There is a god in the sky

Chapter 274 The City God Temple Turmoil 1

Late at night, a dark figure slipped into Li Ge's bedroom.

Several arrows were shot at him at the same time, and he quickly said, "It's me!"

The arrows stopped, followed by Li Ge's languid voice, "Next time, let me know before you come. Don't blame me for disregarding our childhood friendship if you get accidentally killed next time."

Candlelight flickered on in the bedroom, and Li Ge, wearing a long robe and carrying a candlestick, walked out and casually tossed the crossbow in his hand onto the table.

Li Ye gathered up the crossbow bolts scattered on the wall and the ground, and said in a low voice, "Have you offended a lot of people? You even sleep with a crossbow with you?"

"Of course, I climbed to this position by stepping on mountains of corpses and seas of blood. There are too many people who want my life."

Li Ye looked at him for a while and then asked the question she wanted to ask.

"Since we arrived in the capital, why haven't you let me kill anyone? I know the location of the Liu residence by heart."

"You want to wreak havoc right under the emperor's nose? Are you out of your mind?"

"As long as I can get revenge, I don't care whether I live or not."

Li Ge chuckled softly and splashed a glass of cold water on his face.

"Wake up! Do you think Bianjing is Jianzhou? Before you even reach Liu Engui, the Imperial Guards will surround and shoot you dead."

Even if you manage to kill him, what about the rest of the Liu family? Are they going to become the victims as well? And then be wanted as murderers again?

"Hmph, sparing their lives isn't about not seeking revenge, it's just that the method was wrong. I don't care about your life, but I can't let Guli Town be tainted with any infamy."

Li Ye wiped the water off his face, sat down, and remained silent.

"If you're so eager to kill, then help me kill someone."

"Who?"

"The Crown Prince has a highly skilled bodyguard named Zhou, who is around forty years old and proficient in boxing. Find a way to kill him."

With him around, I think any plans targeting the Crown Prince will be difficult to carry out.

Li Ye readily agreed, "Okay."

Li Ge reminded him, "This person is very powerful. He used to be a famous master in the martial arts world. You should still use Wang Qi and He Nian. If you can outsmart him, don't fight him head-on."

Li Ye retorted, "If you could outsmart them, you would have taken their heads long ago. Why would you wait for me?"

Li Ge remained silent.

Li Ye knew he was smart.

He was intelligent from a young age; among a group of children his age, his intelligence was abnormal, almost like that of a monster.

So Shen Lan liked playing with him the most, and the others often gossiped about him behind his back, thinking that he knew how to use his beauty to seduce people at such a young age.

"Knock knock knock..." Someone knocked on the door.

"Sir, Her Majesty the Empress has sent word that she wishes to come over."

Li Ge's gentle gaze instantly turned cold.

"Just say I'm going to sleep."

The eunuch at the door was getting anxious.

"Sir, this... as you know, what they say over there is an imperial edict."

Li Ye reached out to hold down his partner, who was about to explode in anger, but was shoved away by the other party.

"Don't touch me!" he growled.

Li Ye awkwardly withdrew his hand.

Li Ge closed his eyes and took a few breaths, then turned his back. "You go first. Hurry up and get the killing done."

He went into the inner room to change his clothes, and when he came out, he had returned to calm.

The City God Temple is very lively.

Shen Lan bought Xuan'er a string of candied hawthorns, while she ate a sugar figurine herself.

"Why did you decide to come to the City God Temple, sister?" Xuan'er asked hastily, biting into a candied hawthorn.

"I heard there's a temple fair here today, it'll be very lively. We haven't had a proper chance to explore Bianjing yet."

"My sister is always so busy, how come she has time to come out and play today?"

With matters in the palace temporarily settled and no cases in the government, Xiao Ji needed to be on duty, but she didn't, so she simply brought Xuan'er to the City God Temple to play.

Shen Lan had already seen the house that Li Ye mentioned, but there were too many people, so she didn't knock on the door.

She hadn't expected the contact to be in such a busy place; she had even seen pedestrians come to her door asking for water.

"Sister, look! The welcoming ceremony for the gods has begun!"

The two men moved to the steps by the roadside and saw a group of masked men leading the way with gongs and drums, carrying a statue of a deity.

The statue of the City God is somewhat frightening; some children running in the street are so scared by it that they cry loudly.

Xuan'er whispered, "Sister, they're so timid."

"Aren't you afraid of idols?"

"Don't be afraid. God protects us and drives away evil spirits for us. How can we be afraid just because we are ugly? We should have a sense of awe."

A detachment of Imperial Guards followed behind the procession welcoming the gods.

Shen Lan then realized that government officials were involved in the temple fair.

"Who is that man being protected by the Imperial Guards? What an impressive figure!"

"That's His Highness the Crown Prince. I heard that His Highness will be praying for His Majesty's well-being and warding off disasters at the City God Temple today."

"No wonder so many people were stopped from coming over earlier, and the City God Temple was surrounded by soldiers, so we couldn't get in."

"Don't worry, His Highness the Crown Prince will leave in a little while. Let's follow him and see if he takes pity on us and gives us money."

Shen Lan and Xuan'er were pushed forward by the crowd.

The area in front of the City God Temple was packed with people.

Fearing a stampede, Shen Lan led Xuan'er to move back little by little.

The people pushed forward, while they pushed backward, but they didn't encounter much resistance.

The Imperial Guards had already searched the City God Temple inside and out several times, and at this moment there was only one monk and a few Taoist priests in the temple.

As for why there were monks there, it is said that they were wandering monks who came here to stay the night before.

The monks had no money, so they would go into any temple they saw and stay there without much restraint.

The prince entered with his guards, offered a sincere prayer, and considered his mission complete.

He inserted three incense sticks into the incense burner, and as soon as he turned around, all three sticks went out.

The Taoist priest realized something was wrong and hurriedly lit three more incense sticks to send over, but the result was the same: the incense went out as soon as it was put in the incense.

"Your Highness, perhaps the incense in the temple has become damp. I have someone go outside to buy some."

The crown prince, his face grim, asked with his hands behind his back, "Knowing full well that I was coming to offer incense today, are you deliberately trying to make things difficult for me?"

"This humble Taoist wouldn't dare!" The Taoist priest hadn't expected such a thing to happen, and he wouldn't dare to tamper with such a matter even if he had ten lives.

This batch of incense was clearly just purchased.

“Amitabha, would you like to use my incense?” a young monk asked from a short distance away.

The prince asked, amused, "Is your incense any different?"

"Nothing is different, except that I just paid my respects to the City God this morning, and the incense is still burning in the incense burner."

Following the little monk's hand, the prince indeed saw the incense that was only half-burned.

Do monks also worship the City God?

"The City God is also a god who protects the people of this area, so there's nothing wrong with worshipping him."

The prince gave a signal to the guard, who walked over and took three sticks of incense from the young monk.

He even smelled it carefully, and only after noticing anything unusual did he light it and hand it to the Crown Prince.

The incense could be lit normally. The prince held the incense up, bowed three times, and then inserted it into the incense burner.

I thought everything was going perfectly this time, but to my surprise, the three incense sticks still went out.

The crown prince's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

The murmurs of the people at the gate grew louder and louder, like slaps to the prince's face.