Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!-Chapter 732 - 711: Just Two Sticks?

Hearing this, Qu Luming immediately became alert and denied, "Who have you been listening to with all this nonsense? There's no such thing; where on earth are there so many good treasures, and how could they just happen to fall into my hands?"

"Brother Qu, that's no fun," said Judge Lu Huai with a mocking tone. "Yesterday, while passing by, I suddenly smelled a mysterious fragrance. If I hadn't been carrying a magical treasure full of evil energy, worried about clashing with you, Brother Qu, I would have caught you red-handed on the spot! Coming here today, I'm sincerely inquiring, not intending to take anything from you for free, yet you're so stingy."

As they both worked in the Fengdu Underworld and Lu Huai held a much higher rank than his mere Leopard Tail position, Qu Luming couldn't afford to offend him over this matter.

After a moment of silence, he reluctantly retrieved the last remaining high-quality Incense Stick from his Storage Bag.

Qu Luming regretted his eagerness the previous day while eating the incense, accidentally letting a trace of smoke escape. This guy had a particularly keen nose, managing to catch the scent just by passing by the door.

"It really is a good treasure!" Lu Huai's eyes lit up immediately, sniffing quietly, "This material, this craftsmanship, is rare these days. Brother Qu, you've been busy lately, always out of sight, have you made an important acquaintance?

I've heard those incense-making masters have long been recruited by those above.

Top quality incense materials are rare, the production process is complicated, and even good incense isn't enough for those above to enjoy; they occasionally bestow just one or two sticks. And you actually have two of such treasures?"

Qu Luming felt pleased with himself, thinking, Hah, just two sticks? You're underestimating me; there were three in total!

Unfortunately, without Mr. Jiang's brilliant technique in burning incense, it felt somewhat wasteful.

He just chuckled without replying, intending to put away the incense stick with a flick of his hand.

Lu Huai, quick-eyed and quick-handed, stopped him, "Hey? You really are stingy, trying to take back the treasure you've already brought out?"

"Just have a look! Do you really want it?" Qu Luming got a bit anxious as well, "This stuff can't be bought, even with money! Didn't you just say you didn't want my treasure?"

"I never said I wanted it for free. Whenever you've needed help, have I ever hesitated?" Lu Huai held down his wrist, sighing as he gazed at the Incense, "As good as the incense is, it must be enjoyed day and night to savor its flavor.

If you can't enjoy at least one stick a day, even the best Incense is just a craving. You're being so miserly, hoping to become immortal with one stick?"

That's true, Qu Luming sighed along as well, taking out an incense burner, "I've benefited a lot from your help, Brother Lu, so let's enjoy a stick together today!"

The essence of Incense offering relies on quantity and fullness; otherwise, various sects wouldn't spread their teachings far and wide, drawing in as many believers as possible. Mr. Jiang's incense is excellent, one stick worth a hundred, but the issue is its scarce quantity doesn't suffice!

By chance, I only acquired three sticks, and once consumed, it requires a hefty price to obtain more.

"Sizzle~"

Lu Huai didn't expect this guy to generous enough to share the high-quality incense with just a bit of persuasion.

Not waiting for wisps of blue smoke to emerge from the incense burner, he leaned in for a deep inhale, then made room for Qu to do the same.

The two strong pillars of the Underworld, unseen by ordinary Yin Messengers, huddled gleefully over one incense burner, taking turns inhaling. In less than ten seconds, they finished the incense stick, then leaned back into their chairs, savoring the lingering taste.

"Brother Qu, I'm not prying into your connections; I just want to ask a favor," Lu Huai said, only recovering from the exquisite sensation after some time. The incense was potent; it was potent!

He looked sincerely at Qu Luming, lowering his voice, "What can be exchanged for it? Tell me a price. Though it's not feasible to indulge every day, occasionally satisfying the craving with a stick is quite nice."

Without thinking, Qu Luming snorted, "Exchange for what? Of course, for top-tier Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures! Preferably superior Spirit Medicine, anything lesser wouldn't catch their eye."

"Ah! Just as I thought, it's not something ordinary that can be exchanged." Despite his casual tone, Lu Huai instantly grasped the valuable information—it wasn't a reward from above but a Cultivator he found who could make exceptional Incense!

An additional new avenue, this is good news indeed, I need to figure out how to grasp it, at the very least find an opportunity to make connections.

With this in mind, Lu Huai sighed and stood up to bid farewell, "In our Netherworld, we're short of everything but abundantly plagued by evil ghosts, annoying as hell without the slightest value. Just thinking about it makes me mad. I can't be as leisurely as Brother Qu, so I have to report. There's trouble in the Eighteen Layers of Hell again, and I have to verify the Book of Life and Death, it's exhausting!"

"Don't see me out, I need to keep up appearances too, to avoid anyone catching something to inform on me." Qu Luming waved his hand, lazily getting up while thinking that he'd already handed over the Ghost Immortal Scripture, and seemed there was no more bottom-line treasures to exchange with Mr. Jiang for Incense.

Looks like I need to settle accounts with the main body properly.

Once all accounts are settled, extracting some nice stuff from him could ensure a good period of enjoying incense;

Additionally, finding a way out of the main body's shackles is crucial, for constantly being the scapegoat is one thing, but being dragged to death at a critical moment, who would you reason with?

[Side Quest: Doppelgänger]

[Mission 3: Produce three sticks of Nine Heavens Mysterious Zhi Incense within a month. Reward: Skill Upgrade Card +1]

Jiang Yuan, who was drinking tea, frowned as he looked at the side quest that suddenly popped up.

