Please Walk into the Urn-Catch the Turtle in the Jar

Draped in a Daoist robe and gripping a small peachwood horsetail whisk in its claws, it was brimming with spiritual energy;

Its old appearance had completely faded away. Having attained the Dao today, it no longer looked anything like its former eerie self!

After landing, it bowed toward Lin Chen and the two Door Gods.

This Spirit Rat Temple Steward was dressed to the nines, which left Lin Chen highly satisfied!

Moreover, this rat's spirituality was as high as four stars; just like the Door Gods, it had a full four traits!

Though all these traits existed thanks to the enhancement from its Door God Retainer and Temple Steward identities.

It also indirectly showed that the Spirit Rat had an exceptionally bright career ahead of it!

When you went out into the world, your status was always bestowed by others.

Most crucially, with the Gather Spirits, Consume Incense trait, the Spirit Rat could sustain its spiritual power by absorbing incense offerings;

As long as the incense at the Door God Temple did not die out, the Spirit Rat essentially came with "infinite endurance." It could sustain itself inside the temple indefinitely without consuming Lin Chen's spiritual power.

In other words, Lin Chen was the headquarters (holding the "indenture" contract controlling the Spirit Rat),

while the Door God Temple was the branch office (providing incense offerings).

Although the Spirit Rat was Lin Chen's card spirit, it drew its salary from the branch office!

Moreover, the Spirit Rat's Continue Fire, Burn Incense trait could reduce the consumption of incense offerings;

With one increase and one decrease, the incense remained undiminished, yet they had gained a working Temple Steward!

There was no need to worry about the Spirit Rat lining its own pockets by secretly devouring the incense offerings;

It had become a Door God Retainer and was also the Temple Steward. Its fortunes rose and fell together with those of the Door God Temple;

The Spirit Rat instead had to manage things diligently, making the temple's incense ever more flourishing so that its cultivation could rise with the tide.

The Temple Steward could make its own decisions regarding ordinary chores;

And if an emergency arose, the Spirit Rat could also send word, so there was no longer any need to keep watch over things at all times!

Lin Chen and the two Door Gods could comfortably play the hands-off bosses.

This mouse disaster in the temple had not only turned out to be a false alarm; it had also let Lin Chen learn that the Door Gods could connect with the temple and freely enter and exit this dungeon.

That was rare intelligence!

When had card creators ever gotten to call the shots before? It had always been the eerie dungeons that made the rules. If a dungeon told you to enter at the third watch, who would dare keep you until the fifth?

How could there have been Door Gods like these, who came whenever they wanted and left whenever they pleased?

But in truth, this was a latent ability of the God Card: it could descend through an enshrined statue at any time.

Wouldn't that mean they could farm dungeons whenever they wanted?

Besides, the dungeon was called the Myriad Ghosts Night Parade Dungeon. There had to be plenty of ghosts inside;

Since materials were abundant, Door Gods, go ahead and farm to your heart's content!

It just so happened that he was waiting to meet Amber over the next two days and had nothing else to do.

Lin Chen had the two Door Gods take turns changing shifts. During the day, Qin Qiong would enter the dungeon to farm monsters while Yuchi Gong guarded Lin Chen;

At night, they would switch. Yuchi Gong entered the dungeon, while Qin Qiong guarded him.

For other card creators, dungeons were something they survived with their lives on the line, licking blood from the blade's edge and escaping death nine times out of ten! It was like playing a battle royale;

For Lin Chen, dungeons were repeatedly farmed for experience and star upgrades. He farmed monsters for payouts and had turned them into treasure-hunting games!

Other card creators wanted to run the moment they saw a dungeon;

Lin Chen now treated dungeons like treasures!

Besides, guarding temples and homes, patrolling to display their might, and slaying ghosts were all divinely appointed duties of the Door Gods.

The two Door Gods patrolled by day and roamed by night, their spirits delighted and tireless!

But because they had already killed the chicken to scare the monkeys, there were hardly any high-level ghost monsters around the Door God Temple;

The ghosts they slew over the past two days had all been low-level ghost entities, and all the materials they obtained were white-grade.

They could not fetch much of a price on the market, nor were they suitable for card creation.

Lin Chen therefore burned all those ghost entities in the Door God Temple, using them as firewood to stoke the incense offerings.

This made the Spirit Rat Temple Steward lie before the incense altar every day, spread out the incense ledger, and calculate how much more prosperous the incense had become that day. It was so delighted that even the tip of its tail curled up!

As the incense grew more and more vigorous, the shrine inside the temple actually advanced into a larger three-legged bronze incense burner!

Through the Door Gods and the Spirit Rat Temple Steward, Lin Chen sensed:

The temple's incense capacity had increased! The power of the incense faith had strengthened!

