Sacrificial Dao Furnace

"An illusion? Or... have I transmigrated to another world?"

Looking at his familiar bedroom, Mo Chuan's heart was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

It turned out that when Huang Buyu offered the painted skin, he suddenly felt a sense of "disaster averted, free to leave at any time."

He also saw the bedroom superimposed on the ancestral hall again.

In fact, he had indeed returned to his bedroom at home.

To be honest, ever since the auditory hallucinations began, he had researched countless materials and made numerous preparations.

He had envisioned all sorts of possibilities, both scientific and unscientific.

His ability to remain calm in the face of what had just happened was not unrelated to the psychological preparation he had made during this time.

But even so, this matter still exceeded the limits of his imagination.

"Hmm... what is this?"

He suddenly felt something strange within his body.

Upon sensing it, he was astonished to discover he had gained the ability of "internal vision."

Furthermore, he found a double-eared, three-legged incense burner and a stack of painted skins inside himself.

With a thought, the incense burner and painted skins suddenly appeared before his eyes. Waves of mental connection rippled back and forth, astonishing Mo Chuan, whose eyes were filled with disbelief.

[Sacrificial Dao Furnace]

--The heavens rain greatly, but do not nourish rootless grass; the Dao is vast, and it seeks to guide those with a willing heart.

The origin of this furnace is unknown, but it can intercept ownerless incense offerings.

However, incense offerings carry prophecies; to partake, one must resolve their obsessions and resolve their calamities.

Mo Chuan pondered as he absorbed the information about the Sacrificial Dao Furnace.

If he wasn't mistaken, the main body of the Sacrificial Dao Furnace should be the double-eared, three-legged furnace in the Chen family's ancestral hall.

Under the prayers of the Chen family elders for offerings, it had mistakenly targeted his soul.

The Sacrificial Dao Furnace had subsequently recognized him as its master.

To prove this, he only needed to wait for the Chen family to perform another offering ritual.

Mo Chuan immediately put away the Sacrificial Dao Furnace and his gaze fell upon the stack of painted skins:

[Painted Skin · Sudden Death]

--Refined from the skin of someone who died suddenly, it is extremely Yin and malevolent. Only Yin beings can wield it, and only formless beings can wear it.

This was refined by the Jiazi Yellow Immortal. Yin beings can wear it to change their appearance and disguise themselves as humans.

Mo Chuan felt the information contained within the painted skin. He wanted to try wearing it to change his appearance, but since he now had a physical form, he couldn't wear the human skin at all, so he had to give up.

After putting away the painted skin, his face showed not joy, but a hint of worry.

"It seems I've encountered an extraordinary fortuitous encounter, but the premise for all of this is... that this isn't an illusion!"

Since he had experienced "auditory hallucinations," it was possible for him to experience "visual hallucinations."

In other words, everything he had just experienced, including the Sacrificial Dao Furnace and painted skins he had inexplicably received, could all be hallucinations fabricated by his brain.

Mental illness was not a rare affliction in modern society.

When Mo Chuan was in high school, a school physical examination was arranged at a nearby psychiatric hospital.

He had personally seen many patients pressed against the iron bars, adamantly speaking absurdities.

Therefore, he had reason to suspect whether he too had developed some kind of mental illness.

"Verifying these things isn't difficult."

Mo Chuan took out his phone and checked the time. It was ten o'clock at night. He simply got dressed, summoned the Sacrificial Dao Furnace from within his body, held it in his hands, and went out.

"Young man, that incense burner looks quite exquisite!"

"Doesn't it? I think so too. Just picked it up today."

"Where did you get it? How much did it cost?"

"The flower and bird market. It was originally ¥1,800, but I haggled it down to ¥150 from the sole of my shoe."

"That's great! ¥150 is not a loss. Even modern crafts cost several hundred!"

"That's what I thought too."

Sitting in the taxi, Mo Chuan felt that the talkative driver was quite nice for the first time.

While chatting with the driver, he browsed his phone, which was silently playing an online course for advanced mathematics.

In his opinion, even with human testimony, it couldn't guarantee that this wasn't an illusion.

What if it was a "brain in a vat" hallucination?

Therefore, his second method of verification was – mathematics.

His brain might weave a beautiful and deceptive illusion based on his experiences and knowledge, deceiving him.

But math will not!

The moonlight was like water, and the stars were brilliant.

