Chapter 189

Chapter 189

"Ahhhh—! A cockroach—!" Zhao Ling's scream pierced the air. You really couldn't blame her. Anyone would shriek like that when, while happily cuddling a tiny hedgehog no bigger than her palm, filled with thoughts of cuteness, the little hedgehog suddenly whipped out a huge, pitch-black cockroach from somewhere—a cockroach even larger than its own body. Especially when that cockroach was alive, with all six legs and two antennae waving frantically as if it didn't have a care against the skin of her palm.

Chen Ji only looked up for a moment before deliberately controlling his reaction, lowering his head nonchalantly and muttering, "Oh, I must've seen wrong..."

Second Grandpa was basking in the sun on the windowsill and asked, "See what wrong?"

Chen Ji rubbed his eyes. "My vision's blurry. For a second, I thought a bug had crawled in... Probably been overusing my eyes these past couple of days. Some lutein should fix it."

Second Grandpa's long tail swished. "You humans eat so much weird stuff... Isn't the internet full of people saying it's a scam?"

"Second Grandpa, you haven't reached that age yet," Chen Ji chuckled lightly. "I used to think it was an IQ tax and scoffed at it. Now, I'm convinced it must have its uses and stock up on it."

Second Grandpa, already well over five hundred years old, gave Chen Ji a complicated look and decided to ignore him.

After all, 'longevity' as an eternal subject holds an equal place in the hearts of all living beings.

"In the Chenyun Mountain Range, the original Xiaoqing Mountain, Changyun Mountain, Bailu Mountain... have a long history and profound cultural heritage, traceable back to the Song Dynasty..."

The television showed a booklet with pages that had turned brown and brittle, with characters reading 'Mountain God' and such in a font resembling printed text, though key parts were already damaged. The host continued, "This local chronicle, preserved in the Y Province Museum, has therefore led to a major breakthrough. It is said that the Mountain God of the original Xiaoqing Mountain, now the Chenyun Mountain Range, is named 'Chang Xu'. It is said to be a white tiger..."

On the screen was the photo of Xiangxiang that Chen Ji had posted on Douyin.

Almost the instant the host uttered the words 'Chang Xu', a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky. Sensing something, Chen Ji turned to look. Outside the window, something seemed to be falling from the sky. He quickly walked to the window to see what it was.

He wasn't afraid. Whatever it was, making such an entrance, there was no way he'd survive.

Layer after layer of thick clouds were pierced. A golden light descended from the heavens, enveloping the entire Mountain Lord Temple. In that instant, Chen Ji heard a near-mad roar.

The golden light spread, as if the whole Mountain Lord Temple might ascend to heaven in broad daylight, utterly sacred. Yet, amidst this golden radiance, a purplish-black point of light suddenly appeared. It was right at the location of the main hall, emitting a heavy, ominous aura, subtly resisting the golden light.

In the mortal realm, gods are conferred by popular belief. Where the people's hearts turn, anything can become a god.

The golden light grew stronger and stronger, almost blotting out the sun. The mass of purplish-black light seemed to struggle increasingly, being pulled out from the main hall bit by bit, like scooping up a foul, slime-covered rag.

Chen Ji watched this scene quietly.

Second Grandpa's ears instantly pricked up. The little hedgehog looked back thoughtfully towards the mountainside. The moment the golden light fell, Little Red rounded up Little Ghostly Spirit, Little Translator, and the other little ones to hide in a corner. Fifth Grandpa, hidden in the mountain forest, lazily yawned, looking towards the southeast as if watching a show. In the distance, Eldest Madam Sang suddenly slammed the table and laughed wildly. She laughed so hard she doubled over, pointing in the direction of the Mountain Lord Temple and saying to Chang Xu, "That temple keeper of yours is truly interesting. Aren't you going quickly? Before he gets destroyed in that fellow's hands!"

"Remember, noon," she said meaningfully.

She had calculated it. The one at the Mountain Lord Temple would face a calamity at noon—though in the art of fortune-telling, seven parts are destined by heaven, three by human effort. But if one can comply with heaven's decree, aided by heaven, those few parts of human fortune are naturally seized by heaven's decree.

If noon passes and heaven's decree remains undetermined, then it can only depend on human fortune. So whether to comply with heaven's decree or for human effort to overcome heaven depends entirely on one's own choice.

"Understood." Before Chang Xu's words faded, he had already vanished into the air.

On the other side, Chen Ji was still admiring the anomaly in the sky when his phone rang. He instinctively lowered his head to pick it up, only to see the light in the room suddenly darken. The originally brilliant, dazzling golden light had turned purplish-black, like deep night. In the next instant, a sinister, vivid red filled the entire window.

***

That patch of red was not entirely pure and transparent, bearing streaks of bluish-purple patterns, writhing and pulsating as if alive.

He was stunned for a moment before realizing what it was. The moment he became aware, that patch of red also moved, revealing a half-circle golden disc.

—That was Yellow Hair's eye.

Threads of a fishy, bloody smell seeped in through the cracks in the window, mixed with the musky scent of a wild animal. For a moment, Chen Ji felt the urge to vomit, but he regained his composure the next second.

"Chen—Ji—!" A hoarse roar echoed inside and outside the Mountain Lord Temple, constantly calling his name. Chen Ji did not respond. With a faint smile, he stared into the giant pupil outside the window as if seeing nothing, still admiring the beautiful mountain scenery as usual.

The Mountain Lord of the Mountain Lord Temple was no longer Yellow Hair. Yellow Hair had become an ordinary monster. Since it was no longer a god, it no longer had the right to freely enter and leave the Mountain Lord Temple—at least not now, at this moment.

The golden light had not dissipated. The people's will had already enshrined another god and was expelling it, this heretic. So it had no spare strength, nor the time, to forcibly break through the constraints of the 'Door Gods'... Chen Ji even suspected that Yellow Hair hadn't discovered where he was at all. Under such intense 'people's will,' it probably couldn't see his location at all, only waiting for him to respond, to make a sound, to know where he was.

He set his phone to silent. Like at any ordinary time, noticing a message on his phone, he lowered his head to look.

System Cat was sharing his thoughts, whispering in his mind: [Connected to special satellite A3122. Communications restored.]

Chen Ji found it somewhat amusing: [How did you connect?]

System Cat: [I told you, special satellite, special satellite. Don't you understand...? Forget it, forget it. We just hacked into Granny Sang's mobile network. If she can get online, we can get online!]

Chen Ji acknowledged it and lowered his head to scroll through the messages on his phone—a pity. He had thought he might receive some special messages, but unfortunately, the phone had vibrated because of a scam text message.

Chen Ji shrugged and ran the clean-up program on his phone again. He looked back out the window, meeting the gaze of that terrifying giant eye.

Suddenly, a crisp cracking sound came from inside the room. The owner of the eye seemed to be violently yanked backward, rapidly moving away from Chen Ji's line of sight. Chen Ji inwardly sighed in relief, only for the sound of shattering glass to abruptly ring out. Shards flew, reflecting Chen Ji's widened eyes and the enormous head that had already forced its way into the room.

"Chen—Ji—!"

"Mine—! Mine—! Chen Ji—!"