I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 149 Prayer
After taking a look at the powerful ghost, Zhang Chen did not meddle in its affairs.

Zhang Chen seemed to be thinking about something, but he didn't think too much about it. Instead, he followed the little kid towards the herbal medicine hall.

"Elder Zhang, my junior brother is here. He drank your medicine before and suddenly became weak. Please take a good look at my junior brother's symptoms." The little boy shouted before he even reached the yard, and the hint had been conveyed.

Elder Zhang came out, looked at Zhang Chen with a smile on his face, then took Zhang Chen's pulse. However, the smile on Elder Zhang's face soon disappeared, and he looked at Zhang Chen seriously with a pair of eyes.

"Elder, what's wrong? Don't scare me." Cheng Yu was frightened by Elder Zhang's expression and asked anxiously.

"This kid's soul is very weak and the situation is very serious!" said Elder Zhang.

"Ah? What should we do then?" The little kid was horrified when he heard that.

"How strange! He is just an ordinary person, how could his soul be so weak?" Elder Xu muttered to himself, and then said to the little kid, "I'll prescribe some medicine for him to nourish his soul and see if it works."

After the two of them finished prescribing the medicine, Xiao Douding pulled Zhang Chen back with a worried look on his face, "Zhang Chen, why is your soul so weak?"

Of course Zhang Chen couldn't tell the truth, so he lied: "I don't know, maybe it's because I didn't eat well."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Douding looked at Zhang Chen intently. After a moment's silence, he seemed to have made an important decision: "From now on, I will cut my meal in half and give you half of it."

in the afternoon
Xie Lingyun came again. Zhang Chen put down the book, stood up and bowed respectfully to Xie Lingyun, but his body swayed involuntarily. Seeing this, Xiao Douding hurried forward to support him, and tears fell like golden beans.

"What's wrong with you?" Xie Lingyun saw that Zhang Chen's face was pale and his blood seemed abnormal. He then looked at the little kid crying beside him, so he asked.

Zhang Chen smiled bitterly and evaded the question, "I don't know."

"I am proficient in medicine. Let me check you." Xie Lingyun stretched out his hand and took Zhang Chen's pulse without waiting for his reaction. After checking for a while, he frowned and said, "Your soul is injured, and it is very serious. Without special opportunities, it is difficult to recover. Moreover, as time goes by, your qi and blood will decline and cannot nourish your soul. I am afraid that the situation will become more serious. You should not practice martial arts for the time being. You need to rest well next."

At this point, Xie Lingyun glanced at the little kid who was crying beside him, and after a little hesitation, he took out three calming incense sticks from his sleeve and gave them to Zhang Chen: "I have three incense sticks here, which have the effect of nourishing the soul and will be of great benefit to you. Your soul is injured now, and if you want to recover from the injury, you need to keep up with nutrition, and eat some meat every day."

These three calming incense sticks were original ones, not the crude imitations she made. She felt that she was in big trouble now. If she could get through it, she would not need the calming incense sticks. If she could not get through it, she would surely die, and the calming incense sticks would benefit the demon.

Looking at Zhang Chen, whose soul was severely wounded, Xie Lingyun thought of her own calamity. She was now facing the threat of the demon. Her life was in danger and she could be taken away by the demon at any time. Only when you are truly on the brink of life and death can you understand the taste of life and death.

She saw the little kid with tearful eyes and sobbing and wiping tears. She seemed to see herself at the age of five, living in the shadow of impending death all day long, fearing that she would never see her mother and father again. No one felt that more deeply than she did.

Xie Lingyun's trip to Huangli Temple was not smooth. The incense and gods of Huangli Temple could not do anything to cure the evil in her body. The mysterious being she regarded as her savior still had no trace. She knew that she could only hold on for a month at most. If she could not find a solution within a month, she was afraid that she would die!

Faced with the crisis of life and death, thinking about the upcoming separation from his loved ones, and seeing the miserable expression of the little kid, Xie Lingyun suddenly softened his heart.

Xie Lingyun gave some instructions and then said goodbye and left.

Zhang Chen looked at Xie Lingyun's receding back, then looked at the soul-calming incense in his hand. Suddenly, a golden light appeared in his eyes, and he saw wisps of green smoke flowing on the soul-calming incense.

"A mysterious thing." Zhang Chen lowered his head and looked at the calming incense in his hand, stunned for a moment.

At noon, Xiao Douding went to the kitchen to get rice and rice porridge. As expected, Xiao Douding kept his promise. He broke the steamed bun in his hand into two halves, looked left and right, and finally handed the slightly larger half to Zhang Chen.

