Lu Yang’s and the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s consciousness returned to the Buddhist Kingdom simultaneously.

“Hmm? Where is this?”

Lu Yang found himself in a dilapidated temple, seated cross-legged on a lotus platform, his fingers forming a mudra, like a Buddha statue.

Outside, rain pattered steadily.

“Ah, Young Creed Leader, you’re awake?” Jin Caiwei had been keeping watch beside Lu Yang. Noticing that he had finally come to, she rushed out to call the other women back.

Lu Yang’s mind was still foggy. He vaguely recalled that when Man Gu had summoned him three days ago, he had just arrived in the Buddhist Kingdom, surrounded by desert. Only three days have passed. How did I end up inside a temple?

And which temple is this?

“You’re awake?”

“Oh, this temple is quite interesting.” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy drifted out, eyeing the structure with keen interest. Whoever built it had rather creative ideas.

“The Second-in-Command is awake?”

“Everlasting-jiejie is back, too?”

“Welcome back, Mistress.”

The women had waited three days. At last, both the Everlasting Immortal Fairy and Lu Yang had woken up.

“Third-in-Command, did you build this temple?” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy asked with a smile. While Lu Yang lacked experience and couldn’t spot anything amiss, she could tell that there was something special about this temple at a glance.

Yun Mengmeng chuckled sheepishly. “It wasn’t just my idea, First-in-Command. The thing is, you and the Second-in-Command didn’t say when you two would be back. We couldn’t just leave the two of you standing out in the desert. We initially considered going into the city, but we have so many people.

“Second-in-Command, you often say that we should keep a low profile when traveling, so we decided it would be better to build a temple right here to shelter us from the wind and rain.

“Then I suggested that since we were building a temple, we might as well use food as construction materials.”

She walked up to Lu Yang, broke off a piece of the lotus beneath Lu Yang, and placed it in his mouth. “Have a taste, Second-in-Command. Isn’t it delicious?”

Lu Yang bit down instinctively and was surprised to find that the lotus was genuinely delicious, even though he didn’t know what its ingredients were.

“This isn’t a lotus. It’s leaves from the Longevity Spirit Fruit, right?” the Everlasting Immortal Fairy asked.

“Yes, it is, Mistress,” Qing He confirmed. These were Longevity Spirit Fruit leaves she had cultivated with the Longevity Incipient Dao Fruit. They were only a step away from being immortal items, too precious to be measured in spirit stones.

“These windows are made of Planarity Spirit Fruits!” Jin Caiwei said excitedly. She had contributed much effort to the temple’s construction.

“The lamp oil is honey I brought from the Demon Region.”

“So this entire temple is edible?” Lu Yang finally understood why the Everlasting Immortal Fairy had praised the temple as outstanding. It’s indeed outstanding; you get both shelter and sustenance in one package.

“It’s raining outside, isn’t it? Will the temple hold up?” Judging by the sound, it was a heavy downpour.

“It’s fine. All the food we used to build the temple is waterproof!” Yun Mengmeng reassured him confidently. Their purpose in building the temple was to shield themselves from wind and rain. How could they let the rain wash it away?

“Is the construction incomplete? There seem to be some holes. If it’s not complete, I can help.” Lu Yang pointed at a section of the wall where a small gap had appeared.

Jin Caiwei raised her hand timidly. “I ate that.”

Lu Yang was speechless.

So you were building and eating at the same time?

Yun Mengmeng cheerfully took Lu Yang and the Everlasting Immortal Fairy by the hand and led them outside the temple.

“Look, this is the name all of us came up with together for the temple.”

Three large characters stood out boldly on the wooden plaque—Great Dou Temple.

“This temple is indeed quite well built. We might as well make it the ancestral temple of our Great Dou Dynasty.” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy had heard that every dynasty established an ancestral temple. Although our Great Dou Dynasty is new, we’ll need one sooner or later.

Everyone except Lu Yang was delighted. This meant that the Everlasting Immortal Fairy had validated their three days of labor.

The Great Dou Dynasty finally had a base in the real world.

Lu Yang felt that the construction of the ancestral temple was hard to put into words. But since everyone else approves, it’s not my place to say anything as an immortal.

“Let me help too. I’ll make improvements to our ancestral temple. I hereby establish Rule: Renovate the Great Dou Dynasty’s Great Dou Temple.”

Establishing rules in the Buddhist Kingdom was a thousand times easier than it had been in the Dao-Seeking Sect. The Buddhist Kingdom is truly a good place.

Countless strands of golden faith power appeared, transforming into food that filled the gaps in the ancestral temple. In the blink of an eye, the temple was as good as new, exactly as it had been when first built.

Jin Caiwei curiously took a bite of the renovated section, then shook her head. “Young Creed Leader, this won’t do. Food created through the power of rules has no soul.”

“Let me try too.” Yun Mengmeng, Qing He, and the others took turns to sample the food, and all of them agreed that it was not as tasty as the food they had made.

“Xiao Yangzi, you must show respect for food.” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy pointed out the flaw in Lu Yang’s thinking.

Lu Yang was speechless. I’m sorry, I’m wrong. Can I practice the power of rules in a different way?

Out of respect for food, Lu Yang withdrew the power of rules and restored the ancestral temple to a dilapidated temple.

“Someone’s coming,” Lu Yang suddenly said. When he extended his immortal consciousness to comprehend heaven and earth, he detected a group of people heading this way. They were all mortals and appeared to be seeking shelter from the rain.

“Hurry, hide.”

The group slipped back into the temple, sitting or standing on the lotus platform, altering their appearances to disguise themselves as Buddhas or Bodhisattvas.

“Uncle Wang, there’s a temple here. Let’s take shelter from the rain!”

A group of people hurried over, overjoyed at the sight of the temple.

“Strange. Since when was there a temple here?” Uncle Wang stood outside, unable to brush off the feeling that something was amiss.

“The Great Dou Temple. I’ve never heard of such a place. Never mind, let’s just get inside quickly.”

If they kept getting drenched like this, they would catch a cold, and that would be troublesome when traveling.

They scrambled into the temple and found that though it was worn and shabby, it was enough to shield them from the wind and rain.

“Phew, we’re alive again.”

They unloaded their baggage and checked for any wet spots before removing their clothes to dry them by the fire.

“Which Buddha is this?” Once they settled down, they grew curious about the temple. They realized they didn’t recognize any Buddha or Bodhisattva statues, yet the figures before them were solemn and imposing, evoking a sense of reverence.

“Look at this little Bodhisattva. It’s so tiny.”

They were referring to Jin Caiwei.

“Shh! You must be pious; don’t be disrespectful!” Uncle Wang chided the group. He then led them in kneeling before each Buddha and Bodhisattva statue, thanking them for allowing them to take shelter from the rain here.

In the end, Uncle Wang produced a pouch of spirit stones. Though not much, it was a token of goodwill. He placed it into the merit box at the foot of a Buddha statue.

“Uncle Wang, aren’t these the spirit stones you picked up from the grave? Why are you giving them to the Buddha statues?” a fellow traveler asked, perplexed.

Uncle Wang let out a long sigh. “I picked up this pouch of spirit stones yesterday, and I encountered a temple today. How could there be such coincidences in this world? Everything is predestined. This shows that these spirit stones were never meant to be mine, but should be offered to the temple instead.”

The rain cleared, and the skies brightened. Uncle Wang and his group left the temple with their horses.

Lu Yang leaped down from the lotus platform and stared at the merit box at his feet, his expression odd. He sensed that this pouch of spirit stones had formed a connection with his lifespan.

“Why does this thing look so much like money to buy one’s life?”