61: Chapter 61 Huang Zu's Divination

Bengbu lay by the threshold, its tongue waving back and forth, looking just like a traffic police officer directing the little demons.

A Swimming Crab Demon walked sideways, scrambling its eight legs rapidly, but it slowed down once it entered the temple door.

It prostrated before the offering table, its two eyes protruding from the cracks of its shell, vertical and rolling around.

It looked over and over at the statue of Lord Qinling inside that shrine.

Not knowing what to do, the Swimming Crab Demon just stood right there.

It was Bengbu who shouted from behind.

"Lift the incense! Lift the incense!"

Hearing this, the Swimming Crab Demon used its pincers to grip a stick of joss incense tightly, raising it above its head in a crooked manner.

It prostrated before the offering table, its eight legs curled up and its shell pressed against the ground, completely motionless.

The joss incense burned within the bubble, and blue smoke curled inside it.

Qin Ling sat cross-legged inside the shrine.

[incense points + 1]

The Swimming Crab Demon inserted the incense into the censer, and only then did it slowly wriggle back out.

Just as the Swimming Crab Demon walked out of the temple, a Starfish Demon squeezed in from outside the threshold.

It had five arms, orange-red in color, crawling on the coral reef floor.

It circled around the offering table several times before raising its arms with a stick of joss incense to offer it.

[incense points + 1]

A seahorse demon bounced in from outside the threshold.

Its body was curved like a bow, and its tail coiled around a stick of joss incense, hopping step by step to the front of the offering table.

It used its tail to insert the incense into the censer, planting it nice and straight, then prostrated on the offering table with its body still curved.

[incense points + 1]

Each time the incense offering was finished, Qin Ling would wave his hand.

A small piece of silvery-white dragon meat would float in front of these little demons.

Seeing this piece of dragon meat, every little demon's eyes were filled with joy as they took it and contentedly retreated from the temple.

Qin Ling's divided soul sat inside the shrine, watching those little demons crawl in one by one to offer incense.

Blue Crabs, conger eels, Little Clam Spirits, Starfish, flounders, seahorses...

The variety of little demons left Qin Ling dazzled.

However, although the kinds of little demons Bengbu called back this time were numerous, their quantity was not large.

After all the little demons finished offering incense, Qin Ling took a quick count and found that the current number of little demons was still only 85.

It had not reached the number 100, and the system did not unlock a new jurisdiction.

"Bengbu."

Qin Ling called out the name he had given to the Second-Turn Clam Spirit.

Bengbu, who was at the temple entrance, slid in under the offering table with a sliding tackle.

"Lord Qinling, do you have any instructions?"

"Did you only call over these few little demons this time?"

Qin Ling asked.

"Lord Qinling, according to your request, this little demon has called even more monsters over."

Bengbu hurriedly explained.

"Although those monsters agreed to come, they have been demons for many years after all, and they have some trivial matters to handle before leaving, so it might take a few more days."

After listening to Bengbu's explanation, Qin Ling nodded without a word.

Now he could only wait.

However, the good news was that although Huang Zu had destroyed one of his divided souls in Zhou Family Village,

ever since then, Huang Zu had made no moves whatsoever, nor had it entered Qin Family Village.

Otherwise, even if Huang Zu was already a Fourth-Turn demon, the moment it stepped into Qin Family Village, he would be able to capture it immediately with the perception range expanded by his main body.

Qin Ling guessed the reason why Huang Zu had not come to Qin Family Village.

He roughly guessed that Huang Zu was wary because it also did not know the strength of his main body.

No matter what, this was a good thing for Qin Ling.

Since Huang Zu was not in a hurry,

then he wasn't in a hurry either~

...

Because the County Magistrate had given an order, starting from today, the deities worshipped in all the villages of Guanhai County were to be uniformly replaced with the Yellow Immortal.

The new statues were uniformly distributed by the county yamen, and each village had to replace them immediately upon receiving them without any delay.