Upon first entering the Wilderness World, he completed a side quest and acquired the Paperman and Paper Horse Skill and the Incense Chart. Considering how useful these two skills were, he would always find time to gain experience in them despite being busy. The Paperman and Paper Horse Skill was fine, as long as the materials were used correctly, it was possible to create various high-level paper crafts in the real world;

However, gaining experience in the Incense Chart skill was quite troublesome, especially after reaching higher levels, where effectively gaining experience required making advanced Incense Sticks. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The more advanced the Incense Sticks, the more and rarer materials were needed. Since certain medicinal powders ground from herbs and Crystal Stones could not be brought into the real world, he could only take time to make incense in the Wilderness to gain experience.

Now, the Incense Chart skill had reached Level Ten, and the highest grade incense he could make was the Nine Heavens Mysterious Zhi Incense, which required a large variety of materials and complex procedures. To produce three sticks within a month, enormous resources, energy, and time would be required.

"Why is his quest always entangled with Incense Sticks?" Eyeing the Skill Upgrade Card with envy, Jiang Yuan quietly rummaged through his Storage Bag for the necessary herbs, intending to grind them into powder at the mill, when suddenly he heard hurried footsteps.

Looking up, he saw a young Demon Cultivator with a fleshy crown on his head; his cultivation was only at the Wisdom Realm level, a relatively rare low-level creature in the Golden Chicken River Market.

"Shopkeeper, have you seen Fellow Daoist He, who drank tea in your shop a few days ago?" He asked breathlessly, his face flushed, eagerly looking at the tea house shopkeeper, hoping for some good news.

The shopkeeper glanced around and shook his head, saying, "Didn't see him yesterday, and I don't think he came today either. Why are you looking for him?"

"He... he said he could introduce us to a Yin Messenger to find a Demon Cultivator with a short lifespan so that my brother could undergo possession and be reborn! We already paid fifty thousand Spirit Stones, so why did the contact suddenly stop?"

Upon hearing this, the tea house immediately burst into an uproar.

"Wow! So he was a con artist!"

"Fifty thousand Spirit Stones to extend your life? With that money, you'd be better off acquiring a genuine Elixir."

"An Elixir to extend life isn't that cheap! Besides, didn't you hear he planned to undergo possession and rebirth? Possession not only extends life but also allows you to absorb some of the other's Soul Power. From the start, he had wishful thinking, and he got scammed because of it!"

"Good thing I didn't have that much money; a few days ago, when I heard that guy He talking so glibly, I almost believed it a little bit..."

...

Amid the buzzing discussions, watching the young man's face turn increasingly red and his eyes grow more anxious, the tea house shopkeeper asked further, "Fifty thousand Spirit Stones, and you didn't see anything, just handed it over? You were too careless."

"We did... we did see something!" Realizing the gravity of the situation, while clinging to one last hope, he explained, "We first paid a deposit of ten thousand, then Fellow Daoist He took us to meet a Yin Messenger named Ma Hongtu.

The Yin Messenger personally led us to select a Demon Cultivator with a short lifespan. Afraid of being deceived, we inquired carefully. After ensuring there was no problem, we paid another forty thousand. Originally, the agreed price was one hundred thousand Spirit Stones; we paid half, waiting to pay the remaining fifty thousand after success. The possession and rebirth for my brother were supposed to be arranged tonight, but…"

The shopkeeper frowned deeply, thinking, with a mind like that, how did they manage to earn so many Spirit Stones?

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly at the mention of "Ma Hongtu," wondering if it could be the Ma Hongtu he knew. How bold could he be to make money from such schemes?

If it wasn't him, so be it; but if it was, then forgoing his duties as a Ghost Messenger to deceive people for money was deserving of death!

However, thinking again of what Qu Luming had said—that Evil Cultivators were secretly causing trouble—it might be that the Ghost Messenger Ma Hongtu he knew was colluding with them, in which case he could gather intelligence and indirectly gain some lifespan.

Having caught the necessary clues, Jiang Yuan settled his bill, left the tea house, and took out a Communication Stone to send a message to Old Master Wan An, asking him to take the golden ingot and probe for information.

It wasn't until the market started closing at dawn that Old Wan returned with the latest information—Ghost Messenger Ma Hongtu was ambushed and severely injured while attempting to gather souls in the Human World at night. He hadn't even gotten a clear look at who attacked him or whether they were ghost, demon, or human; his Official Hat, Mourning Stick, and Soul Hook were all stolen.

Fortunately, the attackers hadn't had murderous intentions. He rolled and crawled back to the Netherworld to report it immediately and had been lying on a sickbed for over half a month.

"A side quest wasn't triggered, so it probably wasn't that important." Jiang Yuan, having lost interest somewhat, noted how the clues were abruptly cut off and decided to deal with his current tasks before considering other matters.

He collected the Chaotic Heaven Bell and returned to the small courtyard with the souls of Leng Yutang and Granny Huang.

After breakfast, Granny Huang prepared to formally merge with the Puppet!

This was a rare opportunity to broaden one's horizons, and even the instance-crazy Bai Yunqi hadn't entered a dungeon; all the courtyard members gathered besides Granny Huang to silently watch.

"Today is a very auspicious day for all endeavors; Granny, don't worry, everything will go very smoothly!" Xie Chenyuan even specially performed a divination and, with great joy, showed her the result, "My divinations are always accurate!"

Huang Hanying expressed her gratitude, then bowed deeply to everyone, thanking them, "Thanks to the auspicious words of Senior Xie, Mr. Jiang's kindness, and everyone's care, I will officially begin."

Having said that, she didn't hesitate further; her semi-transparent soul flew into the air and directly lunged toward the Puppet!