232: Chapter 175: The Incense Trap 232: Chapter 175: The Incense Trap Zhou Xuan had arrived at Mingjiang Prefecture and hadn’t resud storytelling since.
Now, returning to his old craft, he didn’t find it tireso at all—on the contrary, he found it exhilarating.
Especially watching the audience engrossed in his tales, he felt an inexplicable joy.
“Guo Jing approached cautiously, and under the moonlight, he saw nine skulls.
Startled, he stamred, ‘The Black Wind Double Killers are here again…'”
“Bang!”
Zhou Xuan was just narrating the part where “Guo Jing, as an adult, once again encountered traces of i Chaofeng,” when he sensed sothing stirring in the Blood Well.
Within the blood-filled waves of the Divine Revelation Black Water, the Blood Well in Fei Yue rose, turbulent blood forming crimson waves that struck the Secret Realm with loud booms.
He paused his storytelling and clasped his hands in salute: “To find out what happens next, please tune in next ti!”
“Xiao Zhou, cut that crap.”
The harshest critic at first, Yun Ziliang, was now the first to object to Zhou Xuan stopping.
“Work’s calling.” Zhou Xuan chuckled, grabbed a snack, shoved it into his mouth, and took a sip of warm tea.
He said today’s storytelling was done due to pressing matters and promised to continue next ti.
“Besides, it’s already past alti.
Aren’t you hungry?
Go grab sothing to eat.”
“My treat, my treat.”
Si Yuer raised her hand high,
a wealthy heiress who spared no expense.
“You eat first; I have things to attend to and can’t join you.”
After clasping his hands in salute once more, Zhou Xuan headed upstairs.
Once he shut the door, he began inspecting his Divine Revelation Secret Realm.
“Why the sudden uproar?
Didn’t I just finish burning two inches of incense?”
Zhou Xuan focused his spirit and dove into the Secret Realm.
Inside the Secret Realm, he still carried the Lantern Bride on his back.
Suspended above his shoulder, the incense had burned to two inches and six.
He walked to the Blood Well that had risen in Fei Yue.
The Blood Well wobbled slightly, and an ancient voice echoed from within,
“Believer Li Chengfeng is trapped in confusion.
Requesting the High Priest’s Dharma Body for descent!”
“Oh?
Li Chengfeng is looking for ?”
As Zhou Xuan thought this, a projection of Li Chengfeng appeared in the Black Water.
Kneeling on both knees with a devout expression, Li Chengfeng was clearly visible to Zhou Xuan, along with his surroundings.
Simultaneously, Zhou Xuan noticed a blood-red umbilical cord connecting his own projection with Li Chengfeng’s.
“So, this is the conduit linking to the source?”
“Requesting the High Priest’s Dharma Body for descent!”
Li Chengfeng’s requests grew increasingly frequent.
“Is he asking for my descent?
How do I descend?”
As Zhou Xuan walked towards Li Chengfeng, halting half a ter away, the thod of descent ca to him instinctively.
It was seamless,
as if this harmony stemd from a primal connection between faith and its followers.
Zhou Xuan’s right hand first inscribed the character for “well” (井) on his forehead, then his left hand tapped Li Chengfeng’s brow.
The projection instantly shattered into thousands of light particles, enveloping Zhou Xuan.
Suddenly, a brilliant white light erupted.
When the light stabilized again, Zhou Xuan realized he was now in Li Chengfeng’s office.
“So, this is the descent of the Dharma Body?”
Zhou Xuan instinctively raised both hands, carefully examining his palms.
The lines were deep, the skin wrinkled.
“High Priest, stop staring.
This is my body.
Right now, I am simply your soul vessel.”
At that mont, Zhou Xuan felt profoundly shaken,
experiencing for the first ti what it was like to manifest as a “soul,” traversing kiloters to descend into another’s body.
It was a mysterious, fascinating sensation.
“With both our souls in one body, who controls it?”
“You, of course!”
“Once you descend into my body, its control is entirely yours.”
“Does every descent ritual work like this?” Zhou Xuan asked.
