3: Crazy incense value

The group marched mightily towards San Wazi's home.

As soon as he crossed the courtyard gate, Village Chief Li Fu's gaze, like a hawk, immediately locked onto the clay sculpture placed in the center of the table.

"Quezi, come here quickly and take a look. Is this really a Divine Statue?"

Li Fu was burning with anxiety, his voice unconsciously rising a few octaves. He shouted while reaching out and forcefully pulling Crippled Wang, who was behind him.

The force was a bit heavy, and Crippled Wang stumbled, but he wasn't angry at all. He quickly stepped forward, his eyes wide open, staring intently at the clay sculpture before him.

The clay statue was like a treasure sealed by time, having endured the vicissitudes of life. Its colors were somewhat mottled and flaking, like a fading beauty, yet even so, it still couldn't conceal the brilliance and solemnity emanating from its core.

Most importantly, as the village's "divine stick," Crippled Wang possessed an extraordinary sensitivity to divinity. At this moment, he clearly captured a wisp of faint yet undeniable divine radiance from this Divine Statue.

For a moment, the entire room seemed to be under a silencing spell, falling into a dead silence.

Everyone held their breath, not daring to make a sound, anxiously waiting for Crippled Wang to reveal the answer.

"It's unmistakable, unmistakable!"

Crippled Wang first murmured to himself, then suddenly, with a "thud," he knelt straight to the ground, followed by a series of loud, clear kowtows.

Seeing this, everyone understood the profound meaning and followed suit, kneeling and kowtowing like pounding garlic.

"Divine Lord, bless us!"

"Divine Lord, we truly have no way to live!"

"Divine Lord, please save us!"

For a time, the wails and pleas intertwined in the room, and the scene was utterly miserable.

Lin Chuping, awakened by the noise, looked helplessly at everything before him, wishing he could jump out and stick an incense stick on each of their heads.

"You all, light incense, damn it!"

"Worshipping a god, don't you know how?"

"Whose family worships a god without lighting incense!"

If, from then on, these people only worshipped the god but didn't light incense, Lin Chuping couldn't imagine how difficult his Dao would be.

Weak, pathetic, helpless.

Fortunately, after a while, Qian Dazhuang had a flash of inspiration, slapped his thigh fiercely, and boomed, "Village Chief, incense! We offered incense to this god just yesterday."

Saying that, he nimbly took out all the remaining incense in his home.

Village Chief Li Fu quickly took it, carefully distributing it one by one to everyone present, while not forgetting to instruct, "You all use these for now. When you go home, bring incense to return to Dazhuang!"

"Ding! Li Fu contributed Incense Merit +10"

"Ding! Xu Tian contributed Incense Merit +10"

"Ding! Qian Shi contributed Incense Merit +10"

"Ding! Zhang Shuisheng contributed Incense Merit +10"

"Ding! Liu Cuihua contributed Incense Merit +10"

"Ding! Crippled Wang contributed Incense Merit +20"

"Ding! San Wazi contributed Incense Merit +20"

"Ding! Liu Chunsheng contributed Incense Merit +20"

...A series of crisp and pleasant notification sounds, dinging and clanging, endlessly.

Lin Chuping finally felt relieved.

The procedure was correct, no problem.

Lin Chuping was immersed in this "beautiful" sound, feeling more refreshed than drinking an iced cola in summer.

Is this what it feels like to become a god?

It feels pretty good.

In the flood of message notifications that scrolled like a tide, Lin Chuping quickly discovered the subtle differences.

"Tong Ge? Why do some people contribute more Incense Merit than others?"

Lin Chuping was full of doubts and questioned the System in his mind.

"Tong Ge?"

He waited for a long time, but the System remained unresponsive.

Lin Chuping felt as if a flock of crows cawed and flew across his mind.

It seems Tong Ge is unreliable.

Relying on mountains, mountains fall; relying on people, people run. Forget it, he still has to rely on himself.

Lin Chuping's gaze locked onto the young man named Liu Chunsheng. He scrutinized him up and down, carefully, for a long time, but couldn't discern anything unusual.

This young man was no different from the people around him; his eyes showed fatigue and longing, his clothes were patched upon patched, his face was tanned dark, and he was skinny.

And Crippled Wang also looked unremarkable, completely unnoticeable in a crowd.

Lin Chuping muttered to himself, but he didn't dwell on it too much. After all, more Incense Merit was always a good thing. The most urgent task now was to earn Incense Merit quickly.

As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers.

After everyone had devoutly offered their incense, Lin Chuping glanced at his System panel:

"Host: Lin Chuping"

"Level: Wild God"

"Jurisdiction: Chang Sheng Village"

"Divine Power: 0"

"Divine Ability: 0"

"Incense Merit: 520 (Can be converted into Divine Power, used to purchase Divine Ability)"

"System Mall: Unlocked"

Seeing the changes in the data on the panel, Lin Chuping was secretly delighted.

The scope of his jurisdiction had suddenly expanded, from the previously confined San Wazi's home, it had transformed to encompass the entire Chang Sheng Village.

The Incense Merit was also quite considerable, reaching 520 points.

This number looked auspicious.

Although the System Mall still couldn't be opened, Lin Chuping wasn't anxious.

Thinking about the monster from last night, four points of Divine Power were enough to deal with it easily; it was incredibly weak. For now, he didn't need to worry too much.

Divine Power was a consumable, diminishing with each use. Only Divine Ability was his "eternal true love" for dominating the Divine Dao and ensuring long-term stability.

He had to find a way to save money and get his hands on Divine Ability.

*

On the other side, after Village Chief and his group filed out of San Wazi's home, everyone's hearts were like a overturned five-flavor bottle, filled with mixed emotions.

"Village Chief, San Wazi survived. Does that mean the Mountain God is dead?"

Someone asked in a low voice, with a hint of cautious anticipation.

"Then do we still need to prepare offerings on the first and fifteenth of each month?"

Another person echoed.

"The Mountain God is dead? Good if he's dead!"

A young man couldn't help but blurt out, but as soon as he spoke, he seemed to realize something and quickly covered his mouth, his eyes full of terror.

"You can't say such things carelessly, what if..."

The old man next to him quickly reminded him, his expression grave.

In the villagers' hearts, the Mountain God possessed immense Divine Ability and was temperamental. If he overheard badmouthing, the consequences would be unimaginable; the entire village, young and old, would likely suffer.

Everyone spoke one after another, all feeling a sense of sorrow.

Just as everyone was discussing, a young man quietly stepped forward. It was Liu Chunsheng, whom Lin Chuping had been silently observing.

"Village Chief, guessing blindly like this isn't a solution. Why don't we send someone to inquire about the situation in the nearby villages?"

Liu Chunsheng's eyes were bright, and his voice was clear and resonant.

At these words, everyone seemed to awaken from a dream and realized, yes, they weren't the only village controlled by the Mountain God. Perhaps the other villages had more accurate information that could show them a clear path.

"Chunsheng, you're the most astute in our village. Take a few strong young men and go check the situation in the neighboring Nan Shu Village and Da Li Village."

Village Chief Li Fu made a decisive decision, looking at Liu Chunsheng with firm eyes.

"Alright!"

Liu Chunsheng readily agreed and turned to stride away.