20: Chapter 20 Sailing to Pray

The next moment.

Qin Ling's avatar was standing at the edge of the dock in Qin Family Village, with his hands clasped behind his back.

The avatar he had previously condensed only had twenty percent of his main body's strength, and the outline of the entire avatar was somewhat blurry.

But now it was different.

Now, the avatar's outline was distinct, and its five fingers were clear.

Qin Ling clenched his fist, feeling the surging divine power within the avatar.

Eighty percent!

He had once again consumed 300 incense points, condensing this avatar from twenty percent strength to eighty percent strength.

Now, this avatar could already unleash most of the strength of his main body.

Not only that, but the strength of his main body had also been improved.

Now his cultivation had reached [ Incense Realm 70% ], and to upgrade to this cultivation, he had even spent 400 incense points.

It could be said that this wave of consumption had wiped out the incense points he had accumulated over many days.

[ incense points: 50 ].

Qin Ling withdrew his gaze from those pitiful incense points and looked toward the dock.

A repaired boat was parked at the dock.

The planks at the stern of this boat had been entirely replaced, and the junctions where the old and new met were tightly wrapped with hemp rope.

Fishing nets were hung on racks, each one neatly mended.

Wooden barrels, cables, and oars—all utensils were neatly arranged.

Qin Ling's gaze swept across the boat, knowing that the next voyage of Qin Family Village was approaching soon.

Sure enough.

The next day, at the Hour of Chen.

Just as the sky was faintly bright, the area in front of the temple was already crowded with people.

Qin Ling glanced at the crowd outside the temple and was slightly startled.

Today there were even more people than usual.

They were all holding things in their hands.

These were not the meager dried fish and wild vegetables brought during usual incense offerings, but whole salted fish, freshly steamed rice cakes, and eggs they couldn't bear to eat themselves.

There was also a small jar of home-brewed rice wine, with the mouth of the jar sealed with red cloth, and the characters "Peace" written on the cloth.

After looking at these offerings, Qin Ling already knew what was going on.

Qin Mo was dressed exceptionally neatly today. He stood at the door of the temple, holding a small divine statue in his hands with a serious expression.

Qin Ling's gaze fell upon that small divine statue.

The carving skills of this wooden divine statue were crude, but one could still tell that the statue was himself, identical to the statue of Lord Qinling inside the temple.

The crowd quieted down.

An old man with graying hair walked out from the crowd.

It was none other than Village Chief Qin Zongliang of Qin Family Village.

He walked tremblingly to the temple door, stopped in front of the divine statue, and lit the incense sticks in his hand.

Three sticks of incense were inserted into the incense burner.

Wisps of blue smoke rose into the air.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang stepped back and knelt down.

Behind him, all the villagers followed suit and knelt down.

Inside the temple and in the courtyard outside, people were kneeling densely all over the ground.

Then Qin Ling heard Village Chief Qin Zongliang speak.

"Lord Qinling above, we, the villagers of Qin Family Village, have come specially to offer sacrifices today."

"The village's food is running low, and the boats will set sail in a few days."

"We beg Lord Qinling to bless us so that the seas are calm and tranquil~"

"We beg Lord Qinling to bless us so that we return with our cabins full of fish catches~"

"We beg Lord Qinling to bless us not to encounter any evil spirits~"

"We beg Lord Qinling to bless—"

Village Chief Qin Zongliang paused and continued.

"For the safety of both men and boats~"

As soon as Village Chief Qin Zongliang's voice fell, the villagers behind him responded in unison.

"We beg Lord Qinling to bless us for the safety of both men and boats~"

Listening to the prayers, Qin Ling even heard the system's voice in his mind.

[ Collective prayer for safe voyage from the villagers detected. The believers' prayers are extremely pious, and the incense points for this prayer will be doubled. ]

[ incense points + 4 ]

[ incense points + 4 ]

[ incense points + 2 ]

[ incense points + 2 ]

...

Qin Ling looked at the continuously popping up incense points and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He hadn't expected that the prayer for a safe voyage could actually double the incense points!

Moreover, what he received were the incense points of all the villagers who participated in the prayer!

The prayer lasted for the time it took to burn a stick of incense.

Then, Village Chief Qin Zongliang got up, turned around, and looked at the villagers.

Qin Mo held that small divine statue and stepped forward.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang took the divine statue and raised it high so that everyone could see it.

"Lord Qinling's old divine statue protected the boats last time, going through great dangers, and shattered after fulfilling its merits."

His voice spread throughout the entire courtyard.

"Today, we shall invite Lord Qinling to move his presence to the new statue, accompany the boats to sea, and protect our safety once again!"

The villagers responded in unison.

Holding the small divine statue, Village Chief Qin Zongliang knelt down again toward the statue of Lord Qinling.

The villagers followed suit and knelt down together.

Seeing this scene, Qin Ling naturally knew that this was the ritual of inviting the deity.

Mortals use a pious heart to ask whether the deity is willing to accept a new place of worship.

If the deity is willing, a sign will manifest.

But the problem was, how should he give this sign?

Qin Ling pondered for a moment and suddenly had an idea.

Then, with a thought in his mind.

Inside the temple, the center of the eyebrows of Lord Qinling's divine statue suddenly lit up.

Following closely, the center of the eyebrows of the small divine statue held in the village chief's hands also lit up.

All the villagers saw these two rays of light.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang trembled all over and heavily kowtowed.

"Lord Qinling has agreed!"

The villagers also couldn't help cheering.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang got up, carefully held Lord Qinling's divine statue with both hands, and handed it to Qin Yin.

As the last captain of Qin Family Village, Qin Yin still served as the captain for this voyage.

Qin Yin's competence as a captain had always been recognized by all the villagers of Qin Family Village.

Not to mention that after the previous events, the villagers could all see that Qin Yin was quite favored by Lord Qinling.

Didn't Lord Qinling give those divine talismans to Qin Yin!

"Lass Qin, I leave this divine statue of Lord Qinling to you."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang's face was full of solemnity.

"I will certainly not fail Lord Qinling or the folks back home."

Qin Yin took the small divine statue and nodded solemnly.

After taking the divine statue, Qin Yin held it and walked toward the dock, with the rest of the villagers following along with her.

Qin Yin came to the side of the dock, stepped on the slightly swaying gangplank, and boarded the fishing boat.

She walked to the entrance of the cabin and stopped her steps.

There was a newly made shrine there, with crude wave patterns carved on the edges of the wooden boards.

It was rushed out overnight by the village carpenter; the carving craftsmanship wasn't great, but it was made with care.

Qin Yin carefully placed Lord Qinling's divine statue into the shrine.

She pulled out three sticks of incense from her bosom, lit them, and inserted them into the small incense burner in front of the shrine.

Wisps of blue smoke rose into the air.

Qin Yin knelt down and kowtowed, saying.

"Lord Qinling, I am troubling you for this voyage out to sea."

Qin Ling's avatar stood on the deck, watching this scene.

The next moment, his figure merged into the center of the eyebrows of that small divine statue.

The small divine statue trembled slightly.

Then it returned to calm.

Since he had already agreed to the villagers' prayers, he naturally had to make this trip out to sea.

However, compared to last time, his trip out to sea this time would be much safer.

After all, what was going out to sea was his avatar, while his main body was still located within the temple of Qin Family Village.

Moreover, his avatar now possessed eighty percent of his strength and could still handle some situations.

The second voyage out to sea.

Was about to begin!