Chapter 32: Welcoming the Light "Mom!" The old craftsman who was working on the project suddenly screamed. Jiang Lin and others also looked over. As the chisel fell, the lapis lazuli was shaved off like tofu, and the cut was extremely smooth. "Is this still stone? Why is it softer than tofu?" The old craftsman touched it in disbelief, then knocked it with his hand. The hard and cold feeling told him that this was the stone he had been dealing with all his life. But the blow of the chisel just now was not fake. It really was like tofu, with a piece of it being cut off directly. Jiang Lin and the old Dragon King looked at each other, and the latter shook his head slightly. The spell of making stone as soft as butter is not some profound magical power. Not to mention the old Dragon King who has practiced for three thousand years, even for Jiang Lin, it would only take a blink of an eye to learn it.

But the lapis lazuli in front of us is to be used to make a statue of Wang Lingguan, and using magic would not be beautiful. But this is what Jiang Lin is seeing now. "There's nothing wrong with the stone." The old Dragon King met Jiang Lin's inquiring gaze and said softly, "I didn't detect any fluctuations in mana either." Jiang Lin also moved closer and said softly, "There is no way anything could cause trouble inside the Taoist temple." After the two of them finished talking, they looked at each other and then simultaneously looked at the stone depicting the simple and crude image of Wang Lingguan. "Master, what you mean is..." The old Dragon King secretly signaled to the main hall. Jiang Lin shook his head and said, "No, Master Emperor, I didn't sense the energy." "That is……" The old Dragon King pointed to the crudely painted image of Wang Lingguan on the stone. "It's almost the same." Jiang Lin nodded. Now he finally understood why the Emperor had issued an imperial decree and asked him to build the statue of Lingguan first. It turns out that there really is a spiritual god watching over us! "Could it be, could it be..." The old craftsman trembled, knelt down in front of the stone, and kowtowed continuously. "Is it Grandpa Lingguan who appeared?!!" As soon as these words were spoken, all the craftsmen knelt on the ground and kowtowed one by one.

Jiang Lin and the old Dragon King looked at each other. Unexpectedly, these craftsmen had guessed the most likely answer by accident. "Everyone, since the Spirit Official has appeared, we should build a statue first, so as not to delay it for too long and cause the spiritual energy to escape." Jiang Lin said in a soft voice. "That's right, Taoist priest!" The old craftsman stood up and said, "Brothers, the spirit official has appeared. There must be no mistakes in this statue. If anyone makes a mistake due to trembling hands, I will not forgive him!" All the craftsmen responded in agreement. Jiang Lin smiled and said, "Please trouble everyone. When the statue is completed, I will lead you all to burn the first incense stick." Hearing this, the craftsmen became even more excited. Each of them is full of energy, but their actions are as steady and cautious as a rock. The most difficult part in sculpting a stone statue is that the stone is hard and difficult to cut. After chiseling out a rough sample, it even needs to be polished a little bit before it can finally take shape. This is a completely slow process. But it’s different now. As long as the tool is used to cut the stone, it can be cut into a piece, and the cut is extremely smooth. In this way, the construction period can be greatly shortened. These craftsmen did not sleep at night. They gathered their energy, lit candles, and spent the whole night to complete the rough shape of the product. The next morning, the old Dragon King sent people to buy three trays of steamed buns filled with pure meat, each of which was so fat and juicy. The craftsmen also ate with gusto. After eating and drinking, the craftsmen took a short rest to ensure that they were at their most energetic before starting the final polishing and shaping. In fact, there is no need to grind it, just shave off the rough and excess stone. But it was this step that took the craftsmen a whole day to complete due to their pursuit of perfection. It was not until the evening that the old craftsman wiped his sweat. His hands were shaking a little, but his eyes were surprisingly bright. This is a statue of a miraculous god. He has been carving statues of gods and Buddhas for his entire life, but this is the first time he has seen one. He would feel sorry for himself if he didn't use all his best skills. After working most of the night, the craftsmen finally stopped working after carefully drawing the colorful patterns. "Master, our work is done now." The old craftsman stood in front of Jiang Lin and asked with some expectation: "I wonder when you are going to welcome the statue of the Spiritual Official into the room?" The so-called welcoming the light into the room, as the name suggests, means welcoming the statue into the shrine after it has been consecrated, but that is the last step of the whole process. "This statue is a guardian deity at the gate. It faces the light but does not enter the room. Just put it here. Put a large incense burner in front of it. It will serve as a shrine." Jiang Lin said with a smile. Lord Lingguan is guarding the Tongming Hall in the Heavenly Palace, and further inside is the Lingxiao Hall of the Jade Emperor.

