Xu Yi felt awkward under the old man's gaze, and he couldn't figure out what the man meant, so he pushed over the barbecue bun he hadn't touched.
"Master, have some."
The old man looked at the barbecue bun, then at Xu Yi.
A moment later, he picked up his chopsticks and ate the buns one after another, finishing them in just a few seconds.
The old man said to Xu Yi:
"I won't eat this barbecue for nothing."
As he spoke, the old man reached into his clothes, took out a crumpled packet of cigarettes, and held it out to Xu Yi.
Xu Yi was just about to wave it away and say he didn't smoke when suddenly—
He caught an unusually rich fragrance coming from the wrinkled paper packet in the old man's hand.
The cigarettes hadn't even been lit, yet they already smelled fragrant.
How incredible would the scent be once they were lit?
The instant he caught the scent, Xu Yi's eyes widened. His pupils went blank, and he lost himself.
Even the din around him disappeared.
Then the sky vanished, the morning mist vanished, the passersby vanished, the old man vanished, and the breakfast shop vanished...
Between heaven and earth, only that packet of cigarettes remained.
Xu Yi instinctively reached out with his right hand toward the packet.
At the same time, his injured left hand shot up and grabbed his right wrist.
"Xu Yi! Don't take it! There's something wrong with those cigarettes!"
His own voice rang out in his mind.
He scolded himself in annoyance:
"What could possibly be wrong with a cigarette? Being this cautious will turn you into a coward!"
His voice grew frantic in his mind:
"This thing clearly has a spirit! It might even be a kind of Spirit Remains!
Just one glance from it has already split our mind in two, and you still want to touch it?!"
Xu Yi hesitated and pulled his hand back a little.
He inhaled the irresistible, heady fragrance and stared at the cigarettes, his heart filled with unwillingness:
"If they really are Spirit Remains, wouldn't we be getting an incredible bargain by just taking them?"
His own voice grew even more anxious:
"I think you've gone mad with greed! If they really are Spirit Remains, they must be targeting us! The spirit inside has already awakened, and we're its target! You can't just snatch them!"
Xu Yi could barely stand the strain. He gritted his teeth and said:
"Then what do you suggest?!"
The voice in his mind was perfectly calm, as though it weren't affected by the fragrance at all:
"Here's what. Hold out for now, then feel the old man out and find out who he is and what he's about.
If he's nobody important, we'll just grab the cigarettes and leave!"
How could someone who had a treasure like this be nobody important?
Xu Yi had barely any reason left, but he said excitedly:
"Fine! I'll hold out for now!"
The moment Xu Yi and his inner voice reached an agreement and resisted the fragrance, everything around him returned—
First the breakfast shop, then the old man, the passersby, the morning mist...
When the sky finally reappeared, the bustle of 38th Shop District's main street returned to his ears.
Xu Yi's vision returned to normal, and the scent coming from the packet was no longer as strong.
At the same time, unbearable pain shot through his left wrist. Unable to endure it, Xu Yi bared his teeth in a grimace.
The old man looked at Xu Yi, his eyes glinting with approval that Xu Yi couldn't see.
"Good."
Before Xu Yi could say a word, the old man put the cigarettes away, then said:
"You don't want the cigarettes, and I can't eat your barbecue for nothing.
How about this? To repay you, I'll teach you a method for training your ability to control your spirit."
Xu Yi's eyes widened.
This old man was a Night Roaming God!
The Hundred Night Miasma only appeared at night, so this old man could only be a Night Roaming God.
Who was he?
How had he found me?
Why did he want to teach me a method?
Could it be because...
I'm handsome!
Wasn't that why Jing Tao had taken a liking to me?!
At the thought, Xu Yi felt a little strange.
Could this old man... be into old men?
The old man had no idea what Xu Yi was thinking, so naturally, he didn't take offense.
He took a small incense burner, about half the size of his palm, from his clothes.
It was made of yellow brass, and a five-clawed black dragon was painted on its body. The dragon's form was indistinct, looking less like a solid creature and more like something made of smoke.
The old man took a box of Huaguang Brand matches from his pocket, struck one, and held it inside the burner to light it.
Flames rose inside the incense burner, but Xu Yi couldn't smell anything.
It was rare for Xu Yi not to smell something. To him, everything in the world had a scent. People did, and so did objects, plants and mountains, birds and beasts, insects and fish, air and sunlight... Everything had a scent.
But this incense burner was the one exception. Apart from the smell of yellow brass, it truly gave off no other scent.
The incense burner was beyond Xu Yi's understanding, making him wary.
The old man noticed Xu Yi's wariness, but didn't care.
"You can't smell it now, but that's all right.
Take this incense burner home.
When you can smell it, you'll naturally know what the method is.
Once you can smell it, you'll understand how to master it."
After speaking, the old man stood up.
"When you can smell it, you'll have become a Night Roaming God."
Xu Yi was dumbfounded and hurriedly asked:
"Senior, what is that scent?"
"Don't Night Roaming Gods have an inheritance? Where can I find the Night Roaming God inheritance related to that method?"
The old man didn't answer. He got up and left, disappearing into the crowd in the blink of an eye.
Xu Yi didn't chase after him.
First, he knew he couldn't catch up.
Second, his left hand was injured, and he didn't want to get into a fight with anyone—though even if he weren't injured, he probably wouldn't win.
Third, Xu Yi knew that mysterious visitors like this wouldn't say anything, no matter how much you pestered them, if they didn't want to talk.
Clutching his left wrist, Xu Yi looked at the brass incense burner on the table.
He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then slipped Ye Miao's sachet into his sleeve and covered his nose and mouth with the fabric.
Ye Miao's scent had awakened his spirit, and his vision spread out before him in black and white.
He looked at the incense burner again, and his pupils shrank—
Inside the lit brass incense burner, a small tuft of bright yellow flame was burning.
Until now, the only colors he had seen were black, white, gray, and red. With his spirit awakened, he had finally seen a fifth color.
Xu Yi wrinkled his nose, his eyes growing even more doubtful.
Even with his spirit awakened, he still couldn't smell anything?
How strange!
What was this bright yellow flame?
Xu Yi decided to take the incense burner home and study it carefully.
He finished his porridge, wiped his hands with a newspaper, tucked the incense burner into his pocket, and headed for Peacekeeping Hall.
At that very moment, at the Jing Family residence.
It was only six in the morning, but Jing Tao was already making breakfast.
She got up at this time every morning because she had to cook and eat breakfast, feed her father, and do her morning exercises—training her spirit.
The first rays of dawn were also known to Night Roaming Gods as "Violet Light." Bathing in Violet Light made spirit training twice as effective.
Before you continue