49: Chapter 49 Authentic Clam Licking

This pearl was larger than any Qin Ling had seen on the temple eaves just now.

What slightly surprised Qin Ling was not the size of the pearl, but its shape.

This pearl had eyebrows and eyes, a bridge of the nose, lips, and a jaw.

Drooping eyelids and calm corners of the mouth.

It was identical to the statue of Lord Qinling in the temple.

It was just that every line of this pearl statue was completely natural, without a single trace of carving or chiseling.

"How was this done?"

Even Qin Ling was feeling curious now.

The Second-Turn Clam Spirit lay near the offering table, supporting the pearl with its tongue, and cautiously raised it in front of Qin Ling.

Its voice was trembling slightly—not out of fear, but excitement.

"This lesser demon started nurturing this pearl the day it gained sentience, and nearly a hundred years have passed now."

It paused, the tip of its tongue trembling slightly.

"Previously, when I heard Lord Qinling say he wanted to build a temple, this lesser demon thought about carving this bead into a statue for Lord Qinling."

"This lesser demon doesn't know how to carve and has never learned any craft, so it just licked it with its tongue every day, and fortunately, it finally succeeded."

Qin Ling lowered his head to look at the pearl.

The arc of the eyebrows and eyes, the lines at the corners of the mouth, the contours of the jaw.

These contours, licked out bit by bit with a tongue, flickered in and out of view amidst the pearl's luster, as warm and smooth as if they had a temperature.

It certainly looked much better than the wooden statue inside the Qin Family Village temple.

"Lord Qinling, is this statue acceptable?"

There was a faint hint of anticipation in the Second-Turn Clam Spirit's voice.

"Mm, very good."

Qin Ling nodded.

He felt that the Second-Turn Clam Spirit's licking skill was indeed completely natural.

It deserved to be called a genuine licking clam.

Qin Ling thought for a moment before slowly speaking.

"This time, you indeed rendered meritorious service by summoning the Clam Spirit group and building the Underwater Temple. From now on, matters concerning this Underwater Temple shall be presided over by you."

"Do you have a name?"

"This lesser demon has never had a name."

Said the Second-Turn Clam Spirit.

"In that case, I shall give you a name, and you shall be called Bengbu."

Qin Ling waved his hand, almost failing to keep a straight face.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling."

Although the Second-Turn Clam Spirit felt that this name was a bit tongue-twisting, it was extremely joyful in its heart.

Lord Qinling giving it a name—didn't that prove it was close to Lord Qinling!

Qin Ling reached out and picked up the pearl statue from Bengbu's tongue.

Then he placed this statue into the shrine niche.

The pearl statue glowed quietly, illuminating the offering table with a warm luster.

The fragmentary lights of the coral reefs, seashells, and nacre all dimmed by a fraction, as if they had been outshone.

Qin Ling took a step back and nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the new statue inside the shrine niche.

Next was the time to invite the deity.

Since this temple was for the underwater little demons to offer incense, Qin Ling simplified the deity-inviting ritual.

After the deity-inviting ritual ended, Qin Ling turned his head to look at Bengbu and said.

"Very well, then you shall be the first pilgrim to offer incense in this temple."

With a wave of Qin Ling's hand, a pile of incense sticks appeared on the offering table.

These incense sticks were naturally brought by him specially.

Seeing this, Bengbu joyfully stuck out its tongue and gently stirred it in the seawater.

A string of transparent, glaze-like bubbles overflowed from the edge of its shell gap, leisurely floating upwards.

Bengbu stuck out its tongue, intercepted a large bubble, and secreted some saliva.

Immediately after, it took the incense sticks from the offering table and stuffed them into the bubble.

Finally, Bengbu gently blew towards the top of the incense sticks.

A speck of demonic fire burned at the tip of the incense sticks.

Green smoke rose inside the bubble.

The glaze-like bubble, supporting the slender, burning incense sticks, swayed gently in the seawater.

The scene was bizarre and serene.

Bengbu raised its tongue high, lifting those three sticks of incense above its head.

