Chen Miao had always been curious about the Demon-Suppressing Bureau's Calamity-Guarding Objects.
Without the three men Cao Xiu had sent, Chen Miao would not have scraped together enough silver to buy one.
The Calamity-Guarding Object he had bought was small, no more than twenty centimeters tall, with a base roughly fifteen centimeters across. It was black all over.
Its material felt rather like fired clay to Chen Miao, though he wondered whether it was just as brittle.
Judging by its weight, the object should have been solid.
After examining it from every angle, Chen Miao found a hole in its underside about the width of a chopstick.
Peering into the hole, Chen Miao could not make out what lay inside. The passage was not straight, and he had no idea where it led. He closed his eyes, intending to sense the object's interior.
But when his perception spread out, he discovered that it could not penetrate the object.
Remembering how his perception had been blocked inside the Demon-Suppressing Bureau, Chen Miao understood.
The Demon-Suppressing Bureau seemed to have a method of blocking perception, which it applied in all sorts of ways. These objects were only one example. No, perhaps it was not limited to the bureau. Methods of blocking perception seemed fairly common in the Mortal World.
"It looks like my current Eyes-Closed Perception already has serious limitations in the Mortal World. I wonder whether upgrading it will change anything." Having learned nothing from examining the object itself, Chen Miao moved on to his next experiment.
He placed the object in front of him, took the Incense Sticks he had bought earlier out of his bundle, and lit four of them.
After a moment's thought, Chen Miao recited the Fiend-Subduing Mantra.
As soon as the incense smoke appeared, Chen Miao