Chapter 119 - 112: Sacrifice of Four Incense Sticks

Chapter 119: Chapter 112: Sacrifice of Four Incense Sticks"Teacher Jing, you said you’ve seen your past and future self in the Blood Well, but have you ever seen anything else strange?" Zhou Xuan brought up the question once more. This question was not only on his mind but on everyone else’s as well. However, this time Jing Deng didn’t share, saying, "I haven’t gone deep into the Blood Well, haven’t seen much of the secrets, well, let’s return the topic to our daily lives, recently, members in Mingjiang Prefecture have been living especially hard lives. I can’t help you much, I can only share some tactics on avoiding being tracked and investigated..." Then Jing Deng clearly explained the details of how to live carefully and cautiously. In Zhou Xuan’s ears, it even seemed as if members of the Blood Well Society were all fugitives, living with constant vigilance, ready to tuck their tails at the slightest commotion. Just this point, he found it very strange... The Blood Well Spirit Communicators are not ordinary people, with naturally strong perception, even if they don’t engage with spirits or worship gods, they still have distinct talents, so why think only of evasion every day? The member who encouraged moving houses brought up the same question, "Why don’t the members in Mingjiang Prefecture dare to resist?" "The kidnapper’s Alien Ghost Food Heaven is nearly at Six Incense, I’m no match for him!" Zhimajiang said. "What about us?" the member continued asking. "Us?" Zhimajiang seemed to have no concept of "us" in their heart. "Even if it doesn’t have Six Incense, so what? Would we be afraid if we all combined forces against his Six Incense? We, the Blood Well Spirit Communicators, have unique talents, and if we engage with spirits and worship gods, our progress would be rapid. I’ve cultivated for just three years and am almost at Four Pillars, I believe my Incense Fire Level is just average within the gathering. Dozens of us with Four Pillars and above, can’t we come up with a way to take down the Food Heaven?" Zhou Xuan admired this member’s encouragement of resistance, but he had a fleeting moment of bewilderment, *Would there really be such forthright members in the cautious and discreet Blood Well Gathering?* *Daring to disclose her own cultivation progress was almost akin to showing all her cards.* *Was she genuinely straightforward and candid, or was she bait placed by someone with ulterior motives?* "You’re new here, right? What’s your name?" "I’m Yu Zhaixing, indeed new here. I don’t really understand what you mean by Blood Well Divination." "Yu Zhaixing, if I asked for your help, would you meet me in real life?" Zhimajiang asked. "I would." Yu Zhaixing said. "But I wouldn’t. To be honest, I don’t trust you, nor do I trust anyone in the gathering. No offense meant, but I don’t know if there are any ill-intentioned people among the members." "It’s not about offense. In fact, I think the same way." "I feel that there are even people in the gathering who aren’t Blood Well Spirit Communicators." "And even if they were all Blood Well Spirit Communicators, so what? There would still be spies. I’d rather sneak around all my life than be tricked into a cage to be slaughtered like a dog." Nearly all the members supported Zhimajiang’s idea. "Then go on being bugs, crawling out one by one, only to be stomped to death by those kidnappers," Yu Zhaixing’s tone had a touch of "frustration and anger," while her content was relatively restrained, her tone however crackled and snapped like firecrackers. In her anger, she couldn’t suppress her resentment any longer and straightforwardly cut off the gathering’s connection... Causing Jing Deng to let out a gentle sigh, while the rest of the gathering members began discussing how to evade the kidnapper’s mad dog-like searches again, with no one actually taking in Yu Zhaixing’s words. Zhou Xuan could understand why they didn’t take to heart the suggestion of resistance, after all, the kidnapper had allied with numerous Tangkou, boasting both numbers and resources, and with no genuine trust formed among Blood Well members, all were individuals alone, understandably hesitant to confront them directly. But, listening to these people’s conversations, they seemed too cowardly. The kidnapper’s masters were one thing, but sometimes, even when they knew they were being targeted by a