Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 115 Lighting Incense (First Update)
"Huh??"

"Is there no mandatory mission this time?"

Xiao Ran read the prompt carefully. It did not tell him that he had to complete the main quest or the side quest before leaving.

This means that if I want to leave, it seems that I only need to...

Xiao Ran looked at the river bank behind him.

"This is quite interesting. Pure exploration, right?"

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran looked up at the monument erected on the pier.

The three words [Taiping Township] stand on it, and the red characters on a white background are particularly eye-catching even at night.

Xiao Ran walked into the town. He didn't know how old the ancient town was, but from the smooth large clear stones under his feet, it was not difficult to tell that it was very old. The streets were surprisingly clean, and even a dead leaf was rarely seen.

There are drainage holes on both sides of the stone road, and a steady stream of clean water flows into the river through the drainage holes.

What is strange is that there is a stone-carved shrine at the door of each house, and as the tips say, these shrines are wrapped in red cloth.

It is unknown what kind of deity is enshrined inside.

Seeing that it was getting darker, Xiao Ran walked on the street for a while but did not look for the so-called inn.

I could only walk towards a house with a light on and try knocking on the door.

"Bang bang bang..."

The knock on the door sounded particularly harsh under the night sky.

But as soon as he knocked, the lights in the room went out immediately.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran could only walk to the next house helplessly.

After knocking on several doors in succession and getting nothing, Xiao Ran decided not to keep knocking.

"I'm afraid it's just like what the boatman said. There are monsters in this place. People don't dare to go out at night, let alone if someone knocks on the door. I'm afraid they don't dare to answer."

Looking around, he saw a big tree in front of him, tall and straight. He jumped up, grabbed a branch with both hands, and climbed to the top of the tree. From the height, he looked down and found that this town was bigger than he expected.

The whole town is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is a rare blessed place.

There are two ancient roads on the east and west sides. Looking out along the ancient roads, it is pitch black. Xiao Ran vaguely sees the dark forest with no end in sight.

In the center of the village, near the back mountain, there is a mansion that is very grand. From a distance, it looks like a small palace. Xiao Ran squinted and took a look. The courtyard has at least seven entrances, and there is a garden pond next to it. It is built extremely luxuriously.

Six big red lanterns were hung on the three-room gate, and a sign was hung on the door beam: "Wang Mansion"

"Good fellow, just for this house, if I were the emperor, I would exterminate all your clans."

Xiao Ran couldn't help but be surprised when he saw the size of the house.

If you remove the three water drops from the character "汪", it would definitely be a royal palace.

"Is this the Wang family that the monster mentioned just now?"

Xiao Ran frowned. According to the instructions, the old man of the Wang family was about to have his birthday. He had to prepare a gift for him? ?

Although I don't know the reason, now that the hint has been given, I'm afraid I have to make preparations early.

Then his eyes turned again, and not far from the Wang Mansion, the lights were on, the door was wide open, and there was no one guarding it.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran jumped down from the treetop and walked to the place where the light was on.

Upon closer inspection, I found that it was actually a temple. There was a plaque with the words "Tudi Temple" hanging on the door beam. The lights were on inside and there was a faint smell of incense.

"Does the land temple have such specifications?"

In Xiao Ran's impression, a temple of this size should only be built for the City God.

The God of Land, a deity of this level, is the lowest level of bureaucracy, both in ancient and modern times.

People often say "Jiupin Zhimaguan" to describe a minor official, but the God of Land is not even of the ninth rank. At most, he is just a village chief of low rank. The so-called land temple should be the same size as a roadside shrine.

Xiao Ran muttered to himself and walked inside. The prompt said that if he wanted to know something, he should go to the land temple to burn incense.

Now that you are here, you might as well light a stick of incense and give it a try.

When I walked into the temple, I saw the God of Land sitting upright in the main seat, leaning on a crutch with one hand, with kind eyes and a grin.

"It is indeed the shape of the Earth God, but... isn't it too big?"

Xiao Ran looked up. This figure was comparable to the Buddha-sized Earth God in the main hall of the temple. Xiao Ran felt uncomfortable no matter how he looked at it. Why did he say that?
Because it's unreasonable.

In other words, this thing is different from what Xiao Ran knew, and anyone would feel uncomfortable if they were in his shoes.

