24: Mountain God! The incense offerings belong to Xu Qing! Compromise!
Xu Qing gazed toward the Black Mist Region; the roar from just moments ago still echoed in his ears.
Fierce, icy, sending a chill deep into his heart.
The things inside the Black Mist Region were certainly not benevolent.
It was just a pity that there was so little known about the Black Mist Region; no news had ever come out from within.
Liu Mei had lived on Profound Yin Mountain for many years and had never seen the Black Mist Region show any signs of activity.
Xu Qing didn't know the level of danger inside, so he dared not rashly enter to investigate.
He looked toward the other two directions.
Flower and Fruit Forest and Crouching Dragon Pool were relatively far from the Black Mist Region; if something really happened here, he would have to consider going to those two areas.
The original owners there would likely not agree, so he would have to rely on strength.
He still had to wait for a while!
He was currently living day by day, calculating the days until his wives would give birth.
Xu Qing looked at Liu Mei; her abdomen was round, and he could vaguely sense the rich life force emanating from within.
"Call a few clever ones to keep an eye on this place and report back if there is any situation."
Xu Qing instructed.
Immediately, he took Liu Mei and returned to the Taihang Mountains.
In the following days.
The mountain forest was as usual.
The Black Mist Region returned to calm, as if the previous riot had never existed.
The many villages at the foot of the Taihang Mountains still went into the mountains daily to hunt for food.
Even though they had heard that a great Demonic Creature had appeared in the Taihang Mountains, they had no choice.
They relied on the mountains to eat; their skills were all in the mountain forests. If they didn't enter the mountains, their whole families would starve to death.
When Xu Qing patrolled the mountain forest, he occasionally encountered Hunters who were hunting.
Either they were catching prey, or they were acting as prey themselves.
Xu Qing watched coldly from the sidelines.
When the Hunters killed the creatures in the mountains, he remained indifferent; when he encountered ferocious beasts in the mountains tearing at the Hunters, he was equally unmoved.
It was all for survival; there was no right or wrong.
Moreover, he couldn't be bothered to do things that offered no benefits.
However, sometimes, when Xu Qing passed by the scene of a fight, he would just glance at it.
Those ferocious beasts, sensing his aura, would either be scared out of their wits with paralyzed limbs, or they would ignore their prey and turn to run.
In this way, the Hunters were able to save their lives.
Sometimes, they could even kill a ferocious beast because of this and get a piece of good fur.
They didn't know what was going on.
The Hunters were dull; they thought the Mountain God was blessing them, so they knelt and prayed, thanking the Mountain God for saving them.
It was originally a trivial interlude.
But Xu Qing quickly discovered an anomaly.
Whenever the Hunters prayed for 'Mountain God's protection', a wisp of extremely faint green Qi would fly out from them.
Finally, it fell onto Xu Qing!
Xu Qing stopped immediately, his vertical pupil glowing, looking carefully at the green Qi flying toward him.
This thing couldn't be more familiar.
He had just absorbed quite a bit a few days ago.
Incense Offerings!
Although it was extremely weak, it was genuine Incense Offerings!
"Mountain God..."
The System panel appeared before Xu Qing's eyes.
In his current status, it had changed from 'Lord of Taihang Mountains' to 'Snake God of Mount Taihang'.
Two words of difference, but the meaning symbolized was diametrically opposite!
The original Mountain God of the Taihang Mountain Range had long since had their Divine Soul extinguished.
Now, the strongest in this area was Xu Qing; in a sense, he was the newborn Mountain God of the Taihang Mountain territory!
"The Mountain God they speak of... is me, which is why the Incense Offerings came to me!?"
Xu Qing knew the benefits of Incense Offerings; they had endless miraculous uses.
Naturally, there was no reason to refuse. He took out the jade bottles and collected those wisps of green Qi into them.
And in the days that followed.
Xu Qing discovered that Incense Offerings appeared every day, and the quantity was increasing!
He was a bit curious and went out to investigate.
Soon, he found the truth.
After the Hunters survived, they returned to the village and told the story.
At first, few people believed it.
But as the rumors spread, naturally, some people began to believe.
Regardless of whether it was true or false, seeking peace of mind was also good.
Therefore.
When some Hunters prepared to set off early in the morning, their families would respectfully place some simple offerings, light a stick of incense, face the direction of the mountain, and pray for the Mountain God to protect their families and ensure their safe return.
Over time, the Incense Offerings gradually increased.
And these Incense Offerings were very compatible with Xu Qing; the quality was much better than what Good Cultivation had collected before.
But the quantity was still not much.
Xu Qing absorbed some and could feel the changes in his body, but it was very subtle and hard to detect.
Meanwhile.
Dongshu Village.
Earth God Zhu Gang quietly manifested.
The little old man looked at the nearby Taihang Mountain Range, his expression constantly changing.
First shock, then confusion, and finally full of worry.
"If it had succeeded, they should have come out long ago!"
"There's been no movement for days; I'm afraid they all died inside!"
"What should I do now! Why is this old man so unlucky!"
Zhu Gang frowned tightly, pulling out two handfuls of his beard.
The new King of the Taihang Mountains was too strong; even the bald donkey from Xuanyang Temple was no match.
It was conceivable that this place would definitely be a place of trouble in the future!
When the time came, if those great immortals started fighting, wouldn't he suffer for no reason?
But as the Earth God, he couldn't leave without permission.
What could he do?
The Old Earth God was distressed, and the Fengyang City God Temple was equally restless.
In the hall, the Fengyang City God, the civil and military judges, and various generals and lieutenants were all present.
They all looked grave and ugly.
Good Cultivation had not returned for several days; the worst situation seemed to have occurred.
What to do?
Report to the Fengxian Division of the prefecture?
Not to mention anything else, he could forget about promotion in the future and would be stuck in this Fengyang County for the rest of his life.
Just this point alone was enough to make the many Underworld Officials in the hall hesitate.
"Everyone, do you have any good strategies?"
The Fengyang City God's voice was hoarse; he had been worrying a lot these past few days, and his Divine Soul was even a bit unsteady.
No one spoke, and the Underworld Officials lowered their heads in silence.
"We have to report it now..." a lieutenant just started to speak.
Eyes fell on him, and he immediately swallowed the rest of his words.
"Join forces with the Wuliang Sword Sect and the East River Academy?" a judge said.
But it was immediately rejected.
"The commotion is too big; then it won't be able to be hidden."
"In my opinion, that Demonic Creature hasn't come down the mountain to wreak havoc yet, and our City God Temple hasn't lost any manpower, so why don't we stabilize it for now?"
As soon as this was said, the Underworld Officials in the hall fell silent.
After a long time.
"This is also a helpless move."
"What is said is not unreasonable; even if that beast killed some people, it doesn't matter. The key is that it killed people from the Demon Slaying Division and Xuanyang Temple, so we must appease them well."
"It's just a delaying tactic; after some time, there will be a reckoning."
"The great Demonic Creatures in other prefectures slaughtering cities—that's a big deal. We've only lost a few dozen people here; it's nothing. What we need to do now is to suppress it first!"
"That's excellent!"
The worry between the Fengyang City God's brows dissipated a little.
He nodded and said: "Let's do this first, suppress the matter, and we can discuss the rest later!"