Chapter 24: Incense Seed

[Four of Nine]…

The eight-zhang Bodhisattva became five zhang.

Its power dropped.

[Five of Nine]

The five-zhang Bodhisattva became one zhang.

Its power dropped again.

[Six of Nine]

Before dawn.

The sky was gray.

The young man sat cross-legged at the foot of Manfeng Mountain, his whole body exuding a sharp and impatient aura.

The moment the sky brightened, he didn’t even run or hide again, but suddenly opened his eyes, as if he had timed it perfectly. His five fingers gripped the ten-foot-long Beast-Slaying Saber, and then he shot up into the sky.

With a Flying Swallow Crushing the Mountain Peak, he slashed at a certain place in the void.

It was clearly empty there, but when the young man’s saber slashed over, a one-zhang Bodhisattva suddenly appeared.

When the Bodhisattva saw the saber light, it slightly clasped its hands, wanting to catch the saber blade.

But how could it?

Ning Xuan’s saber was extremely fast, and the Bodhisattva’s movements were like a snail compared to him. This strike landed on the Bodhisattva’s forehead.

A crack appeared on its forehead.

Ning Xuan didn’t even lift his saber, but a cry like that of a swallow sounded from between his bones and muscles.

Swallow’s Cry Power, it could also erupt in a small space.

A light press was equivalent to a Flying Swallow Crushing the Mountain Peak.

Boom!

The crack grew much larger.

He had delivered two consecutive strikes before the Bodhisattva’s hands had even closed.

Bang!

This clasp, however, was empty.

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

Slash!

Another slash, landing on the same place.

One slash fell, and then another force, two forces. This was equivalent to him having only delivered one slash, but after it landed, the subsequent saber force surged over wave after wave like a raging sea.

Bang bang bang bang!

Finally…

A crisp “crack” sound was heard.

A spiderweb-like crack centered on the Bodhisattva’s green lotus snail-like hair and quickly spread to the surroundings.

A ferocious smile appeared on the corner of Ning Xuan’s mouth, and he even wanted to laugh wildly.

He didn’t say a word, didn’t ask a question, and delivered another slash.

Boom!!

The Bodhisattva shattered.

It shattered into specks.

The full moon face, the white-haired eyebrows, the lips that held a greedy smile, all became dull, still, and then spread out and shattered.

Ning Xuan felt a sense of satisfaction.

He couldn’t suppress the increasingly ferocious grin on his lips, and the greed that he still couldn’t control in his eyes.

He stared at the specks of fragments, and then he saw a long, gray, hard-furred mouse at the core.

This mouse was only a foot long, its fur was like steel needles, and its eyes glowed with a faint green.

The faint green pupils were now showing an indescribable disbelief.

And the moment these faint green pupils met Ning Xuan’s, Ning Xuan’s saber had already stabbed out.

The mouse demon’s claws scratched in mid-air, but it was like the wheels of a carriage stuck in a quagmire. No matter how hard it tried, it just spun in place. It hadn’t landed, so of course it couldn’t walk on the wind.

The tip of the saber became a spear, a line like lightning.

The tip of the saber pierced through the gray-furred mouse demon’s body in an instant, and the force erupted on it, almost at the same time as the mouse demon’s painful “squeak.”

Squeak squeak squeak!

Boom!!

The mouse demon exploded.

It turned into a thick, rolling black smoke and flowed towards Ning Xuan.

Words finally appeared before his eyes.

[Heavenly Demon Record: Incense-Stealing Mouse (20/100)]

But it was not over.

The words “(20/100)” began to climb rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it became “(100/100).”

Then it jumped again and showed the complete words.

[Incense-Stealing Mouse]

[Heavenly Demon Nature Attribute Gate, Mouse Order, Incense Fire Family, Incense-Stealing Species (Spirit): 5.0] (Only the main attribute is displayed) (After summoning, it can provide an additional 4.5 Nature attribute)

[Innate Demonic Art: Incense-Stealing Art: Steal a stick of incense from the green shrine at night, pretend to be a Heavenly Venerate and receive the years, steal the incense fire, and use it for one’s own purposes] (Minimum requirement: Spirit 5)

[Mastered Demonic Art: Huff-Ha Art: Turn power into sound, making it impossible to defend against. One huff breaks the courage, one ha destroys the form] (Minimum requirement: Constitution 6)

As the Heavenly Demon Record was successfully refined, the world of the black moon and white sun quietly collapsed…

The bonfire re-entered Ning Xuan’s eyes.

The sound of soldiers patrolling came from the distance.

And in the tent, Chou Nu’s even breathing could be heard as he rested.

The cold branches in the bonfire crackled and exploded, and Ning Xuan’s eyes regained their spirit.

He paid attention to the seamlessly connected environment and confirmed one thing: when he was refining the record in the nightmare, the time outside was static.

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

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

However, because of this, he also vaguely guessed a lot of information.

He was born in the night.

The demon was born in the day.

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

And the [Heavenly Demon Record] would perceive this intersection in advance, and then, it would forcibly seize the life of the demon at the junction in some mysterious way, and let him forcibly refine it. If he succeeded, he would become the person who controlled the demon’s power. If he failed, his soul would be scattered.

Therefore, the demon’s power could be forcibly restored by a secret technique during the day, but not at night.

The Incense-Stealing Mouse was a spirit-oriented demon, but the Bodhisattva’s shell was constitution-oriented. The Bodhisattva’s shell could recover without injury during the day, but at night, it could only forcibly burn its own foundation and change from ten zhang to eight zhang in order to use the “Huff-Ha Art.”

Similarly, although he had obtained the power of the Incense-Stealing Mouse, he had not been able to obtain the incense fire of the Incense-Stealing Mouse.

Because the incense fire belonged to the day side.

And he belonged to the night side.

Even when he was refining the [Heavenly Demon Record], the day side would not allow him to take away the extra incense fire.

As for why this Incense-Stealing Mouse could bring a “incense fire Bodhisattva body,” while the previous Mountain-Crashing Bear demon could not bring the “blood-red incense fire brocade kasaya” into the nightmare, the problem was probably in the three words “incense fire species.”

The Mountain-Crashing Bear demon was a “common species.”

The Incense-Stealing Mouse was an “incense fire species.”

Common species could not condense incense fire, and needed to worship a Bodhisattva statue to obtain incense fire treasures.

Incense fire species could condense incense fire and make the incense fire a part of themselves.

As for how much incense fire could be condensed, it depended on the spirit, that is, the nature. This was also what his big brother called the soul, which was a completely different field from the flesh and blood.

Now, he had obtained the power of the Incense-Stealing Mouse, and his nature could also be increased from the original “1.0” to “5.5.” Then… was it possible for him to learn the dragon qi that his big brother had mentioned, first become a Fangshi, and then become a Heavenly Master?

At the same time, he had obtained the power of the Incense-Stealing Mouse, but he needed to steal the incense fire himself.

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

But… what was incense fire?

And where was there incense fire?

If incense fire could become power, Ning Xuan believed that his surroundings would have long been dominated by temples, not the prosperous imperial dynasty at this time.

P.S.: The original arrangement was not very reasonable and has been deleted. It does not affect whether you are following the story or not.