50: Chapter 50 Unexpandable Jurisdiction

When it crawled to the threshold, it stopped again, turning back to take a look at the glowing statue of Lord Qinling inside the shrine.

It held that piece of dragon meat a bit tighter, pushed hard across the threshold, and disappeared outside the temple gate.

The second Little Clam Spirit crawled in.

The third.

The fourth.

One after another, they lined up and quietly crawled in, raised their incense, prostrated on the ground, lit the incense, inserted the incense, received their dragon meat, and crawled out.

Under Bengbu's scolding, not a single Little Clam Spirit shoved or crowded.

Bengbu stood at the temple entrance, waving its tongue back and forth to maintain order, but its eyes kept glancing into the temple.

It saw that those Little Clam Spirits who had offered incense all received a shred of dragon meat.

Thinking again of this large chunk of dragon meat inside its own shell, it almost couldn't hold back and jumped up.

Sure enough, the one Lord Qinling gave it was the biggest one!

Sunlight filtered down from the sea surface, piercing through layers of deep blue, falling onto the temple eaves, onto those pearls, and onto the bodies of the Little Clam Spirits standing in line.

Qin Ling's split soul entered the pearl statue, watching the Little Clam Spirits crawling in and watching them clumsily raise their incense and devoutly prostrate on the ground.

[incense points + 1]

[incense points + 1]

[incense points + 1]

Receiving the continuous notifications of incense points arriving, Qin Ling also gave a faint smile.

In that case, this Underwater Temple really wasn't built in vain!

It counts as having one more place to collect incense!

Outside the temple, the line was still very long.

Stretching all the way from the temple entrance to the reef cluster, it was crooked yet very quiet.

Those Little Clam Spirits whose turn hadn't come yet all quietly lay flat on the reefs, waiting while gazing in the direction of the temple gate.

The last Little Clam Spirit cradled the dragon meat and crawled out of the temple gate, and the temple finally quieted down.

Qin Ling curled up inside the shrine, beginning to tally up the earnings from this afternoon.

[incense points: + 1, + 1, + 1, + 1, + 1, + 1...]

Except for Bengbu, who offered incense first and provided 3 incense points, the rest of the Little Clam Spirits only provided 1 incense point each.

Qin Ling was not surprised by this at all; after all, he had never manifested his divine presence in front of these Little Clam Spirits.

Their degree of piety was average, and he could completely accept receiving only 1 incense point.

Forty-five first-turn Little Clam Spirits, plus those 3 points from the Second-Turn Clam Spirit, adding everything up, came to a total of 48 incense points.

Qin Ling still felt this harvest was quite good.

After all, these were incense points that could be harvested every day, rather than just a one-time lump sum.

But soon, Qin Ling's brows furrowed.

On the system panel, behind his [Jurisdiction], there was still only [Qin Family Village].

It was exactly the same as before, without any changes at all.

He had called over more than forty Clam Spirits, built the Underwater Temple, and the Little Clam Spirits had successfully offered incense in the temple to provide incense points.

But the jurisdiction hadn't changed at all!

Qin Ling's split soul sat cross-legged inside the shrine in silence.

Since his cultivation could not be improved after reaching [Incense Realm 100%], the system prompted that he must first expand his jurisdiction before he could continue improving his cultivation.

This made him quite sensitive to the matter of expanding his jurisdiction.

Then why wasn't this East China Sea Seabed counted into his jurisdiction?

"Is it because the ones offering incense are demons?"

Qin Ling rubbed his chin and muttered to himself.

Could it be because everyone who offered incense in Qin Family Village was human, whereas everyone who offered incense here in the East China Sea Seabed was a demon?

And the requirement for jurisdiction is that everyone who offers incense must be human?

But after thinking about it, Qin Ling still felt something was wrong.

If the jurisdiction really had this requirement, then why could minor demons offering incense also provide incense points?

Qin Ling frowned, feeling that this shouldn't be the reason.