Looking at the little bean with a painful face, Zhang Chen smiled and said, "Girl, just eat it yourself. What nutrition can half a steamed bun provide?"

The little kid heard this but said stubbornly: "Why can't half a steamed bun make up for it? Anything I can make up is enough. I only have this much ability, don't look down on me for being incompetent, and don't look down on me for being a burden and unable to help you."

Zhang Chen was moved when he heard this and rubbed the little kid's head: "You can eat this steamed bun. I want to eat meat tonight."

The little kid's eyes lit up when he heard that, and he stared at Zhang Chen without saying a word.

Zhang Chen took the steamed bun and stuffed it into the little boy's mouth. The two were joking when a soldier came into the yard with a food box: "The noble has ordered that this food be given to you two."

Without saying a word, the soldier took out three meat dishes from the food box, turned around and left.

"Roast chicken, braised pork, and crystal pork elbow!" The little boy's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Looks like I don't need to steal meat at night." Zhang Chen looked at the food on the ground. Although he was a little confused as to why this noble lady was so kind to him, he accepted it all as he knew he would have a chance to repay her in the future.

"Come, eat." Zhang Chen tore off a chicken leg, took the steamed bun out of the little kid's mouth, and then stuffed the chicken leg into the little kid's mouth again.

After finishing his meal, Zhang Chen drank the medicine and lit some calming incense. As the medicine began to take effect, Zhang Chen took the opportunity to practice, entering a state of concentration and visualizing the "Diagram of the Round Heaven and Square Earth". Under the effect of the incense, Zhang Chen felt that his soul was recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye, and all his discomforts were gradually alleviating.

The days became peaceful. Zhang Chen took medicine every day to nourish his soul, recuperate his body's qi and blood, and recite scriptures.

Xie Lingyun came three times a day, and each time he would stand in front of the big elm tree, in front of the table, or in the corner of the courtyard for a whole day. He stood there in a daze, as if thinking about something.

Zhang Chen looked at Xie Lingyun's back and felt something strange in his heart. He always felt that Xie Lingyun was a weird person.

After the three incense sticks were burned, Zhang Chen's soul recovered by 90%. After another ten days of recuperation, Zhang Chen completely recovered and began to meditate and practice Qi again. At the same time, he secretly sighed in his heart: "The incense sticks are good things. You are worthy of being a great noble!"

On the third day after Zhang Chen's soul recovered, Xie Lingyun felt Zhang Chen's pulse and nodded to him, "Your soul has recovered. You need to practice martial arts to strengthen your blood and qi in the future, so as not to overwork and cause the old illness to flare up again."

"Thank you very much for your help. I will never forget your kindness." Zhang Chen bowed to Xie Lingyun solemnly to express his gratitude.

Xie Lingyun smiled when she heard this and shook her head: "You don't have to thank me, and I don't need you to thank me either. As long as you live a good life, that's enough. To be honest, seeing the brotherhood between you and Xiaodouding, I'm quite touched. Cheng Yu is very simple. If you died, she would definitely be very sad. I can't bear to see this kind of pain of separation between life and death." She didn't think that Zhang Chen, an ordinary person, a civilian, would have the chance to repay her in this life.

"Live well!"

After Xie Lingyun finished speaking, she turned and left, leaving Zhang Chen standing in the yard, looking at Xie Lingyun's back, touching his head, somewhat confused. He could not feel Xie Lingyun's miserable state of mind, he only felt that the noble girl in front of him seemed to be quite nice, but she was in a daze every day and seemed a little bit stupid.

Days passed one by one, and half a month had passed. Xie Lingyun still punched in for work on time every day, staring at the objects in the yard in a daze.

After Zhang Chen finished practicing the True Dragon Frame that day, Xie Lingyun turned his head and looked at Zhang Chen: "You live in this yard, have you found anything strange?"

"A weird place? No?" Zhang Chen looked confused.

Xie Lingyun was disappointed when he heard this. He didn't say much, but sighed quietly: "Is this my fate?"

"Did your lady encounter any trouble?" Zhang Chen asked after hearing what Xie Lingyun said, his voice full of inquiry. If he could help Xie Lingyun, he would be happy to do so.

Xie Lingyun didn't say anything, but turned around and walked out.

From that day on, Xie Lingyun never came to the courtyard again for the next ten days.

However, Zhang Chen was in charge of cleaning the main hall. He could not see Xie Lingyun in the small courtyard, but he could see Xie Lingyun in the main hall.

