40: Chapter 40 The Little Demon Offers Incense

Hearing the Clam Spirit's words, Qin Ling fell into thought.

According to the Clam Spirit, this evil energy was quite formidable.

The terrifying nature of this evil energy could also be seen from the miserable state of the eroded Little Li Dragon.

Even the Little Li Dragon, a Fourth-Turn realm demon of dragon descent, had been horribly eroded by the evil energy.

It seemed that the evil spirits of this world were indeed extremely difficult to deal with.

But then Qin Ling recalled that he had previously cast a divine technique on the boat to disperse an evil spirit.

One could tell its strength from the massive size of that evil spirit, yet when faced with Qin Ling's Divine Technique: Exorcism, it had still shrunk back.

One must know that at that time, Qin Ling's cultivation was still at [Incense Realm 0%]!

Thinking of this, a thought suddenly occurred to Qin Ling.

He then walked over to the dragon corpse and looked at the wriggling black mist.

Next, he reached out his hand, palm down, facing the dragon corpse.

Divine Technique, Exorcism!

A golden light lit up from his palm; it was very faint, yet exceptionally dazzling in the darkness.

Seeing Qin Ling so close to the evil energy, the Clam Spirit was startled and shut its shell tightly.

But it still couldn't help but peek through a tiny crack to look outside.

As the golden light fell upon the dragon corpse, the writhing evil energy shrank violently as if it had been scalded.

They desperately burrowed deep into the dragon corpse and into the cracks, trying to escape the golden light.

But the golden light pursued them, seeping inch by inch into the cracks, the dragon bones, and every remaining scale.

The Clam Spirit watched in a daze.

Having lived for so long, it had never seen anyone deal with the evil energy like this.

It wasn't driving it away, nor was it absorbing it.

But purification!

It was a purification that rooted out the very source!

The golden light lasted for a long time.

So long that the Clam Spirit's tongue stopped trembling, and it even dared to fully open its shell.

It just watched as the evil energy dissipated strand by strand.

The last wisp of evil energy was forced out of the dragon corpse by the golden light, struggling a few times in the seawater before silently disintegrating.

The Little Li Dragon's corpse lay quietly on the reef; the hideous wounds were still there, but they no longer seeped black mist.

The scales returned to a silvery-white color, gleaming with a faint, cold light in the gloom.

The Clam Spirit stared blankly, unable to believe what it had just witnessed.

Qin Ling withdrew his hand and looked down at his palm.

That wave of evil energy purification just now had utilized his Divine Technique: Exorcism.

Divine Technique: Exorcism was practically the natural nemesis of the evil energy, purifying every trace of the remaining evil energy in the Little Li Dragon's corpse.

However, using Divine Technique: Exorcism required the consumption of incense points.

Thus, that wave of purification just now had also cost him 80 incense points.

It really was a bit painful to part with.

Qin Ling exhaled, and another thought popped into his head.

Since Divine Technique: Exorcism could purify the evil energy on the dragon corpse, would it have been possible to purify the evil energy on the Little Li Dragon while it was still alive, allowing it to regain its sanity?

After a short moment, Qin Ling shook his head.

Given the Little Li Dragon's state at the time, he wouldn't have had any opportunity to cast Divine Technique: Exorcism at close range to purify the evil energy.

Right at this moment, a system notification popped up.

[System detects the host has purified evil energy. Rewarding 200 incense points.]

Seeing the 200 incense points rewarded out of thin air, Qin Ling's eyes lit up.

With this net gain, he had actually earned 120 incense points.

A profit!

Looking at the system reward, Qin Ling realized that with his Divine Technique: Exorcism, he was practically the natural nemesis of evil spirits.

Back when he was still at [Incense Realm 0%], using Divine Technique: Exorcism had allowed him to escape from an evil spirit of that size.

Now, he could even purify the evil energy that only evil spirits could absorb.

Just as Qin Ling was pondering whether he could slay evil spirits, the sound of someone swallowing saliva came from behind him, sounding exceptionally abrupt in the silent depths of the sea.

"Gulp."

He turned around and saw that the Clam Spirit's tongue had extended quite far out at some point.

The tongue was currently secreting a sticky fluid.

"Are you drooling?"

Looking at the Clam Spirit's completely mesmerized eyes, Qin Ling raised his foot and kicked the extended tongue.

