Shen Wen was the name of the city god honored in Blusher Prefecture's city god pavilion. Before his death, he was an official from the Censorate, and he was renowned in the imperial court for his integrity and upright manner. He had also spoken the famous words "a loyal official during life, an upright ghost after death[1]". It was already 300 years since his death, yet he still enjoyed abundant incense and offerings.1

Because Chen Ping'an had visited the city god temple with Xu Yuanxia and Zhang Shanfeng before, he was quite familiar with the paths and locations of everything. There were four separate halls in the city god pavilion, and two painted clay statues of heavenly officials were standing in front of the first gate inside the temple. They had initially appeared mighty and impressive, yet they were in a miserable state at this moment, with snakes, rats, and other vermin all over them.0

Chen Ping'an walked next to the exterior wall of the temple for a few dozen paces, but he was yet to encounter any demons or sinister spirits. He didn't hesitate anymore and pulled out a Yang energy illumination talisman from his sleeve. The talisman hovered an arm's length in front of him, and it gently swayed back and forth, then automatically flew toward the gate as Chen Ping'an took a step forward.0

Chen Ping'an immediately felt much more at ease. Even though the city god pavilion had been attacked, and the city god temple square was ruined beyond recognition, there was definitely still remnant spiritual energy flowing through the buildings at the back of the temple. Otherwise, the illumination talisman wouldn't have flown forward by itself. Instead, it would have retreated toward the walls.0

The illumination talisman radiated with a soft yellow glow, and the pure light enveloped Chen Ping'an's entire body. Wherever he walked, the centipedes, scorpions, and other poisonous vermin on the ground would quickly scuttle away. When Chen Ping'an walked past the first internal gate, the vermin on the two clay statues of heavenly officials were most likely affected by the radiance of this illumination talisman as well. The vermin all crawled to the statues' backs or hid inside the statues' hollow abdomens.0

Chen Ping'an held his breath and gathered his concentration. He slowly continued forward.0

Behind the first internal gate was the great hall with a plaque. The deity honored inside this hall wasn't the city god, but instead a general who had played an important role in the founding of Colorful Garment Nation. The statue of the general was seated, and there were eight statues of subordinate officials standing to the two sides. 0

The golden characters on the plaque had been personally written by the founding emperor of Colorful Garment Nation, and more than half of the golden ink had already been chipped off. There was a black snake as thick as a bowl resting coiled on...0