70: Chapter 70 Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture

Pei Se closed her eyes first and sank her consciousness into her body.

Her consciousness started from the dantian, traveled all the way up along the meridians, passed through the Shanzhong, and passed through the qihai.

Then she stopped.

Deep within her qihai, something was glowing. It was not her own vital energy, but another kind of thing.

A red talisman was quietly floating in the center of the qihai.

Pei Se's consciousness drew a little closer, and she felt the aura on that talisman.

It was the aura of Lord Qinling!

Pei Se's consciousness slowly withdrew from her sea of consciousness and she opened her eyes.

She looked down at her hands, at the wounds that had already scabbed over, and at the newly grown flesh.

She knew that her recovery ability was so strong because of the talisman inside her body.

Pei Se did not know when that talisman was driven into her body, but she knew that the talisman must belong to Lord Qinling.

This made it even more important to go offer a stick of incense to Lord Qinling!

Pei Se got up, walked out of the room, and walked towards the direction of the temple.

Arriving in front of the temple gate, she smelled the incense drifting out from the temple.

Pei Se stepped into the courtyard in front of the temple.

There were already quite a few people standing in the courtyard: Village Chief Qin Zongliang, the auntie drying fish, the old man selling wine...

All those faces she had seen while wandering around Qin Family Village these past few days were there.

They lined up, extending from the temple entrance all the way to the base of the courtyard wall, quietly, with no one making a ruckus and no one pushing or shoving.

Seeing Pei Se enter, the old man selling wine smiled first, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes bunching together as he nodded at her.

The other villagers of Qin Family Village also revealed friendly smiles one after another upon seeing Pei Se.

Pei Se smiled back in response, then stood at the end of the line.

It was as if she were not that Demon Slayer who was risking her life fighting Huang Zu outside the village yesterday.

But was simply a member of this village, coming here every day to line up and offer incense.

She stood there as the sunlight leaked through the gaps in the leaves, falling onto her shoulders, feeling warm.

The line slowly inched forward.

One person went in, offered incense, kowtowed, came out, and the next one went in.

After waiting for a while, it was Pei Se's turn.

Qin Mo stood by the threshold, holding a handful of incense sticks. Seeing her, he smiled and pulled out three to hand over.

Qin Yin also nodded at Pei Se, stepped aside, and extended her hand in a gesture of "please."

Pei Se took the incense sticks and crossed the threshold.

She looked at the statue of Lord Qinling inside the temple.

This was not the first time she had seen the statue of Lord Qinling, but the feeling was completely the opposite.

Because she had seen what that statue looked like when it opened its eyes, and had seen that statue split a Fourth-Turn Great Demon in half with a single sword strike.

She walked to the offering table, lit the incense sticks using the candlelight, and inserted them into the censer.

Stepping back, she knelt on the cattail mat, kowtowed, and her forehead touched the cold stone bricks.

"Thank you, Divine Lord, for saving my life."

Pei Se said devoutly.

Inside the shrine, Qin Ling lay quietly on his stomach, resting his cheeks in his hands and looking down.

He watched Pei Se take the incense sticks, watched her light them, insert them into the censer, kneel on the cattail mat, and kowtow.

A wisp of aspiration power rose from her body, passed through the curling blue smoke, and fell deep into his consciousness.

[incense points + 3]

Seeing these 3 incense points, Qin Ling was slightly surprised.

He hadn't expected Pei Se's level of devotion to be so high!

You must know that even Qin Yin and Qin Mo had 3 incense points.

After finishing offering the incense, Pei Se stood up, but did not leave.

She stood in front of the offering table, looking at the statue with lowered brows and drooping eyes.

The statue did not move, the incense was still burning, and the blue smoke was still drifting.

She puckered her lips regretfully and suddenly spoke up.

"Lord Qinling, what Huang Zu said before it died is most likely true."

The gaze of Lord Qinling, lying inside the shrine, flickered slightly.

Pei Se continued to speak.

"Huang Zu said it bought the position of magistrate of Guanhai County from the Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture. This matter is most likely true."

"It bought this county not to be an official, but for the incense."

Pei Se's words made Qin Ling inside the shrine sit straight up, his expression turning much more serious.

Huang Zu bought an official position for the incense of Guanhai County?

It turned out that in this world, he wasn't the only wild god who wanted incense; these demons wanted incense too?

Qin Ling suddenly remembered.

That day, his split soul went to the temple in Zhou Family Village and investigated that statue hastily placed on the offering table.

It was half a person tall, crudely carved into a human shape, wearing official robes and a crown.

And there was the flesh and blood in the shape of a ferret inside that statue.

Everything was extremely bizarre.

Huang Zu even gave orders for all the villages in Guanhai County to replace their statues.

Now it seemed that these might all have been done by Huang Zu in order to seize the incense of Guanhai County.

But what Qin Ling couldn't understand was that as a wild god, he needed incense to improve his cultivation, so finding ways to obtain incense was completely reasonable.

Then what were these demons seizing incense for?

Huang Zu even deliberately bought an official position from the Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture for this?

Could it also be to improve cultivation? But these demons clearly fed on vital energy and blood...

Qin Ling couldn't figure it out.

Pei Se did not know if Lord Qinling was listening to her words, but there were some things she needed to tell Lord Qinling.

This was also for the safety of Lord Qinling.

"Lord Qinling, as Huang Zu said, that Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture might indeed come to disturb you."

Pei Se exhaled a breath of stale air and continued.

"Because that Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture is also a demon!"

Hearing this, Qin Ling stood right up inside the shrine, his pupils expanding a size larger.

What was going on?

He had thought that Huang Zu becoming the magistrate of Guanhai County was thrilling enough.

In this world, this wasn't even an exception anymore?

Even the Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture was a demon?

What kind of world was this anyway?

Qin Ling only felt too much information colliding in his mind, leaving him somewhat speechless at this world.

Pei Se stood in front of the offering table and continued speaking to the statue.

"Lord Qinling, if the Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture really comes, I'm afraid it will disturb you."

She gently bit her lower lip with her white teeth and made up her mind.

"I will return to the Demon Slayer Association and report this matter to the president. Perhaps I can help Lord Qinling solve this trouble."

Help me solve this trouble?

Qin Ling silently shook his head.

Because he had seen what Pei Se had done, he had some trust in Pei Se.

But as for what was going on with the Demon Slayer Association behind Pei Se, he knew nothing about it, let alone trusted them.

He certainly didn't think he could just wash his hands of this matter and quietly wait for the Demon Slayer Association to solve it.

The Prefect of Zhenhai Prefecture...

Qin Ling narrowed his eyes.

After Pei Se finished saying what she wanted to say, she thought of something else and quickly added.

"Lord Qinling."

Pei Se's voice was a bit lower than before, as if she were weighing her words.

"Can I take Huang Zu's head with me?"

"This trip I made was to chase this ferret. Slaying demons requires evidence, otherwise it won't be easy to report back when I return."

"I want to bring that head back to the Demon Slayer Association, which can also be considered an explanation."

Having said that, Pei Se looked up at the statue of Lord Qinling.