...
"Follow !"
The face armor obscured most of the view, and Chen Zhou had no ti to observe the expressions of the native youth. He deliberately lowered his voice to give the command, then led the way.
"How can you fight a war without weapons?"
Duo Duo Lu pondered, he wanted to voice his opinion but suddenly realized the one he was following was no longer a warrior from the tribe—
The one leading them into war was not a person, but a god.
And a god could not be defeated.
Suppressing his uneasy feelings, he quietly glanced at Ah Tun, seeing him looking forward, seemingly with nothing to say. Duo Duo Lu followed behind Chen Zhou, winding around the mountain slope, all heading towards the sunny side.
...
The morning light was dim, and the air had a slight chill.
A thin layer of fog curled around the mountain path, with hardly any birdsong or insect noise.
The armor accompanied Chen Zhou's advance, echoing with tallic friction sounds, resembling a unique war song.
Now convinced this was the start of a war, Duo Duo Lu wished he could place his eyes in the sky to overlook the land and identify the enemy.
But he lacked such ability, and could only follow the invincible War God within his heart, advancing all the way forward.
...
Just as they were about to reach the mountain cave adorned as a Temple, Chen Zhou halted, took his gun from his back at the bend, and fired a bullet into the sky.
The roar of the gunpowder explosion frightened the two natives, making their legs go weak, nearly collapsing to the ground.
"The weapon of the gods has roared, surely another enemy has fallen."
Both thought simultaneously, then turned to look at each other, only relaxing when they didn't see bloodstains on their companion's chest.
...
Chen Zhou wanted to craft a stirring ritual speech, but his literary prowess was quite limited.
Using ancient poems felt sowhat inappropriate and not fitting the occasion.
So he embraced silence as the main tone of the entire ritual, not speaking after firing, just turned a corner and continued forward.
Although the native youth was frightened, the gunshot had scared his soul out, fearing he would be left behind and have his life taken by that dreadful weapon, he followed without delay.
...
After not walking far, the Temple of Wang Lingguan, painstakingly built by Chen Zhou, ca into view before the two.
Limited by the cave's space, the interior of the Temple wasn't large, but its craftsmanship was undeniable—
With little understanding of ancient architecture, Chen Zhou used his imagination, blending features of ancient architecture in his mind with the simple yet industrial beauty of modern architecture, using various colored and textured wood to construct the entire Temple.
At the temple entrance stood two reddish columns, atop which hung a plaque.
Inscribed: "Manifestation of the Heaven's Resonant Authority".
Push open the heavy door, step over the high threshold, entering the temple, the light dimd instantly.
A row of rattan mats were placed on the black wooden floor.
In front of the mats was a large table Chen Zhou brought, at the center of the table sat the Daoist guardian deity Wang Lingguan, standing on the Wind and Fire Wheel, holding the Golden Whip.
...
He fired a shot emptily at the doorway then entered the Temple first, standing beside the long table.
Once the two natives shivered and followed him into the Temple, Chen Zhou directly ordered them to kneel on the mats and knock their heads three tis.
...
Minds already stirred by Chen Zhou's series of solemn and ritualistic actions.
Usually active, Duo Duo Lu's mind was blank at this mont, not daring to look up at the statue.
He was like a walking corpse, instinctively following Chen Zhou's directions, and knelt with Ah Tun, then kowtowed.
By this point, the simple ritual was nearing its end.
But Chen Zhou didn't want it to end just like that.
To deepen the two natives' mory of the ritual and to establish his image as a divine proxy in the human world, he reloaded the two guns, declaring the ritual's completion with two gunshots.
Only then were the two natives allowed to rise and leave the Temple with him.
Terrified out of their wits, until the ritual ended, they didn't know what the god they were worshiping looked like.
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