It didn't know what posture to use; it simply widened its shell gap to the maximum, lay the entire clam flat in front of the offering table, held its tentacles high, and remained motionless.

Its shell gap trembled slightly, and the tentacle probing outside was also shaking, but the incense was held very steadily.

Qin Ling's divine split stood beside the pearl statue, watching Bengbu offering incense.

Afterward, he perceived a wisp of warm aspiration power falling deep into his consciousness.

[incense points + 3]

Not bad, just like before, there were still incense points.

Qin Ling nodded, then his divine split flashed to the corpse of the Little Li Dragon behind the temple, cut off a piece of dragon meat, and tossed it to Bengbu.

This piece of dragon meat was not small, and Bengbu's tongue trembled as it caught the dragon meat.

"This is what you deserve for summoning the Clam Spirit group and building the temple. From now on, there will also be dragon meat every day when offering incense, though it will be a bit smaller."

Qin Ling said indifferently.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling! Thank you, Lord Qinling!"

Bengbu's tongue continuously knocked against the temple floor.

Qin Ling waved his hand, signaling Bengbu to let the Little Clam Spirits outside come in to offer incense.

"Yes!"

Bengbu tumbled and crawled out of the temple door, almost tripping over the threshold.

Outside the temple, the reefs were densely covered with First-Turn Little Clam Spirits.

Their shell gaps were all half-open, their eyeballs probing outside, staring uniformly at the temple door.

They had been waiting for a long time.

Bengbu stood at the doorway, waving its tongue, its voice as loud as shouting work chants.

"Line up! Enter one by one! Whoever shoves gets none!"

The reef instantly became a mess.

The Little Clam Spirits waved their tentacles wildly, their shell gaps snapping open and closed with a clatter, pushing and shoving each other, all wanting to rush to the front.

A Clam Spirit rushed to the very front, only to be slapped back by a tongue stroke from Bengbu.

"Line up! Didn't you hear me!"

It went to slap the second and third ones, swatting rolling Little Clam Spirits all over the sandy ground.

It managed to sort the queue out with great difficulty.

Stretching all the way from the temple door to the cluster of reefs, crookedly, but it was finally lined up.

The first Little Clam Spirit crawled into the temple.

It lay in front of the offering table, its tongue holding three incense sticks longer than itself, holding them crookedly so that the incense was about to poke the ground.

It imitating how Bengbu offered incense just moments ago, it held its tongue high, opened its shell gap wide, and lay flat in front of the offering table motionlessly.

Qin Ling lowered his head to look at this Little Clam Spirit.

[incense points + 1]

Qin Ling, having received the incense points, nodded, although the provided incense points were only 1 point.

But at least it showed that for him, a deity who had slain the Little Li Dragon, these Little Clam Spirits still held some faith.

After all, it was he who had restored peace and tranquility to the nearby sea.

Otherwise, who knew how many East Sea living beings the evil-qi-eroded Little Li Dragon would have tormented to death.

Qin Ling's divine split flicked a finger.

A small piece of silvery-white dragon meat drifted out from his palm, landing on the tip of the Little Clam Spirit's tongue.

The size of this piece of dragon meat was much smaller than the one Bengbu had received earlier.

Rather than calling it a chunk of meat, it was more like a shred of meat.

After all, Qin Ling came from a capitalist world. Although he had now become a wild god, his divinity and humanity coexisted.

He would definitely make good use of this Little Li Dragon corpse to maximize the incense points.

He felt he was very merciful for not handing out minced meat.

The Little Clam Spirit was stunned.

It lowered its head to look at the thing on the tip of its tongue, looking at that silvery-white luster and smelling the emanating aura.

It recognized what this was.

It was dragon meat!

It was the meat of that Tier-4 Little Li Dragon!

Something it hadn't even dared to dream of in all the time it had lived.

Its tongue began to tremble, trembling so much that the piece of dragon meat was about to fall off.

It hurriedly used its tongue to suck tightly onto the dragon meat, its shell gap wide open, and the entire clam was glowing.

It was genuinely glowing; it was too excited, unable to even control its demonic power.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling!"

There was a sobbing tone of excitement in the Little Clam Spirit's voice.