Chapter 24: 24 Incense Seeds

Chapter 24: 24. Incense Seed

【Nine of Four】.

The eight-zhang Bodhisattva shrinks to five zhang.

Power drops.

【Nine of Five】

The five-zhang Bodhisattva shrinks to one zhang.

Power drops once more.

【Nine of Six】

The eve of dawn.

The sky turns grey.

The youth sat cross-legged at the foot of Mount Manfeng, his entire body radiating an incredibly sharp and impatient aura.

The very instant the sky brightened, he did not run or hide again. Instead, he snapped his eyes open as if timing it perfectly, gripped the one-zhang Beast-Slaying Blade with his five fingers, and surged toward the sky.

With a single strike like a flying swallow collapsing a mountain, he slashed toward a certain point in the void.

That place was clearly empty, yet as the youth's blade swept through, a one-zhang Bodhisattva suddenly appeared.

Seeing the blade light, the Bodhisattva slightly pressed its hands together, attempting to catch the edge of the blade.

But how could that be possible?

Ning Xuan's blade was fast to the extreme; compared to him, the Bodhisattva's movements were like a snail. The strike landed squarely on the Bodhisattva's brow.

A crack appeared on that brow.

Ning Xuan did not lift his blade; instead, a sound like the chirping of a swallow echoed from between his bones and muscles.

The Swallow-Chirping Force—even within a tiny space, it could erupt.

A gentle press was equivalent to a single "Flying Swallow Collapsing a Mountain."

Boom!

The crack widened significantly.

It took two consecutive strikes before the Bodhisattva's hands could finally close.

Bang!

But the closure was empty.

Ning Xuan had already used the force of the press to leap upward.

Slash!

Another strike, landing in the exact same spot.

As the blade fell, another surge of force followed, then another. It was as if he had only swung once, but upon impact, the subsequent blade-force surged forward like waves of a raging sea.

Bang bang bang bang!

Finally,

A crisp "crack" rang out.

Spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread outward from the Bodhisattva's green lotus hair.

A savage grin spread across Ning Xuan's lips; he almost wanted to laugh maniacally.

Without a word, without a question, he delivered another strike.

Boom!!

The Bodhisattva shattered.

It crumbled into tiny, starlit fragments.

The full-moon face, the white-haired brow, the lips hiding a greedy smile—all became dull, frozen, then expanded and pulverized.

Ning Xuan felt a sense of exhilaration.

He could not suppress the ferocious curve of his mouth, nor the uncontrollable greed in his eyes.

He stared at the starlit fragments and saw, at the very core, a long, grey, bristly rat.

The rat was no more than a foot long, its fur like steel needles, its eyes glowing with a ghostly green.

Those ghostly green pupils currently displayed an unspeakable disbelief.

The moment those pupils met Ning Xuan's gaze, Ning Xuan's blade had already thrust forward.

The rat demon's claws clawed frantically in mid-air, but like the wheels of a carriage mired in deep mud, no matter how hard it struggled, it only spun in place. Since it hadn't touched the ground, it could not tread upon the wind.

The tip of the blade became a spear, a line of lightning.

The tip almost instantaneously pierced through the grey-haired rat demon's body. The force erupted upon impact, sounding almost simultaneously with the rat demon's agonized "squeak."

Squeak squeak squeak!

Boom!!

The rat demon exploded.

It turned into a cloud of thick, rolling black smoke that flowed toward Ning Xuan.

Finally, text appeared before his eyes.

【Heavenly Demon Register: Incense-Stealing Rat (20/100)】

But it did not end there.

The "(20/100)" began to climb rapidly, turning into "(100/100)" in the blink of an eye.

Then, with another jump, the full text appeared.

【Incense-Stealing Rat】

【Heavenly Demon Nature: Rodentia, Incense Family, Incense-Stealing Seed (Spirit): 5.0】 (Only primary attribute displayed) (Upon exiting, an additional Nature attribute of 4.5 will be provided)

【Innate Demon Art: Incense-Stealing Technique: Steal a stick of incense from the green shrine under the cover of night, masquerade as a Celestial to receive the years of devotion, and steal the incense for one's own use】 (Minimum requirement: Spirit 5)

【Mastered Demon Art: Hum-Ha Technique: Converting force into sound, impossible to guard against; one "Hum" breaks the courage, one "Ha" dissolves the form】 (Minimum requirement: Constitution 6)

As the refinement of the Heavenly Demon Register succeeded, the world of the Black Moon and White Sun quietly collapsed.

The campfire leaped back into Ning Xuan's vision.

The sounds of soldiers patrolling drifted from the distance.

Inside the tent, the steady breathing of the Ugly Slave could be heard.

The cold branches in the campfire crackled, and Ning Xuan's eyes regained their luster.

He noted the seamless transition of the environment and confirmed one thing: while refining the Register in the nightmare, time outside was frozen.

He took another deep look at the distant mountain and closed his eyes slightly.

He had obtained the power of the Incense-Stealing Rat, but he had not obtained the incense-body of that ten-zhang Bodhisattva.

However, because of this, he had vaguely deduced a great deal of information.

He was born of the night.

Demons were born of the day.

When night and day intersected, he and the demons would also intersect.

The 【Heavenly Demon Register】 would sense this intersection in advance, and then, it would forcibly seize the life of the demon at the junction point through some mysterious means, allowing him to refine it. If successful, he would become a master of demonic power; if he failed, his soul would be scattered.

Therefore, demonic power could be forcibly recovered through secret methods during the day, but not at night.

The Incense-Stealing Rat was a Spirit-type demon, but the Bodhisattva shell was Constitution-type. The Bodhisattva shell could recover without damage during the day, but at night, it could only be used by forcibly burning one's own foundation, shrinking from ten zhang to eight zhang.

By the same logic, although he had obtained the power of the Incense-Stealing Rat, he could not obtain its incense.

Because incense belonged to the side of the day.

And he belonged to the side of the night.

Even while refining the 【Heavenly Demon Register】, the day would not allow him to take extra incense away.

As for why this Incense-Stealing Rat could bring an "Incense Bodhisattva Body," while the previous Mountain-Crashing Bear Demon could not bring the "Blood-Colored Incense Brocade Kasaya" into the nightmare, the answer likely lay in the words "Incense Seed."

The Mountain-Crashing Bear Demon was an "Ordinary Species."

The Incense-Stealing Rat was an "Incense Seed."

Ordinary species cannot condense incense; they must worship Bodhisattva statues to seek incense treasures.

An Incense Seed, however, can condense incense, making the incense a part of itself.

As for how much incense can be condensed, it depends on Spirit—that is, Nature. This was also what the Big Brother referred to as the Divine Soul, a realm entirely different from flesh and blood.

Now, having obtained the power of the Incense-Stealing Rat, his Nature could rise from the original "1.0" to "5.5." Could he... could he possibly learn the Dragon Qi that Big Brother spoke of, first becoming a Fangshi, and then a Celestial Master?

At the same time, while he had obtained the power of the Incense-Stealing Rat, he would need to steal the incense himself.

And if he stole the incense and it became a part of him, would that mean he could also bring incense into the nightmare?

But... what was incense?

And where would incense be found?

If incense could become power, Ning Xuan believed his surroundings would already be dominated by temples, rather than the prosperous empire of the present.