Chapter 1

Yue Heng followed the crowd into the temple hall, bypassing an inner courtyard gate. Looking around, he saw a throng of people, incense smoke swirling, and a cacophony of noise. He was immediately dumbfounded.

In front of him, the main altar was adorned with dozens of gilded statues.

The largest statue, positioned in the center, was the most lifelike. It had a head adorned with long hair, a long robe, and stood on a giant turtle shell. In its left hand, it held a disc, and its right hand pointed to the sky. Its face was wise and serene, with eyes that seemed to hold great wisdom.

Yue Heng guessed that this must be the chief deity of the Wen Temple, the Great Emperor Fuxi. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been carved with such intricate detail, even the long hair and the symbols on the turtle shell were clearly visible.

The dozen or so statues on either side of Fuxi also had various postures, arranged around Fuxi's disc.

Yue Heng speculated that if the books were correct, these must be figures like King Wen of Zhou, Qu Yuan, Confucius, Mencius, and others. The deeper he went, the more statues there were, and he couldn't see the end. So many people crowded into the same Wen Temple to receive offerings, which he found hard to accept.

"Look at that fool, only bringing three incense sticks to the Wen Temple. He won't pass the spring exam for sure!" A few literati, each holding a large bundle of incense, passed by and glanced at Yue Heng, noticing his nearly empty hands. They all mocked him.

Yue Heng looked down at the three incense sticks in his hand and angrily cursed, "What's wrong with this place! How can a Wen Temple have over forty deities to worship at the same time? I've been to the Confucius Temple and Qu Yuan Shrine on Earth, and they only worship one person. This Zhongyuan world is really messed up, truly bizarre!"

He had been in this world for less than five hours. The body he now inhabited belonged to a poor and sickly young man, on the verge of death. His soul had crossed over in the early morning, and it took him a while to integrate the previous owner's memories.

Having lived two lives, Yue Heng sighed and reflected for a long time. The past belonged to the previous owner, and the future was his to create. From the memories, he knew that he must pass the spring exam in two days, and today he had to worship this bizarre Wen Temple.

Not only was the Wen Temple itself bizarre, but the behavior of the literati offering incense was also extremely strange.

In front of him, a well-dressed young man was surrounded by eight bodyguards to keep the crowd at bay. Behind him were servants carrying wooden boxes and lighting incense. After worshiping the Great Emperor Fuxi, the bodyguards drove away the other worshipers in front of the statue of King Wen of Zhou, and he continued to worship each statue one by one, as if the Wen Temple were built for him alone, showing extreme arrogance.

To the right, a group of eight or nine literati in dark green robes gathered together. One of them held a peachwood staff with a bell hanging from it, while the others held hands in a circle, chanting and dancing in a horse-riding dance. After finishing the dance, they all knelt before the statue and offered incense, then moved to the next statue and repeated the process, their behavior was very strange.

Next to the large incense burner in the main hall, a scholar was banging his head against the burner, producing a dull thud in the noisy environment. Yue Heng noticed that his forehead was swollen and bleeding. Each time he hit the burner, Yue Heng's heart skipped a beat, and he shrank back, drawing a sharp breath. Every time he heard the thud, he felt a physical pain, and he guessed that if the scholar continued, he would surely faint.

Sure enough, the scholar shook his head, rolled his eyes, and fell backward with a thud. No one bothered to help him; instead, they rushed to grab the incense burner.

The person who finally got it looked smug, glancing around triumphantly and raising his chin provocatively. The others waved their sleeves in anger, cursing. This person grinned, tilted his head back, and hit the burner again, producing another dull thud.

"Bodyguards for incense, dancing for the gods, and banging heads on the incense burner... Is there anyone normal in this world?"

Yue Heng stood there, lost in thought, when he felt something tugging at his foot. He looked down and was startled.

A dirty, disheveled man with black, mud-covered hands and a tattered shirt, with a bamboo tube tied to his neck containing a large bundle of incense, weakly called out, "You're... blocking... the way..."

Oh no!

Yue Heng hurriedly jumped to the side, wondering what was going on.

What was going on?

Can anyone enter the Wen Temple? What was this person's situation? Even beggars come to offer incense?

Unfortunately, after saying these three words, the man seemed to have exhausted all his strength, rolled his eyes, and fainted.

Two temple monks quickly appeared, using their staffs to lift the man with precision, as if they had done it a thousand times. They placed him in a corner where several other similarly miserable people lay, some dead, some alive. Yue Heng watched, his heart racing.

"Ah, not sincere enough! Trying to learn 'prostration' and 'kneeling long head,' but not doing it properly!"

"Back in the day, Chen Dafu knelt and crawled for three hundred miles, his arms worn to the bone, and lost four pounds of flesh from his waist and abdomen. His sincere heart moved the gods, and he became the top scholar in the spring exam. From then on, he had a smooth career, becoming a second-level student in two years, a third-level scholar in three years, a fourth-level literatus in seven years, and after ten years of fighting in the demon beast mountains, he became a fifth-level literatus. At nearly sixty, he held the position of a sixth-level auxiliary hall, the fastest in our Chu Kingdom, a model for literati!"

"Exactly, as Mencius said, 'Heaven will impose great tasks on a person, first by making his mind suffer, and by weakening his bones and muscles!' Look at this young man, with his smooth skin and padded knees with demon beast skin. He must not have even crawled for three miles!"

