Immortality Begins with Krypton Life

Chapter 278: Fantasy Fragrance Lost in the TempleChen Mu looked down at himself; his clothes were indeed stained with blood—some his own, but mostly from those demonic creatures. He shook his head.

”It is not mine.”

Ling Xiaoning froze, wanting to ask more, but was stopped by Qi Huan raising his hand.

Qi Huan walked forward, his gaze sweeping over Chen Mu before passing him to look at the half-open temple door behind him, his brow furrowing.

”What is the situation inside?”

Chen Mu gave a concise and comprehensive account of what happened inside the temple.

As Qi Huan listened, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter, while Ling Xiaoning, listening from the side, turned pale.

”Cat demons? A fox demon? They... they disguised themselves as me and Flag-bearer Qi? And they wanted to kill you?”

His voice trembled, seemingly still shaken by the lingering fear.

Qi Huan looked back at the temple. Under the moonlight, the small temple stood silently. Two red lanterns under the eaves were still lit, illuminating the temple door brightly, but to him, the light emanating from that door looked increasingly eerie.

”No wonder we couldn’t get in; this barrier was likely set up long ago, specifically waiting for you to walk right into it.”

Ling Xiaoning rubbed his arms; the chill from just a moment ago hadn’t fully dissipated. He leaned his head in to peer into the temple; the flickering candlelight made the red cloth on the shrine seem to pulse in and out of the light.

”Chen Mu, you just said that Zhuifeng should still be inside?”

His voice carried a hint of urgency, yet he dared not rush inside rashly.

Chen Mu did not speak immediately, instead turning to look at Qi Huan. Qi Huan understood and raised the tracking compass in his hand. Since Chen Mu had come out, the silver needle at the center of the compass had stopped spinning wildly, now pointing steadily and motionlessly toward the temple door.

”The source of the Demonic Qi is indeed inside.”

Qi Huan put away the compass and swept his gaze over the temple door.

”That little thing is most likely still alive. Since those beasts used it as bait, they would never kill it easily. Now that they have all died by your blade, Zhuifeng is likely still where it was.”

Chen Mu nodded and turned to walk toward the temple door. Ling Xiaoning hurried to follow, with Qi Huan bringing up the rear. As he walked, he took several Talismans from his robes and silently affixed them to the doorframe.

The smell of blood inside the temple had dissipated quite a bit. The night wind poured in through the open door, diluting the heavy, cloying sweetness, but the scent of incense remained strong. Mingled with the smell of blood, it made one feel slightly dizzy.

Ling Xiaoning couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose as soon as he entered, raising his hand to fan the air in front of him.

”What is this smell? It’s even stronger than before.”

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the temple hall. Seeing the corpses of the demonic creatures on the floor, his face turned even paler, and he quickly turned his head away, not daring to look further.

Three cat demons lay scattered across the floor. The severed cat heads had rolled into the shadows of the shrine, their eyes still open, vertical pupils dilated, yet they still revealed the terror from before their deaths.

The Five-Tailed Demon Fox lay limp beneath the shrine, covered in blood, its five tails hanging listlessly on the ground.

Qi Huan glanced over the corpses, his brow slightly furrowed, but he did not speak. He merely paced to the front of the shrine and looked up at the statue, which was tightly covered by a red cloth.

The red cloth was large, hanging from the top of the statue all the way to the base of the shrine, covering the entire statue completely. One could only vaguely make out a blurry outline that resembled a seated human figure.

Qi Huan reached out to lift the red cloth, but stopped halfway, turning to look at Chen Mu.

Chen Mu nodded slightly, and only then did Qi Huan pull down the red cloth.

The red cloth fluttered down, revealing the true appearance of the statue in the shrine.

It was a clay statue with a gilded finish, about the height of a person, sitting upright in the center of the shrine with its hands tucked into its sleeves. Its face was benevolent, brows and eyes lowered, and the corners of its mouth slightly upturned, carrying a faint, ethereal smile.

It was in the likeness of an old man.

With white hair and a silver beard, deep wrinkles, and wearing ordinary wide robes with large sleeves, its status was indiscernible. It did not look like the common City God or Earth God, nor like any deity or Buddha. It just sat there quietly, its gaze lowered, looking down at the space below.

Qi Huan stared at the statue for a long while before asking.

”Who is this being worshipped?”

Ling Xiaoning also crowded over, tilting his head to look for a long time before shaking it.

”I’ve never seen it before. The City God doesn’t look like this, and the Earth God doesn’t look like this either...”

He scratched his head and looked at the plaque above. By the candlelight, he could vaguely make it out.

”Life-Saving Temple?”

Ling Xiaoning read it aloud, his face full of confusion.

”This temple is called the Life-Saving Temple? Why would they give it such a name?”

Qi Huan did not speak, instead walking around the shrine, his gaze sweeping over every corner of the temple.

The temple was not large. Besides the shrine in the center, there were only a few bundles of incense, candles, and paper money piled in the corner, and the offering table in front of the shrine.

On the offering table sat several coarse porcelain bowls filled with fruit, along with a few plates of pastries, clearly offerings from the villagers.

The incense burner in front of the offering table was densely packed with dozens of incense sticks. Some had burned out, leaving only short stubs, while others were still burning, with wisps of blue smoke curling and lingering in the temple, refusing to dissipate.

Chen Mu’s gaze fell upon the incense burner. He walked up, leaned over to get close to the rising blue smoke, and sniffed.

The scent of incense was drifting from the burner; it was so thick it was almost palpable. Mixed with the sandalwood was an indescribable scent—cloyingly sweet, so sweet it made one’s heart race with unease.

Chen Mu’s brow furrowed slightly. He remembered that just a moment ago in the illusion, that cloying sweetness had been even stronger than it was now, almost solidifying, as if every breath was pouring honey into his nose.

He reached out, pulled a still-burning incense stick from the burner, and brought it close to his eyes to examine it carefully.

Ling Xiaoning leaned in, sniffed, and suddenly frowned.

”Chen Mu, why do I feel a bit dizzy?”

He shook his head and raised a hand to rub his temples.

”No, this smell is too strong; I need a moment.”

Qi Huan heard this, and his gaze landed on the incense stick in his hand, his eyes narrowing slightly.

He walked forward, took the incense stick from Chen Mu’s hand, sniffed it at the tip of his nose, and then rubbed the incense ash.

”This is likely not ordinary incense.”

Chen Mu raised his eyes to look at him.

Qi Huan held the incense stick up to the candlelight, and Ling Xiaoning also crowded over to look.

”Look at this color—brownish-red, much darker than ordinary incense. And look at this ash; it’s ice-cold, with no heat at all. The ash from ordinary incense should at least have some residual warmth, but this incense cools down as soon as it’s burned, which means something was mixed into it.”

Ling Xiaoning listened, stunned.

”Mixed with what?”

Qi Huan shook his head.

”I can’t say for sure right now, but I can probably guess the purpose of this incense.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the dozens of incense sticks still burning in the burner, and said in a deep voice.

”This thing should be something that can quickly make people enter an illusion. Just now in the temple, the illusion was so realistic that even you nearly fell for it; it didn’t rely solely on the illusion techniques of a few demonic creatures.”

”No matter how powerful an illusion technique is, it needs a trigger, an opportunity to cause one’s mind to lose its defense. This incense is that trigger. It is mixed into the scent of ordinary incense, colorless and odorless, causing people to relax their vigilance and become absent-minded without realizing it. By the time they realize something is wrong, they are already trapped.”