Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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After eating, when he came out of the kitchen with noodles in hand, he saw Mustache watering the vegetable field, thinking good he actually took the initiative to do the work.
“Let’s eat first.” Xie Lingya greeted.
Mustache stood up and put down the kettle. He raised his face and startled Xie Lingya, “Who are you?”
Mustache… couldn’t be called Mustache anymore. Zhang Daoting touched his face and said, “I shaved off my beard. Can’t you recognize me?”
“I now believe that you are really twenty-six years old.” Xie Lingya took a long time to speak.
Zhang Daoting’s mouth twitched.
After he shaved off his slightly obscene beard, his appearance and temperament improved dramatically, making him look fresh and handsome.
——But this also showed how unlucky he was. Like Xie Lingya, because he was good-looking and lovable, the uncles and aunts in the front yard were willing to chat with him. In the past, when he went to work, the customers would also give him higher commissions because of this.
Xie Lingya originally thought that this guy had a dark history of working in scenic spots and how to properly solve it. Looking at it now, it seemed like something must have gone wrong if he could still be recognized!
While Zhang Daoting was eating noodles, he took the time to answer Xie Lingya’s questions.
As a certified Taoist priest, he had been in various Taoist temples for six or seven years. He was familiar with Taoist classics and norms. He had also learned some rituals from his master, but he had never presided over them himself.
Xie Lingya: “Can you draw talismans?”
Zhang Daoting said anxiously: “No.”
Because he lived in several Taoist temples, he knew no more than praying to Sanqing, but since he worked for others and because his master was not around anymore, he learned very miscellaneously. So, he was not good at drawing talismans at all. There were too many runes and they were complicated, and he didn’t quite understand them.
Over the years, he traveled to various Taoist temples, and coupled with his own decline, he deeply felt that there were some things that science could not explain. The more he came into contact with them, the more profound he became.
Xie Lingya didn’t mean anything else and said casually: “It’s okay, I can.”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
“By the way, come here and let me touch it.” Xie Lingya said.
He planned to touch Zhang Daoting’s bones. This man’s life was not very good, but his character was good. If he was not too stupid, he might not be good enough to be one of his uncle’s apprentices, but he could still teach him other skills depending on the situation. After all, he was now also a member of Baoyang Temple.
“???” Zhang Daoting swallowed hard and said weakly, “Why…”
“Just touch it.” Xie Lingya said casually, not talking about the investigation for the time being. But touching Zhang Daoting was much more convenient than touching Shi Changxuan. Zhang Daoting was now his favorite.
Zhang Daoting nodded tremblingly: “Oh.”
Xie Lingya probably knew it in his mind after touching it and told him: “I will tell you about the history of Baoyang Temple later, and some precautions.”
Of course, more importantly, they had to discuss how to attract followers.
….
All the regular visitors to Baoyang Temple discovered that there was suddenly a Taoist priest here. But this was normal. It would be strange for a Taoist temple to have no Taoist priests. The Taoist priests of Baoyang Temple didn’t know where they were before, but now they finally appeared.
This little Taoist priest was quite young and good-looking. Under Xiao Xie’s introduction, he greeted everyone and introduced himself as Zhang Daoting.
Most of the people here were tea drinkers or nearby residents who came to chat. Seeing that Zhang Daoting was young, they asked with interest what his life as a Taoist priest was like.
Zhang Daoting talked about his daily life such as doing homework, and then brought the topic to Baoyang Temple itself.
Speaking of Baoyang Temple, everyone couldn’t help but say: “Baoyang Temple seems to be quite old, but I have lived in Qiyang for so long, and I don’t know its specific origin.”
Zhang Daoting couldn’t help but smile and said: “Our Taoist temple was built in the Ming Dynasty. It was destroyed by wars and rebuilt once in the Qing Dynasty. The main god enshrined in the temple is Taiyi Thunder God Yinghua Tianzun Wang Lingguan.”
“Wang Lingguan? Which god is it? You are not worshiping Sanqing?” someone asked.
Zhang Daoting explained something about the main deity of the Taoist temple, popularizing science about Wang Lingguan.
Some upright people said: “To tell the truth, I haven’t heard much about it.”
In the minds of ordinary non-believers, the powerful and famous gods enshrined in Taoist temples were only Emperor Zhenwu, Lu Dongbin, etc. This Wang Lingguan said to be a great protector, was not very famous. Moreover, when Zhang Daoting said that each Taoist temple would enshrine Wang Lingguan, he sounded like he was just a gatekeeper.
Speaking of the lack of incense at Baoyang Temple, it had something to do with the fact that the ancestor they worshipped was Wang Lingguan. There were very few Lingguan temples in Queshan Province. These days, when people worshipped gods, they would rather worship famous ones.
“Wang Lingguan is the great protector of the Taoist sect, who exorcises evil and suppresses evil. You may not have any idea. Let me give you an example.” Zhang Daoting said.
“Everyone should know that in “Journey to the West” that when Sun Wukong caused chaos in the Heavenly Palace, no one could stop him. When he reached the Lingxiao Palace, it was Wang Lingguan who stopped him, and the two fought into a deadlock. Although “Journey to the West” is a novel, why did the author set Wang Lingguan and Sun Wukong to be tied? It is precisely because Wang Lingguan is indeed an immortal with extremely high combat power in Taoism!”
Wang Lingguan only made an appearance in “Journey to the West”, and everyone had no impression of it, but according to what Zhang Daoting said they checked it out, and it was indeed the case, which made people feel like they were suddenly enlightened.
