23: The wondrous uses of incense! The snake god of Taihang Mountain! Strange movements in the black mist!
Xiushan was born into a poor family and almost starved to death during a famine in his childhood.
To save his life, his parents sent him to Xuanyang Temple.
The monks at Xuanyang Temple saw that he had some Foundation, so they took him into the temple.
After joining Xuanyang Temple, Xiushan showed good talent and eventually became the new abbot of Xuanyang Temple.
It was from the moment he began serving as abbot that Xuanyang Temple changed.
He recruited followers widely, constantly collected Incense Offerings, extorted money and silver from the common people, and even developed a way to pray for sons.
A perfectly good Buddhist temple turned into a place of filth and corruption.
Xu Qing kept flipping through Xiushan's memories, unmoved by the wailing and struggling of his soul.
Xiushan, as the abbot of a Buddhist temple, had many useful things in his memory.
For example, Incense Offerings and Power Of Will.
Collecting Incense Offerings and containing them in one's body could increase one's strength at the fastest speed!
Especially for certain special existences, they followed the path of becoming gods through Incense Offerings, and their cultivation must use Incense Offerings.
For example, mountain gods, water gods, and City God, Yin gods, etc.
With enough Incense Offerings and Power Of Will, they could become true powerhouses in the shortest time.
The wonderful uses of Incense Offerings were endless.
Therefore, countless Cultivators flocked to Incense Offerings and Power Of Will.
Xu Qing continued to flip through Xiushan's memories and learned more about the outside world.
Xuanyang Temple was just one of the cultivation forces in the Fengyang area.
Besides them, there were two other forces: the Immeasurable Sword Sect and the East River Academy.
On the imperial court's side, there were the Fengyang City God Temple, the Demon Slaying Division, and three thousand soldiers stationed in another place.
At this moment, the soul of the monk Xiushan could no longer bear it.
Xu Qing burned it into nothingness with a mouthful of flames, and then began to clean up the battlefield.
First was the jade bottles containing the Power Of Will of all living beings.
This was a good thing; Xu Qing put it directly into his storage ring.
Xiushan's tin staff and the demon subduing pestles of the other monks were also not bad.
However, they were mostly damaged in the previous battle.
Only the tin staff and eleven demon subduing pestles remained intact.
While searching, Xu Qing spat flames to burn the flesh and blood into ashes.
Finally, he found quite a lot of gold and silver wealth, as well as bundles of peace talismans and house-protecting talismans.
He pocketed the gold and silver.
Xu Qing tested the talismans and found that they were just a stack of waste paper with no mystery in them at all.
These bald donkeys collected the gold and silver that the believers had worked hard to save, but were unwilling to use even a little bit of magic power to make real goods.
"You all really deserve to die."
Burning the bundles of peace and house-protecting talismans to ashes, Xu Qing confirmed there was nothing left before turning to leave.
Returning to the Taihang Mountains.
Xu Qing took out the jade bottles and cast Spirit Eyes.
He immediately saw wisps of green Qi emerging from the bottles.
According to the method in Xiushan's memory, Xu Qing carefully manipulated a wisp of green Qi and absorbed it into his body.
"Boom!"
The moment the green Qi entered his body, a roar came from the void.
'Bodhisattva bless me, let my wife give birth to a son!'
A man's voice rang in Xu Qing's mind.
He was suddenly startled, then reacted.
That voice was contained within the Power Of Will.
He carefully experienced it and found that the wisp of green Qi merged into his body, nourishing his flesh and blood, and tempering his Bloodline!
This Incense Offering could help him improve his Bloodline!?
Xu Qing was overjoyed and immediately continued to take out a wisp of Incense Offering green Qi and merged it into his body.
'I hope my mother's illness will get better soon, I haven't taken her to see the temple fair yet...'
Another illusory voice rang out.
Xu Qing had expected this and was no longer surprised.
Wisps of green Qi emerged from the jade bottles, and under Xu Qing's control, merged into his fifty-meter-long green body.
His Bloodline was quietly undergoing changes.
The Power Of Will of all living beings was weak, yet it contained infinite wonderful uses.
'My youngest son is weak. If I can let him grow up healthy, I will pay anything...'
'Hope my son can enter Mr. Qi's school this year...'
'The rent has increased again. Master Lu raises the rent every year. The harvest from one mu of land is only so much, yet he wants to take it all. Why hasn't he died yet...'
'...'
Voices rang out one after another.
Xu Qing kept refining, removing the distractions, and turning them into the purest energy.
His body was slowly growing longer, and the cold light reflected by his scales became increasingly deep.
I don't know how long it had been.
Xu Qing slowly opened his eyes.
A translucent System panel appeared.
[Name: Xu Qing]
[Identity: Snake God of Mount Taihang]
[Bloodline: Ancient Return (520 / 1000)]
[Body Length: 59 meters]
[Cultivation Level: 1050 years]
[Number of Descendants: 3080]
[Earthly Fiend Techniques: Spirit Expulsion, Wind Borrowing, Light Generation, Soul Seizing, Spitting Flame]
[Spell: Five Thunders Incantation, Spirit Eyes, Divine Movement Technique]
He noticed the change in his identity at a glance.
Originally the Lord of Taihang Mountains, now it had become Snake God of Mount Taihang.
"Is it because I absorbed the power of Incense Offerings?"
Xu Qing muttered to himself, his gaze moving down.
His Bloodline, body length, and Cultivation Level had all increased, which made him quite happy.
But he vaguely felt something was wrong.
There were a lot of Incense Offerings in the jade bottles.
The final actual effect was a bit different from what Xu Qing had predicted.
The effect was much weaker.
"Could it be that these Incense Offerings belong to those bald donkeys, and they conflict with my attributes?"
Xu Qing was a bit puzzled, and since he couldn't find anyone to verify it, he could only guess blindly.
The Incense Offerings in the jade bottles had been exhausted.
The monk Xiushan had racked his brains, searching for Incense Offerings from dozens of places, and in the end, it all benefited Xu Qing.
Feeling the improvement in his strength, Xu Qing was in a great mood.
Just at this moment.
Liu Mei, who was heavily pregnant, hurried up the mountain from below.
Seeing Xu Qing at home, she ran over in a panic.
"What's wrong?" Xu Qing asked.
"Husband." Liu Mei looked very nervous, "Do you remember the Black Mist Region west of Profound Yin Mountain that I told you about before?"
Xu Qing immediately perked up and asked: "Is there any movement?"
"Yes!" Liu Mei nodded, "That area used to be very quiet, but I don't know what happened today. Suddenly there was a huge commotion. The black mist was rolling, and sounds were coming from the depths. It sounded very creepy."
Things were coming one after another.
Not a single day of peace!
Xu Qing crawled up again and took Liu Mei towards Profound Yin Mountain.
After a while.
Xu Qing arrived at the west side of Profound Yin Mountain, looked at the thick black mist not far away, and a faint light lit up in his vertical pupil.
He cast Spirit Eyes, wanting to see through the situation in the black mist.
However.
It seemed that something sensed his prying, and the black mist rolled violently.
The boundless black mist surged, rushing towards the Profound Yin Mountain side like a tsunami.
"Roar!"
Vaguely, Xu Qing heard a hoarse roar from the black mist.
He immediately withdrew his Spell and retreated with Liu Mei.
The black mist seemed to have some scruples and did not enter the territory of Profound Yin Mountain, fading away quietly after reaching the edge.
What was in the black mist?
Xu Qing was puzzled, and his sense of urgency increased again.