Section Eighty-Six: In This Incense Burn, the Demonic Fiend Turned to Ash and Vanished! [4.5K Congratulations to Alliance Leader Chen Ci Jiu Diao!]

At any rate, the revelations born of Genesis had never once been wrong.

If one simply broke into the temple, chose to burn three sticks of incense for the temple fiend, and offered up one’s soul and faith, the fiend could be dealt with.

How hard could that be?

Though he did not know the underlying principle, Lin Qiye was utterly confident.

Without the slightest hesitation, and with no trace of fear or weakness, Lin Qiye plunged straight into the temple.

Chen Fan followed close behind.

In his heart, Brother Ye was a god. If Brother Ye said it was fine, he would not doubt it in the least.

And so Chen Fan, too, entered the body of the temple fiend.

Jiang Nian and Jiang Qingxue exchanged a look, both somewhat hesitant.

Jiang Qingxue’s brows knit tightly. “Should we go in? Temple fiends are a very bizarre kind of fiend. Though the eyeball fiend has only just reached the edge of the diamond tier, if we enter its body, even diamond walkers could perish.”

It was not that Jiang Qingxue did not trust Lin Qiye—

but rather that the temple fiend was one of the most eerie and perilous fiends of all.

From many sources, Jiang Qingxue had heard of its menace. There had once been geniuses who obtained multiple top-tier evaluations, only to fall inside it and become puppets and believers of the temple fiend.

Once inside a temple fiend, there was usually no coming back out.

And yet Lin Qiye still chose to march toward the tiger mountain though he knew full well a tiger lay there?

Jiang Qingxue did not want to follow.

Jiang Nian blinked her bright eyes. “I think we can trust him. After all, he’s very special.”

But Jiang Qingxue caught her by the arm.

“Don’t go in. Let’s wait a little.”

Jiang Nian smiled sweetly.

“Come on, let’s hurry in. It’ll be fine. Trust him. Let’s see how he breaks the temple fiend! Didn’t he just break the neck-twisting fiend too?”

Jiang Qingxue frowned.

But Jiang Nian had already pulled her into the temple.

The moment they stepped into the temple, everyone arrived in a cavern formed from fibers and red flesh.

The red meat within the cave contracted and writhed like muscle with the temple fiend’s breathing, an especially ghastly sight.

On the cavern ceiling hung fleshy stalactites, each one suspended upside down.

When Lin Qiye and the others arrived, the thousands upon thousands of stalactites suddenly split open into a slit of an eye, their scarlet pupils bulging outward as they fixed upon Lin Qiye, the madness in their gaze nearly solidifying into substance.

“Heeheehee!”

“Heeheehee!”

“Four delicious human geniuses!”

“The higher god commands you to kneel before the idol! You have only two choices: obey, or die!”

The stalactites cackled, their strange, sinister voices overlapping into a grating echo that made one’s scalp prickle.

Lin Qiye gave the stalactite monsters a glance, his features cold and unmoved.

Behind him, Chen Fan, Jiang Nian, and Jiang Qingxue had all gone somewhat pale.

“It should be a fiend, and it seems to have platinum-tier strength!”

Jiang Qingxue circulated her power, ready to fight at any moment.

But Lin Qiye had no wish to clash with them.

He looked at Jiang Qingxue.

“Don’t move around. Leave this to me.”

With that, Lin Qiye clasped his hands in a polite but insincere gesture.

“I am willing to offer my soul and faith, wholly and without reserve, to the higher god. Please take me to worship.”

At those words, tens of thousands of eyes fell upon Lin Qiye.

Their scarlet gaze bathed him in crimson.

“Heeheehee!”

“Heeheehee!”

“You’re quite the sensible lad!”

“The higher god likes clever people like you.”

The stalactites let out ugly laughs.

Their crazed eyeballs spun at high speed, and their scarlet gazes, like searchlights, shifted in unison to a wall in the distance.

In an instant, the stone wall split open with a thunderous crack.

A passageway of red flesh, glowing with black-red light, extended deep into the body of the temple fiend.

“Go forward. Through the sacred path, you will see the higher god... Go on! Embrace my god!”

Lin Qiye’s eyes shone as he regarded the passage.

His instincts told him the core of the temple fiend truly lay here.

“So the temple fiend is extremely confident. Even after revealing its true form, it feels no fear at all. It really is one of the strangest fiends.”

Lin Qiye smiled.

He stepped into the passage.

Behind him, Jiang Qingxue frowned once more.

“Sister, we can’t follow any further. The temple fiend’s nature is that once you worship it, it takes control of your mind.”

“That kind of control cannot be broken even by a diamond-tier walker! You’re only platinum-tier, and I’m barely at peak gold. We simply can’t withstand the temple fiend.”

Jiang Nian smiled brightly.

“Sis, we’re already here. Don’t think so much. It’s not like we can turn back now, is it? Just follow Lin Qiye. He’s not reckless.”

She tugged on Jiang Qingxue and hurried after Lin Qiye.

Ahead, Lin Qiye walked with steady steps, calm and composed, as if he knew no fear.