The statues were transported out in batches by mule carts and ox carts. Some villages were too remote for carts to enter, so people carried them on their backs.

Those statues were slightly smaller than normal ones, about half a person tall, crudely carved into a human shape wearing official robes and a crown.

The face was a human face, but the proportions were wrong—the eyes were too big and the mouth was too wide.

The corners of the mouth turned upwards to an impossible angle, looking as if it were constantly smiling.

When the statue for Li Family Village was delivered, the village chief stood at the temple entrance and looked at it for a long time.

He had never seen this kind of god before, nor had he ever heard of any Yellow Immortal.

But since the County Magistrate had given the order, he dared not refuse to replace it.

The old statue was carried down, placed in the corner of the courtyard, and covered with a straw mat.

The new statue was placed up, sitting properly in the center of the offering table.

The village chief lit three sticks of joss incense, inserted them into the censer, took a step back, and kowtowed.

Wisps of blue smoke rose, drifting past that somewhat eerie face of the Yellow Immortal.

Kneeling there, he suddenly felt as if the statue was looking at him.

He shivered, stood up, and quickly walked out of the temple door without daring to look back.

The rest of the villages in Guanhai County were much the same.

One after another, those Yellow Immortal statues were transported into the villages and placed on the offering tables.

The villagers lit incense and kowtowed; blue smoke rose from one temple after another, intertwining above the skies of Guanhai County.

Although the name of this Yellow Immortal statue was very unfamiliar, and the face of the statue was also very strange,

since the county asked for it to be worshipped, they would worship it.

In the back hall of the county yamen, the doors were closed, and the windows were also closed.

Huang Zu sat in the master chair, its back held very straight and its hands placed on its knees.

It closed its eyes, and its entire body was wreathed in a layer of grayish mist.

That was not mist; it was incense.

The incense transmitted from the Yellow Immortal statues receiving offerings in dozens of villages across Guanhai County, and passed onto its body through a secret technique.

Although the days of worship were not yet many, it couldn't help that all the villages in the entire Guanhai County had been changed to the Yellow Immortal statues, so within just a few days, there was already a considerable amount of incense.

Huang Zu opened its eyes.

That pair of golden vertical pupils emitted a cold, dim light in the gloomy hall.

It took out a piece of turtle shell from its bosom—palm-sized, dark brown, with edges polished smooth and shiny.

This was the shell of a turtle demon; it had killed it and taken this piece of shell.

Nourishing it with demonic fire for three years, it finally became this turtle shell capable of divination.

It placed the turtle shell on the table, front-side down and back-side up.

Then it raised its hand, and ghostly green demonic fire emerged from its fingertips, drawing over those wisps of grayish incense.

Wrapped on the outside of the demonic fire, it scorched the back of the turtle shell bit by bit.

The turtle shell trembled slightly on the table.

"In Qin Family Village, are there any living beings with a cultivation level deeper than mine?"

Huang Zu closed its eyes and chanted in its mouth.

Inside the hall, aside from the humming sound of the turtle shell trembling, there was only the crackling sound of the demonic fire burning.

It burned for a long time, so long that that layer of grayish incense was almost burned out.

Then it stopped, turned the turtle shell over, and faced it front-side up.

Many cracks split open from the very center of the turtle shell, spreading outward in all directions.

Huang Zu lowered its head to look at those cracks.

The shapes of those cracks formed a single character.

"None."

It clutched the turtle shell in the palm of its hand, startled in its heart.

None!

Qin Family Village had no living beings with a cultivation level deeper than it.

Huang Zu had originally thought that it was truly as the chief constable said, that Lord Qinling had slain the Little Li Dragon.

Coupled with the fact that a single divided soul of Lord Qinling possessed Third-Turn strength, it made Huang Zu quite wary of Lord Qinling.

But now, through divination via a secret technique, it knew that Qin Family Village fundamentally had no living beings of the Fourth-Turn realm!

Huang Zu suddenly smiled, its smile ferocious and terrifying.