"Indeed, the facts prove that cheating doesn't work. The gods see everything, so this young man's efforts were in vain, and he fainted in front of the hall!"

The literati laughed, showing disdain. Seeing their unconscious colleague, they had no sympathy, but instead pointed out where he had gone wrong and discussed the correct way to kneel and bow.

"Is this three steps and a bow also a valid method for worshiping the deities in the Wen Temple? And as fellow students, they not only lack mutual support but also mock and ridicule each other. Is this really good?"

Yue Heng was confused. Turning back, he saw more "corpses" crawling in from behind the temple door, struggling to move forward.

"This world really has no normal people! Forget it, forget it, the spring exam is in two days. I'll just have to make a last-minute effort today. Everyone else is doing it, so I can't fall behind!"

Yue Heng said angrily, but holding the three incense sticks, he was at a loss.

Who should he worship?

Actually, before entering the Wen Temple, the incense vendor had strangely asked if he was sure about buying only three incense sticks. His lack of money was also a reason for his current awkward situation.

Should he just offer incense to the chief deity? But if he only worships the Great Emperor Fuxi, what about the others?

King Wen of Zhou, Confucius, Mencius, and Qu Yuan were all formidable figures, renowned for their literary achievements, and their works were studied by scholars. He couldn't afford to offend any of them.

The *Wen Zong Ji* said that after the first year of the Divine Punishment, these dozens of figures in the Wen Temple became the faith of literati, controlling the literary fortune of heaven and earth. To activate the divine palace within, literati must rely on the guidance of the Great Emperor Fuxi's stars. To cultivate literary symbols, they must read a large amount of the classics of the *Wen Zong Ji*.

There are gods in heaven, and favoring one over another would only harm one's cultivation. Worshiping the Wen Temple is a place to test the sincerity of all literati, and no one can fake it.

Should he go back and buy more incense?

Going back was even worse. The *Wen Zong Ji* also said that once you worship the Great Emperor Fuxi, you must believe in the gods for life. Leaving the Wen Temple after entering would be disrespectful to the deities, leading to bad luck, a tarnished literary heart, and in severe cases, a shattered divine palace and death from spitting out several ounces of blood. There were many such examples in the classics!

Yue Heng came to worship the Wen Temple to adapt to the environment, but as a newcomer, he didn't know the proper etiquette, which led to this big joke. He was really worried!

"Sir, I see you have a clear face and a unique bone structure..."

Yue Heng was annoyed and was about to turn around to scold the person, but he saw a large bundle of incense and candles, and the word "roll" was swallowed back. He was overjoyed at the sight of the incense and candles.

A middle-aged man with a melon-shaped hat, wearing a black robe, with two beady eyes, a shrewd face, and a lecherous expression, smiled and extended the bundle of incense and candles. His yellow teeth showed when he smiled, and he winked, asking, "Sir, do you not have enough incense?"

"Exactly!"

Yue Heng nodded repeatedly but quickly became wary. He didn't trust anyone in this new world. "So what?"

"Then these are a gift for you, sir!"

The beady-eyed man generously pushed the incense and candles into Yue Heng's hands, smiling and licking his lips, then rubbed his hands, looking at Yue Heng as if he were something valuable, his lecherous expression evident.

Yue Heng was highly alert and hesitated, asking, "How much silver?"

The beady-eyed man squinted even more. "Not a penny!"

Yue Heng didn't believe such a good thing could happen and asked, "You're not going to teach me the *Buddha Palm* or say I'm a good martial arts material?"

The beady-eyed man chuckled. "No, sir, you're joking. You are a literatus, and this is a Wen Temple. How can a literatus practice martial arts?"

Yue Heng scratched his head. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this Zhongyuan world. The locals and Earthlings weren't much different. From the beady-eyed man's expression, he knew there must be a catch. He didn't want to fall into a trap without understanding the situation, especially since he had only been in this world for two days and knew nothing.

"No!"

Yue Heng pushed the incense and candles back, pretending to leave but keeping an eye on the beady-eyed man's expression.

The beady-eyed man was not flustered but smiled even more. He blocked Yue Heng's path, grinning and said, "Sir, please wait. I truly give you the incense and candles for free, and I also offer you a free two-night stay at the Drunken Immortal Tower during the spring exam. Don't worry, I am the innkeeper of the Drunken Immortal Tower, and I love to make friends with talented literati like you. I admire literati the most!"

Yue Heng looked the beady-eyed man up and down, guessing his intentions.

"Sir, don't be picky. These incense and candles and the room card are a token of my sincerity. With the Great Emperor Fuxi above and the clear sky as a witness! Take them, all of them are yours. I will invite you to a banquet at the Drunken Immortal Tower tomorrow night, see you there!"

The beady-eyed man smiled and pushed the incense and room card back into Yue Heng's arms, bowing respectfully and backing away, saying goodbye, then turned and left.

Yue Heng saw the beady-eyed man quickly approach a few other literati, who looked equally helpless, and took out more incense and room cards. He looked at the items in his hands, thought for a moment, and smiled. He had a good idea why the beady-eyed innkeeper was trying to curry favor with him.

---

Yue Heng saw the beady-eyed man quickly approach a few other literati, who looked equally helpless, and took out more incense and room cards. He looked at the items in his hands, thought for a moment, and smiled. He had a good idea why the beady-eyed innkeeper was trying to curry favor with him.