By the time Mo Chuan, having traveled under the moon and stars, returned home, it was already two in the morning.

Verifying everything along the way, coupled with his wild imagination, had drained him significantly, leaving him utterly exhausted. He fell asleep as soon as he got home.

He slept soundly, without a single dream.

The next day, Mo Chuan was awakened by a murmuring sound.

"Damn it! Here we go again—"

Mo Chuan, groggy from his deep sleep, was annoyed and about to curse.

Before the words left his mouth, yesterday's events flashed through his mind, and his curse died on his lips.

He quickly got up, opened his eyes, and with a thought, the Sacrificial Dao Furnace leaped out.

The incense burner, which had been empty last night, was now silently filled with joss sticks, their wisps of smoke curling directly towards him.

Through the swirling smoke, the Chen Family ancestral hall reappeared, superimposed upon his bedroom, materializing before his eyes.

He saw that within the ancestral hall, the elders of the Chen Family, along with dozens of people of all ages, were kneeling beneath the shrine, praying incessantly.

"On the sixth day of the sixth lunar month in the year Wuxu of the Heavenly Cycle, the descendants of the Qu Kou Chen Clan, with solemn offerings of young livestock and fruit wine, flowers, and incense, hereby inform and pay respects to our ancestors, to comfort their heroic spirits... Our ancestors, our lineage, bless our descendants, may our household prosper, and our bodies remain healthy. With sincere hearts, may all ancestors come and partake."

"We reverently hope for your enjoyment!"

The head of the Qu Kou Chen Clan held the sacrificial text, chanting and offering incense as he paid his respects.

Ever since he had overcome the unexpected disaster yesterday, he had stayed up all night, knocking on the door of the town's scholar, offering a hefty sum of money to have the sacrificial text compiled overnight.

Today, he had been busy all morning, gathering his clan members and relatives to hold this grand sacrificial ceremony.

Mo Chuan wasn't particularly interested in the Chen Family's verbose sacrificial ritual. What captivated him more was the Sacrificial Dao Furnace.

Unlike yesterday, when he had summoned the Sacrificial Dao Furnace in a daze, Today, with his conscious observation, the profound mysteries of the Sacrificial Dao Furnace were imprinted upon his mind one by one.

Perhaps it was because he had resolved the Chen Family's calamity, but as the Chen Family performed their sacrificial rites, threads of incense offering power flowed into his limbs and bones.

This invigorated him, and he felt a tangible sense of increasing strength.

Guided by the incense offerings, he could enter the other realm at any time.

When the Chen Family's sacrificial ceremony concluded and the joss sticks burned out, Mo Chuan expected to be expelled.

To his surprise, although he felt a sense of "ability to leave," he would not be rejected if he forcibly remained.

However, doing so would consume the incense offerings.

He could clearly feel the incense offerings accumulated within him gradually depleting.

"The Chen Family's current sacrificial offering is enough for me to stay for more than three days. I won't linger for now. I'll wait until I've made arrangements for my main body."

After testing the mysteries of the Sacrificial Dao Furnace, Mo Chuan no longer lingered and returned to his main body.

As soon as he opened his eyes, his phone buzzed.

He pulled it out and saw:

It was a message from a high school classmate he hadn't contacted in two years, who was actually returning money.

'Sorry, Chuanzi, for taking so long to pay you back. Please check your account.'

Tsk!

Double happiness!

Mo Chuan was overjoyed, feeling a surge of emotion that almost brought tears to his eyes.

Oh my god, the money is finally back.

Two years ago, this high school classmate had borrowed two thousand yuan from him and then disappeared without a trace.

Mo Chuan had asked for it three times, but never got it back, so he had given up on asking.

He never expected to finally get the money back after two years. It wasn't easy!

'Received!'

Mo Chuan received the money and sent a brief reply. Under the double happiness, he happily went to brush his teeth and wash his face.

After finishing his morning routine, having unexpectedly recovered a bad debt, he decided to go out for a meal.

As soon as he stepped out, his phone rang again.

"Chuanzi, I heard you quit your job? I have a job here, are you interested? The salary and benefits are excellent, with social security and housing fund."

The call was from a colleague. When Mo Chuan heard about the social security and housing fund, he was immediately tempted.

In this society, it was easy to find social security, but the housing fund was hard to come by!

"What kind of job?"

"Driving!"

"A truck?"

"...A spirit hearse."