An Jia

It wasn't for Huang Huai's generosity and the good impression he made that he would bother talking so much to him. Anyway, there would be no shortage of buyers for this house in the future, so he wouldn't lose anything even if Huang Huai didn't buy it.

At this moment, Huang Huai had made up his mind. He immediately cupped his hands towards the clerk and said, "Please trouble you to help me with the procedures, big brother."

The clerk heard this and laughed heartily, saying to Huang Huai, "Don't worry, young master. Just for your silver ingots, we wouldn't cheat you, would we."

Huang Huai watched the clerk's figure disappear into the distance. He looked at the house deed with a seal on it in his hand, and then at the small courtyard before him, feeling a unique sense of emotion.

Huang Huai had already inspected the courtyard. Although it looked a bit dilapidated, the actual land area was not small.

A row of five rooms, plus two side rooms on the left and right, was enough for a large family to live in.

However, because it had been uninhabited for a long time, it was a bit messy. A small path paved with bluestone ran from the main entrance to the main hall. Outside the path, it was all weeds. A large tree, at least twenty years old, cast its shade. What surprised Huang Huai the most was a small pavilion built in the corner of the courtyard, and under the pavilion was a well.

It's important to know that wells were not standard in every household in ancient times. Often, residents of an entire alley would share one well.

Only wealthy families or those with financial means could dig a well in their own private courtyard.

Following the bluestone path through the waist-high weeds into the main hall, Huang Huai looked around. The houses were mostly made of wood and blue bricks, resembling the remaining courtyards from the Ming and Qing dynasties in modern society. However, due to the long period of abandonment, the houses were full of dust, cobwebs, and so on.

After a thorough inspection, Huang Huai was quite satisfied with this courtyard. As long as it was slightly tidied up, the damaged doors and windows were repaired or replaced, and some bedding was added, it could be lived in immediately.

However, before that, Huang Huai carried his backpack towards a room. He walked up to the severely damaged stone statue and examined it. He found that the head of the statue was badly damaged and its original appearance could no longer be discerned. A clearly dilapidated incense burner was also lying tilted on the ground, evidently discarded by the owner along with the broken statue.

Walking past the dilapidated statue, stepping on a patch of weeds and clearing a path, he arrived in front of a room.

This room was not large; it was the smallest of all the rooms. Inside, there was a platform, covered in dust. Clearly, this was where the owner used to worship statues of deities.

Having been accustomed to doing things himself at Xunzhen Temple since he was young, Huang Huai cleaned up with remarkable efficiency and soon had this side room tidied up.

Looking at the cleaned platform, Huang Huai took out the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan from his bag and carefully placed it on the platform.

He looked at it with satisfaction. Huang Huai thought that he had moved the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan back and forth twice in one day, disturbing the deity. He immediately took out three sticks of God-Worshipping Incense and two candles.

Previously, when Huang Huai burned incense to worship the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan in the inn's bedroom, the inn's platform already had candles, so Huang Huai only replaced them with his own.

However, here, everything had to be prepared. Without a candlestick for fixed candles, Huang Huai could only temporarily place them on both sides of the shrine.

Holding the three sticks of incense in his left hand, he lit them with the candle flame. With his left hand above and his right hand below, he held the incense, raised it above his head, bowed, his expression solemn, and worshipped respectfully.

There are rules for burning incense and worshipping deities. The number of incense sticks burned is also particular. Most people rarely burn just one stick of incense when worshipping deities; three sticks are the most common.

Laozi, the Daoist ancestor, once said in the Tao Te Ching: "The Tao gives birth to One; One gives birth to Two; Two gives birth to Three; Three gives birth to all things." Three represents all things and also represents the Three Pure Ones of Daoism.

Buddhism also burns three sticks of incense. The first stick in the middle represents reverence for Buddha, the second stick on the right is called respecting the Dharma, and the third stick on the left is called respecting the Sangha.

Similarly, Confucianism also burns three sticks of incense, representing Heaven, Earth, and Man. One stick is for honoring Heaven, one for honoring Earth, and one for honoring ancestors.

Therefore, whether it is Confucianism, Buddhism, or Daoism, they are unified on this point.

Huang Huai did not find any incense burners in the room. Thinking of the collapsed statue and the broken incense burner in the courtyard, and looking at the shrine before him, Huang Huai suddenly felt that the statue in the courtyard must have been worshipped here before it was damaged.

He didn't know what had happened here, that the statue was damaged and even moved outside.

Looking at the incense and candles inserted in front of the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan, it looked awkward without a candlestick and incense burner. Huang Huai made up his mind that he must find a good incense burner and candlestick, and absolutely not diminish the majesty of Holy Lord Emperor Guan.

As various thoughts flashed through his mind, Huang Huai suddenly seemed to discover something and stared intently at the God-Worshipping Incense and candles he had just offered.

At this time, the smoke from the incense and candles curled up, emitting a faint sandalwood fragrance that calmed the mind. It was indeed much better than the incense Huang Huai had burned for many years at Xunzhen Temple.

Of course, this was not the key to Huang Huai's astonishment. Under Huang Huai's gaze, the three sticks of God-Worshipping Incense and two candles inserted in front of the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan were burning at an extremely fast speed, much faster than Huang Huai had ever seen.

Huang Huai had burned incense for many years and had seen all kinds of incense and candles. Even the fastest burning incense and candles did not burn at one-tenth the speed of the ones before him.

To be precise, this could no longer be described as burning fast; it could only be described as bizarre.

Through the swirling incense smoke, Huang Huai looked at the majestic statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan. If he hadn't worshipped it for many years and been extremely familiar with the statue, Huang Huai would have left immediately.

Even so, Huang Huai's mind stirred, and the mysterious portal appeared. He took a step back with a degree of vigilance, enough for him to return to the present world through the mysterious portal at any moment.

This was not the time to worry about exposing the mysterious portal; it was about ensuring his own safety first. After all, if his life was not guaranteed, what secret of the mysterious portal could he protect?

The abnormal phenomenon before him represented something unusual. In a world where Gods and Demons manifested, as long as it was related to abnormality, it could very likely be a disaster for ordinary people.

Huang Huai, relying on his trust in the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan that he had worshipped for many years, and having made preparations to escape instantly, was barely able to maintain his composure and stare intently at the rapidly burning incense and candles.

To be honest, Huang Huai was also quite curious about the strange phenomenon before him. This involved the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan, so he couldn't help but overthink.

He really wanted to know what was going on and whether this anomaly was truly caused by the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan he had brought.

Just as various thoughts and speculations flashed through Huang Huai's mind, the rapidly burning incense and candles were almost simultaneously extinguished.

The moment the incense and candles burned out, the swirling incense and fire energy moved as if by wind, turning into wisps that floated towards the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan on the shrine and disappeared into the statue, as if a deity was enjoying the Incense Offering.

The statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan, having enjoyed the Incense and Fire, showed no change. However, Huang Huai felt his vision blur. He vaguely saw a deity bathed in divine light, wearing a headscarf, with phoenix eyes, silkworm eyebrows, holding a saber in one hand and stroking his beard with the other, high in the nine heavens. The deity glanced at him from afar, and the next moment, a divine light shot towards him like a meteor.