Building a sect from scratch.

There are no specific rules for daily offerings of incense to gods. As long as you recite the correct title of the corresponding deity, light the incense, and put it in the incense burner, that is sufficient.

There is no need to kneel or offer any tribute. The only difference between the offering and that of other people who do not worship this deity is that when offering incense, one must address the deity as "disciple".

Of course, this "disciple" doesn't mean you're actually his disciple; it's a polite form of address, a humble way of referring to oneself. Generally, phrases like "Disciple so-and-so pays respects to so-and-so" are just casual greetings to deities. Meaningless greetings like "Star Lord, I pay my respects to you" are mainly to prove that one has indeed been registered before this deity.

However, if someone who is not worshipping the deity claims to be a "disciple," then they will suffer the consequences. The consequences of "deceiving the gods" are not something everyone can bear. This is why cultivators in the Ten Continents and Three Islands offer incense at the slightest disagreement when they exchange information.

Nietzsche and the others were actually unaware of the so-called daily incense-offering procedure. Although the Jade Emperor had learned about it in class during the project, he had never actually applied it. He could only awkwardly accept the incense, bow, and say, "Disciple [Jade Emperor] of the Central Continent Taiyin Sect pays respects to the God of Fortune, the God of Prosperity, and the God of Longevity..."

Other players followed suit, awkwardly imitating the Jade Emperor, holding incense sticks, bowing haphazardly, and randomly sticking them into the incense burner.

Strangely enough, such a disrespectful offering of incense actually worked, much to the surprise of the old priest who was squinting and not very optimistic about the players' behavior.

No matter how strange the players' behavior is, as long as it is proven that they have been worshipping the Three Star Gods of Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity and have been recognized by them, then they can be considered normal cultivators.

After offering incense, Niohuru led the players out of the temple, where Chakota was waiting at the door.

Niuhelu nodded almost imperceptibly to Chakota, whose tone immediately became much friendlier. She said, "Now that you've offered incense, you can be considered friends of the Hu Buyu clan! By the way, you just mentioned wanting to do business with us. Liuzhou is bitterly cold and doesn't have many special products, except for Kunwu Stone, which is very famous. Are you interested?"

Most players had no concept of the various spiritual materials mentioned in "Ten Continents Chronicles" and could only parrot back, "Kunwu Stone?"

"It's a type of ore, one of the best spirit ores for forging weapons, especially swords. We use it quite often in weapon crafting. I even got two pieces last week after finishing my daily quests, but I haven't been willing to use them yet!"

Guantangbao is a craftsman who is quite familiar with Kunwu stone, so he immediately introduced it to everyone.

Chakota nodded and said, "That's right. The best Kunwu Stone can also aid in cultivation. It's priceless. Every time the Fulu Shou Merchant Guild's flying boat comes, it's to buy Kunwu Stone."

Nietzsche asked, "So how do you sell them?"

"Judging from the quality, we've collected all the Kunwu stones we washed. You can pick and choose. There are plenty of low-quality ones worth tens of spirit stones each. High-quality ones worth thousands of spirit stones each are not uncommon. The top-grade ones, worth tens of thousands of spirit stones, are not unheard of. However, top-quality Kunwu stones are extremely rare and hard to come by. We've only found one in all these years."

As Chakota spoke, he glanced at the eager Renxin Huadao and added, "If you can exchange them with pills or various spiritual plants and medicinal herbs, we can lower the price even further."

Huangzhucao excitedly typed in the team chat: "Yay! This time when we trade with the Hu Buyu clan, we shouldn't be able to get a lower price!"

Other players also commented, "Probably not. There aren't many unscrupulous merchants like the Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity Merchants Association!"

"I love this storyline! It'll be our community's dumping ground from now on!" "Be bold! We can be middlemen! We can buy other players' items directly and sell them here! After all, we're the only ones who can teleport to Liuzhou right now!"

"Holy crap! You're a sharp-witted fellow! You must have made a fortune during the bull market, right?"

"A hero doesn't dwell on past glories, but lately... I've lost quite a bit..."

Nietzsche was secretly pleased as well, as she was worried about what to do with the pile of unsold spiritual herbs and plants in the warehouse! However, no matter what she was thinking, she remained quite calm and asked, "We do have quite a few spiritual herbs and plants, but we don't know what you need?"

Chakota counted on his fingers, "We want as much as you can of anything that can calm the mind, ward off evil, and heal external injuries! If you have any stalagmites, we'll take those too!"

"Concentrate and calm? Exorcise evil spirits?" The Jade Emperor was very puzzled: "Even if your Liuzhou is bitterly cold, what kind of spiritual materials do you need to exorcise evil spirits!?"

"Huh? You really don't know?"

This time, it was Chakta's turn to be puzzled.

She thought for a moment and said briefly, "Ever since the Soul Devouring Rift imprisoned the Sword Sect in Liuzhou, a very strange thing has started to appear. It is neither alive nor dead, wandering around, and it always goes to places where living people gather. They are actually very weak and have no offensive power, but they emit an aura that pollutes the soul, causing people to eventually go mad and become... become monsters..."

"We all call it the Soul Eater because everyone suspects that it escaped from the Soul Eater Rift, or even from the Sword Sect..."

"This is why no merchant ships are willing to come to Liuzhou. Only the Fu Lu Shou Merchant Guild comes occasionally, and they don't stay overnight. They come and leave on the same day."

"In the entire Liuzhou, only places that can withstand the barrier are relatively safe. Even so, people still have to be sent to the surrounding areas every now and then to clear out those wandering Soul Eaters."

"So it's really strange that you suddenly appeared outside Hubuyu Town."

Wu Ke frowned and muttered, "Why does this sound so familiar? A zombie siege? A biohazard continent?"

Huang Zhucao rolled her eyes and typed a long message in the team chat, her disdain practically overflowing the screen: "Are you stupid?! Isn't this exactly the same as all those headless men we encountered earlier in that quest? And the diary written on the wooden board by that Sword Sect disciple we found mentioned something like 'Yinglong aura'!"

Renxin Huadao, however, spoke up, emphasizing, "Hey, you two! Stop talking nonsense. Yinglong was killed by us a long time ago. Where did this Yinglong come from? A new one?"

The Jade Emperor, multitasking in the group chat, analyzed, "Maybe it's not some 'Yinglong aura'! That so-called 'Yinglong aura' was a secondhand clue, a note from an NPC who's probably already insane. It might not be true! Maybe it's some kind of demonic or ghostly energy!" (End of Chapter)