Xu Yi felt he was beginning to understand.
"Ye Miao's scent can activate my spirituality when it comes into contact with it, giving me spiritual vision.
"Jing Tao's scent can heal my injuries when it comes into contact with my spirituality, and sharpen my senses."
"Why does Jing Tao's scent have side effects, too?
"Then, by that logic, Ye Miao's scent should have side effects as well, right?"
Xu Yi clutched Ye Miao's sachet, itching to try it.
"Forget it."
As he headed back to the inn, he mulled it over.
"If I inhale too much of the scent from Ye Miao's sachet and lose control of the situation, I'll be in big trouble."
It was only one in the afternoon, and there was still some time before sunset, when he was supposed to meet Jing Tao.
So Xu Yi first stopped at a little shop by the roadside and ordered a bowl of beef noodles cooked in a clay pot, along with a roujiamo stuffed with fatty and lean meat, chopped green peppers, crushed peanuts, and fresh onion.
After lunch, he returned to the inn, locked the door and windows, drew the curtains, and took out the incense burner the strange old man had given him that morning. He set it on the table.
In the dim light of the inn room, the five-clawed black dragon coiling over the burner like smoke looked lifeless, far less lively than it had that morning.
"If that old man was telling the truth, and using this incense burner can train my spirituality..."
Thinking about what he might be able to do made Xu Yi excited.
"Once I've strengthened my spirituality, I might be able to take a few more whiffs of Ye Miao's sachet and find out what its side effects are."
There was no apprehension in his voice, only anticipation.
Xu Yi fiddled with the little brass incense burner, but couldn't see anything special about it.
He took out a match and lit the incense inside the burner, but still couldn't smell a thing.
He used Ye Miao's sachet to activate his spiritual vision and examined the bright yellow flame inside the burner. Then he leaned closer, but still couldn't smell anything.
The situation was exactly the same as that morning.
The old man's words surfaced in Xu Yi's mind again—
"Once you smell that scent, you'll become a Night Roaming God."
Becoming a Night Roaming God clearly wasn't that easy.
Keeping his spirituality activated, Xu Yi sat cross-legged on a chair and stared at the flickering yellow flame inside the incense burner.
He stared for a long time without figuring anything out, able only to keep gazing blankly at it.
The smoke from the unknown incense inside the burner grew thicker and thicker...
By the time Xu Yi realized what was happening, he was already surrounded by dense smoke pouring from the incense burner.
He jumped to his feet in alarm. Instinct told him something was wrong. He started toward the door, but after walking more than ten steps, he still hadn't reached it.
Xu Yi had no idea what was happening. Gritting his teeth, he turned around and walked back, hoping to put out the burning incense and stop the eerie smoke.
But after walking more than ten steps, he still couldn't see the table or the incense burner!
Then something even worse happened—
The dense fog before Xu Yi gradually thinned, and the scene that came into view was no longer the inn room!
The smoke from the Black Dragon Incense Burner seemed to have formed a passageway. He had now passed through it and reached the other side.
The room was very dim, lit only by a single faint incandescent bulb. It was about twenty square meters, with an operating table in the center. It looked like an operating room.
Two rows of display shelves stood along either side of the room, holding a total of six tiers packed with all sorts of incense burners.
They varied in size and material: bronze, brass, and copper, as well as ceramic, plastic, and even wood.
Most of the burners held no incense, only a thick layer of ash left behind by burned incense sticks.
Only a few still had half-burned incense sticks in them.
There wasn't a single unburned stick to be found.
For some reason, Xu Yi felt drawn to the room.
He found himself wanting to go over to the burners, light the incense sticks, and smell their scents.
Suddenly, a voice came from the other side of the room:
"I've found that every woman has a different scent."
Xu Yi whipped around, then his eyes widened as if he'd been struck by lightning.
The person in the corner of the room was none other than Xu Yi himself!
The other Xu Yi got up, went to the display shelf opposite him, and picked up a tiny, partially open purple clay incense burner. He said to Xu Yi:
"This woman came to Puxi City from out of town to seek her fortune. She'd originally come to stay with relatives, but after arriving in Puxi, she was sent to work at an ointment factory.
"The pay at the ointment factory was low, but the workload was absurdly heavy. She quit after working there for just a month."
The other Xu Yi spoke with utter calm as he recounted these chilling details:
"Later, I met her. I smelled her unique scent and was delighted, so I refined her into incense."
The other Xu Yi held the burner in his arms and gazed at the half-burned incense stick with tender affection. His voice was as gentle as if he were confessing his deepest love:
"That way, I'm the only one who can smell her scent."
Xu Yi swallowed.
A terrible premonition rose in his heart.
As the other Xu Yi spoke, Xu Yi found himself overcome by a powerful emotion—
He wanted to light the incense stick in the burner the other Xu Yi was holding and smell its scent!
Xu Yi was horrified by his own thoughts!
He didn't consider himself a good person, but he certainly wasn't some pervert who preyed on the innocent for his own pleasure!
The other Xu Yi didn't care what he thought.
The other Xu Yi took out a flip-top windproof lighter and lit the incense stick in his arms.
The other Xu Yi's face disappeared into the smoke. He was enthralled, intoxicated, and utterly lost in it!
Xu Yi caught the faintest trace of the incense stick's scent, too.
He fought with all his might to resist giving in, but his efforts barely helped. He couldn't stop himself from looking over, couldn't stop himself from wanting to open his nostrils wide, couldn't stop himself from stepping toward the incense stick.
"Come!"
The other Xu Yi held out the incense burner to him.
"This is the most precious treasure in the world!"
His voice rang out, shrill and piercing, as if he'd gone mad!
"It's everything I've ever sought in this world!"
As the smoke dispersed, the scent of the incense stick before Xu Yi grew stronger!
Xu Yi clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to move toward it.
He had a feeling that if he went over there this time, he would become just like the other Xu Yi—a true pervert who preyed on the innocent without restraint!
Xu Yi managed to control his mad urge to smell the incense!
But to his surprise, while he held himself back, the other Xu Yi approached him with a fervent look on his face!
His nerves wound taut, Xu Yi suddenly opened his mouth and bit down on his tongue!
The pain drove away the longing, the scent of the incense stick, and the vast clouds of fog.
Xu Yi abruptly opened his eyes. He was sitting in the inn room, and nothing about the incense burner before him had changed.
The only thing that had appeared was a faint, bright-yellow trail like a tassel, stretching between him and the incense burner.
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