"This..."
He stared at the black ashes scattered across his bed, as dark and messy as soot from a furnace.
As the red cloth pouch disintegrated, a suffocating feeling suddenly flooded Yang An's mind, making him jump in alarm.
'Applying the principle of assumption, let's say the incense ash I got from White Buddha Temple was effective.'
'Then the fact that the incense ash and the red pouch both turned black and crumbled in an instant...'
'...would mean the incense ash had actually worked.'
'Did a Demon Fiend enter my room last night?!'
'If, however, I assume the incense ash is useless...'
'...and its current state is just some trick by the White Buddha Temple to deceive people...'
'...then I'd just be another sucker, scammed out of thirty cents!'
Neither possibility was easy to accept.
But considering his strange experience last night, Yang An leaned toward the first explanation, and a chill ran down his spine.
He spun around and scanned everything in the room, but he couldn't see any discernible traces of an intruder.
'Did a Demon Fiend really come here last night?'
Now, with the black incense ash scattered all over his bed, its color had changed drastically. It was clearly unusable now. What was he going to do?
With this thought, Yang An didn't even stop to clean up. He frantically pushed open the door and ran toward White Buddha Temple.
At this point, it seemed his only option was to get more incense ash for protection.
...
An hour later, Yang An returned, his heart filled with nothing but disappointment and anger.
The White Buddha Temple was exceptionally crowded today, several times more than usual. It was packed with people.
Terrifying news spread rapidly through the crowd.
He heard that many more people in town had suffered misfortune last night—killed by Demon Fiends.
From their descriptions, Yang An could already picture the victims' gruesome ends, just like the horrific scenes that had previously made him lose his appetite for days.
Even more terrifying, the incense ash that most people had obtained from the White Buddha Temple a few days ago had all turned black by this morning.
Everyone there was terrified. They now had absolute faith in the White Buddha Temple's vast Divine Powers and didn't dare to imagine what would happen if a Demon Fiend targeted them.
If they hadn't had the incense ash for protection, they likely would have met a grim fate last night, which was why so many people had shown up today.
Yang An also heard that as soon as dawn broke this morning, many people in town had scrambled to flee, carrying their belongings and families with them in a desperate attempt to leave.
But before they could get far, they were ambushed by bandits and marauders descending from the mountains.
Their final fate was to be met by a pack of jackals and wild dogs, their bones picked clean, not a scrap of flesh left behind.
All sorts of rumors circulated through the crowd, painting an increasingly horrifying picture of the situation in Jiunan Town.
The people had no other choice. Their only hope was to rely on the White Buddha Temple for protection.
But what Yang An hadn't expected was that the White Buddha Temple was price gouging again. The price for Incense Money had skyrocketed from thirty cents three days ago to two hundred cents now!
'What the fuck?! Why don't those bald donkeys just rob people outright?!'
His entire net worth didn't even add up to that much. In the end, he couldn't even get through the temple gates and had no choice but to turn back.
The Government Office in Jiunan Town existed in name only.
The dynasty had completely collapsed. The officials who used to enjoy a salary had lost their official source of income and couldn't care less about anyone else's survival. It was every man for himself.
Clearly, they couldn't expect the Government Office to stand up for common people like them.
"What kind of hellish world is this? Is there no way for an ordinary person to survive?"
Yang An grumbled. The first thing he did upon returning home was run to the kitchen and look at a large water vat in the corner.
According to the memories left by his body's previous owner, the ancestral heirloom was buried under that vat: a tattered page from a Scripture Scroll said to record a legendary Immortal Magic.
Although the previous owner's father had left a final warning not to retrieve it unless it was a last resort...
...Yang An couldn't worry about that now, because he had reached that last resort.
This was the only path to survival he could think of!
Yang An used a ladle to scoop out half the water, then strained to move the heavy vat aside. The yellow earth beneath it showed no signs of being disturbed; clearly, the object had been buried for a very long time.
He found a small hoe and began to dig into the earth.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he unearthed a piece of hardened, blackened pigskin from over a foot deep in the soil.
Excited, Yang An picked it up. With a little force, the hardened pigskin broke with a CRACK, revealing what was inside.
It was a yellowed sheet of paper, stained with some kind of clearly visible filth, its jagged edges showing it had been torn from something larger.
"This is the legendary Immortal Magic?"
Yang An was intensely curious as he carefully took out the paper.
If his father's final words from his memory were true, then this thing could very well change his current situation.
As for his father's warning that it would bring disaster, Yang An couldn't afford to care.
'I'm about to lose my life; what do those warnings matter now?'
But the moment his fingers touched the page, before he could even read its contents, a translucent information box suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[Lighting Technique]: One of the Life Crane Sect's Thirteen Techniques, created by Elder Life Crane. Use a finger as a candle and blood as a flame to drive out Evil Demons and filth.
Technique Cost: Within the candlelight's glow, all beings with Spiritual Wisdom will gradually descend into dementia, until they go insane.
Status: Can be Purified!
The text that suddenly appeared in the information box gave Yang An a start.
Once he had carefully read the information, his heart leaped with joy.
He let go of the paper, and the information box vanished from his sight.
When he touched the paper again, the box reappeared.
After repeating this several times, Yang An was finally able to relax.
"Just as I thought! This must be my Golden Finger!"
He tested it out to confirm that this was his own ability. Not only could he see the core information of the paper, but he also had the power to Purify it.
Yang An's heart pounded with excitement. This was a massive turning point that could absolutely change his current predicament.
However, looking at the text in the information box, Yang An found it a bit strange.
If not for his father's final words, just looking at the description in the box would have made him think this was some kind of Evil Technique, not a legendary Immortal Magic.
'So, this must be why my father warned me on his deathbed not to retrieve this item lightly.'
'If I didn't have this Golden Finger and had learned this Daoist Technique without knowing its cost, the consequences would have been terrifying.'
Without any further hesitation, Yang An immediately chose to Purify it.
Immediately, a faint warmth seemed to flow through the arm touching the paper, eventually disappearing at his fingertips.
The paper he was holding, however, showed no change.
But when Yang An looked at the information box again, he saw that the text had changed.
[Lighting Technique]: One of the Life Crane Sect's Thirteen Techniques, created by Elder Life Crane. Use a finger as a candle and blood as a flame to drive out Evil Demons and filth and grant Bright Heart and Pure Spirit.
Technique Cost: None.
Status: Purified!
Seeing this result, Yang An roughly understood how his Golden Finger worked. It directly eliminated the terrifying cost.
'In other words, the Lighting Technique recorded on this paper is now a brand-new version with no cost whatsoever?!'