The others were not familiar with Wang Lingguan, but everyone was familiar with the story of Sun Wukong causing trouble in the Heavenly Palace, and they immediately had a concrete idea.
They didn’t expect Wang Lingguan to be so powerful. His combat prowess was among the best in the entire Taoist religion. No wonder Baoyang Temple enshrined him.
After Zhang Daoting’s in-depth and simple explanation, everyone was relieved and no longer felt that the main god of Baoyang Temple was not qualified.
“In addition to subjugating demons, Wang Lingguan actually has other duties. He is also the god of thunder and fire. He is responsible for bringing rain and clearing the sky, collecting plagues and poisons, and picking up on the mistakes of the world. In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle believed in Lingguan the most, even enshrining the statue of Lingguan in the palace.” Zhang Daoting said, “If there are frail patients at home, they should often recite prayers to Wang Lingguan, or burn incense and ask for the Lingguan talisman to take home.”
At this point, the words became a bit mysterious, and it belonged to faith. There could be no Gods without belief.
Many people often fetched water here at the Baoyang Temple. Of course, even if they didn’t believe it, they won’t say anything bad. For those who were usually interested in these things, because Baoyang Temple finally had a Taoist priest, they were quite willing to continue listening.
For example, Mrs. Wang, the neighbor of newspaper shop owner Sun Fuyang and a friend of his mother, Mrs. Sun, listened and even asked questions.
Zhang Daoting smiled slightly and chatted with Mrs. Wang naturally about how to hold the Spiritual Official Mantra and what the key was.
Mrs. Wang nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and finally asked what kinds of Lingguan Talismans there were and how much they cost, but it was just a question. She thought that the Taoist priest was too young, and she would invite someone from Taihe Temple during the Chinese New Year.
She lived close to Baoyang Temple, but she had never come here to worship before. These days when she went for a walk with her friends, she politely offered incense to Sanqing twice. For her, the Taihe Temple brand was more prominent.
While talking to Zhang Daoting, Mrs. Wang scratched the mosquito bites on her body.
Zhang Daoting took a look and asked, “Auntie, are there a lot of mosquitoes in your house?”
Mrs. Wang said, “Yes, I live on the first floor and there are a lot of mosquitoes. I can’t even kill them all.”
Zhang Daoting smiled again, “It’s okay to kill as many mosquitoes as you want. Please bring back this mosquito repellent charm.”
“…” Others who heard this were a little speechless. What the hell, you selling talismans was just fine, but why are there still mosquito repellent charms?
Even Mrs. Wang, a superstitious woman, couldn’t help but ask: “This, can this be useful?”
What kind of amulets, luck charms, and mosquito repellents were sold in Taoist temples nowadays? She had never seen it before, why did it feel weird?
Zhang Daoting asked back: “Do you think there are any mosquitoes in our Taoist temple?”
Everyone was stunned for a moment. In the past two days, there seemed to be no mosquitoes in Baoyang Temple!
Until Zhang Daoting didn’t say that, they didn’t feel it, but once he said it, they felt it deeply. Especially those who had been sitting here for several hours had the deepest feeling, “I’m still surprised, why are there no mosquitoes!”
Even so, most people found it difficult to believe that it was because of the mosquito repellent charm that Zhang Daoting said.
In the end, only Mrs. Wang and three or four tea guests were willing to ask for mosquito repellent charms to take back. Zhang Daoting said it so firmly that Mrs. Wang believed it.
Others were not really interested but thought that this talisman was not expensive anyway, only twenty yuan, so let’s buy it just for entertainment. Not to mention anything else, how much water did they usually get from the free well here? To reciprocate kindness, just support this very poor Taoist temple!
….
Zhang Daoting went to the back to get talismans for everyone, and walked up to Xie Lingya and said, “Boss, three mosquito repellent talismans.”
He had previously called Xie Lingya little brother, but later he found out that Baoyang Temple belonged to Xie Lingya, and silently changed his tune.
“Well, I knew that mosquito repellent charms would be more popular in summer.” Xie Lingya quickly drew out three mosquito repellent charms. This was one of the results of his study during this period, and it was also why there were no mosquitoes in the Taoist Temple these two days.
Xie Lingya felt deeply about the last incident with the spell around the well water. At this stage, these life-related alchemy techniques could be more helpful to small Taoist temples like theirs, which didn’t have many believers, so they should focus on this aspect.
Most Taoist priests probably didn’t know about this mosquito repellent charm. It was studied by a Taoist priest named Wang Ziran in the Ming Dynasty. His more famous ability was said to be able to repel thunder and rain. He also worshiped Wang Lingguan and may be the same as Baoyang Temple. It was a bit unclear.
Mosquito repellent charms were actually miscellaneous charms. As the name suggested, they were charms that could solve a few miscellaneous problems. Modern formal Taoist temples basically did not sell such miscellaneous charms, which gave people the illusion of being unorthodox. In fact, there were thousands of Taoist spells.
Mosquito repellent charms were only sold for 20 yuan, unlike other amulets such as child-seeking charms. According to the price of other Taoist temples, the price of these usually ranged from 50 to 300 to 500 yuan.
Zhang Daoting arrived just in time, so that Baoyang Temple finally had a Taoist priest who could receive believers.
Xie Lingya also followed the trend and asked Zhang Daoting to sell the talismans. After all, Taoist priests were more capable of doing it. He would control the production of talismans from behind. At his speed, no matter what the talisman was, it could be done in three to five minutes.
——This period of time also became a major reason why Xie Lingya was later called the Qiyang Human Flesh Seal Machine.
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