“Not always.”
Li Chengfeng explained, “It depends on the entity linked—whether it’s a god, an alien ghost, or an evil god.
Their strength determines how extraordinary the descent appears, and all of them need to grow.
The stronger the link, the more wondrous the descent.”
“I have a question: If gods, alien ghosts, and evil gods all require incense power to grow, as they ascend the incense levels and grow stronger, how are they different from mortals who practice underworld rituals?”
“From birth, gods, alien ghosts, and evil gods inherently possess the paths for burning one to nine sticks of incense!
Their path to incense ascension is incredibly smooth.
We mortals, on the other hand, rely on what they teach us.
After we reach the sixth incense level, going further becos exceedingly difficult because gods and alien ghosts perceive us as threats and stop teaching us the paths for the seventh, eighth, and ninth sticks!”
“They hold back knowledge, huh?”
“Gods and alien ghosts need the incense power of disciples to ascend to the Heavenly Do.
This is the only reason they teach us paths,
but, as research shows, not every god or alien ghost successfully enters the Heavenly Do.
The capacity of the Do is limited,
and the more beings with high incense levels, the fiercer the competition becos between gods and alien ghosts.
Withholding knowledge is one way they compete for a spot in the Do.”
Li Chengfeng continued, “However, there are exceptions.
So gods, feeling too weak to reach the Do alone, cultivate multiple mortals with high incense levels to form their power bases, helping them ascend.”
“Old Li, if gods and alien ghosts don’t reveal the paths beyond the sixth incense, are mortals incapable of discovering them on their own?”
“They can, but it requires exceptional talent and rare opportunities.
The paths, though held by gods and alien ghosts, were not created by them.
These paths exist inherently in the laws of the universe.
Gods and alien ghosts are simply born with the ability to perceive these laws…”
Li Chengfeng added, “For instance, not long ago, our Bone Elder Association’s magic artifacts detected soone in Ping Shui Prefecture comprehending the seventh incense.
That person must be extraordinarily gifted.”
“Could the person you ntioned possibly be… my master?”
“…” Li Chengfeng.
“High Priest, you actually have a master who’s reached the seventh incense?” Li Chengfeng was shocked, even a bit dejected.
Originally, Li Chengfeng had hoped to beco Zhou Xuan’s foremost Daoist Guardian, having just reached the sixth incense level himself.
But never did he imagine Zhou Xuan had such a powerful master backing him.
The hope of becoming the first Guardian was shattered.
“My master reached it by sheer luck.”
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, “His lineage always emphasized restraint.
Later, when he saw my domineering style, he approached storytelling with a bold flair, which led to his insight into the seventh incense.”
“High Priest, that’s no re coincidence—that’s transcending the incense traps laid by the gods.”
“They intentionally set traps while teaching the incense paths?
So gods can be this sinister?”
“Those gods and alien ghosts who reach the Heavenly Do—the God-level beings—fear losing their positions the most.
They bury incense traps in the teachings they pass to disciples,
these traps are subtle at lower incense levels but grow increasingly impactful at higher levels.
They limit incense-based thought patterns, making it exceptionally difficult to break free,
Take the storytellers’ ‘restraint’ thod.
The ancestor Bi Fang knew very well that ‘restraint’ couldn’t lead to higher incense levels, yet he buried the seed of restraint in his disciples’ incense thought, preventing them from finding the right path.”
Li Chengfeng explained.
Zhou Xuan recalled what Yuan Buyu had once said—storytellers hadn’t produced an “eighth incense” practitioner for 300 years.
By that logic, 300 years ago, there were storytellers who reached the eighth incense, possibly even the ninth, or ascended to the Heavenly Do to challenge Bi Fang’s divine position.
Bi Fang’s divine rank had been severely threatened, prompting him to implant thought traps in the incense ways of his disciples to prevent future “threats and challenges.”
“Lao Yuan, how fortunate for you to have accepted as a disciple; otherwise, you’d still be brooding for years to co.”
At this thought, Zhou Xuan felt a touch of pride.
