The temple priest, while speaking, also had some Daoist disciples bring out the broken faces of the original two statues. Upon seeing them, the Heavenly General confirmed that they were indeed the original two statues, although they were now shattered into seventeen or eighteen pieces.

Jialing Hou's Heavenly General Dharma Eyes stared at the statues, then turned to scrutinize Tian Fengyu, the temple priest of this Shenguan Taoist temple, with his Dharma Eyes. However, the temple priest allowed him to look without any objection. In the Heavenly General's Dharma Eyes, the person before him had nothing strange about him. His magic power was abundant, but it was only equivalent to the fourth realm.

Jialing Hou asked, "Are you the Diming God?"

Tian Fengyu replied, "Reporting to the Heavenly General, this humble Daoist's divine form is indeed that of the Diming God of the Underworld, equivalent to the fourth realm of cultivation, fetal breathing. However, this humble Daoist has recently made some minor progress in cultivation and is preparing to re-engage with his position."

Luo Sigong snorted coldly from the side, "Perhaps you've just been sleeping too well lately, so you've made 'minor progress'!"

The temple priest Tian Fengyu still wore an awkward but polite smile.

"Why must Your Excellency say it so directly? When I sleep soundly at night, I have the energy to cultivate diligently during the day."

"Hmph! Not making any effort at all."

Luo Sigong said to him, "I know a young Daoist priest who, like you, is now an official in the capital. He cultivates through the night, and feels refreshed after a single night. You've already reached the fetal breathing realm, and you only wake up when outsiders enter. If we had come to kill you, you wouldn't even know how you died."

"Furthermore, the Diming God belongs to the Underworld. While other Underworld officials are out and about at night, you're sleeping! How strange! It seems that guarding the temple has made you too comfortable!"

Tian Fengyu chuckled. "Your Excellency is right to chide me. This humble Daoist has been negligent, negligent! But although this humble Daoist is an Underworld god, I don't need to go out at night. I only need to guard the temple, so of course I must cultivate during the day, to improve myself as much as possible."

Luo Sigong looked at the temple priest's fawning expression. This was indeed a standard official, and didn't seem to have any problems. He looked at Jialing Hou again, but the Heavenly General also shook his head, indicating that the temple priest was fine, very normal, indeed a Daoist official in the bureaucracy, with nothing strange about him.

The strangest things in this temple now were those two statues, but the temple priest's explanation was also very reasonable.

The Baozhao Dharma Eyes were not surveillance cameras and could not have a replay function.

Luo Sigong said to Tian Fengyu, "Take us to the Yude Hall."

The temple priest Tian Fengyu naturally agreed. The group of Embroidered Uniform Guards and heavenly soldiers came to the Yude Hall, where the Great Emperor of Mount Tai and the Shuming Empress of Mount Tai were enshrined. This Empress was a deity first conferred by Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, each of the Five Great Emperors of the Mountains received an additional wife, all thanks to him.

Of course, these statues were built during the Yuan Dynasty, not something that existed during the Song Dynasty.

The Empress wore a phoenix coronet, embroidered robe, and a decorative scarf. There were two palace maiden statues on the sides, each holding a sun fan and a moon fan. In front, there were two young girl statues, one holding a mirror and the other holding a towel.

In the Yude Hall, candles were lit. At this dim hour of dawn, standing at the hall door and looking inside, the statues appeared even more majestic and mysterious. But for some reason, as a Heavenly General, he always felt that there was something inexplicably wrong with this hall.

Perhaps it was because the attributes of Heavenly Generals and Yin Gods were incompatible?

The thought flashed through Jialing Hou's mind for only a moment, and then he dismissed it himself. After all, he usually came into contact with many Underworld personnel at work, and there were also Underworld masters in the prison. He usually didn't feel anything strange.

"I always feel something is wrong. Commander, have you felt any discomfort?"

Luo Sigong looked inside the hall, then turned to look at the sky, and shook his head, "I don't feel anything unusual, but the appearances of these statues are somewhat similar to those of the temple priest's Daoist disciples."

Tian Fengyu smiled, "Of course, statues are modeled after people's faces, but they can't be carved to look exactly like people, that would be taboo, so they only bear some resemblance. If you walk around the temple, you'll always see people who look somewhat like some of the statues."

"Besides, there are only male Daoists here. As for the serving statues in the Yude Hall, only one is a young boy, the others are all maids. It's not a good thing to say that a man looks like a woman."

Jialing Hou's Dharma Eyes did not cease, sweeping over the surrounding statues. Although the young boy and maid statues couldn't enjoy much incense, they were also auxiliary offerings, so it was very normal for some floating incense ash to remain on them, which didn't arouse his interest.

Looking at the two main god statues again, the Baozhao Dharma Eyes shone with divine light. Both statues were very majestic, without any changes. The order of incense offering had not been reversed, and the condensed divine forms were complete, without the previous state of divine form separation seen in the other two statues.

The only problem he noticed was that the Great Emperor of Mount Tai's divine form seemed to be staring at the ground, rather than diagonally forward, his eyes looking drowsy, while the Shuming Empress of Mount Tai's gaze was raised slightly.

Was it a problem with the carving of the statues?

Jialing Hou frowned, but he couldn't find any abnormalities, so he could only return and report, and have people keep an eye on this place.

The eyes of the Shuming Empress of Mount Tai statue, this clay statue with a wooden core, actually rotated stiffly and strangely twice after the crowd left the Yude Hall, very quickly, and with obvious playful emotion!

And the eyes of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai were completely closed, and cracks began to appear on the paint of his face, with some dust falling off.

..........

Emperor Wanli and Ji Xiang and others did not enter, but remained watching at the door. Ji Xiang wanted to go in, but Emperor Wanli did not allow it. He was truly afraid that something would go wrong.

Of course, Ji Xiang was thinking that even if the Heavenly Gate General found out something was wrong, he wouldn't be able to deal with it, so it would be pointless for him to go in.

At this time, Jialing Hou and Luo Sigong, as well as the Dongyue Temple priest Tian Fengyu, came out together to pay their respects to Emperor Wanli.

"Have you found any abnormalities?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there are no abnormalities."

Jialing Hou said this, and then added, "But for the sake of Your Majesty's safety, you still shouldn't go in."

Emperor Wanli had originally planned to take a walk inside, but now that he heard Jialing Hou say this, he felt reassured.

It seemed that there were still abnormalities, but they couldn't be found, so it looked as if there were no abnormalities.

"Temple priest, have you received any strange pilgrims these past few days?"

"For example, members of the Huangtian Sect? Or any strange people shouting slogans like 'Perfect Enlightenment' or 'Karma Fire'?"

"And beautiful women, the very beautiful kind."

Emperor Wanli narrowed his eyes, with a dangerous glint. Tian Fengyu said in fear:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, absolutely not! The pilgrims who come here to offer incense mostly pray for longevity and blessings, hoping to reduce disasters and eliminate calamities. I really haven't seen any new faces these past few days."

"The most lively time for offering incense at the Dongyue Temple is on the third day of the third lunar month every year, which is the birthday of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai. But now it's June, and there aren't many people offering incense, so you can tell new and familiar faces at a glance."