Many years ago, there was a king who undertook the construction of palaces and temples. To show his sincerity, he personally inscribed the plaques for every palace and every hall. But when it came to writing “Juyang Hall,” for some unknown reason, he wrote “Juyang Hall” with a different character.

This immediately troubled the officials in charge of the construction. They couldn’t figure out whether His Majesty had changed it on purpose, or if it was just a careless mistake. If it was intentional, why didn’t he issue a clear decree saying he wanted it changed? If it wasn’t intentional, how could he make such a basic error? He couldn’t very well say, “Your Majesty, you made a mistake”—who knew if the emperor would take that as an insult to his carelessness, a hint at his lack of knowledge, or a suggestion that his sincerity was lacking? And this was, after all, the emperor’s own calligraphy—if they didn’t use it, would it have to be discarded?

The hardest thing in the world to fathom is the will of a sage. The officials were in great distress, and after much deliberation, decided it was better to wrong the True Lord of Juyang than to wrong His Majesty.

It must be said, they made the right choice. When His Majesty noticed that “Juyang” had become “Juyang,” he showed no other reaction. He simply summoned a group of scholars, who pored over ancient texts and produced countless minute justifications, writing many essays to prove that it was always supposed to be “Juyang,” and that “Juyang” was the incorrect form. In short, overnight, every “Juyang Hall” in the country became “Juyang Hall.”

Thomas, whose divine title had been inexplicably changed, only learned of this more than ten years later. He basically never paid much attention to the signboard of his own temple, but one day he suddenly felt quite depressed—why did it seem like there were so many women coming to worship at his temple, all of them blushing and shy, and what on earth were they praying for when they offered incense?!

After figuring out what was going on, he rushed to the peak of the Ninth Heaven and, facing the blazing sun and vast sky, unleashed a torrent of curses.

All the other divine officials were stunned by him.

But after venting, there was nothing he could do. If they wanted to worship, let them worship—he couldn’t very well go against these devout women, so he gritted his teeth and endured it for many years. It wasn’t until “Juyang” was changed again by a proper and upright king who thought the whole thing was utterly improper, this time to “Nanyang,” that people still didn’t forget that, aside from being a martial god, he could also bestow other blessings. However, everyone maintained a tacit understanding: absolutely never use those two characters to refer to him. At the same time, they all agreed on one thing: how should one evaluate the True Lord of Nanyang? In a word: good!

As long as you don’t let him start cursing, everything is fine!

Over there, George’s face was already as black as the bottom of an old pot, while here Emma was suddenly inspired to recite, genteelly: “Friend of women, strongest in granting children. Secret recipe for virility, Nanyang the child-giver. Ahahaha, ahahaha, ahahahahahaha…”

William Carter kindly held back his laughter, giving Nanyang a bit of face in front of his own statue. George, on the other hand, flew into a rage: “Stop with your sarcastic nonsense! If you’re really so bored, go sweep the floor!”

At these words, Emma’s face also darkened instantly. If the people of Nanyang Hall couldn’t stand hearing those two words, then those of Xuanzhen Hall couldn’t stand hearing the word “sweep.” Because when Alice worked as a menial at the Royal Supreme Temple, he spent his days serving tea, fetching water, sweeping the floor, and making beds for His Highness the Crown Prince William Carter. One day, William Carter saw him sweeping while silently reciting cultivation mantras, and was moved by his diligence and perseverance in adversity, so he pleaded with the national preceptor to accept him as a disciple. How to view this matter? It could be seen as either a disgrace or a tale of inspiration, depending on the person involved. Clearly, the person involved saw it as the shame of his life, because both Alice and his martial subordinates would immediately fall out with anyone who mentioned it. Sure enough, Emma steadied himself, glanced at the innocent William Carter beside him, and sneered, “Hearing you talk, one would think everyone in Nanyang Hall is always standing up for His Highness the Crown Prince.”

George sneered back, “Your general is truly ungrateful—what’s there to say?”

“Uh…” William Carter was about to interject when Emma burst out laughing: “Your general is just the pot calling the kettle black—what right do you have to point fingers?”

“…” Hearing them use him as a club to bash the other’s superior, William Carter finally couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Wait, wait. Stop, stop.”

Naturally, no one paid him any mind, and they even started fighting. No one knew who threw the first punch, but the offering table was split in two, and the fruit plates rolled all over the floor. Seeing that he couldn’t break up the fight, William Carter sat in the corner, sighed “What a mess,” picked up a little steamed bun that had rolled to his feet, brushed off the skin, and was about to eat it when George caught sight of him and immediately slapped it out of his hand: “Don’t eat that!”

Emma also stopped fighting, exclaiming in shock and disgust, “It’s covered in dust and you can still eat it?!”

William Carter took the opportunity to make a gesture and said, “Stop, stop, stop. I have something to say.”

He separated the two of them and said kindly, “First, the Crown Prince you keep talking about is me. If I haven’t said anything, you two shouldn’t use me as a weapon to attack each other.” He paused, then added, “I don’t think either of your generals would act like this. You’re both being improper—where does that leave their dignity?”

At these words, both of their expressions became a bit complicated. William Carter continued, “Second, you’re here to assist me, right? So are you supposed to listen to me, or am I supposed to listen to you?”

After a moment, the two finally replied, “We’ll listen to you.”