However,
since “restraint” was a thought trap planted by Bi Fang, it likely wasn’t the only one.
The road to advancent for storytellers probably hid other undiscovered traps as well.
“Old Li, is there any path to ascension that involves neither withheld knowledge nor traps?”
“Yes, but no mortal can fully grasp it.
The Bone Elder Association has poured all its resources into uncovering fragnts of such paths, collectively called talismanic scripts.”
See how perfect this timing is?
“The talismanic scripts are overly complex and scattered across countless corners of the world.
Even if a few fragnts are obtained, they are usually incomplete and of little use!”
See how everything’s lining up?
I happen to have a way to gather them whole.
Using talismanic scripts combined with Blood Well Divination, could I compile a complete thod for ascending the heavens while standing tall?
Suddenly, Zhou Xuan thought he’d discovered a second golden opportunity, aside from tattoos, to rake in massive profits.
The vast collection of talismanic script fragnts he’d gather might be of little help for his own cultivation, but they’d be invaluable to the high-incense practitioners in the various Tangkou.
For instance, the fragnt about the “Five-Form Escape Art” he obtained today—selling it to Si Ming—that’d fetch an enormous fortune, wouldn’t it?
“From now on, my clients are all high-incense powerhouses.”
Zhou Xuan felt his financial future was bright.
The gods’ and alien ghosts’ secrecy had unwittingly created substantial business opportunities for him.
Not to ntion, the scripts he traded could yield more than money—they could even serve as paynt for assassinating soone.
“By the way, Old Li, why did you summon to this office?
What do you need my help with?”
Zhou Xuan asked.
Li Chengfeng promptly replied, “High Priest, a murder has taken place at the Weird Creature Research Institute under my jurisdiction!”
“What kind of murder?”
Zhou Xuan inquired.
Li Chengfeng recounted the events of last night.
After listening, Zhou Xuan summarized,
“Oh, so your student was killed, and ‘Hunger’ has vanished without a trace.”
“Correct.
Right now, the Blood Well Human Brain is the only possible lead, but it’s too terrified to give us any information.”
“Let take a look.”
Following Li Chengfeng’s instructions, Zhou Xuan left the office and headed for the research institute.
Because they shared the sa body, Zhou Xuan could communicate with Li Chengfeng through thoughts.
Upon entering the institute’s laboratory, Zhou Xuan walked forward,
and as he progressed, he had to squint his eyes.
The stench of blood was overwhelming, and fragnts of bodies were scattered everywhere—on his left, a finger joint, and on his right, another.
The scene was so grotesque that he nearly retched.
“Your student suffered a miserable fate—there’s not even a whole body left!”
“Sigh!”
Li Chengfeng let out another heavy sigh.
By this point, Zhou Xuan had made his way to the water tank and saw the Blood Well Human Brain cowering in a corner of the tank.
“So these are the four brains of a Blood Well Person?”
Zhou Xuan couldn’t help but feel a shared sense of sorrow and dread.
If not for his master’s sister’s protection, would his brain have ended up as part of so macabre instrunt?
“You people are vile, using our Blood Well Communicators’ brains as instrunts?”
“The ferocity of the Blood Well Communicator hunts from fifty or sixty years ago is truly terrifying.”
Li Chengfeng recalled the early hunts, his hands trembling with fear.
“Do they still produce Blood Well Human Brains in Jing Country nowadays?”
“Officially, it’s banned, but so fanatical gods and ghosts continue abducting Blood Well Communicators in secret, especially the Tangkou in Mingjiang Prefecture—’the Kidnappers’!”
“The Kidnappers have gone this far—why doesn’t your Bone Elder Association step in?”
“The Bone Elder Association, the City God, and the God Traveling Departnt have all been infiltrated by the Kidnappers.
As long as the Kidnappers don’t act too blatantly or harm the Association’s reputation, the Association turns a blind eye.” Li Chengfeng admitted, “I and a few other Bone Elders despise the Kidnappers to the core, but there’s nothing we can do.”
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