

Was that a fight?
That was clearly a slap in his face!
"Sir, please calm down. He started this trouble yesterday, and I couldn't do anything about it." Lu Chen put down the fruit basket and said sincerely, "I promise that I will never cause trouble with him under your watchful eye again—and I mean it this time."

"So, you mean you can cause trouble as long as you're not under my nose?"

"This..." Yu Feng snorted again: "Fine, let you fight if you want. It's not necessarily a good thing for me if everyone is all peaceful. In short, whoever crosses the line, I will deal with."

Yu Feng is a very straightforward person, able to speak so frankly.

"Speak, what do you want?" He picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"My lord, I wish to take on a mission from the temple." Lu Chen got straight to the point.

Yu Feng wasn't surprised: "That's true. Now that you've officially risen to a new rank, it's time to devote some attention to your own temple." He paused, "You're familiar with the rules of temple missions, right?"

Lu Chen nodded: "But there's a crucial question I'd like to ask."

Yu Feng: "A policy to double student rewards?"

Lu Chen gave two thumbs up: "Your Excellency is wise! I admire you wholeheartedly!"

Yu Feng automatically filtered out the flattery: "Don't worry, the doubled benefits will remain the same. As long as you don't drop out of the top class within three years, even if you become a member of a prestigious family, you'll still enjoy the same benefits. The imperial court set this rule to support more capable and promising newcomers, not to restrict them. You need to understand that."

"Understood, understood!" Lu Chen felt a weight lifted from his heart.

The doubled rewards are amazing! It's like the difficulty of advancing to each stage is halved!
"However, after you accept the temple mission, you need to get a stamp from the school first, otherwise the double reward procedure will not be valid."

"No problem at all! Sir, where do I accept the mission?"

"follow me."

Yu Feng led him to the central hall, but instead went around it and entered a side alley.

After walking a few steps, a quiet and elegant courtyard came into view.

A plaque hangs above the gate: [Temple Affairs Office].

"From now on, all missions will be assigned here. You can come here yourself, or you can have your subordinates do it."

"it is good."

Stepping into the courtyard, one sees a brightly lit room with a flashing screen, where quite a few people are already inside.

Upon seeing Yu Feng, everyone bowed and greeted him as "Lord City Lord".

When they saw Lu Chen behind him, everyone was taken aback at first, then clasped their hands in greeting again:

"This must be... the head of the Lu family! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Lu Chen returned the greetings one by one.

This one is the eldest son of the Chen family in the west of the city, and that one is the second young master of a family in the south of the city...

They were all prominent figures in Jiangdu.

Indeed, only by standing at a certain height can one see the scenery from that height.

"You all get back to work." Yu Feng waved his hand, gesturing for a staff member to hand Lu Chen a tablet: "The tasks are all on here. Take a look first, and ask if you don't understand."

Lu Chen nodded and took the tablet to browse it carefully.

On the main interface, temple quests are divided into three categories.

Category 1: [Invoking Gods]

As Sun Yourong said yesterday, many deities can be summoned by completing specific tasks.

Lu Chen clicked on it, and the first name that appeared was the renowned [Lei Zu].

After clicking again, detailed requirements will appear:
[Conditions for summoning Lei Zu: You must complete four S-rank or higher demon-slaying dungeons, or two SS-rank dungeons and one SSS-rank dungeon.]

[Task Instructions: After accepting the task, the head of the family must personally go to the shrine of the Thunder God to offer sacrifices and report the task. Only with the Thunder God's approval will the task be valid.]

[Time limit for this task: Unlimited.]

[Reward for this task: None.]

"hiss--"

Lu Chen took a deep breath.

Four S-rank missions? It seems the "threshold" for inviting Lei Zu has been raised again.

Yesterday, Sun Yourong said that her family only needed three S-level employees when they invited guests.

"No wonder he's one of the most popular deities..."

He then clicked on [Zhao Caishen].

Unlike Lei Zu, Zhao Caishen has a different set of conditions for inviting a deity: one must first invite a deity's tablet, then offer a total of one million sticks of incense, and the offering period must not be less than five years.

That translates to 200,000 incense sticks per year, or about 556 incense sticks per day.

At NT$100 per stick, the daily incense money alone exceeds NT$50,000.

One million incense sticks equals one hundred million—one must burn one hundred million incense sticks for five consecutive years to have a chance to invite the God of Wealth Zhao.

Lu Chen smacked his lips.

It seems that the conditions for inviting these popular deities are indeed becoming increasingly stringent.

He quickly checked the names of "Jun Caishen" and "Wenhuang Haotian Dadi".

The God of Wealth: Offer 10,000 incense sticks for no less than one month.

Plague Emperor Haotian: Erect a temple and sculpt a golden statue to invite the deity into the temple.

Lu Chen: "..."

What's the difference between this and having no requirements at all?
No wonder the Star Lord agreed so readily when I mentioned building a temple and casting gold during the last mission for the governor.

So this is His "threshold".

"Sigh, these obscure geniuses... they really don't have much prestige." Lu Chen sighed inwardly, shifting his gaze to the second category.

The second category: [Copy type].

There was no need to look at that one; Lu Chen went straight to the third category.

Category 3: [Secret Realm]

"Kid, you've never seen this kind of mission before, have you?" Yu Feng chuckled beside him.

Lu Chen nodded: "I have never seen it before, nor have I ever received it."

Yu Feng: "Nonsense! These kinds of missions are only open to newly rich families and above. You weren't even qualified to look at them before, let alone accept them..."

　I'm so tired from staying up late these past two days.

　　Let me rest for a bit, I'm going to sleep now.

　　Feeling dizzy and groggy.

　　By the way, that plagiarized book has been taken down.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)