Chapter 130
Chapter 130
“Hello, Qin Ying?”
Granny Shi’s voice was as loud as ever, with the clattering rush of mahjong tiles all around her.
Having her phone tucked against her ear didn’t affect her tile-drawing technique in the slightest.
On the other end of the line, she said, “That thing you mentioned before, about donating money to rebuild the rear hall of the City God Temple? I got in touch with them for you.”
That day, when Qin Ying had entered the City God Temple, her offer to donate had not been empty talk.
She was not superstitious, but on the Ghost Festival, there was really no need to offend the gods and invite bad luck.
So she had asked Granny Shi to help make the connection.
Granny Shi said, “The temple keeper at the City God Temple said he’s very grateful. He just wants to ask how exactly you plan to donate.”
“I’m too lazy to keep passing messages back and forth. Call him yourself.”
After hanging up with a snap, Granny Shi quickly sent over a string of numbers.
Despite her age, Granny Shi was very handy with a smartphone. She often filmed lip-sync videos of herself and was a well-known fashionable old lady.
Qin Ying happened to be feeling awkward, so she took the opportunity to turn away and dial the number.
“Hello.”
She had only just said the word when the Thunderbird flew over curiously to listen.
It seemed very familiar with phones. It leaned in, its face full of gossip.
The moment it came close, Qin Ying’s phone crackled with static, and the signal vanished completely.
Qin Ying did not react at first. She tried calling back, but this time the screen simply showed no service.
Only then did it dawn on her. She turned to look at the Thunderbird and said, “Move away a little.”
Who knew that once the Thunderbird heard this, not only did it refuse to leave, it even leaned in and pecked at her earlobe.
Qin Ying had no choice but to wave it off.
But it stuck to her like chewing gum.
Several times in a row, the calls Qin Ying made were cut off.
Qin Ying could finally confirm that the Thunderbird did indeed carry some kind of passive magnetic field interference.
Not only did it affect phones, it should also work against surveillance cameras and the like.
In places blanketed with all-seeing surveillance, this ability would actually be very useful.
But when it interfered with people, it was also extremely annoying.
Qin Ying had no choice but to bring Han Lie and the Thunderbird downstairs to the first floor.
She took out a Ham Sausage for the Thunderbird to peck at. Only then did the creature eat until tears streamed from its eyes, temporarily giving up on clinging to her.
Qin Ying went to the backyard to make the call, and this time it connected.
The person on the other end was an old man whose tone alone made him seem as emotionally stable as a capybara.
After they spoke for a while, he learned that Qin Ying truly intended to donate money to repair the rear hall of the City God Temple, and he was extremely delighted.
Discussing the donation did not take much effort. After they settled the details in a few words, the temple keeper on the other end hesitated.
Only after a long pause did he say, “This is shameless of me, but may I ask the kind believer to also donate a Consecrated Clay Statue for the City God in the front hall?”
“Soul-Container Consecration?”
Qin Ying did not understand these things very well and instinctively asked back.
Hearing this, the City God Temple’s temple keeper explained, “Soul-Container Consecration means filling the inside of a divine statue with specific objects. It allows communication with the Deity and gives the statue spiritual presence and divine power.”
The incense offerings at Yunlan City’s City God Temple had never been particularly good. Not only had the buildings fallen into disrepair over the years, the seated statue of the City God that had been molded decades ago had long since become unrecognizable.
It was rare for someone to come forward of their own accord and be willing to pay, so the temple keeper, thinking he had nothing to lose by asking, had finally spoken up.
He was probably very embarrassed to make the request, because he spent quite a bit of effort explaining it.
As Qin Ying listened, she gradually froze.
No matter how she thought about it, the Soul-Container Consecration the old temple keeper described reminded her of something.
A thought drilled into her mind: the Wooden Puppet made from some unknown wood, with its hollow abdomen.
Could it be a Soul-Container Wooden Puppet capable of allowing a god to descend?
Could she perform Consecration on the Wooden Puppet, then let her consciousness descend into the World in the Box?
The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
While she was still turning it over in her mind, the temple keeper, who had gone a long time without an answer on the other end of the line, said awkwardly, “I was being too presumptuous. If you have concerns, kind patron, please just pretend I never said anything.”
“No. I’ll donate,” Qin Ying cut him off at once.
The temple keeper hadn’t asked for an outrageous sum. All he wanted was a clay City God statue worth three thousand yuan.
He had done her a huge favor. She could afford that much.
When she agreed so readily, the old temple keeper on the other end was delighted. He asked if she needed a donation ceremony or ritual service.
Qin Ying was in a hurry to test her idea, so she only said that it was an anonymous donation and that none of those things were necessary.
After hanging up, she brought Han Lie, who had been peeling a Ham Sausage for the Thunderbird, back up to the second floor.
The two of them stared blankly at the tiny little Wooden Puppet.
“Soul-Container Consecration requires something with a clear target.”
What counted as something that pointed to Qin Ying? How was she supposed to know?
Han Lie, however, thought it over seriously for a while before his gaze landed on her eyes.
“Perhaps something that symbolizes both eyes.”
His mind raced as he listed, one by one, the things that symbolized eyes.
“The most famous, naturally, would be the legendary straight-eyed Deity, Zhulong.”
Legend had it that Zhulong lived on Mount Zhangwei in the abyss of the far west.
Zhulong’s eyes were vertical pupils that protruded from their sockets and could unleash limitless power.
In Han Lie’s mind, that was the Soul-Container Consecration item most worthy of Qin Ying’s status.
Unfortunately, those ancient Mountain Gods only existed in records. No one knew whether they had truly existed at all. Even if Han Lie wanted to seek one out, he would have no idea where to begin.
Han Lie continued, “There are also the eyes of the Chongming Bird.”
“The Chongming Bird is also called the double-pupiled bird. Its eyes, with two pupils in each, symbolize purity, light, and noble character.”
“That is precisely you, Supreme Deity.”
Han Lie was so bold with his praise that Qin Ying felt embarrassed just hearing it. She gave a light cough and interrupted, “Tell me about something simpler. Something we can actually find.”
But Han Lie said, “Before we left the capital to search for the Danghu, there were rumors in Luoyang that a Chongming Bird had appeared in the ancient land of Dizhi.”
“I can follow the clues and pursue it. If Huodou and the Thunderbird assist me, hunting down a Chongming Bird should not be impossible.”
The more he spoke, the more excited he became, but Qin Ying shook her head. “I have an idea.”
She rummaged through the Box for a long time and found a contact lens case.
Inside were the contact lenses she had worn before.
There were even protein deposits from her eyeballs on the lenses.
This… how did this not symbolize her eyes?
She picked out one lens and showed it to Han Lie.
Following the principle of trying it first no matter what, she wrote it down in her notebook.
Starting with that lens, Qin Ying felt as if she had opened the door to a whole new world.
“What if I squeeze out a drop or two of blood?”
Han Lie frowned and pondered for a moment, then nodded. “It can be attempted.”
After discussing it, Qin Ying swiftly prepared the contact lens, along with a single grain of rice dyed red with blood.
Next came the Soul-Container Consecration. Qin Ying sucked on the finger she had pricked until it bled, and her gaze naturally fell on Han Lie.
“You’re up!”
Han Lie took a deep breath. Under Qin Ying’s expectant stare, he rolled up the silicone hydrogel lens around the grain of Blood Rice and slowly placed it into the hollow cavity in the belly of the Consecration puppet.
In the next instant, the puppet shuddered as if it were alive.
At the same time, Qin Ying, who was sitting beside the desk, closed her eyes and dropped off to sleep, slamming her forehead straight onto the tabletop.