But if it wasn't this reason, then what caused the East China Sea Seabed to not become his jurisdiction?

Could it be because...

Quantity?

Qin Ling looked towards the dense pack of Little Clam Spirits lying on the reefs outside the temple eating dragon meat.

The number of these Little Clam Spirits was 45.

Meanwhile, the number of villagers in Qin Family Village exceeded a hundred.

"Is it because the quantity isn't enough?"

Qin Ling continued to mutter to himself.

Although he didn't know the exact reason, Qin Ling decided to try again.

There was no help for it; who made him desire progress so badly!

Thinking of this, Lord Qinling called Bengbu in.

Bengbu crawled into the temple, rolled to the front of the offering table, raised its head, and its shell crack opened slightly.

"Lord Qinling, are there any other instructions?"

"Bengbu, I still have tasks to assign to you. Now that the temple is built, having only this group of Little Clam Spirits as worshippers is still too few."

Lord Qinling waved his hand and said.

"Therefore, I need you to go out and recruit more, calling some other minor demons over here to offer incense."

"This minor demon has already called all the Little Clam Spirits in the surrounding waters. If I call any more, they will be other monsters."

Bengbu explained with its tongue stretched straight.

"No matter, just call other monsters."

"First-tier, second-tier, as long as they have gained spiritual awareness, but avoid those like the Cone Snail that feed on humans."

Qin Ling did not have any good impression of this Cone Snail Demon.

If he ran into it, he would probably eradicate it casually.

"Lord Qinling, rest assured. Leave this matter to this minor demon, I'll go right now!"

Bengbu bounced up as a whole clam, its voice resonant.

"There is still a group at Shipwreck Bay that hasn't come yet, there are some at the trench, and another nest at the western reef cluster."

"This minor demon will go call them one by one and guarantee to bring everyone who can come!"

As it spoke, it crawled out of the temple. It crawled so fast that it almost failed to cross the threshold.

After crossing it, it stretched its tongue back in, and its voice drifted in from outside the temple gate.

"Lord Qinling, will that dragon meat still be distributed?"

Qin Ling glanced at it.

Bengbu quickly pulled its tongue back, its voice drifting from afar.

"Distribute, distribute, distribute! This minor demon understands! Distributed only after offering incense! No incense, no giving! This minor demon is going right now!"

Bengbu's voice grew more and more distant, finally disappearing into the gloomy seawater.

The temple quieted down again, leaving only the pearls glowing softly and warmly, illuminating the entire temple with a gentle radiance.

Qin Ling's split soul sat inside the statue, pondering as it looked at the jeweled and glittering temple before it.

If it was a matter of quantity, then he would fill it with quantity.

If forty-six weren't enough, he would round the number up to over a hundred.

If a gathering of over a hundred minor demons still couldn't make this place a jurisdiction recognized by the system,

then that would mean the system indeed did not recognize places where demons offered incense as jurisdictions.

Regardless of what happened, this matter had no disadvantages for him.

Even if it didn't work out, being able to call more minor demons to offer incense here could also provide him with incense points.

Anyway, after Zhou Family Village successfully invited the deity, his jurisdiction could also be successfully expanded.

By then he would also be able to continue improving his cultivation.

As for the price he had to pay, it was nothing more than dragon meat.

And the dragon meat of this Little Li Dragon was extremely plentiful.

To take ten thousand steps back, even if many minor demons came by then, wasn't the size of the distributed dragon meat up to him to decide?

He would pull out a cafeteria aunt's wok-flipping skills; these minor demons wouldn't understand at all, okay!

Dragon meat was nothing to him; converting it into incense points was the most important thing.

He withdrew his gaze, turned around, and his split soul stepped out of the temple gate in a single stride.

Golden light cut through the deep blue seawater, skimming towards the sea surface.

Behind him, that jeweled and glittering little temple shone quietly on the seabed.

Dense packs of Little Clam Spirits lay flat on the reefs digesting the dragon meat, their shell cracks glowing with light.