little kidnapper of one or two incense, they only dared use their strong spiritual perception to shake them off, not daring to directly confront them, they were even complacently proud of their ingenious methods to shake off their pursuers and eagerly shared their techniques with the gathering, speaking exuberantly... "The Blood Well Society was originally a pack of wolves, but they’ve gotten so used to being dogs that they’ve forgotten they’re wolves, and now they’re chased down the street by a bunch of rats, needing someone to truly awaken them." Zhou Xuan thought to himself. ... Just as he disconnected from the Blood Well Society, Zhou Xuan heard a loud snore like thunder. Turning his head, he saw Yuan Buyu had fallen into a deep sleep at some point, lying on Zhou Xuan’s bed, drooling while snoring. "Lao Yuan, I called you to supervise my Dream Generation, and here you are, fast asleep." Zhou Xuan didn’t wake Yuan Buyu, but instead covered him with a blanket, then took a spare set of bedding from the wardrobe, found an empty dormitory, set it all up, and brought a chair in to begin the Divination. According to Jing Deng, sacrifices could enhance the specificity of the divination direction, but how many incense would be needed for the divination sacrifices, Zhou Xuan guessed would depend on the difficulty of the divination. "First perform a divination, and if the result is truly difficult to discern, then I’ll ask the Blood Well what level of sacrifice is needed." Using a person as a sacrifice, especially someone with the Incense Fire Level, whether a Divine Person or Ghost, Zhou Xuan thought this needed careful consideration. If he ended up bringing a Divine Person or Ghost of one or two incense, and it turned out not enough as a sacrifice, it would be wasted effort. Higher than that are the masters of three incense or four incense, and obtaining such sacrifices isn’t a matter of just three or four days. He closed the door, took out a diary from his chest pocket, sat in the corner, and closed his eyes, meditating on the Blood Well. The Blood Well was almost like his second secret realm, and although it showed signs of merging with the Divine Revelation Secret Realm, his recent attempts proved he couldn’t connect with the Blood Well within the Divine Revelation Secret Realm. He still had to enter the secret realm the old-fashioned way. The first time he attempted to enter the Blood Well Secret Realm, it was quite laborious. But today, he entered smoothly—meditating on the Blood Well, the image of the Blood Well quickly formed in his mind, the diary in his hand moved without wind, and then he found himself inside the secret realm. The whole process, seamless. The Blood Well Secret Realm had already opened to him, the ancient temple no longer used heavy snow to obscure the countless eyes on the wall. Zhou Xuan stood beside the eyes on the wall, first gazing at his own hands. His hands were empty, without the diary. "Meditating with the diary in hand, still can’t bring it into the Blood Well Secret Realm. It seems, I’ll have to wait for the next divination to ask about how to use the Blood Well Diary." This opportunity for divination must be reserved for "how tattoos amass incense." Zhou Xuan gazed at the innumerable eyes on the wall, repeatedly posing his deepest divination query from the bottom of his heart. The eyes sensed Zhou Xuan’s thoughts, and innumerable eyes began to look in all directions. Their profound gazes seemed to be endlessly scanning through time and space, searching for the ultimate answer in the ethereal. Finally, the eyes on the wall simultaneously trembled, then almost all of them closed, leaving only one old eye open, locking gaze with Zhou Xuan. Zhou Xuan saw a scene unfold. The perspective from above, like a bird flying high over a certain state, took in the entire geography of the state. "Which prefecture is this?" Zhou Xuan carefully analyzed the scene—a large river split the state into two parts, skyscrapers abounded, the economy was booming, yet despite being late at night, the neon lights shone brightly. "Mingjiang Prefecture!" After arriving in Jing Country, Zhou Xuan had often read newspapers and saw introductions of Mingjiang Prefecture—a bustling prefecture bisected by a river, split into Mingdong and Mingxi, leaving a deep impression on him. "I need to go to Mingjiang Prefecture to amass incense!? But Mingjiang Prefecture is vast, and