Jiang Nian came up beside him and brushed his shoulder.

“How do you plan to deal with the temple fiend?”

“I intend to offer both my soul and body as a sacrifice to it.”

At that, Jiang Nian’s brows drew together.

“Why would you do that? That’s the most dangerous method. Once you worship it, it can completely control you, and even a diamond walker can’t break free.”

This time, Jiang Nian felt, dimly, that she had overplayed her hand.

Lin Qiye had actually chosen a course that seemed certain death.

She looked at him intently.

“Given your personality, you wouldn’t choose a strategy on a whim.”

“So why pick the most dangerous method?”

Jiang Nian was puzzled.

“The most dangerous method may be the safest one.”

Lin Qiye smiled faintly, his gaze alert as he proceeded through the corridor stacked with slabs of flesh.

After walking for a while, a faint fragrance drifted through the passage, as though sandalwood were burning somewhere.

It was refreshing, yet at the same time it stirred within one a desire to kneel in devotion.

“How odd. This smell doesn’t seem dangerous either...” Jiang Nian muttered.

She bumped Lin Qiye’s arm with her shoulder again.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. It’s just that this is my first time inside a temple fiend, and I’m a little scared, so I’m bothering you. It makes me feel better.”

Jiang Nian smiled cheekily, her eyes sparkling with lively mischief.

Lin Qiye glanced at her.

“You were actually testing my mood, weren’t you? Seeing that I was very calm, you relaxed.”

Jiang Nian smiled, dimples showing, and nodded seriously.

“You’re too clever. So attentive, too. No wonder you could deal with the neck-twisting fiend.”

“Still, I can’t understand why you’d sacrifice yourself.”

Lin Qiye gave a slight nod.

“I’m only trying it out.”

As they spoke, the group exited the passage, and the space suddenly opened wide.

A temple palace built from red flesh and white flesh rose from the ground.

Vessels and tentacles coiled over the temple’s structure, and above it floated a huge red eye, closed in repose.

The moment it sensed Lin Qiye and the others, the red eye snapped open, and the black, evil pupil within it spun rapidly.

It seemed as if it would break free of the prison of its socket, and a frenzy of emotion surged outward.

At that moment, the temple’s consciousness trembled with delight.

Such exquisite top-tier geniuses!

Perfect.

If all of them became believers, then it would become an extraordinarily formidable diamond-tier fiend.

Wonderful. Truly wonderful.

The temple fiend burst into uncontrollable crimson radiance, its flesh quivering violently, every vein in the temple beginning to writhe.

Tentacles spread upward and waved like sea anemones blooming in the ocean, their twisted lengths moving of their own accord, as if performing some secret rite.

After a long while, the temple fiend gradually calmed.

A single red eyeball stared fixedly at Lin Qiye.

The sound of swallowing saliva was clearly audible.

“Come, come, offer your souls and faith to this god! This god will grant you eternity, this god will grant you supreme power! Come! Return to the embrace of the higher god!”

From the walls on all sides came layers upon layers of echoing voices.

The sound carried a strange cadence, as though a choir were chanting, as though believers were praying.

A faint, rippling wave washed over Lin Qiye and the others.

Lin Qiye frowned.

To prevent any unforeseen change, he shook the spiritual power and Violet Star true energy within him, disrupting the ripple.

“Higher god, I am willing to offer my soul and faith. Please bestow incense and candles upon me so I may complete the rite.”

Lin Qiye’s performance was flawless.

He looked every inch the devout believer.

The temple fiend froze.

I haven’t even begun to brainwash you yet.

How have you already converted?

Still, wasn’t that even better?

The temple fiend chuckled.

“Good. This deity likes believers like you! You shall be my first and foremost aide!”

It was exceedingly pleased with Lin Qiye.

Its black-red tentacles, covered in suction cups, stretched endlessly outward.

Three long sticks of incense fell before Lin Qiye.

Then the red eye stared unblinkingly at him, waiting for him to worship.

It did not believe Lin Qiye could resist.

As a god who had just entered the diamond tier, even human experts of the diamond tier would be controlled by it if they came here.

Thus it was certain of victory.

It only waited greedily to devour Lin Qiye’s faith.

The faith of a peerless genius would be far more delicious, far more pure, and utterly intoxicating.

One peerless genius was worth more than ten thousand, even a hundred thousand ordinary believers.

How marvelous.

The temple fiend’s consciousness trembled.

There, Lin Qiye showed no trace of resistance.

He lit the three incense sticks with reverence.

Then he looked directly at the temple fiend.

His thoughts flashed: If worship alone can destroy the temple fiend, what on earth is the principle behind it?

With that thought, he bowed lightly toward the direction of the temple fiend’s eye.

“Yes, yes, yes. You truly are sensible. Very good, very good! I like believers like you!”

The temple fiend was overjoyed.

It laughed with unrestrained delight.

But in the next second, its laughter stopped dead.

A cry of agony ripped through the air.

In an instant, screams of anguish came from every direction.

Next, the red flesh, white flesh, veins, tentacles, and even the distant flesh walls all began convulsing madly.

Within the heaps of flesh, a strange flame roared to life.