But Xie Lingyun, dressed in a bright red robe, was seen kneeling on a cushion, not eating or drinking, but reciting scriptures.

Zhang Chen watched Xie Lingyun kneel from day to night, and from night to dawn.

I knelt from the first day to the second day, and from the second day to the tenth day.

Xiao Douding and Zhang Chen were cleaning the sculptures in the hall quietly. Xiao Douding looked at the thin Xie Lingyun and said in a low voice, "Your Highness has been kneeling for ten days, reciting scriptures for ten days, and has not had a drop of water. Do you think she will starve to death?"

Zhang Chen wiped the soles of the sculpture's feet with the rag in his hand, then glanced at Xie Lingyun inconspicuously, and saw a mysterious aura flowing from him, obviously he was not an ordinary person.

"What kind of person is your lady? She has her own ideas in mind. Why should we worry about her?" Zhang Chen said in a low voice.

Cheng Yu couldn't bear to hear that, so he picked up the clear water in the jade bottle on the altar and carefully came to the side of the noble lady. Looking at the noble lady who was so thin that she looked unrecognizable, he said carefully: "Noble lady, you haven't had any water or rice for ten days. Would you like some water?"

The lady did not raise her head, but continued to lower her head and recite scriptures in a low voice.

At this time, the law enforcement elder happened to pass by. Seeing the little kid bothering the lady, he quickly walked into the hall, pulled the little kid aside, and whispered, "You are so bold. You actually dared to disturb the lady. Aren't you afraid of death?"

"I just know that if you stop drinking water, you will soon starve to death. She is a good person and should not be starved to death." The little boy's voice was full of stubbornness.

Facing the stubborn little kid, the law enforcement elder sighed helplessly and could only explain: "The lady is in big trouble now. Only by asking the great god Huang Tian to help, there may be a chance to relieve the disaster. And now the lady has made a desperate bet. Either ask the great god Huang Tian to help, or die here. There is no other way. She is now fasting sincerely to move the great god Huang Tian. You must not disturb the lady, lest you blaspheme the gods and cut off the lady's last chance of survival."

The little kid was shocked when he heard this, his eyes filled with sadness. He turned his head to look towards the hall, but didn't know what to say.

Zhang Chen, who was wiping the sculpture in the hall, heard the words of the law enforcement elder. He turned his head to look at the lady and his heart moved slightly.

The little boy walked into the hall, glanced at Xie Lingyun's back, and wiped the sculpture silently. His expression seemed to be much dimmer at this moment.

Zhang Chen also remained silent.

After the law enforcement elders left, the entire Taoist temple became more strictly guarded. Even in recent days, the elders no longer approached the main hall for fear of disturbing Xie Lingyun.

Time passed slowly, and after another three days, Xie Lingyun's aura became weaker and weaker, and even the sound of his chanting became intermittent.

Zhang Chen and Xiao Douding stopped wiping the sculpture and stood aside, looking at Xie Lingyun with worry on their faces.

"Boom~"

When seeing that Xie Lingyun was about to die, Zhang Chen's eyes suddenly flashed with golden light. The next moment, the world in front of him changed drastically. The clay statue in the hall suddenly revived with divine light. The originally ordinary sculpture suddenly burst out with a vast divine light.

The divine light reaches up to the sky and down to the mountains.

In that divine light, a figure slowly walked out.

As the figure walked out, a mysterious force enveloped the hall, as if splitting the world and separating Xiao Douding and Zhang Chen.

In the naked eyes of the two, Xie Lingyun was still kneeling quietly on the ground, and the hall was still the same ordinary hall. However, in Zhang Chen's Dharma eyes, the entire hall had undergone incredible changes and was shrouded in the vast light.

Zhang Chen in the hall looked at the figure walking out, his pupils shrinking involuntarily. He felt his brain buzzing, his thoughts almost stopped flowing, and his body trembled continuously under the tremendous pressure.

That is an incredibly powerful thing!
However, the strong smell of incense from the other party made Zhang Chen frown secretly.

Although the opponent was much stronger than himself, and with the appearance of that figure, the whole world seemed to be in his control, but Zhang Chen could clearly sense in his heart that the power of the opponent's incense was far from the purity of his own divine light.

The other party might have the power to wipe out his family with just a thought, but the counterfeit aura, fake and smuggled goods, and crude and shoddy incense power on the other party made Zhang Chen feel inexplicably contemptuous.

(End of this chapter)