All Chapters of Apocalypse Temple: I Rebuilt the Underworld with Incense: Chapter 211 - Chapter 220

My father slept for eighteen hours.Aunt Lan checked his breathing every ten minutes and denied it when I noticed.When Lu Jianming finally woke, the first thing he said was, "Your mother always overcomplicated things."I laughed so hard I had to sit down.Then I cried, which was less dignified for a newly installed City God but probably healthy.The next trouble waited until everyone was tired before showing its teeth. In the First Gate, symbols had weight. It made the temple smaller, not larger, because every new rule had to fit inside a room full of frightened people. The ash-light pressed against every window while a dead radio marked the next turn of the case. Nothing about the Final Gate War felt clean. It felt like another emergency arriving before the last one had been wiped off the stones.My father reached for my hand.His palm was warm.That small fact nearly destroyed me."I remember pieces," he said. "Doors. Smoke. Your voice calling me a man. I held onto that.""You did

Lu Shen refused a funeral."I am an archive anchor," he said. "Funerals are for the socially available dead.""That is the worst sentence anyone in our family has ever said.""You have not read Father's tax letters."My father, from the doorway, said, "I heard that."The next trouble did not announce itself like prophecy. In the First Gate, symbols had weight. It made the temple smaller, not larger, because every new rule had to fit inside a room full of frightened people. The freeway dust pressed against every window while paper wings marked the next turn of the case. Nothing about the Final Gate War felt clean. It felt like another emergency arriving before the last one had been wiped off the stones.For a moment, the archive room held three Lu men and an amount of awkwardness not even apocalypse could burn away.Lu Shen looked at our father."You remember me?"My father's face folded."Seven minutes older," he whispered.The immediate problem was an official record that turned a pe

The Underworld Court opened for regular business at sunrise.Regular business included one murdered accountant, twelve lost grandmothers, a god of parking lots who insisted he had been misclassified, and a ghost cat that everyone denied seeing because the court had no animal jurisdiction.Judge Xue blamed me for the cat.The next trouble waited until everyone was tired before showing its teeth. In the First Gate, symbols had weight. It made the temple smaller, not larger, because every new rule had to fit inside a room full of frightened people. The black rain pressed against every window while a temple bell marked the next turn of the case. Nothing about the Final Gate War felt clean. It felt like another emergency arriving before the last one had been wiped off the stones.Aunt Lan fed it.The office became real by becoming inconvenient.Survivors brought petitions written on cardboard. Ghosts brought grudges tied in red string. Minor gods brought excuses. Zhao Feng brought three lo

The divine audit began with attendance.Half the gods tried to send proxies.Zhao Feng arrested the proxies.By noon, the rooftops were full again.Ava ran the questioning with a stack of files, three ghost clerks, and a calm expression that made minor deities sweat incense.The next trouble did not announce itself like prophecy. In the First Gate, symbols had weight. It made the temple smaller, not larger, because every new rule had to fit inside a room full of frightened people. The cold incense smoke pressed against every window while wet footsteps marked the next turn of the case. Nothing about the Final Gate War felt clean. It felt like another emergency arriving before the last one had been wiped off the stones."Prayer response logs," she said.The bell-crowned god coughed. "Records were lost during the withdrawal."Lu Shen dropped seventeen scrolls onto the table."Recovered."Ava smiled politely.The immediate problem was a ghost who remembered the wound but not the name. The

The phrase branch court hit my family like a second apocalypse.My father stared at the red case."Impossible."Lu Shen's archive shelves began opening so fast papers flew like startled birds."Not impossible," he said. "Suppressed."My mother, still under custody, closed her eyes.The next trouble waited until everyone was tired before showing its teeth. In the First Gate, symbols had weight. It made the temple smaller, not larger, because every new rule had to fit inside a room full of frightened people. The blue altar fire pressed against every window while a court tablet striking wood marked the next turn of the case. Nothing about the Final Gate War felt clean. It felt like another emergency arriving before the last one had been wiped off the stones.I looked at her."You knew.""I suspected.""Mother."She flinched at the title."Your grandfather had brothers. Not all crossed the same ocean. Not all guarded the same name. When the gods withdrew, branch temples either died, hid,