The Door God Temple's Exorcise Evil and Protect effect had improved!

The Door Gods' spirituality grew along with it, and the Spirit Rat's body also became a full size larger.

Two days of dungeon-farming toil had actually yielded such gains!

Lin Chen could clearly feel that the Door Gods were on the verge of advancing a star!

He also felt increasingly confident about investigating Amber's bar again.

Looking at his Door God Card, Lin Chen thought:

Who says I don't have a god of my own?

If Amber has the God of Wine backing him, I have Door Gods protecting my life too!

The author has brought the Spirit Rat Temple Steward along to beg for votes and follows! Today's follow-through is crucial and will affect next week's recommendation slot! Everyone who has been saving the book, please follow through to the latest chapter!

As the Temple Steward of this book, the Continue Fire, Burn Incense Spirit Rat was skilled at soliciting readers' monthly votes, keeping this book's incense burning bright, extending its time in recommendation slots, and reducing traffic loss.

Thanks to: the two monthly votes from Bloodslayer Canglang, and the monthly vote from reader 20220504141544493.

Chapter 30: Please Walk into the Urn—Catch the Turtle in the Jar

Time flew by, and it was time to meet Amber.

To guard against the unexpected, Lin Chen had Chen Xiao Diao set up an automated email;

The email stated that the two of them were going to Amber's bar to investigate an evil cult;

If Chen Xiao Diao lost contact for more than half a day, the email would be mass-mailed to her colleagues and superiors at the Security Bureau.

You said before that there was no evidence? Then we would walk into the trap ourselves and personally become the witnesses!

Lin Chen also instructed Chen Xiao Diao, "When the time comes, don't say much. Just follow my signal and attack!"

Chen Xiao Diao loved this sort of approach that required no thinking and went straight to fighting, so she agreed at once.

The weather was cold and overcast, and the air was damp as fog.

The two entered this remote bar. Under the neon lights shining over the entrance, it was as if they had stepped into a pool of blood mist.

There were surprisingly no customers in the bar this time. Amber was still as handsome as a painting, standing behind the counter and quietly awaiting the two of them.

"Hello, you two. I'm happy to see you again."

This time, Lin Chen had already built up a resistance to the "bewitchment" of Amber's beauty;

He spoke naturally. "Manager Amber, you're too kind. We've been looking forward to your spirit wine very much."

Amber smiled. "Why are you two in such a hurry? You're making this seem like a simple transaction. I'd much rather chat and have a drink with you."

Chen Xiao Diao muttered, "I don't drink."

Lin Chen waved his hand, telling her not to interrupt;

He picked up the conversation. "As it happens, I'd also like to chat with you, Mr. Amber, about wine culture."

"Oh~ Do you know much about wine too, Mr. Lin?"

Amber gazed at Lin Chen curiously with his amber-like eyes.

Lin Chen stared straight back at him. "Yes. I'm a history enthusiast and have heard a few legends about the origins of wine."

Chen Xiao Diao wondered inwardly: Why have these two started exchanging meaningful glances? Weren't we here to fight?

Amber smiled. "Now I'm genuinely curious. Please, sit down and tell me about it."

He prepared two glasses of wine and pushed them in front of Lin Chen and Chen Xiao Diao.

Lin Chen began, "Legend says that the earliest wine was brewed from human blood."

The moment this astonishing conclusion came out, Chen Xiao Diao, who was listening from the side, nearly lost her composure!

She thought: Brother Chen, you didn't just turn your suspicion of Amber into a story and start telling it, did you?

Amber merely raised an eyebrow. "That's a very interesting viewpoint. Please elaborate."

Chen Xiao Diao could not help complaining inwardly: Amber, you actually think it's interesting? Brother Chen is calling you out! He's hinting that you brew wine from human flesh and blood!

Lin Chen narrated slowly: "The lover of a god died unexpectedly, and the god could not bear to let them perish;

So the god transformed the lover's body into a grapevine;

The lover's flesh and blood then formed sweet, juicy grapes.

The god brewed that grapevine into the world's first barrel of wine;

He also wove the grapevines into a crown and wore it;

In this way, he commemorated his lover and let them remain by his side forever."

The story Lin Chen told was the legend from Greek Mythology of the God of Wine, Dionysus, inventing wine;

He wanted to use this story to test Amber's reaction.

But Amber showed no abnormality;

Chen Xiao Diao, on the other hand, listened with rapt attention and could not help saying, "That story is so romantic, but it also feels a little bloody."

Lin Chen said, "Yes. You could call it a romance in scarlet."

Amber lightly applauded. "Thank you for your story, Mr. Lin. This legend does have some basis in reality;

After wine has finished fermenting, it continues to ferment slowly, and its flavor grows richer and more mellow with time;