this divination info is still very broad." Mingjiang Prefecture was nearly three times the size of Ping Shui Prefecture, and this guidance to go to Mingjiang Prefecture, turned the task of finding a way to amass incense through tattoos from "finding a needle in a haystack" to "finding a needle in Mingjiang," though the scope shrunk, the difficulty remained the same. No matter what, whether fishing in the sea or in a river, the result was the same. Zhou Xuan remembered using Divine Persons or Ghosts as sacrifices could make the divination result more specific. He decided to first use perception to communicate with the Blood Well and clarify exactly how many incense sacrifices would make the result more specific. "Sigh, if communication is possible, does it mean... I can negotiate about sacrifices with the Blood Well?" Zhou Xuan had a "bold" idea in his mind. "I’m willing to provide sacrifices, but..." Zhou Xuan sowed the idea of credit in his mind. The Blood Well understood his intent, and then, an eerie laughter resounded in the secret realm. The laughter was neutral, indistinguishable between male or female, with the laughter, the stone walls of the temple and the Blood Well began to tremble, and the Blood Well Secret Realm began to snow. Snowflakes on the ground outlined two words—seven, four! Zhou Xuan deciphered the Blood Well’s guidance. "Since it’s credit, seven surely refers to within seven days, and four must be the incense level, getting a four incense soul to serve as the sacrifice..." He naturally didn’t think the Blood Well wanted a seven incense master as a sacrifice—how many seven incense masters were there in Ping Shui Prefecture? But four incense wasn’t low either. The Blood Well seemed a bit greedy, requesting a four incense sacrifice just to make the divination more specific. What level is a four incense? The kidnapper’s Dog King himself was four incense. "But it’s not impossible to obtain..." Zhou Xuan mumbled. Learning how to amass incense through tattoos required going to Mingjiang Prefecture. Mingjiang Prefecture was currently under the kidnapper’s control. "Last time the kidnapper wanted to settle scores with me, I heard there were three masters: Dog King, Chun Meng, and Yan Zhongdao! Dog King is dead, Chun Meng and Yan Zhongdao are still alive... They’re both in Mingjiang Prefecture, and their incense levels should be above four incense, making them suitable sacrifices..." Zhou Xuan calculated in his mind, but the Blood Well seemed to have already consented to his certain sacrifice, as every eye on the temple wall opened, this time, Zhou Xuan sensed excitement from within these eyes! They had a strong desire for sacrifices, and as their gazes searched in various directions, their pupils couldn’t help but tremble with excitement. "What does this mean? When there are no sacrifices offered, they don’t put much effort, but when agreeing to provide sacrifices, they eagerly search for the divination’s answer." Several more minutes passed, the eyes found a new divination result. Numerous eyes on the wall closed, leaving a single young woman’s eye, locking eyes with Zhou Xuan. Zhou Xuan saw a new scene unfold, not from a bird’s-eye view, but more like from a pedestrian’s perspective. He saw a medium-width road, with streetcar tracks laid straight along it. There was a newsstand by the road, with buildings lining both sides, and many signs hung vertically on the building walls, while old-fashioned cloth awnings on the first floor were propped up with bamboo poles. "East Market Funeral Hall," "Mingdong East-West Cuisine Building," "East Market Ma’s Funeral Wreath Shop," "Mingzhou Paper Horse Trading." After reading the signs and awning content, Zhou Xuan understood why the scene was predominantly black and white. If it weren’t for the occasional sign giving off faint, not-so-bright colors, Zhou Xuan might have thought this was a black-and-white photo. "A street full of funeral businesses!" To match the solemn atmosphere of funeral matters, the buildings by the street were painted black, while the base color of the awnings and signs was white. "Mingjiang Prefecture, East Market Street!" This was the direction Blood Well Divination guided him towards. "Seven, four." At the moment Zhou Xuan severed the connection with the Blood Well, his eyes caught sight of the blood-red numbers, as the Blood Well "reminded" him not to forget the sacrificial agreement...