This was no ordinary fire. Pure white as snow, it clung deep within every cell, burning through every strand of the temple fiend’s faith power.

The temple fiend writhed in agony.

Its eyeball split apart, blood vessels swelling inside the globe.

Then, with a soft burst, the whole eye exploded.

It burned away into nothingness.

“You... you are actually... Ah! Ah! I don’t want your faith anymore! Spare me! I am willing to become your believer!”

“Stop!”

“Stop now! Don’t worship me anymore!”

The temple fiend howled in madness.

Yet Lin Qiye continued to bow slowly.

The lower he bowed, the more fiercely the flame in the depths of the temple fiend’s soul burned.

By the time Lin Qiye straightened, every last piece of flesh, together with every fiend within it, had been burned clean away, vanishing without a trace.

Only the smooth tunnels left beneath the earth remained, like the holes of eels, slick with mucus.

Behind him, Chen Fan stood dumbstruck.

“This... this... the temple fiend just kicked the bucket?”

“Brother Ye, you’re really something!”

Chen Fan sucked in a sharp breath, stunned beyond measure. Though he could not understand it, that did not stop him from worshiping Lin Qiye with utter devotion.

Beside him, Jiang Qingxue and Jiang Nian were equally astonished.

Jiang Qingxue, normally cool and reserved, rarely showing emotion on her face, finally failed to hold back her surprise.

It spilled into her features.

Her red lips parted slightly, and she could not close her mouth.

As for Jiang Nian, her face had gone pale, her beautiful eyes filled with astonishment and confusion, a series of large question marks practically floating above her head.

“Hiss—what on earth did you do to the temple fiend?!”

Even Jiang Nian, who considered herself well-informed, could not understand what had just happened.

A temple fiend capable of devouring diamond walkers had been burned to ash by a mysterious fire simply because Lin Qiye worshiped it once?

Jiang Nian stared unblinkingly at Lin Qiye, as though she hoped to find the answer on his face.

But on Lin Qiye’s face...

there was nothing but handsomeness.

“Why are you all looking at me? I only tried it out.”

“But why would you even want to try it?”

Jiang Nian was far too curious, but she immediately realized that prying into another person’s secrets was a grave taboo.

So she fell silent at once.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have tried to uncover your secret. But next time something this thrilling happens, you have to call me, all right? That was too exciting!”

Jiang Nian grinned brightly.

Lin Qiye gave no response.

Instead, he turned his gaze to the exposed passageways.

There were five tunnels in all—one each to the east, west, south, and north, and a fifth leading underground.

He sensed them briefly.

Without a doubt, the northern tunnel led to Star City.

So Lin Qiye pointed toward it.

“Follow this tunnel and you’ll reach Star City. Go on. If you get there early, it will be safer.”

“Hm? Brother Ye, you’re not coming to Star City with us?”

Lin Qiye’s gaze remained fixed on the tunnel leading underground.

“I’m going to see what lies at the very bottom.”

“Can’t we go together? If there’s danger, I can help shield Brother Ye!”

Lin Qiye smiled gently, golden thunder wings unfolding behind him.

“That’s thoughtful of you, Xiaofan. I know you want to help me.”

“But the lower passage gives no room to draw upon force. Without wings, once you go down, you can’t come back up, and if danger arises, you won’t be able to dodge it either. For me to go alone is the best choice.”

“As for the three of you, hurry to Star City. Use the cover of night and leave at once. This tunnel leads directly to the outskirts of Star City, with no black mist marsh to block the way. You can make it in half a day.”

“Don’t waste time. If the black mist surges over here, you’ll be buried in it.”

“Go on. Don’t worry about me. If I can kill the temple fiend, then nothing will happen to me. Go to Star City and book me a victory feast. I’ll be waiting for the welcome I deserve.”

With that, Lin Qiye patted Chen Fan’s shoulder.

“But Brother Ye...”

“Do you not trust me?”

“Of course I trust you! Brother Ye is a god!”

“Then that settles it. Go order the dishes first.”

“All right. Then I’ll go order the food.”

Chen Fan no longer insisted.

Lin Qiye smiled knowingly.

Turning around, he gazed intently at the tunnel descending into the earth.

A hot light rose in his eyes.

He knew this tunnel had been dug by the temple fiend and led straight to the real temple.

What mattered most in this tunnel was that precious strand of immortal qi.

The immortal qi that could complete the Dao Canon Art and transform it into a true immortal art.

The immortal qi that could bring about a metamorphosis in Lin Qiye.

At that moment, Lin Qiye clenched his fingers, and his heart began to pound.

It had been a long time since his heartbeat had quickened like this.

Lin Qiye smiled softly.

“I’m here... immortal qi.”

He murmured to himself and leaped into the tunnel.

...

P.S. Wow, even White Crane has a patron now!

Congratulations to the patron! Celebrations all around! So exciting!

Many thanks to Brother Chen Ci Jiu Diao—deeply grateful!

The patron calls for an extra ten thousand words!

The very first patron!

Many thanks again, and a ninety-degree bow of gratitude to patron Chen Ci Jiu Diao!