The weight of the responsibility is evident from this. In Jiang Lin's Taoist temple, the statue of Lingguan Ye also does the same job. It’s just that guarding the Jade Emperor has changed to guarding the Purple Star Emperor. Strictly speaking, this is somewhat against the rules, but since there is an order from the Emperor, Jiang Lin naturally has no taboos. What's more, when Jiang Lin was still an infant, there was a portrait of Lord Lingguan at the door of his own Taoist temple. If we talk about violating the rules, it was done when Master was the abbot, or even earlier. Jiang Lin doesn't care about these things now. "Good good." The old craftsman nodded and asked, "Then, what auspicious time did you choose?" Jiang Lin counted on his fingers and said, "Today, at 7:00 ., we will open the altar and welcome the spiritual officer!" "There is still some time left. You guys should take a nap first. When you wake up, please follow me to burn incense." "No need to." The old craftsman shook his head and said, "We have already discussed it. Since we are the first to incense, we must be pious. I wonder if the chief will allow us to sit quietly aside?" "Naturally." Jiang Lin nodded happily and said, "I'll make the arrangements." After saying that, he looked at the old Dragon King and Ao Run behind him and said with a smile, "I wonder if I would be honored to invite you two to watch the ceremony?" "What did the Taoist priest say?" The old Dragon King laughed and said, "Even if the Taoist priest doesn't tell me, I will shamelessly stay with Run'er to watch the ceremony." "Infinite Heavenly Lord." Jiang Lin nodded with a smile, and then said: "The two of you wait a moment, it's only morning." Time passes little by little. The so-called Chen time is from seven to nine in the morning. The twelve zodiac signs belong to the dragon, and the heavenly stem is Jia, which is the aspect of Jiachen, and is also called Shaoyang. It represents the growth of all things, which implicitly reflects the fact that gods care for the vitality of all things. Time passes little by little. Jiang Lin also set up an altar in front of the statue of Lingguan Ye. After setting up the altar, Jiang Lin began to prepare cinnabar. To consecrate a statue of a deity, one of the steps is called "applying cinnabar".

This cinnabar is not just cinnabar, it has to be mixed with other things. It is mainly composed of 70% cinnabar and 10% kaoliang wine, which implies the country's welfare. One point of red ink is a sign of divine majesty. There is also one point of old peach tree powder, which is more particular. Generally speaking, parts of peach trees are taken from different places and ground into powder according to the different duties of the gods. If it is a celestial being, the top branch of a peach tree is the best. If it is a local god, such as the City God, the River God, or the Land God, or a great deity in the world, such as Guan Erye, the trunk of a peach tree is the best. If it is a Yin spirit, peach root is naturally the best. However, the method Jiang Lin used this time was a little special. Taoism generally uses peach trees, with peach wood struck by lightning being the best choice, and the next best choice is jujube wood struck by lightning. It can be used to consecrate statues of gods, but wood struck by lightning is generally not used. After all, the shock of thunder may disturb the gods. But Wang Lingguan is different. He is a thunder general himself, and even the chief of the thunder generals, “Taiyi Leishengyinghuazun”. Therefore, using lightning to strike peach wood actually brings out the best in the other. After preparing the cinnabar, Jiang Lin looked up at the sky. Dawn breaks and the red sun rises. It’s Chen time, it’s here. The author asked professionals about the process of consecrating the statues, but did not follow the actual process completely. He included some tricks, six parts true and four parts false. You can just watch it for fun.   (End of this chapter)