Xi Mufu felt a sudden lightness throughout her body—the oppressive force restraining her had vanished.
“I’m fine,” she murmured.
Ji Jiu lowered his gaze to study her carefully. Only after confirming she had truly returned to normal did he release her.
Xi Mufu glanced at Lin Xia, noticing the other woman kept her lips tightly sealed. Not daring to probe further, she changed the subject and began promoting the gold ingots. “These are quite good too—I folded them myself.”
All the paper offerings in her shop, including the gold ingots, were hand-folded by her. While her craftsmanship wasn’t as refined as her grandfather’s, it was still quite decent.
Lin Xia had also regained her composure, realizing she couldn’t exchange more information with the shop owner, so she stopped pressing. When the shop owner mentioned gold ingots, she nodded without hesitation. “I’ll buy them!”
Although gold ingots were new items that no player had purchased before, since they came from the Incense Shop, they must be useful. Moreover, according to Vice Guild Leader Pu Yunfeng’s account, once the shop owner made a request, players had to comply.
Seeing her agreement, Xi Mufu handed over a package of gold ingots containing two large ones and eight small ones. This time, she selected the skill [Yin-Yang Eyes].
Lin Xia hesitated before speaking. “Are you… really sure you want to choose this?”
[Yin-Yang Eyes] sounded impressive but were actually quite useless—the least practical among all her skills and items. For instance, during this Xiushui Mountain Village dungeon, she had used Yin-Yang Eyes during the daytime and discovered the villagers were all walking corpses, utterly terrifying.
Beyond that, however, the skill served no other purpose. She didn’t even dare use it at night, afraid of frightening herself. But then it occurred to her—the shop owner ran an Incense Shop and was suspected to be the deity saving players. She surely had no fear of vengeful spirits or dark energies, so choosing this item seemed perfectly reasonable.
Xi Mufu smiled faintly. “It’s fine, I’ll take this one.”
Seeing the beautiful shop owner had made her decision, Lin Xia said no more and quickly completed the transaction. Then, looking at the two items in her hand, she hesitated, wondering if she could still buy Incense Paper Money. She had three items left and could make three more purchases.
But the moment she opened her mouth, her panel issued a warning—
[Do not repeat purchases!]
So each item could only be bought once? She pondered—should she buy more Cleansing Talismans? Even if she didn’t need them now, what if she was forced into the Waxwork Museum dungeon later?
Just then, another warning flashed on her panel—
[Purchase attempts exhausted!]
Lin Xia’s eyes widened. So each person could only trade twice? This was a major discovery. She needed to post about it on the Player Forum as soon as she left the dungeon.
A faint sense of disappointment washed over her. The shop shelves held so many varieties of incense products, yet she could only buy twice—it was impossible not to feel regret. But then she reconsidered: being able to enter the Incense Shop and trade with the owner, obtaining the Incense Paper Money countless players coveted, was already the greatest fortune.
Letting go of her lingering thoughts, she looked solemnly at Xi Mufu and said, “Thank you!”
I hope you are the deity who will save us.
This last sentence she silently whispered in her heart.
Xi Mufu sensed her sincerity and even felt a surge of Xin Yang Zhi Li – Power of Faith. Surprised, she turned to glance at Ji Jiu.
Ji Jiu naturally noticed it too, narrowing his eyes and saying in a deep voice, “This is a good thing.”
However, the Power of Faith usually only appears when mortals believe in deities. Could it be that this Otherworld Guest regards Xi Mufu as a deity?
This is intriguing.
Xi Mufu, on the other hand, didn’t overthink it. She examined Lin Xia’s face and said, “Let me give you two Protection Talismans.”
Recently, she had been learning Xiang Shu – Face Reading from Ji Jiu and had made rapid progress. She could see that the dark aura at the center of Lin Xia’s brow had spread throughout her body—a sign that her life would not last much longer. The other party must have encountered serious trouble. Her Protection Talismans were infused with Gong De – Merit, which should be able to help her, at least saving her life.
Lin Xia hadn’t expected such an unexpected boon and immediately accepted the Fu Paper respectfully. “You’re so kind!”
Xi Mufu shook her head.
At the same moment, a prompt sounded in her mind—
[Talisman-making has reached Level 3.]
She was taken aback. She had only given the Protection Talismans because she saw the dark aura on Lin Xia’s brow, forgetting that the rule for leveling up Talisman-making might be giving Fu Paper freely to Otherworld Guests.
This was a pleasant surprise, and she felt quite happy.
Then she thought of her Planting Skill. Previously, she had guessed that leveling it up might also require giving some rice freely to Otherworld Guests. Unfortunately, due to the busy New Year preparations and the professors taking all the rice for research, she hadn’t been able to prepare any. She would have to wait until next time to test it out.
Lin Xia walked out of the Incense Shop carrying five bundles of Incense Paper Money, a pack of Gold Ingots, and two Protection Talismans, only to find herself simultaneously stepping out of the abandoned wooden hut. The male ghost that had been pursuing her attacked the very next second.
Her heart leaped in fear, and she was about to throw the Incense Paper Money at him when a golden light flashed. The male ghost was repelled, and then his figure gradually dissipated into the night.
Lin Xia: ?
She quickly looked down and saw that one of the Protection Talismans had emitted the golden light. This talisman seemed to have been used once, as its glow was dimmer than the other one.
So, was it the Protection Talisman that destroyed the male ghost?
Did the shop owner give her the talismans because she saw that Lin Xia was being haunted by a ghost?
“She must be a deity!” Overwhelmed with joy and excitement, tears streamed down her face once again.
From being pursued by the male ghost, to entering the Incense Shop and trading with the owner, to the destruction of the male ghost, it felt like she had experienced a dream.
Only now did her heart settle, and she felt truly awake.
The village was silent. Originally, this ghost village was eerie and terrifying every night. The previous night, she had locked herself indoors, too afraid to go out. But now, walking alone on the empty road, she was no longer afraid because she had the protection of the Incense Shop!
“Lin Xia, are you okay?” Just as she was lost in thought, the other players found her.
There had been nine of them when they entered the instance. Over the past two days, two players had been devoured by ghosts, leaving only seven. They had agreed in the group chat to help each other, so despite the danger, the others had come out to look for her when they realized something had happened to Lin Xia.
Lin Xia felt truly fortunate. She knew that some bad players would sacrifice their companions to avoid harm, but every time she entered an instance, she encountered good teammates, including this time.
Most importantly, she had encountered the Incense Shop today!
Being pulled into the Infinite Flow World was unfortunate, but encountering the Incense Shop made her lucky.
“I’m fine.” She wiped away her tears with her sleeve, stood up, and went to greet them. “Let me tell you, I just went into the Incense Shop and made a trade! I bought so many things—we’re saved!”