Just as people in the south like to eat sweet tofu pudding, they believe that tofu pudding tastes better when it is sweet. However, when they travel to the north and see people pouring soy sauce, seasonings, and chili oil on tofu pudding, they instantly feel uncomfortable.

Looking around, inside this land temple, candles are lit up one by one, making the temple very bright. There are melons and fruits on the altar, which shows that people often worship and clean the place every day.

Xiao Ran walked to the incense burner and was about to take out the incense box to try to worship the God of Land, but he suddenly looked inside the incense burner and was stunned.

I saw that the incense burner was covered with a layer of dark red ash.

The color was obviously wrong. Xiao Ran pinched a handful of it in his hand, sniffed it gently, and his expression instantly became even weirder.

"The smell of blood?"

He looked up at the God of Land in front of him again. Just as he was wondering about this, a burst of hurried footsteps came towards this side outside the door.

When Xiao Ran heard the voice, he thought about it and decided to hide for now. After all, he had just arrived, so it was better to be careful.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran glanced at the beam above his head, immediately turned around and rushed to the corner of the wall. He leaped, stepped on the walls on both sides, grabbed the beam with one hand, and turned over to hide.

Not long after, five or six people came in holding a child.

As soon as she entered the door, the woman holding the child knelt on the ground with a plop and said, "Lord of the Land, Lord of the Land, please have mercy and save this child." As she said this, she kowtowed loudly.

The others who followed walked up to the incense burner, grabbed the ashes in the burner and started stuffing them into their mouths.

The few people looked like a family, fighting with each other, and seemed unwilling to let others eat the incense ash.

Now Xiao Ran was a little confused.

I don't understand why they eat incense ashes.

Looking at the child in the woman's arms again, he saw that the child's face was pale, his lips were purple, and there were no external injuries on his body. It looked more like a sign of illness. However, in Xiao Ran's eyes, there was a black aura pressing on the child's body, which was always pressing on the top of the child's head. It was obvious that the child had been hit by some evil magic.

At this time, the older man pushed the three young men around him away, punched them and knocked them to the ground, stuffing handfuls of incense ash into his mouth, and said incoherently: "Get out of here, don't fight with me, the child is only seven years old, the family will die without a strong laborer."

"Dad!!"

Seeing this, the three young men knelt on the ground and hugged the old man's thighs, but were kicked away by the old man.

The old man swallowed the incense ash expressionlessly and looked at the land god in front of him with resentment. After a moment, the old man's body began to shrink and his clothes slowly slipped off.

Soon, under Xiao Ran's gaze, it turned into a blood-red candle.

The incense stick is not big, only about the thickness of a thumb and no more than three inches long.

Seeing this, several people felt sad, but they did not dare to delay. They hurriedly picked up the incense and candles and respectfully inserted them into the incense burner.

As soon as the red incense was lit, a wisp of green smoke slowly flowed into the nostrils of the God of Land. The God of Land, who had originally had a dull expression, gradually began to become lively.

"God of Land, God of Land, please save the child."

The whole family fell to the ground and kowtowed to the land in front of them.

The expression on the god of land's face became more kind. His hollow eyes moved slightly and he blew gently at the child in the woman's arms.

Everyone felt a fragrant breeze blowing towards them, which not only lifted their spirits and made them feel lighter all over, but even the complexion of the child in their arms gradually became lively.

The black air that was originally entangled around the child's head suddenly disappeared under the fragrant breeze.

"Thank you, God of Land. Thank you, God of Land."

Upon seeing this, the family members hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to express their gratitude.

The God of Land would not respond to them. He would hold up his nose and keep sniffing the red incense in the stove.

Xiao Ran, who was hiding aside, felt a chill in his heart at this moment.

This family could not see it. They could not see that the soul of the old man in the incense burner was still struggling in the red incense. As the red incense burned faster and faster, the old man's expression gradually distorted, he screamed silently, and was slowly inhaled into the nasal cavity of the God of Land along with the green smoke.

By the time the red incense burned out, the family had already left the land temple.

The God of Land in the temple looked satisfied, but his eyes were darting around the temple, revealing a thief's look. Seeing that no one was around, he quietly opened his mouth and spit out a cloud of black mist that flew out of the hall...

　Sorry, I got too sleepy halfway through coding last night. I'm really getting old. I could only update four posts yesterday. I'll try to update five posts today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)