The Clam Spirit shuddered all over, and its tongue retracted into its shell with lightning speed.

The shell snapped shut with a sharp clack.

However, upon realizing that the one who kicked it was Lord Qinling, the shell quickly opened a tiny crack.

"Lord Qinling, this little demon didn't do it on purpose. After all, this is the corpse of a Fourth-Turn Little Li Dragon. It is simply too attractive to little demons like us."

As it spoke, its tongue became coated with the sticky fluid once again.

It quickly retracted its tongue, secretly wiped it inside its shell, and then poked it out again.

"How come I didn't see you dare to even go near the Little Li Dragon's corpse earlier?"

Qin Ling raised an eyebrow and asked.

"There was evil energy before! This little demon wouldn't dare dream of it. If I touched even a bit of that stuff, I would be finished."

It paused, its tongue involuntarily stretching toward the dragon corpse once more.

"But now that Lord Qinling has cleaned it, this dragon meat, this dragon blood, these dragon bones..."

It couldn't go on, because the sticky drool was secreting again.

It quickly retracted it, wiped it hard inside its shell, and then poked it out again.

"Having lived for so long, this little demon has never seen such a good thing. This dragon corpse is a great tonic for all the little demons in the sea—a treasure we dream of taking a bite of."

The Clam Spirit's words echoed in Qin Ling's mind.

"This dragon corpse is a great tonic for all the little demons in the sea—a treasure we dream of taking a bite of."

Every demon in this sea would drool over this Little Li Dragon's corpse.

Let alone Second-Turn or First-Turn demons, or even little demons who had just gained spiritual awareness—even Third-Turn or Fourth-Turn great demons would be filled with desire for this dragon corpse.

Since that was the case, could this Little Li Dragon's corpse be put to some use?

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Qin Ling's mind. He then grabbed the Clam Spirit beside him and leaped out of the sea.

At this moment, inside the temple of Qin Family Village, the villagers who had finished offering incense had already dispersed.

Qin Ling's Divided Soul swept in from outside the temple, carrying the Clam Spirit, which was still dripping seawater, in his hand.

The Clam Spirit was placed in front of the altar table. Its shell was half-open, and its tongue poked out, blankly poking here and there, completely unaware of what was happening.

Just a moment ago, it was still drooling over the Little Li Dragon's corpse at the bottom of the sea, and in the blink of an eye, it had been brought here.

"Offer incense."

Qin Ling's voice echoed from above.

The Clam Spirit's tongue froze.

The clam shell opened, revealing an eyeball inside. It looked up at Lord Qinling, then at the bundle of unused incense sticks beside the altar table.

"Offer incense?"

Its voice sounded a bit dazed.

"Lord Qinling, this little demon is a demon."

Qin Ling did not speak, only staring at it.

The Clam Spirit thought hard, then spoke again.

"Does Lord Qinling mean for this little demon to offer incense to you?"

Qin Ling nodded.

The Clam Spirit was stunned for a long while.

Having lived for so many years, it had never heard of such a thing.

A demon offering incense to a god?

What was this even supposed to be?

But it didn't dare to ask.

It just obediently extended its tongue from its shell, rolled up three incense sticks, and carefully held them to the flame of the ever-burning lamp on the altar table.

The incense sticks were lit, and wisps of blue smoke curled upward.

Holding the three incense sticks, the Clam Spirit didn't know what to do next.

It had seen the villagers offering incense—kneeling, kowtowing, and inserting the incense into the incense burner.

But it had no knees, so it couldn't kneel, nor could it kowtow.

It just stood there in a daze, holding the incense.

After thinking for a moment, it opened its shell completely, prostrated its entire clam body before the altar table, held the tongue holding the incense high, and then gently inserted the incense into the incense burner.

After inserting them, it retracted its tongue and kowtowed forcefully against the bluestone floor.

Qin Ling looked down at the Clam Spirit prostrated before the altar table.

The Clam Spirit didn't know if this posture was correct, but it had already done its best.

Its shell was open, revealing the soft clam meat inside, and the tip of its tongue was still trembling slightly.

Then, Qin Ling sensed it.

A wisp of warm Power Of Will rose from the Clam Spirit prostrated before the altar table, passing through the curling blue smoke and the low-browed, downcast statue of the deity, before settling deep within his body.

[incense points +3]